Excerpt from Recollections of William Hone: Thirty Years an Atheist, Afterwards a Happy ChristianHere is Master William, he would come, ' said my bearer, and a low hollow voice from the bed said, 'let him stay, he will be good.' There lay my dame how altered! Death on her face, but I loved her all the same. My little stool was placed near her bolster, and I sat down in silence. Pre sently she said to the maid, 'is he coming?' The maid went to the window and said No.' Again the same question and the same answer. Who could it be? I wondered in silence, and felt overawed. At last there was a double knock at the house-door above, and the maid said joyfully, 'oh, madam, Mr. Wesley is come.' Then I was to see the Old Devil! I crept to the window, I could only see a pair of black legs with great silver buckles. The door was opened. Steps came down the kitchen stairs, each step increasing my terror. I saw the black legs then came in a venerable old man, with, as it seemed to me, the countenance of an angel, shining silver hair waving on his shoulders, with a beautiful fair and fresh complexion and the sweetest smile! This then was 'the Old Devil!' He went up to the bed. I trembled for my poor dame, but he took her hand, and spoke so kindly to her, and my dame seemed so glad He looked at me, and said something. She said, 'he is a good boy, he will be quite quiet.' After much talk, he uncovered the table, and I saw the bread and wine, as I had Often seen it at my father's chapel, and then he knelt down and prayed. I do not say I prayed, but I was awfully impressed, and quite still. After it was over, he turned to me, laid his hand on my head, and said, God bless you, my child, and make you a good man.'About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.