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(20) did with the warmeſt thanks; and before another was elapſed, he was become the favourite of every worthy perſon in the neighbourhood; and the ſobriety of his life recommended him ſo far to the clergyman of the place, one of the worthieſt of his function, that he found no obſtacle in the way of his addreſſes to this gentleman’s daughter.

His better fortune made no alteration in his temper; he naturally indeed entered on a ſomewhat more expenſive way of living on his having a wife, but ſhe was as frugal and as prudent as himſelf, and they ſoon calculated a certain ſtandard of expence, ſomething within what their preſent profits would afford, and determined to ſave a little from that till their increaſe of trade ſhould enable them in the ſucceeding years to ſpend more, without being more extravagant. It is eaſy to conceive that ſuch a family muſt ſave money yearly; and, in ſhort, the end of the ſecond year ſaw them worth more than from ſuch a capital, and from ſo ſmall beginnings, one would expect.—While this was the life of Curio, his young maſter, whoſe eaſy fortune ſet him above the neceſſity of induſtry, was carrying on the ſame trade in a very different manner.

It is the moſt dangerous of all errors, though too common a one, for a man to imagine he can play with buſineſs, and do what he pleaſes when his affairs are eaſy without it. There is no middle ſtate in the