( 23 )
conduct in that important action, he is now raiſed to a higher rank; and at the concluſion of the campaign you will have the pleaſure of ſeeing him in England." As there was nothing improbable in all this, I muſt own, I was inclined to believe or more properly to wiſh, that it might be true; but Prather believed it from the probability of the thing itſelf, than from any faith 1 had in his art, which, in this particular inſtance (and, I imagine, it will be found to do so in all others) moſt unluckily proved to be deceitful: for I had no sooner returned to my lodgings, then I found a letter on my table, acquainting me that my dear friend had loſt his life" in a ſkirmiſh that happened between two detachments of the hoſtile armies, long before the battle of Minden.
The whole of this adventure led me into a train of ſerious reflections on the folly and impiety of ſearching into future events. Whence can proceed this unreaſonable defire? Does it ſpring from a ſecret diſtruſt of Providence, as if we were more capable of managing matters for ourſelves, than that omniſcient and omnipotent Being, in whoſe hand is the dispoſal of all things paſt, prefent, and future? Or is the human mind of ſuch an extenſive capacity, that, not ſatisfied with the knowledge of all the tranſactions of former ages, it muſt be diving into the unfathomable depths of futurity?
