Vexation and anger tied my tongue: at last I could not help speaking with some resentment. Such a trick does you little honour; deceit is a detestable thing when done to procure any advantage; but what extreme cruelty to sport with the poverty of a blind old man. Did not his look of pleasure wound your conscience? You must have a heart of stone if it did not touch you! Fine preaching! exclaimed he; and he caught hold of my arm to make me quicken my pace, but I rushed from him, and obeyed the impulse of my heart. I returned to the old man, thrust a guinea into his hand, and soon overtook James, who then appeared ashamed, guessing what I had been doing, for I dropped the subject, and only mention it to you. CHARLES. LETTER IX. CHARLES _to_ WILLIAM. I am now arrived at the farm, dear William; the day is just beginning to dawn; the farmers are going whistling to work, whilst I am writing to my friend. You know I have been accustomed to rise early, and it would be now irksome to me to lie in bed the sweetest hours of the day. I am, at this moment, sitting near an open window, and the birds, just awake, are hopping from branch to branch; the flowers seem revived by the dew; in short, there is a delightful freshness in the morning which gives me a new flow of spirits. Is this, thought I, casting my eyes around, the desart my mother supposed would prove dreary to me? I am going to take a ride, in order to visit some of the tenants houses, and even the little huts, that I may be able to give my father a just account of the estate, and prevail on him to relieve those I find in distress. * * * * *