Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/73

63 was ſo amuſing to me, that I was glad to paſs the evening with her as often as ſhe deſired it. Our ſupper conſiſted only of half an anchovy a piece, upon a ſlice of bread and butter, with half a pint of ale between us. But the entertainment was in her converſation. The early hours I kept, and the little trouble I occaſioned in the family, made her loth to part with me; and when I mentioned another lodging I had found, nearer the printing-houſe, at two ſhillings a week, which fell in with my plan of ſaving, ſhe perſuaded me to give it up, making herſelf an abatement of two ſhillings: and thus I continued to lodge with her, during the remainder of my abode in London, at eighteen-pence a week.

In a garret of the houſe there lived, in the moſt retired manner, a lady ſeventy years of age, of whom I received the following account from my landlady. She was a Roman Catholic. In her early years ſhe had been ſent to the continent, and entered a convent with the deſign of becoming a nun; but the climate not agreeing with her conſtitution, me was obliged to return to England, where, as there were no monaſteries, ſhe made a vow to lead a monaſtic life, in as rigid a manner as circumſtances would permit. She accordingly diſpoſed of all her property to be applied to charitable uſes, reſerving to herſelf only twelve pounds a yearſ; and of this ſmall pittance ſhe gave a part to the poor, living on water-gruel, and never making uſe of fire but to boil it. She had lived in this garret a great many years, without paying rent to the ſucceſſive Catholic inhabitants that had kept the houſe; who indeed conſidered her abode with them as a bleſſing. A prieſt came every day to confeſs her. I have aſked her, ſaid my landlady, how, living as ſhe did, ſhe could find ſo much employment for a confeſſor? To