llen angel. I was hungry, and no
one gave me to eat; but they knew not that I was in want. Keen
misery held me in its grasp--ruin caressed me, and laughed at its
plaything. I will not pain you by detailing a catalogue of the
privations I endured, and which none but those who have felt and
fathomed the depths of misery can imagine. Through your letter of
recommendation, I was engaged to give private lessons to two
pupils; but the salary was small, and that was only to be paid
quarterly. While I was teaching them, I was starving, living on a
penny a day. But this was not all. I was frequently without a
lodging; and, being expelled from one for lack of the means of
paying for it, it was many days before I could venture to inquire
for another. My lodging was on a common-stair, or on the bare
sides of the Calton; and my clothes, from exposure to the weather,
became unsightly. They were no longer fitting garments for one who
gave lessons in a fashionable family. For several days I observed
the eyes of the lady of the house where I taught fixed with a most
supercilious and scrutinising expression upon my shabby and
unfortunate coat. I saw and felt that she was weighing the
shabbiness of my garments against my qualifications, and I trembled
for the consequence. In a short time my worst fears were realised;
for, one day, calling as usual, instead of being shown into a small
parlour, where I gave my lessons, the man-servant, who opened the
door, permitted me to stand in the lobby, and in two minutes
returned with two guineas upon a small silver plate, intimating, as
he held them before me, that 'the services of Mr Rutherford were no
longer required.' The sight of the two guineas took away the
bitterness and mortification of the abrupt dismissal. I pocketed
them, and engaged a lodging; and never, until that night, did I
know or feel the exquisite luxury of a deep, dreamless sleep. It
was bathing in Lethe, and rising refreshed, having no
consciousness, save the grateful feeling of the cooling waters of
forgetfulness around me. Having some weeks ago translated an old
deed, which was written in Latin, for a gentleman who is what is
called an in-door advocate, and who has an extensive practice, he
has been pleased to take me into his office, and has fixed on me a