there is no room to lodge her; and that is true. Nay, to my misfortune, I am the unhappy instrument of keeping her away. For the best bed-chamber is fallen to my share. My companions are ready to envy my fortune, for it is a very handsome chamber, and well furnished. I have a neat blue camblet -bed, an elbow chair, half a dozen little ones, a black table, a chest of drawers, and a large looking-glass; besides the convenience of a fire-place, which you know is very considerable. But to enjoy her company, I would willingly retire to that little miserable hole where I was before; though I had nothing there but an awkward press-bed, a broken chair, and a worm-eaten board, instead of a table. And yet I will assure you I am not at all in love; but only esteem her as an excellent friend.

I am the more concerned at my disappointment, because I really want company. This looks like a strange complaint in such a family as ours. But I will assure you that it is not without reason; Mrs. Jennings is always either busy or tired. And as for my fellow-pupils, some of them have but a moderate share of common sense. Some of them are of a very unhappy natural temper; and most of them are perfect strangers to every thing that looks like good breeding and politeness. Mr. Berry, Mr. Hodge, and Mr. Statham are incomparably the best; but they are all three very close, silent, and reserved. Mr. Cope is gone, and Mr. Some, a young gentleman of a great deal of good sense, and a cheerful, open, friendly temper, has been several weeks absent in a very indifferent state of health. So that though

I keep upon very civil terms with all, I am intimate with nobody but Mrs. Jennings.

I am to be examined to-morrow by a committee of ministers chosen for that purpose at the general meeting. I know the temper of the men, and the nature of the thing so well, that I have no uneasy apprehensions about it. But there are some little preparations to be made that require my attendance, and oblige me to break off without staying to answer your last so particularly as I could wish. Pray give my service to Mrs. Nettleton and my brother. I heartily thank him for his obliging letter, and will not fail to answer it in a few weeks, when Mr. Jennings goes to town, and I have another opportunity of sending to you by the penny-post. In the mean time, my dear, should any thing material happen, you will let me hear from you, which you may assure yourself will always be very agreeable to me. My service to Mrs. D., Mrs. H., and Mrs. K. I heartily wish them joy of their kids, and am glad to hear that our species increases so fast. I am obliged to Mrs. Banks for her kind invitation, and shall not fail to wait upon her with pleasure the next time I come to Hampstead; but I cannot possibly guess when that will be. In the mean time you will present my humble service and thanks. Excuse my

writing so ill, for it is almost dark.

I am,

Your affectionate Brother

and obedient humble Servant,

P. DODDRIDGE.

P. S.-I forgot one very important piece of news; and that is, that I am credibly informed, that I am just going to be married to a mercer's daughter of Hinckley! There are four sisters, and I am pretty intimate with them all, because they are good-natured airy girls, and the only creatures that look like young ladies in the whole congregation. I cannot say how far this report is to be relied upon, because I could not presently guess which of them had been assigned me; and yet it seems I had courted her four months, and matters were concluded on all hands. I beg your pardon for not asking your consent. But, as I have not yet asked hers, I hope it is excusable. When I began I did not think of writing ten lines; but you see my fondness and impertinence have carried me on to the end of the paper, which I hope you will excuse.

TO MR. CLARK.

REV. SIR,

January 28, 1723. It was with a great deal of pleasure that I received your letter of December the 8th. I am very much obliged to you for the tender concern you express for me, and the excellent and seasonable advice which you give me. May I always so digest and retain it, as ever to carry about with me an humble sense of my own insufficiency, a cheerful dependance upon the assistance of the Divine Grace, and an af

fectionate concern for the glory of my Redeemer, It is and the happiness of my fellow-creatures. true, that my good tutor, whom I shall always respect as one of my best friends, is always ready to give me such cautions and admonitions as he thinks necessary; and then he has that happy art, which so few besides Mr. Jennings and Mr. Clark can pretend to, of giving the plainest and most sincere advice with all the good nature and decorum that one could desire or imagine. However, sir, I hope you will not write the seldomer upon that account. You may sometimes fall into reflections which I have not heard from him; and when it happens otherwise, it will be a pleasure and an advantage to me to observe how exactly you concur in sentiment.

One reason for my answering your letter something sooner, perhaps, than I should otherwise have done, is to transmit to you the following bill, which I received from Mr. Jennings presently after Christmas : To Christmas, 1722; half a year's board and tuition, eight pounds ten shillings; Spanheim's Elenchus, five shillings and three-pence, exchange of a Hebrew Bible, four shillings and sixpence: Dupin's Ecclesiastical History, ten shillings and sixpence; for a Gown*, one pound fourteen shillings and twopence;

The gown worn by the Nonconformist ministers of that period was frequently of a dark blue; a colour chosen from its being that of the cloak used in the costume of Geneva: a city so long a place of refuge to the reformers that it may be termed the cradle of the protestant faith.

One of the family pictures represents Dr. Doddridge as wearing a gown of this sort, a flowing wig, and bands a little wavy. The last

in money, three pounds three shillings; in all fourteen pounds seven shillings and five-pence, payable to Mr. Clark of London. The books are such as we read in our course; and which Mr. Jennings thought proper to provide for us himself. My old Hebrew Bible was in a very scurvy condition, as it had been used as a school-book before it came into my hands. In some places it was hardly legible, and therefore I dare say you will not blame my parting with it. Mr. Jennings himself set the price of the exchange, and I think it was reasonable enough. My gown had lasted me two years, and had been turned and mended several times, and was at first but an ordinary calimanco of eighteenpence a yard, so that it was very necessary to have another. I am not aware of any considerable expense that could have been retrenched. I have always endeavoured to avoid every thing that looks like extravagance; and you may depend upon it shall continue to do so. I shall be obliged to be pretty often abroad this half year: but I have some friends in the congregation who will sometimes accommodate me with their horses; and I hope that most of my journeys will pay their own charges. Last Thursday class-fellow, Mr. Some, and I were examined by

my

circumstance may be considered a token of liberality, as a want of starch might then be said to indicate a lack of high orthodoxy! a phrase, by the by, as synonymous with intolerance as opposed to genuine Christianity.

In the simplicity of modern days, dissenting pastors have very generally thrown aside gowns of every sort, although their decorous effect is self-evident; and these gentlemen have scrupulously retained the black clerical garb of the olden time.