t of interest I grant; but still he was very kind, and appeared to
be partial to me."

"Well, well, you can try all you can; but you'll soon see of what stuff
this world is made; I am sure I hope it will be so, for what is to
become of you children if I die, I do not know;--I have saved little or
nothing. And now all my prospects are blasted by this--" and my father
dashed his fist upon the table in a manner by no means clerical, and
with a look very unworthy of an apostle.

I am sorry that I must thus speak of my father, but I must not disguise
the truth. Still, I must say, there was much in extenuation of his
conduct. He had always a dislike to the profession of the church: his
ambition, as a young man, had been to enter the army; for which service
he was much better qualified; but, as it has been the custom for
centuries to entail all the property of the aristocracy upon the eldest
son, and leave the other brothers to be supported by the state, or
rather by the people, who are taxed for their provision, my father was
not permitted to follow the bent of his own inclination. An elder
brother had already selected the army as his profession, and it was
therefore decided that my father should enter the church: and thus it is
that we have had, and still have, so many people in that profession, who
are not only totally unfit for, but who actually disgrace their calling.
The law of primogeniture is beset with evils and injustice; yet without
it, the aristocracy of a country must sink into insignificance. It
appears to me, that as long as the people of a country are content to
support the younger sons of the nobility, it is well that the
aristocracy should be held up as a third estate, and a link between the
sovereign and the people; but that if the people are either too poor, or
are unwilling to be so taxed, they have a right to refuse taxation for
such purposes, and to demand that the law of primogeniture should be
abolished.

I remained at home until my time was complete, and then set off for
Plymouth to undergo my examination. The passing-day had been fixed by
the admiral for the Friday, and as I arrived on Wednesday, I amused
myself during the day, walking about the dock-yard, and trying all I
could to obtain further information in my profession. On the Thursday,
a party of soldiers from the depot were embarking at the landing-place
in men-of-war boats, and, as I understood, were about to proceed to
India. I w