ANCIENT HISTORY OF KIRKBY-MOOHSIDE. 103 



the dictates of reason, I can honestly assure you, I 

 have always had the highest veneration for both. 

 The world and I shake hands ; for I dare affirm we 

 are heartily weary of each other. Oh ! what a pro- 

 digal have I been of that most valuable of all pos- 

 sessions, Time ! 1 have squandered it away with a 

 profusion unparallelled ; and now, when the enjoy- 

 ment of a few days would be worth the world, I 

 cannot flatter myself with the prospect of half a 

 dozen hours. How despicable, my dear friend, is 

 that man who never prays to his God, but in the 

 hour of distress 1 In what manner can he suppli- 

 cate that omnipotent Being in his affliction, whom 

 in the time of his prosperity he never remembered 

 with reverence ? 



Do not brand me with infidelity, when 1 tell you 

 I am almost ashamed to offer up my petition at the 

 Throne of Grace, or to implore that Divine mercy in 

 the next world, which I have scandalously abused 

 in this. Shall ingratitude to man be looked upon 

 as the blackest of crimes, and not ingratitude to 

 God ? Shall an insult offered to the King be look- 

 ed upon in the most offensive light, and yet no 

 notice taken when the King of Kings is treated 

 with indignity and disrepect ? 



The companions of my former libertinism would 

 scarcely believe their eyes, were you to show this 

 epistle. They would laugh at me as a dreaming 

 enthusiast ; or pity me as a timorous wretch, who 

 was shocked at the appearance of futurity : but 

 whoever laughs at me for being right, or pities me 

 for being sensible of my errors, is more entitled to 



