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The Vicar of Wakefield.

some hopes of making a reformation here; for it had ever been my opinion, that no man was past the hour of amendment, every heart lying open to the shafts of reproof, if the archer could but take a proper aim. When I had thus satisfied my mind, I went back to my apartment, where my wife had prepared a frugal meal, while Mr. Jenkinson begged leave to add his dinner to ours, and partake of the pleasure, as he was kind enough to express it, of my conversation. He had not yet seen my family, for as they came to my apartment by a door in the narrow pas­sage, already described, by this means they avoided the common prison. Jenkinson at the first interview therefore seemed not a little struck with the beauty of my young­est daughter, which her pensive air con­tributed to heighten, and my little ones did not pass unnoticed.

"Alas, Doctor," cried he, "these chil­dren are too handsome and too good for such a place as this!"

"Why,