CHAPTER V. 



DURING the time I was an inmate in my mas- 

 ter's house, along with his mother, brothers, and 

 sister, I attended his brother's horse, and made 

 myself as useful to the family as I could. At 

 that time I had no acquaintances, at least none 

 to be very intimate with. I needed none. I 

 wandered in the fields, and on the Town Moor, 

 alone, and amused myself with my own thoughts. 

 When the time arrived that I was to cater for 

 myself upon four shillings and sixpence per week, 

 and afterwards upon five shillings a week, I went 

 to lodge with my aunt Blackett, in the Pudding 

 Chare, who, being the widow of a freeman,* kept 

 cows upon the Moor, and I was abundantly sup- 

 plied with milk, which was the chief thing I 

 lived upon. 



At Mrs. Blackett' s I became acquainted with 

 Gilbert Gray, bookbinder; and this singular and 

 worthy man was perhaps the most invaluable ac- 

 quaintance and friend I ever met with. His 

 moral lectures and advice to me formed a most 

 important succedaneum to those imparted by my 

 parents. His wise remarks, his detestation of 

 vice, his industry, and his temperance, crowned 

 with a most lively and cheerful disposition, 

 altogether made him appear to me as one of the 



* Thomas Blackett, silversmith. He was one of my godfathers, 

 and had been foreman to the late John Lainglands, by whom he was 

 much noticed as a man of a most intrepid spirit. He was remark- 

 able for his honour, honesty, and punctuality. 



