and very ungrammatical exhortation, that wound up the day's proceedings,
when the dapper Jehu Tomkins, jumping at once from the carnival to the
revel, shook me cordially by the hand, and most kindly suggested to me
that, under the patronage of so important and religious a connexion as
that into which I was about to enter, I could not fail to succeed,
whatever might be the plan which I had laid down for my future support.

"I have heard all about you," added Jehu, "from our respected minister,
and you'll soon get into something now. It's a good congregation, sir--
wealthy and influential. I should say we have richer people in our
connexion than in any about London. Mr Clayton is a very popular man,
sir--very good, and speaks the truth."

"He is good indeed," I answered.

"Sir, grace is sure to follow you now. It is fifteen years since I first
sat under Mr Clayton! Ah, I remember the night I was converted, as if it
were yesterday. I always felt, up to that very time, the need of
something better than I had got. Business had gone wrong ever since I
opened shop, and my mind was quite unsettled. Satan tried very hard at
me, but it wouldn't do. Sometimes, when my boy had gone home, and shop
was shut up, the Tempter would whisper in my ears words like
these--'Jehu, you're insured, over and over again, for your stock; let a
spark fall on the shavings, and your fortune's made.' Well, sir, once or
twice--will you believe it?--the Devil had nearly got it all his own
way; but grace prevented, and I was saved. I owe it all to Mr Clayton. I
was told by one or two of my customers to go and hear him, but somehow
or other I never did. Satan kept me back. At last the gentleman as was
the deacon--him as built the chapel--Mrs Jehu Tomkin's father--comes to
my shop with his daughter, Mrs Jehu as is now, and spoke to me about the