FEBRUARY 6
Vive hodie! (Live today).
Letter, 21st September, 1760
Many years ago, when I was at Oxford, in a cold winter’s day, a young maid (one of those we kept at school) called upon me. I said: “You seem half-starved. Have you nothing to cover you but that thin linen gown?” She said: “Sir, this is all I have!” I put my hand in my pocket, but I found I had scarce any money left, having just paid what I had. It immediately struck me: “Will thy Master say, ‘Well done, good and faithful steward? Thou hast adorned thy walls with the money which might have screened this poor creature from the cold!’”
Dress
