Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1849 Excerpt:... A FATHER'S CURSE. CHAPTER I. The grief that on my quiet preys, That rends my heart, that checks my tongue, I fear will last me all my days, But feel it will not last me long. Sir John Moork. At the instance of one to whom I am bound by the closest ties of gratitude and affection, whose request must ever be to me a command, I have undertaken to record some remarkable circumstances respecting that family, (more happy in their worldly fortunes than in themselves) with which, though in a dependent station, I have been connected ever since I was born. But, in order to show what were my opportunities of becoming acquainted with many things totally unknown to the world at large, I must begin with giving some account of my parents as well as myself. My mother was born under melancholy circumstances, as she lost hers at the hour of her birth. She was the only child of a minister of the Established Church, who held no benefice, and, after having served two parishes in Devonshire as a curate, on a very small stipend, for nearly fifteen years, died suddenly, leaving my poor mother, then a child of five j-ears old, with no other prospect of provision than that promised to the fatherless, who, by the trust of good and Christian 'parents, are committed to a heavenly Father's care. In this instance, it did not fail the orphan of the poor clergyman, even for a single day, whom God had been pleased to remove from this world. For the patron of one of the small livings alluded to above, a worthy and a rich man, hearing that the curate, who, in the nonresidence of the incumbent, had so long served the neighbouring church of, had died suddenly in the morning, and that there was no one in the house but a very aged woman to take care of his little girl, caused her to be brought to...