There is quite a different character in the first book of Samuel. His name is Nabal. The word itself means "fool;" and the man's wife, Abigail, volunteered the opinion that it was a very accurate description of her husband: "_As his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name and folly is with him_." He is self-satisfied, hard-headed, irritable, obstinate. We are told that he was "churlish and evil in his doings." He is blunt in speech, rude, and even boorish in manners. He stands out of the story like an old, gnarled tree. It would not be a matter of marvel if he suggested to Fielding the character of Squire Western. They have many points in common. The servants of Nabal are afraid of him: "He is such a son of Belial that a man cannot speak to him!" He is fond of wine, and sometimes falls asleep over his cups. When David asks a favor of him, he exclaims: "Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants now-a-days that break away, every man from his own master!" As much as to say, "The country is full of runaways and tramps, and how do I know but this David is one of them?" Then he goes on--"Shall I take my bread and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be?" Let this David look out for himself; it is all that I can do to provide for my own family and servants! How exactly in the Squire Western vein: "It's well for un I could not get at un; I'd spoiled his caterwauling; I'd a taught un to meddle with meat for his master. He shan't ever have a morsel of meat of mine, or a varden to buy it with!" Just the man, after he has stormed his life away, to die of apoplexy! And Nabal _did_ die suddenly, a few days after he had been "very drunken." IV.--JONAH.