Page:Beautiful and interesting account of the shepherd of Salisbury Plain.pdf/9

9 chimney; how is it possible you can live there with any family? O it is very possible and very certain too, cried the Shepherd. How many better men have been worse lodged, how many good Christians have perished in prisons and dungeons, in comparison of which my cottage is a palace. The house is very well, Sir, and if the rain did not sometimes beat down upon us, through the thatch, when we are in bed, I should not desire a better, for I have health, peace, and liberty, and no man maketh me afraid.

Are you in any distress at present? said Mr Johnson. No, Sir, thank God, replied the Shepherd. I get my shilling a day, and most of my children will be able to earn something; for we have only three under five years of age. Only? said the gentleman, that is a heavy burden. Not at all: God fits the back to it. Though my wife is not able to do any out-of-door work, yet she breeds up our children to such habits of industry, that our little maids, before