Chapter XIX: Letter III: THE VICAR--THE CURATE, &c

And telling me the sov'reign'st thing on earth
Was parmacity for an inward bruise.

_Shakspeare._-Henry IV. Part I. Act 1 [Sc. 3, v. 58].

So gentle, yet so brisk, so wond'rous sweet,
So fit to prattle at a lady's feet.

_Churchill_[, _The Author_].

Much are the precious hours of youth mispent
In climbing learning's rugged, steep ascent:
When to the top the bold adventurer's got,
He reigns, vain monarch[, o'er] a barren spot;
[Whilst] in the vale of ignorance below
Folly and vice to rank luxuriance grow;
Honours and wealth pour in on every side,
And proud preferment rolls her golden tide.

_Churchill_[, _The Author_].

_VICAR._

The lately departed Minister of the Borough--His soothing and
supplicatory Manners--His cool and timid Affections--No Praise due
to such negative Virtue--Address to Characters of this Kind--The
Vicar's Employments--His Talents and moderate Ambition--His
Dislike of Innovation--His mild but ineffectual Benevolence--A
Summary of his Character.

_CURATE._

Mode of paying the Borough-Minister--The Curate has no such
Resources--His Learning and Poverty--Erroneous Idea of his
Parent--His Feelings as a Husband and Father--The dutiful
Regard of his numerous Family--His Pleasure as a Writer, how
interrupted--No Resource in the Press--Vulgar Insult--His
Account of a Literary Society, and a Fund for the Relief of
indigent Authors, &c.