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Beginning Microsoft Power BI: A Practical Guide to Self-Service Data Analytics 3rd Edition Dan Clark download

The document is a guide for using Microsoft Power BI for self-service data analytics, authored by Dan Clark. It covers various topics including data import, data modeling, DAX calculations, report creation, and publishing in Power BI. The third edition provides updated content and practical examples for users to effectively utilize Power BI in their data analysis tasks.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
5 views

Beginning Microsoft Power BI: A Practical Guide to Self-Service Data Analytics 3rd Edition Dan Clark download

The document is a guide for using Microsoft Power BI for self-service data analytics, authored by Dan Clark. It covers various topics including data import, data modeling, DAX calculations, report creation, and publishing in Power BI. The third edition provides updated content and practical examples for users to effectively utilize Power BI in their data analysis tasks.

Uploaded by

lweisccairyab
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Beginning
Microsoft
Power BI
A Practical Guide to
Self-Service Data Analytics

Third Edition

Dan Clark
Beginning Microsoft
Power BI
A Practical Guide to Self-Service
Data Analytics
Third Edition

Dan Clark
Beginning Microsoft Power BI: A Practical Guide to Self-Service Data Analytics
Dan Clark
Camp Hill, PA, USA

ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4842-5619-0 ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4842-5620-6


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-5620-6

Copyright © 2020 by Dan Clark


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The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not
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While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication,
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Table of Contents
About the Author����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ix

About the Technical Reviewer��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xi


Acknowledgments������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xiii

Introduction�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xv

Chapter 1: Introducing Power BI������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 1


Why Use Power BI?����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1
The xVelocity In-Memory Analytics Engine����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 3
Setting Up the Power BI Environment������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 4
Exploring the Power BI Desktop Interface������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 6
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 20

Chapter 2: Importing Data into Power BI Desktop�������������������������������������������������� 21


Importing Data from Relational Databases��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 21
Importing Data from Text Files���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 35
Importing Data from a Data Feed������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 38
Importing Data from Analysis Services��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 40
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 46

Chapter 3: Data Munging with Power Query���������������������������������������������������������� 47


Discovering and Importing Data�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 47
Transforming, Cleansing, and Filtering Data������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 52
Merging Data������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 58
Appending Data��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 62
Splitting Data������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 62
Unpivoting Data��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 63

iii
Table of Contents

Grouping and Aggregating Data�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 65


Inserting Calculated Columns����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 66
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 75

Chapter 4: Creating the Data Model������������������������������������������������������������������������ 77


What Is a Data Model?���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 77
Creating Table Relations������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 80
Creating a Star Schema�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 86
Understanding When to Denormalize the Data��������������������������������������������������������������������������� 87
Making a User-Friendly Model���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 89
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 104

Chapter 5: Creating Calculations with DAX���������������������������������������������������������� 105


What Is DAX?����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 105
Implementing DAX Operators���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 109
Working with Text Functions����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 112
Using DAX Date and Time Functions����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 113
Using Informational and Logical Functions������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 115
Getting Data from Related Tables���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 117
Using Math, Trig, and Statistical Functions������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 119
Tips for Creating Calculations in Power BI�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 121
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 125

Chapter 6: Creating Measures with DAX��������������������������������������������������������������� 127


Measures vs. Attributes������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 127
Creating Common Aggregates�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 129
Mastering Data Context������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 132
Altering the Query Context�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 134
Using Filter Functions��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 135
Using Variables in DAX�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 143
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 150

iv
Table of Contents

Chapter 7: Incorporating Time Intelligence���������������������������������������������������������� 151


Date-Based Analysis����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 151
Creating a Date Table���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 153
Time Period–Based Evaluations������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 156
Shifting the Date Context���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 158
Using Single Date Functions����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 161
Creating Semi-additive Measures��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 163
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 171

Chapter 8: Creating Reports with Power BI Desktop�������������������������������������������� 173


Creating Tables and Matrices���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 173
Constructing Bar, Column, and Pie Charts�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 179
Building Line and Scatter Charts���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 187
Creating Map-Based Visualizations������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 191
Linking Visualizations in Power BI�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 196
Drilling Through Visualizations�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 201
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 209

Chapter 9: Publishing Reports and Creating Dashboards in the Power


BI Portal���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 211
Creating a User-Friendly Model������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 211
Publishing Power BI Desktop Files to the Power BI Service����������������������������������������������������� 214
Adding Tiles to a Dashboard����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 218
Sharing Dashboards������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 225
Refreshing Data in Published Reports�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 228
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 245

Chapter 10: Introducing Power Pivot in Excel������������������������������������������������������ 247


Setting Up the Power Pivot Environment���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 248
Getting, Cleaning, and Shaping Data����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 251
Creating Table Relationships����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 258

v
Table of Contents

Adding Calculations and Measures������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 263


Incorporating Time-Based Analysis������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 266
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 276

Chapter 11: Data Analysis with Pivot Tables and Charts�������������������������������������� 277
Pivot Table Fundamentals��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 278
Slicing the Data������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 280
Adding Visualizations to a Pivot Table��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 284
Working with Pivot Charts��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 288
Using Multiple Charts and Tables���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 291
Using Cube Functions��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 294
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 304

Chapter 12: Creating a Complete Solution������������������������������������������������������������ 305


Use Case 1: Sales Quota Analysis��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 305
Use Case 2: Reseller Sales Analysis������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 316
Use Case 3: Sensor Analysis����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 329
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 332

Chapter 13: Advanced Topics in Power Query������������������������������������������������������ 335


Writing Queries with M������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 335
Creating and Using Parameters������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 339
Creating and Using Functions��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 344
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 354

Chapter 14: Advanced Topics in Power BI Desktop���������������������������������������������� 355


Using Custom Visuals���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 355
Implementing Geospatial Analysis�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 358
Implementing Row-Based Security������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 361
Creating Templates and Content Packs������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 363
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 375

vi
Table of Contents

Chapter 15: Advanced Topics in Power BI Data Modeling������������������������������������ 377


Direct Queries��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 377
Using Aggregation Tables���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 378
Implementing Dataflows����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 384
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 402

Index��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 403

vii
About the Author
Dan Clark is a senior business intelligence (BI) and
programming consultant specializing in Microsoft
technologies. He is focused on learning new BI and
data technologies and training others on how to best
implement the technology. Dan has published several
books and numerous articles on .NET programming and BI
development. He is a regular speaker at various developer
and database conferences and user group meetings and
enjoys interacting with the Microsoft communities. In a
previous life, Dan was a physics teacher. He is still inspired by the wonder and awe of
studying the universe and figuring out why things behave the way they do. Dan can be
reached at [email protected].

ix
About the Technical Reviewer
Al MacKinnon is a principal customer success manager with
CDW, focusing on Microsoft Cloud solutions with customers
in the Mid-Atlantic region. He has a long background in IT,
including 10 years with Microsoft. That experience includes
technical training, consulting, project management,
solutions architecture, and course development. He’s
held numerous certifications from Novell, Microsoft, and
CompTIA and has been a CISSP since 2003. He gets the most
satisfaction from helping organizations map technology to
business goals and challenges. Al is supported by his wife of
over 30 years, and, when not working, he often discusses our place in the universe with
the author. Finally, he’s gratified that his BA in English is finally starting to pay off.

xi
Acknowledgments
Once again, thanks to the team at Apress for making the writing of this book an enjoyable
experience. A special thanks goes to my good friend and technical reviewer, Al—thank
you for your attention to detail and excellent suggestions while reviewing this book.

xiii
Introduction
Self-service business intelligence (BI)—you have heard the hype, seen the sales demos,
and are ready to give it a try. Now what? You have probably checked out a few web sites
for examples, given them a try, and learned a thing or two, but you are probably still left
wondering how all the pieces fit together and how you go about creating a complete
solution. If so, this book is for you. It takes you step by step through the process of
analyzing data using the tools that are at the core of Microsoft’s self-service BI offering:
Power Query and Power BI Desktop.
Quite often, you need to take your raw data and transform it in some way before
you load it into the data model. You may need to filter, aggregate, or clean the raw data.
I show you how Power Query allows you to easily transform and refine data before
incorporating it into your data model. Next, I show you how to create robust, scalable
data models using Power BI Desktop. Because creating robust Power BI models is
essential to creating self-service BI solutions, I cover it extensively in this book. Next up,
I show you how to use Power BI Desktop to easily build interactive visualizations that
allow you to explore your data to discover trends and gain insight. Finally, I show you
how to deploy your solution to the Power BI Service for your colleagues to use.
I strongly believe that one of the most important aspects of learning is doing. You
can’t learn how to ride a bike without jumping on a bike, and you can’t learn to use the
BI tools without actually interacting with them. Any successful training program includes
both theory and hands-on activities. For this reason, I have included a hands-on activity
at the end of every chapter designed to solidify the concepts covered in the chapter.
I encourage you to work through these activities diligently. It is well worth the effort.
As you start working with Power BI, you will soon realize it is constantly evolving (for
the better). Every month there is an update to Power BI Desktop that introduces new
features and changes to the interface. For this reason, some of the screenshots may not
look exactly like the current version of Power BI. They will be, however, close enough to
figure out what has changed.
Good luck on your journey, and don’t hesitate to provide feedback and suggestions
for improving the experience!

xv
CHAPTER 1

Introducing Power BI
The core of Microsoft’s self-service business intelligence (BI) toolset is the Power BI
data engine (also known as Power Pivot). It is integrated into both Power BI Desktop
and Excel (2010 and later) and forms the foundation on top of which you will build your
analytical reports and dashboards. This chapter provides you with some background
information on why Power BI is such an important tool and what makes it perform so
well. The chapter also provides you with an overview of the Power BI Desktop interface
and gives you some experience using the different areas of the interface.
After reading this chapter, you will be familiar with the following:
• Why you should use Power Pivot
• The xVelocity in-memory analytics engine
• Exploring the Power BI Desktop interface
• Analyzing data in a Power BI report

Why Use Power BI?


You may have been involved in a traditional BI project consisting of a centralized data
warehouse where the various data stores of the organization are loaded, scrubbed,
and then moved to an online analytical processing (OLAP) database for reporting and
analysis. Some goals of this approach are to create a data repository for historical data,
create one version of the truth, reduce silos of data, clean the company data and make
sure it conforms to standards, and provide insight into data trends through dashboards.
Although these are admirable goals and are great reasons to provide a centralized
data warehouse, there are some downsides to this approach. The most notable is the
complexity of building the system and implementing change. Ask anyone who has tried
to get new fields or measures added to an enterprise-wide data warehouse. Typically,
this is a long, drawn-out process requiring IT involvement along with data steward
committee reviews, development, and testing cycles.
1
© Dan Clark 2020
D. Clark, Beginning Microsoft Power BI, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-5620-6_1
Chapter 1 Introducing Power BI

What is needed is a solution that allows for agile data analysis without so much
reliance on IT and formalized processes. To solve these problems, many business analysts
have used Excel to create pivot tables and perform ad hoc analysis on sets of data gleaned
from various data sources. Some problems with using isolated Excel workbooks for
analysis are conflicting versions of the truth, silos of data, and data security.
So how can you solve this dilemma of the centralized data warehouse being too rigid
while the Excel solution is too loose? This is where Microsoft’s self-service BI toolset
comes in. These tools do not replace your centralized data warehouse solution but rather
augment it to promote agile data analysis. Using Power BI, you can pull data from the
data warehouse, extend it with other sources of data such as text files or web data feeds,
build custom measures, and analyze the data using powerful visuals to gain insight into
the data. You can create quick proofs of concepts that can be easily promoted to become
part of the enterprise-wide solution. Power BI also promotes one-off data analysis
projects without the overhead of a drawn-out development cycle. When combined
with the Power BI Service portal, reports and dashboards can be shared, secured, and
managed. This goes a long way to satisfying IT’s need for governance without impeding
the business user’s need for agility.
Here are some of the benefits of Power BI:
• Power BI Desktop is a free tool for creating reports.
• Easily integrates data from a variety of sources.
• Handles large amounts of data, upward of tens to hundreds of
millions of rows.
• Includes a powerful Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) language.
• Has data in the model that is read-only, which increases security and
integrity.
When Power BI reports are hosted in the Power BI Service portal, some added
benefits are
• Enables sharing and collaboration
• Scheduling and automation of data refresh
• Can audit changes through version management
• Can secure users for read-only and updateable access
Now that you know some of the benefits of Power BI, let’s see what makes it tick.

2
Chapter 1 Introducing Power BI

The xVelocity In-Memory Analytics Engine


The special sauce behind Power BI is the xVelocity in-memory analytics engine (yes,
that is really the name). xVelocity allows Power BI to provide fast performance on large
amounts of data. One of the keys to this is it uses a columnar database to store the data.
Traditional row-based data storage stores all the data in the row together and is efficient
at retrieving and updating data based on the row key, for example, updating or retrieving
an order based on an order ID. This is great for the order-entry system but not so great
when you want to perform analysis on historical orders (say you want to look at trends
for the past year to determine how products are selling, for example). Row-based storage
also takes up more space by repeating values for each row; if you have a large number
of customers, common names like John or Smith are repeated many times. A columnar
database stores only the distinct values for each column and then stores the row as a
set of pointers back to the column values. This built-in indexing saves a lot of space and
allows for significant optimization when coupled with data-compression techniques that
are built into the xVelocity engine. It also means that data aggregations (like those used
in typical data analysis) of the column values are extremely fast.
Another benefit provided by the xVelocity engine is the in-memory analytics. Most
processing bottlenecks associated with querying data occur when data is read from or
written to a disk. With in-memory analytics, the data is loaded into the RAM memory of
the computer and then queried. This results in much faster processing times and limits
the need to store preaggregated values on disk. This advantage is especially apparent
when you move from 32-bit to 64-bit operating systems and applications, which are the
norm these days.
Another benefit worth mentioning is the tabular structure of the Power BI data
model. The model consists of tables and table relationships. This tabular model
is familiar to most business analysts and database developers. Traditional OLAP
databases such as SQL Server Analysis Server (SSAS) present the data model as
a three-­dimensional cube structure that is difficult to work with and requires a
complex query language called Multidimensional Expressions (MDX). I find that in
most cases (but not all), it is easier to work with tabular models and DAX than OLAP
cubes and MDX.

3
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
PERSEVERANCE AGAINST FORTUNE.—A Story.

Theodore was a boy of lively parts and engaging manners; but he


had the failing of being extremely impatient in his temper and
inclined to extremes. He was ardent in all his pursuits, but could
bear no disappointment; and if the least thing went wrong, he threw
up what he was about in a pet, and could not be prevailed upon to
resume it. His father, Mr. Carleton, had given him a bed in the
garden, which he had cultivated with great delight. The borders
were set with double daisies of different colours, next to which was
a row of auriculas and polyanthuses. Beyond were stocks and other
taller flowers and shrubs; and a beautiful damask rose graced the
centre. This rose was just budding, and Theodore watched its daily
progress with great interest. One unfortunate day, the door of the
garden being left open, a drove of pigs entered, and began to riot
on the herbs and flowers. An alarm being sounded, Theodore and
the servant-boy rushed upon them, smacking their whips. The whole
herd, in affright, took their course across Theodore’s flower-bed, on
which some of them had before been grazing. Stocks, daisies, and
auriculas were all trampled down or torn up; and, what was worst of
all, a large old sow ran directly over the beautiful rose-tree, and
broke off its stem level with the ground. When Theodore came up
and beheld all the mischief, and especially his favourite rose strewed
on the soil, rage and grief choked his utterance. After standing a
while the picture of despair, he snatched up a spade that stood near,
and with furious haste dug over the whole bed, and whelmed all the
relics of his flowers deep under the soil. This exertion being ended,
he burst into tears, and silently left the garden.
His father, who had beheld the scene at a distance, though
somewhat diverted at the boy’s childish violence, yet began seriously
to reflect on the future consequences of such a temper, if suffered to
grow up without restraint. He said nothing to him at the time, but in
the afternoon he took a walk with him into a neighbouring parish.
There was a large wild common, and at the skirts of it a neat
farmhouse with fields lying round it, all well fenced, and cultivated in
the best manner. The air was sweetened with the bean-flower and
clover. An orchard of fine young fruit-trees lay behind the house and
before it a little garden, gay with all the flowers of the season. A
stand of beehives was on the southern side, sheltered by a thick
hedge of honeysuckle and sweet-brier. The farmyard was stocked
with pigs and poultry. A herd of cows with full udders was just
coming home to be milked. Everything wore the aspect of plenty and
good management. The charms of the scene struck Theodore very
forcibly, and he expressed his pleasure in the warmest terms. “This
place,” said his father, “belongs to a man who is the greatest
example I know of patient fortitude bearing up against misfortune;
and all that you see is the reward of his own perseverance. I am a
little acquainted with him; and we will go in and beg a draught of
milk, and try if we can prevail upon him to tell us his story.”
Theodore willingly accompanied his father. They were received by
the farmer with cordial frankness. After they were seated, “Mr.
Hardman,” says Mr. Carleton, “I have often heard part of your
adventures, but never had a regular account of the whole. If you will
favour me and my little boy with the story of them, we shall think
ourselves much obliged to you.”—“Lacka-day! sir,” said he, “there’s
little in them worth telling of, as far as I know. I have had my ups
and downs in the world, to be sure, but so have many men besides.
However, if you wish to hear about them, they are at your service;
and I can’t say but it gives me pleasure sometimes to talk over old
matters, and think how much better things have turned out than
might have been expected.”—“Now I am of opinion,” said Mr.
Carleton, “that from your spirit and perseverance a good conclusion
might always have been expected.”—“You are pleased to
compliment, sir,” replied the farmer; “but I will begin without more
words:—
“You may perhaps have heard that my father was a man of good
estate. He thought of nothing, poor man! but how to spend it; and
he had the uncommon luck to spend it twice over. For when he was
obliged to sell it the first time, it was bought in by a relation, who
left it him by his will. But my poor father was not a man to take
warning. He fell to living as he had done before, and just made his
estate and his life hold out together. He died at the age of five-and-
forty, and left his family beggars. I believe he would not have taken
to drinking, as he did, had it not been for his impatient temper,
which made him fret and vex himself for every trifle, and then he
had nothing for it but to drown his care in liquor.
“It was my lot to be taken by my mother’s brother, who was master
of a merchant-ship. I served him as an apprentice several years, and
underwent a good deal of the usual hardship of a sailor’s life. He had
just made me his mate in a voyage up the Mediterranean, when we
had the misfortune to be wrecked on the coast of Morocco. The ship
struck at some distance from shore, and we lay a long stormy night
with the waves dashing over us, expecting every moment to perish.
My uncle and several of the crew died of fatigue and want, and by
morning but four of us were left alive. My companions were so
disheartened, that they thought of nothing but submitting to their
fate. For my part I thought life still worth struggling for; and the
weather having become calmer, I persuaded them to join me in
making a kind of raft, by the help of which, with much toil and
danger, we reached the land. Here we were seized by the barbarous
inhabitants, and carried up the country as slaves to the emperor We
were employed about some public buildings, made to work very hard
with the whip at our backs, and allowed nothing but water and a
kind of pulse. I have heard persons talk as if there was little in being
a slave but the name; but they who have been slaves themselves I
am sure will never make light of slavery in others. A ransom was set
on our heads, but so high, that it seemed impossible for poor
friendless creatures like us ever to pay it. The thought of perpetual
servitude, together with the hard treatment we met with, quite
overcame my poor companions. They drooped and died one after
another. I still thought it not impossible to mend my condition, and
perhaps to recover my freedom. We worked about twelve hours in
the day, and had one holyday in the week. I employed my leisure
time in learning to make mats and flag-baskets, in which I soon
became so expert as to have a good many for sale, and thereby got
a little money to purchase better food, and several small
conveniences. We were afterward set to work in the emperor’s
gardens; and here I showed so much good will and attention, that I
got into favour with the overseer. He had a large garden of his own;
and he made interest for me to be suffered to work for him alone,
on the condition of paying a man to do my duty. I soon became so
useful to him, that he treated me more like a hired servant than a
slave, and gave me regular wages. I learned the language of the
country, and I might have passed my time comfortably enough could
I have accommodated myself to their manners and religion, and
forgotten my native land. I saved all I could in order to purchase my
freedom; but the ransom was so high, that I had little prospect of
being able to do it for some years to come. A circumstance,
however, happened which brought it about at once. Some villains
one night laid a plot to murder my master and plunder his house. I
slept in a little shed in the garden where the tools lay; and being
awaked by a noise, I saw four men break through the fence, and
walk up an alley toward the house. I crept out with a spade in my
hand, and silently followed them. They made a hole with
instruments in the house-wall big enough for a man to enter at. Two
of them had got in, and the third was beginning to enter, when I
rushed forward, and with a blow of my spade clove the scull of one
of the robbers, and gave the other such a stroke on the shoulder as
disabled him. I then made a loud outcry to alarm the family. My
master and his son, who lay in the house, got up, and having let me
in, we secured the two others, after a sharp conflict, in which I
received a severe wound with a dagger. My master, who looked upon
me as his preserver, had all possible care taken of me, and as soon
as I was cured made me a present of my liberty. He would fain have
kept me with him, but my mind was so much bent on returning to
my native country, that I immediately set out to the nearest seaport,
and took my passage in a vessel going to Gibraltar.
“From this place I returned in the first ship for England. As soon as
we arrived in the Downs, and I was rejoicing at the sight of the
white cliffs, a man-of-war’s boat came on board, and pressed into
the king’s service all of us who were seamen. I could not but think it
hard that this should be my welcome at home after a long slavery,
but there was no remedy. I resolved to do my duty in my station,
and leave the rest to Providence. I was abroad during the remainder
of the war, and saw many a stout fellow sink under disease and
despondence. My knowledge of seamanship got me promoted to the
post of a petty officer, and at the peace I was paid off, and received
a pretty sum for wages and prize-money. With this I set off for
London. I had experienced too much distress from want to be
inclined to squander away my money, so I put it into a banker’s
hands, and began to look out for some new way of life.
“Unfortunately, there were some things of which I had no more
experience than a child, and the tricks of London were among these.
An advertisement offering extraordinary advantages to a partner in a
commercial concern who could bring a small capital, tempted me to
make inquiry about the matter; and I was soon cajoled by a
plausible artful fellow to venture my whole stock in it. The business
was a manufacture, about which I knew nothing at all; but as I was
not afraid of my labour, I set about working as they directed me,
with great diligence, and thought all was going on prosperously. One
morning, on coming to the office, I found my partners decamped;
and the same day I was arrested for a considerable sum due by the
partnership. It was in vain for me to think of getting bail, so I was
obliged to go to prison. Here I should have been half starved, but for
my Moorish trade of matmaking, by the help of which I bettered my
condition for some months; when the creditors, finding that nothing
could be got out of me, suffered me to be set at liberty.
“I was now in the wide world without a farthing or a friend, but I,
thank God, had limbs and health left.
“I did not choose to trust the sea again, but preferred my other new
trade of gardening; so I applied to a nurseryman near town, and
was received as a day-labourer. I set myself cheerfully at work,
taking care to be in the grounds the first man in the morning, and
the last at night. I acquainted my employer with all the practices I
had observed in Morocco, and got him, in return, to instruct me in
his own. In time, I came to be considered as a skilful workman, and
was advanced to higher wages. My affairs were in a flourishing
state. I was well fed, and comfortably lodged, and saved money into
the bargain. About this time I fell in company with a young woman
at service, very notable and well behaved, who seemed well
qualified for a wife to a working-man. I ventured to make an offer to
her, which proved not disagreeable; and after we had calculated a
little how we were to live, we married. I took a cottage with an acre
or two of land to it, and my wife’s saving furnished our house, and
bought a cow. All my leisure time I spent upon my piece of ground,
which I made very productive, and the profits of my cow, with my
wages, supported us very well. No mortal, I think, could be happier
than I was after a hard day’s work, by my own fireside, with my wife
beside me, and our little infant on my knee.
“After this way of life had lasted two or three years, a gentleman
who had dealt largely with my master for young plants, asked him if
he could recommend an honest industrious man for a tenant, upon
some land that he had lately taken in from the sea. My master,
willing to do me a kindness, mentioned me. I was tempted by the
proposal, and going down to view the premises, I took a farm upon
a lease at a low rent, and removed my family and goods to it, one
hundred and fifty miles from London. There was ground enough for
money, but much was left to be done for it in draining, manuring,
and fencing. Then it required more stock than I was able to furnish;
so, though unwilling, I was obliged to borrow some money of my
landlord, who let me have it at a moderate interest. I began with a
good heart, and worked late and early to put things into the best
condition. My first misfortune was that the place proved unhealthy to
us. I fell into a lingering ague, which pulled me down much, and
hindered my business. My wife got a slow fever, and so did our
eldest child (we had now two.) The poor child died; and what with
grief and illness, my wife had much ado to recover. Then the rot got
among my sheep, and carried off the best part of my stock. I bore
up against distress as well as I could; and by the kindness of my
landlord, was enabled to bring things tolerably about again. We
regained our health, and began to be seasoned to the climate. As
we were cheering ourselves with the prospect of better times, a
dreadful storm arose—it was one night in February—I shall never
forget it—and drove the spring tide with such fury against our sea-
banks, that they gave way. The water rushed in with such force, that
all was presently a sea. Two hours before daylight I was awakened
by the noise of the waves dashing against our house, and bursting in
at the door. My wife and I and the two children (the younger but
four weeks old) slept on a ground floor. We had just time to carry
the children up stairs, before all was afloat in the room. When day
appeared, we could see nothing from the windows but water. All the
outhouses, ricks, and utensils were swept away, and all the cattle
and sheep drowned. The sea kept rising, and the force of the
current bore so hard against our house, that we thought every
moment it must fall. We clasped our babies to our breasts, and
expected nothing but present death. At length, we spied a boat
coming to us. With a good deal of difficulty it got under our window,
and took us in with a servant-maid and boy. A few clothes was all
the property we saved; and we had not left the house half an hour,
before it fell, and in a minute nothing was to be seen of it. Not only
the farmhouse, but the farm itself was gone.
“I was now again a ruined man, and, what was worse, I had three
partners in my ruin. My wife and I looked at one another, and then
at our little ones, and wept. Neither of us had a word of comfort to
say. At last, thought I, this country is not Morocco, however. Here
are good souls that will pity our case, and perhaps relieve us. Then I
have a character, and a pair of hands. Things are bad but they might
have been worse. I took my wife by the hand, and knelt down. She
did the same. I thanked God for his mercy in saving our lives, and
prayed that he would continue to protect us. We rose up with
lightened hearts, and were able to talk calmly about our condition. It
was my desire to return to my former master, the nurseryman; but
how to convey my family so far without money was the difficulty.
Indeed I was much worse than nothing, for I owed a good deal to
my landlord. He came down upon the news of the misfortune, and
though his own losses were heavy, he not only forgave my debt and
released me from all obligations, but made me a small present.
Some charitable neighbours did the like; but I was most of all
affected by the kindness of our late maid-servant, who insisted upon
our accepting of a crown which she had saved out of her wages.
Poor soul! we had always treated her like one of ourselves, and she
felt for us like one.
“As soon as we had got some necessaries, and the weather was
tolerable, we set out on our long march. My wife carried her infant in
her arms. I took the bigger child on my back, and a bundle of
clothes in my hand. We could walk but a few miles a day, but we
now and then got a lift in an empty wagon or cart, which was a
great help to us. One day we met with a farmer returning with his
team from market, who let me ride, and entered into conversation
with me. I told him of my adventures, by which he seemed much
interested; and learning that I was skilled in managing trees, he
acquainted me that a nobleman in his neighbourhood was making
great plantations, and would very likely be glad to engage me; and
he offered to carry us to the place. As all I was seeking was a living
by my labour, I thought the sooner I got it the better; so I thankfully
accepted his offer. He took us to the nobleman’s steward, and made
known our case. The steward wrote to my old master for a
character; and receiving a favourable one, he hired me as a principal
manager of a new plantation, and settled me and my family in a
snug cottage near it. He advanced us somewhat for furniture and
present subsistence, and we had once more a home. O sir! how
many blessings are contained in that word to those who have known
the want of it!
“I entered upon my new employment with as much satisfaction as if
I was taking possession of an estate. My wife had enough to do in
taking care of the house and children; so it lay with me to provide
for all, and I may say that I was not idle. Besides my weekly pay
from the steward, I contrived to make a little money at leisure times
by pruning and dressing gentlemen’s fruit-trees. I was allowed a
piece of waste ground behind the house for a garden, and I spent a
good deal of labour in bringing it into order. My old master sent me
down for a present some choice young trees and flower-roots, which
I planted, and they throve wonderfully. Things went on almost as
well as I could desire. The situation being dry and healthy, my wife
recovered her lost bloom, and the children sprung up like my plants.
I began to hope that I was almost out of the reach of further
misfortune; but it was not so ordered.
“I had been three years in this situation, and increased my family
with another child, when my lord died. He was succeeded by a very
dissipated young man, deep in debt, who presently put a stop to the
planting and improving of the estate, and sent orders to turn off all
the workmen. This was a great blow to me; however, I still hoped to
be allowed to keep my little house and garden, and I thought I could
then maintain myself as a nurseryman and gardener. But a new
steward was sent down, with directions to rack the tenants to the
utmost. He asked me as much rent for the place as if I had found
the garden ready made to my hands; and when I told him it was
impossible for me to pay it, he gave me notice to quit immediately.
He would neither suffer me to take away my trees and plants, nor
allow me anything for them. His view, I found, was to put in a
favourite of his own, and set him up at my expense. I remonstrated
against this cruel injustice, but could obtain nothing but hard words.
As I saw it would be the ruin of me to be turned out in that manner,
I determined, rather hastily, to go up to London, and plead my cause
with my new lord. I took a sorrowful leave of my family, and walking
to the next market-town, I got a place on the outside of the stage-
coach. When we were within thirty or forty miles of London, the
coachman overturned the carriage, and I pitched directly on my
head, and was taken up senseless. Nobody knew anything about
me; so I was carried to the next village, where the overseer had me
taken to the parish workhouse. Here I lay a fortnight, much
neglected, before I came to my senses. As soon as I became
sensible of my condition, I was almost distracted in thinking of the
distress of my poor wife, who was near lying-in, must be under on
my account, not hearing anything of me. I lay another fortnight
before I was fit to travel, for besides the hurt on my head, I had a
broken collarbone, and several bruises.
“My money had somehow all got out of my pocket, and I had no
other means of getting away than by being passed to my own
parish. I returned in sad plight, indeed, and found my wife very ill in
bed. My children were crying about her, and almost starving. We
should now have been quite lost, had I not raised a little money by
selling our furniture; for I was yet unable to work. As soon as my
wife was somewhat recovered, we were forced to quit our house. I
cried like a child on leaving my blooming garden and flourishing
plantations, and was almost tempted to demolish them, rather than
that another should unjustly reap the fruit of my labours. But I
checked myself and I am glad that I did. We took lodgings in a
neighbouring village, and I went round among the gentlemen of the
country to see if I could get a little employment. In the meantime,
the former steward came down to settle accounts with his successor,
and was much concerned to find me in such a situation. He was a
very able and honest man, and had been engaged by another
nobleman to superintend a large improvable estate, in a distant part
of the kingdom. He told me, if I would try my fortune with him once
more he would endeavour to procure me a new settlement. I had
nothing to lose, and, therefore, was willing enough to run any
hazard, but I was destitute of means to convey my family to such a
distance. My good friend, who was much provoked at the injustice of
the new steward, said so much to him, that he brought him to make
me an allowance for my garden; and with that I was enabled to
make another removal. It was to the place I now inhabit.
“When I came here, sir, all this farm was a naked common like that
you crossed in coming. My lord got an enclosure-bill for his part of it,
and the steward divided it into different farms, and let it on
improving leases to several tenants. A dreary spot to be sure it
looked at first, enough to sink a man’s heart to sit down upon it. I
had a little unfinished cottage given me to live in; and as I had
nothing to stock a farm, I was for some years employed as head
labourer and planter about the new enclosures. By very hard
working and saving, together with a little help, I was at length
enabled to take a small part of the ground I now occupy. I had
various discouragements, from bad seasons and other accidents.
One year the distemper carried off four out of seven cows that I
kept; another year I lost two of my best horses. A high wind once
almost entirely destroyed an orchard I had just planted, and blew
down my biggest barn. But I was too much used to misfortunes to
be easily disheartened, and my way always was to set about
repairing them in the best manner I could, and leave the rest to
Heaven. This method seems to have answered at last. I have now
gone on many years in a course of continued prosperity, adding field
to field, increasing my stock, and bringing up a numerous family
with credit. My dear wife, who was my faithful partner through so
much distress, continues to share my prosperous state; and few
couples in the kingdom, I believe, have more cause to be thankful
for their lot. This, sir, is my history. You see it contains nothing very
extraordinary; but if it impresses on the mind of this young
gentleman the maxim that patience and perseverance will scarcely
fail of a good issue in the end, the time you have spent in listening
to it will not entirely be lost.”
Mr. Carleton thanked the good farmer very heartily for the
amusement and instruction he had afforded them, and took leave
with many expressions of regard. Theodore and he walked home,
talking by the way of what they had heard.
Next morning, Mr. C. looking out of the window, saw Theodore hard
at work in his garden. He was carefully disinterring his buried
flowers, trimming and cleaning them, and planting them anew. He
had got the gardener to cut a slip of the broken rose-tree, and set it
in the middle to give it a chance of growing. By noon everything was
laid smooth and neat, and the bed was well filled. All its splendour,
indeed, was gone for the present, but it seemed in a hopeful way to
revive again. Theodore looked with pleasure over his work; but his
father felt more pleasure in witnessing the first-fruits of Farmer
Hardman’s story.
THE GOLDFINCH AND LINNET.
A gaudy goldfinch, pert and gay,
Hopping blythe from spray to spray,
Full of frolic, full of spring,
With head well plumed and burnished wing,
Spied a sober linnet-hen,
Sitting all alone,
And bowed and chirped, and bowed again;
And with familiar tone
He thus the dame addressed
As to her side he closely pressed:—

“I hope, my dear, I don’t intrude,


By breaking on your solitude?
But it has always been my passion
To forward pleasant conversation;
And I should be a stupid bird
To pass the fair without a word;
I, who have been for ever noted
To be the sex’s most devoted.
Besides, a damsel unattended,
Left unnoticed and unfriended,
Appears (excuse me) so forlorn,
That I can scarce suppose,
To any she that e’er was born,
‘Twould be the thing she chose.
How happy, then, I’m now at leisure
To wait upon a lady’s pleasure;
And all this morn have nought to do
But pay my duty, love, to you.

“What, silent!—Ah, those looks demure,


And eyes of langour, make me sure
That in my random idle chatter
I quite mistook the matter!
It is not spleen or contemplation
That draws you to the cover;
But ‘tis some tender assignation;
Well!—who’s the favoured lover?
I met hard by, in quaker suit,
A youth sedately grave and mute;
And from the maxim, like to like,
Perhaps the sober youth might strike:
Yes, yes, ‘tis he, I’ll lay my life,
Who hopes to get you for his wife
Who hopes to get you for his wife.

“But come, my dear, I know you’re wise,


Compare and judge, and use your eyes;
No female yet could e’er behold
The lustre of my red and gold,
My ivory bill and jetty crest,
But all was done, and I was blest.
Come, brighten up and act with spirit,
And take the fortune that you merit.”

He ceased—Linnetta thus replied,


With cool contempt and decent pride:—
“’Tis pity, sir, a youth so sweet,
In form and manners so complete,
Should do an humble maid the honour
To waste his precious time upon her.
A poor forsaken she, you know,
Can do no credit to a beau;
And worse would be the case
If meeting one whose faith was plighted,
He should incur the sad disgrace
Of being slighted.

“Now, sir, the sober-suited youth.


Whom you were pleased to mention,
To those small merits, sense and truth,
And generous love, has some pretension;
And then, to give him all his due,
He sings, sir, full as well as you,
And sometimes can be silent too.
In short, my taste is so perverse,
And such my wayward fate,
That it would be my greatest curse
To have a coxcomb to my mate.”
This said, away she scuds,
And leaves Beau Goldfinch in the suds.
The Wanderer’s Return, p. 304.

EVENING XXV.
THE PRICE OF A VICTORY.

“Good news! great news! glorious news!” cried young Oswald, as he


entered his father’s house. “We have got a complete victory, and
have killed I don’t know how many thousands of the enemy; and we
are to have bonfires and illuminations!”
“And so,” said his father, “you think that killing a great many
thousands of human creatures is a thing to be very glad about?”
Oswald. No—I do not quite think so, neither: but surely it is right to
be glad that our country has gained a great advantage.
Father. No doubt, it is right to wish well to our country, as far as its
prosperity can be promoted without injuring the rest of mankind. But
wars are very seldom to the real advantage of any nation; and when
they are ever so useful or necessary, so many dreadful evils attend
them, that a humane man will scarcely rejoice in them, if he
considers at all on the subject.
Os. But if our enemies would do us a great deal of mischief, and we
prevent it by beating them, have we not a right to be glad of it?
Fa. Alas! we are in general little judges which of the parties has the
most mischievous intentions. Commonly, they are both in the wrong,
and success will make both of them unjust and unreasonable. But
putting this out of the question, he who rejoices in the event of a
battle, rejoices in the misery of many thousands of his species; and
the thought of that should make him pause a little. Suppose a
surgeon were to come with a smiling countenance, and tell us
triumphantly that he had cut off half a dozen legs to day, what
would you think of him?
Os. I should think him very hard-hearted.
Fa. And yet those operations are done for the benefit of the
sufferers, and by their own desire. But in a battle, the probability is,
that none of those engaged on either side have any interest at all in
the cause they are fighting for, and most of them come there
because they cannot help it. In this battle that you are so rejoiced
about, there have been ten thousand men killed on the spot, and
nearly as many wounded.
Os. On both sides?
Fa. Yes—but they are men on both sides. Consider now, that the ten
thousand sent out of the world in this morning’s work, though they
are past feeling themselves, have left probably two persons each, on
an average, to lament their loss, parents, wives, or children. Here
are then twenty thousand people made unhappy, at one stroke on
their account. This, however, is hardly so dreadful to think of, as the
condition of the wounded. At the moment we are talking, eight or
ten thousand more are lying in agony, torn with shot, or gashed with
cuts, their wounds all festering, some hourly to die a most
excruciating death, others to linger in torture weeks and months,
and many doomed to drag on a miserable existence for the rest of
their lives, with diseased and mutilated bodies.
Os. This is shocking to think of, indeed!
Fa. When you light your candles, then, this evening, think what they
cost.
Os. But everybody else is glad, and seems to think nothing of these
things.
Fa. True—they do not think of them. If they did, I cannot suppose
they would be so void of feeling as to enjoy themselves in merriment
when so many of their fellow-creatures are made miserable. Do you
not remember, when poor Dickens had his legs broken to pieces by a
loaded wagon, how all the town pitied him?
Os. Yes, very well. I could not sleep the night after for thinking of
him.
Fa. But here are thousands suffering as much as he, and we scarce
bestow a single thought on them. If any one of these poor creatures
were before our eyes, we should probably feel much more than we
do now for them altogether. Shall I tell you a story of a soldier’s
fortune, that came to my own knowledge?
Os. Yes; pray, do.
Fa. In the village where I went to school, there was an honest
industrious weaver and his wife, who had an only son, named
Walter, just come to man’s estate. Walter was a good and dutiful lad,
and a clever workman, so that he was a great help to his parents.
One unlucky day, having gone to the next market-town with some
work, he met with a companion, who took him to the alehouse and
treated him. As he was coming away, a recruiting sergeant entered
the room, who seeing Walter to be a likely young fellow, had a great
mind to entrap him. He persuaded him to sit down again and take a
glass with him; and kept him in talk with fine stories about a
soldier’s life, till Walter got fuddled before he was aware. The
sergeant then clapped a shilling into his hand to drink his majesty’s
health, and told him he was enlisted. He was kept there all night,
and next morning was taken before a magistrate to be sworn in.
Walter had now become sober, and was very sorry for what he had
done: but he was told that he could not get off without paying a
guinea smart money. This he knew not how to raise; and being
likewise afraid and ashamed to face his friends, he took the oath and
bounty-money, and marched away with the sergeant, without ever
returning home. His poor father and mother, when they heard of the
affair, were almost heart-broken; and a young woman in the village,
who was his sweetheart, had like to have gone distracted. Walter
sent them a line from the first stage, to bid them farewell, and
comfort them. He joined his regiment, which soon embarked for
Germany, where it continued till the peace. Walter once or twice
sent word home of his welfare, but for the last year nothing was
heard of him.
Os. Where was he then?
Fa. You shall hear. One summer’s evening, a man in an old red coat,
hobbling on crutches, was seen to enter the village. His countenance
was pale and sickly, his cheeks hollow, and his whole appearance
bespoke extreme wretchedness. Several people gathered round him,
looking earnestly in his face. Among these a young woman having
gazed at him a while, cried out, “My Walter!” and fainted away.
Walter fell on the ground beside her. His father and mother being
fetched by some of the spectators, came and took him in their arms,
weeping bitterly. I saw the whole scene, and shall never forget it. At
length, the neighbours helped them into the house, where Walter
told them the following story:—
“At the last great battle that our troops gained in Germany, I was
among the first engaged, and received a shot that broke my thigh. I
fell, and presently after our regiment was forced to retreat. A
squadron of the enemy’s horse came galloping down upon us. A
trooper making a blow at me with his sabre as I lay, I lifted up my
arm to save my head, and got a cut which divided all the sinews at
the back of my wrist. Soon after the enemy were driven back, and
came across us again. A horse set his foot on my side, and broke
three of my ribs. The action was long and bloody, and the wounded
on both sides were left on the field all night. A dreadful night it was
to me you may think! I had fainted through loss of blood, and when
I recovered, I was tormented with thirst, and the cold air made my
wounds smart intolerably. About noon next day wagons came to
carry away those who remained alive; and I, with a number of
others, was put into one to be conveyed to the next town. The
motion of the carriage was terrible for my broken bones—every jolt
went to my heart. We were taken to an hospital, which was
crammed as full as it could hold; and we should all have been
suffocated with the heat and stench, had not a fever broke out,
which soon thinned our numbers. I took it, and was twice given
over; however, I struggled through. But my wounds proved so
difficult to heal, that it was almost a twelvemonth before I could be
discharged. A great deal of the bone in my thigh came away in
splinters, and left the limb crooked and useless as you see. I entirely
lost the use of three fingers of my right hand; and my broken ribs
made me spit blood a long time, and have left a cough and difficulty
of breathing, which I believe will bring me to my grave. I was sent
home, and discharged from the army, and I have begged my way
hither as well as I could. I am told that the peace has left the affairs
of my country just as they were before; but who will restore me my
health and limbs? I am put on the list for a Chelsea pensioner, which
will support me, if I live to receive it, without being a burden to my
friends. That is all that remains for Walter now.”
Os. Poor Walter! What became of him afterward?
Father. The wound in his thigh broke out afresh, and discharged
more splinters after a great deal of pain and fever. As winter came
on, his cough increased. He wasted to a skeleton, and died the next
spring. The young woman, his sweetheart, sat up with him every
night to the last; and soon after his death, she fell into a
consumption, and followed him. The old people, deprived of the stay
and comfort of their age, fell into despair and poverty, and were
taken into the workhouse, where they ended their days.
This was the history of Walter the soldier. It has been that of
thousands more; and will be that of many a poor fellow, over whose
fate you are now rejoicing. Such is the price of a victory!
GOOD COMPANY.

“Be sure, Frederick, always keep good company,” was the final
admonition of Mr. Lofty, on dismissing his son to the University.
“I entreat you, Henry, always to choose good company,” said Mr.
Manly, on parting with his son to an apprenticeship in a
neighbouring town.
But it was impossible for two people to mean more differently by the
same words.
In Mr. Lofty’s idea, good company was that of persons superior to
ourselves in rank and fortune. By this alone he estimated it: and the
degrees of comparison, better and best, were made exactly to
correspond to such a scale. Thus, if an esquire was good company, a
baronet was better, and a lord best of all, provided that he was not
a poor lord, for in that case, a rich gentleman might be at least as
good. For as, according to Mr. Lofty’s maxim, the great purpose for
which companions were to be chosen was to advance a young man
in the world by their credit and interest, those were to be preferred
who afforded the best prospects in this respect.
Mr. Manly, on the other hand, understood by good company, that
which was improving to the morals and understanding; and by the
best, that which, to a high degree of these qualities, added true
politeness of manners. As superior advantages in education to a
certain point accompany superiority of condition, he wished his son
to prefer as companions those whose situation in life had afforded
them the opportunity of being well educated; but he was far from
desiring him to shun connexions with worth and talents, wherever
he should find them.
Mr. Lofty had an utter aversion to low company, by which he meant
inferiors, people of no fashion and figure, shabby fellows whom
nobody knows.
Mr. Manly equally disliked low company, understanding by it persons
of mean habits and vulgar conversation.
A great part of Mr. Manly’s good company was Mr. Lofty’s low
company; and not a few of Mr. Lofty’s very best company were Mr.
Manly’s very worst.
Each of the sons understood his father’s meaning, and followed his
advice.
Frederick, from the time of his entrance at the University,
commenced what is called a tuft-hunter, from the tuft in the cap
worn by young noblemen. He took pains to insinuate himself into the
good graces of all the young men of high fashion in his college, and
became a constant companion in their schemes of frolic and
dissipation. They treated him with an insolent familiarity, often
bordering upon contempt; but following another maxim of his father,
“one must stoop to rise,” he took it all in good part. He totally
neglected study as unnecessary, and indeed inconsistent with his
plan. He spent a great deal of money, with which his father, finding
that it went in good company, at first supplied him freely. In time,
however, his expenses amounted to so much, that Mr. Lofty, who
kept good company too, found it difficult to answer his demands. A
considerable sum that he lost at play with one of his noble friends
increased the difficulty. If it were not paid, the disgrace of not
having discharged a debt of honour would lose him all the favour he
had acquired; yet the money could not be raised without greatly
embarrassing his father’s affairs.
In the midst of this perplexity, Mr. Lofty died, leaving behind him a
large family, and very little property. Frederick came up to town, and
soon dissipated in good company the scanty portion that came to his
share. Having neither industry, knowledge, nor reputation, he was
then obliged to become an humble dependant on the great,
flattering all their follies, and ministering to their vices, treated by
them with mortifying neglect, and equally despised and detested by
the rest of the world.
Henry, in the meantime, entered with spirit into the business of his
new profession, and employed his leisure in cultivating an
acquaintance with a few select friends. These were partly young
men in a situation similar to his own, partly persons already settled
in life, but all distinguished by propriety of conduct and improved
understandings. From all of them he learned something valuable,
but he was more particularly indebted to two of them, who were in a
station of life inferior to that of the rest. One was a watchmaker, an
excellent mechanic and tolerable mathematician, and well
acquainted with the construction and use of all the instruments
employed in experimental philosophy. The other was a young
druggist, who had a good knowledge of chymistry, and frequently
employed himself in chymical operations and experiments. Both of
them were men of very decent manners, and took a pleasure in
communicating their knowledge to such as showed a taste for
similar studies. Henry frequently visited them, and derived much
useful information from their instructions, for which he ever
expressed great thankfulness. These various occupations and good
examples effectually preserved him from the errors of youth, and he
passed his time with credit and satisfaction. He had the same
misfortune with Frederick, just as he was ready to come out into the
world, of losing his father, upon whom the support of the family
chiefly depended; but in the character he had established, and the
knowledge he had acquired, he found an effectual resource. One of
his young friends proposed to him a partnership in a manufactory he
had just set up at considerable expense, requiring for his share only
the exertion of his talents and industry. Henry accepted the offer,
and made such good use of the skill in mechanics and chymistry he
had acquired, that he introduced many improvements into the
manufactory, and rendered it a very profitable concern. He lived
prosperous and independent, and retained in manhood all the
friendships of his youth.
THE WANDERER’S RETURN.

It was a delightful evening about the end of August. The sun, setting
in a pure sky, illuminated the tops of the western hills, and tipped
the opposite trees with a yellow lustre.
A traveller, with sunburnt cheeks and dusty feet, strong and active,
having a knapsack at his back, had gained the summit of a steep
ascent, and stood gazing on the plain below.
This was a wide tract of champaign country, checkered with villages,
whose towers and spires peeped above the trees in which they were
embosomed. The space between them was chiefly arable land, from
which the last products of the harvest were busily carrying away.
A rivulet wound through the plain, its course marked with gray
willows. On its banks were verdant meadows, covered with lowing
herds, moving slowly to the milkmaids, who came tripping along
with pails on their heads. A thick wood clothed the side of a gentle
eminence rising from the water, crowned with the ruins of an ancient
castle.
Edward (that was the traveller’s name) dropped on one knee, and
clasping his hands, exclaimed, “Welcome, welcome, my dear native
land. Many a sweet spot have I seen since I left thee, but none so
sweet as thou! Never has thy dear image been out of my memory;
and now with what transport do I retrace all thy charms! O, receive
me again, never more to quit thee!” So saying, he threw himself on
the turf; and having kissed it, rose and proceeded on his journey.
As he descended into the plain, he overtook a little group of
children, merrily walking along the path, and stopping now and then
to gather berries in the hedge.
“Where are you going, my dears?” said Edward.
“We are going home,” they all replied.
“And where is that?”
“Why, to Summerton, that town there among the trees, just before
us. Don’t you see it?”
“I see it well,” answered Edward, the tear standing in his eye.
“And what is your name—and yours—and yours?”
The little innocents told their names. Edward’s heart leaped at the
well-known sounds.
“And what is your name, my dear?” said he to a pretty girl,
somewhat older than the rest, who hung back shyly, and held the
hand of a ruddy, white-headed boy, just breeched.
“It is Rose Walsingham, and this is my younger brother, Roger.”
“Walsingham!” Edward clasped the girl round the neck, and
surprised her with two or three very close kisses. He then lifted up
little Roger, and almost devoured him. Roger seemed as if he wanted
to be set down again, but Edward told him he would carry him
home.
“And can you show me the house you live at, Rose?” said Edward.
“Yes—it is just there, beside the pond, with the great barn before it,
and the orchard behind.”
“And will you take me home with you, Rose?”
“If you please,” answered Rose, hesitatingly.
They walked on; Edward said but little, for his heart was full, but he
frequently kissed little Roger.
Coming at length to a stile from which a path led across a little
close, “This is the way to our house,” said Rose.
The other children parted. Edward set down Roger, and got over the
stile. He still, however, kept hold of the boy’s hand. He trembled,
and looked wildly around him.
When they approached the house, an old mastiff came running to
meet the children. He looked up at Edward rather sourly, and gave a
little growl; when all at once his countenance changed; he leaped
upon him, licked his hand, wagged his tail, murmured in a soft voice,
and seemed quite overcome with joy. Edward stooped down, patted
his head, and cried, “Poor Captain, what! are you alive, yet?” Rose
was surprised that the stranger and their dog should know one
another.
They all entered the house together. A good-looking middle-aged
woman was busied in preparing articles of cookery, assisted by her
grown-up daughter. She spoke to the children as they came in, and
casting a look of some surprise on Edward, asked him what his
business was.
Edward was some time silent; at length, with a faltering voice, he
cried, “Have you forgot me, mother?”
“Edward! my son Edward!” exclaimed the good woman. And they
were instantly locked in each other’s arms.
“My brother Edward!” said Molly; and took her turn for an embrace,
as soon as her mother gave her room.
“Are you my brother?” said Rose.
“That I am,” replied Edward, with another kiss. Little Roger looked
hard at him, but said nothing.
News of Edward’s arrival soon flew across the yard, and in came
from the barn his father, his next brother, Thomas, and the third,
William. The father fell on his neck, and sobbed out his welcome and
blessing. Edward had not hands enough for them all to shake.
An aged, white-headed labourer came in, and held out his shrivelled
hand. Edward gave it a hearty squeeze. “God bless you,” said old
Isaac; “this is the best day I have seen this many a year.”
“And where have you been this long while?” cried the father. “Eight
years and more,” added the mother.
His elder brother took off his knapsack; and Molly drew him a chair.
Edward seated himself, and they all gathered round him; the old dog
got within the circle and lay at his feet.
“O, how glad I am to see you all again!” were Edward’s first words.
“How well you look, mother! but father grows thinner. As for the
rest, I should have known none of you, unless it had been Thomas
and old Isaac.”
“What a sunburnt face you have got!—but you look brave and
hearty,” cried his mother.
“Ay, mother, I have been enough in the sun, I assure you. From
seventeen to five-and-twenty I have been a wanderer upon the face
of the earth, and I have seen more in that time than most men in
the course of their lives.
“Our young landlord, you know, took such a liking to me at school,
that he would have me go with him on his travels. We went through
most of the countries of Europe, and at last to Naples, where my
poor master took a fever and died. I never knew what grief was till
then; and I believe the thoughts of leaving me in a strange country
went as much to his heart as his illness. An intimate acquaintance of
his, a rich young West Indian, seeing my distress, engaged me to go
with him in a voyage he was about to make to Jamaica. We were too
short a time in England before we sailed, for me to come and see
you first, but I wrote you a letter from the Downs.”
“We never received it,” said his father.
“That was a pity,” returned Edward; “for you must have concluded I
was either dead or had forgotten you. Well—we arrived safe in the
West Indies, and there I stayed till I had buried that master, too; for
young men die fast in that country. I was very well treated, but I
could never like the place; and yet Jamaica is a very fine island, and
has many good people in it. But for me, used to see freemen work
cheerfully along with their masters—to behold nothing but droves of
black slaves in the fields, toiling in the burning sun, under the
constant dread of the lash of hard-hearted task-masters—it was
what I could not bring myself to bear; and though I might have
been made an overseer of a plantation, I chose rather to live in a
town, and follow some domestic occupation. I could soon have got
rich there; but I fell into a bad state of health, and people were
dying all round me of the yellow fever; so I collected my little
property, and though a war had broken out, I ventured to embark
with it for England.
“The ship was taken, and carried into the Havana, and I lost my all
and my liberty besides. However, I had the good fortune to
ingratiate myself with a Spanish merchant whom I had known at
Jamaica, and he took me with him to the continent of South
America. I visited great part of this country, once possessed by
flourishing and independent nations, but now groaning under the
severe yoke of their haughty conquerers. I saw those famous gold
and silver mines, where the poor natives worked naked, for ever
shut out from the light of day, in order that the wealth of their
unhappy land may go to spread luxury and corruption throughout
the remotest regions of Europe.
“I accompanied my master across the great southern ocean, a
voyage of some months, without the sight of anything but water and
sky. We came to the rich city of Manilla, the capital of the Spanish
settlements in those parts. There I had my liberty restored, along
with a handsome reward for my services. I got thence to China; and
from China to the English settlements in the East Indies, where the
sight of my countrymen, and the sounds of my native tongue, made
me fancy myself almost at home again, though still separated by half
the globe.
“Here I saw a delightful country, swarming with industrious
inhabitants, some cultivating the land, others employed in
manufactures, but of so gentle and effeminate a disposition, that
they have always fallen under the yoke of their invaders. Here how
was I forced to blush for my countrymen, whose avarice and
rapacity so often have laid waste this fair land, and brought on it all
the horrors of famine and desolation! I have seen human creatures
quarrelling like dogs for bare bones thrown upon a dunghill. I have
seen fathers selling their families for a little rice, and mothers
entreating strangers to take their children for slaves, that they might
not die of hunger. In the midst of such scenes I saw pomp and
luxury of which our country affords no examples.
“Having remained here a considerable time, I gladly at length set my
face homeward, and joined a company who undertook the long and
perilous journey to Europe over land. We crossed vast tracts both
desert and cultivated; sandy plains parched with heat and drought,
and infested with bands of ferocious plunderers. I have seen a well
of muddy water more valued than ten camel-loads of treasure; and
a few half-naked horsemen strike more terror than a king with all his
guards. At length, after numberless hardships and dangers, we
arrived at civilized Europe, and forgot all we had suffered. As I came
nearer my native land, I grew more and more impatient to reach it;
and when I had set foot on it, I was still more restless till I could see
again my beloved home.
“Here I am at last—happy in bringing back a sound constitution and
a clear conscience. I have also brought enough of the relics of my
honest gains to furnish a little farm in the neighbourhood, where I
mean to sit down and spend my days in the midst of those whom I
love better than all the world besides.”
When Edward had finished, kisses and kind shakes of the hand were
again repeated, and his mother brought out a large slice of harvest-
cake, with a bottle of her nicest currant-wine, to refresh him after his
day’s march. “You are come,” said his father, “at a lucky time, for this
is our harvest-supper. We shall have some of our neighbours to
make merry with us, who will be almost as glad to see you as we
are—for you were always a favourite among them.”
It was not long before the visiters arrived. The young folks ran out
to meet them, crying, “Our Edward’s come back—our Edward’s come
home! Here he is—this is he;” and so without ceremony they
introduced them.
“Welcome!—welcome!—God bless you!” sounded on all sides.
Edward knew all the elderly ones at first sight, but the young people
puzzled him for awhile. At length he recollected this to have been his
schoolfellow, and that his companion in driving plough; and he was
not long in finding out his favourite and playfellow Sally, of the next
farmhouse, whom he left a romping girl of fifteen, and now saw a
blooming full-formed young woman of three-and-twenty. He
contrived in the evening to get next her: and though she was
somewhat reserved at first, they had pretty well renewed their
intimacy before the company broke up.
“Health to Edward, and a happy settlement among us!” was the
parting toast. When all were retired, the Returned Wanderer went to
rest in the very room in which he was born, having first paid fervent
thanks to Heaven for preserving him to enjoy a blessing the dearest
to his heart.

The Landlord’s Visit, p. 314


EVENING XXVI.

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