s to think
you were become worse than ever. Perhaps you have been a little
thoughtless and giddy; and these are faults which I cannot with truth
say you were ever free from.

_Tommy._--No, sir; what I have been guilty of is infinitely worse than
ever. I have always been very giddy and very thoughtless, but I never
imagined I could have been the most insolent and ungrateful boy in the
world.

_Mr Barlow._--You frighten me, my little friend. Is it possible you can
have committed actions that deserve so harsh a name?

_Tommy._--You shall judge yourself, sir, for, now I have begun, I am
determined to tell you all. You know, sir, that when I first came to
you, I had a high opinion of myself for being born a gentleman, and a
very great contempt for everybody in an inferior station.

_Mr Barlow._--I must confess you have always had some tendency to both
these follies.

_Tommy._--Yes, sir; but you have so often laughed at me upon the
subject, and shown me the folly of people's imagining themselves better
than others, without any merit of their own, that I was grown a little
wiser. Besides, I have so often observed, that those I despised could do
a variety of things which I was ignorant of, while those who are vain of
being gentlemen can do nothing useful or ingenious; so that I had begun
to be ashamed of my folly. But since I came home I have kept company
with a great many fine young gentlemen and ladies, who thought
themselves superior to all the rest of the world, and used to despise
every one else; and they have made me forget everything I learned
before.

_Mr Barlow._--Perhaps, then, I was mistaken when I taught you that the
greatest merit any person could have is to be good and useful. These
fine young gentlemen and ladies may be wiser, and have given you better
lessons; if that is the case, you will have great reason to rejoice that
you have changed so much for the better.

_Tommy._--No, sir, no; I never thought them either good or wise, for
they know nothing but how to dress their hair and buckle their shoes;
but they persuaded me that it was necessary to be polite, and talked to
me so often upon the subject, that I could not help believing them.

_Mr Barlow._--I am glad to hear that; it is necessary for everybody to
be polite; they therefore, I suppose, instructed you to be more obliging
and civil in your manners than ever you were before. Instead of doing
you any hurt, this will be the greatest improvement yo