“‘I thought it possible,’ continued JOSHUA, ‘that you might beat him, and so I came to tell you that he does not deserve it. He was ill-used by Tom Hebblethwaite, and he fought like a man. Send him to school to-morrow, and I will see that he comes by no harm—good night!’—and Joshua disappeared in the gloom. Now, sir, you may talk of great and generous actions, but I do not think you will easily mention one which, as far as it goes, will surpass this of JOSHUA PRINCE. You will recollect that he was, after all, but a boy; young and thoughtless; delighted with the battle, and pleased that he had done justice to the conqueror, if such I could be called. He lived down the valley towards Newby Bridge, nearly four miles from school, and in almost an opposite direction to Yewdale. Yet all at once, when more than half way home, and with the prospect of supper before a hungry boy brightening as he goes, it flashes across his mind that I may possibly be chastised undeservedly for the day’s occurrences, and he hesitates not a moment as to what steps he should take. He turns aside across hill and valley, bog and stream, where there is no footpath even for the goat, forgets his supper and his evening fishing-rod, and all to save a little boy whom he never saw before from a beating which, from its frequency at school, and from the way in which he had encouraged the battle, he might have been expected to care very little about. Nor _was_ it the beating that he cared about. It was its _injustice_ that dwelt upon his mind. The brave have an instinctive admiration of bravery; and he did not like to think that the little boy should be ill-used, or rather misunderstood, who had shown such firmness and courage in the school-yard. These were Joshua’s motives; and verily he had his reward. The gratitude towards him of our whole family, including my sister, (of whom I shall speak by and by,) was such that there was nothing that we would not have done for his sake. Yet he never seemed to expect any thing; or to show that he thought himself to have done any thing extraordinary. He paid me very little attention at school; none, in fact, beyond what he showed to most of the younger boys; except that when any injury was attempted towards me by any of those who were stronger than myself, he was always ready to see justice done me. Favouritism he scrupulously avoided. An acquaintance between us thus commenced, which ripened almost into friendship as I grew older, and before he left us for college. But, what is most remarkable, his kindness towards me seemed to increase, rather than diminish, by absence. Many a kind message of advice did he send me by fellow-pupils while I remained at school; and he has more than once visited me in my quiet dwelling in Salford, though he has had an earl’s son under his care; and has brought _him_ to see the ways of Manchester, and taught him to sympathize with its toiling population. _These_, sir, are the links,