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will never do to let an idle fellow be sitting still and brewing mischief.

Jack Idle resolved to go no more to sea, and he got amongst all the profligate wretches and thieves in London. He lived by robbery and plunder. He had no settled home, for his fears of being seized and imprisoned prevented him from staying long in a place. His lodging was generally in some miserable garret in one of the worst streets in London. He had good reason to be afraid, for it seldom happens that such characters go on long together without having their wickedness found out. And besides the terror of being seized and brought to justice, he has all the fears and horrors of a guilty conscience harassing and tearing his soul. If you could look into his miserable garret, you would see that he had bolted and double bolted his door, and barricadoed it besides with planks, for fear. that any body should surprise him and seize him. And yet, notwithstanding all this, the least noise terrifies and alarms him. He tries to drive away his fears by drinking, as you may see by the bottle of gin and the glass by the side of the miserable bed, and a porter pot and a pipe lying on the floor at another part of the room. But all this

does not answer. A cat happened to fall down the ruined chimney and brought down some loose bricks with him; and this accident fills the wretched man with the greatest horrors. He starts from his bed, his hair stands on end, his teeth chatter, and every sign of a tortured mind is to be seen in his face. If you look at the picture, you may see a rat running away at the sight of the cat; and this gives us another notion of the miserable place he was in. On the bed are seen watches which he has stolen, and on the floor are pistols which shew his dreadful trade. We can begin now to see what this miserable course will lead to;-for wickedness never prospers. Such horrid crimes generally lead to

punishment and a wretched end even in this world; and are the sure way to everlasting ruin in the next. But we must wait till another chapter to see what became of this wicked youth, who began by being an idle apprentice, and not regarding the advice of those who would have been his real friends.

PART VIII.

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We have seen that whilst the Idle Apprentice was going on fast in the road to ruin, the industrious one was receiving the fruits of his good conduct; that he became a wealthy and prosperous tradesman. He was then raised to the dignity of Sheriff of London, and was respected by every body that knew him. He then became an Alderman; and in that situation it belonged to his office to act as a Magistrate.-And here a very distressing circumstance occurred to him.-A man is brought to him, strongly handcuffed, charged with the • crimes of robbery and murder. The wretched man is brought to the bar, and you might see all the marks of conscious guilt imprinted on his countenance. He seems full of misery, trembling with agony; and would not be able to support himself, if he had not the bar to rest on. The Alderman on looking up at this miserable man, sees at once that No. 9.-VOL. VI. T

it is the companion of his youth, the idle apprentice. He is filled with distress at such a sight, and turns away his face to conceal the affliction which he feels. The poor mother of the idle apprentice is there, and she tries to persuade the constable to exert himself in behalf of her unhappy son.-But this is impossible. A number of watchmen are present, and one of them holds up a sword and a pair of pistols, which had been found upon the culprit's person. The evidence against him is so strong that he is sent to Newgate as a prisoner. The principal witness against him was one of his own friends, a miserable wretch who had been his companion when he first began his wicked courses; -the very same that we saw playing with him on a tomb stone in the church-yard. He was the partaker of his crimes, and now he is the means of leading him to his death. "There is no friendship among the wicked:"-they are made the instruments of punishing one another. It is however the judgment of Providence that brings the wicked to punishment. Let this thought teach us all to fly from sin; it leads to misery and punishment in this world and in the next.

PART IX.

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We have seen Jack Idle going on in every thing that is wicked and bad. He never tried to gain

instruction; he never listened to any advice; if there was any bad company to be found, he was always trying to get into the midst of it; if there was any place at hand where he might have learned what was good, he was sure to avoid it. Instead of going into the church on Sundays when he was a boy, he would be playing in the church-yard. He got to gambling, and this led to stealing, and then he grew savage and furious, and at length he committed murder; so surely does one crime lead on to another. And they who forget God, are left to their own wicked imaginations, and these will surely lead them on to their ruin. Jack Idle went on from bad to worse, till, at last, he came to the GALLOWS.

Thus we see that idleness is the way to misery and to ruin. And when we think of the horrid state of a man who has despised all religion, never thought of his God or of his Saviour, and never once looked for God's grace to teach him to be good, and never wished or tried to act in the way that God commands, we cannot help seeing what a dreadful state of preparation he must be in to meet his Redeemer whom he has despised, who is now the Judge before whom he must be tried. May God, of his great mercy, open the hearts of all of us to see the blessing and the happiness of taking Him for our guide, and walking in His holy ways! May He teach us, and enable us to obey His holy, will! May He teach us so to look to Christ our Saviour for pardon of our past sins, and for strength for future obedience, that we may live the life of the righteous and die his death, and behold our blessed Saviour not as an angry Judge, but as a merciful advocate who will plead His merits for our salvation, and receive us into that abode of everlasting happiness which he has prepared for all those who are seeking to be followers of Him.

It is a grievous thing that an execution which is

intended to impress the bystanders with solemn awe, and to give them a terror of offending against the laws of their country, should lose any of its benefit, by assuming the appearance of a fair, where there is buying and selling among the crowd, and a great deal that is calculated to produce a wrong feeling. Things, however, we hope, are, in this respect, much better since the time that Hogarth made his picture of the Tyburn fair. There are still, however, in some places, people, who, like the woman in the picture, cry the poor man's last dying speech and confession, which is often printed and ready for sale long before the poor criminal has arrived at the gallows, and therefore long before it can be known what his last speech will be.

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We have seen that young Goodchild went on regularly in the way in which a good and industrious young man ought to go. He attended to his religious duties. When he was at church, he considered what he went for; he joined in the devotions with his mind and thoughts; and the good principles which he got from the knowledge of the Christian religion, led him to an honest and upright

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