Steward. Will Friday be a leisure day?

Shepherd. As much so as any day in the week: for the sheep are sure to be on the common both Friday and Saturday; but the latter is a busy day with me, because of drawing the water to fill the troughs, and looking over the pastures.

Steward. Will you call at the palace on the Friday afternoon, if nothing unforeseen prevent? Ask any body for the clerk of the kitchen; and, whether friend or foe, he will direct you to the Steward's room, either with a sneer of contempt or a smile of approbation.

Shepherd. I will be sure to be there, if kind Providence direct my way. Tili then, may the Lord send his Angel before the Steward, and give him good speed in the business of his master Abraham!

Steward. And may the Fountain of all peace, who brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, be with you; and make you perfect in every branch of your pastoral work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight!

DIALOGUE THE SIXTH.

Steward. "Come in, thou blessed of the Lord! Wherefore standest thou without?" Thou art welcome to the Steward's room, and to any repast or refreshment in it.

Shepherd. I believe it, otherwise I should not have come. Wisdom relates of the hypocrite, that he says, Eat and drink, but his heart is not with thee. Therefore, when I am invited by an acquaintance, I generally try his heart by my own; for, if my heart be not with him, I cannot expect his to be with me.

Steward. True: "As, in water, face answers to face, so doth the heart of man to man." Pray, how did you get in?

Shepherd. I came in by the porter's lodge.
Steward. Did the porter speak to you?

Shepherd. Yes, he looked at the crook in my hand, and asked me if I was a shepherd, When I told him I was, he asked me if I knew sheep from goats. I replied, I hoped I did. He said, there are many that call themselves shepherds who do not. I told him, I believed there were; but I had been so much occupied among cattle, that I thought, if my hands were cut off, and I were blind in both eyes, that I could distinguish a goat from a sheep by my nose.

Steward. What reply did he make?

Shepherd. He told me, he wondered at that, as I took so much snuff. I answered, I have more noses than one, otherwise I should never have known, as I now do, that all the garments of his Royal Master smelled of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, Psalm xlv. 8. Steward. What said he to that?

Shepherd. He asked me, with a smile, who I wanted? I answered, the clerk of the kitchen. He replied, he thought so! and directed me to your door; but, as I came along, I perceived two doors pretty close together, and knew not which to knock at. So I went up to an old man who was weeding the gravel-walk, and asked him. which of those two doors led to the Steward's room? He told me, he did not know that there was any particular room for the Steward, any more than for any body else. The lower apartments were free for any who chose to make use of them. But if your heart,' said he, is set upon a single room, you may go to the right-hand door, and there you will find a steward, and a room too, just as narrow as yourself.'

Steward. The porter is a loyalist every inch of him but that old man is highly influenced by the Hagarenes, and a wonderful advocate for universal charity; and, I believe, he would get as much comfort to his heart, if I was dead, as ever Esau got by his determination to kill his brother. However, I never say any thing to him: he

goes

on his own way. He has been seven years, to my certain knowledge, at weeding that walk, and it is just as much overrun with weeds now as it was when he first began, and, I think,

more so.

Shepherd. There is no plowing to purpose upon a rock; and He who never erred hath told us that all labour is spent in vain that is spent upon stony ground.

Steward. And so that poor old soul will find it at last, for it is but eye service at best. He always gets in sight of the windows; and now and then looks up, to see if any of the family observe his industry: not considering that the King looks at the goodness of the work, and the bent of the heart, not at the motion of the body. However, he vainly dreams of meriting the King's favour by that fruitless toil; whereas the King takes no pleasure but in the work of his own hands, in the hearts of his children, and in the loyalty and affections of his domestic servants. I was thinking, last night, that I never remembered to have seen a dog with you. It is a rare thing to see a shepherd without his dog.

Shepherd. It is a plain proof that your eyes >were not much about you: for I think that I am seldom without him long together, though full sore against my will; for I hate him with a perfect hatred; and, I believe, he hates me as much as I do him.

Steward. Cannot you shut him up, then?

Shepherd. No, nor can you. I have threatened him, rebuked him, stoned him, tried to starve him, and often driven him; but he still sculks at my heels; and sculk he will in spite of me, as long as I have a sheep to feed, or strength to carry the crook.

Steward. I suppose he now and then comes in for a dead morsel, in wet seasons, when the rot gets among the flock; otherwise one would think he would hardly follow you so closely, if he got nothing but such usage for his pains.

Shepherd. He does not follow for nought. If a sheep stray away, he is sure to suck some of its blood before it comes back and if any of the ewes gender with any other kind, the monstrous produce falls to Smut; the wolf in sheep's clotheing is sure to fall a prey to his teeth; all the mule, mongrel, or monstrous productions, are Smut's dainty meat; and he is sure to break all their bones ere they come to the bottom of his kennel. It is a true saying; Dogs will eat dogs. Many a dog which has barked at the shepherd, left the sheep, and returned to his vomit, has been devoured by Smut.

Steward. It is a pity that such a voracious creature should be permitted to range at large; for, if he riseth up, no man is sure of his life, Job xxiv. 22.

Shepherd. He is chained; but the chain is so long, that he can range all over the farm: yea, sheep in the King's pastures, near to the utmost