LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 225 



assisting in the formation of what should have 

 been a man. He was, at least, six feet high, and 

 "bearded like the pard "; and seemed as well able 

 to carry the coach as the coach was to carry him. 

 As soon as I entered the vehicle, I let down the 

 window ; but before I had quite succeeded in doing 

 so, there issued, from amidst the cloaks, and coats, 

 and shawls, and wrappings, and mufflings, in which 

 this great thing had enveloped itself, a voice of sup- 

 plication and woe : " For God's sake, do not let the 

 window down ! I am so susceptible so extremely 

 susceptible!" 



Look at the delicate and fragile plant in your 

 garden ! see how it is buffeted by the wind, and 

 alternately scorched by the sun, and deluged by 

 the rain, and frozen by the frost, and spattered by 

 the mud, and brushed and bruised by the passen- 

 ger's foot ! yet how greenly and healthily it grows ! 

 Take it into your parlour, and warm it by the fire, 

 and curtain it with flannel, and defend it from the 

 cold, and the wind, and the rain, and the rude con- 

 tact of the traveller's foot, and the other " discom- 

 forts" of its out-of-door existence. What think 

 you? will it continue to flourish as greenly and 

 healthily as before? " Oh ! but," say you, "there is 



a difference between a man and a cabbage ! " A dif- 

 L 3 



