Epicurus living in his garden
upon a halfpenny a day, and considering a little cheese on his bread as
a great treat, filled him with admiration, and he began forthwith to
live on bread and tea alone, in order to get money for his books. After
ending his apprenticeship and working for a short time as a journeyman,
he married a buxom dairymaid, with whom he had been in love for seven
years. It was a bold enterprise, for when they went to their lodgings
after the wedding they searched their pockets carefully to discover the
state of their finances, and found that they had one halfpenny to begin
the world with. They had laid in provisions for a day or two, and they
had work by which to procure more, so they began their married life by
sitting down to work at shoemaking and singing together the following
stanza:

"Our portion is not large indeed,
But then how little do we need!
For nature's wants are few.
In this the art of living lies,
To want no more than may suffice,
And make that little do."

They were as happy as the day was long. Twenty times, reports this jolly
shoemaker, he and his wife sang an ode by Samuel Wesley, beginning:--

"No glory I covet, no riches I want,
Ambition is nothing to me;
The one thing I beg of kind Heaven to grant
Is a mind independent and free."

They needed their cheerful philosophy, for all they had to spend on food
and drink for a week was a sum about equal to one of our dollars. Even
this small revenue grew smaller, owing to the hard times, and poor James
Lackington saw his young wife pining away under insufficient food and
sedentary employment. His courage again saved him. After enduring
extreme poverty for three years, he got together all the money he could
raise, gave most of it to his wife, and set out for London, where he
arrived in August, 1774, with two and sixpence in his pocket.

It was a fortunate move for our brave shoemaker. He obtained work and
good wages at once, soon sent for his wife, and their united earnings
more than supplied their wants. A timely legacy of ten pounds from his
grandfather gave them a little furniture, and he became again a
frequenter of second-hand bookstores. He could scarcely resist the
temptation of a book that he wanted. One Christmas Eve he went out with
money to buy their Christmas dinner, but spent the whole sum for a copy
of Young's "Night Thoughts." His wife did not relish this style of
Christ