on the good dinner he had provided.
"True," replied Mr. Worthy, "he should be an example of simplicity,
sobriety, and plainness of manners. But he will do well," added he,
"not to affect a frothy gentility, which will sit but clumsily upon
him. If he has money, let him spend prudently, lay up moderately for
his children, and give liberally to the poor. But let him rather
seek to dignify his own station by his virtues, than to get above it
by his vanity. If he acts thus, then, as long as his country lasts,
a farmer of England will be looked upon as one of its most valuable
members; nay more, by this conduct, he may contribute to make
England last the longer. The riches of the farmer, corn and cattle,
are the true riches of a nation; but let him remember, that though
corn and cattle _enrich_ a country, nothing but justice, integrity,
and religion, can _preserve_ it."

Here one of the company, who was known to be a man of loose
principles, and who seldom went to public worship, said he had no
objection to religion, and was always ready to testify his regard to
it by drinking church and king. On this Mr. Worthy remarked, that he
was afraid that too many contented themselves with making this toast
include the whole of their religion, if not of their loyalty. "It is
with real sorrow," continued he, "that I am compelled to observe,
that though there are numberless honorable instances to the
contrary, yet I have seen more contempt and neglect of Christianity
in men of our calling, than in almost any other. They too frequently
hate the rector on account of his tithes, to which he has as good a
right as they have to their farms, and the curate on account of his
poverty; but the truth is, religion itself is often the concealed
object of their dislike. I know too many, who, while they affect a
violent outward zeal for the church, merely because they conceive
its security to be somehow connected with their own political
advantages, yet prove the hollowness of their attachment, by showing
little regard to its ministers, and less to its ordinance."

Young Wilson, the worthy grazier, whom Miss Bragwell turned off
because he did not understand French dances, thanked Mr. Worthy for
what he had said, and hoped he should be the better for it as long
as he lived, and desired his leave to be better acquainted. Most of
the others declared they had never heard a finer speech, and then,
as is usual, proceeded to show the good effect it had on