LETTER XXIV.
Sir Charles Grandison to his Son.
You have learned of me, you say, to be compassionate. It has ever been my wish and endeavour, to make your heart feel the miseries of your fellow-creatures; and I have laboured to inculcate the virtue, which next to the love, the goodness of God ought to inspire, is the noblest ornament of our nature. The request you make is a proof of the warm generosity of your heart: and so praise worthy a desire merits a reward. The fresh discovery I have made of your benevolent disposition, is of more value, in my estimation, than the two hundred pounds, which you will find enclosed. Go, my Charles, make glad poor Wilson’s heart, and taste the delight, which flows from benevolence. But let me tell you, the legacy must not be touched before you are of age: it was entrusted to my care as a guardian, and not as a father.