LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 29 



c 



ticular notice of him, and entreat him cour- 

 teously ; and having entered into some familiar 

 conversation with him, was pleased, at parting, 

 to give him leave, whenever he would, freely 

 to come to his own house, and to have recourse 

 to him as often as he thought it might be service- 

 able to himself. Mr. Sharp judged this a lucky 

 interview, and thought himself blessed in so 

 valuable an acquaintance ; and ever after spoke 

 with pleasure upon the occasion : for here com- 

 menced a friendship which lasted as long as Dr. 

 Tillotson lived, improved perpetually by an 

 intimate conversation for many years, and ce- 

 mented by repeated returns of good offices to 

 each other, and some of them, on either side, 

 considerable, as will hereafter be shewn. Of 

 all those good offices which Dr. Tillotson did 

 for him, that which he now performed in the 

 ceremony of giving him a companion for life, 

 proved in the event most acceptable ; as it was 

 the greatest worldly blessing that Providence 

 ever bestowed upon him, and contributed more 

 to his ease and comfort than any of the great 

 preferments he afterwards attained to ; for there 

 could not be a more happy couple than he 

 and his lady were : nor could any woman be 

 better qualified than she was to answer his pur- 

 pose, or scheme of domestic economy, in a 

 married state, which was, to commit his purse, as 



