ilip Winwood came among us, I ought to tell at
once, though of course I learned it from him afterwards, all that need
be known of his previous life. His father, after leaving Oxford and
studying medicine in Edinburgh, had married a lady of the latter city,
and emigrated to Philadelphia to practise as a physician. But whether
'twas that the Quaker metropolis was overstocked with doctors even
then, or for other reasons, there was little call for Doctor Winwood's
ministrations. Moreover, he was of so book-loving a disposition that
if he happened to have sat down to a favourite volume, and a request
came for his services, it irked him exceedingly to respond. This being
noticed and getting abroad, did not help him in his profession.

The birth of Philip adding to the doctor's expenses, it soon came
about that, in the land where he had hoped to make a new fortune, he
parted with the last of what fortune he had originally possessed. Then
occurred to him the ingenious thought of turning bookseller, a
business which, far from requiring that he should ever absent himself
from his precious volumes, demanded rather that he should always be
among them. But the stock that he laid in, turned out to comprise
rather such works as a gentleman of learning would choose for company,
than such as the people of Philadelphia preferred to read.
Furthermore, when some would-be purchaser appeared, it often happened
that the book he offered to buy was one for which the erudite dealer
had acquired so strong an affection that he would not let it change
owners. Nor did his wife much endeavour to turn him from this
untradesmanlike course. Besides being a gentle and affectionate woman,
she had that admiration for learning which, like excessive warmth of
heart and certain other traits, I have observed to be common between
the Scotch (she was of Edinburgh, as I have said) and the best of the
Americans.

Such was Philip's father, and when he died of some trouble of the
heart, there was nothing for his widow to do but continue the
business. She did this with more success than the doctor had had,
though many a time it smote her heart to sell some book of those that
her husband had loved, and to the backs of which she had become
attached for his sake and through years of acquaintance. But the
necessities of her little boy and herself cried out, and so did the
debt her husband had accumulated as tangible result of his business
career. By providing books of