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-but faid not a word good or bad to comfort the youth. -I thought it wrong, added the Corporal-I think fo too, faid my uncle Toby.

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When the Lieutenant had taken his glass of fack and toaft, he felt himself a little revived, and fent down into the-kitchen, to let me know, that in about ten minutes he fhould be glad if I would ftep up ftairs.-I believe, faid the landlord, he is going to fay his prayers,-for there was a book laid upon the chair by his bed-fide, and as I fhut the door, I faw his fon take up a cufhion.

I thought, faid the curate, that you gentlemen of the army, Mr Trim, never faid your prayers at all.-I heard the poor gentleman fay his prayers laft night, faid the landlady very devoutly, and with my own ears, or I could not have believed it.-Are you fure of it, replied the curate.-A foldier, an't please your reverence, faid I, prays as often (of his own accord), as a parfon ;—and when he is fighting for his king, and for his own life, and for his honour too, he has the most reason to pray to God of any one in the whole world.-'Twas well faid of thee, Trim, faid my uncle Toby.-But when a foldier, faid I, an't please your reverence, has been standing for twelve hours together, in the trenches, up to his knees in cold water, or engaged, faid I, for months together in long and dangerous marches; haraffed, perhaps, in his rear to-day; haraffing others to-morrow; -detached here;-countermanded there ;-refting this night out upon his arms;-beat up in his fhirt the next; -benumbed in his joints;-perhaps without ftraw in his tent to kneel on ;-he must fay his prayers how and when he can.-I believe, faid I,-for I was piqued, quoth the Corporal, for the reputation of the army-I believe, an't please your reverence, faid I, that when a foldier gets time to pray, he prays as heartily as a parfon,-though not with all his fufs and hypocrify.Thou fhouldft not have faid that, Trim, faid my uncle Toby, for God only knows who' is a hypocrite, and who is not :-At the great and general review of us all, Corporal, at the day of judgment, (and 'not till then)it will be seen who have done their duties in this world, --and who have not; and we fhall be advanced, Trim, accordingly.

accordingly. I hope we fhall, faid Trim.-It is in the Scripture, faid my uncle Toby; and I will fhow it thee to-morrow:-In the mean time we may depend upon it, Trim, for our comfort, faid my uncle Toby, that God Almighty is fo good and just a governour of the world, that if we have but done our duties in it,—it will never be inquired into, whether we have done them in a red coat or a black one:-I hope not, faid the Corporal. But go on, Trim, faid my uncle Toby, with the ftory.

When I went up, continued the Corporal, into the Lieutenant's room, which I did not do till the expiration of the ten minutes, he was lying in his bed, with his head raised upon his hand, his elbow upon the pillow, and a clean white cambric handkerchief befide it:-The youth was juft ftooping down to take up the cushion, upon which I fuppofed he had been kneeling, -the book was laid upon the bed, and as he rose, in taking up the cufhion with one hand, he reached out his other to take the book away at the fame time. Let it remain there, my dear, faid the Lieutenant.

He did not offer to speak to me, till I had walked up clofe to his bed-fide :-If you are Captain Shandy's fervant, faid he, you must present my thanks to your ma fter, with my little boy's thanks along with them, for his courtesy to me;-If he was of Levens's-faid the Lieutenant. I told him your honour was-Then, faid he, I ferved three campaigns with him in Flanders, and remember him,-but 'tis moft likely, as I had not the honour of any acquaintance with him, that he knows nothing of me.-You will tell him, however, that the perfon his good nature has laid under obligations to him, is one Le Fever, a Lieutenant in Angus's-but he knows me not,-said he a second time, mufing ;poffibly he may my ftory-added he-pray tell the Captain, I was the Enfign at Breda, whofe wife was most unfortunately killed with a mufket fhot, as the lay in my arms, in my tent.-I remember the ftory, an't please your honour, faid I, very well.-Do you fo? faid he, wiping his eyes with his handkerchief, then well may I.-In faying this, he drew a little ring out of hi bofom, which feemed tied with a black ribband about

about his neck, and kifs'd it twice-Here, Billy, faid he, the boy flew across the room to the bed-fide,—and、 falling down upon his knee, took the ring in his hand, and kifs'd it too,-then kifs'd his father, and fat down upon the bed and wept.

I with, faid my uncle Toby, with a deep figh, I wifh, Trim, I was asleep.

Your honour, replied the Corporal, is too much concerned ;-shall I pour your honour out a glass of sack to your pipe?-Do, Trim, faid my uncle Toby.

I remember, faid my uncle Toby, fighing again, the ftory of the Enfign and his wife, and particularly well that he, as well as fhe, upon fome account or other (I forget what) was univerfally pitied by the whole regiment:-but finish the ftory.-Tis finished already, faid the Corporal, for I could ftay no longer,-fo wifhed his honour a good night: young Le Fever rofe from off the bed, and faw me to the bottom of the ftairs; and as we went down together, told me, they had come from Ireland, and were on their route to join the regiment in Flanders. But alas! faid the Corporal,-the Lieutenant's last day's march is over. Then what is to become of his poor boy? cried my uncle Toby.

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Thou haft left this matter fhort, faid my uncle Toby to the Corporal, as he was putting him to bed,-and I will tell thee in what, Trim.-In the first place, when' thou mad't an offer of my fervices to Le Fever, as fickness and travelling are both expenfive, and thou kneweft he was but a poor Lieutenant, with a fon to fubfiit as well as himself out of his pay,-that thou didst not make an offer to him of my purfe; because, had he ftood in need, thou knoweft, Trim, he had been as welcome to it as myself.-Your honour knows, faid the Corporal, I had no orders;-True, quoth my uncle Toby,-thou didit very right, Trim, as a foldier,-but certainly very wrong as a man.

In the fecond place, for which, indeed, thou haft the fame excufe, continued my uncle Toby,-when thou offeredft him whatever was in my houfe,-thou shouldft have offered him my houfe too :-a fick brother officer fhould have the best quarters, Trim; and if we had him with us, we could tend and look to him:-thou aft

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an excellent nurfe thy felf, Trim; and what with thy care of him, and the old woman's, and his boy's, and nine together, we might recruit him again at once, and fet him upon his legs.

-In a fortnight or three weeks, added my uncle Toby, filing, he might march. He will never march, an't please your honour, in this world, faid the Corporal. He will march, faid my uncle Toby, rifing up from the fide of the bed, with one fhoe off-An't please your honour, faid the Corporal, he will never march, but to his grave. He thall march, cried my uncle Toby, marching the foot which had a fhoe on, though without advancing an inch,he fhall march to his regiment-He cannot ftand it, faid the Corporal. He fhall be fupported, faid my uncle Toby. He'll drop at laft, faid the Corporal, and what will become of his boy?He fhall not drop, faid my uncle Toby, firmly. A-well-o'day,-do what we can for him, faid Trim, maintaining his point, the poor foul will die, -He fhall not die, by H-n, cried my uncle Toby.

-The ACCUSING SPIRIT, which flew up to Heaven's chancery with the oath, blufh'd as he gave it in ;-and the RECORDING ANGEL, as he wrote it down, dropped a tear upon the word, and blotted it out for ever.

-My uncle Toby went to his bureau,-put his purfe into his pocket, and having ordered the Corporal to go early in the morning for a phyfician, he went to bed and fell asleep.

The fun looked bright the morning after to every eye in the village but Le Fever's and his afflicted fon's; the hand of death preffed heavy upon his eye-lids,-and hardly could the wheel at the ciftern turn round its circle, when my uncle Toby, who had got up an hour before his wonted time, entered the Lieutenant's room, and without preface or apology, fat himself down upon the chair by the bed-fide, and independently of all modes and cuftoms, opened the curtain in the manner an old friend and brother officer would have done it, and afked him how he did,-how he had refted in the night, what was his complaint, where was his pain,-and what he could do to help him?-and without giving him time to answer any one of the inquiries, went on

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and told him of the little plan which he had been concerting with the Corporal the night before for him.-------

You fhall go home directly, Le Fever, faid my uncle Toby, to my houfe,-and we'll fend for a doctor to see what's the matter, and we'll have an apothecary, and the Corporal fhall be your nurfe,-and I'll be your fervant, Le Fever.

There was a franknefs in my uncle Toby,--not the effect of familiarity, but the cause of it,-which let you at once into his foul, and showed you the goodness of his nature ;-to this, there was fomething in his looks, and voice, and manner, fuperadded, which eternally beckoned to the unfortunate to come and take fhelter under him; fo that before my uncle Toby had half finished the kind offers he was making to the father, had the fon infenfibly preffed up clofe to his knees, and had taken hold of the breaft of his, coat, and was pulling it towards him. The blood and fpirits of Le Fever, which were waxing cold and flow within him, and were retreating to their last citadel, the heart,-rallied back,-the film forfook his eyes for a moment, he looked up wishfully in my uncle Toby's face, then caft a look upon his boy.

Nature inftantly ebb'd again, the film returned to its place, the pulfe fluttered-ftopp'd,-went onthrobb'd-stopp'd again,-moved-topp'd,-fhall I go en?-No.

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