ANECDOTE. 285 



desperate our condition, and however apparently 

 hopeless our prospects in life may be, we ought 

 not to relax our exertions, nor allow any tempo- 

 rary ill success of our projects to excite a feeling 

 of despair or dissatisfaction, because our misfor- 

 tunes may, by stimulating us to vigorous exertion, 

 probably turn out eventually to be the road to 

 the attainment of the objects of interest or ambi- 

 tion thus apparently placed, for a time, out of 

 our reach. This man's rise in the world dates 

 from this adventurous exploit, and was rapid to 

 an extreme from that time until he reached his 

 present position, which, to his happy turn of 

 mind, is the highest pinnacle of human hap- 

 piness. 



G was bred a sailor, and, after a few years' 



service in a trading vessel, found himself at Con- 

 stantinople, in the unfortunate predicament of 

 being an outcast, without friends, without employ- 

 ment, and without any prospect of getting a 

 berth in any vessel ; he was, in short, thrown 

 entirely on his own resources, was living from 

 hand to mouth, and knew not, when he rose in 

 the morning, whether he would have wherewith 

 to satisfy the cravings of hunger that day or no, 



