he was
really gone, they made a hue-and-cry, in order to detain him till
they examined if he had left every thing in the house as he had
found it. But William had got out of reach, knowing he could not
stand such a scrutiny. On examination, Mr. Fantom found that all his
old port was gone, and Mrs. Fantom missed three of her best new
spoons. William was pursued, but without success; and Mr. Fantom was
so much discomposed that he could not for the rest of the day talk
on any subject but his wine and his spoons, nor harangue on any
project but that of recovering both by bringing William to justice.

Some days passed away, in which Mr. Fantom, having had time to cool,
began to be ashamed that he had been betrayed into such ungoverned
passion. He made the best excuse he could; said no man was perfect,
and though he owned he had been too violent, yet still he hoped
William would be brought to the punishment he deserved. "In the
meantime," said Trueman, "seeing how ill philosophy has agreed with
your man, suppose you were to set about teaching your maids a little
religion?" Mr. Fantom coolly replied, "that the impertinent retort
of a drunken footman could not spoil a system." "Your system,
however, and your own behavior," said Trueman, "have made that
footman a scoundrel, and you are answerable for his offenses." "Not
I, truly," said Fantom; "he has seen me do no harm; he has neither
seen me cheat, gamble, nor get drunk; and I defy you to say I
corrupt my servants. I am a moral man, sir."

"Mr. Fantom," said Trueman, "if you were to get drunk every day, and
game every night, you would, indeed, endanger your own soul, and
give a dreadful example to your family; but great as those sins are,
and God forbid that I should attempt to lessen them! still they are
not worse, nay, they are not so bad, as the pestilent doctrines with
which you infect your house and your neighborhood. A bad action is
like a single murder. The consequence may end with the crime, to all
but the perpetrator; but a wicked principle is throwing lighted
gunpowder into a town; it is poisoning a river; there are no bounds,
no certainty, no ends to its mischief. The ill effects of the worst
action may cease in time, and the consequences of your bad example
may end with your life; but souls may be brought to perdition by a
wicked principle after the author of it has been dead for ages."

_Fantom._ You talk like an ignoramus who has never read the new
philosophy