'If
I had married a poor working girl,' said he, 'she could now have got
her bread; but a fine lady without money is a disgrace to herself, a
burden to her husband, and a plague to society.' Every trial which
affection might have made lighter, we doubled by animosity; at
length my husband was detected in using false dice; he fought with
his accuser, both were seized by a press-gang, and sent to sea. I
was now left to the wide world; and miserable as I had thought
myself before, I soon found there were higher degrees of misery. I
was near my time, without bread for myself, or hope for my child. I
set out on foot in search of the village where I had heard my
husband say his friends lived. It was a severe trial to my proud
heart to stoop to those low people; but hunger is not delicate, and
I was near perishing. My husband's parents received me kindly,
saying, that though they had nothing but what they earned by their
labor, yet I was welcome to share their hard fare; for they trusted
that God who sent mouths would send meat also. They gave me a small
room in their cottage, and furnished me with many necessaries, which
they denied themselves."

"O! my child!" interrupted Bragwell, "every word cuts me to the
heart. These poor people gladly gave thee of their little, while thy
rich parents left thee to starve."

"How shall I own," continued Mrs. Incle, "that all this goodness
could not soften my heart; for God had not yet touched it. I
received all their kindness as a favor done to them; and thought
them sufficiently rewarded for their attentions by the rank and
merit of their daughter-in-law. When my father brought me home any
little dainty which he could pick up, and my mother kindly dressed
it for me, I would not condescend to eat it with them, but devoured
it sullenly in my little garret alone, suffering them to fetch and
carry every thing I wanted. As my haughty behavior was not likely to
gain their affection, it was plain they did not love me; and as I
had no notion that there were any motives to good actions but
fondness, or self-interest, I was puzzled to know what could make
them so kind to me; for of the powerful and constraining law of
Christian charity I was quite ignorant. To cheat the weary hours, I
looked about for some books, and found, among a few others of the
same cast, 'Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul.'
But all those sort of books were addressed to _sinners_; now as I
knew I was