Jump to content

Page:The Vicar of Wakefield (Volume 2) - Goldsmith (1766, 1st edition).djvu/135

From Wikisource
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
The Vicar of Wakefield.
133

save my own life, which was every day de­clining, for want of necessaries and whole­some air. He added, that it was now in­cumbent on me to sacrifice any pride or resentment of my own, to the welfare of those who depended on me for support; and that I was now, both by reason and justice, obliged to try to reconcile my land­lord.

"Heaven be praised," replied I, "there is no pride left me now, I should detest my own heart if I saw either pride or resentment lurking there. On the con­trary, as my oppressor has been once my parishioner, I hope one day to pre­sent him up an unpolluted soul at the eternal tribunal. No, sir, I have no resentment now, and though he has ta­ken from me what I held dearer than all his treasures, though he has wrung my heart, for I am sick almost to fainting, very sick, my fellow prisoner, yet that"shall