Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/136

126 writing, only ſo that purpoſe for which you have given me it, that is, to render you ſome account of Mr. Dutton. I have taken care to examine him ſeveral times in the preſence of Mr. Oxenbridge, as thoſe who weigh and tell over money, before ſome witneſſes e’er they take charge of it; for I thought that there might be poſſibly ſome lightneſs in the coin, or error in the telling, which hereafter I might be bound to make good. Therefore Mr. Oxenbridge is the beſt to make your excellence an impartial relation thereof; I ſhall only ſay, that I ſhall ſtrive according to my beſt underſtanding to increaſe whatſoever talent he may have already. Truly he is of a gentle, and waxen diſpoſition; and, God be praiſed, I cannot ſay that he hath brought with him any evil impreſſion; and I hope to ſet nothing upon his ſpirit, but what ſhall be of a good ſculpture. He hath in him two things, which make youth moſt eaſily to be managed, modeſty, which is the bridle to vice, and emulation, which is the ſpur to virtue. And the care which your excellency is pleaſed to take of him, is no ſmall encouragement, and ſhall be repreſented to him; but above all, I ſhall labour to make him ſenſible of his duty to God, for then we begin to ſerve faithfully, when we conſider that he is our maſter; and in this both he and I owe infinitely to your lordſhip, for having placed in ſo godly a family as that of Mr. Oxenbridge, whoſe doctrine and example are like a book and a map, not only inſtructing the ear, but demonſtrating to the eye which way we ought to travel. I ſhall upon occaſion henceforward inform your excellency of any particularities in our little affairs. I have no more at preſent but to give thanks to God