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TAT admiration is the effect of ignorance, is a truth universally confessed; and nothing so rcibly excites the wonder of the illiterate citizen, as "he character of profound erudition. Dazzled by the splendour of literary honours, many an honest parent has prevented his son from acquiring a fortune behind the counter, to see him starve in a pulpit.

These reflections were occasioned by meeting an old friend at a coffee-house, one evening last week. His looks were meagre, his dress shabby, and be sufficiently apologized for the rustiness of his coat, by the following narrative:

My father," said he, after some preliminary conversation, "was a shoemaker of tolerable busi"ness in London; a very honest man, and very "much given to reading godly books, whenever he "could steal a moment from the lapstone and the "last. As I was the only child, he took great delight in me, and used frequently to say, that he hoped in time to see me Archbishop of Canterbury, and no such great matters neither; for as to "my parentage, I was as good as many a one that "bad worn a mitre; and he would make me as good "a scholard too, or it should go hard with him.

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"My destination to the church was thus unal"terably fixed before I was five years old; and in "consequence of it, I was put to a grammar school "in the city, whence, after a thousand perils of the "cane, and perils of the rod, I went to the University

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"on an exhibition of fifteen pounds a year which my "father obtained from one of the citycompanies, with no small difficulty. So scanty an allowance would by no means defray the enormous expense of uni"versity education; and my father, whose pride would not let ine appear meaner than my com panions, very readily agreed to pay me forty pounds "out of the yearly profits of his trade, and to debar "himself many innocent gratifications, in order to "accomplish in me the grand object of all his am

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father's desire, at

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In consequence of my "should complete the full term of academical cation, I did not go into orders till. I was of seren years standing, and had taken the degree of Ma ter of Arts. I was therefore incapable of receiving “any pecuniary emoluments from my studies, till I "was six and twenty. Then, however, I was re"solved to make a bold push, and to free my father "from the burden of supporting me with half the profits of his labours. The old man was eager that I should attempt to get some kind of preferment; "not, as he would generously say, that he wanted to "withdraw his assistance, but that he thought it "was high time to begin to look up at the bishopric.

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"I hastened to London as the most ample field for "the display of my abilities in the acquisition of "money and fame. Soon after my arrival I heard "of a vacant lectureship; and thongh I was an en"tire stranger to every one of the parishioners, I re"solved to trust my cause to honest endeavours, and 66 a sedulous canvass. "an enumeration of the several indignities I sufferI shall not trouble you with "ed, (for I had not lost my university pride) from being under the necessity to address, with the "most abject supplications, chandlers, barbers, and green-grocers. Suffice it to acquaint you, that "myself, and another young clergyman of regular education, appeared, on the day of election, to "have but seventeen votes between us; and that a methodistical enthusiast, who had once been a

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"carpenter, bore away the prize with a majority of "a hundred and twenty.

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"Though disappointed I was not dejected; and I applied to a certain rector for his curacy, the duty "of which consisted in prayers twice a day, a sermon "on Sundays, and innumerable burials, christen"igs, and weddings. I thought myself happy, "however, in being offered forty guineas a year, "without surplus, or surplice fees; but how was I "chagrined on being told by the rector, on the very "first Sunday I went to officiate, that I need not "trouble myself, as another gentleman had undertaken the whole duty at forty pounds.

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"I waited now a considerable time in expectation ? "that something would fall; but heard of nothing "in which there was the least probability of success, unsupported as I was by friends, and unknown to "fame. At last I was informed by an acquaintance that a certain clergyman in the city was about to 'resign his lectureship, and that he would probably resign in my favour, if I were early enough in my "application. I made all the haste I possibly could "to reach this gentleman before his resignation; and * found very little difficulty in persuading him to in"tercede in my favour. In short, his endeavours, joined to my own, secured the lectureship, and I "was unanimously chosen. The electors, however, expressed a desire that I would quit my place of "residence which was at a distance, and live in the parish. To this request I consented, and immediately fixed myself in a decent family, where 1 lodged and boarded for fifty pounds a year; and "as I was not so ambitious as my father, I congra"tulated myself on the happy event, and sat down "contented and satisfied. But alas! how was I "confounded when my collectors brought the an"nual contribution, to find it amount to no more "than an exact sum of twenty-one pounds two shillings and threepence three-farthings! I was under "an immediate necessity of discharging my lodg

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"ings, resigning my preferment, and quietly decamping with the loss of no inconsiderable sum.

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"Thus, sir," said he, "have I now for these "twenty years been tossed about in the world, with"out any fixed residence, and without any certain prospect of my bread. I must not however complain, as 1 am well assured there are many in the metropolis in situations very similar to mine. Yet "sometimes, I own, I cannot help being foolish "enough to imagine that I might perhaps have been happier, and I am sure I could have been richer, "had I been brought up to my paternal awl and last. My poor father died about two years ago, and I "have reason to think his disappointment and sor"row for my ill success hastened his dissolution.

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"I now support myself tolerably well in the capa"city of what the world ludicrously calls, a Hackney Parson. And though I do not get quite so "much as a journeyman shoemaker, I make shift to "keep soul and body together; and I thank God "for that. If, sir, you could recommend me, here is "my address, up four pair of stairs."

He was proceeding, but he had too powerfully excited my sympathy; and after consoling him to the best of my power, I took my leave of him, not without severe reflections on those parents, who, to indulge a childish vanity, bring up their offspring to misery and want. 27 Jul 0