434 TOM RAFFLES. 



supposed to exchange his dreary station at St. Helena for promotion 

 to a staff appointment in country quarters at home. Academic dis- 

 tinctions are but a very feeble recommendation, if a man mixes with 

 the world ; but in the retirement of rural life they give a prestige of 

 respectability, which at once secured me the attentions of the neigh- 

 bourhood, and enabled me to select the circle of my acquaintance. 

 Such members of my own profession as could be conveniently visited, 

 a few country gentlemen of moderate fortunes, and two or three 

 wealthy farmers in the immediate vicinity, afforded a round of social 

 intercourse, sufficient to enliven, without interrupting, the even tenor 

 of a life otherwise occupied in ministerial duties or literary pursuits. 

 Indeed, a village clergyman, if comfortably provided for (which too 

 many are not), and if his habits correspond with his calling, has 

 means of happiness within his reach, which no other station can sup- 

 ply. He is fretted with no hopes of selfish success ; haunted by no 

 fear of worldly reverses ; his mind is employed without excitement, 

 and his time without fatigue ; leading at once a life of leisure without 

 tedium, and of professional exertion without drudgery. The serious, 

 but far from unpleasant, nature of his office ; the quietness, regu- 

 larity, and temperance of his domestic economy every thing about 

 him, in short, is calculated to impart a cheerful serenity to his mind ; 

 and even should there be some small dash of vanity in his composi- 

 tion, as there is in most men, it finds a grateful but harmless indul- 

 gence, in watching the progress of refinement amongst his neigh- 

 bours, in dress, manners, and intelligence, which seems to radiate 

 from the bosom of his own family as from a little focus of civilization. 

 Fortunatus nimium, sua si bona norit ! Happy indeed, did he but 

 always confine himself to the field, where alone he can bring forth 

 goodly fruits as a Christian minister, and not so frequently degene- 

 rate, by unnatural associations, into that worthless and unsavoury 

 hybride, a political parson. 



It is, perhaps, from having mixed more with the world than the 

 generality of my brethren, that I feel less interest in its concerns. 

 The greatest event, which has hitherto occurred to disturb the placid 

 uniformity of my course, is the annual visitation of our archdeacon or 

 diocesan. It was on the occasion of my first appearance at this cleri- 

 cal levy, that, after a charge by the bishop, I was startled by hearing 



the name of the " Rev. Thomas Raffles, curate of >," called over 



in turn. In the person who answered to the call by a gentle inclina- 

 tion of the head, I identified my old protege and pupil ; but I was too 

 far from him to effect a mutual recognition. I anticipated meeting 

 him at the ordinary, where the bishop and his clergy atone to them- 

 selves for the chilling ceremony of the morning. For some reason, 

 however, he did not attend ; and, understanding that his cure was not 

 more than eight or nine miles distant, I resolved to ride over the next 

 day and pay him a visit. 



On arriving at the place, I called at the rectory- house; but this, I 

 was informed, had been let with the glebe land by the rector, who 

 being a dean, and incumbent of two or three other livings, had no oc- 

 casion for it himself, and, I suppose, thought it incompatible with the 

 shabby pittance which he pinched out of eight hundred a-year for 



