He had by this time recovered himself.  “How do you know, Sir,” said he, warmly, “but that, instead of a summons from Heaven, it may be a feint of another instrument, representing, in all the alluring colours to me, the show of felicity as a deliverance, which may in itself be my snare, and tend directly to my ruin?  Here I am free from the temptation of returning to my former miserable greatness; there I am not sure, but that all the seeds of pride, ambition, avarice, and luxury, which I know remain in my nature, may revive and take root, and, in a word, again overwhelm me; and then the happy prisoner, whom you see now master of his soul’s liberty, shall be the miserable slave of his own senses, in the full possession of all personal liberty.  Dear Sir, let me remain in this blessed confinement, banished from the crimes of life, rather than purchase a show of freedom at the expense of the liberty of my reason, and at the expense of the future happiness which now I have in my view, but shall then, I fear, quickly lose sight of; for I am but flesh, a man, a mere man, have passions and affections as likely to possess and overthrow me as any man:  O be not my friend and my tempter both together!”

If I was surprised before, I was quite dumb now, and stood silent, looking at him; and, indeed, admired what I saw.  The struggle in his soul was so great, that, though the weather was extremely cold, it put him into a most violent sweat, and I found he wanted to give vent to his mind; so I said a word or two, that I would leave him to consider of it, and wait on him again; and then I withdrew to my own apartment.

About two hours after, I heard somebody at or near the door of the room, and I was going to open the door; but he had opened it, and come in:  “My dear friend,” said he, “you had almost overset me, but I am recovered:  do not take it ill that I do not close with your offer; I assure you, it is not for want of a sense of the kindness of it in you; and I come to make the most sincere acknowledgment of it to you; but, I hope, I have got the victory over myself.”

“My lord,” said I, “I hope you are fully satisfied, that you did not resist the call of Heaven.”—­“Sir,” said he, “if it had been from Heaven, the same power would have influenced me to accept it; but I hope, and am fully satisfied, that it is from Heaven that I decline it; and I have an infinite satisfaction in the parting, that you shall leave me an honest man still, though not a free man.”

I had nothing to do but to acquiesce, and make profession to him of my having no end in it, but a sincere desire to serve him.  He embraced me very passionately, and assured me, he was sensible of that, and should always acknowledge it:  and with that he offered me a very fine present of sables, too much indeed for me to accept from a man in his circumstances; and I would have avoided them, but he would not be refused.