Chapter XVIII: Appendix: B (page 21)

“‘The Vicar of Wakefield’ is a domestic epic. Its hero is a country parson—simple, pious and pure-hearted—a humourist in his way, a little vain of his learning, a little proud of his fine family—sometimes rather sententious, never pedantic, and a dogmatist only on the one favorite topic of monogamy, which crops out now and then above the surface of his character, only to give it a new charm. Its world is a rural district, beyond whose limits the action rarely passes, and that only on great occasions. Domestic affections and joys, relieved by its cares, its foibles, and its little failings, cluster around the parsonage, till the storms from the outward world invade its holiness and trouble its peace. Then comes sorrow and suffering; and we have the hero, like the patriarchal prince of the land of Uz, when the Lord ‘put forth His hand and touched all that He had,’ meeting each new affliction with meekness and with patience—rising from each new trial with renewed reliance upon God, till the lowest depth of his earthly suffering becomes the highest elevation of his moral strength.”

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