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 This ceremony was no sooner over, than my uncle proposed they should leave the school, and convoy their old comrade Rory to a public-house, about a mile from the village, where he would treat them all. This offer being joyfully embraced, he dismissed the boys, and locking the door, left the preceptor to console himself, while we moved forwards on our journey, attended by a numerous retinue, whom he treated according to his promise. We parted with many tears, and lay that night at an inn on the road, about ten miles short of the town where I was to reside, at which we arrived next day, and was boarded at he house of an apothenary, who had married a distant relation of my mother. In a few days after, my uncle set out for his ship, after having settled the necessary funds for my maintenance and education.

I now began to consider my precarious situation; that I was utterly abandoned by those whose duty it was to protect me; and that my sole dependance was on the generosity of one man, who was exposed by his profession, to continual dangers, which might one day deprive me of him for ever. I resolved to apply myself with great care to my studies, and enjoy the opportunity in my power: in the space of three years I understood Greek very well, was pretty far advanced in the mathematics, and no stranger to moral and Rh