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FROM THE THIRD LOITDON EDITION, 

:ClVTIIVUCO TO THX CLOSE OT RKB LirS- 



NEW YORK: 
CHARLES SCRIBNER. 

145 IfAtSAU STREET, AND 86 PARK B«W. 

1854- 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER I. 

OvfLDHooD. — Reasons— Deiign— -Martyr's Priaon — Palace 
Garden — Scenery— Music — Study — Politics — A Bror 
ther — ^Protestantism — The Bible — Judicions Plan — ^A 

ProTerb 9 

\ 
LETTER II. 

Youra. — ^Private Journals — Romance — The Drama — ^Poeti- 
cal Taste— Books- A Change— Rural life— SUy»— 
Tight-lacing—- R\ainoua Custom— The Country— Eng- 
land— A Reformer— The Catechism— A Delinquent. . 28 



LETTER III. 

Early Days. — Revolutionism — Political Perils — Public 
Fasts — National Confession — ^A Regiment — Tl\e Teat 
Act — National Pride — ^Budding of the Church — True 
Consenratism— George the Third — ^A New Bishop — 
Idling— Convictions— Anticipating Evil — Mischievous 
Errors— Unreal Estimates— False Views-^A Partings 
Fraternal Love 47 



LETTER IV. 

roDTH.-A Gwnamottiet— \5^iw^\3M^^ 

Prejudices — A BeievienvexiN.— ^^^^"^ 



tl CONTENTS. 

PMe 

Punctuality— Mountain Waves — Ocean Scenery — 

False Confidence — ^A Storm — Wonders of the Deep- 
Recklessness — An Arab Steed — Equestrianism — A 
Fragment — Elscapes — Housewifely — Nora Scotia — In- 
dians — CosmopoUtanism— Home 74 



LETTER V. 

iEBLAND. — Oxford— Irishmen— The Journey — The Arri- 
val—An Escape— Dublin— €t. John's £y»— The Dance 
—Paganism — Trials — Levying Distress — Convictions 
—Terrors — Awakened Conscience— Gbd's Teaching — 
Joy and Peace . . . lOG 



LETTER VI 

Rkligioui PftooREss.— The Church— Soeinianism—Teuip- 
tatkm — Metaphysics — Athanasian Creed — ^An Epuca 
-<«My first Tract — A new Friend — Hail Mary — Cliris- 
tian Communion — ^Dissent — Church of Elngland — l^uc- 
cession 131 



LETTER VII. 

KiLKENNT^ — Vickarsfield — Rookites — ^A new Residence— 
Another Snare — Compromise — An Apostate — End o' 
Controversy— The Snare Broken— Another Attack 
An Argument— Disciunion—RebeUioafl Movements 
TbflniaB Moore. 138 



LETTER VIII. 

Thb Workings op Popery. — The Irifh Church— Satanic 

Devices — Col. Lindsay — ^Alarm*— A Difficulty — A I)e- 

ctBha — Sympathy — ^The Irish — ChKtactct -Love foi 



CONTENTS. m 

Ireland- ^-Inteliigibility—Alanxung Incident— S>^iiMt- 
k Outrage — ^Noonday Murder 156 

LETTER IX. 

The Dumb Bot. — ^Peaceable Counsel— A Recoil— A Pupil 
— Jack's Commencement — Inquiry— A Dilemma — 
Dawning Light — Reasonings — A Sunbeam — A Soul 
Born — A Protester — Idolatry — Faithlessness — Outrage 
— Fearful Bigotry — Conee«don — Summons — Supersti 
tion — ^National Character — Confession— Infernal Ma- 
chinery 175 

LETTER X 

England. — The Dumb Boy — Jack's Adrenture — Departure 
from Ireland — Clifton — Hannah Moore — A Carnal 
Politician — Treachery— Afflictions — ^Jack's Progress — 
Pnyer^— Merciee — ^A Soldier — A Home— False Judge- 
ment— TxanqoiUity 908 

LETTER XI. 

Sandhurst.— A Proposal— A Snare — An Incident— Papal 
Fulmination— Public Events— The Duke of York— 
Navarino — Prognostications — ^Jack's Petition — Happy 
Caution — Perseverance — Zeal — Testimonies — A Con- 
trast — Erroneous Views — Millennarianism — Second 
Advent 231 

LETTER XII. 

Sbparation. — Prejudices — Home — Fofebodmgs — Dan- 
ger—Trying Scenes — Glueries — Awful Cantrast -—' 
Cadets — Introspections — A Visitation— Want of 
Faith— A Hidden Work- Hope— Trie Comfort- 
Sympathy— True Fueling. . . . . , • ^POl 



riil 001ITENT& 

'LETTER XIII. ^'** 

National Apostacy. — A Summary — Our I rote&t — Down- 
hill Course — A Will and a Way^Prep&ratory Steps— 
Succesdui Klforto— Our Duties— Mr. M'Noile— Epis- 
copal DefecttoB — ^No Surrender! — ^England Papalized 
—An Admonition— Ichabod—R0tribiition 266 

LETTJEIR XIV. 

Emplotmemt. — Sabbath Meetings— Boys— 'An Event— 
Forgiveness — Prejudices — The Irish Language — St 
Giles— A» Project— The Irish Church— Mr. Howies- 
Controversy — Speaking Out — ^Judgment 4nd Mercy — 
The resurrection — Millennarianism 284 

LETTER XV. 

Darkmim and Light.— The Snare — The tongues — The 
Touchstone — Irving's Heresy — Satanic Devices - 
Persuasions — Conflicts — A Termination — A Sun- 
set — Resignation — The Red Hand — ^Joy and Peace — 
True Wisdom — Sympathy — Elamestness — A Dying 
Protestr-Sloeping in Jesus. 307 

LETTER XVI. 

A Removal. — An Appeal — Irish schools — Value of a Ro- 
mish Oath— Retribution— Puseyism — Opposition. . . 327 

LETTER XVII. 

Ireland Revisited. — The Onset • - Dr. Hamilton — The 

Massacre — Cruel Desertion — The Bishop of London — 

The Archbishop of Tuam— Daniel O'Connell— Pre- 

gntB of Popery — Progress of Protestantism — Church 

•AfinQAenJ!uj>---AiitinomianiBm. . • < ^^ 



CONTENTS 

OcmcLUDiNO Remarks, 



Sbitch ow TBI Lvi or thi Author's Broths, . . . 3<)4 

I 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 



LETTER L 



CHILDHOOD. 



I flAYE given my best consideration to the arga- 
ments by which you support the demand for a few 
QOtices of events connected with my personal recollec- 
tions of the past. That which has chiefly influenced 
me is the consideration, urged on what I know to be 
just and reasonable grounds — that when it has pleased 
God to bring any one before the public in the capacity 
of an author, that person becomes in some sense public 
property ; having abandoned the privacy from which 
Qo one ought to be forced, but which any body may 
relinquish ; and courted the observation of the world 
at large. Such individuals are talked of during life, 
and after death become the subject, I may say the prey, 
of that spirit which reigned in Athens of old, and from 
which no «hild of Adam is -w^oW.^ ^^^ — ^^ ^^ivt^ 
to bear and to tell some new tVm^. "^o %QQ>T«Oto»&'^^ 
peraon withdrawn from tV\\s moitA sV«.^^ "^"^^ "^ 



10 REASONS. 

pen of biography is prepared to record, and a host of 
curious expectants are marshalled to receive, some 
fragments at least of private history. I wish I could 
dissent from your remark, that even godliness itself is 
too often sought to be made a gain of in such cases. 
Writers who are themselves wholly unenlightened by 
spiritual knowledge, and uninfluenced by spiritual 
feeling, will take up as a good speculation, what must 
to them be a mystery, and wrong the subject of their 
memorial while they injure the cause in which he la- 
boured. Even among those of better understanding 
in the ways of truth, we do not often meet sound judg- 
ment, calm discretion, and refined delicacy, combined 
with affection for the departed, and zeal for the gospel. 
Private journals are sought out, confidential letters 
raked together, and a most unseemly exposure madey 
alike of the dead and the living. 

This I hdve always seen and lamented : and being 
aware that my turn would probably come to be thus 
exhibited, I have abstained from preserving even the 
slightest memoranda of events, thoughts, or feelings, 
that could be laid hold on as a private journal : and 
I have most distinctly intimated to all those friends who 
possess any letters of mine, that I shall regard it as a 
gross breach of confidence, a dishonourable, base, and 
mercenary proceeding on their part, if ever they permit 
a sentence addressed by me to them to pass into other 
hands. Indeed, to such an extent have I felt this, that 
for many years past I have kept some friend under a 
solemn pledge that, immediately after my death, they 
will proclaim my having so guarded my correspond- 
encej in order, if possible, to shame the individuals fronr 



REASONS. 1 1 

a course with regard to me wkich I have never been 
inveigled into with regard to others. Looking on 
epstolary communications as a trust not to be betray- 
ed, I have invariably refused to deliver 16 the biogra- 
phers of my departed friends any letters of theirs that 
I might possess : — the first application for them has 
always been the signal for committing the whole budget 
to the flames. 

This you know ; and you say that the very precau- 
tions I have used will leave my memory more com- 
pletely at the mercy of ill-judging or ill-informed sur- 
Tivers, who, in the absence of more authentic informa- 
tion, may draw on their own invention, and do me 
injustice. This is the plea that has prevailed with 
me now : the uncertainty of mortal life, with the ap- 
prehension that if suddenly removed I shall become the 
heroine of some strange romance, founded probably on 
the facts of a life by no means deficient in remarkable in- 
cidents, but mixed up with a great deal of fiction ; and 
the consciousness that others may be thereby wounded, 
whom I would not wish to wound-"— -have decided me 
to act upon your suggestion, and to draw out a little 
sketch of such matters as can alone concern the public 
m any way. Into private domestic history no person 
possessed of a particle of delicacy can wish to intrude. 
It is melancholy to witness the prying spirit that some 
are but too ready to cater to, for filthy lucre's sake ; 
and grievous to reflect, that the boasted immunity 
which makes the cottage of the English peasant, no 
!e88 than the palace of the English noble, a castle, — 
which so fences his domestic hearth that no m&u mA.^ 
•etfoot within his door wit\iO\xt\iiA tcMfcXL\.^^\^^i!^««^ 



\ 12 DESIGN. 

I an untruth concerning him without being legUly 

\ compelled to render compensation, should be with- 

drawn from hia grave. I cannot tell you how I have 
I Unshed for the Uying, and kindled with resentment on 

[i behalf of the dead, when contemplating the merciless 

desecration of what may truiy be called the sacredness 
\ of home, in some biographical notices 

. You may therefore expect to find in these sheets a 

i record of that mental and spiritual discipline by which 

', it has pleased the Lord to prepare me for the very 

humble, yet not very narrow, sphere of literary useful- 
ness, in which it was his *good purpose to bid me 
move; with whatever of outward things, passing 
events, and individual personal adventure, as it is 
called, may be needful to illustrate the progress Of 
living contemporaries I shall of course not speak : of 
the dead no farther than as I would myself be spoken 
> of by them, had I gone first. Public events I shaU 

freely dis^juss, and hold back nothing that bears on 
spiritual subjects. Nobody shall ever need to be at 
the trouble of ix)sthumously searching out and pro- 
claiming my opinions on any topic whatever, apart 
from personalities. I will not withhold, nor disguise, 
i^ nor soften them down ; and if the charge of egotism 

! be brought, let the accusers lay their hands upon their 

I hearts, and declare that they woul(^ot have sanctioned 

another in performing for me, as a defunct writer, the 
office which nobody can fulfil half so well, because 
nobody can do it half so correctly, as myself. 

To commence the task, in which I earnestly implore 

the Father of all mercies, and Teacher of all truth, tc- 

guide me, to guard me from misstatement, lo -^teseive 



MARTTA'S PRlSUIt. iZ 

me from self-seeking, and to overrule it to the glory of 
His great name, I must remind you that my birth 
place was Norwich j a fine old town, distinguished for 
its many antiquities, the beauty of its situation on a 
rising ground, interspersed with a profusion of rich 
gardens, and studded with churches to the number of 
thirty-five, including a majestic cathedral Many 
years have elapsed since I last heheld it, and perhaps 
the march of modern improvement has so changed its 
features that Were I now to dwell upon my recollections 
of that cherished home, they would not be recognised 
But I cannot forget the early impressions produced on 
my mind by the peculiarities /of the place ; nor must 
they be omitted here. The sphere in which it is my 
dearest privilege to labour is the cause of Protestant- 
ism ; and sometimes, when God has blessed my poor 
efforts to the deliverance of some captive out of the 
chains of Popish delusion, I have recalled the fact of 
being born just opposite the dark old gateway of that 
strong building where the glorious martyrs of Mary's 
day were imprisoned. I have recollected that the 
house wherein I drew my first breath was visible 
through the grated window of their prison, and a con- 
. spicuous object when its gates unfolded to deliver them 
to unjust judgment and a cruel death. Are any of 
the prayers of thoss glorified saints fulfilled in the 
poor child who was brought into the world on . that 
particular spot, though at the distance of some ages ? 
The query could not be answered, but the thought has 
frequently . cheered me on. The stern-looking gate- 
way, opening on St. Martin's Plain, was probably one 
>^tbe very first objects traced oiv \.\i^ is&tA. ^\ w^i vgl 



.4 PALACE GARDEN. 

fant eye, vrhen it ranged beyond the inner walls of the 
narsery : and often, with tottering step, I passed be- 
neath that arch into the splendid garden of our noble 
episcopal palace; and certainly, if my Protestantism 
may not be traced to that locality, my taste may ; for 
from all the elaborate display of modern architecture, all 
the profuse luxuriance and endless variety of modern 
horticulture, I now turn away, to feast in thought on 
the recollection of that venerable scene. The palace 
its«lf is a fine specimen of the chaste old English style ' 
but the most conspicuous, the most unforgetable fea* 
ture was the cathedral itself, which formed the bound 
ary of one half of the garden: a mass of sober magnifi 
eence, rising in calm reposer against the sky, which to 
my awe-struck gaze and childish imagination, seemed 
to rest upon its exquisitely-formecl spire. Seated on 
the grass, busying my fingers with the daisies that 
were permitted to spring around, I have been lost in 
■uch imaginings as I suppose not many little children 
indulge in, while permitting my eyes to rove over the 
seemingly interminable mass of old gray stone, and 
then to fall upon the pleasant flowers around me. I 
loved silence, for nothing that fell on the ear seemed 
in accordance with what so charmed the eye : and thus 
a positive evil found entrance in the midst of much en- 
joyment I acquired that habit of dreamy excursive- 
nesfi into imaginary scenes, and among unreal person- 
ages, whieh is alike inimical to rational persuits, and 
opposed to spiritual-mindeclness. To a period so early 
as the middle of .my fourth year I can revert with the 
mtfst perfect, moat vivid recolLectioii o^ m^ \\^\\.\i'^ 
thoughts and feelings ; and at tliat ag^,\ c^wi \ss^%«v. 



SCENERY. 15 

tatingly declare, my mind was deeply tinctuied with a 
romance not derived from books, nor from conversa- 
tion, but arising, as I verily believe, out of the singu- 
lar adaptation to each other of my natural taste and 
the scenery amidst which it began to develope itself. 
Oar abode was changed to another part of the city 
before this period arrived; but the bishop's garden 
was still our haunt, and my supreme delight. 

An immense orchard, shrubbery, and flower-garden 
were attached to ay father's new residence, to which 
he had removed on account of its proximity to the 
church of which he was rector. This too was an old- 
fashioned house, mantled with a vine, and straggling 
out, in irregular buildings, along the slope of the gar- 
den. The centre of an immense grass-plat, studded 
with apple, pear, and plum-trees, was occupied by the 
most g^antic mulberry I ever beheld, the thick trunk 
of which resembled that of a knotted oak, while in its 
forest of dark branches nestled a number of owls and 
bats. Oh, how I loved to lurk beneath its shadow on 
a summer evening, and await the twilight gloom, that 
the large owl might come forth and wheel around the 
tree, and call out his companions with a melancholy 
hoot ; while the smaller bat, dipping lower in his flight, 
brushed by me, accustomed to my presence. I had 
entered betimes upon the pernicious study of nursery 
ta'es, as they then were, and without ha vjing the small- 
est actual belief in the existence of fairies, goblins, or 
any such things, I took unutterable delight in sur- 
rounding myself with hosts of them^ decked c^>\l vck 
colours of my own supplying, goigaoxi^ ^x Xaxr^^^^sifc- 
fond the conception of my classic ^\]l\!elox\&«v%. ^^^* 



|6 MUSIC. 

faculty of realizing whatever I pictured to myself wai 
astonishingly great ; and you must admit that the 
localities in irhich I was placed were hut too favour- 
ahle to the formation of a character, which I have no 
douht the enemy was secretly constructing within me, 
to mislead, by wild unholy fiction, such as should 
come within the range of its influence. To God be 
all the glory that I am not now pandering with this 
pen to the most grovelling or the most impious of man's 
perverted feelings ! 

But above all other tastes, all other cravings, one 
passion reigned supreme, and that acme of enjoyment 
to me was music. This also was met by indulgence 
as unlimited as its cravings ; for not only did my father 
possess one of the finest voices im the world, and the 
very highest degree of scientific knowledge, taste, and 
skill in the management of it, but our house was seldom 
without an inmate in the person of his most intimate 
friend and brother clergyman, a son of the celebrated 
composer, Mr. Linley, who was as highly gifted in in- 
strumental as my father was in vocal music. The rich 
tones of his old harpsichord seem at this moment to 
fill my ear and swell my heart ; while my father's deep, 
clear, mellow voice, breaks in, with some noble recita- 
tive or elaborate air of Handel, Haydn, and the rest 
of a school that may be superseded, but never, never 
can be equalled by modern composers. Or the harp- 
sichord was relinquished to another hand, and the 
breath of our friend came forth through the reed of 
his hautboy in strains of such overpowering melody, 
that 1 have hid my face on my mother's lap to weep 
the /eeJings that absolutely wrung my little heart with 



MUSIC. 17 

excess of enjoyment. This was not a mare f or, if it 
might have been made one, the Lord broke it in time, 
by taking away my hearing. I woitld not that it had 
been otherwise, for while a vain imagination waa fos- 
tered by the habit I have before adverted to, this taste 
for music, and its high gratification, most certainly 
elevated the mind. I do firmly believe that it is a gift 
from Grod to man, to be prized, cherished, cultivated. 
I believe Jth at the man whose bosom yields no response 
to the concord of sweet sounds, falls short of the 
standard to which man should aspire as an intellectual 
being ; and though Satan does fearfully pervert this 
isolace of the mind to most vile purposes, still I heartily 
agree with Martin Luther, that, in the abstract, ^ the ^ 
devil hates music* 

Before I had completed my sixth year, I came under 
the rod of discipline which was to fall so long and 00 
perseveringly upon me ere I should ^' hear the rod and 
who had appointed it.'' Enthusiastic in every thing 
and already passionately fond of reading, I had eagerly 
accepted the offer of a dear uncle, a young physician, 
to teach me French. I loved him ; for he was gentle 
and kind, and very fond of me ; and it was a great 
happiness to trip through the long winding street that 
separated us, to turn down by the old Bridewell, so 
celebrated as an architectural curiosity, being built of 
dark flint stones, exquisitely chiselled into the form 
of bricks, and which even then I could greatly admire, 
and to take my seat on my youHg uncle's knee, in the 
large hall of his house, where stood a very large and 
deep-toned organ, some sublime strain from which was 
to reward my diligence, if I repeated aceurately the 



18 STXTDr. 

lesson he had appointed. Thus between love for mj 
uncle, delight in his organ, and a natural inclination 
to acquire learning, I was stimulated to extraordinary 
efforts, and met the demand on my energies in a very 
unsafe way. I placed my French book under my 
pillow every night, and starting from repose at the 
earliest break of dawn, strained my sleepy eyes, over 
the page, until, very suddenly, I became totally blind. 
This was a grievous blow to my tender parents : the 
eclipse was so complete that I could not tell whether it 
was midnight or midnoon, so far as perception of light 
was concerned, and the case seemed hopeless. It was, 
however, among the " all things" that God causes to 

% work together for good, while Satan eagerly seeks to 
use them for evil. It checked my inordinate desire 
for mere acquirements, which I believe to be a bad 
tendency, particularly in a female, while it threw me 
more upon my own resources. Such as they were, and 
gave me a keen relish for the highly intellectual con- 
versation that always prevailed in our home. My 
father delighted in the society of literary men : and he 
was himself of a turn so argumentative, so overflow- 
ing with rich conversation, so decided in his politiced 
views, SO' alive to passing events, so devotedly and su 
proudly the Englishman, that with such associates as 
he gathered about him at his own fireside, I don't see 
how the little blind girl, whose face was ever turned 
up towards the unseen speaker, and whose mind opened 
to every passing remark, could avoid becoming a 
thinker, a reasoner, a tory, and a patriot. Sometimes 
a tough disputant crossed our threshold \ one of these 

^«# Pr. Parr, and brilliant were the ^Sis^ea tfe^\\\!Cm^ 



A BROTHER, 19 

from such occasional collision with antagonists of that 
ealibre. I am often charged with the offence of being 
too political in my writings : the fact is, I write as I 
think and feel ; and what else can you expect from a 
child reared in Such a nursery ? 

But another consequence of this temporary visita- 
tion-was an increased passion for music. The severe 
remedies used for my blindness frequently laid me on 
the sofa foV days tojgether, and then my fond father 
would bring home with him, after the afternoon ser- 
vice of the cathedral, of which he was also a canon, a 
party of the young choristers. My godfather would 
seat himself at the harpsichord ; the boys, led by my 
father, perform the vocal parts ; and such feasts of 
sacred music were served up to me, that I have breathed 
to my brother in an ecstatic whisper the confession, 
^ I don't want to see ; 1 like music better than seeing/ 
* That brother I have not before named : but that 
only brother was a second self Not that he resem- 
bled me in any respect, for he was beautiful to a pro- 
digy, and I an ordinary ch^d ; he was wholly free from 
any predilection for learning, being mirthful and vola- 
tile in the highest degree; and thoagh he listened 
when I read to him the myst^ious marvels of my 
favourite nursery books, I doubt whether he ever be- 
stowed an after-thought on any thing therein con- 
tained. The brightest, the sweetest, the most spark- 
ling creature that ever lived, he was all joy, all love. 
I do not remember to have seen him for one moment 
.•ut of temper or out of spirits for the first sixteen 
years of his Ji/e ; and he was to tqa t^Wx ^^ \jk»N^».'^ 
Ma i« to the aystejxL "We v?ete xifcvet ^c^^\A.^^\ ^''^ 



20 P&OTESTAPITISM 

Btudiefa, our plays, our walks, our plans, our kearU 
were always one. That holy band which the Lord 
has woven, that inestimable blessing of fraternal love 
and confidence, was never broken, never loosened be- 
tween us, from the cradle to his grave ; and God for- 
bid that I should say or think that the grave has broken 
it ! If I have not from the outset included that pe 
cious brother in my sketch, it was because I should 
almost as soon have deemed it necessary to include by 
name my own head or my own heart He too was 
musical, and sang sweetly, and I cannot look back on 
my childhood without confessing that its cup ran over 
with the profusion of delights that my God poured 
into it. 

About this time, when my sight, after a few months' 
privation, was fully restored, I first imbibed the strength 
of Protestantism as deeply as it can be imbibed apart 
from spiritual understanding. Norwich was infa- 
mously conspicuous in persecuting unto death the 
saints of the Most High, under the sanguinary des- 
potism of Popish Mary ; and the spot where they suf- 
fered, called the Lollard's Pit. lies just outside the 
town, over Bishop's bridge, having a circular excava- 
tion against the side of Moushold-hill. This, at least 
to within a year or two ago, was kept distinct, an 
opening by the road-side. My father often took us to 
walk in that direction, and pointed out the pit, and 
told us that there Mary burnt good people alive for 
refusing to worship wooden images. I was horror- 
stricken, and asked many questions, to which he did 
not always reply so fully as I wished ; and one day, 
having to go out while 1 waa \nc|yui\u^ \k« iwi^^'-V 



PROTESTANTISM. %l 

don't think yon can read a woid of this book, but yon 
may look at the pictures : it is all a))out the martyrs. 
So saying, he placed on a chair the old folio of Foxe's 
Acts and Monuments, in venerable black letter, and 
left me to examine it. 

Hours passed, and still found me bending over, or 
rather leaning against that magic book. I could not, 
it is true, decypher the black letter ; but I found some 
examinations in Roman type, and devoured them; 
while every wood-cut was examined with aching eyes 
and a palpitating heart. Assuredly I took in 'more 
of the spirit of John Foxe, even by that imperfect 
mode of acquaintance, than many do by reading his 
book through ; and when my father next found me at 
what became my darling study, I looked up, at him 
with burning cheeks and asked, ' Papa, may I be a, 
martyr V 

** What do you mean, child V 

' I mean, papa, may I be burned to death for my 
religion, as these were ? I want to be a martyr.* 

He smiled, and made me this answer, which I have 
never forgotten, ' Why, Charlotte, if the government 
ever gives power to the Papists again, as they talk of 
doing, you may probably live to be a martyr.' 

I remember the stern pleasure that his reply afforded 
me ; of spiritual knowledge not the least ^immer had 
ever reached me in any fo^, yet I knew the Bible 
most intimately, and loved it with all my heart, as the 
most sacred, the most beautiful of earthly things. Al- 
•leady had its sublimity caught my ^di»\x%^vst^\ ^xsSS. 
when listening to the lofty langtia^ o5 X^vvsJcl.^ ^^ t»A 
/hfm his stall in the cathedra\ \>y toy £a\\i^T Vii K^^«^ 



S2 Tur. Bifiic. 

• and the early Sundays of the year, while his magmfi 
cent voice sent the prophetic denunciations pealing 
through those vaulted aisles, I had received into my 
mind, and I think into my heart, that scorn of idolatry 
which breathes so thrillingly in his inspired page. 
This I know, that at six years old the foundation of a 
tru«y scriptural protest was laid in my character ; and 
to this hour it is my prayer that whenever the Lord 
calls me hence, or whenever the Lord himself comes 
to earth, he may find his servant not only watching, 
but working against the diabolical iniquity that filled 
the Lollard's Pit with the ashes of his saints. 

And now upon that all important topic, the Bible, 1 
would remark, that among the most invaluable bless- 
ings of my life I remember the judicious conduct of 
my parents in regard to it. We generally find that 
precious volume made a book of tasks ; sometimes 
even a book of penalties : the consequence of so doing 
cannot but be evil. With us it was emphatically a 
reward book. That identical book is now before me, 
in its rich red cover, elegantly emblazoned with the 
Toyal arms ; for it is the very Bible that was placed 
before Clueen Charlotte at her coronation in 17G1; and 
which becoming the perquisite of a Prebendary of 
Westminster, was by his wife presented to my mother 
to whom she stood sponsor. This royal Bible was 
highly prized ; and it was with special favour that it 
was opened for us when we had been good, and were 
deemed worthy of some mark of approval My father 
then, whose voice made music of every thing, would 
read to us the liiatory of Abel, of ^oa\\,M.o^%,G\dAon^ 

or some other of the exquiaite naxiftXiv^ta q»^ X^aa ^"^ 



JUDICIOUS PLAN. 28 

Testanfient. I do not say that they were made the 
medium of conveying spiritual instruction ; they were 
unaccompanied by note or comment, written or oral, 
and merely read as histories, the fact being carefully 
impressed on our minds that God was the author, and 
that it would be highly criminal to doubt the truth of 
any word in that book ; but I do a&sert that such a 
mode of bringing a child acquainted with the Scrip- 
tures is infinitely preferable to setting him tasks to 
learn out of it, or even of encumbering with human ex- 
planations what God has made so very plain, so very 
attractive. The consequences of this early instruction 
imparted as an indulgence, I have reasons daily to re 
joice in ; it led me to search for myself the inspired 
pages : it taught me to expect beauties, and excellen- 
cies, and high* intellectual gratification, where Go/ 
has indeed caused them to abound. As in the na« 
tural world we find the nutritious fruit not lying 
like pebbles on the ground, but hung on graceful 
trees and shrubs, heralded, by fair and fragrant blos- 
soms, embowered in verdant foliage, and itself beautx< 
fully shaped and tinted, so has the Liord arranged the^ 
the garden where grows the fruits of the tree of Ine, 
should abound in all that is most lovely to man's 
natural perception ; and do we not slight this bounte- 
otts care for our mind's enjoyment while he makes 
provision for our souFa sustenance, when we neglect 
to point these things out to the notice of our chil 
dren ? The word was my delight many a year be- 
fore it became my counsellor \ and wKeiv ^1 V^^ V!&l^ 
ytH W99 withdrawn from my Ykcatt, wvi^i ^«v^% %\S3^ 
nreahd mb the Alpha and Ome^«L o£ V)\%\,W«wfc^'^^'^ 



S4 RELIOIOn. 

I 

it was not like gradually furnishing a vacant phot 
with yaluiihle goods, but like letting a flood of day 
into one already moat richly stored with all that wai 
precious ; though, for lack of light whereby to discern 
their real nature, the gems had been regarded but at 
common thin^. My memory was plentifully stored 
with what it had been my free choice to study : and 
when in the progress of this little narrative you learn 
how mercifully I have been preserved from doctrinal 
error in its various forms, through that full* acquain- 
tance with God's word ; you will trace his marvellous 
workings in thus furnishing my mind, as it were, with 
an armoury of ready weapons j and will be ready to 
echo with increased earnestness that emphatic declara- 
tion, ' The Bible, the Bible alone, is the religion of 
Protestants;' and not only to echo, but also to aet 
upon it. 

Religion, however, did at this early period of my 
life, become a very important concern in my eyes : 
our mother had taken infinite pains to assure us of 
one great truth — the omniscience of an Omnipresent 
God — and this I never could for a moment shake off. 
It influenced us both in a powerful manner, so that if 
either committed a fault, we never rested until, through 
mutual exhortation on the ground that God certainly 
knevf^ it, and would be angry if we added deceit to 
another error, we had encouraged each other to con- 
fession. We then went, hand in hand, to our mother, 
and the one who stood clear of the oflence acknow- 
ledged it in the name of the transgressor, while both 
maked pardon. Never did cVkWdieu tclqt^ «i\^cxt ^^\ 
v^ apurned at its meanneaS) ^\ii\« ttem^i^vi^^ ^x Sx» 



A LIE. 25 

giiilt ; and nothing bound na more closely and ex* 
dusively togethei than the xluicoyimes we were always 
making of a laxity among other ohildien in this respect 
On such occasions we would shrink into a corner by 
ourselves, and whisper, ' Do they think God does not 
hear that V Self-righteousness, no doubt, existed in a 
high degree : we were baby Pharisees, rejoicing in the* 
external cleanliness of cup and platter ; but I look back, 
with great thankfulness on the mercy that so far in- 
structed us ; an habitual regard to truth has carried! 
me safely through many a trial, and, as a means^ 
guarded me from many a snare. It cannot b^ too^ 
early or too strongly inculcated ; nor should ^y effort 
be considered too great, any difficulty as too dis- 
couraging, any reprobation as too sirong, or, I will, 
add, any punishment too severe, when the object in 
view is to overcome this infamous vice in a «hild. 
Once I remember having been led into a lie, at the in- 
stigation, and through the contrivance of a servant, 
girl, for whose benefit it was told. Suspicion instantly 
arose, from my dreadful embarrassment of manner; a 
strict investigation commenced ; the girl told me to 
face it out, for that nobody else knew of it, and she 
would not flinch. But my terrors of conscience were 
insupportable ; I could ill bear my father's steady eye 
fixed on mine, still less the anxious, wondering, in- 
credulous expression of my brother's innocent face, 
who could not for a moment &ncy me guilty. I con- 
fessed at once ; and with a heavy sigh my father sent 
to borrow from a neighbour an instrument oC ck^a^isnr 
jaent never before needed in kiB 0¥rii\ioxvA^. ^^ \5^^ 
me u inotber room, and aaid, ' CVuXdi, iX-^^^V^"®" 



26 POKISHMENT. 

more to panish you thus, than any blows I can inflict 
will pain you ; but I must do it ; you have told a lie ; 
a dreadful sin, and a base, mean, cowardly action. If 
[ let you grow up a liar you will reproach me for it 
one day ; If I now spared the rod I should hate the 
child.' I took the punishment in a most extraordinary 
spirit ; I wished every stroke had been a stab ; I wept 
because the pain wm not great enough ; and I loved 
my father at that moment better than even I, who 
almost idolized him, had ever loved him before. ) 
thanked him, and I thank him still ; for I never trans 
greased in that way again. The servant was called 
received her wages, and a most awful lecture, and wha 
discharged the same hour. Yet, of all these things 
what sank deepest into my very soul were the sob? 
and cries of my fond little brother, and the lamentable 
tones of his soft voice, pleading through the closed 
door, * Oh, Papa, don't whip Charlotte ! Oh, forgive 
Tpoor Charlotte!' 

It is sweet to know we have a Brother indeed who 
-'always pleads, and never pleads in vain for the offend- 
ring child ; a Father whose chastisements are not with* 
-held, but administered in tender love ; judgment being 
'his strange work, and mercy that wherein he delights, 
'and the peaceable fruits of righteousness the end of his 
-corrections. The event to which I have referred may 
4ippear too trivial a thing to record ; but it is by neg- 
lecting trivial diings that we ruin ourseI\^s and our 
rehildren. The usual mode of training these immortal 
-beings, the plan of leaving them to servants and to 
'themselves, the blind indulgence \\i%\.'^«»^^^\i^^^\0' 
m slight reprimand only, a ¥ri\£u\ oiSenc-e^wA ^^uja 



A PROVEIIB. 27 

cbievous misapplication of doctrine^ that induces somtt 
to let nature do her worst, because nothing but grace 
can effectually suppress her evil workings ; all these are 
faulty in the extreme, and no less presumptuous than 
foolish: this has produced that 'spirit of the age' which, 
operating in a ^ pressure from without' is daily forcing 
us farther from the good old paths in which we ought to 
walk, and in which our forefathers did walk, when they 
gave better heed than we do to the inspired word 
which tells us, '^ Foolishness is bound up in the heart 
of a child ; but the rod of correction shall diiv^ it fai 
from him.'' 

> Actionately yours, 

C E 



LETTER IL 



YOUTH. 



I HAVE long been penmaded that there 19 no such 
thing as an honest prirate journal, even where the en- 
tries are punctually made under present impressions. 
There is so much of positive, active evil always at 
work in the mind, that to give a fair transcript of idle 
unprofitable thoughts and corrupt imaginings is out of 
the question: evil is dealt with in generals, good in 
particulars, and the balance cannot be fairly struck. 
Those confessions of indwelling sin tht(t remorse will 
wring from us, and which, perhap, are penned at the • 
moment in perfect sincerity, being unaccompanied with 
the specifications that would. invest them in their na- 
turally hideous colours, wear the lovely garb of un- 
feigned humility. The reader, coming to such self-con- 
demnatory clauses, is struck with .admiration at the 
saintly writer's marvellous self-abasement, only lament- 
ing that he should, in the excess of his lowly -minded- 
ness, have ^ritten such bitter things against himself, 
at a time when he was grieving, resisting, almost 
quenching the Holy Spirit within, by obstinate trans- 
gression. 
And if the present, how mucVi hvot© \^ xYi^ ^^^\..\\^- 
ttle to be glossed over ! To be ^AitVlxxW.^^ '\^ ^^^"^ ^^ 



ROKANCE 29 

impossible, for Satan helps us to deeeire ourselves, 
and instructs us to carry out the deception to others. 
This consideration might well cause the pen of auto- 
biography to drop from a christian's hand, did not an 
earnest desire to glorify God in his merciful dealingS| 
together with the consciousness that to no other could 
the task be safely delegated, act as a counterpoise to 
the discouragement. I do desire to magnify the ex- 
ceeding riches of God's grace to me, if I may do so 
without increasing the charge of arrogant assumption. 
I know that among the diversity of gifts which he be* 
stowed on his creatures, he granted me a portion of 
mental energy, a quickness of perception, a liveliness 
of imagination, an aptitude for expressing the thoughts 
that were perpetually revolving in my mind, such as 
to fit me for literary occupation. I know that Satan, 
to whom such instruments are exceedingly valuable, 
marked me as one who would, if properly trained to it, 
do his work effectually within his own sphere ; and I 
am not more sure of my present existence than I am 
of the fact that he strove to secuie me for that purpose 
from the first expanding of those faculties which evi- 
dently lie exposed to his observation, and open to his. 
attacks, or as far as God permits him to work. Can 
I feel all this, and not bless the Lord who so far baffled: 
these designs, and deigned to appoint my field of labour: 
within the sacred confines of his own vineyard ? 

The visitation of which I have spoken had a power- 
ful influence on my after-life : it rendered the preser- 
vation of my newly -restored sight an object of para* 
mount importance, to which the i^^\»x \^s^>ASi% ^ 
edaeation mast needs be. sacxi&cAJl. K \^^vl^^cc^, 
3* 



30 THE DRAMA. 

school had never been thought of for me ; my parents 
loved their children too well to meditate their expnl* 
sion from the paternal roof; and the children so well 
loved their parents and each other that such a separa- 
tion wonld have been insupportable to them. Masters 
we had in the necessary branches of education, and we 
studied together so far as I was permitted to stud]^; 
but before it was deemed safe to exercise my eyes with 
writing apparatus, I had stealthily possessed myself of 
a patent copy-book, by means of which, tracing the 
characters as they shone through the paper, I was 
able to write with tolerable freedom before any one 
knew that I could join two letters ; and I well remem- 
ber my father's surprise, not unmixed with annoyance, 
when he accidentally took up a letter which I had been 

- writing to a distant relation, giving a circumstantial 
account of some domestic calamity which had no ex- 
istence but in my brain ; related with so much pathos 
too, that my tears had fallen over the slate whereon 
this my first literary attempt was very neatly traced. 
He could not forbear laughing; but ended with a 
^ave shake of the head, and a remark to the effect 
that I was making more haste than good speed. 

At this time, seven years of age, I became entangled 
in a net of dangerous fascination. One evening my 
brother was taken to the theatre, while I, on account 
of a cold, had to stay at home. To compensate for 
this, I was permitted to read the play to him ; and that 
play was 'The Merchant of Venice.' I will not dwell 
upon the effect: I had already become fond of such 
theatrical spectacles as were considered suitable foi 

*cbildren- -pantomime and broad f«tc^ — ^wAY^sa^^^ 



POETICAL TASTE. 31 

I gazed upon the glitter, and enjoyed the bnstle ; but 
now, seated in a corner, all quiet about me, and nothing 
to interfere with the mental world, I drank « cup of 
intoxication under which my brain reeled for many a 
year. The character of Shylook burst upon me, even 
as Shakespeare had conceived it. I revelled in the 
terrible excitement that it gave rise to; page after 
page was stereotypied upon a most retentive memory, 
without an effort, and during a sleepless night I feasted 
on the pernicious sweets thus hoarded in my brain. 

Pernicious indeed they were, for from that hour my 
diligence in study, my docility of conduct, every thing 
that is usually regarded as praiseworthy in a child| 
sprung from a new motive. I wanted to earn a re- 
ward, and that was no longer a sweet story from the 
Bible, but permission to carry into my retreat a vol- 
ume of Shakspeare. A taste so unusual at my age 
was hailed with applause ; visiters questioned me on 
the different plays, to ascertain my intimate acquaint- 
ance with the characters; but no one, not' even my fa- 
ther could persuade me to recite a line, or to listen when 
another attempted it, or to witness (he representation 
of any play of Shakspeare. This I mention to prove 
what a powerful hold the enemy of all godliness must 
have expected to take on a spirit so attuned to ro- 
mance. Reality became insipid, almost hateful to me ; 
conversation, except that of literary men, to whom I 
have alluded, a burden: I imbibed a thorough con- 
tempt for wolnen, children, and household aJQTairs, en- 
trenching myself behind invisible barriers that few^ 
very few, could pass. Oh, how xawi^ -v^A^^ V'asiSA^ 
bow much of unprofitable labovix, ^Ai«N. ^wt^xv^^-^ ^ 



32 INJU&I0U8 MEDICAL TRSATmaiT. 

fellow-creatures, what robbery of God, must I refer to 
this ensnaring bookl My mind became unnerved, 
my judgment perverted, my estimate of people and 
tY^ings wholly falsified, and my soul wrapped in the 
ain solace of unsubstantial enjoyments during years 
^f after sorrow, when but for this I might have early 
sought the consolations of the gospeL Parents know 
not what they do, when from vanity, thoughtlessness. 
or over-indulgence, they foster in a young girl what it 
called a poetical taste. Those things highly esteemed 
among men, are held in abomination with God ; they 
thrust Him from his creatures' thoughts, and enshrine 
a host of polluting idols in his place. 

My father, I am sure, wished to check the evil which 
as a sensible man, he could not but foresee ; my state of 
health, however, won a larger portion of indulgence than 
was good for me. The doctors into whose hands 1 
had fallen, were of the school now happily very much 
exploded \ they had one panacea for almost every ill, 
and that was the perilous drug, mercury. With it they 
rather fed than physiced me ; and its deleterious effects 
on the nervous system were doubly injurious to me, as 
increasing ten fold the excitability that required every 
curb. Among all the marvels of my life the greatest 
is that of my having grown up to be one of the health- 
iest of human beings, and with an inexhaustible flow 
of even mirthful spirits, for certainly I was long kept 
hovering on the verge of the grave by the barbarous 
excess to which medical experiments were carried ; and 
I never entertained a doubt that the total loss of my 
hearing, before ^ was ten ye&TB old^ was owin^ to a 
paralysis induced by sucK sevet^ ix^^AxasiiV Qio^. 



BOOKS. . 38 

however, had his own purposes to work out, which 
neither Satan nor man could hinder. He overruled 
all for the furtherance of his own gracious designs. 

Shut out hy this last dispensation from my two de- 
lightful resources, music and conversation, I took re- 
fuge in hooks with tenfold avidity. By this time 1. 
had added the British poets generally to my original 
stock, together with such reading as is usually pre^ 
scribed for young ladies ; and I underwent the inflic- 
tion of reading aloud to my mother the seven mortal 
volumes of Sir Charles Grandison. It was in the fulfil- 
ment of this awful task that I acquired a habit particu- 
larly mischievous and ensnaring, that of reading me- 
chanically with a total abstraction of mind from what I 
was about This became the easier to me from the ab- 
sence of all External sound ; aqd its consequences are ex- 
ceedingly distressing to this day, as experienced in a 
long indulged, and afterwards most bitterly lamented 
wandering of the mind in prayer and reading the scrip- 
tures. In fact, through the prevalence of this habit, 
my devotions, always very punctually performed, be- 
came such an utter lip-service as frequently to startle 
and terrify my conscience when I found myself saying 
prayers and thinking idle songs or scraps of plays ; but 
I regarded such transient pangs of remorse as a satis- 
faction for the sin, and never dreamed of resisting the 
general habit. 

Thus far, I had led a town life, residing in the heart 
of a populous city, enjoying indeed that noble garden, 
and but daily more and more absorbed viv V^^^V^ ^S. 
fancy. Happily my healt\i became a^ ^StOv.^^ ^v^.% 
removal into the country was iuAgedi lifc^^^^^l ^ '^^^^ 



34 A CHANGE. 

forgave the doctors all their past persecution of me in 
consideration of their parting injunctions ; which werct 
that I was to have unbounded liberty ; to live entirely 
in the open air, save when the weather forbade; to be 
amused with all rural occupations ; and especially to 
frequent farm yards, for the purpose of inhaling the 
breath of cows. My father exchanged parochial duty 
with a friend, taking his village congregation, and en- 
gaging a house veiy near the church. 

That tak white house, — what a^ place it holds in my 
fond recollection ! It was perfectly an old parsonage, 
and behind it lay a garden larger than our city orchard, 
sloping gently down, with a profusion of fruit and 
flowers, bounded by high walls, and the central walk 
terminating in a door, beyond which lay the scene of 
our greatest enjoyment. A narrow slip of grass, fring- 
ed with osiers, and alders, and willows, alone separated 
the wall from a very clear, lovely stream, which wind- 
ing half round an extensive common, turned a mill 
This small river abounded with fish, and we soon be- 
came expert anglers, besides which, on creeping to 
some distance by a path of our own discovery, we 
could cross the stream on a moveable plank, and take 
a wide range through the country. This removal 
was a double resource ; it invigorated my poor bodily 
frame, until I outgrew and out-bloomed every girl of 
my age in the neighbourhood, while really laying a 
foundation for many years of uninterrupted health, 
and a constitution to defy the change of climate for 
which I was destined ; while it won me from the sick- 
, ening, enervating habit of sedentary enjoyment over 
t)>A pages of a book, which, added to the necessary 



RURAL LIFE. " 35 

Studies and occupations, was relaxing alik^ the tone of 
the bodily and mental frame. From the polluted works 
of man I was drawn to the glorious works of God ; 
and never did bird of the air or beast of the field more 
luxuriate in the pure bright elements of nature than I 
did. All the poetical visions of liberty that had floated 
in my brain seemed now realized ; all pastoral descrip- 
tions faded before the actual enjoyment of rural life. 
Sometimes wreathing garlands of wild flowers, recfined 
on a sunny bank, while a flock of sheep strolled around, 
and the bold little lambs came to peep in our faces, 
and then gallop away in pretended alarm ; some- 
times tearing our clothes to tatters in an ardent hunt 
for the sweet filberts that hung high above our heads 
on trees well fortified behind breastworks of bramble 
and thorn ; sometimes cultivating the friendship uhilo 
we quaffed the milk of the good-natured cows under 
the dairymaid's operation, whose breath I was instruc- 
ted to inhale ; all was freedom, mirth, and peace. Of. 
ten would my father take his noble pointers prepara- 
tory to the shooting season, at once to try their powers 
and to ascertain what promise of future sport the fields 
presented. These were destructive expeditions in one 
sense. I remember the following dialogue, repeated to 
me by my brother, when we made our appearance at 
home after a day's demolition of wearing apparel. 
• < Mr. B. this will never do ; that girl cannot wear a 
fiock twice without soiling it ; nor keep it whole for a 
week : the expense will ruin us.' 

' Well, my dear, if I am to be ruined by expense, let 
it come in the shape of the washerwoman's and linen 



8b STAYS. 

draper's billi : not in those of the apothecary and iiii> 
dertaker/ 

My dear father was right ; and it would be a happy 
thing, for girls in general if somewhat of appearance, 
and of acquirement too, was sacrificed to what God 
has so liberally provided, and to the enjoyment of 
which a blessing is undoubtedly annexed. Where, 
among females, do we find the stamina of constitution 
and the elasticity of spirit which exist in those of our 
rural population who follow out-door employment? 
Tt positively pains me to see a party of girls, a bon- 
neted and tippeted double-file of humanity, 

' That like a wounded snake drags its slow length along* 
under the keen surveillance of a governess, whose 
nerves would never be able^to endure the shock of see 
ing them bound over a stream or scramble through a 
fence, or even toss their heads and throw out their 
limbs as all young animals, except that oppressed class 
called young ladies, are privileged to. Having ven- 
tured, ill a fit of my country daring, to break the ice 
of this very rigid and frigid subject, I will recount an- 
other instance of the paternal good sense to which I 
owe, under God, the physical powers without which my 
little talent might have laid by in a napkin all my days. 

One morning, when his daughter was about eight 
years old, my father came in, and found sundry prepa- 
rations going on, the chief materials for which were 
buckram, whalebone, and other stiff articles : while 
the young lady was under measurement by the hands 
of a female friend. 

< Pray what are you going to do to the child V 

* Goin^ to fit her with a pair of stays/ 



TIGHT LACING. 37 

For what purpose ?' 

To improve her figure ; no young lady can grow 
op properly without them.' 

* I beg your pardon ;• young gentlemen grow up, 
very well without them, and so may young ladies.' 

' Oh, you are mistaken. See what a stoop she has- 
already ; depend on it this girl will be both a dwari' 
and a cripple if we don't put her into stays.' 

' My child may be a cripple, ma'am, if such is God s. 
will ; but she shall be one of His making, not our's.' 

All remonstrance was vain ; stays and every specie? 
of tight dress were strictly prohibited by the authority 
of one whose will was, as every man's ought to be, ab- 
solute in his own household. He also carefully 
watched against any evasion of the rule ; a ribband 
drawn tightly round my waist would have been cut 
without hesitation, by his determined hand ; while the 
iittle girl of the anxious friend whose operations he 
had interrupted, enjoye^ all the advantages of that 
system from which I was preserved. She grew up a 
wand-like figure, graceful and interesting, and died of 
decline at nineteen, while I, though not able to compare 
shapes with a wasp or an hour-glass, yet passed mus- 
ter very fairly among mere human forms, of God's 
moulding ; and I have enjoyed to this hour a rare ex- 
emption from headaches, and other lady-like maladies, 
that appear the almost exclusive privilege of women 
in the higher classes. 

This is no trivial matter, believe me; it has fre 

quently been the subject of conversation with profes- 

•ional men of high attainment, and I never met wif h ' 

ooeamong them who did not» oii\ifeitm^^^\^vi^'^ 

4 



B8 TIGHT LACING. 

but once, and then only for a few hours, submitted t 
the restraint of these unnatural machines, refer to tha 
exemption, as a means, the free respiration, circulatioi 
and powers both of exertion and endurance with whic] 
the Lord has most mercifully gifted me. There cai,^ 
be no doubt that the hand which first encloses th^ 
waist of a girl in these cruel contrivances, supplyin^;^ 
her with a fictitious support, where the hand of Go^^ 
has placed bones and muscles that ought to be brought 
into vigorous action, that hand lays the foundation 
of bitter sufferings ; at the price of which, and probably 
of a premature death, the advantage must be pur- 
chased of rendering her figure as unlike as possible to 
all the models of female beauty, universally admitted 
to be such, because they are chiseled after nature itself 
I have seen pictures, and I have read harrowing descrip- 
tions, of the murderous consequences of thus flying in 
the face of the Creator's skill, and presuming to mend 
—to improve — his perfect work ; but my own experi- 
ence is worth a thousand treatises and ten thousand 
illustrations, in bringing conviction to my mind . Once, 
when introduced, as it is called, to the public, through 
the medium of a ball-room, I did join in persuading my 
father to allow of a fashionable lacing-up, though by no 
means a tight one. I felt much as, I suppose, a frolick- 
some young colt feels when first subjected to the goad* 
ing apparatus that fetters his wild freedom. I danced, 
but it was with a heavy heart and labouring breath ; I 
>talked, under the influence of a stupifying headache, and 
on my return home flew to my apartment and cut the 
^odly fabric in pieces ; nor was I ever ^terwards tempt- 
ed so to tempt my all-wise Maker by saying to the frame 



RUINOUS CUSTOM. 39 

that he had fashioned and supplied with the means of 
healthful growth, '^ Hitherto shalt thou go and no 
farther." 

Compressure of the feet was with equal strictness- 
forbidden by my judicious father. This vain custom 
is perhaps not so fatal as the other, but it produces 
many evils. Coldness of the extremities may certainly 
exist where nothing of the kind has been practised, 
but while rejoicing that I, experimentally, know nothing 
of it, I cannot help recollecting that the bounding pulse 
which plays so joyously through my veins was never 
impeded in any part ; and feeling this, I would no more 
Bxpose a girl to one infliction than I would to the other. 
Do Christian mothers take a sufficiently serious and 
prayerful view of this subject, as regards their children? 
Do they weigh, in the balance of God's providing, 
this necessary provision of clothing, to separate not 
only what is unseemly for the woman professing godly 
simplicity, but what is enervating to those physical 
powiBrs which she is bound to promote to the Lord, 
and the weakening of which is actual robbery of him? 
I fear we females are more ready to ask counsel one 
of another in this matter than of the Lord ; or even of 
our husbands, who, in nine cases out of ten no doubt, 
would decide against the foolish and pernicious custom. 
At least, in all my arguments with my own sex, I have 
found the men invariably siding with me on this topic. 

You will be tired of these digressions, my dear 
friend, but I set out by forewarning you that my 
opinions would be freely stated : and while touching 
on a period of mortal life, where the body no less than 
the mind usually takes its diiecliot^ ^qt >\i.^ t^^ ^ ^s^as. 



40 THE COUNTRY. 

pilgrimage, I cannot pass by anything that appears to ^ 
me of real importance to either. We will now return 
to what poets have sung and citizens sighed for, time 
out of mind — the delights of rural life. 

All cramping is decidedly bad : wholesome restraints 
there are, which parents are bound to lay upon theii 
children, and the latter to submit to ; and among othei 
things I am sure a defined method, and regular habits, 
in education, work, and play, together with a most 
strict attention to scrupulous punctuality, are not only 
valuable, but indispensable to a right government of 
the mind and conduct in after life. I have daily cause 
to lament the unavoidable negkct of such a system in 
my own case, during three important years ; but un- 
avoidable it was, unless my life had been sacrificed to 
the maintenance of such order. Accordingly, mine 
was the life of a butterfly ; and whatever of the busy 
bee has since appeared in my proceedings must be 
ascribed to divine grace alone. • I often recall those 
days of summer sunshine to which I have alluded ; 
and the scarcely less joyous winter season, when, 
ploughing the light snow, we raced with our inseparable 
companion, the favourite pointer, or built up a brittle 
giant for the glory of demolishing him with balls of 
his own substance, or directed the soft missiles against 
each other. Accompanied by our father, but never 
. alone, we made excursions upon our frozen stream ; 
and very sweet it was to the fond hearts of my tender 
parents to watch the mantling glow of health, the elastic 
vigour of increasing stature, and the unbounded play 
of most exuberant spirits in the poor child whom they 
Jbad expected to enclose in an early grave How often 



EI^GLAND. 41 

Bi*.ated on the low wide brick-work corner of the im- 
mense fireplace in a neighbouring farm-house, have I - 
been smoked among hams and tongues, while watch- 
ing the progress of baking a homely cake upon those 
glowing wood-embers, or keeping guard over a treasury 
of apples, niTts, and elderberry wine, all streaming to- 
jrether in the lusciousness of a promised feast? Pa- 
triotivsm is with me no inert principle ; it verily lives 
and acts, and pervades my whole spirit; and I believe 
its energetic character, except as God designs to work 
bv his especial influence, is traceable to that early ac- 
quaintance with what is most purely English among 
us — the homes and the habits of our own bold yeo- 
n\ftnry. Cities may resemble one another, and the 
aping propensities of their inhabitants produce among 
them a rapid approximation of appearance and man- 
ners ; but where shall we look for the counterpart of 
a rural English home ? The thing is as untrans- 
ferrable as the world is untranslateable. The antique 
village church, with its broad square tower, or low 
spire, its stone porch and oak seats, its narrow case* 
ments, and the many vestiges of those abominations 
which the besom of the blessed Reformation swept from 
our services, though it could not, without demolishing 
the building, efface their relics from its walls: — the 
churchyard surrounding its base, with undulating hil- 
locks of mortality clad in long, rich grass, where lie, 
half hidden, the old gray monumental stones that can 
no longer tell the tale of by-gone generations; the 
more modem sculpture, and the homely grave-rail 
standing sentry over the last resting-place of the poor, 
while some venerable tree ovei%\i«A.o^^ ^^ ^^tvs^ 
4* 



42 A HEFORMEB NEEDED. 

where it has probably stood since the first stone of that 
modest temple ^as kid by our forefathers — all these 
are so endearingly English ! ^ The broad, rich fields, 
the hedge-row boundaries, and stately lines of vigorous 
trees, guarding their native soil ; and above all, the 
manly bearing of a bold, an independent, «and a peace- 
ful peasantry, the humblest of whom knows that hii^ 
cottage is a chartered jsanctuary, protected alike from 
the aggressions of civil and of ecclesiastical tyranny, — 
these, too, are English, sacredly English ; and they 
leave upon the heart that has once expanded among 
them an impress never to be effaced. Among national 
reformers, what a noble position would he occupy who 
should prevail upon our monied countrymen to ex* 
change their habits of periodical vagrancy into Popish 
lands, for a sojourn in the moral districts of their own 
Protestant England, in the confidence that the climate 
which agreed with their fathers from generation to 
generation — as the dates and ages decypherable on 
our monuments will testify — would not annihilate 
them; and that the sphere in which God had seen 
good to place them was that wherein he purposed them 
to move, to exert their influence, and to occupy for his 
gloryj^ with the talents committed to their charge. 

I have told you how books of imagination had sup- 
planted the Bible in my esteem ; those books now, in 
a measure, yielded to the irresistible attraction of out- 
door amusement; but my mind was so abundantly 
stored with the glittering tinsel of unsanctified genius, 
as it shone forth in the pages of my beloved poets, that 
MO room was left for a craving after better studies.. 
Yet the turn of my mind was devotional in the ex- 



REUGIOUS r'SEUMGS. 43 

treme \ so much so, tliat had the Lord permitted me at 
that time to come in contact witbthe wily fascinations 
of Popery, I am sure I should have fallen, for a season at 
least, into the snare. God was really in all my thoughts; 
not as the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ-— 
not as a heing of purer eyes than to behold iniquity — 
not as He whom I was required to glorify in my body 
and in my spirit, being bought with a price, to be no 
longer my own but his ; — no, my religion was a very 
attractive sort of Deism, which recognised the Creator 
of all those things wherein I delighted, and thought 
to render him great honour by such recognition. 
Thomson's ' Hymn on the Seasons' was my body of 
divinity ; &nd Pope's atrocious *• Universal Prayer* 
would have become my manual of devotion, had not 
my father denounced it as a most blasphemous outrage 
upon revelation, and charged me never to repeat what 
he deeply regretted that I had committed to memory. 
I hated profanity^and would not have omitted the pri 
vate repetition of a form of prayer, morning or eve 
ning, on any account, nor absented myself from public 
worship. A slighting expression applied to the Bible 
would kindle me into glowing resentment, expressed 
with no less sincerity than earnestness, and as a mat- 
ter of duty I devoted some time every Sabbath-day to 
the. perusal of God's word, with which I had become 
more extensively acquainted by reading it during ser- 
mon-time at church. I well know that even then, and 
at a much earlier period too, conviction of my own 
sinfulness was working very deeply, though not per- 
manently, in my mind : it was not an abiding impres- 
noHi but a thing of fits and starts, ov^i^'w Vl^WV'cv^ "(si^ 



44 TBE CATECHISIL 

while it lasted, but soon shaken off by diverting mj 
tlioughts to something else. These conTictions wen 
unquestionably the result of my occasional readings 
in God's book: they. always occurred during, or im- 
mediately after, such perusal ; or when some passage 
was suddenly brought to my recollection. I am wri* 
ting plain facts, without any regard to this or that 
system ; and I must frankly confess that, accustomed 
as I always was to analyse the meaning of every thing 
I studied, a passage in the catechism which we punc- 
tually repeated every Sunday, proved a great snare to 
me. I, of course, felt bound to receive it all as unques* 
tionably correct in doctrjne ; and at the same time I 
took it according to the plain, literal signification of 
the words. In this frame of mind, I recited weekly the 
declaration, " I believe in God the Holy Ghost, who 
sanctifieth me, and all the Elect people of God." Now 
I knew what sanctification meant ; I knew that the 
Elect people of God were those who should be saved \ 
I knew that to say '^ He sanctifieth me," was the 
same as to say ^l am sanctified by him ;" and I knew 
that according to the obvious sense of the passage, I 
was numbering myself with that elect people. Many 
an alarming inquiry, which if followed up by a prayer- 
ful appeal to the Bible might have led me then to Je 
sus, was effectually stifled by this misconception. I 
know that the clause can be explained so as to do away 
with this wrong inference ; but I cannot help lament- 
ing that expressions put in the mouths of children as 
a confession of faith, should be left liable to any such 
misconstruction. My attachment to the Established 
Church of England is warm and sincere : it has, as 



A DELINQUENT. 45 

the sequel will show, withstood many assaults, and in- 
creased in proportion as it was aei^ailed ; hut its form- 
ularies, however excellent, are the work of fallible man, 
therefore imperfect and open to improvement ; and 
this little word ' me ' in the clause alluded to is a mis- 
chievous misleader. 

Not wishing to return to the subject, I will close 
this letter by the relation of an incident, which, coupled 
with the recollection of my own youthful cogitations, 
deepened painfully the impression I have here admit- 
ted. When engaged a few years since, in giving Sab- 
bath instruction at my own house to a number of 
young people, I was particularly distressed by a report 
that one fine boy, about twelve years of age, had been 
led into habits of intoxication. It soon after happened 
that on a Saturday night I gave a 'little feast, a tea* 
party, to the boys, and on their assembling 1 discovered 
to my great horror, the lad in question was not sober. 
£ took him aside, spoke shortly to him, and sent him 
home under the care of an older, and steady boy. The 
circumstance alSected me greatly : I resolved to mark 
in the most emphatic manner, my reprobation of the 
sin, and to address him on the following evening, in 
presence of his companions, as one who by such a line 
of conduct placed himself without the pale of our little 
society ; hoping that by a temporary public exclusion, 
and much private admonition and persuasion, he might 
be brought to struggle against the vile propensity. 

On that Sunday morning a sermon was preached for 
the benefit of the National Schoo? to which this boy 
belonged ; and as usual some of the children were se- 
lected to repeat the catechism in the chuiclv. \.\. ^^^ 



46 A FACT. 

the Military Chapel at Sandhurst, filled in every part 
with its imposing array ; and the little catechumens wexe 
placed near the communion tahle, each speaker having 
to advance a step or two into open view, standing 
singly conspicuous. Judge of my feelings, when, 
wearing an aspect of the utmost confidence, hut still 
flushed and debflitated through his last night's debauch, 
my unhappy little drunkard stepped forth, and with 
great distinctness and self-complacency repeated those 
words: ^^ I learn to believe .... thirdly in Grod 
the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me, and all the Eleet 
people of God." 

I fairly burst into tears. I will add no comment, 
but simply leave on record my fervent hope that God 
may put it into the hearts of those who have the power 
so to do, to revise* what in the main is so truly excel- 
lent and scriptural, and by a few verbal corrections to 
do away with whatever may cast a stumbling-block 
before the lambs of our fold. 



LETTER lit 



EABLY DAYS. 



Connected with this period of mj early life are re- 
lUections that I would not lose. They are vivid, 
)cause, as I have said, I was a thinking child, having 
sen accustomed to listen with eagerness to the con- 
enation of my seniors, I had insensibly imbibed 
leir feelings. The recent horrors of the French re- 
olution, and the kindred spirit that had burst out 
ith sanguinary violence in Ireland, while the social 
'ame of England herself was deeply shaken by the 
)11 of those waves that were not permitted to burst 
vet her favoured soil, of course formed a very promi- 
ent topic of conversation. Indeed every mind was 
lore or less engrossed by it ; and my father, an enthu- 
astic loyalist, devoted to the constitution in Church 
ad State, had offered more than verbal resistance to 
le enemy ; for, as I often heard told, when some 
postles of revolution visited our city, and sought to 
ir up the lower classes to outrages for which they 
ad long been secretly ripening, my father, wnose 
Ddily strength was as formidable as his mind was en- 
rgetic and his appearance commanding, had placed 
imself in the fore-front of a party of gentlemen who 
kormed the quarters taken up by these mov^i^ q^ ^^^^ 



48 REVOLUTIONISM. 

tion, interrupted their dangerous proceedings, over- 
powered all resistance, and drove the intruders out of 
iHe town. He was not fond of hearing his own praises 
sounded on this subject, for he felt that nothing short 
of an extreme case could justify a clergyman in thus 
coming forward : but the case really was an extreme 
one. Antichrist bestrode our city, firmly planting 
there his two cloven hoofs of Popery and Socinianism. 
Many of our leading men belonged to these two sys* 
iems, the former, the Jerninghams, Petres, &c., making 
ap in wealth and private influence for what our thet 
Protestant constitution withheld of political power, and 
ihe latter mingling its bad leaven in every part of the 
inass, sending to parliament one of the most active of its 
communion, to represent the ancient city. Of course 
we had within us the elements both of a Frenct 
revolution and an Irish rebellion ; and with an im- 
mense manufacturing population, often distressed, and 
notoriously disaffected, much solicitude prevailed among 
those who in either case would become the first victims 
of a popular explosion. The clergy were peculiarly 
marked for destruction, looked upon on one side as a 
body of place-holders who wrung from the people ample 
payment for services which the latter valued at no- 
thing; and by the- other party as heretical leaders, 
whose teaching, as the Douay Bible courteously remarks, 
is to be regarded as the howling of wolves, and them- 
selves treated accordingly. Both parties beheld in the 
Church of England the most insurmountable barrier 
to their designs upon the civil and religious institu- 
tions of the country ; and they were perfectly right, 



POLITICS. 49 

for HO it unquestionably is; and long may it so 
remain. 

Born in£o this exciting p&riod, and hearing from my 
earliest infancy such matters canvassed, not as theo- 
rieSj but as realities threatening our very existence, I 
became deeply engaged in them at five or six years old, 
an age when few children dream of public afiairs : and 
vrell do I remember the sagacious jshake of the head 
with which the present Bishop of Gloucester, Dr. 
Monk, then domiciled under my father's roof prepara- 
tory to entering college, remarked, on detecting me 
poring over a newspaper as big as myself, " Missy 
will one day be a great politician." He was so far 
right that Missy has since encountered many rebukes 
for indulging a taste not considered lady-like, and for 
striving to rouse the mothers of her native land into 
an appreciation of their high privilege of forming the 
minds of future Englishmen ; and the importance of 
training them up, even from the nursery, in the sound 
principles of our matchless constitution. And does 
Missy repent ? Far, far from it ; she has lived to send 
one manly youth of her own nursing, though not her 
own offspring, to swell the phalanx of Protesters ; nay, 
of political Protesters, in a place where the war of 
principles is waged with stern determination : she is 
yet preparing another ; and if instead of two, two 
hundred English boys had been committed to her 
guidance, she would, the Lord being her helper, have 
formed them into a body of fellow-soldiers with those 
who now contend on the broken, but still precious 
ramparts of our Protestant constitution. 
The exft to which I would now t«^«il -s^^ ^«X. ^^ 
5 



60 NATIONAL CONFESSION. 

Napoleon s menaced invasion. Oh, what a spirit did 
it rouse among us ! I could not then fully appreciate 
what now I remember with delight, the alacrity of our 
labouring classes in enrolling themselves, and forming 
local regiments of voluntary soldiers, officered by the 
very men against whom their enmity had lately blazed 
forth, and with most cheerful subordination obeying 
them. It was a lovely sight, even lovelier to me in 
the retrospection than it was at the time, to behold' 
England rushing to arms in defence of her own sacred 
homes, and rushing, not with the madness of man's 
rage or in the pride of man's strength, but with reite* 
rated appeals 'to Him who alone giveth victory to 
kings and pejice to their people. How deep, how 
solemn was the stillness of that oft-recurring season of 
which we had been forewarned by a square pamphlet 
being laid on my father's breakfast-table some days 
previous, entitled " A Form of Prayer, with fasting, to 
Almighty God," for such a day. On the evening 
preceding, my father would look out in the dear red 
Bible the appointed Psalms and lessons, that we might 
all be the better prepared to turn to .them ; and then 
read to my mother his sermon for the morrow. We 
always woke with a serious impression on our minds, 
and came to a mutual agreement to put away all toys, 
and be content with our salt fish and egg-sauce. Then 
my father was robed in his silk cassock and flowing 
gown, and a splendid .figure he was, with his noble, 
glowing countenance and stately gait, slowly proceeds 
ing towards his parish church, my mother on his arm, 
and we following with the best imitation we could ac- 
eompUah of his measured, almost military step. In 



EXCITEMENT. 51 

every street was seen a long line of silent church-goers^ 
vepaijfing to their several places of worship ; and many 
habited themselves in black on those days, to add effect 
to their humiliation. I do not say that these were 
spiritual worshippers : I cannot say that the doctrine 
preached, at that time, from the pulpits of our churches 
was the Gospel of Jeaus Christ : but this I know, that 
while menacing France gloried in casting o£f all wor- 
ship of, all belief in the God of heaven — menaced Eng- 
land openly acknowledged her sole dependence to be 
on His Almighty protection. France was baffled — 
England is preserved to this day. " Lo, thus shall 
the people be blessed who feareth the Lord." " They 
that honour me I will honour, and they that despise 
me shall be lightly esteemed." 

Such scenes as I have described are among the remi- 
niscences of my very earliest childhood ; but now, at 
the period of our country sojourn, a new feature was 
added to them. Military uniforms distinguished at 
least two-thirds of the male congregation, and martial 
music accompanied the psalmody of the churches. Our 
abode, though perfectly rural and secluded, was only 
four miles from the town, and a very short drive 
brought us thither: but in a little while we removed 
to within less than one mile, and resumed our atten- 
dance at my father's own church. Thus we were in 
the midst of the excitement, and by no means idle 
qiectators; for my brother, in whose chajracter the 
soldier had reigned predominant from babyhood, as- 
sembled all the little boys of the neighbourhood, ad- 
dressed them in a patriotic speech, and brought them 
to the unanimous resolutioi; of arming in dAC<^\sii»k ^ 



^ BONAPARTE. 

their country. Those whose finances extended m 
far, hrought real wooden guns and swords; others, 
impoverished hy the allurements- of an old dame who 
vended lollypops, was ohliged to content themselvei 
with such weapons as they could shape out of the 
hedge: a sixpenny drum, and a twopenny fife com- 
pleted the military equipment, while on me devolved 
the distinguished honour of tacking sundry pieces of 
silk to an old hroomstick, and presenting these' colours 
to the corps, with an oration hreathing such loyalty 
and devotion to the good cause of liberty and Old Eng- 
land, as wrought to the highest pitch the enthusiasm 
of the regiment, whose colonel was ten years old, and 
very few of the officers or men much younger. 

And this was not burlesque — it was not childish 
play, but downright earnest. The danger was immi- 
nent, we knew it, we felt it ; and many a time did we 
withdraw to the shelter of the old hay-stack, where we 
had hollowed out a little alcove, and hold converse, 
with breathless anxiety, on the probable future. Some- 
times our courage failed, and we explored the grounds 
in search of secure hiding-places ; but the result of 
these deliberations was always a determination to stand 
hy our mother to the last, and to try if we could not, by 
some means, ourselves kill Bonaparte. It is singular 
how this man seemed to embody in himself all that 
was terrifying in the idea of invasion: we nevei 
doubted the fact of his personally attacking our house ; 
and I believe that among the lower classes at least he 
was unconsciously invested with the attribute of 
uhiquity. God made him a scourge, and rendered his 
name very terrible among men. None who were not 



TUE TEST ACT. fiB 

then in being, and capable of reflection, can possibly 
conceive how formidable he was : and although spoken 
of with ineffable scorn, caricatured with most ludi- 
crous effect, and set at defiance in every variety of 
ballad and doggrel rhyme ; though each Englishman 
secretly or openly cherished the hope of slaying him. 
and not a few English women meditated giving him 
JaeFs welcome, still the name of Bonaparte carried 
with it a spell that convinces me he was specially com- 
missioned to execute God's wrath, and ^* smite the na- 
tions with a perpetual stroke" as the executioner of 
his vengeance. England, I am persuaded, feared him 
not : she was not included in his mission, for she was 
still Protestant to the heart's core, under a nobly pro- 
testbg King : and it is manifest that he had no power 
beyond the range v of papal domination. Egypt re« 
pulsed him ; England held him at bay from her shores ; 
and by making the cause her own, drove his armies 
out of the Peninsula ; Russia swallowed up his mighty 
host ] and, finally, England again broke the last arm 
of his power, captured and entombed him on one of 
her distant possessions. The emotion inspired by his 
name was mingled with scorn and proud defiance ; but 
it was an emotion never to be forgotten by those who 
experienced it. 

Political feeling still tan very high, though the open 
adoption of French principles was greatly checked 
by the tone of national defiance universally breathed 
against France. Advantagt, however, was taken of 
the inroads already made, and the spread of false 
liberalism through the land, to urge the repeal of those 
laws by which our wiser forefathers fenced iQuskii\3Qa 
5* 



M THE TEST ACT. 

blessings that they desired to preserve to their pes* 
terity. By small beginnings the work was taken ia 
hand ; and two measures were pressed on the attention 
of the legislature, of which one was the removal of the 
established test on admitting any Protestant to a coi* 
porate or other office of civil trust ; the other was to 
unbar the door ,so firmly barricaded against the re- 
entrance of popery. To the latter proposition George 
the third had opposed the insurmountable barrier of 
his coronation oath ; and with a constancy of purpose, 
a stedfastness of faith that divine grace alone could 
supply, he had permitted himself to be forsaken at the 
most trying juncture by the only ministers on whom 
he could repose any confidence, rather than yield an 
iota on this point ; nor can we doubt, seeing by what 
influence he was upheld, that he 'would have made 
good his declaration of willingness to relinquish the 
crown, and even to lay his head on the block, rather 
than commit this act of perjury before God, and irre- 
parable ruin to his people. The Lord added to his 
lengthened days yet more and more, because in his 
time the evil was not to come upon us ; but it worked 
its way with sure progression, through the unhappy 
effect of revolutionizing principles, opposed no less to 
the honour .of God than to the well-being of man. 
The other measure had many warm advocates among 
the truly loyal and constitutional party ; but a point 
of conscience was involved, very trying to a pious 
mind. You know, the telt was a participation in the 
Lord's supper on the part of the person entering upon 
office ; and it cannot be doubted that a most sacred op 
dinance was thus profaned and degraded into a mere 



THE TEST ACT. 55 

• -? 

stepping-stone to secular advantage, by multitudes 
who therein ^' eat and drank their own damnation, not 
considering the Lord's body.'' It seemed an awful 
thing to tender such a test, and thus tempt a man to 
sin against God ; and through the lamentable relaxa- 
tion, or rather the total cessation of church discipline ' 
among us, no restraining hand could be laid on the 
worst and vilest when approaching that ordinance. 
The object of the enactment was palpably to admit 
into authority of any kind none who should not be 
amenable to the laws, civil and ecclesiastical, which 
were framed on Scripture grounds for the governance 
of this a Christian land. - It was good and wholesome ; 
none others ought to bear rule, but such as are minded 
to fear the Lord and the king, and not to meddle with 
them that are given to change ; but the church had 
become wofully negligent of her duty : the people were 
badly supplied, both as to quantity and quality, in 
public teaching, and not a few godly men had come 
forward to supply the deficiencies of worldly, careless 
clergymen, ignorant of those doctrines by which alone 
their flocks could be built up on our mOst holy faith. 
These preachers were followed ; sects increased ; and 
from forsaking the public services of the church, 
they gradually separated altogether from her commu- 
nion, and became hostile to her whole frame, visiting 
the sinful omissions of men upon *a church in which 
if they had been faithful ministers of her doctrine 
and true members of her Spiritual body, those men 
would have shone as lights of the world. So the 
Lord's table as served in our churches, became an 
abomination to these increasing b«^^4at^^«x^^^^^^^a 



56 THE EESCLT. 

in question sHut them out from situations wHich in aD 
respects but tHis of Hostility to established things they. 
Vfere well qualified to hold. It seemed a great griev- 
ance ; public feeling ran strongly in favour of the com« 
plainants, and the point, as you know, was ultimately 
gained. 

My father opposed the proceeding in toto ; he con- 
tended for the principle of excluding all who would 
conscientiously -exert their influence to subvert what 
they avowedly disapproved of, and regarded the other' 
evil of profanation as a sin that must rest on the head 
of him who committed it ; and who, if he were capable 
of that, would doubtless in piany other ways bring 
down the wrath of God upon himself He predicted 
that, this excursion once made, we never could stay 
ourselves in the course so entered upon ; but must 
give up whatever was demanded. Into the merits of 
the question I do not enter ; I am sure the prediction 
has been verified ; and I am equally sure that in the 
whole matter England has smitten herself with a suici- 
dal blow, the fatal weapon being declension from God. 
" The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear 
rule by their means, and my people love to have it so^ 
and what will ye do in the end thereof?" 

The moral pestilence of the French revolution took 
effect w the great mass of our population in a larger 
degree than we seem generally aware of. It appears 
to me that we had only a nominal remedy wherewith 
to oppose a real disease. 

The frame- work of our constitution in church and 
state is essentially Christian, and its details scriptural; 
but this framt-work consists only in acts and ordinan* 



NATIONAL PRIDE. 57 

ces, drawn up by man's hand, and transmitted- from 
sire to son. It is evident that nothing spiritually vital 
can reside in the skins of parchment, and that these 
last are merely a dead letter, except as men act them 
out. A people thus privileged to possess so perfect a 
code of laws, and all things fitting for the functions 
alike of civil and religious being, may be, among less 
favoured nations, what the bodies in Ezekiel's vision 
were, when compared with their former disordered state, 
lying scattered and broken about the valley.- They 
had come together, bone to his bone, in all the sym- 
metry of man's original form ; flesh covered them, and 
sinews were strung, and all was complete to the cursory 
view of an observer; but one thing was wanting, 
without which the whole remained a vain show. There 
was no breath in them. Lacking that, they were 
equally incapable of making a forward movenlent and 
of offering resistance to injury. Taken individually, 
no nation better deserved the scourge, for with what' 
ever devotion our congregations joined in the public 
services of those appointed days, making confession of 
sin and of helplessness, and crying to the Lord for the 
succour without which we must perish, I am persuaded 
that the language of both lip and heart, in pur domes- 
tic and social circles, was that of vain-glorious confi- 
ience in the arm of flesh ; of boastful superiority Dver 
mr enemies ; and a conviction that to our insular po- 
rtion, our naval superiority, our military prowess, and 
a certain impression on the minds of the French that 
Englishmen were unconquerable, we owed our past 
prosperity, our present security. In church, we ac- 
knowledged ^' It is thou that fightest for ua^ O Go^V" 



58 BUDDINO OF THE CHURCH. 

fit home, our watchword ivas, " The wooden waUs of 
old England." I speak advisedly, from a very clear 
recollection of the spirit that pervaded all ranks, aD 
classes, all ages, and which was breathed in every 
column of the public journals ; and I am sure thaf 
God was not glorified among us as individuals. A 
praying, believing king — a Hezekiah-^stood in the 
gap, making supplication for his people ; and God 
wrought for His name's sake that it should not be pol- 
luted in the sight of the nations who publicly mocked 
him, by their victory over a people who publicly hon- 
oured him. But though thus. withheld from openly 
prevailing to crush us, there was, as I have said, no 
power of effectual resistance against the secret poison 
of their vile principles ; and this found entrance, and 
circulated through the veins of the body politic, until 
the seeds of corruption took strong root, and nothing 
better awaited us than a mere lingering process of dis- 
solution. 

But here the Lord put forth his hand to stay the 
plague, by pouring out, gradually, yet abundantly, 
His Spirit upon the Church. He had never left him- 
self without witness in it, though the voices raised by 
faithful men were few and far between ; while the op 
position offered to such was active, decided, united 
A young man could not with impunity be a Christian 
at either of the universities : no nominal preacher of 
the gospel could become so in reality without arraying 
against him a host of brethren, and the bulk of his 
own congregation A layman might separate himself 
from the ungodly world, deciding that he and his houst 
would serve the Lord, but at the price of beconung a 



TRUE COXSEIIVATISM. 59 

Dy-word and a laughing-stock among his own familiaT 
^friends. It was by the kindling of these lights here 
and there that the gross darkness which had prevailed 
to cover the land and the people was made manifest ; 
and just in proportion as men awoke to the approval 
of such things as he excellent, they learned to appreci- 
ate the institutions of their country, discerning how 
correctly they were based on the word of God ; while 
others, who had the language of attachment to the 
constitution much more in their mouths, regarded them 
all as mere productions of man's worldly wisdom, suit- 
able to the times in which they were framed, but re- 
quiring to . be changed and adapted to the shifting ha- 
bits of succeeding generations. Insiead of viewing the 
standard as framed according to that of the sanctuary, 
and laboring to train the public body up to its perfect 
height, they resolved to lower the inconvenient mea- 
sure, and adapt it to the stunted, crooked growth of a 
degenerated race. Here, I think, began the war of 
principle in the midst of which we now live : here that 
which had formed the pure spirit of whiggism passed 
over to the tory, combining with devoted loyalty to 
the throne, and unceasing attachment to the church, 
a jealous care over what may be called the democracy 
of the English constitution. A spirit of change had 
shown itself at work, and the tendency of such change 
was always towards licentiousness : a frightful example 
of the horrors with which it would naturally deluge a 
country was exhibited before our eyes ; and seeing 
that the innovators were met at every turn by laws 
which must be taken out of the way to accommodate 
fhma those laws were made the loWYlxi^-Y^Vct^ ^^x ^^ 



60 GEORGE THE THiaD. 

true lovers of their country, in the fore-front of whom 
stood the little hand of enlightened Christian men^ 
with the King of England at their head. 

You must not quarrel with this long digression j 
the crisis I speak of was one on which hung the poli- 
tical salvation of our native laiid; a crisis of one year's 
continuance, and which terminated not until the Lord 
had greatly multiplied and strengthened his own little 
host of protesting conservators, so that not even an act 
of national apbstacy could carry on its face the con- 
demnation of heing really a national act ; and it is 
wonderful to contemplate the dealings of the Most high 
towards his qrowned servant during this momentous 
interval. George the Third was the insurmountahle 
obstacle in the way of such ruinous course, and -until 
the time for permitting the bonds to burst had well nigh 
come, he was retained among us ; but because his 
righteous soul would have been * grievously vexed at 
beholding the struggle against God, the bodily and 
mental eye were both closed. He was shut out alike, 
from the seeing of evil, and the hearing of it ; he dwelt 
in extreme old ago, a crown of glory covering his hoary 
head, where the British crown still securely reposed, 
while his spirit held communion with an unseen world 
of peace and love, amid the turmoils, the fierce conten- 
tions, that shook the public mind in which he had ever 
taken a deep and anxious interest. You know he used, 
while feeling his unsteady way through the long suite 
of apartments that bounded his liberty, to pause at a 
piano or organ, several of which were placed within his 
reach, and call forth strains of sacred melody, accompa* 
nying them with his aged voice, breathing words of de- 



EMANCIPATION. 61 

votion : and at other times He was overheard in imagina* 
ry discourse with the angels of God, (I could almost re- 
call the word imaginary,) questioning them concerning 
heavenly things, and breathing forth his own simple as- 
pirations after the home they dwelt in. What an eye- 
sore to movers of sedition was George the Third ! 
How terrible in the impotency of his helpless seclusion 
was that deranged old man to the emissaries of the 
Great Harlot ! How bitterly do they now revile his 
memory, which is blessed, most blessed among us — be- 
cause his protracted life gave apace for the growth of 
our Protest, which they cannot now overthrow." IJe 
who sitteth in the heavens surely laughed to scorn the 
madness of the people, while making that unconscious, 
decrepit trembler the secure defence of an empire's in- 
tegrity, against all that man's wisdom, man's subtlety, 
and man's proudest might could do to subvert it. 

The act of legislative union, consequent upon the 
sanguinary rebellion of 1798, had brought Ireland into 
more immediate connection with us ; and gave addi- 
tional means for influencing the minds of our senators 
to concede the boon, or rather to submit to the demand, 
of what was called Emancipation. My father often 
remarked that if the events of ninety-eight were not 
alone sufficient to deter the English government 
from this measure, nothing could overcome their infa- 
tuation. The subject was frequently and freely can- 
vassed in the social circle of which I formed a part ; 
and well do T remember how clearly the mischievous 
results that must follow upon the very first breach 
made in our constitutional bulwarks were pointed out 
by men who judged of Popery only from past Kistor^^ 
6 



62 A NEW BISHOP. 

read by the light of the recent outburst in Ireland, and 
apart from all religious scruples. They looked upon 
it as men are again learning to do while recovering 
from the torpor induced by the spread of liberalism — 
they regarded it as a political system, the mighty en- 
gine of a secular despotism that sought to exalt itself 
above all other dynasties, rising on the ruins of subver- 
ted thrones. This was considered the extreme of uncha- 
ritableness ; a narrow-minded bigotry to be abhorred 
of all enlightened men ; and my father plainly fore- 
saw tl;ie ultimate triumph of the shallow but plausible 
arguments brought to bear upon the point. 

An appointment about this time took place which 
greatly forwarded the views of the adverse party among 
us. Dr. Bathurst was preferred to the see of Nor- 
wich : he had been my father's intimate friend and 
chum at Oxford, and the intercourse was renewed with 
mutual satisfaction ; but not all the personal affection 
that the truly amiable Bishop inspired in those who 
knew the sweetness of his character, and which my fa- 
ther in particular bore to him, could for a moment blind 
him on this subject. I knew they frequently talked it 
over, and his remark was that no man could be more 
honestly, disinterestedly, and amiably mistaken than 
our good Bishop. That it was disinterested no one 
could doubt ; for when the ministry of the day were 
stiffly opposed to the concession, and Dr. Bathursl was 
informed that if he advocated it in parliament he would 
assuredly be left in that miserably poor see, whereas 
his silence might facilitate a translation that' must needs 
be better, — a thing which his very large family ren- 
dered desirable enough, — the intimation only increased 



IDLLN'J. 63 

kis zeal : he rose in his place, and spoke most energet- 
ically in favour of the measure. • When he resumed 
his seat, the Peer next him said, somewhat sarcastical- 
/y, ^ I am happy to find the air of Norwich agrees so 
well with your lordship : you don't seem inclined to 
change it.' To which the Bishop meekly replied, 
* My Lord, whatever I change, I trust I shall not 
change my principles.' Happy would it be for us, had 
some others been as consistently in the right as he was 
in the wrong! 

I know not that any thing in my personal history re- 
quires mention here : I grew up a healthy, active, light- 
hearted girl, wholly devoted to reading and to rural oc- 
cupations. The latter, particularly gardening, served as 
a counterpoise to the sedentary temptation that would 
have proved physically injurious : but laying in, as I 
daily did, a plentiful store of romantic adventure or 
fascinating poetry for rumination when abroad, my 
mind was unprofitably occupied at all times, to the ex* 
elusion of better things. On Sundays, indeed, I made 
it a point of conscience to abstain from light reading ; 
and, as far as I could, to banish from my thoughts the 
week's acquisition of folly. I went to church, and 
read the Bible, at home, with a sermon of Blair's or 
some similar writer, wholly destitute of gospel light ; 
and I generally had a short fit of compunction, on that 
d&y^foT having been so wholly Absorbed in worldly 
things'' during the preceding six: for even then God 
was striving with me, to bring me unto himself, and 
many a strong conviction did I forcibly stifle. The 
warmth of my natural feelings, the ardour with which 
( entered into every thing that interested them, and a 



64 CONVICTIONS. 

sort of energy that always longed to be doing when 
any cause that I considered good was to be promoted — 
all these would have rendered me a working character| 
had I obeyed the gracious caU to go into the Lord's 
vineyard. I say a call, because though as yet I knew 
nothing whatever of the gospel, I could not overlook oi 
misunderstand the reiterated injunctions of Scripture 
to seek spiritual wisdom, to ask for guidance, and to oc- 
cupy with the talent committed to my charge. I knew 
the promise " They that seek me early shall find me," 
and more than once trembled under such scriptures as 
the latter part of Proverbs 1; but my Sunday resolutions 
vanished before the Monday's dawning light, and I 
rushed again with redoubled zest into the seductive 
regions of my imaginary world. Oh, how greatly do 
they err who think that such studies may be safely en- 
gaged in by the young and excitable mind ! Some 'in- 
deed there are, so phlegmatic as to be proof against all 
the charms of poesy, insensible to the brightest illu 
sions of romance ; but their number is small, and the 
individuals hard to identify, because a very cold ex- 
terior is often like the snow-capped heights of Etna, 
overspreading a hoard of volcanic elements of which 
the burst and blaze will some day be terrific. Such 
seem induced with the spirit of indifference, because 
they are abstracted ?ind silent when the laugh and mer- 
ry jest goes round among their companions ; whereas 
this abstraction from outward things results not from 
deadness of feeling but from the intensity with which 
the mind is brooding over some phantom known only 
to itself Nor do this class of dreamers always appear 
devoted to books : a little reading goes far with them ; 



ANTICIPATING EVIL. 65 

and tlie quality rather than the quantity of theix se* 
lections is to be looked to. 

I have known many parents and teachers argue 
that it is better to bring the young acquainted with 
our standard poets and prose authors, of a worldly 
cast, while they are yet under careful superintendence, 
80 as to neutralize what may be unprofitable by judi- 
cious remark, and to avert the dangers attendant on 
such fascinating introductions at a riper age when the 
restraints of authority are removed. Against this, two 
reasons have prevailed with me to exclude from my 
book-shelves all the furniture of a worldly library, and 
to watch against its introduction from other quarters. 
One is,' the consideration that we are not authorised to 
calculate on the continuance of any creature's mortal 
existence ; nor can we ever know that the being whom 
we are training for eternity will not be called into it be- 
fore such period of life as is here anticipated. In 
such a case, how sad to feel that we have needlessly 
forestalled an evil day, and even momentarily divert- 
ed the young spirit from a sacred path ! The other 
consideration is this : that as the flesh and the devil 
will assuredly do their parts without help from me ; 
and the children of this world, who are wiser in their 
generation than the children of light,' will certainly do 
the same ; I may take a lesson of policy from them, 
using my best endeavours to preoccupy the field with 
what is decidedly good, and humbly hoping that the 
seed so sown may, through the operation of the Holy 
Spirit; take root before the tares are introduced, leav- 
ing little room for them to grow. 

Of all the errors into which the world has folkti^^i^^iaiciA 
6» 



66 MISCHIEVOUS ERRORS. 

is more fatally mischievous than the habit of overloot 
ing the personality, the energy, the power, the watchful- 
ness, the deep cunning of the devil. By a conventional 
system, no doubt of his own suggesting, he is never to be 
named but in the act of worshipping God, or that of spir- 
itual instruction. Any other robber and murderer, who 
was known to be on the watch to attack our houses, 
would be the subject of free discourse : his habits, his 
haunts, his usual plans, his successful and his baffled 
assaults in former cases, would be talked over, and 
thus a salutary fear would be kept alive, influen- 
cing us to bolt and bar, and watch and ward with un- 
failing vigilance, to avert a surprise. But Satan seems 
to be a privileged person ; we learn, in the nursery, to 
fancy him a hideous caricature of human nature, with 
hornS; hoof, and a tail, inspiring disgust, and a childish 
fear that wears off as we advance into youth, leaving 
an impression rather ludicrous than alarming, of the 
ugly phantom that, nevertheless, continues identified 
with him of whom we read in the Bible. We then, per- 
haps, take up Milton, engrafting his poetical concep- 
tion upon the original nursery stock, and make a devil 
half monster, half archangel, invested with the ugliness 
of the first, and the sublimity of the second, but still far 
. removed from the scripture character of that roaring li- 
on who " goeth about seeking whom he may devour." 
We do not realize his existence, his presence, his de- 
vices ; and so we often do his work from sheer igno* 
ranee, or inexcusable thoughtlessness about it. 
With me, as I have told yow, \\v^B\\Afed\dvta work. 
and conscience did hers *, \)ut a Tpa.ssvoTv ^^^ V\^^ nslxvws^ 
proved too strong for both. \3iidou\>\.^^^ ^^^ ^w^^ 



PRIDE. 67 

have wrouglit, as afterwards he did, to the casting down 
imaginations, and every thing that estalteth itself against 
Christ. But how many years of sorrow might have 
been averted, or how greatly might those sorrows hav« 
been mitigated, had not the inveteracy of a long-cher- 
ished disease required such sharp discipline to bring 
it under ! Pride was the master-sin of my corrupt < 
nature, a pride that every child of Adam inherits, but 
which peculiarly beset me. It was not what usually 
goes by that name : no one ever accused me of an ap- 
proach to haughtiness, neither was I boastful or for- 
ward, as far as I know ; but I delighted to model my 
own character according to the standard set forth in 
my foolish books, and by the contemplation of them I 
hoped to succeed. I loved to mark in others a mean, 
ungenerous, selfish or malicious trait, and to contrast 
with it my own high-flown notions of the opposite 
qualities. My memory was well stored with fine sen- 
timents concerning human dignity, honour, virtue, 
and so forth ; and while secretly applying them, — for I 
was inclined to make ill-natured remarks, — in contrast 
to the failings of those around me, I naturally learned 
to identify myself with the aforesaid sentiments, and 
to take it for granted it was I who shone so brightly at 
other people's expense. This is the inevitable conse- 
quence of measuring ourselves by ourselves, as all 
will do who are not led betimes to the standard ap- 
pointed of God. 

And now, the chambers of imagery being well fur- 
nished^ I became in thought th# tetom^ q^ ^ ^^ 
foolish, improbable adventures 1 met m\!tv. '^^- 
gpeare and others having furnialied la^ V\'On. ^x^^^ws 



68 ROMANCE. 

and 'decorations, every day of my life had its dianiA 
Adventures the most improbable, situations the most 
trying, and conversations the most nonsensical among 
a visionary acquaintance of my own creating, became 
the constant amusement of my mind ; or if I took a 
fancy to any new companion, that individual was meta* 
morphosed into something equally unreal, and was soob 
looked upon in the light, not of sober reality, but of fanci^ 
ful extravagance. Of course my estimate alike of persons 
and of things was egregiQusly false ; and with a faiv 
portion of common sense naturally belonging to me, I be- 
came most emphatically a fool. Even when employed 
at the pencil, wh^ch I dearly loved, I could not trace 
a figure on the paper, or a landscape on the canvass, 
that did not presently become the subject of a separate 
romance ; and it never occurred to me that there was 
danger, much less sin, in this. I loved dancing to 
excess, and took much delight in all that was brilliant 
and beautiful ; but upon the whole I preferred the nn> 
interrupted course of my own vain thoughts, and then 
admired myself for being of a less dissipated turn than 
my young friends. Of course, I am now speaking of 
the time when, according to the world's usage, and 
rather earlier than usual, that is to say at sixteen, I 
was introduced into public, by making my appearance 
at a grand election ball; and moreover,^ publicly re- 
ceiving the compliments of the most polished and dis- 
tinguished of our successful candidates, for sundry 
political squibs, said to be full of droUerj and point 
which had been traced home to me. Alas for the 
girl who makes such a debtlt ! We were now again 
resident in the town, or rather within the precincts, as 



FALSE VIEWS. 09 

they are called, surrounding that venerable cathedral 
which had been the object of my babyish contempla- 
tion, and which is endeared to me beyond any other 
spot in my native place. 

My beloved companion, my brother, had always 
manifested the most decided predilection for a military 
life. Often had he, in earliest childhood, toddled away 
from the gate after a fife and drum of a recruiting 
party ; and often did he march and countermarch me, 
iill I could not stand for fatigue, with a grenadier's 
cap, alias a muff, on my head, and my father's large 
cane shouldered by way of a firelock. The menaced 
invasion had added fuel to his martial fire, and when 
any other line of life was pointed out to him, his high 
spirits would droop, and the desire of his heart show 
itself with increasing decision. Our parents were 
very anxious to settle him at home, for my sake, 
who seemed unable to live without him; and I am sure 
that my influence would have prevailed, even over 
his long-cherished inclination, so dearly did he love 
me ; but here the effects of that pernicious reading 
showed itself, and forged the first link in a long chain of 
sorrows. I viewed the matter through the lying me- 
dium of romance : glory, fame, a conqueror's wreath 
or a hero's grave, with all the vain merit of such a 
sacrifice as I must myself make in sending him to the 
field — these wrought on me to stifle in my aching bo- 
som Ihe cry of natural affection, and I encouraged the 
boy in his choice, and helped him to urge on our pa- 
tents this offering up of their only son, the darling of 
all our hearts, to the Moloch of war. 
• Finding that he could not be dissuaded^ xsi^ iv 



70 A PAitTlNG. 

ther gave a reluctant consent; and let me liere re 
cord an instance of generous kindness on the part of 
the Bishop. Ho went to London, and hy dint of per* 
sonal, persevering importunity, obtained in a few days, 
a commission in the army, at a time when seven hun- 
dred applicants, many of them backed by strong in- 
terest, were waiting for the same boon. The sudden- 
ness of the thing was quite stunning : we calculated on 
a delay of this sore trial ; but it was done, and he was 
ordered to repair immediately, not to the dep6t, but 
to his regiment, then hotly engaged in the Peninsula. 
The Bishop's kindness did not end here : he carried 
his generosity farther in other ways, and likewise gave 
him introductions of great value. I love to record it 
of one whose public conduct as a Protestant prelate T 
am compelled to lament, but whose private character 
was most lovely. 

Upheld by the intoxicating power of senseless ro- 
mance, not by confidence in God, nor even by the 
reality of the patriotism that I persuaded myself was 
at the root of it all, I bore to see that beloved companion 
of my life depart for the scene of most bloody conflict. 
He was not nearly full grown ; a blooming beautiful 
boy, reared, and up to that time, tenderly guarded 
under the paternal roof, in almost exclusive companion- 
ship with me. There was, indeed, but one heart, be- 
tween us, and neither could fancy what it would be to 
rejoice or to suffer alone. Of this I had given a proof 
in the preceding year. He took the measles, and 
was exceedingly ill, and gre t precautions were used 
to preserve me from the iniection ; but, unable to 
brook a separation from him, I baffled their vigilance, . 



FRATERNAL LOVE. 7 

Durst into bis apartment, and laying mj cheek to his, 
resisted for a while all efforts to remove me. To my 
innnite delight, I sickened immediately and considered 
it an ample compensation for all attendant suffering, 
that I was allowed to sit constantly in the same room 
nrith him. 

How strong, how sweet, how sacred is the tie that 
Dinds an only sister tb an only brother, when they 
have been permitted to grow up together, untrammel- 
led by the heartless forms of fashion ; unrivalled by 
alien claimants in their confiding affection ; undivided 
in study, in sport, and in interest. Some object, that 
such union renders the boy too effeminate and the girl 
too masculine. In our case it did neither. He was 
the manliest, the hardiest, most decided, most intrepid 
character imaginable-; but in manners sweet, gentle, 
and courteous, as they will be who are accustomed to 
look with protecting tenderness on an associate weaker 
than themselves. And as for me. though I must plead 
guilty to the charge of being more healthy, more ac- 
tive, and perhaps more energetic than young ladies 
are usually expected to be, still I never was considered 
unfeminine ; and the only peculiarity resulting from 
this constant companionship with one of the superior 
sex, was to give me a high sense of that superiority 
with a habit of deference to man's judgment, and sub 
mission to man's authority, which I am quite sure God 
intended the woman to yield. Every way has this 
fraternal tie been a rich blessing to me. The love 
that grew with us from our cradles never knew dimi- 
nution from time or distance. Other ties were formed, 
out they did not supersede or weaken \.\v\a. \Vi^^ 



73 COHHON E&BOR. 

tor^ away all that was mortal and penshable, but 
this tie he could not sunder. As I loved him while ht 
was on earth, so do I love him now that he is in heaves; 
and while I cherish in his boys the living likeness of 
what he was, my heart ever more yearns towards him 
where he is, anticipating the day when the Lord shall 
come, and bring that beloved one with him. 

Parents are wrong to check as they do the outgo- 
ings of fraternal affection, by separating those wholD 
God has especially joined as the offspring pf one fathei 
and one mother. God has beautifully mingled then^ 
by sending now a babe of one sex, now of the other, 
and suiting, as any careful observer may discern, their 
various characters to form a domestic whole. The 
parents interpose, packing the boys to some school 
where no soft.er influence exists to round- ofl^ as it were, 
the rugged points of the masculine disposition, and 
where they soon lose all the . delicacy of feeling pecu- 
liar to a brother's regard, and learn to look on the female 
character in a light wholly subversive of the frankness, 
the purity, the generous care for which earth can yield 
no substitute, and the loss of .which only transforms 
him who ought to be the tender preserver of woman 
into her heartless destroyer. The girls are either 
grouped at home, with the blessed privilege of a fa« 
therms eye still upon them, or sent away in a different 
direction from their brothers, exposed through unna- 
tural- and unpalatable restraints, to evils not perhaps so 
great, but every whit as wantonly incurred as the 
others. The shyness, miscalled retiring modesty, with 
which one young lady sbiinks (xoia \\w^ nc^Xlv^ q»^ « 
gwitJ&maa as thougb tliere vfet© ^«Lii^e»x Sxv \v\% %? 



BAD MANAGEMENT. 73 

ptoach, and the conscious^ coquettish air, miscriUed 
ease, with which another invites his notice, alike re- 
moved from the reality of either modesty or ease. 
Both result from a fictitious mode of education : both 
are the consequences of nipping in the bud those sis- 
terly feelings that lay a fair foundation for the right 
use of those privileges to which she looks forward as a 
member of society ; and if the subject be viewed 
through the clear medium of christian principle, its 
lights will become more brilliant; its shadows mora 
dark, the longer and the closer we contemplate it 
I 



LETTER IT. 



YOUTH. 



Hitherto you have not heard of any spiritnany* 
minded person connected with my early life ; yet there 
was one, 1 feel sure, though my recollections are con- 
fused and imperfect on that point ; and one to whose 
prayers, if not to her teaching I purely owe something. 

My father*s mother was a tine, sprightly, robyst old 
lady, rather small in stature, and already bending a litde 
under the burden of years at the time when I first recol- 
lect her as mingling in the visions of my childhood, 
though I know that even from infancy I waft the delight 
of her "Warm honest heart. She was simplicity itself 
in manners, her blunt speeches sometimes clashing a 
little with her son's notions of polish and refinement, 
as also did her inveterate antipathy to the reigning 
fashion, whatever that might be. I remember her 
reading me a lecture upon something novel in the cut 
of a sleeve, ending by this remark : ' I never wore a 
gown but of one shape ; and because I don't follow the 
fashion, the fashion is forced to come to me sometimes 
by way of a change. I can*t help that, you know, my 
dear ; but I never was fashionable on purpose.' She 
added some pious remarks on vanity and folly, which L 
900B forgot ; but ihb other dwelt on my mind becauM 



UNFASHlOlCABLE TASTE. 75 

it chimed in with my own V>ye of independence — a 
prominent characteristic with me ; too often carried to 
the excess of self-willed obstinacy. However, I dearly 
loved, and exceedingly respected my grandmother, and 
used in my heart to glory in her smooth clean lock^. 
half blown, half gray, combed down from under a 
snowy cap of homely make, when she had successfully 
resisted alike the entreaties and examples of cotempo- 
rary dames, who submitted their heads to the curling 
irons and powder-puff of a frizenr^ preparatory to an 
evening party. I used to stand prouldy at her knee, 
admiring the high colour of her cheek, and uncommon 
brilliancy of her fine dark hazle eye, while her voice, 
remarkably rich and clear, involuntarily swelled the 
chorus parts of our magnificent music. 

She: was a Percy ; not by name, for that had been 
lost in the female line, some generations before ; but 
the pedigree in my possession, drawn up by Sir W. 
Betham, shows how just was her vaunt in that respect. 
For vaunt it she did, to us at least, often bringing it 
forward to cheek any tendency to behaviour unbefit- 
ting those who claimed descent from 

« The ftout Earl of Northumberland,' 

with whom I ought to be well acquainted, for the sing* 
ing of Chevy Chace in proper time and tune with her 
was the only secular accomplishment in which my dear 
grandmother personally laboured to perfect me, ex- 
cept knitting and curious old-fashioned needlework. 
The pride of ancestry took strong hold of my mind ; 
and such an ancestry accorded but too well with my 
tomance, innate and acquired. It stood me, jnany a 



76 FiasT AFFucmoif. 

time, in the stead of better things, when nerving mjr* 
self to endure affliction and wrong ; and therefore I 
notice it, to warn you against exposing your own child- 
ren to the same snare. 

Next to the fashion, if not in an equal or superior 
degree, I think my grandmother most abhorred ihs 
French. Indeed, her strongest denunciations against 
the reigning modes were usually clinched witii the 
triumphant assertion that they were '^ French .fash- 
ions.'' No marvel if her spirit was stirred within hei 
by the horrors of revolutionary France, and her Protes- 
tantism strengthened by the butcheries of ninety-eight 
I knew that she was a Protester and a Tory of no 
common stamp ; and I knew that she brought her Bible 
forward in support of every opinion that she« uttered. 
Rarely did I visit her without finding her buried in 
the study of that blessed Book ; and I know that she 
strove to teach me much of its meaning ; but our 
change of residence proved a great bar to personal 
intercourse, and she never wrote letters. I sometimes 
trace impressions on my mind, made in early life, which 
I am sure must have been through her means ; and 
though the good seed died on the ground, while the 
'weeds took root and flourished, still here and there a 
grain might sink below the surface, to spring up after 
many days. 

And now I must record my first sorrow, although 1 

cannot dwell upon it as on some other things. My 

brother had been nearly two years absent, on service 

in the Peninsula, when an apoplectic attack arrested 

my father in the midst of life, ^n^V^^xNi^ ^h^nI^'^t^ 

and every promise of lengtYi^xi©^ ^e^^xia. ^\!V^ ^irc 



A BERLAVEMENT. 77 

tory visitations of repeated strokes were dine- 
)d, for we could not, would not realize the ap- 
Ji of such an event ; and persisted in believing 
nervous : but just when all cause for alarm seem- 
an endj and I was rejoicing in the assurance of 
ling so, I was called from my pillow at midnight 
{ that tender and beloved parent die. The be- 
toient was terrible to me : I had always been his 
ipal companion, because no one else in the family 
L taste for those things in which he delighted — 
ture and politics especially — and since my bro* 
i departure, instead of seeking to replace him by 
is of my own age, I had turned wholly to my fa 
never desiring to pass an hour out of his society, 
itriying to be to him both daughter and son. My 
er was a perfect devotee to household affairs, every 
ght occupied in seeking to promote the domestic 
brts of her family ; while I, indulging a natural 
ttthy to all that did not engage the intellectual 
n, gave her no help there. I was truly cumber- 
he ground, seeking only my own gratification, and 
fying my selfishness with many fine names, only 
ise it was best indulged in my own dear home, 
i the period of my loss of hearing, music had 
wholly banished ; my father seemed to lose all re* 
br what could no longer minister enjoyment to me, 
ieeply I felt the force of that affection which could 
stantly and wholly overcome the ruling passion 
i mind, accompanied as it was with such exquisite 
in that delightful science as lendet^d Vim^^ ^-^ 
ion of all who came within its \iAu«nK.^. ^X. "i^ 
fdmy devotion to him \ and mo^T.\a\^T =irok ^^ 
7* 



78 CBANGXS. 

anguish of my heart; when I heheld him taken away at 
a stroke. 

Was this affliction sanctified to me ? Not in the 
least. I found a luxury in grieving alone, brooding on 
the past, and painting the probable future in any co* 
lors but those of reality. My father had enjoyed two 1 
livings with a minor canonry in the cathedral, but the 
emolument was very small, and his income had not al- 
lowed him, as yet, to make any provision for us. A 
small annuity was all that my mother could depend on, 
and I resolved to become a novel-writer, for which I 
was just qualified,**both by nature and habits of think- 
ing, and in which I should probably have succeeded 
very well, but it pleased God to save me from this snare. 
My brother's unexpected return on leave, with our sub- 
sequent changes of abode, paying visits among friends, 
and keeping my thoughts constantly unsettled, hinder- 
ed the execution of the project ; and when my brother 
returned to Portugal, we repaired to London, to make 
a long stay with some near relations. It was there 
that I met with the gentleman, an officer on leave of 
absence, whose wife, at the end of six months, I be- 
came. 

I am longing to arrive at that period when the light 
of the glorious gospel of Christ first shone upon me 
through the darkness of many trying dispensations ; 
> therefore I pass by much that intervened, including 
my dear brother's marriage, who returned again to 
London with his bride and his mother, to resume his 
staff situation there^ and shall only take you with me 
across the Atlantic, for a few Nova-Scotian reminiscen- 
e&8f before proceeding to the scene of my most precious 



AT SEA. 79 

xecollections, dear Ireland. My husband had joii^d 
his regiment in Halifax, and sent m^ a summons to fol- 
low him out without delay ; in order to which I was 
obliged to embark in a large vessel taken up partially by 
goTemment for the conveyance of troops, but in which 
there was a select party, occupying the state cabin, and ' 
making their own terms with the captain for the best 
possible accommodation and provision on the passage. 
Of this number was I ; and certainly a more select, 
polished, and agreeable party of highly-bred gentlemen 
eould not have been found. I went under the kind 
eare of one of these, with his wife, who had invited me 
to travel with them. 

Have you ever been at sea ? It . is a question the 
answer to which will throw very little light on the mat- 
ter unless you also state how it agreed with you ; no 
two races on the earth can be more distinct than those 
two are upon the water, — the people who are sea-sick 
and the people who are not. It was my happy privi- 
lege to belong to the latter class ; I never for a moment 
experienced even an unpleasant sensation from any 
marine cause, but on the contrary enjoyed exemption 
from^ all physical annbyances during a five weeks' voy- 
age, excepting that of hunger. An abundant supply 
of everything that was nourishing, in the most palata- 
ble form, left no excuse for remaining hungry ; never- 
theless the demand was incessantly kept up ; and I ap- 
peal to all who have been similarly affected, whether 
the munching of hard sea-bread from morning to night 
under the pressure of a real sea appetite, is not a greater 
luxury than the choicest viands on shore. To me it 
Mitainly was ; and surely I had ieaBOix\A\^^ ^m«^ 



so TRAVELS. 

thankful to the Lord, who, by means of that delieioui 
voyage, and its bracing, exhilarating eifects, prepared 
me for a trying winter in the singular climate for whidi 
I was bound. 

Every day, and all day long, be the weather what it 
might, I was stationed gn deck: generally seated on tha 
highest point of the ship's stern, directly over the rud- 
der, to enjoy a full view of that most graceful and ex- 
quisite spectacle, a large vessel's course through the 
mighty deep. Our's was a splendid one : a West In- 
diaman, almost rivalling the sea palaces of the East In- 
dia Company, and manned in the first style. The troops 
on board under the command of a field officer, greatly 
added to the efiect and comfort of the thing, for nothing 
is so conducive to the latter as military discipline, well 
and mildly maintained. Although our party was per- 
fectly distinct from those who went out entirely at the 
charge of government, consisting of several officers and 
their wives, yet we too were nearly all military, includ- 
ing the commandant, and were strictly amenable to mar- 
tial law. Of course, that soul of domestic and social 
comfort, punctuality, reigned paramount ; every meal 
was regulated by beat of drum, subordination carefully 
preserved, and decorum, to the most minute particular, 
insisted on. No dishabille could appear, in the cabin 
or on deck ) no litter, not an article of luggage visible. 
All the sick people, all the cross people, and all the whim- 
sical people were stowed away in their respective berths, 
and such drawing-room elegance, combined with the ut- 
most freedom of good humour and the unrestrained frank- 
ness that results from a consciousness of proper restraint, 
pervaded our little select coterie, amounting to seventeen 



PUNCTUALITY. 81 

gentlemen and two ladies, that it did not need the mise- 
rable contrast which I afterwards experienced on the 
homeward passage to assure me we were among the most 
favoured of ocean travellers. 

How very much do they err who consider the ab- 
sence of order and method as applyiiig greater liberty 
or removing a sense of restraint ! Such freedom is 
galling to me ; and in my eyes, the want of punctuality 
is a want of honest principle ; for however people may 
think themselves authorised to rob God and themselves 
of their own time, they can plead no right to lay a 
violent hand on the time and duties of their neighbour. 
I say it deliberately, that I have been defrauded of 
hundreds of pounds, and cruelly deprived of my neces- 
sary refreshment in exercise, in sleep, and even in sea- 
sonable food, through this disgraceful want. of punc- 
tuality in others, more than through any cause what- 
soever besides. It is also very irritating ; for a per- 
son who would cheerfully bestow a piece of gold, does 
not like to be swindled out of a piece of copper ; and 
many an hour have I been ungenerously wronged "of, 
to the excitement of feelings in themselves far from 
light, when I would gladly have so arranged my 
work as to bestow upon the robbers thrice the time 
they made me wantonly sacrifice. To say, 'I will 
come to you on such a day, leaving the person to ex- 
pect you early, and then, after wasting her day in that 
uncomfortable, unsettled state of looking out for a 
guest, which precludes all application to present duties, 
and to come late in the evening — or to accept an invi- 
tation to dinner, and either break the engagement or 
throw the household into confusion by making it ^^\ 



*82 MOUNTAIN WAVES. 

— to appoint a meeting, and fail of keeping your timi 
— all these, and many other effects of this vile habit 
are exceedingly disgraceful, and wholly opposed to tht 
scriptural rules laid down for the governance of our 
conduct one to another. I say nothing of the insult 
put upon the Most High, the daring presumption of 
breaking in upon the devotions of his worshippers, and 
involving them in the sin of abstractedness from the 
solemn work before them, by entering late into the 
house of prayer. Such persons may one day find they 
have a more serious account to render Oix the score of 
their contempt of punctuality than they seem willing 
to believe. 

But I have run away from my ship ; yet not so ; 
for as every thing shines out most by contrast, it was 
natural to think on the ugly reverse when recalling 
the beautiful harmony and order of our regulations on 
board. We were favoured with most delightful weath- 
er, fresh and dry, and warm : with only one day's rain, 
during which the sea ' ran mountains,' as the sailors 
said. I was conducted on deck, 'just for one minute, 
that you may be able to say you have seen such a 
sea,' remarked the gentleman who put a military cloak 
over me, and led me up the stairs. But who could be 
satisfied with a momentary sight of any thing so stupen- 
dously grand 1 I resisted all efibrts to persuade me 
into retreating again, and it ended in my being lashed 
to the mizen-mast by my friendly conductor, who de- 
clared that his head, the best landsman's head on 
board, would not stand the giddy scene ; in short, that 
he should be obliged to report himself sick, and ex- 
change our agreeable society below for the solitude of 



C»CEAN SCENKRY. 83 

his beTth. Of course I dismissed him, and was left 
among the mountains, alone, save when a sailor passed 
me on his duties among the rigging, and gave me a 
smile of approval ; while the man at the wheel seemed 
to regard me as being under his especial patronage. 
The tars love one who does not flinch from their own 
element. 

Truly, I saw, that day, the works of the Lord and 
his wonders in the great deep ! Imagine yourself in a 
ship, large among vessels, but a mere cork upon the 
waters of that mighty main. On every side, turn 
where you would, a huge mountain of irregular form 
was rising; dark, smooth, of unbroken surface, but 
seeming about to burst from ovfer-extension. How did 
you come into that strange \-alley ? — how should you 
get out of it? — how avoid the rush of that giant bil- 
low that even now overhangs your bark? These 
questions would inevitably rush through the mind , 
butin a second of time the huge body beside you sank, — 
you were on its summit, — and another came rolling on. 
Meanwhile the ship would reel, with a slow slanting 
movement that gradually lowered the tall masts till the 
yards almost dipped in the brine, and you were either 
laid back on the frame work behind you, or well nigh 
suspended, looking down upon the water, over the 
ship's bulwarks. I soon discovered why my companion 
had so carefully buckled the leather strap that held 
me to the mast ; certainly I cannot recall the scene 
with such steadiness of nerve as I beheld it with. 
Every noW and then a small billow would burst upon 
the vessel's side, sending its liquid treasure across the* 
deck^ and more than one ablution of iVv^ \saxv<^ ^^b& %V 



84 OCEAN SCEXERT. 

ded to the fresh water drenching bestowed by Hit 
clouds. Can you fancy the discomfort of such a sit- 
uation ? Then you were never at sea, or at least you 
left your imagination ashore ; for I defy any person 
not well inured to it to look on such a scene with so 
negative a feeling of discomfort ; it will excite either 
terror or delight sufficient to engross the whole mind. 
I well remember that when deeply affected by the 
grandeur of this and other aspects assumed by the ma- 
jestic main, I found the highest flights of man^s sub- 
limity too . . . They would not express, would not 
chime in with my conceptions; and I was driven to 
the inspired pages for a commentary on the glorious 
scene. It was then that the language of Job, of Isaiah, 
of Habakkuk supplied me with a strain suited to the 
sublime accompaniment of God^s magnificent work. 
Sunrise I could not witness, because at that hour no 
lady might appear on deck, and my cabin had not a 
side window ; but sunset, moonlight, starlight, with 
the various phenomena of ocean's ever-varying appear 
ance, these furnished an endless contemplacion with 
iirhich nothing could accord but the language of Holy 
Writ. I did not bring forth my Bible, well knowing 
the bantering remarks to which it would have exposed 
me on the score of affectation, but my memory served 
me equally well in that, as in profane poetry; and 
many a precious word of warning, exhortation, pro- 
mise, did I recite, enchanted by the sublimity of what, 
as to its spiritual meaning, was still an unknown 
tongue to me. Among these, the thirt)^second of 
, jDeuteronomy, the fortieth o£ laaJv^^ wcv^ ci\Jtv^\ ^^w^- 
^gesf full of the gospel, wei© Tfti^etx\.e^VY c\iS^e^\.^TfiMv^\ 



False confidence. 85 . 

and above all, in blowing weather the forty-sixth 
Psalm delighted me. 

You may suppose that I could not wholly forget the 
fact of being where, in the strictest sense, there was 
but a step between me and death. The first day of 
our voyage some one had quoted the expression, ^ there 
is but a plank between us and eternity ;' not with any 
serious application, but as a fine thought I do not 
think that I was ever for a moment unmindful of this ; 
the presence of actual danger was always felt by me ; 
but concerning eternity I had no fears whatever. A 
general reliance on the boundless mercy of God, a re- 
cognition of Christ, as having suffered for our sins, 
and a degree of self-righteousness that easily threw my 
sins into the shade, while magnifying my supposed 
merits, these formed the staff whereon I leaned ; and 
when the most imminent and appalling peril overhung 
as, so that we expected to be engulfed in the waves 
without hope of succour, I looked it boldly in the face, 
confident in my false hope. Although just then rev- 
elling in enjoyments best suited to my natural taste, 
life had in reality no charms for me. From all that • 
had gilded the sunny hours of youth, I was completely 
severed, and the world on which I had launched was 
a wilderness indeed in comparison with the Eden I 
had left. I would not have made the slightest effort 
to escape from death in any form, and though I was 
not senseless enough to prefer an eternity of untried 
wretchedness to the fleeting sorrows of mortal Hfe, yet 
as my conscience was lulled to rest by the self-delusion 
that I suffered more than I deservedly wA V^i^ ^«^^- 
Hve a claim on divine justice •, and. aa \ "N^i^ja "vHis^^ 

8 



86 A STORM. 

receive the supposed balance of such debtor and credi- 
tor account in the world to come, I was perfectly, con- 
tent to be summoned to my reward. Blessed be God 
that I was not taken away in that hour of blind will- 
ingness 1 

The extreme peril to which I have alluded overtook 
us when within a short distance of our destination: 
we were suddenly caught by a tremendous wind from 
the south, which blew us right in the direction of Cape 
Sable, one of the most fatal head-lands in those seas. 
Night closed upon us, and the gale increased; sails 
were spread, in a desperate hope of shifting the vessel's 
course, but were instantly torn into ribbands. At one 
time, for a moment, the rudder broke loose, the tiller- 
rope giving way under the violent strain upon it ; and 
the next minute the spanker-boom, an immense piece 
of timber, snapped like a reed. It was an awful scene ; 
on the lee side, the ship lay so low in the water that 
every thing was afloat in the sleeping cabins ; and the 
poor ladies were screaming over their terrified chil- 
dren, unheeded by the gentlemen, every one of whom 
was on deck. The captain openly declared we were 
bound for the bottom, if a sudden and unlikely change 
of wind did not take place. In the midst of all this, I 
was reported missing, and as I had the privilege of b^- 
injg every body*s care, because, for the time being, I 
belonged to nobody, a search was commenced. A 
young officer found me, at last, so singularly situated 
that he went and reported me to the captain. I had 
climbed three tiers of lockers in the state cabin, opened 
one of the large stern windows, an^ 'w^ca \<b«tiAiv^ aviX«^ 
msfaraa I could reach, entaptuieSi \>fe70xA «x^^^^vs^ 



A 5T0RM. 87 

rith the terrific grandeur of the scene. The sky 
ibove was black as midnight and the storm coukl 
nake it, overhanging us like a large pall, and rendered 
iwfully visible by the brilliancy of the waters beneath, j 
'. had heard of that phosphorescent appearance in the 
ea, but never could have imagined its grandeur, nor 
«n I essay to describe it. Even in perfect stillness 
he illuminated element would have looked magnifi- 
«nt ; what, then, must it have been in a state of ex- 
iessive, tumultuous agitation, the waves swelling up to 
I fearful height and then bursting into sheets of foam ; 
ivery drop containing some luminous animalculao 
iparkling with vivid, yet delicate lustre. We were 
roing with headlong speed before the wind, and I hung 
right over the track of the rudder, a wild, mad eddy . 
)f silver foam, intermingled with fire. There was 
something in the scene that far overpassed all my ex- 
xavagant imaginings of the terribly sublime. The 
lurry, the fierceness, the riot of those unfettered waters, 
:he wild flash of their wondrous lights, the funereal 
slackness of the overhanging clouds, and the deep, 
iesperate plunge of our gallant ship, as she seemed to 
rend her way through ah opposing chaos ; it was per- 
fect delirium ; and no doubt I should have appeared in 
£eeping with the rest to any external observer ; for I 
^as stretching out at the window, the combs had fallen 
*rom my hair, which streamed as wildly as the rent 
lails ; and I was frequently deluged by some bursting 
trave, as the dip of the vessel brought me down almost 
jO the surface. The peril of an open window waa 
\taTtlJn^ to those on deck, and the caplam\i^w:\sk^\^^ 
refused to relinquish my post, sent iV^ ia»X^ \.^ Y^*^ 



88 WONDERS OF THE DEEP. 

up the dead lights; so I sat down on the floor, buriej 
my face in my hands, and strove to realize the mag- 
nificence thus rent from my sight. 

Yes, God's works in the great deep are indeed won- 
ders ! Nothing landward can possibly approach them; 
in the rudest tempest the ground remains firm, and 
you feel that you are a spectator ; but at sea you are 
a part of the storm. The plank whereon you stand 
refuses to support you ; eves shifting its inclination, 
while the whole of your frail tenement is now borne 
aloft, now dashed into the liquid furrow beneath, now 
struck back by a head-sea with a shock that makes 
every timber quiver, now flung on one side as if about 
to reverse itself into the bosom of the deep — no doubt 
the sense of personal danger, the death-pang already 
anticipated, the dark abyss that yawns before the sin- 
ner, and the heaven opening on a believer's soul, must 
each and any of them deaden the sense to what I have 
vainly sought to describe ; and I suppose this accounts 
for the astonishment expressed by the whole party at 
my singular conduct, when the youth who was sent to 
warn me of my peril, described my half angry, half- 
reproachful pettishness at the interruption, '< Can't 

you let me enjoy it in peace, Mr. J ? Shall I 

ever see anything like it again? Do go away." 
"But the captain says the window mv^t be shut" 
*'Then take me on deck, and you may shut it." 
" That is utterly impossible, no lady could stand for an 
instant on deck, your drapery would bear you over the 
ship's side."^ " Then I won't shut the window, so go 

BDd tell Captain L not lo \.^«.^ tcv^ V\^ xs^^^^k^ 

ges." 



KECKLESSTIESS. 89 

This was downright recklessness. I wonder when 
recalling it to mind, and feel that I could not have thus 
sported with death after I acquired a good and solid 
hope of everlasting life. The act of dying had always 
great terrors for me, until, through adverse circumstan- 
ces, I seemed to have nothing worth living for, and then 
I could laugh at it in my own heart. Strange to say, 
that fearfulness of the passage through the dark valley 
returned with double force when I had realized a per- 
sonal claim to the guiding rod and the supporting staff, 
and the bright inheritance beyond. But before this pe- 
riod of blessedness, of joy and peace in believing arrived, 
I had to pass through many waters of affliction, and to 
experience remarkable interpositions at His hand who 
was leading me by a path which I knew not. 

Two of them I will mention : while at Annapolis 
and at Windsor, I had a horse provided for me of rare 
beauty and grace, but a perfect Bucephalus in her 
way. She was only two generations removed from a 
splendid Arabian, given by the good old king to the 
Duke of Kent, when H. R. H. went out in command 
to Nova-Scotia. This creature was not three years old, 
and, to all appearance, unbroke. Her manners were 
those of a kid rather than of a horse ; she was of a love- 
ly dappled gray, with mane and tail of silver, the lat- 
ter almost sweeping the ground ; and in her frolicksome 
gambols she turned it over her back like that of a New- 
foundland dog. Her slow step was a bound ; her swift 
motion, unlike that of any other animal I ever rode, sd 
fleet, so smooth, so unruffled — I know nothing Ia'^Va'cJdl 
J can compare it Well, I made tliislo^Aj ^x^i^VoL^t^^^ 
fond of me by const&nt petting, to wYiicXilswY?^*'^^^^ 
8* 



M AN ARAB STEED. 

Arab character made her peculiarly sensitive, that my 
voice had equal power over her as over my docile, faith- 
ful dog. No other person could in the slightest degree 
control her ; our corps, the 7th Batt. of the 60th Rifles, 
was composed wholly of the elite of Napoleon's soldien. 
taken in the Peninsula, and preferring the British ser 
vice to a prison. They were principally conscripts, and 
many were evidently of a higher class in society than 
is usually found in the ranks. Among them were se* 
veral Chasseurs and Polish lancers, very fine equestri- 
ans, and as my husband had a field Officer's command 
(on detachments) and allowances, our horses were well 
looked after. His groom was a Chasseur, mine a Pole ; 
but neither could ride Fairy, unless she happened to be 
in a very gracious mood. Lord Dajhousie's English 
coachman afterwards tried his hand af taming her, but 
all in vain. In an easy quiet way, she either seiit her 
rider over her head, or by a laughable manoeuvre sitting 
down like a dog on her haunches, and slipped him off 
the other way. Her drollery made the poor men so fond 
of her that she was rarely chastised ; and such a ^Iful, 
intractable, wild Arab it would be hard to find. Upon 
her I was daily mounted ; and surely the Lord watch- 
ed over me then indeed ! Inexperienced in riding, 
untaught, unassisted, and wholly unable to lay any 
check ujpon so powerful an animal, with an awkward 
country saddle, which by some fatality was never well 
•fixed, bit and bridle to match, and the mare's natural 
fire increased by high feed, behold me bound for the 
wildest paths in the wildest regions of that wild couiv 
trjr ! But you must expWe \\i^ lo^^^ «Jciwx\. k.\v\:w<9iY^ 
Hi, and the romantic spot ca\Ud^TV«^O^xi^x^^^T\^^< 



E^C^ISTRIAMISM. 91 

to imagiiie eitlier the enjoyment or the pe'rils of that 
my happiest hour. Reckless to the last degree of des- 
peration, I threw myself entirely on the fond attachment 
of the noble creature ] and when I saw her measuring 
with her eye some rugged fence or wild chasm, such as 
it was her common sport to leap over iiTher play, the 
soft word of temonstrance that checked her wascuttered 
more from regard to her safety than my own.* The 
least whisper, a pat on the neck, or a istroke down the 
beautiful face that she uj^d to throw up towards mine, 
would control her ; and never for a moment did she en- 
danger me. This was little short of a daily miracle 
when we consider the nature of the country, her cha- 
racter, and my unskilfulness. It can only be accounted 
for on the ground of that wondrous power which hav- 
ing willed me to work for a time in the vineyard of the 
Lord, renderd me immortal until' the work should be 
done. Oh that my soul and all that is within me 
could sufficiently bless the Lord, and remember all his 
benefits 1 

I was then unmindful o^ and unthankful for His pro- 
tection ; I revelled in the delights of a freedom that 
none could share but my dog, who never left the side of 
his associate. Shall I give you a sketch of the group, 
in some lines composed during one of those excursion^? 
They may partly describe it. I found them among 
some old papers : — 

' I know by the ardour thou canst not restrain, 
By the curve of thy neck and the toss of thy mane, 
By the foam of thy snorting which spangles my brow^ 
The fire of the Arab » ^o^ m \Y^e^ tvo^h . 
^Twere harsh to contto\\.Vie©,m^ lt«JCvd«awsifc ^k^ 

igive thee th? Tem—ao a.\9«c3 «dL VX«5 «^w^% 



&2 A FRAGIklENT. 

rhy rider will dare to be wil(bl as thee, 

Laugh the future to Bcorn, and partake in tl^ glee. 

Away to the mountain — what need we to fearl 

Pursuit cannot press on my Fairy's career, 

Full light were the heel and well balancec^ the head 

That ventured to follow the track of thy tread ; 

Where roars the loud torrent and starts the rude planl^ 

And thunders the rock-severed mass down the bank, 

While mirrored in crystal the far-shooting glow, 

With dazzling effulgence is sparkling below. 

One start, and I die ^ yet in peace I recline, 

My bosom can rest on the fealty of thine ; 

Thou lov'st me, my sweet one, and would'st not he frei 

From a yoke that has never borne rudely on thee. 

Ah, pleasant the empire of those to confess. 

Whose wrath is a whisper, their role a caress. 

Behold how thy playmate is stretching beside, 
As loth to be vanquish'd in love or in pride. 
While upward he glances his eye-ball of jet, 
Half dreading thy flcetness may distance hhn yet. 
Ah Marco, poor Marco — our pastime to-day 
Were reft of one pleasure if he were away. 

How precious these moments ! fair Freedom expands 
Her pinions of light o'er the desolate lands : 
The waters are flashing as bright as thine eye, 
Uncbain'd as thy motion the breezes sweep by j 
Delicious they come, o'er the flower-scented earth, 
* Like whispers of love from the isle of my birth } 
While the white-bosom'd Cistus her perfume exhales, 
And sighs out a spicy iarewell to the gales. 
Unfeared and unfearing we'll traverse the wood, 
Where pours the rude torrent its turbulent flood : 
The forest's red children will smile as we scour 
By the log-fashioned hut and the ipine-woven bowery 
Thy feathery footsteps acaice ^ndvu^Wxe %T^«a, 
Or denting the dew-spansXed tnoea ^«* ^«^ Y«»- 



ESCAPES. SB 

What flUrtles thee 1 'Twas but the sentinel g*n 

Flashed a vesper salute to thy riTal, the sun ; 

He has closed his swiH progress before thee, and sweepc 

With fetlock of gold, the last verge of the steeps. 

The fire-fly anon from his co^iet shall glide, 

And dark fall the shadows of eve on the tide. 

Tread sofUj — my spirit is joyous no more^ 

A northen aurora, it shone and is o'er ; 

The tears will fall fost as I gather the rein, 

And a long look reverts to yon shadowy plain. 

Tlieve is more of it, but nothing to the. purpose of the 
present history. It cost me something to transcribe 
this, so vividly is the past recalled by it. Would to 
God I might more fully devote to His service every 
day of the life so wonderfully preserved by Himu 

In addition to this continuous preservation on horse- 
back, I experienced the same interposing providence 
when violently upset in a gig. The road wbere it oc- 
curred was strewn with broken rocks, on either side, 
for miles ; and scarcely one clear spot appeared, save 
that on which I was thrown, where a carpet of the 
softest grass overspread a perfect level of about twelve 
feet in length, and nearly the same in width. Here I 
fell, witb no other injury than a contusion on the hip. 
Tho gig was completely reversed, the horse dashed on - 
tiU he ran one of the shafts into a bank, and set him* 
self fast. 

My sojourn in this interesting country was of two 
years' duration, marked with many mercies, among 
the greatest of which was the uninterrupted enjoyment 
of perfect health ; although my first winter there 'wa& 
the most severe that liaA \>e«uVT^'cywTLiQrt ^^koN?^ ^^««s^ 
Mad the fallowing summw oiwi o^ XJo^mw^. ^^^'««s^'^ 



94 HOUSEWIFEILT. 

hot they had ever experienced. The graddtions of 
spring, autumn, and twilight, are there scarcely known^ 
and the sudden transition from summer to winter, is as 
trying to the health of an European aa that from day 
to night is uncongenial to the taste. Here, too, I re- 
pented at leisure, and amended with no small difficulty 
and labour, my neglect of those accomplishments to 
which my dear mother had so often vainly solicited 
my attention. The pencil was profitless ; I had long 
thrown it by : books were no longer an adequate set- 
off against realities, even could I have conjured up a 
library in the wilderness of Nova Scotia's inland set- 
tlement : but the culinary ^nd confectionary branches 
were there invaluable, and in them I was wofully de- 
ficient. Had I not coaxed the old French soldier who 
officiated as mess-cook to give me a few lessons, 
we must have lived on raw meal and salt rations during 
weeks when the roads were completely snowed up, and 
no provisions could be brought in. However, I proved 
an apt scholar to poor Sebastian, and to the kind 
neighbours who initiated me into the mysteries of pre- 
serves and pastry. Young ladies cannot tell into what 
situations events may throw them,' and I would 
strongly recommend the revival of that obsolete study 
called good housewifery. The woman who cannot 
dispense with female servants must not travel : I had 
none for six months — ^keen winter months — in An- 
napolis ; the only persons who could be found disen- 
gaged being of characters wholly inadmissible. The 
straits to which I was put were anything but laugha- 
ble at the time, though the leeoW^^Viovi n^^ o^\.^\i ^hl- 
eitee a amile. Indeed no peifectioikm'EA\«Q.^w^Vwvsfcp 



NOVA SCOTIA. 95 

keeping would avail to guard against the devastations 
that a Nova Scotian frost will make, i£ not met hy 
tactics peculiar to that climate. How could I antici- 
pate that a fine piece of beef, fresh killed, brought in 
at noon still warm', would by two o'clock require 
smart blows with a hatchet to slice off a steak 7 or that 
half a dozen plates, perfectly dry, placed at a moderate 
distance from the fire preparatory to dinner, would 
presently separate into half a hundred fragments, 
through the action of heat on their frosted pores ? or 
that milk drawn from a cow within sight of my break- 
fast table would be sheeted with ice on its passage 
thither — or that a momentary pause, for the choice of 
a fitting phrase in writing a letter, would load the nib 
of my pen with a black icicle ? If I did not cry over 
my numerous breakages, and other disasters, it was 
under the apprehension of tears freezing on my eye- 
lids: and truly they might have done so; for my fin- 
gers were once in that awful condition th^t must have 
ended in mortification, but for the presence of mind of 
a poor soldier, who seeing me running to the fire in 
that state, drew his bayonet to bar my approach, and 
wrapping a coarse cloth round my lifeless hands, muff- 
fashion, compelled me to walk up and down the spa- 
cious hall until the circulation returned, which it did 
with a sensation of agony that well nigh took away 
my senses. This was a most signal escape, for I was 
wholly ignorant of my danger, and not a little perplex- 
ed.and annoyed at the insubordinate conduct of the 
veteran, who was a model of respectful humilitY^ Ha^ 
ie, poor fellow, known Yio>N \i>x^^ xk^^^^^Tss^-re*^^^ 
oae day be against Us xAi^oti— lox V^ nr^^ >^^^^ 



96 1NDUN9. 

Romanist — ^he might have been tempted to sheath 
bayonet and give me free access to the tempting £ 
the immense faggots of which would have sufficed 
roast a heretic. 

Nova Scotia is, I firmly believe, the most genen 
and devotedly loyal of all our colonies : the atta 
ment of its people to the mother-country is beautii 
and their partizanship in all questions between us i 
the States most zealous. The only fault I had to i 
with them was their indifference towards the poor le 
of the Indian race still dwelling in the woods, f 
were to me objects of the liveliest interest even bei 
I had any feeling of Christian duty towards the 1 
then ; or towards such as those, who are worse tl 
heathen, being numbered among the members of 
Romish church, and utterly, wretchedly ignorant e^ 
of such little truth as remains buried under the in 
of anti-christian error, to make its darkness more i 
ble. The Indians are wholly despised ; scarcely lo 
dd on as beings of the same race, by the generality 
the colonies. Where Christian principle pre v ails, il 
become of course, important in the highest degree : 
I speak of what I saw, when vital godliness was H 
known among them, and I can aver that even L 
Dalhousie scarcely could succeed in stirring up a i 
mentary interest for the dispersed Aborigines. T 
excellent nobleman devoted himself very warmly to 
work of attempting their civilization ; and told 
that if a few would join him, heartily and zealously 
the effort, he should succeed : but that what betw 
/nlPewarmness on one side, Mid svxs^vc\qtl ^tl^^ ^>3 
he found himself completeVy \>%$ftfcd. \\.^^^ tj^hX 



HOME. 97 

woudered^at that the Indians had i^ lurking dread of 
experiencing again the hardships, not to say the treach- 
ery and cruelty, inflicted on their fathers. I enjoyed 
a high place in the affections and confldence of those 
interesting people, the origin of which may help to 
prove at how light an estimate the poor creatures were, 
generally rated by their white brethren. My claim on 
their attachment consisted in nothing more than the 
performance of a bounden duty in sheltering for a few 
weeks one of their number, who had, in a most unpro- 
voked and cruel manner, been wounded by a party of 
our soldiers, and left to perish in the woods. 

How beautiful do the white cliffs of Albion appear 
in the eyes of the returning wanderer who has learned 
by a foreign sojourn to estimate the comforts, the privi- 
leges, the blessings of this island home! No place 
could be more thoroughly English in feeling, habits, 
and principles than Nova Sootia ; but it was not Eng- 
land. The violent transition of seasons, so different 
from the soft gradations by which, with us, winter 
brightens into summer, and summer fades into winter, 
marked a contrast far from pleasing ; the intensity of 
cold, the fierceness of heat, alike unknown in our tem- 
perate climate, forced comparisons far from agreeable. 
Thus, on the lowest ground of a wholly selflsh feeling, 
the approach to my native shore could not be other- 
wise than delightful ; but viewed as the mother land 
of aU her interesting colonies, as the great emporium 
of commerce, the chief temple, of liberty, the nurse of 
military prowess, the unconquered champion of allthnl 
18 nationally great thtougYiout XSaa 'viaA.V^^ ^'sgp^. A 
OUT free and happy isle ib m^L^^^ ^tx\»ss^\»J^ ^^'^ 

9 



98 COSMOFOLITANISll. 

those who can appreciate moral grandeur. How mm 
more, in the eyes of the christian, is she to he esteemi 
as the glory of all lands, (until Judea again shine for 
in that her own unalienable character,) as possessii 
the true knowledge of God, and labouring to spend tb 
knowledge throughout the world ; the land of Prot^^ 
tantism, the land of the Bible ! 

I really cannot understand the meaning, nor fan^^ 
what may be the feeling, of those who profess to have 
merged their patriotism in something of universal good- 
will to the household of faith all over the world. It 
seems to me every whit as unnatural as that the mem- 
bers of a christian family should forego all the sweets 
of conjugal, parental, filial, fraternal love, in the deter 
mination to feel an equal regard for his neighbour's 
wife, husband, &c., as for his own ; and moreover, to 
take an equal concern in the affairs of his neighbour's 
kitchen as in his own household matters. This sort 
■of generalizing regard would throw our respective es- 
tablishments into singular confusion, and might betray 
ourselves into sundry false positions, and very awk- 
ward predicaments. However, the comparative ex- 
tinction of natural affection would form the most prom- 
inently reprehensible feature of the case ; and I cannot 
but think that the boasted cosmopolitanism of some 
; good people would wear an aspect not very dissimilar if 
rightly and soberly viewed. Certainly I could no more 
tear the love of country from my heart, than I could the 
love of kindred ; and when my step again pressed the 
English strand, it was with a sensation almost re- 
Bembling the fabled iuvigoi^Xioii oi V>qa ^\\«5i&.^\ia 



HOME. 



derived new life, new strength, new enterprise from 
coming in contact with their mother earth. 

England indeed, contained little that was person- 
ally endearing to me, except my beloved surviving 
parent; but it was a joyous thing to embrace her 
once more, after the deep roll of the ocean had sepa- 
rated us for nearly three years; during a portion of * 
which she had been learning to prize her native land in 
a disgusting region of all that is most directly opposed 
to liberty, civil or religious; to honourable feeling, 
just conduct, honest principle or practical decency. la 
short, she had been in Portugal ! 



LETTER y. 



IRELAND. 



I NOW arrive at an epoch, from which I may date 
the commencement of all that deserves to be called life, 
inasmuch as I had hitherto been living without GU)d 
in the world. My existence was a feverish dream of 
vain pleasure first, and then of agitations and horrors. 
My mind was a chaos of useless information, my cha- 
racter of unapplied energies, my heart a waste of un- 
claimed affections, and my hope an enigma of confused 
speculations. I had plenty to do, yet felt that I was 
doing nothing ; and there was a growing want within 
my bosom, a craving after I knew not what ; a restless, 
unsatisfied, unhappy feeling, that seemed in quest of 
some unknown good. How this was awakened, I 
know not ; it was unaccompanied with any conviction 
of my own sinfulness, or any doubt of my perfect 
safety as a child of God. I did not anticipate any 
satisfaction from change of place : but readily pre- 
pared to obey a summons from my husband in Ireland, 
whither he had gone to engage in a law-suit. To be 
sure I hated Ireland most cordially ; I had never seen 
it, and as a matter of choice would have preferred New 
BQUth Wales, so completeVy -w^i^lVxAxjifeTic^^Vj ^^ 
jparevailing prejudice against tVat \^tA. si^ \ya.i*o«VL'sww\ 



OXFORD. lOl 

Many peojde despise Ireland, who, if you demand a 
reason, will tell you it is a horrid place, and the peo- 
ple all savages ; but if you press for proofs and illus. 
trations, furthermore such deponents say not. 

On a dull day in April I took my place, a solitary 
traveller, in the Shrewsbury coach, quite ignorant as 
to the road I was to travel, and far less at. home thac 
I should have been in the wildest part of North Ame- 
rica, or on the deck of a ship bound to circumnavigate 
the globe. We rattled out of London, and the first 
thing that aroused my attention was a moonlight view 
of Oicford, where we stopped at midnight to change 
horses. Those old gray towers, and mighty masses of 
ancient buildings on which the silvery ray fell with 
fine effect, awoke in my bosom two melancholy trains 
of thought ; one was the recollection of my father, 
whose enthusiastic attachment to his own university 
had often provoked warm discussion with the no less 
attached Oantabs of our old social parties, and who 
often held out to me, as the greatest of earthly gratifi- 
cations a visit with him to that seat of learning which 
he would describe in glowing colours. But where was 
my father now ? ' His poor girl, the delight of his eyes 
and the treasure of his heart, was in Oxford, with none 
to guide, none to guard, none to speak a cheering- 
word to her. I shrunk back in the coach ; and grieved 
over this till a sudden turning once more threw before me 
the outline of some magnificent old fabric bathed in 
moonlight, and that called up a fit of patriotism, calcu* 
lated to darken yet more the prosi^ct b^€<\i:ft TBAk. '^Vaai 
was England, my owiL"pio\i^^T^\^^^V.^ «iA?^^'8» "** ^ 
c/oad-eapped towers, t\w6 ^oi^<&om,%^^^'*? ^^^^ 



102 miSHMEK. 

guislied her seats of learning above all others. I w^^ 
bound — for Ireland ! What English y oung lady hade v^^ 
studied the history of that remote, half-civilized settl^ 
ment called Ireland ? Not I, certainly, nor any of nir 
acquaintance ; but I took it for granted that Ireland had 
no antiquities, nothing to distinguish her from other 
barbarous lands, except that her people ate potatoes, 
made blunders, and went to mass. I felt it a sort of 
degradation to have an Irish name, and to ga there as 
a resident ; but comforted myself by resolving never 
in one particular to give into any Irish mode of living, 
speaking, or thinking, and to associate only with such 
as had been at least educated in England. 

The next day's rising sun shone upon Stratford-on- 
Avon; and here revived in some degree my Shak- 
sperean mania, to the still higher exaltation of my Eng- 
lish stilts, and the deeper debasement of all '^ rough 
Irish kernes." At Shrewsbury we parted with a kind 
old lady, who had shown me some good-natured atten- 
tions, and I was left with only an elderly gentleman, 
bound also for Dublin, who told me we must start at 3 
o'clock the following morning for Holyhead. I was 
dreadfully dejected, and told him I hoped he would 
not think the worse of me for being so utterly alone, 
and that he would excuse my retiring to my own 
apartment the instant we had dined. He took pencil 
and paper, and with a glow of benevolent feeling ex- 
pressed his anxious desire to take the same care of me 
that he would of his own daughter, and to look on me 
■M his especial charge, until he should give me into the 
'bands of my lawful piotectoi. \ \)clw:^^^ Vytsjl.^ ^V^si 
iiroe Engliah reserve, and «t coXteft^^X^^^^^^^^nvft^T^fiMii 



WALE0. IDS ^ 

to grate on his warm feelings, and having owned that 
his seeing my Newfoundland dog well fed and lodged 
would be a great obligation, I withdrew to fret alone 
over my exile to this foreign land. You may call this 
an exaggeration, but it is no such thing. I delight in 
dwelling upon my reluctant approach to the land that 
I was to love so fondly. 

Next day my miseries were alleviated by the en- 
chanting beauties of the Welsh country through which 
we passed ; and my regard for Mr. D. greatly increased 
by the compassionate care he took of a poor sickly wo- 
man and her ragged infant, whom he descried on the 
top of the coach, and first threw his large cloak to them, 
then, with my cordial assent, took them inside, and 
watched them most kindly until he fell asleep. I peeped 
into his kind benevolent face, and inwardly confessed 
there might be some nice people in Ireland. 

At the inn where we dined, I made another acquain- 
tance. A younger, but middle-aged man, whose viva- 
city, combined with Welch mutton and lale, quite raised 
my spirits. Hearing from Mr. D. with what enthusi- 
asm I had admired the scenery of Langollen, ho volun- 
teered to hand me in at the coach window, a note of 
every remarkable place we should approach during the 
rest of the journey ; adding, " I know the road pretty 
well, having traversed it at least twice a year for six- 
teen years, passing to and from my Irish home." He 
was a legal man, a finished gentleman, and another sad 
drawback on my perverse prejudices. Mr. F. proved 
an excellent descriptive guide^ ^^Tv<Lt>aAlV<) -tftA^«ksN5|^\s\ 
me ftom the roof of Ae co«Lc\i\A*X\V^^''nifc\sL^^^^ 
time for me to take a aux^^y ol \Jt^^ ^"i^^^ ^«v^rk«^ 



104 THE JOU&N£T. 

and also most assiduously aiding in the care of n 

luggage and dog when we were all put in the ifen; 
boat. 

There was then no bridge over the Menai, and Ibeic^ 
in total ignorance of the rout was not a little dismays ^ 
at the embarkation, forgetting that Holyhead was :^ 
Anglesea, and that Anglesea was an island. At last, 
when the boat pushed ojflT, the opposite shore being hid- 
den under the mist of deepening twilight, I addressed 
the ferryman in a tone of remonstrance that infinitely 
diverted the whole party, '^ Surely you are not going to 
take me over in this way to Ireland 1" 

" No, no," said Mr. F. you shall have a good night's 
rest, and a better sea-boat, before we start for the dear 
green isle." 

Steamers were not then upon the packet station, and 
the wind being unfavourable, we had a passage of seveBr 
teen hours, not landing until two in the morning of Eas- 
ter Sunday. Nothing could exceed my discomfort, as 
you may suppose, when I tell you that after paying my 
bill at Holyhead, I, in a fit of abstraction, deposited it 
very safely in my purse, and in its stead threw away 
my last bank-note. The mistake was not suspected 
until, in mid voyage, I examined the state of my finan- 
ces, and found the sum total to amount to one shilling. 
This was an awful discovery ; iny passage was paid, 
but how to reach Dublin was a mystery, and such was 
the untamed pride of my character that I would sooner 
have walked there than confessed the fact, which might 
have been doubted, and laid myself under the obligation 
of a loan, which I was auie o£ x^Y^Y\Xk^\xi^lvwVw«^ 
even to good old Mi. D. "WV^n \ «\ffv^ ^^^"^ '^^ 



THE ARKIVAL. 105 

deck of the packet upon the plaiik that rested against 
the pier of Howth, I had not one single halfpenny in 
my pocket, and I experienced, without the slightest emo- 
tion, one of the most hair-breadth escapes of my life. 

The water was very low; the plank, of course, 
sloped greatly, and, as soon as I set my foot on it, 
began to slide down. In another second I should have 
been plunged between, the vessel's side and the stone 
pier, without any human possibility of rescue ; ^nd 
already I had lost my balance, when a sailor, springing 
on the bulwarks, caught me round the knees, and at 
the same instant Mr. F. throwing himself on the 
ground, seized and steadied the plank, until I recover- 
ed my footing and ran up. I shudder to recall the 
hardened indifference of my own spirit, while the kind, 
warm-hearted Irishmen were agitated with strong emo- 
tion, and all around me thanking God for my escape. 
Each of my friends thought I had landed under the 
care of the other; while one had my dog, and the 
other my portmanteau. I received their fervent 
' cead-mille-failthe' with cold politeness, and trod with 
feelings of disgust on the dear little green shamrocks 
that I now prize so fondly. 

We went to the hotel, and Mr. D. proposed my re- 
tiring to a chamber until the coach started ; but my 
empty purse would not allow of that, so I said I preferred • 
sitting where I was. Refreshments were ordered; 
but though in a state of ravenous hunger, I steadly 
refused to touch them ; for I would not have allowed 
another person to pay for me, and was resolved to 
conceal my loss as lone as \ eov^i^.. \N^^&^^iS5Niss^^^s^ 
Ae prearumption of a qvia\m\a\av^^^ ^^^^^^^^^""^ "^ 



UKl AN ESCAPE. 

tossing of the ship; and most melancholy, m 
lorn were the feelings with which I watched 1 
the large window the fading moonbeams and th 
ing day. To my unspeakable joy, the two gej 
proposed taking a post-chaise with me to 
the expense being no more and the comfor 
greater than going by coach ; and having re 
Mr. F. to keep an exact account of my i^are 
charges, I took my seat beside them with a far 
heart ; my dog being on the foot-board in fron 
carriage. 

Away we drove, our horses being young, fr< 
in high condition. It was a glorious morni: 
vainly did I strive not to admire the scenery, 
after another of the beautiful villas that ad< 
Howth road gleamed out in the snowy whitene 
characterizes the houses there; generally embos< 
trees, and surrounded by gardens, on the rising g 
We were descending the hilly road very rapidl; 
by some means the horses took fright, and bro' 
a full gallop, crossing and recrossing the ro( 
fearful manner. The driver was thrown on tl 
board, poor Tajo hung by his chain against the 
legs, and our situation was most critical. 1 1 
fared from one upset in America, and resolved 
encounter another; so^ quietly gathering m 
riding habit about me with one hand, and puti 
other out at the window, I opened the door, and v 
active spring flung myself out. You know 
treme peril, th^ almost certain destruction of 
leap from, a carriage at fuW speed*, 1 didivot^oi: « 
/ would not have taken it. Hov^vex^ %.\. \^ 



DDBLEf. 107 

instint of time, the hones made a dead stop ; and the 
chaise remained stationary only a few paces in advance 
of me. 

Was not the hand of God here ? Oh, surely it was, 
in the most marked and wonderful manner. No cause 
eould be assigned for the arrest of the animals; the dri- 
ver had lost the reins, and no one was near. I had fallen 
flat on the road-side, just grazing my gloves with the 
gravel, and getting a good mouthful of the soil, with 
which my face was brought into contact. In a moment 
I sprang to my feet, and blowing it out exclaimed with 
a laugh, * Oh, well ! I suppose I am to love this country 
after all ; for I have kissed it in spite of me.* 1 then 
ran to help my dog out of his disagreeable state of sus- 
pension, and returned to my friends, who were frighten- 
ed and angry too, and who refused to let me into the 
chaise unless I positively promised not to jump out 
any more. To shorten the tale, I reached the Hiber 
nian hotel, where my husband was, seized some money, 
and paid my expenses without any one having dis- 
covered that I was a complete bankrupt up to that 
minute. 

I have been very prolix here ; for I cannot overlook 
a single incident connected with this eventful journey. 
Never did any one less anticipate a blessing, or look 
for happiness than I in visiting Ireland. I cannot enter 
into more particulars, because it would involve the names 
of friends who might not wish to figure in print ; but 
if these pages ever meet the eyes of any who gave me 
the first day's welcome in Dublin, let them be afisa^«.<d. 
that the remembrance o£ t\i«\i: leu^'bTV\\^Assw«^^%^^^^^ 
wmnA of their open li08Y^t»fiV3 , w\^ "^^^^ ^j^^^*3^ 



ft08 ST. /ohm's eve. 

to make the poorstraager happy among thein, bw^*^ 

through the ice of a heart that had frozen itself up ^ 
most unnatural reserve, and gave life to the first p^^^^ 
that played within it, of the love that soon pervaded 3^ 
€ rery vein — the love of dear generous Ireland. 

My first journey into the interior was to the Kingff 
county, where I passed some weeks in a house most 
curiously situated, with an open prospect of ten miles 
pure bog in front of it. Being newly built, nothing had 
yet had time to grow ; but its owner, one of the most 
delightful old gentlemen I ever met with, had spared no 
cost to render it commodious and handsome. He wiai 
a fine specimen, of the hospitable Irish gentlemen, and 
took great pleasure in bringing me acquainted with the 
customs of a people and the features of a place so new 
to me. Indeed, it was my first introduction to what 
was really Irish, for Dublin is too much of a capita] 
city' to afibrd many specimens of distinct nationality. 
On that great festival of the peasantry, St. John's eve, 
Mr. C. resolved on giving his tenants and neighboun 
a treat that should also enlighten me on one of their most 
singular relics of paganism. It is the custom at sunset 
on that evening to kindle numerous inmiense fires 
throughout the country, built like our bonfires, to a 
great height, the pile being composed of turf, bog- wood, 
and such other combustibles as they can gather. Tbe 
turf yidds a steady, substantial body of fire, the bog- 
wood a most brilliant flame : and the effect of these great 
beacons blazing on every hill, sending up volumes of 
smoke from every point of the horizon, is very remark- 
tihle. Ours was a magm^cenl oivft,\i«vxi^Y^Q^\ii«i,\s^ 
the landlord as a comptimeiit to \as '^a^.^^TA'^rwk 



THE DANCE. 109 

buHt on the lawn, as close bende the house as safety 
would admit. 

Early in the evening the peasants began to assemble, 
all habited in their best array, glowing with health, 
every countenance full of that sparkling animation and 
excess of enjoyment that characterizes the enthusiastic 
people of the land. I had never seen anything resem- 
bling it, and was exceedingly delighted with their hand- 
some, intelligent, merry faces, the bold bearing of the 
men, and the playful, but really modest, deportment of 
the maidens ; the vivacity of the aged people, and the 
wild glee of the children. The fire being kindled, a 
blaze shot up, and for a while they stood contemplating 
• it, with faces strangely disfigured by the peculiar light 
first emitted when bogwood is thrown on; after a short 
pause, the ground was cleared in front of an old blind 
piper, the very beau-ideal of energy, drollery, and 
shrewdness, who, seated on a low chair, with a well 
plenished jug within his reach, screwed his pipes to 
the liveliest tunes, and the endless jig began. 

An Irish jig is interminable, so long as the party 
holds together ; for when one of the dancers becomes 
fatigued, a fresh individual is ready to step into the 
vacated place quick as thought ; so that the other does 
not pause, until in like manner obliged to give place to 
a successor. They continue footing it, and setting to 
one another, occasionally moving in a figure, and 
changing places, with extraordinary rapidity, spirit, 
and grace. Few indeed among even the very lowest 
of the most impoverished class have ^Qwavoi^^^sofifi^ 
withont obtaining some \©Bacms\SL^^^ ^twsic^o^MM!*^ 
from the travelling dancm^Tft»3BX«t% ^ ^«ft.^S»&^^^ 



1 10 PAGANiaii. 

and certainly in the way they use it, many would be 
disposed to grant a dispensation to the young peasant 
which they would withhold from the young peer. It is, 
however, sadly abused among them, to Sabbath-break- 
ing, revellings, and the most immoral scenes, where they 
are congregated and kept together under its influence ; 
and the same scene, enacted a year afterwards, would 
have awoke in my mind very different feelings from 
those with which I regarded this first spectacle of Irish 
hilarity, when I could hardly be restrained by the 
laughing remonstrances of the ' quality' from throwing 
myself into the midst of the joyous group, and dancing 
with them. 

But something was to follow that puzzled me not 8' 
little ; when the fire had burned for some hours, and 
got low, an indispensable part of the ceremony com: 
menced. Every one present of the peasantry, passed 
thr<^gh it, and several children were thrown across the 
sparkling embers ; while a wooden frame of some eight 
feet long, with a horse's head fixed to one end, and a 
large white sheet thrown over it, concealing the wood 
and the man on whose head it was carried, made its ap 
pearance. This was greeted with loud shouts as the 
'^ white horse *," and having be^ safely carried by the 
skill of its bearer several times through the fire with a 
bold leap, it pursued the people, who ran screaming and 
laughing in ev^ry direction. I asked what the horse 
was meant for, and was told it represented all cattle. 
Here was the old pagan worship of Baal, if not of Mo- 
loch too, carried on openly and universally in the heart 
o/a nominally Cliiistiaii cowivU-^^wAV^ \BkVi\a\\a ^to- 
feaaing the Christiaa uam© \ 1 ^^^ cocSLw^v^^^^ W^ 



TRIALS. Ill 

did not then know that Popery is only a crafty adap- 
tation of pagan idolatries to its own scheme ; and while 
I looked upon the now wildly excited people, with their 
children and, in a figure, all their cattle passing again 
and again through the fire, £ almost questioned in my 
own mind the lawfulness of the spectacle, considered in 
the light that the Bible must, even to the natural heart, 
exhibit it in to those who confess the true God. There 
was no one to whom I could breathe such thoughts, 
and they soon faded from my mind : not so the impres- 
sion made on it by this fair specimen of a population 
whom I had long classed with the savage inhabitants 
of barbarous lands, picturing them to myself as dark, 
ferocious, discontented, and malignant. That such 
was the reverse of their natural character I now began 
to feel convinced; and from that evening my heart 
gradually warmed towards a race whom I found to be 
frank, warm, and affectionate beyond any I had ever 
met with. 

My interest in them, however, was soon to be placed 
on another and a firmer basis. I took up my perma- 
nent abode in a neighbouring county ; and within six 
months after that celebration of St. John'seve I experien- 
ced the mighty power of God in a way truly marvellous 
Great and marvellous are all his works : in creating, in 
sustaining, in governing this world of wonderful crea- 
tures ; but oh, how surprisingly marvellous and great 
in redeeming lost sinners, in taking away the heart of 
stone, and giving a heart of flesh, and making his peo- 
ple willing in the day of his ^ovi«tV \.Ws^ ^'wsK;>^e\ 
ibstained from any paitic\vV«Lt^xfe«^^^^x!^^^Bs?^^^ "^^ 
coo W either cast a xepTOBieb. oxw\>afe ^«^^^'^>8^^^ 



tl2 TRIALS. 

to the Kving: I slia do so still, and merely remail^ 
. that as far as this world was concerned my lot had nc^ 
happiness mingled in it, and that my only solace un.^ 
der many grievous trials consisted in two things : od^ 
was a careful concealment of whatever might subject 
my proud spirit to the mortification of being pitied 
when I desired rather to be envied ; and the other a 
confident assurance that in suffering afHictions silently, 
unresistingly, and uncomplainingly, I was making God 
my debtor to a large amount. What desperate wick« 
edness of a deceived and deceitful heart was this ! The 
very tiding in which I so arrogantly vaunted myself 
before God was the direct result of personal pride, in 
itself a great sin ; and thus I truly gloried in my shame ; 
I never looked beyond the rod to Him who had ap 
pointed it; but satisfying myself that I had not mer- 
ited, from man, any severity, my demerits at the hand 
of the Most High were wholly put out of the calcula- 
tion. Thus, of course, every stroke drove me further 
from the only Rock of refuge, and deeper into the fast- 
ness of my own vain conceits. Added to this I was 
wholly shut out from all the ordinary means by which 
the Lord usually calls sinners to himself There was 
no gospel ministry then within my reach ; nor could I, 
if it were provided, have profited by it, owing to my 
infirmity. Into Christian society I had never enteied ^ 
nor had the least glimmer of spiritual hght shone into 
my mind. My religion was that of a pharisee, and my 
addresses to God included, like his, an acknowledge 
, ment that it was by divine favor I was so much better 
tb&n my neighbours. Reality W^ ^o ^ax <^^^^\ vw^-^ 
romance, that my own favot\le>^u\\k»\^V^^>i\NX'fe\iKyH«^ 



LEVYING DISTRESS. 113 

to cbarm me ; and the hollowness of my ajQTected gay 
ety and ease made society a very sickening thing. 
Besides, at my first coming to the very aristocratical 
little town where I then resided, I was neglected in a 
manner very mortifying to one who had been accus- 
tomed to find her level in society even a grade higher 
than that * and this was most mercifully ordered, not 
only to humble my intolerable pride, but to smooth 
the way for that separation from worldly associates 
which was soon to become the desire of my heart, and 
to aid me in afterwards withstanding the temptation 
of most earnest and affectionate attentions from all 
around me, when, by means of an old friend very high 
indeed in military command, my real standing in soci- 
ety became better known to them. 

At the time I am now to speak of, I was living in 
perfect seclusion, and uninterrupted solitude. Gap- 
tain was always in Dublin, and my chief occupa- 
tion was in hunting out, and transcribing and arrang- 
ing matter for the professional gentlemen conducting * 
the law-suit, from a mass of confused family papers and 
documents. Our property consisted of a large number 
of poor cabins, with their adjoining land, forming a 
complete street on the outskirts of the town, which 
was greatly in arrear to the head landlords, and a 
periodical "distress" took place. On these occasions 
a keeper was set over the property; some legal papers- 
were served, and the household goods, consisting of 
iron kettles, wooden stools, broken tables, a ragged 
blanket or two, and the Uula ^ci\^ q»^ y=='\.^^^*«^'^^'^'^'**^*" 
mijport of the wietc\ied\TL\v«\A\vDX^^Nqw^^^ 
pSkd in a long row down \Vi«i «^.x'^^^ ^^"^ ^vss^^^n ^ 



114 coNvicnofi9. 

IB, pat up to sale, for the payment of, perhaps, one < 
two per cent of the arrears. This horrified me beyoi 
measure : I was ashamed to be seen among the peop^^^ 
who were called our tenants, though this proceedii^^ 
did not emanate from their immediate landlord ; u^^ 
every thing combined to render the seclusion of n^^ 
own garden more congenial to me than any wider range. 
It was then that I came to the resolution of being a 
perfect devotee in religion : I thought myself marvel- 
lously good ; but something of monastic mania seized 
me. I determined to emulate the recluses of whom I 
had often read ; to become a sort of Protestant nun ; 
and to fancy my garden, with its high stone walls, and 
little thicket of apple-trees, a convent enclosure ; I also 
settled it with myself to pray three or four times eveiy 
day, instead of twice ; and with great alacrity entered 
upon this new routine of devotion. 

Here God met, and arrested me. When I kneeled 
down to pray, the strangest alarms took hold of my 
mind. He to whom I had been accustomed to prate 
with flippant volubility in a set form of heartless words, 
seemed to my startled mind so exceedingly terrible in 
unapproachable majesty, and so very angry with me 
in particular, that I became paralyzed with fear. I 
strove against this with characteristic pertinacity; I 
called to mind all the common-place assurances re- 
specting the sufficiency of a good intention, and mag- 
nified alike my doings and my sufferings. I persuaded 
myself it was only a holy awe, the effect of distin- 
. guisbed piety and rare humility, and that I was really an 
object of the divine comp\aceivcymTioat^vaa.v3 ^^^gMb^. 
Again I essayed to pray, \wLt m ^wxv.% \ ^wa.^ xtfk. 



TERRORS. 1 IB 

Then I attributed it to a nervous state of feeling that 
would wear away hj a little abstraction from the sub- 
ject] but this would not do. To leave off praying 
was impossible, yet to pray seemed equally so. I well 
remember that the character in which I chiefly viewed 
the Lord God was that of an Avenger, going forth to 
smite the first-born of Egypt ; and I some how identi- 
fied myself with the condemned number. Often, after 
kneeling a long time, I have laid my face upon my 
irms, and wept most bitterly because I could not, dared 
not pray. 

It was not in my nature to be driven back easily 
from any path I had entered on, and here the Lord 
wrought on me to persevere resolutely. I began to 
examine myself, in order to discover why I was afraid, 
and taking as my rule the ten commandments, I found 
myself sadly deficient on some points. The tenth 
affected me as it never had done before. " I had not 
known lust," because I had not understood the law 
when it said " Thou shalt not covet." A casual glance 
at the declaration of St. James, " Whosoever shall keep 
the whole law, yet offend in one point, he is guilty of 
aU," alarmed me exceedingly; and on a sudden it 
occurred to me that not only the ten commandments, 
but all the precepts of the New Testament were bind- 
mg on a Christian; and I trembled more than ever. 

What was to be done ? To reform myself, certainly, 
and become obedient to the whole law. Accordingly 
I went to work, transcribed all the commands that I 
felt myself most in the Kabit oi Ti<a^<fcQ>ii\v"^.^«si^%^ssNs^ 
up a doEea or two texts aioxiaiftLm'^ t^wsu ^>v.x'fe«^^^^^ 
10 small effort to enter t\i\a v^wtX.iaa^^.^sA.^^^^^'^'^ 



116 DESPAIR. 

V 

it. reading my mementoes. That active sclioolmastfii^ 
the law, had got me fairly under his rod, and dreadful 
were the writhings of the convicted culprit 1 I scon, 
took down my texts, fearing lest any one else might 
see them, and not knowing they were for myself, ho 
exasperated. I then made a little hook, wrote down a 
list of offences, and commenced making a dot ovex 
against each, whenever I detected myself in the com- 
mission of one. I had hecome very watchful over mj 
thou gilts, and was honest in recording all evil ; so my 
hook became a mass of black dots ; and the reflection 
that occurred to me o^ omissions being sins too, coat 
pleted the panic of my mind. I flung away my book 
into the fire, and myself into an abyss of gloomy 
despair. 

How long this miserable state of mind lasted, I do 
not exactly remember ; I think about two weeks. 1 
could not pray. I dared not read the Bible, it boze 
so very hard upon me. Outwardly I was calm and 
even cheerful, but within reigned the very blacknen 
of darkness. Death, with which I had so often sported, 
appeared in my eyes so terrible that the slightest feel* 
ing of illness filled my soul with dismay. I saw no way 
of escape : I had God's perfect law before my tyea^ 
and a full conviction of my own past sinfulness and 
present helplessness, leaving me wholly without hope. 
Hitherto I had never known a day's illness for years; 
one of God's richest mercies to me .consisted in unin- 
terrupted health, and a wonderful freedom from all 
nervous afTections. 1 kneT? «Amo^\. «j& ^i\.\L^ o€ the sen* 
aatioD >f a head-ache as 1 ^V^ o^ ^'^^'^ ^^ V:v^^.^»KaM^, 
and now a violent co\d,mt\i soife iV^^ii^N., ^W«^^^»^ 



AWAKENETi CONSCIENCE. 1)7 

into fever by the state of my mind, completely pros- 
trated me. I laid myself down on the sofa one morn- 
ing and waited to see how my earthly miseries would 
terminate ; too well knowing what must follow the close 
of a sinner's life. 

I had not lain long, when a neighbour hearing I 
was ill, sent me some books, just received from Dub- 
lin, as a loan, hoping I might find some amusement in 
them. Listlessly, wretchedly, mechanically I opened 
one — ^it was the mem6ir of a departed son, written by 
his father. I read a page, describing the approach of 
death, and was arrested by the youth's expressions of 
self-condemnation, his humble acknowledgement of 
having deserved at the Lord's hand nothing but eter- 
nal death. ' Ah, poor fellow,' said I, ' he was like 
me. How dreadful his end must have been ! I will 
see what he said at last, when on the very brink of 
the bottomless pit.' I resumed the book ; and found 
him in continuation glorifying God that though ht 
was so guilty and so vile, there was one able to save 
to the uttermost, who had borne his sins, satisfied 
divine justice for him, opened the gates of heaven, and 
now waited to receive his ransomed soul. 

The book dropped from my hands. ' Oh, what is 
this? This is what I want: this would save me. 
Who did this for him ? Jesus Christ, certainly ; and 
it must be written in the New Testament. I tried to 
jump up and reach my Bible, but was overpowered by 
the emotion of my mind. I clasped my hands over 
my eyes, and then the blessed effects of having even a. 
literal knowledge of scriptuT^ ^«& ^.-^-^^wvV., ^^««»ssv^ 
hrmght before me, as t\ie RoV^ ^Y^yvX. ^v^ti^N.^'>^N^ 



A 16 GOD^S TEACHimi. 

here and there a detached text, but whole chapten^ M 
they had long been committed to its safe but hitherto 
unprofitable keeping. The veil was removed from my 
heart, and Jesus Christ, as the Alpha and Omega, the 
sum and substance of everything, shone out upon me 
just as He is set forth in the everlasting gospel It 
was the same as if I had been reading, because I knew 
it so well by rote, only much more rapid, as thought 
always is. In this there was nothing uncommon ; but 
in the opening of the understandings that I might tjn 
DERSTAND the scuptuTes^ was the mighty miracle of 
grace and truth. There I lay, still as death, my handi 
still folded over my eyes, my very soul basking in the 
pure, calm, holy light that streamed into it through 
the appointed channel of God's word. Rapture was 
not what I felt; excitement, enthusiasm, agitation, 
there was none. I was like a person long enclosed in 
a dark dungeon, the walls of which had now fallen down, 
and I looked round on a sunny landscape of calm and 
gloriousibeauty. I well remember that the Lord Jesus, 
in the character of a shepherd, of a star, and, above aO, 
as the pearl of great price, seemed revealed to me most 
beautifully ; that he could save everybody I at once 
saw; that he would save me, never even took the 
form of a question. Those who received the gospel 
by man's preaching may doubt and cavil : I took it 
simply from the Bible, in the words that God's wis- 
dom teacheth, and I thus argued : — * Jesus Christ 
came into the world to save sinners : I am a sinner: I 
want to be saved : he will save me.' There is no pre 
sumption in taking God. atVU -wot^'. xvsiV. \.q ^^«^v 
very impertinent'. 1 did it, wvdl ^^"&Vv^^^. 



JOT AND PEACE. 119 

Afbei some time I rose from the suta, and walked 
ibout \ my feelings were delicious. I had found Him 
)f whom Moses, in the law, and the prophets, did 
mrite; I had found the very Paschal Lamb, whose 
blood would be my safeguard from the destroying an- 
gel Oh, how delicious was that particular thought 
to me ! It was one of the first that occurred, and I 
laughed with gladness. Indeed my feeling was very 
joyous, and I only wanted somebody to tell it to. I 
had two servants, one a young woman, the other a 
little girl, both papists, both loving me with Irish 
warmth. They were delighted to see me so well and 
happy on a sudden ; and in the evening I bade them 
come to my room, for I was going to read a beautiful 
book, and would read it aloud. I began the gospel of 
St. Matthew, and read nine chapters to them, their 
wonder and delight increasing my joy. Whenever I 
proposed leaving off, they begged for more ; and only 
for my poor throat I think we should have gone on 
till day. I prayed with them, and what a night's rest 
I had ! Sleep so sweet, a waking so happy, and a joy 
80 unclouded through the day, what but the gospel 
could bestow ? Few, very few have been so privi- 
leged as I was, to be left alone with the infallible teach- 
ing of God the Holy Ghost, by me.'in? of the written 
word, for many weeks, and so to get a thorough know- 
ledge of the ^eat doctrines of salvation, unclouded by 
man's vain wisdom. I knew not that in the world 
there were any who had made the same discovery 
with myself. Of all schemes of doctrine I was wholly 
ignorant, and the only sysUm o^ \^^Otfi^ W5^^\.^xs^fc 
WB9 GodV owa AU ite teLt\A\ift% ol wj Te«^^^««* 



ISO ntATrau 

roused and brightened for the work. I pn 
out ceasing, for divine instruction ; and tool 
cavilling, what was vouchsafed. On this 
must enter more largely^ for it is one of imi 
portance. 



ABETTER YI. 



RELIGIOUS PROGRESS. 



V ^kM standing before you now in the character of 
one who having been brought under conviction of sin 
into utter self-despair, had found in Christ Jesus a rc< 
fuge from the storm of God's anger. I felt myself 
safe in Him ; but as the revelation which God had 
made to man was not confined to the alone point of a 
satisfaction for the sins of men, I felt it my boundeii 
duty to search for all that the Most High had seen good 
to acquaint his people with. At the same time I found 
myself a member of a church, callii^ itself Christian ; 
but I, tdo. had called myself a Christian, while as yet 
wholly ignorant of Christ, therefore I could not depend 
upon a name. I knew that there were other churches, 
each putting in a claim to a higher and purer stand* 
ard than its neighbours, and it behooved me to know 
which of them all was in the right. I had no books 
of a religious character; not one: no clergyman 
among my acquaintance, no means of inquiry, save as 
regarded my own .church, whose Liturgy and Articles 
lay before me. I resolved to bring them first to the 
iMt of scripture ; and if they &iI«d^to WW^^^^^Rst.^ 
bettor. 

How I comiaenced flie ^oik, wA ijkwm^'^^'^ 
W 



122 THE cmmcfL 

not state. I tried everything, as well as I could, by 
the Bible; and my satisfaction was great to find tlie 
purest, clearest strain of evangelical truth breathing 
through the book which I had used all my life long^ai 
I did the Bible, without entering into its real meaning. 
How could I possibly escape seeing the doctrines of 
faith, regeneration, and the rest of God's revelation in 
them both, was strange to me ; but I understood that 
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit 
of God, and mourned over the darkness that I sup- 
posed universal. 

I found it distinctly stated by our Lord, that "m- 
cept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdov 
of God ;" and this served as a key to many passages 
in the Epistles, and other parts of scripture illustra- 
tive of the same solemn truth. I had never under- 
stood, never thought of this. Did my church hold it? 
Yes ; it was not only laid down as a fundamental doc- 
trine in her Articles, but constantly put into the moutht 
of her congregatfon, either expressed or clearly im 
plied. Again, I found that not by works but by faitl 
I was to be justified before God ; anJ this also rai 
through the prayer-book, with unvarying distinctness 
— though with that book in my hand, and its content! 
on my lips, I had been hitherto attempting to scale hea 
veii by a ladder of my own forming. I then tried thi 
creeds by scripture, which would have been a very la 
borious work, unassisted as I was by any expositioi 
or references, had not my memory been well storai 
with the word of God, while, as I humbly hope, tlu 
Holy Spirit took of tTie l\i\u^"a o? C\vt\sX., vcv4 ^kow«4 
them unto me. The only d«.wa^ \iv \!tv^ ^\^^^ '^ 



80CINIANISM. 128 

staitkd me was that of our Lord's descent into hell ; 
that he ever visited the place of the condemned spirits 
I could not believe, nor do I now believe it, nor ever 
for a moment gave credit to the monstrous assertion 
since that period. If by hell is meant the place of 
separated souls, as I was afterwards ^old, why not call 
it by a less ambi^ous name? However, I would not 
for one uncertain phrase, which I then suspected and 
now know to be a modern interpolation, reject a whole 
system. I contented myself with refraining from 
making that confession ; and on all occasions substi- 
tuting when I could the beautiful Nicene creed for the 
other. Of course, this declaration will bring on me a 
storm of censure from some quarters : so be it. I am 
relating facts ; and happy would it be for the church 
and country if all who in some minor matters hesitate 
at using expressions made choice of by the fallible 
compilers of mere human compositions, would allow 
themselves the same liberty, instead of falling into 
schism and swelling the ranks of dissent. 

The Athanasian creed brought to my recollection 
a circumstance that had occurred a few years before ; 
the importance of which had never been known to me 
until I was brought acquainted with the saving truths 
of the gospel I now looked back upon it with trem- 
bling joy and gratitude to Him who had preserved me 
from a snare into which the pride of intellect, joined 
to spiritual ignorance, would have been sure to lead 
me, but for the watchful care of my heavenly Father, 
•till working by means of my blind bwt «.vctfL<^T!^ ^^^^«t:^ 
ence for his word. 1 \iaY« iii«tA!\Q\»^^'^\ssL\ss^^» 
tire town Socinianism ftovit\a\Aft^ \ft ^Ife'^rf.^ «** 



124 TEMPTATIOK. 

It has long been a very hot-bed of that fatal hezesj; 
the holders of which are found among many lead* 
ing characters of wealth, influence, and high attain- 
ments. I knew no more of it than that it was ons 
of the many forms of dissent, with which I had no- 
thing to do ; I was acquainted with several of its dis- 
ciples; but as religion formed no part of our social 
intercourse, its peculiarities where wholly unknown 
to me. 

Not long before my trip to America, I had been 
staying in Norwich, in the same house with a most 
clever, intelligent, and amiable woman, of whom I was 
very fond. 1 knew her to be a Dissenter, and that was 
all. One evening she drew me into a conversation, 
the commencement of which I forget, but it soon ar- 
rived at a denial, on her part, of the Godhead of Christ; 
which exceedingly astonished me, for 1 never supposed 
that could be called in question. I ran for the Bible, say- 
ing I would soon show her that it was not disputed ; 
and she in return asserted that I could not prove it out 
of the inspired scriptures. After pondering for awhile 
I recollected the first chapter of Revelation, which fbf 
its sublimity I ranked among the highest of my poeti- 
cal gems, and that it unequivocally proclaimed the di« 
vinity of our glorious Lord. I opened at it, on which 
she burst into a laugh, saying, ' You are not so weak 
as to fancy that book of riddles any part of God's 
wotd V ^ Why, it is in the Bible, you see,* replied I, 
half indignantly. ' And who put it there ? Come, you 
are a person of too muoli aenM to believe that the bind- 
iBg up of certain leaves \>elw««iiV\v^ t«^ ^^n^ta ^^ ^i^ 
Bible makes them a paxt o£ it. "Y o\il mx^t «xKt^^A^ ^^isA 



]f£TAFHySICS.i^ 125 

t^dSoa tliat God has given you ; and in so doing you 
wifl diMoyer so many interpolations and deceptions in 
that version of yours, that you will be glad to find a 
more accuiate one.' 

She contiDued in the same strain for some time. I 
was greatly agitated : I closed the great Bible, and 
leaning on it, with folded arms, my heart beating vio 
lently against the bright red cover, I gave heed to all 
she said. My lord of novelty, passion for investigation, 
and the metaphysical turn that had sometimes made 
my father quite uneasy about me, when he saw me at 
eight years old poring over abstruse reasonings with 
the zest of an old philosopher, were all in her fa- 
vour. I felt as if the foundation of my faith was giving 
way, and I was being launched on a sea of strange un- 
certainty. When she concluded, I laid my forehead on 
the book, in most deep and anxious thought, I did not 
pray : God was found of one who sought him not ; for i 
surely he alone dictated my answer. I started up, and 

with the greatest vivacity said, * Mrs. , if you can 

persuade me that the book of Revelation is not inspired, 
another person may do the same with regard to the 
book of Genesis ; and so of all that lie between them, 
till the whole Bible is taken away from me. That will 
never do ; I cannot part with my dear Bible. I believe 
it all, every word of it ; and I ainsure I should be mise- 
rable if I did not.' Then, kissing the precious volume 
with the affection one feels for what is in danger of 
being lost to us, I carried it back to its shelf, and de* 
dined any further discussion on the subject. She toll 
foma one eke she was aux^ oiWVvEL^^aft^^^^^s^a^'^** 



. 1^ ATHANASIAN OREED. 

good providence of God interposed to remove me fro« 
the scene of danger. 

That metaphysical turn I omitted to mention among 
my early snares : my father checked it although it was 
a great hobby of his own. He had seen its fearful abuse 1 
in the origin of the French revolution, and regarded it' 
as one of the' evil spirits of the age. I recollect the 
mixture of mirth and vexation depicted in his face one 
morning, when, on remarking that I did not look well, 
and inquiring if any thing ailed me, I replied, ' No, but 
I could not get any sleep.' 

' What prevented your sleeping?' 

' I was thinking, papa, of " Cogiio, ergo sum" and I 
lay awake, trying to find out all about it.' 
' < ^' CogiiOj ergo sum /" ' repeated my father, laughing 
and frowning at the same time, 'what will you be at 
twenty, if you dabble iu metaphysics before you are 
ten ? Come, I must set you to study Euclid : that 
will sober your wild head a little.' I took the book 
with great glee, delighted to have a new field of inqid- 
ry ; but soon threw it aside. Mathematics and I could 
never agree. Speculative and imaginative in an extra- 
ordinary degree, carrying much sail with scarcely any 
ballast, what but the ever-watchful care of Him who 
sitteth upon the circle of the earth could have preserv- 
ed from fatal wrecking a vessel so frail, while yet 
without pilot, helm or chart 1 

It was ther recollection of my short encounter with 

the Socinian that satisfied me respecting the Athanasian 

creed. I felt that had I taken up its bold assertions, 

aod established every one oi t\k«rev^ «.* w^^ \ ^\^^Vf^ 

Seripture, no sophistry coxxVdWv^^^iii^'Sf.^^^^^wjIvx'^ 



ELECTION. 127 

tkough it had been but a reasoning, not a saving faith, 
in that high doctrine of the co-existent co-equal Trini* 
ty. I did not then know, — for of all Church history 
I W9B ignorant, — that its original object was not so 
much to establish a truth, as to detect and defeat a 
falsehood. ' The damnatory clauses, as they are called, ' 
did not startle me. I saw clearly the fact that God had 
made a revelft^on of Himself to man, which revelation 
man was not at liberty to receive or to reject ; and as 
without faith it is impossible to please God, and that 
alone is faith which implicity believes the record that 
he hath given of his Son, the deductions in question 
were perfectly fair and orthodox. I frequently wonder- 
ed, when subsequently brought into the arena of various ' 
controversies, at the ease with which, aided by the Bible 
alone, I settled so many disputed points ; and as it real- 
ly was by the Bible I settled them, man's teaching has 
never yet on any subject altered my views. 

The only serious difficulty that I met, was in trying 
to receive the doctrine of Election. I read the seven- 
teenth article, where I, at feast, found it most palpably 
insisted on ; and I remembered having, in childhood, 
heard many hot disputes on that subject. My grand- 
mother held it, but she was nearly alone in her opin- 
ion ; and I was accustomed to hear it very much der 
nounced, which no doubt left a prejudice on my mind. 
I resolved to search it out most diligently : but wish- 
ing first to be thoroughly grounded in the vital points 
of the eo-eqnality of the three persons in the Godhead, 
I read' the book of the Acts with an express view to tha 
bitter. In so doing, 1 became ^\^^ wA xws^^'w.v*^^ 
ecmFinced on that of Eleclion «a\i<^^V3 ^Scks««^ •^^^ 



1S8 AN .EPOCH. 

Calvinistic divines, not one of whom, to mj 
ledge, had . I ever met with. After this I trac 

' every part of the Scriptures, running like a 
thread through the whole Bible. I have been 
pressed by its opponents on more than one o 
and urged to read treatises on the subject ; pro 
no treatises have I read: man can tell me no mi 
that Qod has clearly revealed it, therefore man 
strengthen a belief founded on the sure word o 
or if he tells me it is not revealed, I know tha 
because J have found it so, and relinquish it 
can. 

Whether it be regarded as presumptuous o 
must thankfully avow that during the weeks 
Was left alone with my Bible, I obtained a viei 
whole scheme of redemption, and God's dealin 
man, which to this hour I have never found re 
^Iter any one respect, save as greater light hai 
nually broken in on each branch of the subject, st 
oning, not changing those views. You will se 
progress of my sketch, how complete a bulwark 
error in numberless shapes I have found in this 
adherence to the plain word of truth ; this 1: 
cringing every proposition ^^ to the law and to 
timony ;" fuUy persuaded that " if they spc 
according to this word, it is because there is n 
in them. 

I now proceed to an interesting epoch in m 
the commencement of my literary labours in the 
cause. It marks very strongly the over-ruling 1: 
Him who was working a\\ \\iVn^ b.^\.^\ \\:^ ^Q>a: 

hig own will ^ and 1 wiU ^^» V\. ^o>\ VvOblwiH 



Mr FIRST TRACT. 129 

Bent, ^gether with my introduction, through it, to the 
Christian community of the land. 

My life, as I told you, was solitary and retired; 
my time chiefly passed in writing out documentary 
matters for the lawyers. The law-suit, concerning a 
property not worth litigating, had already been carri- . 
ed into three courts, Chancery, King's Bench, and 
Prerogative, and the labour devolving on me was most 
irksome. The circumstance of my using the pen so in- 
cessantly became known, and I was looked on as a lite- 
rary recluse. One day a lady, personally unknown to 
me, but whose indefatigable zeal was always seeking the 
good of others, sent me a parcel of tracts. With equal 
wonder and delight I opened one of them, a simple, 
spiritual little production ; and the next that I took up 
was an inducement to distribute tracts among the poor. 
From this 1 learned that some excellent people were 
engaged in a work quite new to me ; and, with a sigh, 
I wished I had the means of contributing to their funds. 
Presently the thought flashed upon me, < Since I can- 
not give them money, may I not write something to 
be useful in the same way Y I had just then no work 
before me ; and a long winter evening at command. 
I ordered large candles, told the servants not to inter- 
rupt me, and sat down to my novel task. I began about 
seven o'clock, and wrote till three in the morning ; 
when I found I had produced a complete little story, in 
the progress of which I had been enabled so to set 
forth the truth as it is in Jesus, that on reading it over 
I was amazed at the statement I had made of ac^\.^t\\.'c^ 
troth, and sunk on my knees \ti OcwwJikS.>3Nx^^«^ ^-^ ^^^ 
Next morning I awoke, fwW o? ^07 >>s^. wv^ ^^'»-'»^ 



«30 NEW FRIBHD. 

as to what I should do with my tract At kngth 

the simplicity of my heart, I resolved to send it to 
Bishop of Norwich, and busied myself, at the br^ ^^ 
fast-table^ in computing how many franks it would. ^^ 
While thus employed, a note was put into my hn^^^^ 
from Miss D., apologizing for the liberty taken, sa^si^^ 
she had sent me, the day before, some tracts, and as slia 
heard 1 was much occupied with the pen, it had occa^ 
red to her that I might be led to write something my- 
self, in the possibility of which she now enclosed the 
address of the Secretary to the Dublin Tract Society, 
to whom such aid would be most welcome. 

I was absolutely awe-struck by this very striking 
incident. I saw in it a gracious acceptance of my 
free-will offering at His hands to whom it had been 
prayerfully dedicated : and in two hours the manuscript 
was on its way to Dublin, with a very simple letter 
to the Secretafy. A cordial answer, commendatory 
of my tract, and earnestly entreating a continuance 
of such aid soon reached me, with some remarks, and 
questions that required a fuller communication of my 
circumstances and feelings. He had recommended 
frequent intercourse with the peasantry, of whose habits 
and modes of expression I was evidently ignorant, and 
I then mentioned my loss of hearing as a bar to this 
branch of usefulness. His rejoinder was the overflow- 
ing of a truly Christian heart, very much touched by 
an artless account of the Lord's dealings with me; and 
greatly did my spirit rejoice at having found a bro 
ther in the faith thus to cheer and strengthen me. 
But alas ! a few days a?teTvi«jt^^.^"N\ABA\^. Vtv^tsi I 
had atUl never seen, wrote \o e^^^^Vi^ xs^^ ^^X. "^k^a «« 



UAfL MART. 131 

cellent man hsfd ruptured a blood-vessel and was dying. 
Still he did not forget me, but after lingering for some 
weeks, on his death-bed, commended me to the friend- 
ship of his brother, who from that period proved & true 
and valuable helper to me. 

Meanwhile I was beginning to take a view of Popery, 
under the light of t}ie gospel. As yet, I knew nothing 
of it spiritually ; and my retired life kept me from 
observing how it worked among the people arouna. 
My attention was first directed to it by a conversation 
with the younger of my two servants : she slept in my 
apartment, and I remarked that while kneeling at her 
devotions she not only uttered them with amazing 
rapidity, but carried on all the while the operation of 
undressing, with perfect inattention to what she was 
saying. I asked her the purport of her prayers ; she 
told me she said the " Our Father," and then the <' Hail 
Mary :" at my request she repeated the latter, and I 
gave her a gentle lecture on the irreverence of chatter- 
ing to God so volubly, and of employing herself about 
her clothes at the same time ; adding that she should be 
devout, deliberate, and quiet while speaking to God ; but 
as for the Virgin Mary it was no matter liow she ad- 
dressed her, if address her she would, for being only a 
dead woman she could know nothing about it. This, 
I am ashamed to say, was the extent of my actual pro- 
test at that time. The girl took it all. very readily, 
and ever after, during her addresses to God she knelt 
with her hands joined, repeating the words slowly and 
•eriously ; but the moment she commenced the " Ilail 
Mary," to make up for \o^\. Xiiaa ^^ ^TaS^^^>^ '»^ 
npidlyf and tore opew lYi^ ^«L9.t«kmxi^ oflV^^^vyw^^^f*^ 



1S2 IDOLATRY. 

such bustling speed, that I could scarcely refrain from 
laughing. A little reflection, however, conyinced me 
it was an act of idolatry, and no laughing matter ; and 
from that time I enquired as deeply as I could into their 
faith and practice ; constantly showing them from the 
Scriptures how contrary their religion was to that of 
the gospel. Still it was but a very partial and snperfi: 
cial view that I could as yet obtain of the great mysteiy 
of iniquity through these ignorant and thoughtlen 
girls ; and to this must be attributed my sad failure 
in' not warning them more distinctly to come out of 
Babylon. I rather tried to patch up the old, decayed, 
tattered garment with the new piece of the gospel, ai 
many more have done ; and so to make the rent wone 
instead of replacing the vile article with one of Gott 
providing. 

One of the most interesting and delightful subjeeti 
opened to me by my study of the Scriptures during 
this happy period was that of the Jews. I had alwayi 
felt deeply interested for them, and looked forward to 
their conversion, individually, to Christ ; but nation- 
ally I was still in the dark about them. Now I plainly 
saw the nature and extent of God's covenahted pledge 
to Abraham, and became fully convinced that theii 
national restoration was a revealed truth, and that the 
church would never attain to any triumph on earth in 
which the Jews, as Jews, did not bear a very prominent 
part. Happily untaught in the spiritualizing procesi 
by which the divine promises to Israel are wrested 
from their evident, literal sense, I took all that I read 
Ba primarily applicable to t\iOBft v?^io -^i^x^ ^v&\.y&s.\!L^ 
Bddj^aaed by name, ihoug\i -pVeiiA^ ^^«uv^ ^^\. ^ 



CHRISTIAN COMMUNION. 133 

was an allowable adaptation of them to tlie Gentile 
cliarcli. Many a time have I knelt down, with the 
ninth chapter of Daniel spread before me, fervently 
and with tears pleading in his words for his people. 
It was not until long afterwards that, on urging upon a 
pious clergyman the duty of combining in some great 
effort for the conversion of the Jews, I learnt to my 
surprise and delist of the existence of such a society. 
I need not tell you that the impression made on my 
mind by the Bible when I had no other teacher, has 
been continually deepened for twenty years ; and that 
nothing which man could say or write ever for a mo- 
ment shook my conviction on the subject. I laid hold 
on the word of promise, and urged it on all within my 
reach, from my very first intercourse with Christians ; 
and I have watched with joy the rapid unfolding of 
God's purposes towards the Jews, both in disposing 
the hearts of Gentiles towards their course, and in 
evidently preparing the way for their speedy restora 
tion. 

When that excellent man, Mr. D. was committed to 
the grave, his younger brother visited me on his way 
back to Dublin. That interview I shall never forget ; 
he talked to me out of the overflowings of a heart de- 
voted to Christ, and left me pining for more extended 
enjoyment of Christian society. I was not long un- 
gratified ; within three days an unexpected summons 
took me to Dublin, and on the very evening of my 
arrival Mr. D. introduced me to a party of about thirty 
pious friends, assembled to meet a missionarY \u&t. trt 
turned from Russia. lUiii«H!i\>«T^^^^ ^«tfc^^Vc«^«- 
ujuestrained, warm-heaxUaL InAi.ot ^^^fw^^'^*^^ 

Yl 



184 DISSENT. 

teady at e^tpressing their zealous and generous f^%/ 
ings ; and imagine, if you can, my enjoyment, after 
such a long season of comparative loneliness, when 
they came about me with the affectionate welcome that 
none can utter and look so eloquen^y as they can ! 1 
thought it a foretaste of heavenly blessedness; and 
yet I often longed for those seasons when I had 
none but my God to commune with, and poured out 
to Him all that now I found it delightful to utter to 
my fellow-creatures. Then, my tabernacle was indeed 
pitched in the wilderness, and the candle of the Lord 
shone brightly upon it; now, the blending of many 
inferior lights distracted my mind from its one object 
of contemplation, and broke the harmony that was so 
sweet in its singleness. 

A few months after this, the law-suit being ended, 
my husband was ordered abroad. I declined to cross 
the Atlantic a second time, and from this period I be- 
came chiefly dependent on my own exertions. My 
mother had joined me in Ireland, having been made 
a partaker in the like precious faith and hope with 
myself The next event to which I shall advert is a 
strong temptation to separate from the established 
church, under circumstances that have led very many 
to forsake the pale of her communion. I have oh- 
served that at the time in question there was no gospel 
preached in the pulpits of the establishment near me ; 
I, however, a year after my reception of the truth, be- 
came acquainted with a most godly, zealous, and truly 
able mimstei who officiated in the Independent chapeL 
We found that he had to tia^^\\^\A ^\. m^\. at Xx^y^x. 
up at an inn, as his regulax ctai^ N»a^^\.^oTBft ^\^Vwi»^ 



CHUUCH OF ENGLAND. 135 

and we freely offered him such hospitality as our 
bouse would afford. He took no unfair advantage to 
urge us into his own communion ; the contrast of his 
character and deportment to those of the pleasure- oving 
divines to whom we had long been accustomed ; the 
spirituality of his conversation, the excellency of his 
preaching, and the privilege of his domestic ministry 
in our little household at his weekly visit, all wrought 
to predispose me when, in the way of equal communi- 
cation, we came to discuss the grounds of his dissent. 
Had I not already l^rought my prayer-book to the test, 
in the Way related, before any basis could disturb my 
mind, I really think I should have been overcome in 
an argument where the odds were so strong against 
me; but thus prepared I could repel all charges on 
fundamental points ; and in matters indifferent, I re- 
fused to recognise a sufficient excuse for separation 
from what in its constitution was decidedly scriptural 
and good. My church was taxed with being essentially 
popish, and in rebutting this I became better acquaint- 
ed with her essential Protestantism. , She was de- 
nounced as a worldly, secular system, opposed to the 
declaration of our Lord that his kingdom is not of this 
world ; but I had sense enough to see, and to point 
out the total irrelevancy of that hackneyed quotation to 
the subject of ecclesiastical establishments. The un- 
holy lives of too many of her clergy, with their shame- 
ful neglect of the souls committed to them, I could not 
deny: but already a great revival had taken place 
among the Irish parochial clergy ^ it was i^roceedLu^ 
rapidly; and while t\iia ftV\^^TvR.^^ ^-^X.QjsA. ^y^'^is^ 
with her I could a\ao ^omV. ^o \Jaft ^x^xsaficL^^ -^^^ 



136 SUCCESSION. 

and sHow that, it was to the wickedness of individuals 
in breaking the most solemn engagements, not to any 
defect in the system, or aiiy lack of strong injunctions 
to zeal, diligence, and devotion, we must attribute the 
acknowledged evils existing among others. My friend, 
too, always mild, kind, and charitable on other subjects, 
generally laid aside these characteristics when ou this^ 
and assailed the established church with weapons of 
ridicule, sarcasm, scorn, and bitterness, which certainly 
produced on me the contrary effect to what was in- 
tended. He seemed to pay litde attention to the 
spiritual wants of the poor deluded Romanists, rather 
seeking to convert Episcopalians into Dissenters, than 
Papists into Christians. Measuring all things by the 
standard of the written word, I became more fully 
convinced, the more I examined the matter, that there 
was no just cause why a believer should quit the com- 
munion of a church clearly built on the foundation of 
the prophets and apostles ; and even under the disad- 
vantages of such a location as I have described, I 
continued firm in my attachments to her. Some peo- 
ple told me I ought to take higher ground in uphold- 
ing the episcopal establishment of this country. If 
they will point out to me any ground higher than the 
top of the rock whereon I believe her to stand, that 
rock being Christ, I will take it ; but none, none so 
high, none so sure can be found. Apostolical succession 
in office is a good thing when the succession in doc- 
trine is equally clear ; otherwise they who now officiate 
in the mosque of Omar, standing on the site of the 
temple in Jerusalem, and \ie vrVvo ^\\.^ ^vv^x^tsv^ii ycv '^^ 
fee o/Rome, the man of ain,and sotio^ ^«t^VC\cixvvTSNSc^ 



AUGUSTINE. 137 

Bspectively claim succession to the Aaronic priesthood 
nd the apostolic iainistry. I do not deny that a 
egidar succession exists in the British churches, 
Lerived from an apostolic mission, long before Augus- 
ine or any other Romish emissary set foot on our soil 
o pollute the stream ; but I should never for a mo- 
nent dream of adducing that as an argument against 
me who calls in question the scripturality of our 
church, since in so doing I might admit the mother 
if harlots and abominations of the earth to a participa- 
tion^ in the privileges which none but the lamb's pure 
nrife has any claim to. For my own part, I had never 
heard of such a thing, when God enabled me to stand 
firm as a member of this maligned church of England : 
and it is one of the many cases in which I had nothing 
to unlearn^ jus;! because man had taught me nothing, 
but all I knew was drawn from the clear fountain of 
eternal truth, opened in i\e pages of that precious vol' 
ume, for the gift of which all praise apd glory b^ to 
God, through Christ Jesus, now and forever 
12« 



LiSTTER VII. 

KILKENNT. 

I AM now to bring you into the stirring scenes of 
tkat time and place where the rebellious spirit of 
Popish agitation had just broken out afresh in Ireland. 
An invitation to pass some weeks in the county of 
Kilkenny led us to it as guests ; and inducements that 
it was not easy to resist fixed us there as residents for 
three years. In this part of my narrative no disguise 
is needful: the facts are before the world, and the 
estimable man who was made the first victim of this 
atrocious conspiricy is gone to his rest, after patiently 
enduring years of persecution, of exile, and of bodily 
and mental suffering induced by the scenes he was 
compelled to pass through. 

Yicarsfiield, the beautiful parsonage of Dr. Hamilton, 
is in the county, ten Irish miles from the town of 
Kilkenny. Kinoctopher is the parish; and at that 
time the old church was standing, about half a mile 
from the vicarage, which stood secluded, withdrawn 
fVom the public road, nestled in the rich foliage of 
many fine trees, and adorned with lovely pleasure- 
grounds. It was the happy privilege of that truly 
pious minister to originate the clerical meetings which 
were ao eminently, so extensively blessed to the clergy 



VICKARSFIELD. 139 

of that diocese, over which Jiis father had presided as 
bishop. For many years they were h*»ld at his house, 
and truly rich were these seasons to all who inhabited 
it I Dr. Hamilton was a man ef fine mind; deep erudi- 
tion, unbounded benevolence, and Christian sweetness 
that endeared him to every one. His income was 
considerable ; and while exercising the rites of a truly 
Irish hospitality on a noble scale, he expended a large 
proportion of that income in works of charity equally 
judicious, liberal, and impartial. He had under his 
roof thirteen poor girls, who were educated, maintained, 
taught, in all the requisites of good household ser- 
vants, and finally placed out in the families of his 
friends. Mrs. Hamilton seemed to have her heart in 
this school, over which a very competent mistress pre- 
sided, and a more beautifully ordered little nursery of 
valuable domestics I never saw. Besides this, large 
benefactions were distributed, in clothing, fuel, and 
other necessaries, among the poor of the parish, with- 
out any regard to religious distinction; and as the 
Romanists amounted to about twelve hundred, while 
the Protestants could not muster one, and the former 
were infinitely more necessitous then the latter, of 
course nearly all went to them. I dwell upon these 
things and upon the exceeding kind-heartedness of the 
good clergyman and his affectionate partner towards 
their poor neighbours, because it throws additional 
light on the real origin of those acts which the English 
people were made to believe resulted from oppression 
on the part of the Protestant clergy. 

When first 1 went to K\voc^8L\.o^«tV^'v^^'«Qas^^^ 
1821, no oDen act of vvo\eiic«^ W^^^^^^^^'^^^^^'* 



140 BOCKITES. 

publicly threatened, in its immediate vicinity ^ but al* 
ready the name of Captain Rock was becoming formi 
dable. The place borders on Tipperary, from whence 
came nocturnal parties^couring the country and alarm- 
ing the inhabitants on a small scale, while the prelude 
to much darker scenes was to be traced in the wide 
circulation of what were called the prophecies of Paa- 
torini. A Dr. Walmsley, a popish priest, had written 
a commentary on the book of Revelation, under that 
name', wherein he explained the ascent of the locusts 
out of the bottomless pit to prefigure the rise of Pro- 
testantism with Luther at its head ; — calculating tho 
date of their continuance from 1525, and fixing its ter- 
mination in 1825. Extracts from this impudently 
mischievous work were disseminated in every possible 
form among the Romanists ; they were translated into 
Irish, sent in large numbers to every district to be 
circulated by careful agents : published in handbiUs, 
exhibited in placards, and sung in doggrel rhyme 
through the streets. There was no article of theii 
faith more devoutly believed by the besotted people 
than that in 1825 the Protestants of Ireland and ol 
every other country were, by divine appointment to be 
put to death, except such as should recant ; and whil« 
the lower orders prepared with terrible alacrity to ex 
ecute the will of God by a general nrassacre of their 
unoffending neighbours, those of higher rank and gen- 
tler spirits applied themselves to the work of converting 
their Protestant friends. 

Tokens of the rising storm were visible to those 
wbo watched for tliem', \\ie ^^.-aaxvVt^j \^^tl to ex- 
eliange th^ir courtBOWS, lesjfccl^vjX ^^m^tt3Msv» \.^^^s^ 



THKEAT8. W 

the Protestant gentry for a bearing that bespoke eithei 
defiianQbe or lurking malignity. Threatening notices 
poured in upon the landlords who presumed to dispose 
of their property as they chose, and upon the clergy 
who, in default of payment were obliged to serve pro- 
cesses for the tithe. Proctors were waylaid, process 
servers cruelly murdered: and the organization or 
hostile bodies became daily more apparent. As yet, 
however, we dwelt in comparative security ; Dr. Ha- 
milton often rode out with me to the very verge of the 
dreadful Tipperary ; and his lady drove my mother in 
her little phaeton to the boundaries of Waterford. 
No unusual precautions were taken in the way of bolts 
and bars ; and when the good Doctor calmly put into 
his pocket some of the many letters delivered at the 
breakfast table, after a slight glance at their contents, 
none of us suspected that they were Rockite notices, 
fiercely threatening his life, and signed in blood. He 
applied privately, for a body of police, who were sta- 
tioned at an old mansion, midway between Yicarsfield 
and the Tipperary pass, called Castle Morris-; and 
when committing his household to the Lord's keeping, 
at our evening worship, the deep earnestness of his 
manner, and resigned look, a slight tremor of his frame 
awoke no suspicions in us. We saw him •* sorrowful, 
yet always rejoicing;" and attributed to the pressuret)f 
bodily indisposition under which he generally labour- 
ed, what was indeed referable to the solicitude of a 
mind that preferred to bear its burden alone rather 
than hasten the time of our p^infvil ^5|M\x^^>asjKv '\sw 
the terrors that flesh must needis ^^^ 
At the end of our Drolongft^ v\«iX.,^^ ^«^\^^^ 



142 A NEW AESIDENCE. 

t 

take up our abode in the town of IGIkenny, so ricLlj 
blessed with gospel privileges, and so far removed 
from the annoyances to which I was exposed while 
trying to ful^ the landlord's part over a property in- 
extricably involved, and now also placed in the hands 
of trustees. I had sought the maintenance of that 
character for the sake of the poor tenants, whose af- 
fection for me was very great, and among whom I had 
of late been frequently allowed to read the Scripturea 
The necessity, however, of providing for myself, and the 
hopeless perplexities of my nominal office, between head- 
landlords, under-tenants, trustees, a receiver, and all the 
endless machinery of an embarrassed little Irish estate, 
compelled me to seek a more quiet sphere, and in Ki^ 
kenny I found all that could combine to encourage me 
in the pursuit of honest independence, in the way of 
usefulness. I finished '• Osric," which formed a good- 
sized volume, and commenced the pleasant task of 
writing penny and twopenny books for the Dublin 
Tract Society, who paid me liberally, and cheered me 
on my path with all the warmth of Christian affection 
It was indeed a delightful task, and God had raised itp 
to me also a friend to whose truly paternal kindness 
I owe more than ever can be told, Mr. Greorge Sand- 
ford, now Lord Mountsandford, who, from our first ac 
quafaitance, entered with a father's interest into all that 
concerned me. Thus encouraged, I held on my waj) 
and tasted the sweets that I hope to enjoy to the end 
of my days — those of the original curse brightened by 
the irreversible blessing. " In the sweat of thy face 
Bhalt thou eat bread" — ^^^^ ^^ «>\.^^^^'&V«^^'Risyq^V 
ulwaya abounding in tiie ^o^ qJl V^ti^ \/«^, l^x^^svaa.^ 



JNOTHER SNARE. 143 

kfl ye know that youi laboui shall not be in vain in 
the Lord." 

I have already told you of my escape from the 
snare of Socinianism. I have noticed the grounds on 
which I declined to separate from the Established 
Church ; and now I am to narrate a trial of faith and 
doctrine, which by the mercy of God produced effects 
{fist the reverse of what was intended. This was no 
less than a vigorous attempt to convert me to Popery ! 
[ had not bestowed any great attention on the details 
af that abominable device, but was most fully persuaded 
of its being a system of idolatrous delusion, the work- 
ing of which was strikingly manifested in the wreteh- 
ednesA, the immorality, the turbulence and degrading 
superstitions of the poor creatures around me. It 
BAver had been my practice to tamper or to compro. 
mise with what I knew to be wrong; therefore I had 
not suffered curiosity to lead me within the waUs 
of a mass-house, nor in any way to put on the sem- 
blance of an agreement which cannot really exist be- 
tween the temple of God and idols. I believed Po- 
pery to be the Babylon of Apocalypse, and I longed 
for resolution to proclaim to the deluded victims, 
**Come out of her my people." This I had never 
done, but on the contrary fell cheerfully in with the 
then cautious policy of my friends, and so framed my 
little books and tracts as to leave it doubtful whether 
they were written by a Protestant or not. Paul to 
the Jews became as a Jew that he might gain the 
Jews : I, by a false process of reason, thought it allow- 
able to become as an idoiatoT \o iV^ S^^^\s«% '^ea^ V 
might gain the idolators, kti wWl ^Twass*»s* 



144 COIKFROMISE. 

•in! The Jew possesses the fair hlossom of gospej 
truth, which by kindly fostering is to be expanded and 
ripened into the rich fruit: the Papist holds in his 
hand an apple of Sodom, beneath the painted rind of 
which is a mass of ashes and corruption. He must' be 
induced to fling it away, and to pluck from the tree of 
life a wholly different thing. 

My Protestant principles, such as they were, with- 
held me from visiting the convent which formed a 
principal attraction to the military and other 'strangers 
in Kilkenny. Many sought to draw me thither, ad- 
ducing the examples of Christian ministers and other 
spiritual people, who did not scruple to go ; but in 
vain. At length a lady came to me with an earnest 
request from the ' most interesting nun in the estab- 
lishment' to give her some information on the best 
mode of conveying instruction to a poor little girl in 
their school, deaf and dumb. Here was a call of duty 
I knew it could not be effectually done unless in per- 
son ; and to the surprise of my friend I volunteered to 
accompany her to the convent. 

The niin was indeed a most engaging young lady: in 
personal appearance, in manner, in feeling, realizing 
the visions of my girlish romance when reading idld 
stories in novels on such topics. . She had, moreover, 
all the animated warmth of a genuine Irishwoman, 
and her fine countenance beaming with benevolent 
joy at our successful beginning, and with affectionate 
gratitude for my services, quite won my heart I 
promised to repeat the visit shortly, and on doing so 
Mccompamei her to wa\k ToundLVNi^ ^^bx^on^^VX^t^^tkif 
extremity of whicli stood a WMvii^ Vt^vJtL \ Vi^\ 



AN AFOSTATE 145 

tKeir school, and unhesitatingly mounted the stairs 
with my sweet conductor. Judge what was my dis- 
may when, oh passing the folding doors, I found my- 
self in a splendid Popish chapel, opposite the altar, 
over which shone a richly gilt cross, while my poor 
nun was prostrated in the lowliest adoration, touch- 
ing the ground with her forehead hefore the senseless 
[doll 

I was confounded, and unable to say anything; but 
af^er a hasty glance at the fine trappings, left the place, 
secretly praying for grace and strength to protest 
openly against the abomination from which my soul 
revolted with unspeakable horror from the moment of 
my witnessing the act of idolatrous homage rendered 
to a thing of wood and stone. On leaving the convent, 
1 met a person who informed me that my poor nun 
was a Protestant lady of high respectability, sprung 
from one of those iniquitous mixed marriages, her mo- 
ther belonging to the Established Church, her father 
a Romanist, who, however, honestly adhered to the 
terms of the wicked covenant by which the sons were 
to be educated in his, the latter in her persuasion. A 
family of daughters were born to them, who with their 
mother continued nominally Protestant ; but after his 
death, when the hoftse was filled with Romish priests, 
performing for a week together their mummeries over 
the corpse, these poor females had become a prey to 
the subtle perversions of tne ecclesiastics, and had 
openly apostatized — all save my new friend, who with 
a hotter informed mind and more scriptural knowledge 
withstood their 8ophifitn«&^>ui\2^icvaAr)\&^^ 
ferforjned by means of e^iuSiX:^ x^^^^^^ ^ ^^-*^ 



146 Smy OF 00NTR0VER8T. 

trived nocturnal visitation from the ghost of her iathei 
whom she f<»Mlly loved, had so unnerved and fright- 
ened her that she too fell a prey to the delusion, lliej 
ended by admitting her into the sisterhood of this con- 
vent, excusing the payment (^ the large sum usnally 
demanded ; and as her darkness was now great in pro- 
portion to the measure of light against which she had 
sinned, they found her a valuable decoy bird te draw 
others into the snare. I did not learn all these par- 
ticulars at the time, nor until after her decease, when 
I met with a near family connexion of hers who told 
them to me ; I simply gleaned the fact of her apostacy. 
with that of her unbounding zeal in the antichristian 
eause. 

With all my heart I loved the gentle, affectionate, 
elegant nun, and earnestly did I pray for help in bring- 
ing her back, as I was resolved to do, from the path of 
destruction ; and while I deliberated on the best means 
of commencing the work, the difficulty was removed 
by her openly attempting to convert me. To this end 
she urged on me a strict inquiry into the real doctrines 
and tenets of her church, for myself and by myself, 
promising to lend me books of the most candid charac- 
ter, if I would engage to read them. I agreed, stipu- 
lating that I was freely to write 6ut my remarks on 
them for her consideration :; and with this mutual un 
derstanding, I brought home from the convent the 
precious loan of Dr. Milner's " End of Controversy,'' 
furnished for my especial benefit by a seminary of 
Jesuit priests, located near the town . and thus was I 

'become the object d? a cx)ln\>Vn!^«X\»kC^L^T:^ylSL^}^^ 

jf Great Babylon. 



THE SNJkRE BROKEN. 147 

Tiue to what I considered a tacit engagement to 
study the matter alone, I read the book. Never shall 
I forget the effect it produced on me. I seemed to be 
holding communion with Satan himself, robed as an 
angel of light, the transparent drapery revealing his 
hideous form, but baffling my endeavours to rend it 
away. Such sophistry, such impudence of unsup- 
ported assertion, such distortion of truth, and gilding 
of gross falsehood, I never met with. I tried in vain 
to find an answer to things that I saw and felt to be 
anti -scriptural and destructive: but this ^'End'' was 
the beginning of my controversy, for I was wholly 
new to it, and ignorant of the historical and other 
facts necessary to disprove the reverend author's bold 
assumptions. At last I burst into tears, and kneeling 
down, exclaimed, ^' O Lord I cannot unravel this web 
of iniquity : enable me to cut it in twain (" I was an- 
>6wered : for after a little more thought, a broad view 
of the whole scheme of man's salvation as revealed in 
the Holy Scriptures appeared to me the best antidote 
for this insidious poison. I read through the New 
Testament with increased enjoyment, and casting from 
me the wretched fabric of lies, with all its flimsy pre- 
tences, I resolved, instead of attempting to reply to 
what I saw to be falsehood, to set forth a plain state- 
ment of what I knew to be truth. Indeed it is inde* 
scribable how disgusting the painted face, the gaudy 
trappings, and the arrogant assumptions of the Great 
Harlot appeared in my eyes, when thus contrasted with 
the sublime simplicity, purity^ «.i!ui \sv<^«^V.^ ^ '<^&s^ 
ehaste Spouse of Christ. 

I wrote • and in lepVy got wioW^t a»L^ ^ «sBa^*e 



148 0NK-sn>ED HONEsnr. 

book, containing the pretended reasons of a Protestant 
for embracing Popery. They were, of course, artfully 
put, and made a formidable exhibition of the peril of 
heresy. I thought I could not do better in retam 
while writing my dissent, to enclose some small books 
of my own to the nun, inviting her comments theieon. 
This brought a letter which was probably written by 
stealth, though so cautiously worded as to be safe if 
intercepted. She said she did not wish to leave me 
under a wrong impression, and therefore told me that 
she was not permitted to read any of my letters, or the 
little books I had sent ; as those who watched over her 
spiritual interests, and whcHn she was bound to obey, 
thought it wrong to unsettle her mind by reading any* 
thing contrary to the true faith which she held. Here 
was a pretty exposure of one-sided honesty ! I thankecl 
God for the further insight given me into the Mystery 
of Iniquity, and from that day devoted all my powers 
to the investigation of that against which i had become 
a staunch Protester. 

In the midst of our proceedings, a nun had takeo 
the veil at the convent. Every body, almost, to theii 
shame be it spoken, was trying for tickets to the un- 
hallowed show. My poor friend sent us two, informed 
me that two of the best front seats would be reserved 
for us, and accompanied he-r kind note with a pro- 
gramme of the ceremony, and a translation, or trans- 
cription, of the service, all in her own hand writing. 
I felt deeply the pain of hurting her, and perhaps foi 
a moment the workings of «l xvo^tMi^l cwTiosity.^ but the 
hesitation was short. 1 seut \i^cNs. \iQ\V X^wJ^-a «c^ 
ick^s, with a gratef ulWt dfctvSle^ te^>x^A \.c>\ife ^^vi^^ 



4NOTHE& ATTACK 149 

in flXL Kilkenny I did not find a person who could go 
along with me in my objections^ hut it is a matter of 
great joy to me to this hour, that I kept myself wholly 
unpolluted by any participation in these idolatrous 
doings ; and I do believe that a double blessing has 
attended my efforts against Popery in consequence 
of it. 

Before I take you on a second and very different 
visit to Yicarsfield, I will anticipate a little, and tell 
you of a subsequent attack made on my faith from a 
quarter far unlike the former. The affair of the little 
deaf mute at the convent led me to turn my attention 
to some poor children similarly circumstanced in the 
streets of Kilkenny ; and while prosecuting that work 
the Lord brought to me that dear dumb boy whom 
you well remember as the brightest, most lovely of 
Christian characters. He was then very little, and had 
a brother of sixteen, one of the most genuine Paddies 
I evef* beheld. This lad was living very idly : a fine, 
sensible, shrewd fellow, who could read and write, and 
very soon made a great proficiency in the finger lan- 
guage by helping me to instruct Jack. No one above 
Pat's own rank had ever taken an interest in him ; I 
did, a strong one, and as he was much with me^ and 
of a character most intensely Irish, he became attached 
to me with a warmth of devotion rarely met with 
among any other people. 

One day Pat made his appearance with an impox^ 
tant look, his brogues stamping the carpet ¥nth un- 
wonted energy, his fine bare tVktoeX. %\MS»i«^\a^ft^«s*. 
of digDiBed hauteur, emd \iU ^er^ >w«^ VwA ^^'i 
i^mAHng under the bushy \uTOLtV»SitA oil ^«ws»^^ 



150 AK AKGnfkm. 

tibat clasterecl abovt bis face and fell on Ilia neck. Tito 
very beau ideal of a wild Iiiib youtb was my friend 

Pat. Seating bimself as usual, be began and 

beze I must observe that my cbief knowledge of tlis 
pbraseology and turn of tbougbt so peculiar to the 
Irisb peasant was derived from this source^ When^ 
ever Pat came ' to discourse me ' I got ricb lessons in 
tbe very brogue itself from the fidelity with which his 
spelling followed the pronunciation of bis words.— 
*■ I wouM'nt like/ said be, ^ that yoa would go to 
bell' 

'Nor I either, Pat* 

* But you are out of tbe tbrue cburcb, and you 
won't be saved, and I must convert ye.' 

*■ That is very kind of you, my good lad : if I «a 
wrong you eannot do better than set me right' 
' Sure and I will' 

* But bow r 

' With this,' said be, puHing ottt a small pamphlet 
nothing the cfeaner for wear. ' You must learn my 
eatecbism, and it's 3rou that will be tbe good Catbobc 

Delighted witb tbe bo3r's honest zeal, I asked him 
wbere I should begin ; and be no less pleased at my 
docility, desired me to read it all. and then get it aD 
by heart. I promised to do the first at any rate ; and 
oh what a 'tissue of falsehood and blasphemy that 
" Butler's Catechism " was I Next morning my 
teacher came early; 'Well Pat. I have found out 
what makes you anxious about me: here it ia said 
that none can be saved oul oS >lV^ \.tvx«i CjW\i«b.' 
' Tbafs it, sure ©wm^Yi? 
' But I do belong-to tYk% VfVk% C\«at\u wA.\^ te 



DISCUSSION. 151 

yon what it is ' — so I pointed out to him two jwssages, 
and added, ' Now I do love our Lord Jesus Christ in 
sincerity, and therefore I am one of those to whom St. 
Pan] wishes grace and peace ; and do yon think an 
apostle would send his Messing to any body who was 
not of the true Church V 

^ Pat shook his head : * That's your catechism, not 
mine.' 

' Very true : Dr. Butler wrote yours, and God wrote 
mine,' holding up the Bible ; ' which is best ? ' 

< That is not the real Bible/ persisted Pat, ' my priest 
has the true Bible.' 

* Then ask him to lend you his.' 

* I wouldn't get my ears pulled, would I ? ' said he 
smiling : ' but if he lent me his Bible he must lend 
me a cart to bring it home in, for its as big as this table. 
Yours is too little, and doesn't hold half the truth. 
That is why you are. so i^orant.' 

I soon proved, by shewing him Matthew Henry's 
Commentary, that the word of God would lie in a very 
small compass, the great bulk of the book being man's 
work. I also urg^d on him the absolute necessity of 
reading what God had given for our learning, and the 
danger of resting on man's assertion. Pat stood his 
ground most manfully, astonishing me by the adroit- 
ness with which he parried my attacks, while pursu- 
ing as he hoped, the good work of my conversion. 
For many a day was the controversy carried on; 
Butler vertus the Bible, without any other effect than 
that of brining Pat to lead Oift ^aetfc^'WS*. Vs^V>sar 
mif; hat it opened to me tV© «w^\s\ V^«a ^^ ^%:««m« 
bjr which the poor and igiiOTWit w^ \X\tA^^^^^'^ 



152 VISIT TO VICAB.8FIELD. 

the more educated class such polished sophistry as Mil- 
aer's is carefully prepared. I reaped the fruit, how 
ever, six years afterwards, when in a little EngM 
church Pat kneeled beside me and his brother, a thank- 
ful communicant, at the Lord's table. 

Our next visit to Vicarsfield di8pla3red a melancholy 
change indeed in that sweet spot There were iron, 
bars, and chains, and double bolts superadded to the 
hospital hall-door ; the large window in the dining-room, 
from which we were wont to step out upon a rising 
lawn, was blocked up by an immense piece of wood, 
half a foot in thickness, fixed on the inside, to support 
which a solid beam pressing against it, was built into 
the floor of the room with mortar, resting just behind 
the chair where the lady of the house did the honoun 
of the table ; the servants being obliged to stride over 
it when waiting on her. Every panel of every shutter, 
above and below, had an alarm-bell attached, besides 
the strongest fastenings that could be contrived. All 
the plate, save that required for daily use, was taken 
to Lord Carrick's, who had made his noble mansion, 
Mount Juliet, a strong-hold, where were deposited the 
arms and valuables of his worst fortified neighbours. 
At sunset, every door was barricaded, every window 
closed, and no Romanist allowed, on any pretext, to 
enter the house. . The only person of that persuasion 
attached to the establishment was the gardener, of 
whose personal fidelity they had no doubt; but his 
wife was a devotee, and they well knew that every tie 
of affection and gratitude mw^t ^W^ -^wj VmC^t^ the 
stern despotism of the merdt^A^a cT«e^. ^onu^ ^s^^^&^ 



REBELLIOUS MOVEMENTS. 153 

aurden liad latelj been perpetrated very near; a 
laxrack was barned, and several police-men butchered 
in a surprise. Dr. Hamilton had been openly and 
Kercely threatened: his Proctor was way-laid, and 
[larrowly escaped assassination: and to realize more 
fiwfully what had otherwise been but matter of report, 
I was shown from the window of the drawing-room at 
noonday, a body of Rockites to the number of forty, 
^rell-mounted, formidably armed, with cross-belts and 
cartouche-boxes, leisurely walking their horses within 
leas than a quarter of a mile from the house for the 
purpose of intimidation. It was close by the bohreen^ or 
narrow lane where, a few years afterwards, the dreadful 
massacre of Carrickshock took place, which finally 
drove my persecuted friends from their home and 
country. 

These were the days of Captain Rock's terrible 
rule, of which a record is left in the heart's-blood of 
many an Irishman. A vile book from the pen of Mr. 
Moore, under that title, helped forward the work 
among a rank who were well known to take the lead 
in this rebellious movement ; for although the execu- 
tioners of decrees pronounced by the invisible tribunal 
were found to be of a class peculiarly ignorant and 
lawless, it was not by such hands the main body was 
organized and its ramifications directed, nor by such 
hands that the various missives were penned. The 
work undertaken was to level that great constitutional 
breakwater which breasted the tumultuous waves as 
they raged without, affording ql «iELOQ^!ti Wn^^^. ^\ ^fc- 
euTity within its boundaxiea^ au^ \\i^ vt^^«v««jX. ^^s?^ 
fnui any thing but compUmeulary \o VNi^ <?oTKSS\Rre^ «« 



54 THOMAS MOORE. 

of those whom it addressed; being, in face, that tht 
external violence was wholly occasioned by the afoze- 
said breakwater, not by the natural constitution of the 
conflicting elements engaged in it ; — level the barrier, 
the waves will subside, and flow evenly to the quiet 
shore. Wherefore, then, was the rampart-stone placed 
there 7 What induced the men of a preceding gene- 
ration to present such a front to the stormy ocean ? 
Winds and waves, it was again replied, were diflerent 
in former days from what they now are : the idle pre- 
judice is exploded, that invested nature's laws with 
unchangeableness, and billows are not now what they 
were three centuries ago. To urge home this power 
ful logic alike to the hopes and fears of man, i( it 
failed to reach their understandings, was the object 
held in view by the entire confederacy of Rome, who 
had at heart the supremacy in Ireland of that system 
whereof Doyle was the Priest, O'Connel the Politician, 
and Moore the Poet and Historian. To the work of 
the two former, due praise on the one hand, due ex- 
ecration on the other, was accorded : to the latter not 
The nobleman who boasted that he sang the last of 
the Stuarts out of three kingdoms with his " Lillibu- 
lero'' song was forgotten : the demagogues who said to 
a fallen constitutional opponent, ' Do you direct the 
literature of a nation, and let me write their ballads,' 
was forgotten too : while the rhymer of the Propa- 
ganda guided the serpent of rebellion to its mark un- 
der the flowery covert of his loose poetry, gaining to 
bhnselfa name as the lauie^te of volui^tuousness, that 
should the better mask Via oVi^aeX. ^V^\\\wwiOD\.\vs^W^ 
in sober prose on tke wild sea ol ^o\v\Aft^. \^^^^\is&. 



UIV£QT7AL RETRIBUTION. 



155 



pemiciouB book amid the terrors, the desolations, 
and afflictions that it was purposely framed to help 
forward ; and when closing the insidious page, I look- 
ed forward to the proceedings of a higher and a juster 
tribunal than that which awards so unequal a retribu- 
tion to him wha singly murders with a pike, and him 
who by wholesale murders with a pen : that dooms the 
poor, ignorant, untaught, deluded peasant to infamy, 
and a halter, while it recompenses the intellectual re- 
fined deluding Poet with fame and a pensiou. 



LETTER VIIL 



THS WORKIMOS OF FOFERY. 



Altro0qu^ perhaps, too late to be instructiFe 
generation, it is painfully interesting to look bae! 
the subtlety and skill that wove a snare for oui 
diency-loving rulers. Man may meet man in k 
strength, moral or physical; but when Satan I 
on his infernal weapons wherewith to assail the 
dual or national allegience of those who can pro 
serve God, nothing but the shield of faith can 
him. That shield had been upheld during the 
our believing king : but now he was gone, ai 
justly did the enemy calculate on the advantaj 
forded to him by a relaxed and powerless grasp, 
the symbolical Britannia of our coinage, we rested 
the shield, more as a matter of display than o 
and so left the bosom bare to every shaft. 

Our enemies know well, though we do not > 
admit it, that the insuperable barrier to the d 
tion of Popery in these realms is the Estal 
Church, so long as its ministers hold the pure, hij 
trines of uncompromising Protestantism, set ft 
bU her creeds and formularies. As yet, it b 
occurred to the mviai\Ae\ifttaL^ ol \)aft w\JC\Otma{a 
federacy to make good aXoSL^^itV. V\>l\s:m\>aw 



THE misn CHURCH. 157 

68 ; 01 rather I ought to say he had not permission 
o to do until the Church, represented in the legislature 
»j her chief pastors, and out of it by a number of her 
ifficiating ministers, had acquiesced in the abominable 
ct of national apostacy. The Church of Ireland was 
ur less guilty in this matter than that of England : 
mong her really spiritual clergy I do not think she 
.umbered three Emancipators : and let it ever be re« 
lembered how the beloved archbishop — the last of 
Tuam' 8 archbishops — even to the fatal day of that 
arrender, lifted a solemn protesting voice among the 
^eTers. At the time of which I now write, the increas- 
ng spirituality of the Irish clergy, bearii^ its natural 
rait in increased love for the souls of men and zeal for 
Christ's cause, presented an alarming obstacle in the 
w9Ly of those who might fearlessly have advanced 
hrough a host of " dumb dogs," sleeping at their posts, 
IS the predecessors of this generation too commonly 
lid. Hitherto they had found only the name and form 
>f a Protestant Church to oppose them ; now the living 
reality started up in the path, and they must remove 
it ere success could be hoped for. Hence the anti-tithe 
irar, the first alarm of which was openly sounded in 
the parish, and the first sanguinary onset menaced 
against the house, wherein I was a guest What a 
eontemptuous, yet alas ! what a just estimate must 
the earthly leaders of this evil work have formed of the 
Uind infatuation possessing the rulers of our political 
destinies 1 Regarding them as ready-made fools, they 
proceeded accordingly to take «Av«xl\.^!^ ^^ ^«v!tVS^\ 
and for this we can only aecouiitAo'^ T%m«!^QK«»%'^w^ 
'i» whole movement was dixecXftdiAa^ ot«i Vt^i^i"^^^^ 

V4 



158 SATANIC DEVICES. I 

I 

flix thousand years' experience in such matters, and 
who knows when the kings of earth, from Adam down- 
wards, cast off the bond of obedience to the King of 
kings, ruin to themselves and to all that appertains to 
them will surely follow. He saw that hallowed bond 
loosening, until a touch might sever it : then he, who 
believes and trembles, took a devilish advantage of those 
who believed not and were fearless. 

Against the established Church a violei^t outcry 
was raised, a furious onslaught conducted, by those 
who avowedly aimed at revolutionizing every thing: 
therefore and thereby they whose object it was to avert 
such revolution were to be convinced that the outpost 
so fiercely attacked was a hindrance, not inthe way of 
the assailants, but of the defenders of the citadel! 
Would any human intellect have grasped at such an 
enterprise unaided by Satan himself in the plentitude 
of his infernal sagacity ? I think not. Yet it did 
succeed, so far as man was concerned. The means of 
defence extended to the clergy were wholly inadequate 
from the beginning of the fray ; and as it advanced, those 
means were by all possible contrivances curtailed and 
withdrawn. Knocktopher was the known point of 
attack, and how was it guarded ? A handful of police- 
men occupied a retired post nearly two miles distant ; 
and when the hostile demonstrations became incessant, 
and much blood had been shed, a small detachment of 
military waa stationed somewhat nearer. Kilkenny 
contained 24,000 most devoted Romanists with about 
800 Protestants, many of tVi^m so only in name ; the 
spirit manifested there w«LamoEX.ta^^3^«^V ^"^^ TSissc^ 
daring outrages were Tpet^\.i«»X^^^N ^^^ ^'^ ^Ttvss» 



OQLONEL LIND8AT. 169 

thia important town, and to protect the whole country 
round, from hosts of armed and disciplined rebels, that 
invaluable officer Colonel Lindsay had only his gallant 
.Highland regiment, the 78th, on its peace establishment. 
Little note is now-a-days taken of such services as 
Colonel Lindsay rendered ; but the poor hunted Pro- 
testants of that country will not soon forget his wis- 
dom, vigilance, and zeal on their behalf He disposed 
his small force with admirable judgment, sd far as it 
could possibly be made to extend ; and often did he 
take his departure from head-quarters, carelessly saying 
he was going to pass a day or two at Desart, at Mount- 
Juliet, or other neighbouring seats where he was ever 
a welcome visitant ; when few besides those who met 
him on his rounds suspected that the gallant soldier 
passed his nights in the saddle, scouring the perilous 
country, and keeping watch over those who were mark- 
ed for destruction. I have no doubt on my mind ^hat 
Colonel Lindsay was personally, in a very high degree, 
bistrumental in checking the operation of those who, 
watchful for harm as he was for good, knew his pro- 
ceedings and shrank from his detecting eye. I well 
remember that when Sir Dennis Packe was brought 
for interment to the cathedral of his native Kilkenny, 
we all supposed the regiment had nearly his full com- 
plement of Highlanders in barrack ; and Colonel Lind- 
say confessed to me he was dreadfully at a loss, being 
unable to turn out above eighty men for an occasion 
demanding the fullest display he could afford. It re 
quired no small measure of military fi.ne««A t<^ tsvs4k& 
us feel tb&t we were protected.^ wi^ ^^ «ftKB»^^ "^^ 
he waa held in check* ov« ao cxXwoavi^ ^ ^wss 



160 DANOE&OUS SmiATION. 

virhile in reality the disposable force was vrholly inadft- 
quate to do either. 

But I must not yet leave Viearsfield ; we lived, as 1 
said, within a moving circle of enemies, "Who deli|^ted 
to parade their formidable force ; and our only earthly 
means of defence lay in the public knowledge of our 
being wholly unarmed, and without valuables in thft 
house. The latter, indeed, were rarely sought ; for it 
was a paft of the system to prove to us that our lives 
not our possessions, were the things thirsted after. Of 
this I will presently give a striking instance that oceiu- 
red in the house of another clerical friend. 

The family party consisted of Dr. Hamilton, whose 
health was greatly affected by what he nevertheless 
endured with most uncomplaining meekness ; Mra 
Hamilton, struggling against her own strong feelings^ 
and devoted to her husband and his guests ; the isurate, 
a most estimable young man ; an aged field officer of 
cavalry, whose military fire seemed to rekindle under 
the influence of the passing scene ; a young lady, resi- 
dent in the house with my mother and myself. A 
large establishment of domestics, male and female, and 
the thirteen girls of the school, with a superannuated 
serving man who had seen two generations pass away, 
and whose eccentricities chiefly hinged on the most 
ardent orangeism imaginable, completed the garrison. 
Only three of the men, besides " Old John,'* viz ; the 
coachman, butler, and footman, were quartered within • 
doors, during the night, as being perfectly trustworthy; 
And no weapons^ so fat bls "w^ kaew^ did our little fo^ 
tress contain, while it ec\iO^^ \.o \^n.e ^oX.^ ^^sa^ Vw iS^ 
directions by the maxaudiii^ B.of^\^A^,^^'!^^wA\.T«sss^ 



ALLUMS. 16i 

•f whose horses was likewise frequently audible through 
the stillness of night. One instance I will give of the 
alarms to which we were subject. 

We were all seated in the spacious drawing-room^ 
on the splendid organ of which Mrs. Hamilton had 
been performing some of the finest of Handel's sub- 
lime compositions, until summoned to preside at the 
tea-table. It was the middle of February, and what 
with the elevating music, the cheerful blaze of a good 
fire, and the conversation that always enlivened that 
pleasant hour, we were losing all recollection of our 
peculiar circumstances, when suddenly, the loud jingle 
of an alarm-bell sent a thrill to each heart not easily 
to be conceived by such as never dwelt in the midst of 
sanguinary foes. A momentary pause of dead silence 
marked the effect of that terrific note ; the silence was 
unbroken, but immediately after, the old Colonel, start- 
ing up seized a large cane as though it had been a 
sword, and with energetic determination stamped on 
his countenance marched to the door. The curate 
passed after him ; and Dr. Hamilton with one look of 
stifled anguish cast on us, then upturned to hea- 
ven, immediately followed. We sate like statues awe- 
struck and mute, nor do I think we should have at- 
tempted to move under anything that might have en- 
sued ; but to our infinite relief, one of the servants 
came up to express his regret that in bearing down 
the large tea-tray he had inadvertently jarred one of 
the bells on the staircase window-shutter. The inci- 
dent, however, taught us to realize what before we had 
only imagined of our feeVmgs wuAftx ^\i^^«x^^^^si^«-> 
and drew us nearer to Him ^\lo tiXoxkft V^ ^ «axJ^x*M^ 
1\* 



.02 A DIFFICtJLTT. 

in the day of calamity. We descended to the hi 
family worship, where at a central point, Dr. 
ilton was seated, with a little table before hfet 
family being ranged along one division of the 
secting passages, the rest of the household in the 
He read, expounded and prayed ; and very ton 
was the silent good night looked between the tw< 
sions of the establishment. The respectful obe 
of the faithful domestics, the kind recognition of 
to whom a fellowship in peril and in patience em 
them, spoke much to all our hearts. Slowly and 
ly the young girls filed off, conscious that the < 
of their friends were even then lying at the mei 
those who were sworn to show no mercy ; and« the 
of that little flock, all devoted to destruction, i 
my heart as it never was moved under any oth 
cumstances. Gladly would I undergo a repe 
yea an aggravation of all that then oppressed us, 
joy once more the hallowed feelings of that time, 
with no help but what was unseen, no hope but 
Grod of the martyrs, we trod on the very verge o 
nity in the pathway trodden by them. 

Martyrdom indeed it was likely to be ; for a 
time accounts reached us of several in our part < 
land having escaped death by their expertness i: 
sing themselves, as it is called. This consii 
making the sign of the cross with such rapidit 
precision in the established method, as practice 
can enable a person to use. This test was somi 
applied to distinguish any Romanist who might 
danger of 'suffering amon^ "Pio^.^^iwiV^^ ^xv^ t^^^ 
had accepted it from aome o? \>aft\«Ax^x ^"& ^\ 



EECANTATION. 163 

/ecantatioiL At breakfast, the next morning af'tei our 
alarm, one of the party suggested sending for the gar- 
dener's wife to teach us the exact form of blessing our- 
selves after the Popish fashion, but I protested against 
it, as preparing a temptation that might overcome our 
constancy if called on to suffer for the truth. At first ' 
I was quite unsupported in the view ; the rest saw no- 
thing of recantation in making a sign to save our lives, 
which none of us scruple to make as a matter of indif- 
ference. I could not yield the point ; and the discussion 
that followed was on a question of life and death, im- 
pending directly over us. Scripture was mutually ap- 
pealed to : Dr. Hamilton referred me to 1 Cor. viii. 
and I told him that I was ready to let my argument 
stand or fall by that very chapter, as it proved the sin 
did not consist in the act itself, but in the effect pro- 
duced on weak brethren or unbelievers ; that my 
making this sign at the demand of ignorant men, who 
would regard it as a real surrender of my faith, was as 
virtual an apostacy as if I signed a deed of recantation 
in the presence of the conclave. He seemed much 
startled, said he would take that subject into his study 
with him ; and at the end of two hours I received a 
little note, written in a trembling hand, telling me that 
since I had led him to an investigation which had ter- 
minated in a full persuasion of mine being the right 
view of scripture on this point, he hoped I would pray 
to the Lord to strengthen him and all of us that we 
might be found faithful unto death, resisting even the 
semblance of compromise. Re ^ddft^ ^<^ V^V^^ 
ttudied the matter on Kia\uie«a^ %.iA ^^% xJ^^Ktw^Rx^Sas^'^ 
OD hia knees too. 1 was de©^\7 yffii^\ft^ ^^ ^^^ 



J[64 ANOTHER ALAEK. 

this : It was an awful thought that I stiod lespiniibk, 
in a measure, for the life blood of my brethren ; but 
the more I reflected the clearer was my view of the 
subject, and to this day it remains unchanged. 

The next night one of the ladies was awakened by a 
^ loud and startling noise in the stables, which adjoined 
the house. An alarm, was given to the servants, and 
one gallant young fellow, a footman, the Christian son 
of a truly Christianized convert from Popery, throw- 
ing on his great coat and taking a lantern, darted out 
of the house alone, closing the door after him, whick 
he could not have re-entered if attacked. The proba^ 
bility was that the horses were being abstracted for thi 
service of Captain Rock, if nothing worse was going 
on ; but it proved to be no more than the vicious gamr 
bols of a mule that had slipped the halter, and was ifr 
vading the stalls of its quieter companions. You may 
suppose all this was trying enough, when accompanied 
by the echo of those shots that the midnight legislator! 
systematically flred from all quarters to intimate their 
numbers and activity ; yet if I were to declare at what pe- 
riod of my life I felt most calmly and happily resting on 
the arm of the Lord, I must say it was when laying 
my head on the nightly pillow that I expected would 
be steeped ere morning in my heart's blood. I couU 
at any hour have returned to the comparative securit| 
of the populous town where I had a comfortable home, 
but the wish to avoid sharing the perils of those who 
had freely shared with me the sweets of their more 
prosperous hours, did not arise in my mind. One 
thing perplexed me gieal\^ *. Vn. tjto^xXaotjl «& ^t^T* 
tive Irish became moia Uiii\Aft^«a ^^xw^vaax^ \sv^ 



INSIGHT INTO FOPERY. * 165 

thirsting for our lives, so did my love for them increase 
My Irisli predilections had hitherto been merely 
confined to the higher classes; now they embraced 
every grade in society, and above all the miserable \ 
victims of Popish delusion excited my tenderest 
concern. 

This was partly owing, no doubt, to a deeper in- 
sight into the infernal net that inclosed their ends. 
The more I learned of Popery, the greater was my 
abhorrence of that gigantic Lie, and the yearnings of 
compassion over its unhappy slaves. Another cause 
may be found in my nearer acquaintance with the 
character of the people over whom I grieved. 1 lodged 
in the house of a rigid Romanist, who, with her family, 
partook in all the superstitions and prejudices of that 
system; yet sure I am that my own nearest connections 
and oldest friends did not love me better, nor would 
have gone further to prove it, than that humble fam- 
ily. I very well knew that they must do the bidding 
of their spiritual despots, be it what it might, so far as 
God permitted ; but their warmth* of affection, their 
solicitude for our comfort, and feeling participation of 
all that touched us, whether of joy or sorrow, won my 
heart ; and what they were I plainly saw to be tho 
general character of their country people. 

Thus viewing the Irish as they really are, the most 
loving and loveable race under the sun, the most 
strongly inclined to devotedness, sincerity, and zeal in 
whatever they believe to be truth, and shining most 
brightly as lights of the world, nvVv^t^ ^V"^ >3aK^\!«?v^ 
embraced is indeed the tiuXYv \ Vo^ ^W3^^ ^sc^ «sg^ 
M to he stirred within mc mosX. ^vtxjA^'Cw^ ^^ '^^ 



/M| \ THE IRISH. 

behalf, whea I saw from day to day, with m} 
the dreadful havoc of their bodies and souL 
the antichristian enemy who have ensna 
Taught from the cradle to regard as the i 
their present and eternal destiny, the men 
merchandize of them — assured that the p] 
forgive their sins, or bind them irrevocably 
souls ; could crown their dwelling with a I 
blast both it and them with a withering cu 
open to them the gates of heaven, or plunge 
the flames of hell; could transform by n 
little unintelligible muttering a cake, perhaj 
own making, into the God who made thei 
them, if he chose, into jackasses and i 
wooden stools ; could send them clean and h 
the world by daubing them with a spoonfu 
by witholding it dismiss them to their acco 
a load of mortal sin ; could release the soul 
wife, child, from a fiery purgatory by his i 
keep them there as long as he listed, (and 
not know that to the fond surviver of a b 
ject this is the most adamantine chain of 
finally, that to conceal from the aforesaid ' 
thought of the heart, to resist his will in ai 
lar, or to deny him the full measure of obed 
from man to Grod, is mortal sin ; — taught to 
this, from the earliest dawn of reason, the 
victim cannot deliver himself, nor say ''Is t 
lie in my right hand?" Then, on the pj 
omnipotent priesthood vf hat have we? notm* 

for the spread of the gosij^V e^xi^ ^^^ ^qc»^ <a? 

docka^ but an asBOciaied \>aiv^ a^ox\x \.^ " 



THEIR CHARACTER. 167 

object to tb exclusion of all others, and that one the 
aggrandizem'^nt of their order, the supremacy of their 
Church, the extermination of true Christians, and 
universal extension of the temporal no less than the 
ecclesiastical empire of Rome over the whoU earth. 
To the attainment of this end every means must be 
used : the mind of the disciple being wholly fettered, 
his hand must be directed to deeds of blood against 
others, or his heart be pierced to pour forth its own, 
just B9 the interests of the great Satanic synagogue 
may at that moment require. This- reads harshly ; 
but it is a poor, weak, imperfect outline of what I have 
teen and grieved over from day to day, from year to 
year. I have conversed with these people while they 
srere living in the most abject prostration of body, 
mind, and spirit, before the merciless idol of their mis- 
taken homage : I have seen the deluded soul passing 
into an unchangeable state of existence, under that 
awful malediction " Cursed be he that trusteth in man; 
that maketh flesh his arm, and departeth from the 
living God." I have communed with those who by 
divine grace were delivered from the snare, and receiv- 
ed their united testimony alike as to its power and its 
iniquity ; and I have watched their dying beds, and^ 
almost always found them spending their last breath 
in thanksgivings for that mighty deliverance out of 
the chains of double darkness. I have traced the pro- 
gress and effects of true religion in the minds of those 
emancipated children of God, and have marked how 
mighty for good is the natural^ national okvEAs^tKi 
which nnder this dreadfoV peT'V'amo1lV'w^\«R5Stt^ >si 
mighty (or evil : and to ciown e\\^ Wtw^ \s(Wi^Vs^^i^ 



168 LOVE FOR IRELAND. 

to recognise the sin of most cruel neglect and wrong 
on the part of my own country, in thus giving over 
the Irish race to the domination of present and eternal 
ruin. Principle and feeling alike plead the cause of 
poor Ireland : the plea reached my heart at the very 
time when, as I was told, I was specially marked for 
destruction among the anticipated victims of 1825, u 
being more than nominally a Protestant ; and the 
atrocities that have marked the rapid development of 
plans first brought into operation at the time I have 
been speaking of only added strength to my convic* 
tions ; heightening my estimate of those who serve 
with such steadiness of purpose the work which they, 
like Saul of Tarsus, ignorantly and in unbelief, con- 
sider most acceptable to God ; and who, if brought 
into the way of righteousness, would be found, lib 
Paul, labouring more abundantly in it than any of 
their brethren. 

I cannot describe to you how this growing love for 
Ireland and the Irish ministered to my happiness. It 
became one of its chief elements, and the. literary 
labour that I pursued for my own sustenance was per 
feet luxury, so long as my humble productions weib 
made available for the spiritual good of the people so 
dear to me. My little books and tracts became popa- 
lar ; because, after some struggle against a plan so 
nnmbling to literary pride, I was able to adopt the 
suggestion of a wise Christian brother, and form a 
style of such homely simplicity that if, on reading a 
manuscript to a child of five years old, I found there 
wa8 a single sentence oi vjoi^ ^o^^Vi^^^mYss^skKwaa^^ 
it iras instantly coiiecteA to s>a\\. xXv^V. Viv«\^ ^\3mi^«^. 



CmCLLIGIBILITT. 169 

riiis is an attainment much to be coveted by those 
who write^ preach or expound for general edification : 
no national objection can be urged against it : vanitj 
alone can enter a protest. Though our lettered read- 
ers or hearers may not find matter to gratify their taste 
[>r pamper the pride of intellect, still they cannot fail 
to understand what is suited to the capacities of their 
children 'and servants ; whereas he who makes himself 
perhaps both intelligible and agreeable to the former 
18 to the latter ' a barbarian, speaking in an unknown 
tongue ; and what account will he give unto his Mar 
ter of the souls that through his self-conceit or neglect- 
fulness of their peculiar deficiencies remain unfed? 
How often has my heart been pained under the elo- 
quent teaching of most . gifted ministers, because I 
knew that many around me were wholly unable to 
attach a definite meaning to what he said, through the 
intervention of (to them) hard words and obscure 
phraseology. Thanks be to God, the translators of 
our blessed Bible were not of this school. 

I had left Vicarsfield with feelings of increased aff*ec- 
tion for its inmates, and anxious solicitude as to their 
continued safety. In times of extreme pril, how much 
easier it appears to trust God with ourselves than with 
those whom we love ! Personally, I was more than 
resigned ; like a soldier entering a field of battle, I 
seemed nerved for the combat with a strength of pur 
pose peculiar to the occasion ; but looking on those 
who marched beside me, and scanning their dangers, 
fancying their sufferings, my courage woidd falter. 
This is Paul's meaning, wTien m T^?«twi^^ \a vw^^^ffaiRr 
tun" of peculiar trials Just atViwiAL^^ %w»& V»>^ 
\5 



C70 RESIONATIOll. 

courage the formation of ties which God has, undei 
ordinary circumstances, ordained and blessed. It is 
not every woman who, like the wives of some of our 
ble«sed martyrs, can sit down to make for the beloved 
partner of her heart and life the garment in which he 
is to endure a terrible martyrdom : and then with a 
train of helpless little ones at her heels, meekly present 
it at the gate of his prison. There must indeed be a 
full measure of grace conferred on both parties to en- 
able each in the calmness of resigned faith, to look on 
the sufferings of the other. Such grace may the Lord 
abundantly dispense to His people, now that a season 
of terrible trial is surely at hand ! 

Before closing this letter, I will relate an incident 
already alluded to, in proof of the assertion, that ex- 
cept on one single point, there was little to dread from 
the agents of that wily system which aimed at higher 
objects than mere plunder, or isolated acts of violence. 
It occurred in a house of a most intimate friend of 
ours, and I had it from the lady herself who was ex- 
posed to that short but terrible alarm. Mr. had 

taken his whole family and household to the church 
of which he was Rector, on the Sunday morning, with 
the sole exception of his wife's sister and his youngest 
babe which she remained at home to take care of. 

Miss was sitting in the parlour beside the cradle. 

reading her Bible, when a stir at the door induced her 
to look round, and to her dismay six or seven men ap- 
peared, the foremost of whom had opened the doc* 
and was in the act of entering. He seemed to belong 
to the class of Kumble fatmws^VotELftX^ ^>b>\\. t^^^^XsMss^ 
and hia manneT bespoke giee-t ^^V.^ttcaxi'ft.^arL.^ ^^^\.«m^ 



ALARMING INCIDENT. 171 

with something of the courtesy which an Irishman 
finds it difficult to lay aside in the presence of those 
^ho have not offended him. He advanced to the 
trembling lady, and asked if there were any fire-arms 
in the house 7 She replied, No : that her brother be- 
ing a clergyman, did not keep any such weapons in 
bis possession. To this the visiter again answered, 
that he must take the liberty of searching for them, 
and would trouble her to conduct him over the differ- 
ent parts of the house. Terrified, yet upheld by a 
firm faith, the lady rose, took the unconscious babe 
from its pillow, and wrapping her shawl round it, 
silently led the way through the adjoining apartments, 
the Rockites eagerly ransacking every corner for arms, 
but without success. ^ Now, Ma'am, be pleased to 
.ake us up istairs,' said the leader, and up stairs she 
went, all following. On entering one of the rooms, 
ihe was requested to unlock the chest of drawers ; 
md the chief seeing that she trembled greatly, said in 
I very decided tone, ' I will not have the lady fright- 
sned ; back, all of ye except you,' addressing two near 
liim, * and, Ma'am, don't be alarmed — nobody wishes 
to hurt or distress you.' The other men retreated, 

and Miss opened every drawer in that and the 

other rooms, all of which, with the closets, were mi- 
nutely inspected by the three searchers, who turned 
over articles of plate, money, and other valuables, with- 
out manifesting the slightest desire to appropriate one' 
of them. Their search was rewarded, I think, with no 
more than an old useless blunderbuss and rusty sword, 
with which they descended \ «Li\d \iV«tw ^^xi. \s^ "^^a 
parlour the leader took off Vila W\., \.^\ ^^Kmsa ^ 



172 8TSTEMAT1C OUT&AOE. 

was sorry to have alarmed her ; he hoped he had made 
good his words that no harm was intended to her, and 
wishing her good morning, with a very polite bow, re- 
treated. She told me that after the first panic she 
scarcely felt discomposed, so much confidence did this 
man's manner inspire her with. Assuredly the Lord 
himself kept that house, while* his dear servant was 
faithfully ministering to a little attached congregation 
on the mountain's side, and ^^ stayed the rough wind 
in the day of his east wind " to the kind nurse and 
the helpless charge ; but there is also something very 
striking in this conquest of poor and lawless men alike 
over the cravings of avarice and those of vindictive 
hatred, with which they are sedulously taught to re- 
gard every professor of true Protestantism. They 
greatly err who attribute to personal hostility the out- 
rages committed- in Ireland : they are the deliberate 
execution of sentences formally passed by a secret Di- 
rectory, on individuals far removed from the possi- 
bility of having excited such animosity in the bosoms 
of their unknown assassins, who are usually selected 
from districts the most remote, in order to avoid recog- 
nition, and to invest the work of murder with the 
air of a legal punishment in the eyes of those who com- 
mit it. 

One more incident occurring within my immediate 
neighbourhood, I will relate. The victim was not 
only himself a Romanist, but brother to the person who 
assumed the title of Roman bishop in that diocese* 
This Mr. Marum was a large farmer,^ possessing con- 
siderable property m\anA,iiea.x1[LV)^sLfci«i^'\ iasA^%.^^iffl4^ 
more regard for his wot\d\y -posae^^sv^^^ VJsi«Q. YD.\fc^'8& 



NOON-DAY MUaDER. 173 

in the caiue of liis religion, he diacouiaged the Rockite 
proceedings. Some great outrages having occurred, 
he represented to government the disturbed state of 
the Barony, and induced them to send down a body 
of Peelers, as the Police were termed. This he knew 
to be an unpardonable offence, and therefore never 
went abroad unarmed, taking care to have it known . 
that he did not. 

One day he was xiding with his son-in-law, at noon, 
and seeing some persons on the road before them he 
lurned round, saying ' I have forgotten my pistols ; 
let us go back for them.' The young man replied, 
it is not worth while ; the distance was so short, 
and nobody near but a few women. This, with the 
appearance of the parties, attired in blue cloaks, and 
caps Over which the hood was carelessly thrown, satis- 
fied Marum ; they proceeded at an easy pace, and had 
nearly passed the stragglers at the road-side when a 
sudden' rush was made upon them by the men thus dis- 
guised for the purpose, and in a minute or two poor 
Marum lay on the ground, a murdered corpse. The 
son-in-law was knocked over senseless by a blow on the 
head from a stone, into a ditch, where he remained 
till succour came up. Of course, he was not sentenced 
or they never would have left the work unfinished. * A 
very great sensation was excited by this: his family con 
nection rendered Marum^s murder a startling event to 
all parties ; nor did it end here : he had another bro* 
ther, a parish priest, who was believed to have aided 
him in preserving the public t^^^^^ %xA. ^Va ^oss^'*^ 
anxiously to discovei tVie xaiiii^Tci^. kiXwi^^^^^^^^'* 
a grand wake was held, at ^\A<^ N>c^& ^tsr»^. v^^^s^'* 



174 VNSCKUPULOtSlfBflB. 

and duiing his absence some unknown persons got intc 
his small house, demolished all the furniture they conld, 
turned every sod of grass in his field upside down, 
and carried off his com. Here was sacrilege with a 
vengeance ! and some simple people argued from it 
that religion had nothing to do with the political move- 
ment True, in one sense, for Popery is not a religion 
— it is only a crafty piece of masked atheism, pur- 
suing seculiar objects with a sanctified face : but Pope- 
ry no more hesitates in cutting off a priest, or makiiq; 
away with a pope who may fail in working out its a- 
bitrary principles, than it shrinks from dethroning i 
king, or burning a Christian. 



LETTER IX. 



THE DUMB BOY. 



year 1824 was hailed throughout Ireland at 
confident hope and active preparation for the 
rent that was to distinguish 1825 — Protestant 
inatioa Black Lent was ordered to be kept, 
;ra masses celebrated, and especial prayers for 
traction of heresy to be daily offered. These 
re remarkably answered, for Popery never re- 
such a blow in Ireland as followed the appeal 
raged by the implicit faith placed by the poor 
it people in their blood-thirsty prognostics, the 
ood waxed bold, and resolved on making head 

the encroachments of Christianity. Hitherto, 
injunction had been laid on their flocks to ab 
oia entering any place of public meetii)g, held 
sigents of the Bible and other religious societies : 
V that the victim seemed within their grasp they 
d to make sport with their captive Samson, and 
irward themselves, at Carlow and elsewhere, to 
the Protestant clergymen, stationing a vast crowd 
followers in the rooms, well provided withthft 
I weapon — the stem of «L«lo\v\.^waiV*^^"^^^ 
o the end of which, WVif&x^^ ^«^ xooV^Vt^^jW 

off, a quantity o{ mo\\.eii\e^^ ^v^ ^^ 



176 PEACEABLE COUNSEL. | 

making the shillelagh more formidahle in such hands 
than a sword would have been — much harder to parrj) 
and impossible to break. In other places the priests 
keep aloof, but sent their flocks to try the effect of 
these weighty arguments upon the heads of their Pro- 
testant neighbours. I will repeat the account given me, 
long afterwards, by a young man who attributed i& 
great measure his subsequent conversion to one of 
these crusades. 

* On the Sunday before, Father spoke to ub all 

from the altar, and said, ^' Boys, them Bible-men will 
hold a meeting here on Wednesday. You won't be go- 
ing there to make a disturbance? you'll stay at home 
like peaceable people, and let them have things their own 
way. I've heard it reported that some of you intend 
to go and have a scrimmage, but, in course, you have 
no such thing in ypur heads." He spoke in such a alj 
way, that we all understood it, and laughed ; howevex^ 
if any spies were there, or if any mischief came of it 
the entire of us could testify that Father had pub- 
licly warned his flock against taking part in it. Af- 
terwards he spoke privately to about a dozen resolute 
Boys, I being one, and told us to take our sticks and 
be ther^ in good time. '* Break their heads if you can,' 
says he, " but any way drive them out of the town." 

^ Sure enough we went ; and I had as good a slip of 
blackthorn under my coat as you'd desire to see. The 

gentlemen mustered strong : Lord in the chaix 

looked as if he didn't feel quite at home ; for though he 

had often seen our faces Woie^iV. ^^ iiQ\.^\.^\UA meet- 

iDgs, The Reverend Mi. "D^Vy ^^waa WN?va\\ ^w^ 

bad been recommended to \oo\l W^X^^t V\m ^xNlvKs^aiiB^ 



ALARMIMr moIDENT. 177 

and BO we would, bat somehow he talked in such a way 
about JesoB Christ and the Bible, and Grod's love to 
sinners, that we disremembered every word of our in- 
structions, and stood listening as if we had come there 
on purpose. By-and-by a bit of a spree was got up, 
but the Boys had little heart to it, and it was easily 
put down. One thing I know for myself; and that is, 
that if we had come to blows, not a hair of their heads 
should have been hurt, and I standing by.' 

^ And what did you do afterwards V 

< I went home and read the Bible.' 

Such were the effects of Pastorini's prophecy. It 
inspired one party with a false confidence that brought 
them to face the other, to whom God gave a moutk 
and wisdom such as their adversaries could neither 
gainsay nor resist. It issued in many conversions, 
and it gave the people a taste for controversial discus- 
sions, than which nothing can be better suited to their 
keen intellects, ready wit, and pugnacious propensities. 
At this gap, so inconsiderately made in the curtain, a 
flood of light streamed in ; and the attempt to close it 
again was abortive. Never does God's providential 
Boverei^ty appear so glorious as when he thus makes 
the wrath of man to praise Him, and the devices of Sa- 
tan to accomplish His own immutable designs. 

In like manner, though on a smaller scale, the attack 
on my personal Protestantism was overruled to the 
gathering in of one precious soul to the true fold of 
Christ, and through him, I trust, very many more 
have been led to seek the same inestimable bU^oux^ 
1 turned my attention to t\ift die^^ «cA ^xvMsici ^iS^«k^ 
mho89 situation was dep\oTa\Aft VcAft»^\^'^^'^^^*^ 



78 A rcrji^ 

3ut of the streets to instruct them, of whom one proTed 
irreclaimably wild and vicious ; two were removed by 
a priest's order, lest I should infect them with heresy j 
the fourth was to me a crown of rejoicing, and will be 
so yet more at ^ that day.' 

I confess myself very little under the influence of 
human teachers ; my being thrown exclusively on tha 
Bible for a scheme of doctrine not only furnished m 
with a satisfactory one, but showed me so much of the in 
exhaustible treasures of wisdom and knowledge hid in 
Christ, and of the Holy Spirit's all-sufficiency to take of 
those things and show them unto the humble, diligent 
prayerful inquirer, that in most cases of difficulty^ 
instead of asking, ' What say the commentators V or 
' What says Mr. so and so ?' I put the question, 
" What says the Loud ?" For an answer, I seaicli 
his written wprd ; and for a commentary upon it I 
study his visible works. Now, the doctrine of pe^ 
sonal election I know to be in the Bible, and I did not 
need man's confirmation to assure me that I had found 
it there ; but it was delightful to witness such an iUoi* 
tration of that sublime truth as the case of the dumb 
boy in question affisrded. He was the least promising 
of my little school, apparently the dullest, and certainly 
not the one on whom I bestowed the most pains ; and 
who, after holding out strong encouragement, by bis 
extraordinary quickness, brilliant talents, and devote/ 
fondness to his instructor, merely served to introduce 
to me the poor little fellow whom he scarcely regarded 
ag a companion, then forsook his post, cast off all rule, 
jxidf, I fear, went on £iov?aid\^ m \Xi^ "vt^^ ^l \a& «s«^ 



JACK. 179 

lieart. It was not of him that willed, nor of him that 
ran, but of God who showed mercy. 

John, oc Jack as we always called him, was a puny 
little fellow, of heavy aspect, and wholly destitute of 
the Ufe and animation that generally characterize that 
class, who are oblig;ed to use looks and gestures as a 
substitute for words. He seemed for a long while 
unable to comprehend my object in placing before him 
a dissected alphabet, and forming the letters into words, 
significant of dog, man, hat, and other short monosyl- 
lables ; and when I guided his little hard hand to trace 
corresponding characters on the slate it was indeed a 
work of time and patience to make him draw a single 
stroke correctly. His unmeaning grin of good-natured 
acquiescence in whatever I bade him do was more pro- 
voking than downright rebellion could have been ; and 
I secretly agreed with my friends that the attempt would 
prove a complete failure, while impelled, I hardly could 
tell how, to persevere with redoubled efforts. Jack's 
uncouth bristly hair fell in a straight mass over one of 
the finest foreheads ever seen, and concealed it. I 
happened one day to put aside this mass, for the bene- 
fit of his sight, and was so struck with the nobly ey 
pansive brow, that I exclaimed to a friend then in the 
act of -dissuading me from the work, ' No, with such a 
forehead as this, I can never despair of buccess.' I was 
then anything but a phrenologist, for I erroneously 
looked upon it as leading to materialism ; but experi- 
ence had long taught me to regard that lofty feature of 
man's countenance as the just index of his intellectual 
eapabilities. 

ItWBahyh sudden \Ktt«t lV%X. V)ti% VrJ %Tss»^>fi^ 



180 JACKS COMMENCEMENT. 

its prison and looked around on every objefct as thougk 
never before beheld. All seemed to appear in so new 
a light to him ; curiosity, in which he had been strangely 
deficient, became an eagerly active principle, and no- 
thing that was portable did he fail to bring to me, with 
an inquiring shake of the head, and the word 'what)' 
spelled by the fingers. It was no easy matter, befbn 
we had mastered a dozen common substantives and no 
other parts of speech, to satisfy his inquisitiveness, 
which I always endeavoured to do, because it is wrong 
to repress that indication of dawning reason in a child, 
and Jack at eleven years old was in the predicament 
of a mere infant More especially was I puzzled when 
his 'what? was accompanied by a motion pointing 
first at the dog, then to himself, to learn wherein con- 
sisted the difference between two creatures, both of 
whom, as he intimated, could eat, drink, sleep, and 
walk about, could be merry or angry, sick or well; 
neither of whom could talk ; and yet that there wsf 
a very great difference he felt. The noble nature of 
man was struggling to assert its preeminence over the 
irrational brute which he, nevertheless, loved and 
feared too ; for Barrow was a splen&d dog, and used 
to assist me very cleverly in keeping my little wild 
Irish crew in order. Oh what a magnificent wreck ii 
man ! I do love to watch the rajHd approach of that 
glorious time when, the six thousand years of his de 
gradatioh beneath the reign of Satan being fulfilled, he 
shall rise again in renovated majesty above the U8n^ 
p&i^B power, and resume his high station among the 
brightest works of God. 
r do not remembeT eKact\y Vorw Vm^ ^^x Vv^ ^as^ 



JIQUIRY. 181 

coming to me it was that Jack began to inquire 6o dili- 
gently about God. He seemed fivll of grave, but rest- 
less thought, and then approaching me, pointed to- 
wards the sun, and by a movement of the hands, as if 
kneading something, asked me whether I made it ? f 
ahook my head. Did my mother? — No. Did Mr. 
Roe, or Mr. Shaw (the two Protestant clergymen) or the 
priest ? He had a sign to express each of these. — No. 
Then, * What? — what?* with a frown and a stamp of fret- 
ful impatience. I pointed upwards with a look of rever- 
ential solemnity, and spelled the word * God.' He 
seemed struck, and asked no more at that time, but 
next day he overwhelmed me with whats, and seemed 
determined to know more about it. I told him as well 
as I could, that He of whom I spoke was great, power- 
ful and kind ; and that he was always looking at us 
He smiled, informed me he did not know how the sun 
was made, for he could not keep his eyes on it, but the 
moon he thought was like a dumpling, and sent rolling 
over the tops of the trees, as he sent a marble across 
the table. As for the stars, they were cut out with a 
large pair of scissors, and stuck into the sky with the 
end of the thumb. Having thus settled his system of 
astronomy, he looked very happy, and patted his chest 
with evident self-applause. 

I was amused, but of course not satisfied ; my charge 
was necessarily an Atheist, and what I had told him 
was a very bare sort of Deism indeed^ To communi- 
cate more^ however, seemed utterly impossible, tintil we 
should have accomplished considerable thin^ vdl tlbA 
waj- of education. We had not abo'v^ «b dLO*L«^ ^^ ^^ 
commonest words — all names of. AiitifB — \q -^v^^ 
16 



182 A DILEMMA. 

could attach a meaning ; and our aigns were all of hit 
own. contriving, which I had to catch, and follow as 1 
might. So said Reason, but Reason is a fool. '- Man 
shall not Live by bread alone, but by every word that 
proceedeth out of the mouth of God doth man live.** 
•' For my ways are not your ways, neither are your 
thoughts my thoughts, saith the Lord." It pleased 
him to enlighten the mind of the boy ; and instead of , 
that work being dependent on human wisdom, all that 
human wisdom could do was to creep after ft at a 
modest distance. 

Next day. Jack came to me in great wrath, intimat- 
iDg that my tongue ought to be pulled out. This was 
his usual mode of accusation where a lie had been ' 
told. Sol looked innocent and said, ^ What T He re- 
minded me of yesterday's conversation, telling me that 
he had looked every where for God : he had been 
down the street, over the bridge, into the church -yard, 
through the fields, had peeped into the grounds of the 
castle, walked past the barrack-yard ; and got up in 
the night to look out at the window. All in vain ; he 
could not find God. He saw nobody big eiiough to put 
up Ait hand and stick the stars into the sky. I was 
< bad,' my tongue muat be pulled out ; for there was 
'God, NO.' And he repeated, *God — no!* so often 
that it went to my heart 

I considered, prayerfully. My view of the scrip- 
tures told me that without divine help none could really 
seek fifiter Gbd ; and also that when He vouchsafed to 
give the desire, he would surely increase knowledge. 
Here wbb a poor afft\cte^\>oy ^\.Vi«v^ wsx Q.lVYi\i^^\R» 
hok by night fox one ^^lomVe^ V^^ ^w^^ ^Q^x^\. ^ 



AN ILLUSTRATION. I83r 

the day : here was Satan at work to streDgthen unbe- 
lief: I was commanded' to resist the Devil, and surely 
there must be some way of resisting him. I sat silent, 
on the opposite side of the fire, and a«plan having 
struck me, I looked at Jack, shrugged my shoulders, 
and seemfed convicted of a deception. He shook his 
head at me, frowned, and appeared very much offended 
at my delinquency. Presently I seized a small pair 
of bellows, and after puffing at the fire for a while, sud- 
denly directed a rough blast at his little red hand, 
which hung very near it. He snatched it back, 
scowled at me, and when again I repeated the opera- 
tion, expressed great displeasure, shivering, and letting 
me know he did not like it. 

I renewed the puff*, s&ying} ^ What?' and looking 
most unconscious of having done anything ; he blew 
hard, and repeated that it made his hands cold ; that I 
was very bad, and he was very angry. I puffed in all 
directions, looked very eagerly at the pipe of the bel- 
lows, peering on every side, and then, explaining, that 
I could see nothing, imitated his manner, saying, 
'Wind — ^no!' shaking my head at him, and telling 
him his tongue must come out, mimicking his looks of 
rebuke and offended virtue. He opened his eyes very 
wide, stared at me, and panted ; a deep crimson suf- 
fused his whole face, and a soul, a real soul shone in 
his strangely altered countenance, while he triumph- 
antly repeated, ^ God like .wind 1 God like wind 1' 
He had no word for ^ like ;' it was signified by holding 
the two fore fingers out, side by side, ^s ^^^xc^o^^t. 
perfect resemblance. 
Here was a step^ a glorious step, owt ^l f^«^»i^ 



184 DAWNING LIGHT. 

atheism into a perfect recognition of the invisiUtf 
God. An idea, to call it nothing more, new, grand, 
and absorbing, took possession of his mind. I num- 
bered seven years of incessant care over him from that 
day ; and I will fearlessly assert that in his head ana 
in his heart God reigned unrivalled. Even Before lie 
knew Him as God in Christ, the Creator and Pie- 
server were enthroned in his bosom ; and every event 
of the day, every object that met his view, gave rise 
to some touchingly simple question or remark concern- 
ing God. He made me observe that when trying tc 
look at the sun he was forced to shut his eyes, adding, 
' God like sun.' An analogy not very traceable, 
though strictly just ; for the glory that dazzled his 
mind was not visible. He was perpetually engaged 
in some process of abstract reasoning on every subject, 
and amazed me by explaining its results ; but how he 
carried it on without the intervention of words, waff' 
and is a puzzle to me. 

Previously he had been rather teasing to the dog, 
and other inferior creatures, and had a great desire to 
fish ; but now he became most exquisitely tender to- 
wards every living thing, moving his hand over them 
in a caressing way, and saying, ' God made.' At first 
he excepted the worms from this privilege, remarking 
that they came up through holes from beneath the 
earth, while God was above over the sky ; therefore 
they were not made by him : but I set him right, and 
he agreed that they might be rolled up in the world, 

r like meat in a pudding, and bite their way out. 
TTieiiceforth wo to tlie an^^x viVoisi ^^o)^ ^'^Jyt^N*^ 

looking for live bait \ . 



REASONING^. 185 

Whea my fiAt pnpil from being irregular in his 
attendance fell off more and more, until lie wholly dis- 
continued corning, and the oth^^rs were withdrawn for 
fear of heretical infection, 1 became more anxious lest 
this dear boy might also leave me before he had re- 
ceived the knowledge of Jesus Christ. I had, at his 
earnest entreaty, taken him into the house altogether, 
his home being some distance ; but I knew not how 
long he might be permitted to stay. The ravages of 
a dreadful fever among the poor increased my solici- 
tude to see my devout little Deist a Christian. I % 
have, in a small memcnr of this ^ Happy Mute,' related 
the manner of his receiving the gospel, but I must not 
pass it over heie. To the glory of God's rich grace 
it shall be recorded, as one of the most signal mercils 
ever vouchsafed to me. As before, the boy was led 
to open the way, and in the faith of the Lord's willing- 
ness to reveal himself to an inquiring soul I followed 
it up. 

Jack had noticed the number of funerals passing ; 
he had occasionally seen dead bodies placed in their 
coffins, and one evening he alluded to it, asking me by 
significant gestures if they would ever open their eyes 
again. Considering that he had often been 'present at 
the interment of the dead, and had also witnessed the 
decay of animals cast out to perish, it struck me as a 
singular question, plainly indicating that the con- 
sciousness of immortality is natural to man, and un- 
belief in a future state foreign to his untaught feelings. 
On the present occasion, my heart being lifted up in 
prayer for divine assistance on tlius \^rj y^v&X.^ \ 
caught at the encouragement, and msltiu^X.^ ^^^^^^^^^ 
16* 



l86 A SUIVBEAK. 

to improye the opportunity. I sketc&e^ en paper a 
crowd of persons, old and young ; near them a pit with 
flames issuing from it, and told kim all those people, 
among whom were we, had been ' bad* and God would 
throw us into the fire. When his alarm was greatly 
excited, I introduced into the picture another indi- 
vidual, who I told him was God*s Son, that he came 
out of heaven, he had not been bad, and was not to go 
in the pit ; but that he allowed himself to be killed ; 
and when he died, God shut up the pit ; so the people 
were spared. This seemed to myself too strange, vague, 
meagre, to convey any definite idea to the boy's mind; 
but how effectual does the Lord make our poorest ef 
forts when He wills to work \ Afler a few moments 
deep thought, Jack astonished me by an objection that 
proved he saw the grand doctrine of a substitute for 
sinners, which I was so hopeless of bringing before 
him. He told me the rescued people were many ; he 
who died was one, and his earnest ' What T with tke 
eloquent look that now peculiarly belonged to his cmce 
stupid countenance showed his anxiety for a solution 
of this difficulty. 

With unutterable joy in my heart, but great com- 
posure of manner, I rose, and taking from a vase a 
bunch of dead flowers, inadvertently left there, I cat 
them into small bits, laid them in a heap on the table, 
and beside them my gold ring : then pointing to each, 
with the words * many — one,' I asked which he woull 
rather have? He struck. his hand suddenly to his 
ibrehead, then clapped both hands, gave a jump as he 
Matj and with the most TaiptWTOWB c^Y^^^^vstt ^^ ^Q^ute* 
nance intimated tliat Ae one ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^\»X5«t 



A 80TJL BOl^N. 187 

than the room foil of dead flowers. Witb great rapid* 
ity he applied the symbol, pointing to the picture, to 
the ring, to himself, to me, and finally to heaven. In 
the last position he stood np, and paused for some 
time} and what a picture he would have made ! A 
smile perfectly angelic beaming on his face, his eyes 
sparkling and dancing with delight, until with a rush 
of tears, that quite suflfused them, he gazed at me, then 
again raised them to the> ceiling, his look softened into 
an expression of deep awe, and unbounded love, while 
he gently spelled on his fingers ' good C^^, good One!' 
and ended by asking me his name. 

'How sweet the name of Jesus sounds 
To a Believer's ear !' 

Jack was not to hear that name with his bodily ears 
until the voice of the archangel and the trump of Go4 
^ould call him from sleeping in the dust of the earth ; 
but he received it into his mind, and the gospel the 
prions everlasting gospel, into his soul, and the Holy 
Spirit into his heart, without the intervention of that 
sense. In that hour it was given unto him to believe, 
and from that hour all things were his — ^the world, life, 
death, and a bright immortality. Never but once be- 
fore had I laid my head on the pillow with such an 
overwhelming sense of perfect happiness. The Lord 
had indeed shown me his glory, by causing his good* 
ness to pass before me. 

Henceforth I had a Christian brother in my little 
dumb charge : his love to Jesus Christ was fervent 
and full ; his thoughts about him mosl\i^«L\sA.S$viV. ^^ 
degrees, I gave him some knowlcA^'ft Q? oax \jsiS^ 



188 A PaOTESTER. ^ 

mortal birth his infancy, work, death, resorreotion, and 
ascension; together with the future advent ; which I 
then believed to be a coming to final judgment at the . 
end of the world ; and often was I puzxled by discern- 
ing that Jack had an impression on his mind of a 
coming to make his people happy here. At a time 
when I had never even heard of a personal reign, and 
he, to my certain knowledge, had no human teaching 
whatever, except from me, at that time I am positively 
certain that his views were thos6 which now I hold; 
and I cannot account for it without looking higher 
than man. 

Very great indeed was Jack's emotion when he dis- 
covered that the Saviour in whom he was rejoicing 
was the object represented by the image he had been 
taught to bow down before. He resented it deeply : 
Iwas quite alarmed at the sudden and violent turn 
his feelings took against Popery. Awake as I was to 
its abominations, I yet temporized sadly in this mat- 
ter ; I had no faith to trust the Lord with his own, 
and dreading lest any interfeMnce with the forms of 
their idolatrous worship should cause his friends to 
take him from me, as Pat must have known it imme- 
diately, I refrained from approaching the subject, and 
allowed the poor little fellow to bow down with the rest 
in a mass-house. If I ever was tempted to believe, 
which I never am, that God leaves any of his own chil- 
dren in the communion of antichrist, Jack's case would 
effectually rebuke me ; he spurned the whole system 
from him, in spite of me, as soon as the light of ths 
gospel fell upon its defoTmilies. 
i^eturning from the ctapeV, oi» ^^^,^oQIl\iS^«l^5M»^ 



IDOLATRY. 189 

16 came up to me under great excitement : he took up 
I clothes-brush, set it on one end, and with a ludicrous 
primace bowed down before it, joining his hands in the 
ittitude of prayer, and chattering after his fashion ; 
hen asking the brush if it could hear him, waiting in 
in attitude of attention for its reply, and finally knock- 
ng it over, and kicking it round the room, saying, 
Bad god, bad god !' I guessed pretty well what it 
inis all about ; but as he concluded by snapping his 
ingers exultingly, and seating himself without further 
»mark, I spoke on other subjects. My feelings were 
!af from enviable. 

Next morning, Jack was very animated, and came to 
sue with an evident budget of new thoughts. He told 
me something very small came out of the ground. 
pointing in opposite directions ; it grew ; and then 
two more points aj^ared. I found he was describing 
the growth of a plant, and expecting some question, 
iras all attention : but Jack was com^e to teach, not to 
learn. lie soon showed that his tree had reached a 
^at height and size ; then he made as if shouldering 
i hatchet, advanced to the tree, and cut it down, 
^ext came a great deal of sawing, chopping, planing, 
ind shaping, until he made me understand he had cut 
>ut a crucifix, which he laid by, and proceeded to make 
i stool, a box, and other small articles; after which 
16 gathered up the chips, flung them on the fire, and 
leemed to be cheering himself in the blaze. I actually 
trembled at the proceeding; for where had he, who 
sould not form or understand half a sentence^ ^hait^ 
^ad Ae learned the Holy Spirit's lestimoiv^ wit^«.w^^^ 
F Faahb 7 



190 FAITHLESSNESS. 

The sequel was what I anticipated : lie feigned to 
set up the imaginary crucifix, and preparing to pray 
before it, checked himself, saying ^ No ;' then with 
animated seriousness reverted to the springing up of 
the little seedling, saying, ' God made ;' and as it greir^ 
he described the fashioning of the trunk, and branches, 
and leaves, most gracefully, still saying, ^ God made ;' 
he seemed .to dip a pencil in colour, to paint the leavei, 
repeating, ' God made beautiful !' Then that God 
made his hands too, and he came to the conclusion that 
the tree which God made, cut out by his hands which 
God made, could not be God who made thenu Then 
he got very angry, and not satisfied with an insubstan- 
tial object for his holy indignation to vent itself upon, 
he ran for the clothes-brush, and gave it a worse cuffing 
and kicking than before ; ending with a solemn in- 
quiry, whether I worshipped crosses, &c., when I went 
to church ? 

How guilty I felt ! and still I trembled to give tha 
encouragement I longed to bestow. However I dis- 
tinctly intimated my detestation of idolatry, and con- 
firmed his strong repudiation of it. He told me he 
would not go any more to chapel, but I told him, as 
well as I could, the almost certain consequences, and 
he then remembered that other boys had told him those 
who ate meat on Fridays would go to Hell) and that 
the same people were to be killed, for this was in 1 824, 
and Pastorini was universally " quoted. He became 
greatly distressed as the next Sabbath approached, but 
contrary to all my expectations returned from mass in 
excellent spirits. Pat to\dmft\«ivx^W^^\3^^\.^^^^%i 
become so musical li6 insisted on ^caw^ \.ci ^xXx^*^^ 



, FAITHLESSNESS. 191 

organ, that he might feel the vibration, and when alone 
with me Jaek joyfully told me that he had run up the 
stairs from the outer door to the organ loft, and so 
escaped even the necessity of bowing down to the cross. 
This plan he persisted in from that day. Some years 
afterwards I asked his brother if he had any suspicion 
at the time of the boy's object in so doing : he answer- 
ed, None at all; and that if he had he would have 
forced him into the body of the tQass-house, and com- 
pelled him to prostrate himself. 

May the Lord grant that what I have thus narrated 
may be made the means of conveying a lesson to every 
reader 1 It was one of the great commendations of the 
church at Ephesus that they hated the deeds of the 
Nicolaitanes, which Christ also hates : and let us daub . 
over our sinful indifference as we may, with the false 
varnish of liberality, charity, and so forth, it will be an 
awful item against our souls if we do not hate, actively 
hate, the deeds of antichristian Rome ; and prove it 
by exposing the vile snare that we may deliver those 
whom it holds captive. We have frittered away God's 
truth, and weU nigh trampled out his line of demarca- 
tion, between a holy worship and the polluted sacrifice 
of an idol temple, while speculating on the fair front of 
Jansenism as opposed to Jesuitism: we have turned 
from the fires of Smithfield to contemplate the well- 
told tales of Port-Royal, and thrust our Bradfords, our 
Latimers, yea and our Luthers, from the shelf to set 
up Fenelon and k Kempis. To their own Master they 
stood or fell ; Fenelon' s appointed work was the ^oil- 
version of Protestants to Po^pety \ \ie wwftfti ^ ^^ \ft. 
Suence ofhia very superior mind and. wsA-eiXAft ^"W^si* 



192 OUTRAGE. 

to draw the persecuted Huguenots into communion 
with Rome. It was his glory that he succeeded so &r, 
and no doubt he did it conscientiously ; but so long as 
I read in my Bible that Satan transforms himself vUo 
an angel of light to seduce Christ's servants from their 
allegiance to Him, I will not tamper with my faith by 
sitting down to ascertain how much of Christianity 
I can discover in certain individuals actively promoting, 
a system against which the God of heaven has pro- 
nounced an irrevocable, a withering, and a final curse. 
A dreadful instance occurring in our immediate 
neighbourhood about this period, manifested more 
alarmingly than ever the perilous excitement of the 
poor people's minds on whom the wicked predictiottis 
already noticed had taken effect. Not more than a 
quarter of a mile from the barracks of Kilkenny lived 
a family of unoffending, respectable Protestants, named 
Marr. One Sunday afternoon, long before sunset, 
while they were sitting round the tea-table with un- 
fastened doors, a party of Rockites rushed into the 
house, loudly demanding arms. The father and bis 
eldest son ran up stairs, probably intending to make 
some defence ; but it was too late, so they brought 
down what weap<ms they had, and delivered them up. 
The intruders turned to go ; but first opened the par- 
lour door, where the rest of the family remained panic 
struck, and perfectly quiet ; and one of them taking a 
deliberate aim at the second son, a peculiarly harmless 
character, because he was of weak intellect, with the 
manneTB of a little child, shot him. The bullet en 
tored juflt above his e\\>ow\ %ii^ %.^\!kft SsJCl ^^ «» 



FEARFUL BIGOTRY. 193 

derous aggressor made off, laughing, with his com- 
panions. 

The young man was brought into Kilkenny, and 
most assiduously attended by the medioa gentlemen, 
while the clergymen of our parish and his brethren in 
the ministry were constantly engaged in prayer t)eside 
him, orin soothing the anguish of his mother and sis- 
ters. The ball could not be extracted, neither could 
the bleeding by any means be stanched ; but, drop by 
drop, in lingering agony, the vital current escaped 
from the youth's veins, and he was several days dying. 
Outside the window of the house assembled a number 
of women from the lowest class of the Romish popula- 
tion, and there they sate, responding with a yell of tri- 
umph to every groan the poor sufferer uttered, pray- 
ing that he might have smart enough before he went ; 
and shouting, * You'll be in hell presently, you Pro- 
testant locust, and then you'll cry louder ;' with simi- 
lar exclamations, and most awful curses on the whole 
race! Why were they not removed ? you will ask ; 
but who was to remove them 7 Were 24,000 people 
to be reused into open violence, with a couple of High 
land companies in garrison, and a small force of Police, 
and 800 terrified Protestants, fully aware that at the 
first intimation of an outburst, fifty or a hundred thou^ 
sand armed foes would pour in from the surrounding 
country ? No : the outcries of a few wretched women 
were not to produce that effect, though probiably it 
was calculated upon ; and the innocent victim died 
amid their shouts. I remember one of the dec^\sv«CL 
eune to me requesting a glass of wiii^^ «iA \raLT^vc^^ 
loto a passion of tears as he Tecowntedi "vr\v^\. "Va V^ 
17 



194 CONCESSION. 

heard while praying in the midst of that agonized 
family, as the spirit of the murdered youth departed 
with a long deep groan, that extorted a scream of joy 
from the eager listeners without I can fancy you 
here pausing to ask if I could love such a savage crew: 
not those individuals, certainly, as then engaged; but 
I looked beyond the hateful fruit to the execrable root 
that bore it, and felt how terrible was our own respon* , 
sibility, in that we had not laid the axe to it wliile 
yet the opportunity was given, by preaching Popery 
out of Ireland by the same means that banished it from 
England and Scotland. There was nothing in this de- 
monstration inconsistent with the usual workings of that 
ferocious persecutor all over the world. The records 
of Piedmont bear a testimony to which all lands in all 
ages send forth a corroborative voice, that where Po- 
pery has gained the ascendant the demons of cruelty 
rage uncontrolled, so long as a whisper or a look dis- 
sentient from its dogmas may be detected ; nay, we 
well know that infancy, and, as in the case just citeC^ 
imbecility of mind, where neither assent nor dissent 
can be traced, comes under the murderous- ban.. That 
human beings can always be found to execute these 
frightful behests is a lamentable, a humiliating fact : 
but when once given over to a reprobate mind, of what 
is not man capable ? 

While these things were going on, many of the prin- 
cipal sufferers from them consoled themselves under 
the persuasion that what they were enduring would turn 
to the good of the Protestant cause, by convincing the 
^vernment how uUetly vaii^ "wa^ wv>j V^^ ^1 \.i»saf 
tbrmiag Popery into a ip^ae^^XA^ \i^\^^W3rvt V5 «!e\ 



SUMMONS. 195 

further concessions. Every one knew that the ^ eman- 
cipation^ 80 loudly called for could work no other 
chan^ in the hostile party than as it must afford 
them an important step in advance to final ascendency. 
What could such concession do in neutralizing the 
effect of Pastorini's prophecies ? Would the ^ locusts' 
cease to be so by bestowing a tardy boon on the Ro- 
manists, wrung from them at the pike's point ? It 
seemed impossible that any statesman should fall under 
such infatuation, and we are glad to see the mask so 
entirely thrown off, though, our own proximity to the 
unveiled abomination rendered it trying to us. Most 
assuredly the Protestants of Ireland were not consent- 
ing to that deed ; some dwelling in secure cities, and 
wholly careless whether truth or falsehood ruled the 
realm, joined the cry of liberalism ; and others in ex- 
posed situations forebore to utter their sentiments at 
all, well knowing that every word spoken in the hear- 
ing of their Romish domestics would speedily find its 
way to the confessional ; but in general there was a 
firm^ undisguised opposition to the surrender of the 
national faith ; and sure I am that the Protestants of 
Ireland never acquiesced in having their dangers made 
the plea for throwing down the bulwarks of the consti- 
tution. 

Early in the summer of 1824 I received a summons 
to return to England. It was most unwelcome, for 
my neart was knit to Ireland, and to share the lot of 
her devoted people was its earnest desire. At home I 
had many old friends ; but what vrexe they to the be- 
loved bre^liren and sisters in CWiat, v«\iO \k».Wift«Ok 
mjr fellow-helpera foi the last fout -y^axa m \!»aa ^a« 



196 UCK LEAVES HIS PARENTS. 

of the LfOrd ? All ties were weak to tlmt, save od« 
the tie that bound me to my beloved brother. Him 1 
had not seen for nine years ; he had continued on the 
staff of the Portuguese army until the establishment 
of the Cortes, who dismissed all British officers ; and 
then settled in the interior of that country, cultivating 
"ome of the land which he had gallantly fought to 
rescue. It was a subject of continual sorrow to me 
that he was residing in the heart of an exclusively Po- 
pish country, far from every means of grace ; not even 
a place of worship within many leagues, and wholly 
shut out from Christian intercourse. I knew that hf 
had been equally dark with myself on the subject of 
religion ; and truly can I say, that from the very hour 
of my being enabled to see the truth as it is in Jesus, 
my life had been a constant prayer for him, that Goi 
would make him a partaker in the like precious faith. 
There was now a prospect of his returning, and this^ 
added to the summons I have mentioned, made my way 
plain. The state of Jack's min<j^ too, on the subject 
of Popery, helped to reconcile me, since I had made 
up my mind to take him with me if his parents would 
agree to it. There was no difficulty in bringing them 
to do so; they gave a willing, a grateful consent. 
His mother's words, while tears rolled down her cheeks, 
were, * Take him : he is more your child than ours. 
His father remarked, [ Why shouldn't we let him go 
with you, seeing he would grieve to death if you left 
him behind V When I began to state that I could not 
promise he would not openly embrace my religion, they 
Interrupted me, repeating t\ia,t V^ "w^s nv-^ <5>k\^ \s\st& 
than theirs, and could never come to v[\>j V^wiv \aA«t 



SUPERSTITION. 197 

my care. Coward as' I was, I did not use the oppor- 
tunity then given to set before them their own danger, 
and commend the pure faith that I knew their child 
held. I had occasionally talked in a general way, and 
once very strongly, when the mother told me of the 
dreadful penances she had done, walking on her bare 
knees over a road strewed with pebbles, glass, and 
quick lime, to make her sufferings greater, in order to 
obtain from God and the saints the restoration of the 
boy's hearing and speech. She was then pleading the 
power and holiness of her clergy, i^id their superiority 
to all the rest of the world. I looked from the window, 
and said, * See, there goes your bishop ; now do you 
think this bright sun warms him more than it does any 
Protestant walking beside him V ' Troth, and I am 
sure it does,' answered she. ' What, do you think he 
has any particular advantage over other men in things 
that are common to all V '• That he has, being a holy 
bishop.' * Well, now, if I call him up, tind we all put 
oar fingers together between these bars, do you think 
the fire would burn him less than us V She hesitated ; 
her husband burst into a laugh, and archly said. ^ I'll 
•ngage his reverence would'nt try that same.' 

I was now to bid a^ieu to my pleasant haunts, chief 
among which was the lordly castle of Kilkenny, where 
I had passed so very many delightful hours. Its noble 
owners were abroad, but by their favour I had a key 
to the private door beside the river, and full access to 
every part of the castle and its beautiful grounds. It 
was there I used to muse on days of Ireland's bygone 
greatness, though not then well read in her peculiar hi&- 
torjr, and gradually I had become aslmV «s«Si^ ^S.\«t 
17» 



198 NATIONAL CHARACTER. 

own children. How oonld it be otherwise ? I was not 
naturally cold-hearted, though circumstances had, in- 
deed, greatly frozen the current of my warm affections, 
and I had learned to look with comparative indifferenct 
on whatever crossed my changeful path ; but no one 
with a latent spark of kindly feeling can long repien I 
it among the Irish. There is an ardour of character, 
an earnestness in their good will, a habit of assimilar 
ting themselves to the tastes and habits of those whom 
they desire to please, — and that desire is very gene- 
ral, — that wins on the affections of those who poseesi 
any, a grateful regard, and leaving on the scenes that 
have witnessed such intercourse, a sunshine peculiar 
to themselves. Reserve of manner cannot long exist 
in Irish society. I have met with some among the 
people of the land, who were cold and forbidding 
insensible and unkind, but these were exceptions 
establishing the rule by. the very disagreeable contrast 
in which they stood out from all around them ; and I 
never found these persons in the humbler classes, where 
the unmixed Irish prevails. Hospitality is indeed the 
pole-star of Ireland ; go where you will, it is always 
visible ; but it shines the brightest in the poor man's 
cabin, because the potato that he^so frankly, so heaiti* 
ly, so gracefully presses upon your acceptance is 
selected from a scanty heap, barely sufficient to allay 
the cravings of hunger in himself and his half-clad 
little ones. In this, as in all other particulars, a 
change for the worse has come over the people of late; 
priestly authority has interposed to check the outgo- 
iJlgis of kindnesS; from a warm-hearted people to those 
who are indeed their frieivda, mi^ «t -^^Sxv^xsX^ t^«^^\x\jN. 



fX>NFESSION. 199 

lettniat iilaUnpoiitbem; but the evil had not be- 
come evident at the time of my sojourn there, and I 
can only speak of them as the most respectful, most 
courteous and hospitable peasantry in the world. At 
the same time they were in many respects the most 
dftgraded. Nothing could equal the depth of their ^ 
abasement before an insolent priesthood, except the 
unblushing effrontery with which the latter lorded it 
over them. For any infraction of their arbitrary 
rules, the most cruel and humiliating penances were 
imposed. I knew an instance of a young woman, a 
Romanist, who engaged in the service of a Protestant 
fiunily, and went -out with them to America. While 
there, she was led to join in family worship, but with- 
out any intention of forsaking her own creed ; neither 
had they attempted to draw her out - of the net. 
On her return to Kilkenny she went to confession, 
and among other things divulged the fact of having 
heard the Bible read, and prayed in compiany with 
hereties. This was an enormity too great for the 
priest to deal with alone ; so he ordered the girl off, 
fiisting, to her original confessor, who then officiated 
in a chapel seven good Irish miles distant. On hear- 
ing the case, he ordered her to go thrice round the 
ehapel on her bare knees, and then to set off, still fast- 
ing, and walk back to Kilkenny, there to undergo such 
additional penance as his reverend brother should see 
good to impose. The poor creature scarcely reached 
th» town alive, through fatigue, exhaustion, and terror; 
she was ill for some time, and on her recovery subjected 
to farther discipline. These particulars I had from one 
ofhwt own friends and a bigoted fa^\%\. \.Q\i^^\.^^^^ 



200 INFERNAL MACHINERY. 

told it in order to eonyince me the girl had committed 
a very great sin. I once asked a young man how he 
got on at confession, — whether he told all his sins. 
He replied, ' Sometimes I disremember a few, and if 
the priest suspects it, he pulls my hair, and boxes my 
ears, to help my memory.' ' And how do you feel 
when you have got absolution?' ^I feel all right; 
and I go out and begin again.' ^ And how do you 
know that God has really pardoned you V ^ He doesn'l 
pardon me directly ; only the priest does. He (tiie 
priest) confesses my sins to the bishop, and the bishop 
confesses them tb the pope, and the pope sees the Yir 
grin Mary every Saturday night, and tells her to speak 
to God about it.' ' And you really believe this mon 
strous story V * Why should'nt I ? But it is nc 
affair of mine, for, once I have confessed, all my sini 
are laid upon the priest, and he must do the best hf 
can to get rid of them. I am safe.' Of such mate- 
rials is the net composed that holds these people is 
bondage ; and who can marvel that such prostration 
of mind before a fellow mortal should lead to an ab- 
ject slavery of the whole man, body, conscience, and 
understanding? -We see the effects, and abhor them; 
but we do not go to the root of the matter. The 
priest himself is equally enslaved ; his oath binds him 
to an implicit blind reception of tenets which he is 
not permitted to investigate, and which make him the 
pliant tool of a higher department of this detestable 
machinery. He receives his cue from the bishops, 
and they are wholly governed by the Propaganda 
at Home, whither each of them is bound periodically 
to appear for personal examinaXioiv ^iv^ ^\«^ \\i^\.t\^ 



THE PROrAGAXDA. 201 

18. The Propaganda is, of course, the primum 
Hie of the system, set a-going by Satan himself 
nee the mischief that is perpetrated by th« unhap- 
beings who form the operative section of this 
ining concern ; the handicraft men of blood. It is 
ftwful spectacle, and one that we cannot long avert 
eyes from contemplating with the deep interest 
t personal' peril excites. All is preparing for a 
Bt of persecution against the people of the Lord, 
..happy is he who shall be found armed with 
diingl 



luETTER X 

ENGLAND. 

We started for Dublin with sorrowing heiuts, for it 
was likely to be a long, if not a last farewell to friends 
who were endeared as well by a participation in dan- 
ger as in feeling. Those who have daily been expect- 
ing to die together in a holy cause, cannot lightly 
part. One of the last things that I learned before 
leaving the place was conmiunicated to me by an inti- 
mate friend and near neighbour, a very sweet Chrifl- 
tian character. She had lived on terms of intimacy 
with a Romish family in the town, and a few days pre- 
vious to my departure the mother of this family called 

on Miss , with tears entreating her to embrace 

Popery ; for that the next year would witness the ut- 
ter extermination of Protestants, and it would be out 
of her power, or that of any other person, to save any 
life, however dear to them. She urged it with most af- 
fectionate importunity, and was evidently much distres- 
sed at her failure. Whether the better informed class 
of the Romanists believed in Pastorini's predictions or 
not, they saw them universally received among the 
bulk of the people, and of course knew that they would 
take care to verify wYiat \\i«i^ >aft\v^N^$i.. \\. ^^\s^^ 
xvondeiful intexposition t\i«.\. >lV^ \^^Q\.^§X«iv\&^lV^a^ 



Tilt. DuVLE. 2m 

ved, though an uumarked one ; for, with a pop- 
of six to one, roused to the highest pitch of re- 
fanaticism, prepared by extra masses, fasts, and 
, and confiding in the assurances of an infalli- 
rch that so it must be ; where, too, they had 
lung to gain and little or nothing to lose, it is 
ons that such a restraint was laid on their san- 
' purposes. The priestly fancy of entering 
cussion with their opponents wrought power- 
ainst their own cause : and the notorious Doyle^ 
I the way in every species of agitation and mis- 
ad sanctioned the riotous meeting at Carlow, 
he ablest, wiliest, and boldest of Romish bishops, 
writings were firebrands, and who in a public 
Milogized a farmer in his diocese for taking the 
i the tongs and burying it in a hole in his gar- 
bat Dr. Doyle afterwards ilied a Protestant ; 
Id all the devices of his brethren long conceal 

had never before been beyond the environs of 
ive town, and I expected to see him much as- 
i by the splendid buildings of Dublin. He re 
them, however, with indifference, because as he 
ey were not ' God-mades,' while the scenery 
1 which we had travelled, particularly the no- 
es on Colonel Bruen's fine demesne, and the 
of deer reclining beneath their broad shadow, 
him to enthusiasm. It was wonderful to trace 
uisite perception of beauty as developed in that 

had never even been in a furnished iqakdl 

1 came to me. His taste waa i^%ii<^^ asoL^ \k>a^ 
ilicate beyond belief; 1 tievw Jiaif wmJ^l %««^ 



204t JACK IN DUBLIN. 

tive modesty as he manifested to the last day of Ub 
life. Rudeness of any kind was hateful to hixa; lie 
not only yielded respect to all, but required it towards 
himself, and really commanded it by his striking pro- 
priety of manner. He was, as a dear friend once le^ 
marked, a ' God-made ' gentleman, untainted with the 
slightest approach to any thing like affectation or cox- 
combry; indeed he ridiculed the latter with much 
comic effect ; and the words ' Dandy Jack ' would 
put him out of conceit with any article of apparel that 
drew forth the remark. He would answer the taunt 
with a face of grave rebuke, saying, ^ Bad Mom, bold 
Mam; Jack Dandy, no : Jack poor boy.' He had not, 
indeed, arrived at so copious a vocabulary when we 
left his home; but he was rapidly acquiring new 
words. 

It was beautiful to see him at prayer. He had 
never kneeled, down with us at Kilkenny ; for any 
Romanist who had detected him in doing so must have 
informed, and the priest would have commanded his 
removal In Dublin he volunteered to join us, and as 
he kneeled with clasped hands, looking up towards 
heaven, the expression of his countenance was moit 
lovely. A smile of childlike confidence and reveren- 
tial love played over his features, now becoming most 
eloquent; his bristly hair had began to assume a silky ap- 
pearance, and was combed aside from a magnificent brow 
while a fine colour perpetually mantled his cheeks, and 
changed wiih evtiy emotion; his dark hazel eyes, 
Jarge, and very bright, always speaking some thought 
that occupied his mind. H^ n?«& x^xXi^x xsiot^ "^m^ 
twelve year» cdd. la pxofe\e\xftm\iLc\vx^^^\iMviiA.^^vii* 



jack's ADVENTaHE 205 

White when older ; but the strongest likeness I evex 
saw of him is an original portrait of Edward VI., by 
Holbein, in my possession. It was taken after con- 
sumption had set its seal on the countenance of thai 
blessed young kin^ as it did on that of my dear dumb 
boy. 

One adventure he had in Duolin that afforded him 
much enjoyment I went into an extensive toy-shop 
to make sgme purchase, and Jack, enchanted with the 
wonders around him, strolled to the father end, and into 
a little adjoining recess, well filled with toys. A great 
uproar in that direction made us all run to inquire the 
cause, and there was Jack, mounted on a first rate 
rocking-horse, tearing away full gallop, and absolutely 
roaring out in the maddest paroxysm of delight, his 
hat fallen off, his arm raised, his eyes and mouth wide 
open, and the surrounding valuables in imminent peril 
of a general crash. The mistress of the shop was so 
eonvulsed with laughter that she could render no as- 
■istance, and it was with some difficulty I checked his 
triumphant career, and dismounted him. He gave me 
afterwards a diverting account of his cautious approach 
to the ^ good horse ;' how he ascertained it was ^ bite 
no ; kick no ;' and gradually got resolution to mount 
:t He wanted to know how far he rode, and also if 
he was a God-made 7 I told him it was wood, but I 
doubt whether he believed me. Thenceforth Dublin 
was associated in his mind with nothing else ; even at 
nineteen years of age he would say, if he met #ith the 
name, * Good Dublin, good horse ; small Jack love 
good Dublin horse.' The shipping ]|^QA«dL\a\&L^«!^l 
18 



206 DEPARTURE FROM IRELANB. 

and many of his beautiful drawings were tepresenta 
tions of sailing vessels. 

I had now been in Ireland five years and tbiee 
months ; and with what different feelings did I prepare 
to leave its green shores from those with which I first 
pressed them! Unfounded prejudice was succeeded 
by an attachment founded on close acquaintance with 
those among whom I had dwelt, contempt by respect, 
and dislike by the warmest, most grateful aiectioa I 
had scorned her poverty, and hated her turbulence. 
The first I now knew to be no poverty of soil, of na- 
tural resources, of mind; talent, or energy, but the 
effect of a blight, permitted to rest alike, on the land 
and people, through the selfishness of an unjust, crook- 
ed policy, that made their welfare of no account in its 
calculations, nor would stretch forth a hand to deliver 
them from the dark dominion of Popery. Their tur- 
bulence was the natural fruit of such poverty, and of 
their being wholly under the influence of a party 
necessarily hostile to the interests of a Protestant state, 
and bent on subverting its ascendency. What Ire- 
land was, I too plainly saw: what she might be I 
clearly understood ; and the guilt of my country's re- 
sponsibility lay heavy on my heart as 1 watched the 
outline of her receding coast 

Bristol was our destination ; and for the ensuing 
year, Clifton became our abode. This period of my 
life was one of severe trial, which it is not necessary tu 
particularize. Incipient derangement, which afte^ 
wards became developed, in a quarter where, if I did 
not £nd eomfort and pcoteetion, \ t£v\^\. e^^^tX. ^hait 
oppoditesj occasioned me lawc^a. ^^.xixl ^xA ^^\s«» 



CLIFTON 207 

while my brother^ s protracted absence increased *the 
trial. Mach secluded, I pursued my literary avoca- 
tions, and watched the progress of Jack's growth in 
knowledge and in grace. 

Clifton is certainly one of the most beautiful spots 
in England j the river winding its graceful way be- 
neath St. Vincent's picturesque rocks on the one side, 
and on the other the noble plantations of Leigh rising, 
as it were^ out of the water, and overhanging it with 
grove and garden, is enchanting ; while the constant 
succession of vessels of every variety of size and 
character, passing to and fro, fills the mind with a 
picture of commercial greatness, the more striking 
from its locality. The number of steamers' was then 
small ; the ungraceful chimney, with a long pennon of 
black smoke, had not superseded the tapering mast 
and swelling sails, nor given a hurrying rapidity to the 
slow, gliding movement so peculiar to a ship in smooth 
water. Every one of these sea-kettles ought to be 
inscribed with the motto, ^ Death to the picturesque.* 
They now send their dark vapours curling up St. 
Vincent's cliffs, and by continually agitating the 
waters, destroy the transparency of that elegant river. 
But believing, as I do, that these " swift messengers" 
have a special commission, in the divine purpose, to 
bring from all parts of the world that acceptable present 
unto the Lord of Hosts, — his own peeled and scatter- 
ed Israel, — ^to the holy mountain of Jerusalem, I am 
reconciled to the temporary sacrifice of effect, as I 
should indeed be to the sacrifice of all earthly good, in 
the prospect of that blessed event. YaN^x'^ ^\ftws5«t 
launched, every rail laid down iu \\vft \A^>n vj^^ ^s^ ^ 



208 HANNAH MORE. 

step* towards the accomplishment of those glorioui 
things that are promised to crown the tribulations of 
these latter days ; and while Satan will doubtless avail 
himself for evil, cruelty, and devastation, they shall 
ultimately fulfil all the Lord's pleasure, when he says 
to Jerusalem. " Thou shalt be built,'' and to Zioii| 
* Thy fountains shall be laid." 

Mj sojourn at Clifton brought me into personal 
acquaintance with that venerable servant of God, 
Hannah More. We had for some time corresponded, 
and she had afforded me great en/^ouragement in my 
humble labours, taking an especial interest in my at- 
tempts to instruct the deaf and dumb children. I had 
now the pleasure of shewing her the progress made 
with Jack, who delighted her greatly, and who, to the 
last day of his mortal existence, most fondly cherished 
the memory of that sweet old lady. She was indeed, 
one of the excellent of the earth, permitted long to 
beautify the church which she had so mainly helped to 
strengthen and advance, and to be an honour to the 
land where she had nobly stood forth to repel the 
assaults of revolutionizing impiety. I often wonder 
that so little stress is laid upon this branch of Mrs. 
More's extensive labours. We hear much of her 
schools, her charities, her letters, her devotional and 
educational publications, and all of these deserve the 
full celebrity that they have attained. But England 
should especially bear in mind her effective champion- 
ohip of the good cause, by means most admirably adap- 
ted to its furtherance among the most dangerous, and 
generally speaking tlie nvoat wTv«LlpY^cs^c\v^j^c^fc ^^^"es,— ^ 
class who c/>ngregated in «L\e-\iOWses\.oV«i^T\\isi\w^«Bi 



HANNAH MORE. 209 

loatory harangues of seditious traitors, while as yet 
Bibles were scarce, religious tracts not in existence, and 
district visiting unthought of. In a lady of refined 
taste, and rare accomplishments in the higher style of 
writing, to volunteer in a work so new, and to furnish 
the press with a series of plain truths, dressed in a 
most homely phrase, rendered attractive by lively nar- 
rative, and even drollery, and the whole brought down 
to the level of coarse, uninformed minds, while circu- 
lated in a form to come within the narrow means of 
the lowest mechanics — this was an enterprise worthy 
especial note, even had. not God openly blessed it to 
the turning of that formidable tide. When I looked 
upon the placid but animated countenance of the aged 
saint, as she sat in her bow-window looking out upon 
the fair fields, the still inviolate shores of her beloved 
country, I thought more of her ^ cheap repository 
tracts ' than of all her other works combined. There 
lay the Bristol Channel, that noble inlet to our isle, 
by which the commerce of the world was even then 
finding its peaceful way to the great mart of Bristol ; 
and there sat the aged lady, so long the presiding spirit 
of the place, with one hand, as it were, gathering the 
lambs of the fiock into green pastures among the dis- 
tant hills, that formed a beautiful feature in the land- 
scape ; with the other vigorously repulsing the wolf 
from the field. If I could have discovered, which I 
could not, a single trait of consciousness that she was a 
distinguished being, exalted into eminence by public 
acclaim, I must have conceived her to be dwelling vl^^l 
this branch of her many privile^a, \)cl^\. ^"^ "W^Nsft*^ 
a Deborah where many a BaTa\L sViiXix^ ^loxsiXSBfc Y* 
18* 



210 AFFLICTION. ' 

of honour and skulked behind a woman. She took 
that livf ly interest in the public secular affairs of her 
country that Jeremiah and Ezekiel did of old, and on 
the same plain ground ; that where the state professes 
to be modelled, and the executive to act, on princi}^ 
of God's instilling, with a view that peace and happi- 
ness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be ee- 
tablished among us, nothing done by the state can be 
indifferent to the church, or unworthy the anxious^ 
watchful regard of Christians. To be called a carnal 
politician by those whose minds, at least on religious 
subjects, could contain but one idea, was certainly t 
light affliction to balance against the joyous concioas- 
ness of having materially aided in preserving those 
cavillers' homes from the hand of the spoiler, and their 
Bibles from that of the Atheist. 

When I saw Hannah More, she was really at ease in 
her possessions; and none who loved her less than the 
Lord himself did, would have laid a sorrow upon her 
gray hairs. Man would have decreed, that such a full- 
ripe shock of corn should be brought into the garner 
without further ruffling or shaking. She had suffered 
excedingly from rheumatism and other ailments, and 
yet more from the tongue of calumny, and the hand of 
ingratitude. She was an illustration of that striking 
couplet, 

' Envy will merit as its shade pursue, 

And, like the shadow, proves the substance true.' 

She had, however, triumphed over all, by meekly 
eammitting her cause to Him v«\io y\^^ft\>R.T\^\.^wsA'^\ 
and now she seemed to U ipW^^ Ao^^ox^^ ^^ ^^^'^ 



TREACHERY. 21 i 

of fuTtlier molestation , and about to end her useful 
life in peace. But she had another lesson to give to 
the people of God, another fire in which to glorify him 
and not long after I saw her reclining in that lovely- 
retreat that had grown up about her, a perfect bower 
frcmi slips and seeds of her own planting, as she de- 
lighted to tell us, she was actually driven out of her 
little paradise, compelled to leave the shadow of her 
nursling trees, and to cast a tearful farewell look on the 
smiling flowers, and to turn away from the bright sea 
and the waving line of her Cheddar hills, to find a 
lodging in the neighbouring town ; and all through 
treachery, domestic treachery, against her whose whole 
life had been a course of unsparing beneficence towards 
others! Hannah More, perhaps, needed to be again 
reminded, that she must do all her works ''as to the 
Lord," looking to him alone for acceptance of them ; 
or if she needed it not, others did ; and often since she 
entered into her Saviour's presence, " to go no more 
out," has the scene of the last trial to which her gen- 
erous, confiding, affectionate spirit was subjected, been 
blessed to the consolation of others. God's children 
find that it is good for themselves that they should 
be afflicted ; but they do not always remember how 
good it is for the church, that they should be so. They 
look within, and seeing so much there daily, "justly 
deserving God's wrath and condemnation," they lie still 
in his hand, willing and thankful to have the dross 
purged out, and all the tin taken away. Their fellows 
look on, and not seeing the desperate wick^ii«%<% ^^ 
iheir hearts, hut fondly believing t\iem \.vj >a^ ^% XL^«t 



212 

perfection as duman frailty will permit, thej argue, 

' If such a saint as be thus chastened and co/s- 

rected, what must a sinner like me expect V So they 
learn watchfulness and fear in the day of prosperity; 
and when adversity comes they are enabled more lov- 
ingly to kiss the rod. Oh, if we could see but a little 
of the Lord's dealings, in all their bearings, how should 
we praise him for his goodness, and the wonders that 
he doeth unto the children of men I What profit, 
what pleEUiure has He in afflicting us I Surely it is, S9 
to speak, more trouble to correct than to leave us alone; 
and he would not twine the small cords into a scourge, 
unless to cleanse and sanctify his temple. 

I have said that my brother's return home was de- 
layed. A hurt received in shooting, with its conser 
quences, detained him in Lisbon nearly a year; bat 
his family came over, and I had a new delicious em- 
ployment, a solace under many sorrows, an unfailing 
source of interest and delight, in teaching hia eldest 
surviving boy the accomplishments of walking and 
talking. I almost expected Jack to be jealous of sucb 
a rival, but I wronged him : nothing could exceed his 
fondness for * Baby boy,' or the zeal of hia Irish de 
votion to the little gentleman. Knowing that in tltf 
event of my removal Jack must earn his bread by 
some laborious or servile occupation,. I had kept him 
humble. He ate in the same* room with us, because I 
never suffered him to associate with servants, but at a 
side-table; and he was expected to do every little 
household work that befitted his age and strength. A 
kind shake of the hand, morning and evening, waahi^ 



jack's progress. 213 

peculiar privilege ; and the omission a punishment too 
severe to be inflicted except on occasions of most fla- 
grant delinquency, such as rebelling against orders, or 
expressing any angry emotion, to which he was con- 
stitutionally liable, by yells and howls, that almost 
frightened the Hotwells from their propriety. He 
hadjiof course, no idea of the strength of his own lungs, 
nor the eflfect produced by giving them full play in a 
fit of passion ] but the commotion into which it threw 
the whole house seemed to flatter his vanity, and he 
became a vocalist on very trifling occasions. This 
neither agreed with our dear invalid landlady, nor was 
a fitting example for ^ Baby boy,' who speedily tried 
his own little treble in admiring imitation of Jack's 
deafening bass ; and recourse was at last had to the 
aid of a young friend, who bestowed a few gentle raps 
on his head with the bent end of a hooked cane, and 
then locked him up in a dark kitchen for half an hour, 
saying to me rather regretfully, ' I suppose my popu- 
larity is at an end now. Poor fellow ! I shall be sorry to 
lose his affection.^ But this was so far from being the 
Case, that to his closing scene Jack retained a grateful 
Remembrance of the proceeding. He used to say, 
* Good Mr. W". ; good little stick beat Jack's head ; 
tnade bad Jack good. Jack love good Mr. W.' At 
the very time, as soon as he saw his kind corrector, 
^ter the business, he very gracefully and cordially 
thanked him. kissing his >hand, with a bow, and say- 
ing, 'Jack no more cry ;' and as he really was hardly 
touched, and full well knew we had not the heart to be 
^vere, it was a proof of that openness to rebuke which 
it A lovely mark of true Chri/tianity 



SI4 fRATEE. 

Montgomery beautifully says, 

* Prayer is the christian's vital Dreath, 
The Christianas native air.' 

And so it eminently was with the dumb boy. Undet 
every form of condition and circumstance, in health and 
sickness, in joy, in grief, in danger, in perplexity— 
over his food, his studies, his work, his amusement^ 
he was ever turning a look of peculiar sweetness on me, 
with the words, * Jack pray.' He always smiled when 
so engaged, and a look of inexpressible eagerness, 
mingled with satisfaction, and the triumph of one who 
feels he» has taken a secure stand, told me when he 
was praying, without any change of position, or look- 
ing up. There was always a mixture of anxiety in his 
aspect when he tried to make himself understood by 
his fellow-creatures; this gave place to something the 
reverse of anxiety when he was ' talking to God,' M 
he sometimes expressed it. He oftener looked down 
than up ; and very often did I see his eye fixed upon 
the 'Baby boy,' when, as his looks bespoke, and as 
he afterwards told me, he was ' tell God ' about him, 
and that he was too little to know about Jesus Christ 
yet. Many a prayer of that grateful dumb boy even 
now descends in blessings on the head of my brother's 
■ Baby,' and long may the hallowed stream continue 
to flow down, until they rejoice together before the 
throne of the Lamb. 

One of Jack's lovely thoughts was this : he told nw 
that when little children began to walk, Jesus Christ 
held them by the hand to tftWiV X^i^tbl*. «».^^^\.M^«^ 
fell he put his liandbetvieeii.\>\cvtVe»^^^ wAxiafe igssssii 



HE&CIES. . 215 

to pieTent their being hurt. Then, as if he ^aw this 
proceeding, he would look up, and with the fondest ex- 
pression say, * Good Jesus Christ ! Jack very much 
loves Jesus Christ.' I hope you are not tired of Jack ; 
I have much to tell about him. God made me the 
humble means of plucking this precious brand from 
the burning ; and I owe it to the Lord to show what a 
tenfold blessing I reaped in it. Jack was not the only 
one of whom He has, in the dispensations of his provi- 
dence, said to me, '^ Nurse this child^ for me, and I 
will give thee thy wages." I have found Him a noble 
Paymaster I 

And now I come to a period of my life that I have 
scarcely courage to go over. Many, and sharp, and 
bitter were the trials left unrecorded here ; and shame 
be to the hand that shall ever dare to lift up the veil 
that tender charity would cast over what was God's 
doing, let the instruments be what and who they might 
It is enough to say, that even now I know there was 
not one superfluous stroke of the rod, nor one drop of 
bitter that could have been spared from the wholesom » 
cup. Besides, he dealt most mercifully with me ; those 
two rich blessings, health and cheerfulness were never 
withdrawn. •! had njt a day's illness through years 
of tribulation ; and though my spirits would now and 
then fail, it was but a momentary depression ; light and 
buoyant, they soon danced on the crest of the wave 
that had for an instant engulphed them. 

It is of joy I have to tell: safety, peace, prosperity 
under the restored sunshine that had made my early 
career bo bright Never did a siatet mox^ ^oxi^-^ \^^^ 
M brother; never was a brother more £otlaftftL\.o^s^^^ft^^^ 



216. A SOLDIER. 

light, the pride, the blessing of a sister. He was of most 
rare beauty from the cradle, increasing in loveliness as 
he grew up, and becoming the very model of a splen^ 
did man ; very tall, large, commanding, with a face of 
perfect beauty, glowing, animated, mirthful, — a gait so 
essentially military, that it was once rem^ked by an 

officer, ^ If B were disguised as a washerwoman, 

any soldier would give him the salute.' He had also 
served in the Peninsula with the highest possible credit, 
regarded by t^ose in command as one of the best of- 
ficers in the service, and most ardency loved by the 
men under him. Many a bloody battle-field had ho 
seen ] but never did a wound reach him. On one oc 
casion, — Albuera, — his gallant regiment went into ac- 
tion 800 strong, and on the following day only 96 men 
were able to draw rations. He became on the field a 
lieutenant, from being the youngest ensign ; and alike 
in all circumstances he shone out as an. honour to his 
profession. He had also been an especial favonnte 
with John VL, of Portugal, and the high polish of a 
court was superadded to all the rest, without in the 
smallest degree changing the exceedingly playful, un- 
affected joyousness of the most sunshiny character I 
ever met with. 

Ten years' absence had produced the effect on my 
sisterly love that Burns describes : — 

',Time but th^ impression stronger makes 
As Btreams their channels deeper wear.' 

I had also many personal reasons for looking ib^ 
ward to his return with peculiar anxiety ; and its un- 
certainty increased tVie {ec\m^. Wl^^^mk^ v^xd&aa% 
a day with a sick friend, wii itwi Votda %\. m^V*^ 



A HOME. SI 7 

be lodging occupied by my mother and myself, and 
here I found my brother. What a dream those ten 
wears' trials appeared ! 

We remained but a short time in Clifton, and soon 
lent our way towards the metropolis, where he ex- 
lected, as is usual, to dance a long and wearisome 
ttendance on the H^rse Guards, for a regimental ap- 
pointment. He had refused that of aid-de-camp- to- 
Cing John, with any military rank and title that he 
sight desire ; preferring a half-pay unattached com- 
nny in the British to any thing that a foreign service ^ 
ould^ofier ; but he was mistaken : his merits were well* 
mown to the Duke of York, and before he could well' 
tate to sir Herbert Taylor his wishes, that estimable 
nan told him he bad only to select out of two or three- 
■egiments lately returned from foreign service, and he 
rould be gazetted on the following Tuesday. He; 
iliose the 75 tb, and was immediately appointed to it' 
vith leave to study for two years in the senior depart- 
nent of the Military CoUege at Sandhurst, the better 
;o qualify himself for a future staff situation. 

A sweet cottage, standing isolated on the verge of 
Bagshot heath, sheltered by tall trees and opening on 
I beautiful .lawn, with a distant but full view of the col- 
lege, became our abode.* A delightful room was se- 
lected for me, with an injunction to sit down and make 
the most of my time while he was in the halls of 
itudy, that I might be at leisure to walk, to ride, to 
garden, to farm, with him, — my brother, my restored 
brother, whose eye beamed protection, and whose 8mil« 
diffiured gladness, and whose society ivba ^\i^^ Vcv cspox: 
^•ppy ebildbood it had ever been, jviilt \mXa^ ^^ ^ 
19 



218 IDOiJLTKT. 

tke world to me. If one thing was wanting, and want 
ing it was, to knit us in a tie more enduring than any 
of this world's bonds could possibly be, that very 
sense of want furnished a stimulus to more importu- 
nate prayer on his behalf Some of the good people 
who for lack of a relay of ideas borrow one of theiz 
neighbours and ride it to death/ treated me to a leaf 
from the book of Job's comforters, when the calamity 
fell on me of that precious brother's death, by telliag 
me I had made an idol of him. It was equally fake 
«s foolish. An idol is something that either usurps 
<jrod's place, or withdraws our thoughts and devotions 
^from him. The very reverse of this was my case. 
1 had an additional motive for continually seeking the 
Jjord, not only in prayer, for the enlightening iofla* 
eaces of the Holy Spirit on behalf of one so dear, but 
also for grace to walk most circumspectly myself, lest 
*I should cast any stumbling-block in his way, or give 
him occasion to suspect that my religious profession 
was a name, and not a reality. That was surely a 
>profitable idol which kept me always prayerful before 
God, watchful over myself, diligent in the discharge 
of duties, and in continual thanksgiving for the 
mercies I had received! Do I repent loving my 
brother so well ? I wish it hAd been possible to love 
him better. These warm affections of the heart are 
among the sweetest relics of a lost Eden, and I wouM 
sooner tear up the flowers that God has left to smile in 
*out daily path through a sin-blighted wilderness,— far 
^sooner, — ^than I would cease to cherish, to foster, to de- 
> light in the brighter, sweeter flowers of domestic love, 
ouried to the full extent of all its endearing capabilities. 



FALSE JUDOMEKT. 219 

The Lord knoweth our frame ] he deals with us not 
according to what we are not, but according to wh^Eit 
we are. He sets before us various duties, and to the 
end that we may the better fulfil them he gives us aids 
not contrary to, but accordant with our natural feelings. 
Men set up a standard, often a just and scriptural one, to 
which they sorrowfully confess that because of the 
weakness of their nature they cannot themselves at- 
tain ; but according to which they sternly judge their 
neighbours. A person has a path assigned to him, a 
steep ascent strewed with thorns and crowded with 
obstacles, before which he often pauses and waxes 
faint. God gives him a companion for his way, even 
as he sent forth the disciples two and two, and the 
pilgrim is cheered. He quickens his pace; another 
besides himself will be benefitted by his progress, and 
if he fails another will suffer in his loss. So he goes 
on thankful, rejoicing, and endued with double energy 
for the toilsome achievement. But he sees a neigh- 
bour to whom the Lord has also granted help through 
human means, perhaps not exactly similar to that 
which he has received; he sees his neighbour like- 
wise openly rejoicing in the possession of such a 
stafi*; and bringing him to the test of that perfect 
law which requires an entire devoted ness to and de- 
pendence on the Lord, he raises a cry of ' mixed mo- 
tives ;' ' the arm of flesh,' ' idolatry,' and so forth. No 
doubt he is so far right, that perverse humanity will 
ever abuse God's gifts, and often make tbem occasions 
of sin ; but this outcry of the beam against the mote, 
which is so grievously prevalent in the religious world^ 



220 TEAJVQOILLITT. 

is very unseemly. Oh, ho w infinitely more tender is the 
Lord to us than we to one another ! 

Hitherto many impediments had been thrown in 
the way of my literary labours. Anxiety, apprehen- 
sion, and the restlessness of feeling resulting from a 
continual change of abode, had broken the train of 
thought, and rendered my work very uncertain. In- 
deed, it would often have been wholly inadequate to my 
support, but for the watchful kindness of friends whom 
the Lord raised up to me, foremost among whom always 
stood the estimable Mr. Sandford, who never ceased to 
regard me with paternal affection and care. To be 
wholly independent was the first earthly wish of my 
heart ; and now a fair opportunity was given of test- 
ing my willingness to labour diligently. The result 
was so far satisfactory, and in the course of the two 
years and two months of my residence under my bro- 
ther's roof, I wrote the Rockite, The System, Izram, 
Consistency, Perseverance, Allen M'Leod, Zadoc, and 
upwards of thirty little books and tracts, besides con- 
tributions to various periodicals. I was going on most 
prosperously when an attempt was suddenly made 
from another quarter to establish a claim to the profits 
of my pen. The demand was, probably, legal, ac- 
cording to the strict letter of existing statutes, though 
circumstances would have weighed strongly in my fa- 
vour. But it greatly reduced the value of my copy- 
rights, for the time being, and I found myself checked 
in my career at a juncture when it was especiaUy my 
desire to go on steadily. This brought upon me twtf 
temptations, the force of which was greatly inci eased 
hy the circumstances under which they found me. 



LETTER XI 



SANDHURST. 



When I first began to write, it was with a simple 
iesire to instruct the poor in the blessed truths of the 
^spel. My own situation soon rendered it needful 
to turn the little talent I possessed to account. This ■ 
I did, still keeping in view the grand object of promot- 
ing God's glory ; and my attempts having been well 
received, I foui^ aveady market for whatever I wrote, 
BO that the name was considered a sufficient guarantee 
for the book. Now I could no longer safely use that 
name, and anonymous writing became the only feasible 
plan. A friend, who did not look upon the main sub- 
ject in the light that I did, made, through my brother, 
a proposal that I should become a contributor to the 
mdsc popular magazine of the day, supplying tftles, 
Sic, the purport of which was to be as moral as I 
pleased, but with no direct mention of religion. The 
terms .offered were very high : the strict incognito to be 
preserved would secure me from any charge of inconsist- 
ency, and coming as it did when my regular source of 
income was suddenly /closed, and when the idea of be- 
ing burdensome to my generous brother with his in- 
creasing family was hardly supportable, it was thought: 
I eonJd not demur. 

19» 



222 A CONFLICT. 

Nevertheless, I did; the Lord in his gracious pro 
▼idence had said to me, '^Go work to-day in my 
vineyard," and I had for upwards of four years en- 
joyed that blessed privilege. It was now withdrawn^ 
certainly not without his permission, and how did I 
know that it was not to try my faith ? The idea of 
hiring myself out to another master — to engage in the 
service of that world the friendship of which is enmity 
with God — to cause the Holy One of Israel to cease 
from before those whom by the pen I addressed — to 
refrain from setting forth Jesus Christ and Him cruci- 
fied to a perishing world, and give the reins to an im- 
agination ever prone to wander after folly and romance, 
but now subdued to a better rule — all this was so con- 
trary to my views of Christian principle that, after 
much earnest prayer to God, I decided sather to wcnrk 
gratuitously in the good cause, trusting in Him who 
knew all my necessity, than to entangle myself with 
things on which I could not ask a blessing. The con- 
flict was indeed severe ; no one attempted to oppose my 
resolve ; but as yet no one could at all understand its 
real ground ; and it was a very trying position in which 
I stood, thus seemingly spuming an honourable means 
of independence and leaving myself destitute. But the 
trial was short: my first friends, the Christian * Dub- 
lin Tract Society,' exercising that faith which has 
distinguished all their acts, determined to brave the 
consequences, and still publish my little books. This, 
though the profit was not then very good, I hailed as 
a gracious intimation of lYie Lat^'^ -^Mv^ose still to 
' continue me in his seivice*, «a^ \ ^^"^ ^^ isMst^ 
^MtrengthQUQi to meet the aecouSi \.i\«\^ ^Vv^^ 'twsaas|. 



A SNARE. 228 

at a time when the sum proffered would be doubly a& 
eeptable, and the refusal involving the loss of a very 
old and kind friend, was ratber a sbarp one ; more es 
peeially as the offence given would and did alienate 
bim from otbers wbo bad no sbare in tbe proceed 
ing, and wbose interests were far dearer to me tban ^ 
my own. 

Many years before, tbat friend bad published a no- 
vel : not a flimsy love-story, but of a class above tbe 
common run. I bad, as a girl, been very fond of it, 
and often delighted tbe amiable author by expressing 
an admiration that was not general ; for the work had 
failed, and was unsold! Now, finding I had been my- 
self successful with the pen, and full, even in old age, 
of natural love for his literary offspring, he had formed 
a plan, in which he never dreamed of encountering op- 
position. He wished me to re-write it, to cast the 
ebaracters anew, enliven the style, add variety to the 
incidents, and in short, make a new work out of his 
materials. Still it was to be a novel ; and as it had 
been published in his name it was to be so now. My 
riiare in the work would never be known : and as he 
was abundantly wealthy, and equally generous, a carte 
blanche as to terms Was before me. 

On tbe former occasion I had paused, and thought 
much : on this I did not. Tbe path was }^ain before 
me, but dreadfully painful to pursue. A hundred 
pounds just then would have been more to me than a 
thousand at another time ; and private feeling T^as most 
distressingly involved, both as repLrd^dk. tk^^s^ w\^ 
others. It was ki an agony of pray ex, wv3l ^\.«t\Gi"KK^ 
attar tegrsthat I brought myself to AoT«\i^t^^«N^vCte»' 



224 * AN. INCIDENT. 

less, I had not a wish to leave undone. I wrote a faitk 
ful letter to the friend in question, most unequivocally 
stating the ground of my refusal — the responsibility 
under which I conceived we all lay before God fortk 
application of talents committed by Him : the evils of 
novel-reading ; and, as far as I could, I declared the 
whole gospel of Christ to one whom I had .no reason 
to consider as taking any thought whatever for his 
soul. I heard no more from him to the day of his 
death, which took place ten years after. I had reason 
to believe that his intentions towards me were very 
liberal in the final distribution of his property ; for he 
had known and loved me from my cradle, and he had 
no family: but my conscience bore a happy testimony 
in the matter ; and I am fully persuaded that the whole 
was a snare of Satan to betray me into an acceptance 
of unhallowed gains, by catering to the worldly tastes 
of those who forget God. No doubt, the business 
would have been a profitable one, and the inducement 
to persevere made strong in proportion as I sacrificed 
principle to lucre. " All these things will I give thee, 
if thou wilt fall down and worship me." I shouU 
neither do justice to the Lord's rich goodness nor to 
the honoured instrument of His bounty if I omitted to 
add, that, shortly after, my munificent friend Mr- 
Sandford sent me a gift that left me no loser by hanng 
done my duty. 

While on the subject of my books, I will record an 

mcidenf that occurred about the same time, and on 

which I always look wilV £ftfe\\n^% ot vEvd!&%<^Tibable de 

light I did not know it \iii\.\\, soxaa ^^%x^ ^\kw«^ 

th9 Btoty was related to me\>7 tV^i^xmcL^w5.\.^V\fi:^ 



THE SIMPLE FLOWER. 225 

— ^the abettor of my heretical pravity. Little did I 
dream, when writing my humble penny books, that 
they would be advanced to the high honour of a place 
in the Papal Index Expurgatorius. 

The lady in question took to the continent a sweet, 
only daughter : a lovely little girl of ten years old, the 
joy of her widowed bosom, who was fast sinking in de- 
cline. I was exceedingly fond of that child, who re- 
turned my affection from the depth of an Irish heart ; 
and who, out of love for its author, selected one of my 
small penny books to translate into Italian during her 
last stage of suffering. She did not live to complete 
it ] but with her dying breath requested her mother to 
do so, in the earnest hope of its being made useful to 
the ignorant people around them. Bessie was a lamb 
of the Lord's fold ; and to lead other children into the 
same blessed shelter was her heart's desire. A s soon 
as the bereaved mother could make any exertion, she 
Betook herself to the task assigned by her departed 
darling, and found such satisfaction in it that she ex- 
tended her labours, and translated several more. Be- 
ing a lady of rank and affluence, she was enabled to 
carry it on to publication, and to ensure the circula- 
tion of the little books among many. One of them, 
'.The Simple Flower,' a sixpenny book, thus trans- 
lated, fell into the hands of an Italian physician, a 
man of highly cultivated mind ; nominally a Roman- 
ist; and like all thinking Romanists, in ^ality an 
infidel The book contains not a word on contro- 
versy ; not an allusion to Popery — it is plaiiv i^q«^V 
trath conveyed in a very simple narxaliv^. CjiCk^^^^"3fc^ 
If to thia gentleman, and lie became ^w CV\\^v»^^ 



226 Papal fllminatiox. 

The circumstance excited much remark : curiosity led 
many to read that and others of the series, and a great 
number were circulated in the neighbouring districts. 
This was actually within the papal states, under the ju- 
risdiction of the Archbishop of Sienna, to whose know* 
ledge came the astounding fact that pennyworths of 
heresy were circulated within the range of his pastoral 
charge : the matter was reported at head-quarters, taken 
up with due seriousness, and a Sunday appointed, on 
which, no doubt, I was quietly worshipping in the col- 
lege chapel at Sandhurst, wholly unconscious that my 
name was then being proclaimed at a hundred Italian 
altars, with a denumpiation against all who should 
read, circulate, or possess any book, tract, or treatise 
penned by me. One instance was particularized: a 
poor priest had himself given numbers of these trans* 
lations to his flock ; and after mass he stood befoie 
them, deeply moved, telling them he had a painfnl 
duty to perform. That he had received from the 
highest authority a command to proclaim what he 
held in his hand, and which he proceeded to read to 
them — a copy of the fulmination above-mentioned. 
Having done so he folded the paper, and resumed, say- 
ing he had given and recommended the little books to 
them, because he had read them himself and found no; 
thing but what was good in them : however, the chureh, 
which they were all bound to obey, judged otherwise ; 
^ and now,' he added, ' you must bring them back to 
me, or burn them, or in some other way destroy them 
wholly : nevertl\e\es3 1 d^clw^ in the sight of Grod I 
Found no evil in those deax \W.\\fc >ooO&s,\s>aX. "^^ ^^^ 
^rary— they are fuWot ^oo^? W^ \sv«^ \\sS.^ nswv 



PUBLIC EVl^NTS. 227 

and many wept with him; and not a few of the pro- 
leribed produetions were wrapped up and buried in 
the earth, or otherwise put away till the search should 
he over. Who knows but that very priest was led to 
the Bible and to Christ through such humble means ? 
1 \rouId not exchange for the value of the ten king- 
doms ten times trebled, the joy that I feel in this high 
honour put upon me — this rich blessing of being under 
he papal curse. 

I have been long silent on the subject of public 
events : George the Third had passed into a blessed 
immortality just at the time when I first learned to 
understand and appreciate his Christian character ; 
George the Fourth had visited Ireland, and in the ar- 
dently-expressed affection of a people who will always 
love where they are permitted so to do, had recognised 
their claim in his paternal regard, which recognition 
was used by the wily deceivers of the day to press as 
a national boon the wicked, cruel measure that would 
only confirm more strongly their subjection to a fojeign 
power, and alienate the whole race from England, 
Napoleon had disappeared from the world of which he 
was the terrific scourge, and found an obscure tomb on 
the distant rock; while peace rested upon the nations, so 
long tossed in tumultuous rage. No sign appeared of 
hostile movement abroad, and all men were occupied 

^ in domestic politics, striving for and against the sub- 
version of our ancient institutions. The party in 
power had shown a decided inclination to help forward 
the cause of Popery ; and God, who has never failed 
to intimate his displeasure at aueli «l \&mslV[\^^\v^^ 

part of our government, shook the Y?\vo\e cwsixsX.v^ ^>^ 



' 228 THE DUKE OF YORK. 

a commercial panic that menaced general bankniptcjr. 
Alexander of Russia was taken away in the prime of 
life : and with full purpose of heart to christianize Ids 
vast empire, and to gather in the outcasts of Israel I 
always thought he was removed because his enlight- 
ened mind was too far in advance of the time, and he 
passed too rapidly forward in works not yet to be ac- 
complished. His death affected me deeply, for I had 
become exceedingly watchful of the signs of the times, 
^nd impressed with the belief that the consummation 
of ell things was not far d^tant. In fact, I was rapidly 
embracing those views called Millennarian, without 
being conscious of it; and the prophetic S^riptoies 
became unceasingly my study. The Duke of York's 
death seemed to me the signal for overthrowing our na- 
tional Protestantism, and while I mourned inhimaroyal 
patron who had taken a generous interest in my con- 
cerns, and in heartfelt sympathy wept with the old sol- 
diers of the military establishment over one so justly en- 
deared to them and to the whole army, my heart quaked 
at the silencing of that voice so nobly, so energeticallj, 
So solemnly raised in the Senate against a deed to 
which he then distinctly swore, before God and his 
country, that he would never be consenting. I visited 
St. George's chapel on the day of his interment : and 
when I saw his knightly effigies, — ^the helm and sword 
and banner, — ^taken down from over his stall and ca^ 
ried out of the chapel, a strange foreboding came oyer 
me. suqh as I had never known: but which, alas! has 
}oDg been in course of fulfilment. I stood at the mouth 
of the vault jfhere the reVics o?VVaTo^^Wihjk!Kt^j«^\.v^ 
»nd into which liis own wexe \.o ^^^«tA\ v^. ^waA^Nft 



NAVARINO. 229 

me the open grave of all that my proudly English 
heart had cherished from infancy ; and such was my 
emotion that I declined witnessing the interment, and 
stationed myself in the highest attic of a house where 
all wer^ thronging to the lower windows for a sight of 
the solemn pageant that wound its torch-light way 
through the street I saw it far beneath me, more like 
i procession of fairies than of full-sized men, and noble 
tteeds : and I wept unrestrained, with feelings hard to 
define,, until wholly exhausted, and actually ill from 
the effects of such excitement. Was there not a cause ? 
The event has proved it. I cannot believe that the 
deed committed two years afterwards, in that very 
Windsor, the granting of the royal assent to the abomi- 
nable BUI, would ever have been perpetrated while the 
Duke of York eid.sted as next in succession to the 
throne. 

This was January 1827: the following October wit- 
nessed the most eventful scene that has been enacted 
upon this globe for many centuries. Even at that 
time I felt it to be so; and now at the distance of 
thirteen years its effects are making themselves felt 
through every nerve and pulse of the body politic. 
notHierely in Europe but gradually throughout the 
world. The battle of Navarino was the turning 
point of this dispensation. Most wonderful it was in 
all its particulars : nothing could be further from the 
wishes, the interests, the avowed policy of England 
than to cripple in any way the power of Turkey, that 
great and efficient barrier against the formidable Maia- 
eawite. In fact, our fleet was latliei intftivdi^^ \a ^x^ 
^t than to embanaas the Porte. Qiee^ ^^*& iXrQ^% 



230 rnOGXOSTICATIONS. 

gling for freedom, and the Mabommedan despot wai 
crushing her deeper into the dust beneath his merci- 
less hand, so that it behooved the civilized powers of 
Christian Europe to interpose something in the form 
of protection over the oppressed victim ; but Rufnit 
alone had an interest in harming Turkey, and Russia's 
allies were of all things most jealous of her growing 
greatness : yet unsent, unauthorised, and acting under 
an impulse that could not be accounted for, Engpbind 
and France went into action side by side with Russia, 
and at one blow broke forever the power of the Porto* 
It was most wonderful : it opened to my view a 
mighty page in the world's history, and led me, with- 
out communication with any mortal holding those 
views, — ^for I knew not one. — ^to look upon the sixth 
vial as in the very act of emptying its contents on the 
p;reat river Euphrates, and so to inquire, with tremb* 
ling anxiety, what would be the result of outpouring 
the seventh. I settled it in my mind to watch the 
East as one who looks for the sun's rising on a scene 
of bodily peril in darkness and in doubt. I plainlf 
saw that Turkey must now lie helpless before the Rna- 
siftn ; and I resolved if this blow was not followed np 
by sudden ruin, but by the continuance of a wasting, 
a ^ drying up ' process, I would proceed on my nev 
assumption of prophetic meanings as established. De- 
voted to the Jewish cause, I always looked upon Tu^ 
key with abhorrence, and jealously anticipated her 
predicted subversion, that Israel might again possess 
the good Jand : and while fihuddeiin^ over the scene 
of bloodshed that Kad occwixedL, wv^ Xwrku^vsv^ ^ 
ptiBsage of so many ruined aowXaVolo ^^.wiaVj ^\ t«^ 



MILLENNAIIIANISIL 231 

QOt stifle a sensation of joy that a signal-gun had thuf • 
Deen fired for the ingathering of the scattered tribes. 
My brother observed this : he said, ' I do believe you 
are glad of this unfortunate battle : I promise you it 
is a very different victory from what you are used to 
exult in.' I did not deny this, but still, in spite of 
myself, I looked glad. ' Oh, you christian ladies are 
tender-hearted creatures, to delight in a scene of butch- 
ering and drowning, just because the poor wretches 
happen to be Turks !' I could not defend myself from 
the charge : that dear brother had not yet learned to 
view passing events in the light that Scripture throws 
apon them : and I remained under a sort of stigma 
that did not affect me much ; especially as his utmost 
displeasure never went further than good-humoured 
raillery, levelled at the supposed inconsistency which 
his own awakening perception of divine truth rendered 
him doubly quick at detecting. I was driven to my 
Bible more closely than ever by this event ; and the 
Bible which had taught me every thing else was* now 
teaching me Millennarianism, while as yet the word 
was in my estimation one of reproach. 

With what fondness does memory linger over those 
delightful days of sojourn under the sheltering roof 
of my brother, so soon to be for ever parted in this 
world ! Another boy had been added to our happy 
little circle, and Jack's warm heart seemed to receive 
an accession of love that he might have it to bestow 
on the < beautiful Baby small,' which claimed so much 
of his thoughts and prayers. Indeed his thoughts were 
always prayers, for God was in a\\. "^^ Taft.\^ \s^ 
Utile progress in language, Kavmg a ^xe^V. ftS^^^ ^ 



232 jack's petition. 

learning beyond what was needful for oommnnioatiBg 
his thoughts to me, and as he was then obliged to be 
more with servants than I liked, I was not anxious to 
extend his facilities of communicating with them: nor 
did he at all desire their society. He had a little room 
of his own, to his great delight, over the eoach-hooae ; 
and when not employed in his work, or talking with 
me, he was most happy with the pencil He gave i 
strong and beautiful proof of the dread with whieli 
God inspired him as to ensnaring company ; and I 
cannot pass it over. 

My brother declared his intention of keeping a 
horse, and of course a groom. Jack came to me with 
an earnest entreaty that he might be the groom, 
saying he could do it so well. The reason he gaTe 
to me, confidentially, was, that men were very wicked; 
that the man-servant would often shake hands with 
the devil, (his usual mode of expressing wilful sin,) 
and that if Jack shook hands with him he would some 
day draw his hand till he got it into the devil's ; mean- 
ing, that an evil companion would by degrees induce 
him to become evil too. He also said, Captain B. 
was very kind to Mam, and that a servant would cost 
him money, and eat a great deal; but Jack would take 
no money, and only eat ' small potato, small meat,' be- 
cause he loved Captain B. When I communicated 
the request to my brother he laughed, saying such a 
boy could never ^oom a horse ; but Jack had been 
privately to a kind friend of his, a retired noncom- 
missioned officer of cBLVBilTy, yiIlo had the care of 
Bonie horses, and got\v\xQ.to ^\veV\\sv\ive^Tvi^^wv.^«^' 
eeedingso wel. in\iisa\.teia^tV«xO[i^*^n^«si\.\.^^^ 



HAPPY CAJJTION. 233 

orother he really thought him competent to the office. 
He consented to try ; and having purchased his horse, 
tied him up at the stable door for Jack to commence 
operations, while we all assembled to see him. I was 
apprehensive of a total failure, but he did it admira- 
bly, and my brother declared he only wanted a few 
inches in height to be one of the best grooms in the 
kingdom. Jack's exultation was very great. When 
we were alone, he went up to the horse, kissed it, and 
after telling me how pleased he saw his master look, 
he added, ' No man ; all Jack. Devil cry — go 
devil!' and snapped his fingers at the invisible enemy. 
His greatest security next to his love of God was 
his constant fear of Satan ; yet it was rather a fear of 
himself, lest he should yield to his temptations, for he 
was perfectly aware Satan would not force him to do 
.anything. Hence his extreme caution as to what 
associates he had, and a reserve with those whom he 
did not know to be Christians, which was sometimes 
ttistaken' for pride. He invariably asked me of every 
person who came to the house, whether that person 
loved Jesus Christ ; and if I could not give a positive 
anawer in the affirmative, he stood aloof, always most 
courteous, but perfectly cold, and even dignified in re- 
pelling any advance to sociability beyond common 
politeness. He did not know the meaning of a single 
bad word, and God kept him so that the wicked one 
tpuched him not I used every means, of course, to 
this end. I watched him most narrowly, and always 
interposed if he was required to do anything^ or to ^ 
to any place, in which I appieVieiidL^dL di^u^wL. '^^ 
^^plance extorted smiles from tkoa^ ivV^ ^^tisAvt^^^ 



234 PERSEVERANCE. 

must all be in vain when he grew a little older ; bat 
no obstacle was placed in my way ; and I bless 'God I 
never relaxed that care, nor did the boy ever depart 
from his holy caution ; and he died at the age of nine- 
teen, a very tall and fine looking, young man, with the I 
mind of a little babe as regards the evil that is in ' 
the world. Oh that parents knew the importance of 
thus watching over their boys ! 

Soon after the first horse was established in his stall, 
my brother purchased a second for my riding, saying 
he should now, of course, get an assistant in the stable; 
but Jack burst into tears, and himself pleaded with him 
for leave to do all. My brother greatly delighted in 
his broken language, and caught exactly his phrase- 
ology, so that they conversed together as well as with 
me ; and he told me he could not stand Jack's entreat- 
ies. ' He is a fine little fellow,' said he, ^ and if yon 
will watch and see that he is not over-exerting himself, 
he may try for a while : he will soon be tired.' Bat 
far from it ; Jack was proud of his two horses : and none 
in the place were better kept. When a cow was added, 
a young person came to milk her ; but Jack was out- 
rageous, talked of his mother's ' Kilkenny cows,' and 
' Cow's baby,' and expressed such sovereign contempt 
for the stranger's performance, and such downright 
hostility against the intruder, that we had no peace till 
he got the cow also under his especial care. Often 
afterwards did he talk of that time, saying he was 
' Well Jack,' when he had two horses and a cow, and 
almost crying over his loss. He grew rapidly and 
the doctors told me that such a life would have kept 
him strong to any age. 



ZEAL. 'i35 

One day he came and asked me to ^et him have a 
large hoop, to make him go faster on messages. I 
thought it childish, and did not regard it, so he went 
to my brother with the same request, who inquired 
his reason. Jack told him the stage coaches that 
passed our gate went very fast, because the four horses ^ 
had four large hoops, meaning the wheels, and if he 
had a large hoop he could go as fast as the horses. 
Diverted beyond measure at such an original idea, my 
brother sent to Reading for the largest and best hoop 
that could be got ; and many a laugh we had at seeing 
Jack racing beside the London coaches, with his wheel, 
nodding defiance at the norses, and shouting aloud with 
glee. He often went six miles with his wheel, to bear 
messages and notes to our valued and much loved 
friend, General Orde, whom he idolized almost and who 
looked on him as one of the most lovely instances of 
divine grace he had ever met with. On the first for- 
mation of the British Reformation Society, General 
Orde wrote to me, with a prospectus of the intended 
work. I told it to Jack, who in rapturous delight 
gave me his whole worldly fortune of two shillings, 
bidding me give it to put in their pockets, and to bid 
good General Orde tell gentleman to send much Bibles 
to Kilkenny, that his father and mother and all the 
poor people might learn to break the crucifixes, and 
We Jesus Christ. I wrote this to the General who 
lent to me for the identical two shillings, which Mr. 
Noel produced on the platform, with the dumb boy's 
message, and I believe it drew many a piece of gold 
from the purses of those who saw the gift, which stands 
tnroUed the very first in the accounts of lVv«l x^V^it 



236 FAITH. 

society's receipts. Jack often prayed for tlie K Jbima- 
tion Society, and I believe his blessings helped then 
not a little. There was so much faith in all that lie 
did, such as God alone could give ; and he neyer 
seemed to entertain a doubt of obtaining what he asked. 
Many a sweet instance of his child^like confidence in 
the Lord is engraven on my memory, at once to stiffl* 
ulate and to shame me. His whole experience seemed 
to be an illustration of the word of promise, ^' Ask, 
and ye shall receive." One of the things that struek 
me as being referable to nothing but the teaching of 
the Holy Spirit, was the interest manifested by this 
boy for the Jews. Flis active Protestantism was 
easily accounted for ; but to give him an idea of Juda- 
ism would have been impossible. He could not read. 
His knowledge of language did not go far enough to 
enable him to understand the construction of a sen- 
tence ; and though he spelled correctly, and wrote 
readily whatever he wished to say, and his mode of 
expression was generally quite intelligible to others, 
he did not comprehend what was spoken or written in 
the ordinary way. Accustomed to attach a distinct 
meaning to every word, and acquainted with very few ; 
besides nouns and a few verbs, which he only used in 
the present tense, independent of the pronouns, and 
without reference to number, he was quite lost among 
the other parts of speech. For instance, if I had 
wanted to say, ' You must go to the village and buy 
me a small loaf of bread,' I should have expressed it 
thus: ^Jack, go YiUage^ money ^ bread small, one.' 
Grammatically expressed^ tVi^ oi^bt ^o\\<i'W«%\fi»& 
muntelligible to h\m\ b\xt few yioxjX^ \kv«% ls:^aiQS^ 



TESTIMONIES. 237 

tood it in the uncouth phrase last instanced. He 
rould have gone to the shop, and writing down, 
Bread small' one, would have held out the money, and 
nade a sign to express what size he wanted. It was 
Ilia v«ry fact of the impossibility of conveying to his 
nind any clear notion of things invisible and spiritual, 
llat BO gloriously manifested the power and goodness of 
3od in causing the light to shine into his heart. To a 
reader who never witnessed the attempts of an intelli- 
^nt, half-taught, deaf mute, to express his meaning, 
ind to catch that of others, much of what I state re- 
fpecting Jack may and must appear, if not incredible, 
ftt least unintelligible ; yet none who ever saw and 
conversed with him would fail to substantiate it, and 
they were very many. That zealous missionary, Dr. 
Wolff, visited my brother's cottage when he and I were 
both absent, and no one could assist Jack in conversing 
irith him; yet so great was his delight, that he 
Rranted to take him to Palestine, to instruct the deaf 
md dumb in the doctrine of Christ. The Rev. H. H. 
Beamish is another who cannot, without emotion, 
recall his intercourse with that dying Christian. Gen- 
eral Orde, who saw him very frequently, regarded him 
18 a wonder of divine grace ; and the Rev. W. Han- 
cock, his beloved pastor, who for four years observed 
liim closely, often said he derived greater encourage- 
ment from the experience and the prayers of that poor 
ioy, than from almost any other earthly source. Un- 
Mlievers will doubt ; but those who know the grace 
if our Lord Jesua Christ will adore. 

Still it will he evident that 3ac\L <iO\A^ wq\. ^^^^ "^^ 
ible. He took great delight in coipYitv^Vv. wsX A'^'^ 



238 come IMITATION. 

ing on such words as he knew ; but I have seen him 
turn over two leaves and go on wholly unconscious of 
any mistake : and I have found among his papen 
pages, composed of half sentences and single epitheti 
from scripture, put together in unbroken paragraphs, 
without any meaning. With all this, he was ardently 
attached to the Jewish cause, and always told me ^ Jesus 
Christ love poor Jew ; Jew soon see love Jesus Christ' 
When speaking of them, he would look very ten- 
der, and sorrowful, moving his head slowly from side 
to side, and his hand as if stroking some object in a 
caressing way. At such times it was curious to mark 
the effect of naming a ' priest Roman' to him. In a 
moment his aspect changed to something ludicrously 
repulsive : he stuck his hands in his sides, puffed out 
his cheeks to their full extent, scowled 'till his brows 
overhung his eyelids, and generally finished by ap- 
pearing to seize a goblet and drain off the contents to 
the last drop, inflating his body, stroking it, smacking 
his lips, and strutting about. This he did, not as im- 
puting drunkenness to the priesthood, but their deny- 
ing the cup to the laity, and swallowing the contents 
themselves. Though his acting was laughably comiC) 
his feeling was that of serious and severe indignation; 
and he would reprove us for the laughter it was ut- 
terly impossible to restrain, saying, with triumphant 
confidence, ' God see ; Jesus Christ come sooa' This 
coming of the Lord Jesus, an actual, personal, visible 
coming, to walk about upon the earth, in whatever way 
he had represented it to himself, or howsoever God 
had revealed it to him, he constantly associated with 
two things — the consolation of the Jews and the de* 



ERnoxXKoub \'iEWs. 239 

itniction of Popery. I did not see it so ; I looked 
for both those events at the commencement of the 
thousand years, expecting a spiritual coming of the 
Lord then, and a personal one at the very end of the 
world. I did not, however, contradict Jack, nor at 
kempt to alter his view of the subject. I wanted the 
world to be quietly converted, by the preaching of the 
gospel ; but I had been once nearly startled out of my 
system when in Kilkenny. A beloved friend, since 
gone to her rest, pointed out to me the sixty-third of 
Isaiah, asking what I thought was the dye of the gar- 
aients there mentioned? I replied the blood of the 
Saviour, which drenched his raiment in the garden, 
and his body on the cross. ^ And what,' pursued she. 
'is this treading of the wine-press!' I answered, 
' It was the laborious work of achieving our redemp- 
tion, and bearing alone the wrath of the Lord.' ^ I 
wish you would read it without a break,' said she, 
'and take it according to the literal, plain sense, for I 
think we all are wrong here.' I did read it, was sur- 
prised, and contrary to my usual custom, ran to a 
commentary, and Matthew Henry's very lame and 
laboured elucidation, or* rather extinction of the mat- 
ter, checked the inquiry thus began. On all other 
points I speedily came to a right understanding, be- 
thUBe I took God's word as my guide ; and only on 
this did I prefer a candle to the sun, just because Mat- 
thew Henry lay beside me, having been sent in by a 
Uend. On this subject, therefore, I remained in the 
lark until the amazing turn of events in the East put 
He upon considering the prophecies of the last days 
n the same way as I had considered «ll\\v^ o\\i«t V\\.A 



240 MILLEXXARIANISM. 

questions ; and the result was, a reception of almost 
every millennial view before I suspected it, and befon 
I ceased to abjure the name as wholly inconsistent 
with spiritual Christianity. I remember Lady Geo^ 
giana Wolff asking me if I wae a millennarian, and i 
answered, almost resentfully, ^ No, indeed.' ^ But 1 
am,' she returned. Mr. WolfT is not one, I am sure, 
said I. < No,' answered her ladyship, 'but in six 
months he will be one ; he cannot help it' She was 
right, for in less than six months he was preacbiog 
the doctrine openly ; and I was holding it firmly, while 
stoutly protesting against it, just because I did not 
know what it was. I believe many are in this predica* 
ment now, stumbling at a word — rejecting the shadow, 
while they hold the substance. What think you of 
the following lines, being written and printed too, 
some years before I would allow myself to be a milleO' 
narian, soon after the .battle of Navarino: — 

When from scattered lands afar 
Siieeds the voice of rumored war, 
Nations in conflicting pride 
Heaved like Ocean's stormy tide, 
When the solar splendodVs fail, 
And the crescent waxeth pale, 
Amd the powers that star-like reign. 
Sink dishonoured to the plain, 
World, do thou the signal dread, 
We exhalt the drooping head, 
We uplift the expectant eye — 
Our redemption draweth nigh. 

When the fig-tree shoots appear, 
Men proclaim l\ve\t vwrnmet near { 



SECOND ADVENT. Ml 

When the hearts of rebels fiul, 
We the coming Saviour hailj 
Bridegroom of the weeping sponse^ 
Liflteh to her longing vow»--> 
Listen to her widow'd moaii» 
Listen to Creation's groan 1 
Bid, oh bid, the trumpet sound, 
Gather thine elect around ; 
Gird with saints thy flaming car, 
Gkther them from climes afar, 
Call them from life's cheerless gloom. 
Call them from the marble tomb. 
From the grass-grown Tillage graYO^ 
From the deep dissolving wave. 
From the whirlwind and the flame. 
Mighty Head ! thy members claim \ 

Where are those whose fierce disdain, 
Scorn 'd Messiah's gentle reign 1 
Lo, in seas of sulph'rous fire, 
Now they taste his tardy ire, 
Prison'd till th' appointed day. 
When the world shall pass away. 

duelled are all thy foes, O Lord, 
Sheath again the victor sword. 
Where thy cross of anguish stood, 
Where thy life distilled in blood. 
Where they mocked thy dying grotti. 
King of nations, plant thy throne. 
Send the law from Zion forth. 
Over all the willing earth : 
Earth, whose Sabbath beauties rise 
Crowned with more than paradise. 

Sacred be the opposing veil ! , 

Mortal sense and sight muii W. 

Fet the day, the hour is lo^ 

We shall eee thee e^fe to «)%• j 



MS SECOND ADVSm. 

Be oar souls in peace possest 
While we seek the promised rest, 
And from ererj heart and horns 
Breathe the prayer, Lord Jef 
Haste to set thy people ftee; 
Gmm ; creation |(ro«ns fbi ttel 



LETTER XII. 



SEPARATION. 



Tnt two shortest years of my life were now drawing 
to a close. My brother had completed his studies, 
passed his examination, and was under orders to join 
his regiment in Ireland. Oh how my heart rose in 
prayer, that where I had found a spritual blessing he 
also might receive it ! I could not understand the 
state of his mind on the most vital of all points: he 
had imbibed a prejudice so strong against the class of 
people called evangelical, that nothing but his gen- 
erous afiectipn for us would have induced him to re- m 
cieve under his roof two of that proscribed body — ^to ^ 
say nothing of Jack He confessed to me, laughing, 
not long after we became his inmates, that he sup- 
posed we should be /ailing on our knees half a dozen 
times a day, singing psalms all over the house, and 
setting our faces against every thing merry or cheer- 
ful. He had never been acquainted with any serious 
person before going to Portugal, nor during his short 
leaves of absence at home : none of that class ever crossed 
his path abroad, and he came home prepared to believe 
any thing that was told him of the supposed fanatics ;^ 
whom he understood to be «i soil oi iL^Tv\Mi^^^Na»K«i^K«^ 
At CUftoD, extremes then ran £w \ \Xi«^ %^1 ^^^^^ 



244 PREJUDICES. 

violently denouncing their sober neighbours, and mak 
ing up all sorts of scandal concerning them. Hannah 
More was pointed out as ' queen of the methodists,' 
and a most infamous lie, wholly destructive of her 
moral character, circulated among a narrow but dissi- 
pated clique as a known fact ; while the small fry of 
fanatics were disposed of by dozens in a similar way. 
The faithful clergyman whose ministry we attended 
was absolutely persecuted ; and his congregation could 
expect % no better at the same hands. I am very far 
from charging this upon the generality of even worldly 
people there ; but it did exist, visibly and sensibly ; 
and my dear brother evidently had fallen in with some 
of these wholesale calumniators, before he could pos- 
sibly judge for himself A visit to Barley Wood, and 
a very prolonged interview with the ^ qtieen ' greatly 
staggered his prejudices ; he was perfectly charmed 
with her, and remarked to me that if all her subjects 
where like her, they must be a very agreeable set of 
people. Still he apprehended an outbreak of extrava- 
gance when we should be fairly installed in his abode; 
and though he sotpn became undeceived, and learned to 
take the gireatest delight in the society of General 
Orde, Mr. Sandford, and others equally decided— 
though he punctually attended the faithful ministry 
of Mr. Hancock at the college chapel, besides his regu* 
lar appearance at the usual military service, and 
would not allow one disparaging word to be uttered in 
his presence of that zealous preacher or his deeply 
spiritual discourses ; though he chose from among bis 
brother officers a bold, uncompromising Christian as 
bis most intimate associate, and ^ave many unconciouf 



UNBELIEF. 245 

indications that he had received the doctrine of man's 
total corruption, and the nothingness of his best works ; 
though he became the warm advocate of a scriptural 
education for the youthful poor, whom he had always 
before considered most safe and happy in total igno- 
rance — still, with all this, I could not see even in his 
beautiful devout bearing in public worship where the 
reverse so sadly prevailed, and where every thing ap- 
proaching to seriousness became a matter of suspicion, 
that he was really seeking God. In fact, I had been 
too much in the trammels of a system, which lays down 
arbitrary rules, and will not admit that God is work- 
ing unless his hand be immediately and openly appa- 
rent to all. I would not believe that what looked 
green and beautiful was a blade of corn, just because it 
had not yet grown to an ear: and I refrained from speak- 
ing when perhaps speech on such subjects would have 
been more welcome than he wished to acknowledge, ^ 
lest the remarks that I longed to utter might prove 
unpalatable, and produce the contrary effect to what I 
desijed. He was only going for a little while ; an ap- 
pointment on the home-staff was prcynised ^ and then I 
was to live with him again, and I would zealously pur- 
sue the work. Alas ! what a rod was prepared for my 
unbelief and presumption ! The present was slighted, 
in the confident expectation of the future that was 
never to arrive. 

We were almost always together out of his college 
hours. My window commanded a view of the distant 
building, and when I saw the preparatory movement 
to breaking up, I rose from my desk^ tied aa \n:^ \^^s^ 
net, and ran off in sufficient tim& to isuwJt \aia ^«c<| 



246 HOME. 

near tlie college. Both let loose from six hours* hard 
work, we were like children out of school, often racing 
and laughing with all the buoyancy of our natural high 
spirits. The garden, the poultry-yard, and all the 
little minutisD of our nice farming establishment, fully 
occupied the afternoon, while the children gambolled 
round, and Jack looked on with smiles, often telling me 
how much he loved * beautiful Captain B ' as he con- 
stantly called him. At ten o'clock we parted for the night 
I to resume the pen till long after midnight ; he to rest 
whence he always rose at four o'clock, devoting four or 
five hours to study before we met in the morning. 
We visited very little, domestic retirement being the 
free choice of every one of us ; and nothing could have 
induced my brother to banish his children from the 
parlour or drawing-room. Few things excited his in- 
dignation more than the nursery system : his little 
ones were the pride of his heart, his delight of his eyes, 
the objects of his fondest care. He often said he in- 
tended his boys to be gentlemen, and therefore wonld 
not allow them to imbibe the tastes and habits of the 
kitchen. The consequence is that his boys are gen- 
tlemen. 

Thus dwelling in love, united in every plan and 
pursuit, our time fairly divided between diligent work 
and healthful recreation amid the delights of rural life, 
do you marvel that I call this period my two shortest 
years ? Had no previous circumstances given tenfold 
brilliancy to these lights by casting a deep black shadow 
behind them, or no menacing future hung over the 
present enjoyment, sliW t\vwft vi^a etv^^i^h. to make it 
indeed an oasis ; but \t \»^a moi^. \ ^wsma. \<s^ 



FOREBODINGS. 247 

that the Lord mercifully gave me a foreboding of what 
was to came, in the intolerable anguish of what seemed to 
be but a very short parting, with a delightful prospect of 
lenewed domestic comfort just beyond. Yet so it was : 
I almost died under the trial of that farewell ; and for 
three weeks before, and as long after, I never had a 
night's rest Visions of terror were constantly before 
itte, among which a scene of drowning was so perpet- 
ually recurring that I have often started from my bed 
under the vivid impression. This was the more 
strange because we had always been so fearlessly fond of 
the water: in our early days we had a little boat, just big 
enough for him to row and me to steer, in which we 
ftsed to take excursions on the river Wensum, and 
never thought of danger. At Sandhurst too we were 
^quently upon the lake, and had both become famil- 
iarized with ocean, until of all perils those of the water 
were least likely to daunt me, either for myself or him: 
yet in most imminent peril we had once been placed ; 
and at this time it would recur to my memory with 
tormenting frequency. 

I was about seven years old, and he though younger 
Was much the larger of the two, a stout hearty boy, 
and I a very frail delicate little creature, thanks to the 
doctors and their pet drug. Our parents went out for 
a day's excursion, with a friend, and of course we ac- 
eompanied them. The place was one celebrated for 
good fishing, and the gentlemen having enjoyed a long 
morning's sport, remained in the house with my mo- 
Aer, sending us out to play. We had strict charge 
not to go too near the water, nor on «xv^ ^.^^^^'cX \^ 
g^t iato a boat, at which theie wer^ ««^«ii\ ^^ ^^^^ 



248 DAN(»£R. 

river. We fitrolled about and at last came to the briiik 
of this river, to admire a barge or wherry which lay 
close to the little pier; for it was a public ferry, and 
the depth very great. A small boat just by attracted 
my brother's attention, who wished to get into it, until 
I reminded him of the prohibition, when he said, ' I 
won't get into it, Cha. ; but I will sit down here tnd 
put my two feet in the little boat.' He did so : the 
boat moved, and in his alarm, trying to rise, he fell and 
disappeared. 

I perfectly remember the scene ; I have alsoheaidit 
described many a time by othets, but I cannot understand 
how it was that I, stooping from the shpre, with nothing 
to hold on by way of support, seized the little fellow hj 
the collar as he rose, and firmly held him in my giasp. 
He did not struggle, but looked up in my face, and I 
down in his, and as I felt my puny stren^h rapidly 
failing, the resolution was firm on my mind to be 
drawn in and perish with him. There was not a ques- 
tion about it ; I can recall the very thought, as though 
it was of yesterday, and I am positively certain that I 
should have tightened my hold in proportion as the 
case became more desperate. It pleased God, that, 
just then, some men returning from work descried the 
the figure of a little child stooping in a most dangeroof 
position over the deep water : they ran up, and while 
one held me the other rescued the boy. My gnap 
was not unloosened until they had him safe on shore; 
lie was then insensible, and I lost every recoUection 
until I found myself stiW m\\i« «.im<& o^ ^^i&»ii^V<;a\s^ 
carried me in, while my laoX\iexMi^^^aft^*%V.^«tfe^^ss 
ping the rescued boy wA cVAti^ V\% V«s^ \»Vst 



TRYING SCENES. 249 

fire. It was much talked of, and many a caress I got 
for wliat they considered heroism above my years ; hut 
what heroism is like love? '^Many wateis cannot 
quench love, neither can the floods drown it ; if a man 
would give all the substance of his house for love, it 
would utterly he contemned.^* 

When my brother departed for Ireland we left that 
flweet cottage and went to reside in the village, in one 
hetter suited to the si^e of our diminished family party. 
I had several young friends among the cadets, in whom 
I took a warm interest, and whose occasional visits I 
endeavoured to make as profitable to them as might 
be. It is a sad thing to see a boy, perhaps most care- 
fully brought up by t«nder, and even Christian parents, 
watched, and kept as far as possible from all evil com- 
munication, then thrown at once into a large public ii)* 
stitution, and exposed to every danger that can assail 
die youthful mind. A little insight into human na- 
ture must show any candid person the extent of mis- 
chief to be expected. Rarely do we find a case of con- 
version, with establishment in grace, very early in life ; 
and where it exists as remarkably as in Jack, we may 
learn from his excessive dread of exposure to tempta- 
tion how vigilantly the young plant should be guarded. 
Let us just suppose, what is indeed no sketch of imagina- 
tion, but a slight sketch of acknowledged reality — let us 
•appose a boy at the age when they are eligible for 
these places, acquainted with the truth, accustomed to 
Christian instruction, taught to look into the word of 
God for daily direction, and to seek m -^t^^^t ^^ 
iaify supply of needful grace : conaiiexViYBa. ^-aVviiSx^^ 
mmained under the eye of Cliristiwi ^«t«tiXA^ «* ^ 



250 TRYING SCENES. 

schoolmaster who regards those committed to his cait 
as immortal beings, for whose well-doing, while undei 
his charge, he is responsible to God ) and who theze- 
fore counsels them well, and banishes to the utmost of 
his power, vice and profaneness from among them; dt 
fording them the usual domestic means of grace, and 
seeing that they are not neglected. Thus prepaied, 
the lad enters upon a new scene, where he finds liim- 
self surrounded by a large number of youthful com* 
p£inions, all busy in qualifying themselves for a fature 
career, we will say in the service of their country. 
The first thing done is to try the mettle of the mv 
comer, by putting upon him some insult, which if he 
resents, and offers to fight his way, he may be looked 
on with some respect ; but if he appear timid or reluc- 
tant to retaliate, he may be assured of becoming the 
object of a most harassing persecution for the amuse- 
ment of the thoughtless, and the gratification of the 
cruel. In either case, he passes an ordeal of great 
severity, particularly during the night, when nothing 
is deemed too rough for the poor stranger to encounteL 
I appeal to those who have passed it whether this is 
not enough to turn the brain of a weak-minded youth, 
or to injure severely the body of a delicate one; 1 
have myself known an instance, in a great public sem- 
inary wherein derangement and death followed. 

Supposing this well got over, the lad then finds that 

if there be any among his new comrades disposed to 

keep up the practice of reading the scriptures and 

praying, they must do it as secretly as they would com- 

mit a murder, and &nd it moi« ^v&oAv. \.q ^^^^^^m^isb 

than any crime that co\i\d \>€i laaxafiA. ^Wv^^^ Am^v 



TEMPTATIONS. 251 

will be a large proportion of ruffianly characters 
among many boys ; some naturally so, others made so 
by example. These have the ascendancy of course ; 
and tbey will use it to check and to stifle whatever 
might shine in contrast to themselves; while, what 
with these unstable characters who always row with 
tiie stream, and prudent ones who will not provoke 
hostility, and timid ones who dare not, they meet with 
little if any opposition, but rule the whole mass for 
eriL The youth, we will believe, sincerely desires to 
pieserve his integrity, but what can he do ? Man in 
his best estate is a frail, inconsistent being, liable to be 
blown about by every breath pf temptation, even 
when unfettered, and in full possession of all gospel 
privileges ; and what are we to expect from a boy who 
has never yet been left to himself, or deprived of coun- 
tenance and support ? He sees none watching over 
him, he hears no kind admonitory voice, inviting him 
t6 seek the way of peace and purity. His nature is 
Qdrmpt, his heart is deceitful, his soul cleaves to the 
dast, and he finds that by following the bent of this 
perverse nature, by gratif3ring its lowest propensities) 
ftnd revelling in unhallowed things, he shall best pur- 
ttliaee the good fellowship of those who have it in their 
power to make his life miserable if he thwarts their 
^nXL His eonscienee loudly protests, and calls on him 
to pray ; but if he would do so, where is he to retire 
tor that purpose ? Alone he cannot be ; he has no 
ieparate apartment, and let those who have tried it 
•ay what would be the consequence of his kuft^Un:^ 
down pahliefy to worship God. He lavy ^^ v\. %v 
laiU/r aaJ imc/iiscovered in his bed-, yes, \S V^ <5.vcv\j^ 



252 AWFUL CONTBAST. 

up his heartj and realize the presence ci the God ot 
heaven, while the language of hell resounds on every 
side! Even so, he has an enemy within, striving 
against the right principle, and responding to aU that 
his better feeling repudiates. Then, too, wherewithal 
shall the young man cleanse his way, if not hy ruling 
himself according to the word of God 1 And how is 
he to study that word ? Does the parent who pats a 
Bible in his boy's portmanteau know that the most 
blasphemous tissue of ribaldry and all .abominatiQa 
would be a more suitable gift, if it is intended that he 
should exhibit it ? These are awful' questions, to be 
well considered by those who are wavering as to the 
destination of a youth ; and they apply very widely 
throughout the land. 

We all know the case of him whose heart has been 
swept and garnished ; and how much the last state is 
worse than the first, when Satan re-enters with his 
seven new companions. The very checka of con 
science render the fretted mind more resUve ; and the 
longer restrained the more headlong is the wild gallop 
into which the chafed spirit at last breaks. He who 
trembled at a profane word becomes an accomplished 
swearer ; he whose n^odesty was most retiring ia fore- 
most to glory in early depravity ; he whose hand was 
ever ready to relieve the poor, while his heart sympt' 
thized in their sorrows, beco/nes the wanton spoilei 
and marauder for the sake of a bold vaunt ; he who 
shrank from the approach of profligate misleaders, sow 
roianteers to harden new comers in the ways of sin* 
The youth who witYi noia^Wa bX«^ X.t^^'^^ ^^^^l^^ ?^ 
he Lord's house, axkS \>%Ti\. wXV \^Vl^ wwW^ 



MORAL BLUNDNESS. 253 

prayer, and listened with fixed attention to the teach - 
er'fl voice, now delights in shaming others out of the 
semblance of devotion, and feigns if he does not fall 
into it, the profound sleep of a wholly uninterested 
actor in the tedious show of public worship. Per- 
chance some friend whose proximity to the plaee 
admits of it may stretch out a helping hand, or lift aa 
admonitory voice, or proffer a little encouragement 
to strengthen the things that remain, and which are 
ready to die ; if so, both the helper and the helped will 
be marked out for ridicule and reviling, if for nothing 
worse. 

Honourable men, after this world's course, who are 
themselves wholly in the dark, verily believing that 
religion would turn a youth's brain and unfit him for 
the active business of life, will feel it a part of their 
duty to oppose every possible obstacle to such attempts 
at reclaiming the young wanderers under their charge. 
I knew, and knew right well, an instance wherein a 
lady who strove to do good to the souls of some young 
lads whose parents she knew to be praying people, had 
a sort of ban put upon her, by the publication of an 
express order that they should not be again permitted 
to visit her ; and when a nobleman who well knew that 
ihe had not done any thing to merit such public con- 
demnation, asked the principal of the institution the 
reason for so harsh a proceeding, he received this 
answer, ^ My lord, I was sorry to do it ; I felt it a 
painful duty, but an imperative one. The fact is, she 
got hold of some of the most promising lads und^x iss.^ 
eare, and so infected them T7it\i \i«t O'WTi ^^^"ck^ 
nations th%tj I give you m.y vroxdi) VSas^ ^«.^ «»*^ 
22 



254 CADETS. 

walking alone, with Bibles in their hands !' So muck 
wiser are the children of this world in guarding those 
cf'tiniitted to them from the entrance of spiiitaal 
good, than are the children of light in protecting then 
dearest treasures from the contamination of most deadlj 
evil! 

But to return to my cadets at Sandhurst. I had 
two young friends there, both Irish, who were known 
to me from childhood ; both greatly attached to my 
brother ; both loving me dearly ; and many a happy 
hour we passed, strolling over the wild heath, or en 
joying the cheerfulness of my cottage home. On those 
two, among many, I looked with especial solicitude as 
to their future course ; and I have had to rejoice, in 
different ways, over them both. One was early taken 
to his rest ; he died in the faith, looking simply to the 
Lord Jesus, and finding perfect peace in him. The 
other was long away on foreign service, and when 
next I saw him it was as the deliverer, under God, of 
a whole town, and probably through that of the whole 
kingdom, from a scene of revolutionary carnage. He 
commanded the gallant little body of troops at New- 
port, who on the 4th of November, 1839, quelled the 
Chartist insurrection, and broke the formidable power 
that menaced a general outbreak. I cannot pass over 
this event, it was so delightfully gratifying to me. 

A third of those in whom I took a lively interest 

was Alexander Count Chalharez, the eldest son of the 

Due de Palmella. He was a most elegant youth, of 

Sne mind, delicate feelingS) and the sweetest manneii 

possible. Devotedly attacYieA. to 'RoxaMsasni.^V^ ws^- 

Btantly attended mass al t\ie YiouBft oi ^% ^^ >Mtfe% 



RETROSPECTIONS. 855 

who added to his professorship in the Royal Military 
College the duties of a Popish priest. It was a sore 
grief to me to see Chalharez pursuing his solitary way 
to that house, while we took the road to the College 
ehapel, and met him half-way. I longed to enter a 
solemn protest against his delusion, hut I never did it 
in direct terms, though very often dwelling, in his 
presence, on the peculiar truths of Christianity, 
opposed as they are to the lie in which he trusted. I 
hoped to have enjoyed many future opportunities of 
conversing with him, for he always sought our society 
in preference to many things that appeared more at- 
tractive, and took a lively interest in Jack. But the 
College did not suit his taste ; he left it soon, and ac- 
companied his father to Portugal He died at the 
Azores ; and I have been told that his hope at the last 
was one which maketh not ashamed. He was the 
subject of many prayers: the last day will tell whether 
they were answered. 

But I cannot hasten through the heaviest part of 
my task ; it is the rending open of a wound never to heal 
until the leaves of the tree of life shall be laid upon it ; 
and if by any means I do attain to that resurrection 
from among the dead, in which none but the Lord's 
children shall partake, surely the dear object of all this 
sorrow will be there beside me ! 

Six months had passed from the time of his depar 
cure to Ireland, and ail his letters were full of cheerful- 
ness and pleasant anticipation. On the subject where 
I most wished to know his feelings, he was silent; but 
9 passage in one of his letters sliuciV. taft ^«^^^* V 
ad been suffering from a sligUt \oc«\ '^qai^ ^Vks2tL ^^ofc 



256 A VISITATION. 

of my medical friends erroneously pronounced to be i 
disease of the heart ; and in communicating this to 
him I had noticed, that I mmt live in momentary ex- 
pectation of sudden death.. His reply was very afiec 
tionate. He said it had given him a great shock, bat 
on a little reflection he was convinced of its being alto- 
gether a nervous sensation ; adding, ^ If not, why 
should you shrink from sudden death ? For my own 
part, I should desire it, as a short and easy passage 
out of this life.' A tremor came over me as I read 
these words ; but again I thought, ^ Surely there is 
something on his mind to brighten that passage, or he 
would not so express himself;* and the thought of 
many perils surrounding him quickened me to re- 
doubled prayer, that God would set his feet upon the 
Rock of ages. 

It was on a bright Sabbath morning, at the end of 
June, that, having rather overslept myself, I found on 
awaking the letters brought by early post lying on my 
pillow. I took one : it was the Horse Guards' enve- 
lope, in which his letters usually came; and in my 
eagerness to open one from him I did not even put up 
a prayer. Full of smiling anticipation, I unfolded the 
enclosure, which was from a most dear and valued 
friend at the Horse Guards; and after some tender 
preparation, which the sudden reeling of my terrified 
brain prevented my comprehending, came the paraly- 
ziog sequel : A letter had been received from Mullin- 
gar — ^he was on the lake fishing — the boat overset I 
could not understand the meaning of the words ; but 
/ understood the thing ilseV?. 
I sprang to my knees to ciy ?ot m^xt^ wv V\\si- 



fTNBEUET. 257 

bat, oil that dreadful, dreadful thought that pierced 
through my inmost soul — ^ He is beyond the reach of 
prayer r I fell back ai^if really shot; but what 
avails it to dwell on this? I bore it as God enabled 
me ; I felt crushed, annihilated as it were, under the 
fierce wrath of the Lord ; for to aggravate the blow, I 
had no power to believe or to hope. It was a light 
thing to have lost him, my all in this cold, dreary 
world, who from early infancy had been as the light 
to my eyes, and the life-blood to my heart ]" he who 
had so very lately been restored, as if to show, that 
while he remained, all I could desire of earthly happi* 
ness was within my reach ; he who had been to me in- 
stead of every other mortal blessing, and to whom I look- 
ed for all that I dared hope of future comfort. It was « 
light thing to have lost him, and to look upon th0 
anguish of his widowed mother, to whom he had ever 
been more of a ministering angel than a son, and upon 
the tears of his little daughter, who had lost a father 
indeed I All this was a small matter compared with 
the overwhelming horrors of that unbelieving thought, 
that he had lost his soul. ' 

It was, indeed, the language of unbelief, for I had 
abundant cause to trust God, even from what I had 
witnessed, without taking into consideration his faithr 
fulness as the Hearer of prayer, which had been inces- 
santly, importunately persisted in for eight years and a 
half, on that one subject. The fact is, I had fallen 
much into the common dangerous error of looking to 
my own faith rather than to the object of it for salva- 
tion; and I did, in my heart exce^ditv^^ ^oi^ VcL^^saa. 
supposed faith of mine. TVio dteBASvA ftis^\Ma»iass^ 
22* 



258 WANT Of FAITIL 

under whicli I ivas laid showed me at once that of 
faith I had not the value of a grain of mustard-seed ; 
and now I felt the desolation of spirit which none can 
know who have not heen so compelled to make such a dis- 
covery. I did not rebel ; I owned the justice of God: 
nay, the very first words I could find breath to uttei 
broke forth in the confession, ^' Righteous art thou, 
Lord; just and true are thy ways, O King of Saints!" 
but it was a fearful trembling beneath the hand that 
had smote me ; and as for being contented to have it 
so, I was not ; I do not wish that I had been contented 
to believe my brother was lost ; I do not understand 
that feeling, nor wish to understand it ; for surely 
while we remain in the flesh we cannot divest our- 
selves of what God has interwoven with our very 
nature, nor cease to feel for the spiritual, the eternal 
interests of those most fondly endeared to us, a solici- 
tude as great, aye much greater, than what we, in our 
unconverted state, once knew in regard to their tern* 
poral concerns. I speak of those instances where, 
after being ourselves brought to know the Lord, we 
have laboured and prayed perseveringly for others, 
and then have suddenly lost them. I was not content 
to think that my prayers had been cast out : I want- 
ed some token that they had been answered. Bles- 
sed be the God of all mercies ! I was not disap- 
pointed. 

There is a wide distinction between the case of a 

man who comes out from a world where he has been 

walking according to its most vain, ungodly courses, 

and who joins laimseV^ to \\v^ la^x^ ^ -^^q^^ ^k& ^ dAQe^ 

ter from that wox\d, aiA \\i^ <i^^«^ ^'^ ^ "^asisi n^bs«^ 



A HIDDEN WOEK. 259 

path has been that of domestic privacy when not en* 
gaged in public duty ; who has conspicuously fulfilled; 
with the utmost integrity and zeal, the duties of the 
latter, while shining brightly as a pattern of the hus- 
band, the father, the master, the friend ; keeping aloof 
from dissipated society, and pursuing his way with 
unblemished credit among the most respectable and 
honourable of the world's people. This case had 
been his. There was scarcely an instance where his 
open embracing of the gospel could have shed an ad- 
ditional lustre on his daily walk in the sight of man, 
except as the proclamation of such principle could do 
it. The work must, in that stage have been between 
his soul and his God ; and often, very often, I doubt 
not, is that work so far advanced as to be like the. 
young plant that has found its way to the very sur- 
face, by secret but vigorous vegetation, and wants but 
the influence of another day's sunshine to bring it 
into the open view of men, when God by some mys- 
terious dispensation, removes it, to complete its growth 
in heaven. We mourn because we see not the process ; 
and little claim, alas, have we to the blessedness pro- 
nounced on those who can believe where they see not ; 
and often do we go down sorrowing to the grave under 
such afflictive strokes, because we give up all as lost, 
instead of continuing to urge the Lord for a testimo- 
ny of his faithful dealings : " show me thy glory, I 
beseech theei' Would that my happy experience in 
this instance might become the means of consolation 
to others in like mani^er tempted to sorrow as those 
that hare no hope for beloved frietiAa i^^V'^ ^^«^vb% 
la Jesus. 



260 HOPE. 

In Jesus : there lies a mystery tHat the world ctt. 
not penetrate. Many a one came about me, offering 
the affectionate consolation that they rightly judged 
would be most soothing to my wounded spirit— the 
assurance that he for whom I mourned was in heaven. 
They dwelt on the blamelessness of his life ; the beta 
tj of his character ; his exemplary discharge of eyery 
relative duty ; the bright example that he placed befon 
his brother officers in discouraging all profaneness and 
profligacy, and strictly attending upon every religioni 
ordinance. Even the circumstance of his marked 
non-conformity with the disgraceful but almost uni* 
yersal custom of sitting during prayer in the church, 
was not forgotten; nor the devoted kindness with 
which he invariably conveyed to me every word of 
the sermon. And when my sickened heart perhaps 
too plainly spoke in my countenance the reply, "Mise- 
rable comforters are ye all !" or when I distinctly toU 
them that these things did not content me, great was 
their astonishment. Full well I knew that to be ad- 
mitted into heaven, my lamented one must have been 
in Jesus before the summons came, and " that not by 
works of righteousness which he had done" could he 
be saved. I secretly caught at the hope, that these 
fruits once profitless and vile from being borne on a 
wild tree, had become rich and precious through graft- 
ing into the good olive. In God*s sight old things 
may pass away, and all things become new, ^heie 
man detects little change. By such thoughts was I con- 
soJed during the weeks that intervened before I had 
ground given for conMentt\iM:^»^V\ii^^atv^^wa« 



TRUE COBIFORT. 261 

if evidence that the blessing I had so earnestly sought 
ras indeed vouchsafed. 

Meanwhile, what a tenfold recompense for all the 
tare bestowed on him did I reap in the beautiful syn>- 
Mthy of the dumb boy. When I came down stairt. 
Jiat dreadful morning he met me with a face of such 
prild dismay as even then arrested my attention. He 
itteied an audible ' Oh V of most touching tone, and 
tiros expressed the impossibility he felt of realizing 
the tidings: 'Jack what? Jack asleep? Jack see no 
—think no. Jack afraid very. Beautiful Captain B. 
gwfe? — dead? What P and he stamped with the 
Impatience of that fearfully inquisitive what. I an- 
iwered, * Captain B. gone ; water kill, dead.' Tears 
Btole down his loving face as he responded, ^ Poor 
mam 1 Mam one' (meaning I was now alone in the 
world). * God see poor mam one ; Jesus Christ love 
poor mam one.' With a feeling of bitter agony I 
ad:ed him, ' What? Jesus Christ love Captain B. ?' 
'Yes,' he replied, after a moment's solemn thouglit on 
the question, 'Yes, Jack much pray; mam much 
pray ; Jesus Christ see much prays.' This was true 
comfort ; all the eloquence of all the pulpits in Eng- 
land could not have gone to my heart like that assur- 
inee, that Jesus Christ had seen his many dumb pray 

)» on behalf of that lost oh, I could not even, in 

iie depth of my unbelieving heart say, ' lost one.' I 
Igain asked the boy, * Jack much prays V He an- 
iwered with solemn fervency, ' Very, very much 
prays. Jack pray morning, pray night \ J^^k. ^^vj 
fhurch, pray bed. Yes, Jack many iciys n^x^ "^"tw^ 
Todmake, and he finished by sigas^ \\i^V ^\x^^ 



262 SYMFATHr. 

should be made to grow from my brother's shoulden^ 
for him to fly to heaven, adding, Jesus Christ mvA 
make the wings ; and then with a burst of delighted 
animation, he told me that he was a ' very tall angel, 
very beautiful.'. 

I have repeated this conversation to show the bro* 
ken language carried on between us ; and also how 
powerfully he expressed his thoughts. Soon after, 
when I was nearly fainting, a glass of water was held 
to my lips. I am ashamed to say, I dashed it down, 
exclaiming, ' that murderer !' Jack caught my eje, 
and echoing my feelings, said, in a bitter way, ' Bad 
water !' then with a look of exulting contempt at die 
remaining fluid, he added, ' Soul gone water ? No t' 
This idea, that the soul was drowned, electrified me; 
so good is a word spoken in due season, however trite 
a truism that word may be. 

That night I pretended to go to bed, that others 
might do so too ; and then I left my room, went to 
my little study, which was hung round with Jack's 
sweet drawings, and sat down, resting my elbows on 
the table, my face on my hands, and so remained for 
a couple of hours. Day had scarcely broken brightly 
upon me, about two in the morning, when the door 
opened softly, and Jack entered only partially dressed, 
his face deadly pale, and altogether looking most 
piteously wretched. He paused at the door, saying, 
^ Jack asleep, no ; Jack sick, head bad, — no more see 
beautiful Captain B.' I could only Shake my head. 
and aoon buried my face in m.y hands again. How* 
ever, I still saw him tYiioM^ m^ ^ti^^\^\ ^ti\ v&Msi 
lifting up his clasped luandaau^^^^i^^A^Y^^^^^^^^'^^ 



DELICATE TENDERNESS. 26b 

he proceeded to execute the purpose of his visit to that 
loom. Softly, stealthily, he went round, mounting a 
chair, and unpinned from the wall every drawing that 
contained a ship, a boat, or water under any form of 
lepresentation. Still peeping at me, hoping he was 
not observed, he completed this work, which nothing 
but a mind refined to the highest degree of delicate 
tenderness could ever have prompted, and then stop- 
ping at the door, cast over his shoulder such a look of 
desolate sorrow at me, that its very wretchedness 
poured balm i^to my heart. Oh what a heavenly 
ksson is. that, ' Weep with them that do weep/ and 
how we fly in its face when going to the mourner with 
our inhuman, cold-blooded exhortations to leave off 
grieving ! Even Job's tormenting friends gave him 
seven days true consolation while they sat silent on 
the earth weeping with him. 

But God put into the dumb boy's heart another 
Bkode of consolation, which I must recount, as a speci- 
men of his exceedingly original and beautiful train of 
tiiought. He used to tell his ideas to me as if they 
were things that he had seen ; and now he had a tale 
to relate, the day after this, which rivetted my atten- 
tion. He told me my brother went on the lake in a 
little boat, and while he was going along the devil got 
under it, seized one side, pulled it over, and caught my 
brother, drawing him down to the bottom, which, as he 
told me, was deep, deep, and flames under it. Then 
Jesus Christ put his arm out of a cloud, reached into 
the water, took the soul out of the body, wvd d.w« Sx 
mto the sky. When the deviV bblVI \)afe %qvsS.\«^ 
WfMped, he let the body go, and dwedi vw^^ ^ ^vj'^^Hi 



264 TaUE FEELING. 

Jack said, with rage, while the men took it to land 
The soul, he continued, went up, up, up ; it was bright, 
and brighter, Mike sun, — all light, beautiful li^t.' 
At last he saw a gate, and inside many angels looking 
out at him ; but two very small angels came running 
to meet the soul ; and when he saw them, he took 
them up into his arms, kissed them, and carried them 
on towards the gate, still kissing and caressing them. 
I was amazed and utterly at a loss, and said, * Two 
angels? What? Mam not know, what ?' He look 
ed at me with a laugh of wonder ; pointed to my liead 
and the wooden table, and replied (his usual way of 
calling me stupid), ' Doll mam 1 Two small boys, 
dead, Portugal' My brother had lost two babes in 
Portugal ; and thus exquisitely, thus in all the beauty 
of true sublimity, had the untaught deaf and dumb 
boy pictured the welcome they had given their fatl^i 
on approaching the gate of heaven. 

A day or two after, some kind, sympathizing rela- 
tions and friends being assembled at the dinner-table, 
something cheerful was said, which excited a general 
smile, Jack was in the act of handing a plate: be 
^oked round him with a face of stern indignation, set 
down the plate, said ' Bad laughing !' and walked out 
of the room, stopping at the door to add to me, ^ Mam 
come: no laughing! Gone; dead.' I had not smiled; 
and this jealous tenaciousness of such a grief, on the 
part of an exceedingly cheerful boy, was the means 
of soothing, more than any other means could have 
done it, the anguish of tWt vjoxuad ^hich had pierced 
my very heart' s coie. T\i«»a^ n^^i^ ^ «sa»5\ ^^wsJv. ^\ ^ 



AN EBENEZER. 265 

munificent wages that my Master gave me for nursing 
a child of His. 

My first act had, of course, been to adopt my 
biother's son, — the * Baby boy' — now five years old, 
who had been since he first showed his little round 
fjpkce in England, my own peculiar treasure. I begged 
him as a precious boon, and for his sake bore up 
against the storm of sorrow that was rending me with- 
in. Jack fell into a decline, through the depression of 
his spirits in seeing me suffer ; for to conceal it from 
one who read every turn of my countenance . was im- 
possible ^ and I should have been well content to sink 
also, but for the powerful motive set before me. Under 
God, who gave him to me, you may thank your young 
friend for what little service I may have rendered in 
the cause you love, since 1 828 : for the prospect which 
by the Lord's rich mercy is so far realized, of seeing 
Kim grow up a useful, honourable member of society, 
with right principles, grounded on a scriptural educa- 
tion, was what enabled me to persevere against every 
difficulty and every discouragement that could cross 
my path. I set up a joyful Ebenezer here ; and I ask 
your prayers that the blBssing may be prolonged, in* 
creased, perfected, even to the day when we shall all 
meet before the throne of God. 



S3 



LETTER XIII. 



NATIONAL AFOSTAOY. 



Eighteen hundred and twenty-nine arrived. Most 
hateful year in the annals of England's perfidy to her 
bounteous Lord ! I was never really roused from the 
lassitude of spirits that my loss had occasioned, until 
the conviction that the sin was about to be perpetrated 
forced itself on me ; and a fervent desire to be foond 
among those who were actively dissentient from it, 
overcame all the languor consequent upon such a 
season of bitter affliction. For, what was it that Eng- 
land was about to do? 

The gospel had been preached here in the very 
early days of Christianity, probably by an aposde; 
and an independent church, small indeed, but scrip- 
tural, existed ; sufficient to ofiTer serious opposition to 
the Romish delegate, Augustine, when he was deputed 
to incorporate this country in the growing mass of 
papal dependencies. The struggle was not of long 
duration. Rome, not then arrived at the full stature 
of the Apocalyptic Beast, prevailed; more by the 
lances of despotic monarchs, than through the willing 
BBsent of Britons, eilYiei \«l^ ox ectW\%atical Once 
subjug&ted, England \ay at l\vfe ^ool o^ xJtv^ ^^v^^'&^H.vm 
^aeration to generation, vivl\v no^ ^^^ \>w«xii.m^'ti 



A SUMMARY. 267 

Hient towards freedom, which was soon stilled again 
by the iron sceptre ; or, perhaps I should rather say, 
by a rap on the head with the iron key. In the time 
of Richard ^I. blood shed openly for the truth's sake 
began to give testimony that martyrdom would yet be- 
come the order of the day here. The spirit of perse- 
cation waxed bolder and fiercer, as the voice of scrip- 
tural protestation was heard ; and the temporary check 
given to Romish usurpation by the decided proceeding 
of Henry VIII. in casting off the Pope's supremacy 
for his own private benefit, was followed by the blessed 
interval of young Edward's reign, during which God ^ 
was, for the first time since foreign delegates got foot- 
ing here, acknowledged and worshipped according to 
the Scriptures. Then had the church peace, and the 
land prosperity. 

Mary followed : she ravened like a she wolf in inno- 
cent blood. Popery ruled supreme; and the conse- 
quence was that the three years and a half of its 
domination may be characterized as one continuous 
act of murder. Then came Elizabeth, who. though 
she did not sufficiently purge out the old leaven, yet 
as she established Protestant ascendency on a strong 
basis, exalted her kingdom to a height never before 
known ; and James I. treading in the same steps found 
his reign equally prosperous. Charles I. attempted to 
give preponderance to the evil again; and in that at- 
tempt brought upon his people a fearful civil war, and 
upon his own head an ignominious death. Charles 11. 
worked covertly, under the surface of a profligacy al- 
most equalling that of Rome it8e\£,V.o\i\m^\i^^\i:!^^ 
our fathers the yoke of that oA\o\x% \>c»TiAA!^\ ^ 



268 OUR PROTEST. 

James II. set about the same enterprise openly. Thai 
it was that, to avert another era of blood arid flams, 
our ancestors removed from the throne the perverse 
line of Stuart, and placed upon it a devoted Protestant 
prince ; restricting the succession to- those heirs al(ms 
who should hold and solemnly swear to maintain ths 
religion of the Bible against all future attempts of ths 
Western Antichrist to recover his lost footing among ns 
From time to time, as fresh treasons rendered them 
necessary, restrictions were also laid on the legislativs 
and corporative elections; until in all its parts ths 
body politic of England presented a pure image of 
Protestantism, undefiled by the Babylonish garment 
or wedge of polluted gold : and while we thus acknow- 
ledged God openly, he openly acknowledged us. No 
weapon formed against England prospered ; she proved, 
as a nation, that she could not bear them which were evil : 
she had tried them that said they were apostles and 
were not, and had found them liars, and cast them out 
For this cause, the Lord made her mountain to stand 
strong: Protestant England was every where invin 
cible. Abroad, victorious over every foe; at home, 
enabled to crush every attempt at insurrection. A 
little, insulated spot on the world's map. she was as 
the city of David, alike the repository and the fortress 
of God's pure faith- How could I, with the Bible be- 
fore me, cast a glance over the history of England, 
and question for one moment that my country's strength 
lay in her Protest ? 
And if pa triotiam\\ad\)eetv «La ClU^tv to my heart as it was 
paramount there, stiW aWe^vwve^ lo my 0^>^ ^^ysv-ks^*^ 
that I should not see Him io\^>^^, wi^v^v^ ^^viA 5e.^«i 



QUERIES. 269 

to his most presumptuous foe^ without an effort to 
free my own soul from any possible implication in the 
deed. ' What had a woman to do with the proceed- 
ings of senators and governors?' Much. Everything. 
Was it a small matter that I enjoyed personal safety, 
personal liberty, and the Bible 7 Why was the hand 
pf violence restrained from taking my life under such 
sanction as that which publicly blessed the butchers 
of Wexford-bridge to their work of slaughter ? Why 
were no convent walls ready to immure me ; no dun- 
geons sealed from public scrutiny by a power that 
might trample on the neck of secular law ? Why had 
I not been taught in early life that a fellow mortal held 
in his hands the power of saving or destroying my 
BOul, and then commanded by that irresistible authority 
to abstain from looking into the word of God ? Be- 
cause I was the subject of a Protestant country, bask- 
ing in the sunshine of its spiritual light, and sheltered 
by the enactments of a state that owned no earthly 
power superior to its own. It is true I might not ex- 
pect that in the course of my natural life the small 
beginnings of apostacy should grow to such a fulness 
u to interfere with my own privileges : but was such 
base selfishness to harden my heart against a succeed- 
ing generation ? Was I to contemplate the probability 
that the little fellow resting on my knee would be ex 
posed to all from which I naturally shrunk ? 

Nor did I at all question the probability of a more 
rapid desolation than human wisdom would calculate 
oil. Apostacy is so peculiarly a sin against God, such 
Ma dire provocation of His yeng«BMic^^\k^\.\\.\sa^^ 
(fe expected that i£ we so walked conttwrj \» VYSSi\j 
23* 



270 DOWNHILL COURSE. 

would not wait till we, in the regular process of a re* 
bellious march^ brought ourselves within the range of 
his consuming fire, but that He also would walk con 
trary to us, with rage and with fury, and chastise tu 
yet seven times more for our sins. Looking at the I 
present fearfully advanced stage of our revolt, and the I 
perils that hem us in, all traceable to that fatal net, I 
can truly say that I was prepared for such a rapid mo- 
tion, if once we began to descend the hill. View it as 
I couldj the sinfulness of the proceeding by which we 
were voluntarily to renew the ancient alliance with 
Antichrist, and to give the priests of Baal authority 
to legislate for the ordering of God's temple, and in- 
vite anew the dangers, both spiritual and temporal, 
from which our fathers had been almost miraculously 
delivered, was too palpable fur a moment's hesitation. 
I have said the priesthood would have power to legis- 
late for us ; and so they have at this moment. Every 
layman of that communion is the mere puppet of his 
priest : he receives directions how to act ; and he must 
declare, in confession, whether he has obeyed those 
directions to the letter. The Romish priests sit in 
parliament more effectually than if they took their 
places on the benches there : and each separate priest 
is simply and solely the active delegate of a foreign 
power, which uses the whole machinery for one work, 
to one end, and counts nothing advantageous that does 
not afford a distinct step towards the regaining of a 
despotic rule over this kingdom. 

^But suppose a woman feels herself called on to take 
a personal interest in "pviVJVvi eS««a,^\v^^. ^va.^^^ 
without stepping out o£ Vv<w ^pco^x s^V^T^^.w^^Lvotas^ 



A WILL AND A WAT. 271 

Kg into the province of the superior sex ?' I am 
going to tell you what a woman may do ; for of ns it 
may surely be said, ' Where there's a will, there's a 
way.' When we set our hearts upon any thing, we 
•re tolerably enterprising and persevering too, in its 
attainment ; and this natural love of pleasing ourselves ' 
may be turned to a very good account. No one 
grieves more than I do when a cowardly Barak shrinks 
from marching forward without female countenance 
Hv] guidance; but the cause of God and his church 
iQUst not be placed in jeopardy through the pusil- 
lanimity of a thousand Baraks. 

The first thing I did was to introduce a separate 
supplication into our family devotions morning and 
night, that God would advert the sin from this coun- 
try ; and twice a week I called on my neighbours, as 
aaany as would come, to join in express prayer to the 
tome effect. I then inquired how the public mind at 
Sandhurst stood affected, and found the ruling powers, 
civil, military, and ecclesiastical, all going most compla- 
cently with the stream ; while their views, of course influ- 
enced many around them. Among the tradespeople 
and labouring classes, I saw that the subject had never 
occupied their thoughts, nor did they regard it as a 
matter at all concerning them. Indeed, in this lay' 
the secret of the enemy's success : a vast body of 
Englishmen, who would have sprang forward in un. 
compromising hostility against any known invasion 
cf their nearest birthright, were kept profoundly igno- 
rant that such outrage was in contemplation. 'The 
other party were glad to leave t\vfem^o\ «^\^\wwaL 
mde there was a grievous lack o£ effoi\ Va. ^<i^'«A'cfiLVoa| 



272 PEl'PAKArORT STEia, 

our pool neighbours with the danger impending om 
their temporal and spiritual blessings no less than our 
own. I procured a large number of simple tracts, 
explaining, on scriptural grounds, the dreadful nataie 
of Popery, and the sinfulness, no less than the perO 
of taking such an inveterate foe to our bosoms. These 
I had left at the cottages and shops for some way 
round, that the people might examine, and judge for 
themselves. 

The Rector of the parish I knew very well: hfi 
was a very clever man, much devoted to literatuie. 
and in his politics wholly opposed to the measure: 
but alike averse from any personal exertion and from 
drawing down on himself the censures of his more 
liberalized neighbours. He had been to Oxford, to 
vote against Peel, solely on the ground of his defection 
from the Protestant cause, and most heartily, though 
quite inactively, desired the defeat of the Emancipa- 
tors. I represented to him the importance of doing 
what he could to accomplish his own wishes : he re- 
plied, he did not think there were nineteen men in the 
parish who cared enough about it to sign the petition, 
and he was unable to explain it to them all : but if I 
thought I could get that number of names, (the mini- 
mum for a parochial petition, I believe,) and would 
write such an address to the King, and the two Houses, 
as he could approve, he would adopt it, sign his name, 
and in fact be very glad of my success. I went home^ 
sent off to Staines for some pretty large skins of 
jrardhment, and wrote the petitions in terms as tempo* 

TSLtSj as concise, and as \)Liv^ioia3gitQX£i\s«v^ ^^ \ ^^\1&. 

jeommand. The Reclot vib.h ^t«i«x\.>j ^^?kasA\ iv^ 



SUCCESSFUL EFFORTS. 273 

Jltli nmch alieicrlty ; and requested the churchwardens 
>tP do the same, officially, as they were quite of our 
mind : this heing done, I had hefore me the task of 
procuring nineteen signatures within two days. 

I did not even go to a single individual myself : 
next door to me resided a townsman of my own, a 
sehoolmaster, who held the old principles dear as his 
rery life : he was secretly lamenting the coming evil, 
without a hope of heing permitted in any way to op- 
pose it ; and you mftiy helieve with what delight he 
responded to my call, when asked to assist me. He 
went round to those who had previously received the 
little tracts, and to some of the small hamlets, or clus- 
ters of cottages scattered throughout the parish. He 
ilrictly adhered to my injunction to admit no signa- 
ture of any youth under seventeen years ; nor of any 
who did not seem tcTunderstand what they were doing, 
and why. I scattered the tracts and handbills as wide- 
ly as I could : asked several intelligent men of an 
humble class to speak of it among their acquain- 
tance ; and at the end of the second day I had, not 
nineteen, but two hundred and forty-six signatures of 
honest sensible Englishmen to my petitions. 

The only person under the stipulated age, who sign- 
ed it, was Jack : he was not seventeen ; but he wept 
and implored so passionately for leave to tell the king 
not to let Romans make bad gods in England, that it 
would have been a sin to reject his protest. He rather 
cut than wrote his name on the parchment : the deep- 
est crimson suffused his face, and his ey^s ^^i'cv^^ V^jJbl 
the energy of his heartfelt protest a^'Am^^. \N\^ ^^sts^.- 
nation that he so well knew. He does \\q\. tv^a^q t^^^k^^ 



274 OUR DUTIES. 

it; while waiting for the summons to rejoice with titt 
heavens, and the holy apostles and prophets, ovei thi 
fall of Babylon the Great. 

Our petition was presented to ^e Commons by tk 
country member ; to the Lords by the Bishop of Lon 
don ; and to the King by the noble, honest, protesting | 
Duke of Newcastle. My zealous neighbour took 
them to London, and saw the first laid on the table, as 
he told me, with tears of thankfulness that he had been 
permitted to aid in the work. There are many, vtoiy 
many such men, of a class most respectable, but who 
lack the opportunity of engaging in causes that their 
inmost hearts approve ; and there are many ladies who, 
if they knew how to find such active and trusty 
agents, would not sit idle as they do and see their 
country perish for lack of a little enterprise like the 
foregoing. Two people in each parish throughout 
England, as much in earnest as we were, might hare 
frightened the treacherous betrayers of our national 
fortress from their unhallowed deed ; or might at this 

VERY TIME ARREST THE PROGRESS OF OUR DECAY. We 

possess a machinery of almost boundless power ; but 
we are too lazy to set the wheels in motion. I bless 
God for his infinite mercy in directing me to a line of 
action that has enabled me, in every fresh announce- 
ment of wrong inflicted on the Protestants of Ireland, 
and dangers accumulating round the very heart of 
England, to say " I am free from the blood of all men. 
It was no more than a most imperative duty ; its omis- 
sion would have beeiv ivo leas tWu a very grievous 
Bin ; but that duty 1 was en^We^ \.q Y^xWm\ "^^^.^^ 
r was enabled to esca^^e ', titv^ vj\iV^V^ ^y.^^ ^VyX-^wss. 



MR. m'iveile. 27t 

on my heart, I say to you and to others, '' Go and do 
likewise.'' 

But the national offence was not to be averted by a 
few instances of practical Protestation, and as the time 
drew near my anguish of spirit was very great. I 
have staid up nearly all the night, making, like Daniel, 
with tears, my supplications unto the Lord that he 
would pardon the sin of our princes and rulers, and have 
mercy on my people. Yet more ; the two days that 
preceded it, I caused to be kept as so strict a fast, 
that nothing but bread and potatoes entered the house. 
It was the only time that I ever in my life made it 
eompulsory on others to fast ; but they did it willingly, 
for nobody- under that roof could be ignorant how 
awful was the stake impending. 

And here I have to name one whom it is to me a 
privilege even to name. When a few distracted lines 
from my hand apprized a valued military friend in 
Jersey of the dreadful loss I had sustained in my 
dear brother, a guest, connected with his family, was 
present, who took the pen, and wrote me instantly a 
letter full of the richest, the tenderest, and sweetest 
eonsolation that ever overflowed from even the warm 
heart of Hugh M'Neile. I felt i{ powerfully: and 
when, not long after, he visited us, to pour yet farther 
the balm of Christian sympathy on the wound, I saw 
what a treasure the Lord was giving me in such a 
friend, and I cannot tax myself now with having ever un- 
dervalued the blessing. At the fearful crisis in ques- 
tion, on the eve of passing that wicked bill^ Mr. 
M^Neile published his memorabVe ^%.\xi?^<^\..^ «v\NJ^^^ 
^England's Protest is England's slaiAiaL'' \^^ ^fi»»^ 



276 FALSE ARGUMENT. 

see it until the very time arrived, and I remembei 
sitting up the whole night after reading it, pondering 
on the picture that he had drawn of consequences fol 
lowing upon a sin the very model of which was set 
forth, and its punishment also awfully declared, in the 
hook of Jeremiah. Alas 1 how often have the feet of 
our rulers heen found ^* stumbling on the dark moun- 
tains" — while they looked for light, how often has it 
been turned into the shadow of death, since the warn- 
ing was despised, and the Lord's favoured people took 
unto close alliance the idolatrous abomination that in- 
censes him ! We were then called alarmists, bigots 
prejudiced fanatics; and well do I remember the stress » 
laid on an argument that influenced many -en upright 
character. ' Supposing,' it was urged, ' that an oath 
of fidelity to the interests a Protestant government 
would not be considered binding by members of the 
Romish church, do you imagine that a company of 
GENTLEMEN would violate their pledged word of hon- 
our Y This told well with men of the world ; and 
not a few Christians were led away by it, so that the 
clamour excited against the impugners of Homish in- 
tegrity was very trying to meet, and numbers shrank 
from their protest, because it implied a charge against 
the private character of individuals who had doiie 
nothing to merit such suspicion. There were those, 
however, and among men of most delicate mind, inca- 
pable of inflicting a needless wound, who could not 
thus be deterred from uttering their convictions, since 
too fully verified, that no bond could hold a true Ro- 
manist neutral or inactwe yiYv^i^. otvq,^ ^ ^^%\Aa\!L vsrr^ 
touching the opposite Itvlei^sU o^ \^v^ V^BJC^a «^^ii^ 



EPISCOPAL DEFECTION. 277 

Mr. M'Neile always proceeded on the simple fact thai 
Popery is Antichrist . that in all things it must be the 
object of Antichrist to oppose and subvert the kingdom 
of Christ : and that every subject of Antichrist must 
necessarily desire his master's advancement and do 
his master's bidding. The event has shown how cor- 
rect were his deductions ; and he, who to this moment 
stands foremost within the fortress in resisting at every 
step the foe whom he could not repel from its walls, has 
earned a preeminence in their hatred that bespeaks 
better than aiiy thing else could do the value of his 
services in the cause of truth. 

The bill passed in the Commons, and still we clang 
to a hope that the noble warrior who had once been 
the instrument of saving his country would not now 
deliberately sell her into the hands of foreign foes ; — 
sell her for a fuller measure of popularity,, or for a lit- 
tle treacherous repose. Still more did we hope that 
God would preserve the bishops of the church from 
conniving at the sacriligeously suicidal blow. Nay, 
it was more than a connivance : for had they been 
unanimously true to their church, there were a very 
lieirge majority of the peers who would never have 
ventured to vote against them in a matter so nearly 
touching the cause which the lords spiritual were in 
that house expressly to judge and to defend. I con- 
fess I built much upon the bench : and a poor founda- 
tion it proved to be ! A solemn note of prophetic 
warning was sounded by the Archbishop of Tuam on 
tlie behalf of Ireland ; echoed by our own metropoli- 
tan and others in reference to IKnglaudL^ ^i\i\. vcw ^^ycl- 
77te sun of our national gieatneaa \ia3L 1^%%^ \Xa 'kb*' 
^4 



278 NO SURRENDER, 

ridian, and in the memorable words of honest Loid 
Eldon, began to set. The sin of the British pailiment 
was consummated. 

Nothing remained but to give the royal assent; 
and still would hope whisper that the prayers, if not 
the example of his father might prevail to deter thf 
king of England from casting its independent diadem 
once more before the papal footstool. Here again the 
defection of the bishops operated most fatally: George 
the Fourth tvould not have ratified the surrender, if 
their influence, public and private, had been duly 
exerted to withhold him from it. The pen was put 
into a reluctant hand ; a hasty scratch with that pen 
undid the work of the revolution ; and so far as mn 
could accomplish it, of the Reformation also. 

I cannot describe to you the feeling with which I 
learned that all was thus lost. It did not partake of 
resignation, it did not include the smallest portion of 
acquiescence. God forbid ! Some of my pious 
friends, who had felt with me all along, received the 
tidings with devout submission, saying, " The will of 
the Lord be done 1" My amen to this aspiration had 
a clause added to it : I could only repeat, " The will 
of the Lord be done, by the undoing of what is so 
outrageously opposed to his known will !" I no more 
assented to the act than I would have assented to a 
murder: i no more regarded it as the Lord's doing 
than I regarded the setting up of golden calves at DaB 
as his doing. Permitted by the Lord it was : for he 
often permits natioualikft mdv»\dw«ls^ to destroy them 
selves by committitig -ptfesuTO^VxJLWX'a ««i^\\sviX. Na^*' 
therefore the author, t^eaVeltot, ox VV^v^^^^N^x^l'^iwa. 



ENGLAND PAPALIZED. 279 

erimes ? Assuredly not So fax must we submit to 
the ordinances of man as not to raise a rebellious hand 
against their execution; but to look placidly on while 
the abomination of desolation is set up to stand where 
the Lord expressly says " it ought not," and to con- 
clude he wills it to stand there because he did not 
wither the hands employed in fixing it, is a istretch of 
indifferentism to which I hope I shall never be able to 
Attain. No: the 'atrocious bill/ as it was rightly 
termed, became the law of England ; but inasmuch as 
it is wholly opposed to the law of God, let us see to it 
that our protest against its continuance on our statute 
book be fully as powerful, as persevering as was our pro- 
test against its entrance there. 

The usual lapse of some days between the signing 
of a new act and its coming into force, threw the first 
operation of the Popish bill upon a day remarkable as 
being that of the nominal saint of England. A most 
Popish coincidence ! to enhance which the reigning 
monarch had adopted the Popish custom of celebrat- 
ing the festival of St. George, in April, as his birth- 
day, which really occurred in August ; calling it his 
name day, after the continental mode. To these 
strangely concurrent circumstances was added one yet 
more striking ; namely, the fact that the noted Pas- 
torini had predicted, many years before, that the great 
efiectual blow against Protestantism would be struck 
on the 14th of April, 1829; the 13th of April, 1829, 
was the day on which the royal assent crowned the 
notorious bill. 
I have alluded before to an Abloe, Biii ^^<5i^ Y^«t!k.^ 
priest, who held a Professorship at t\iftl\.Q^«^'^AiKv\»x^ 



S$80 .AN ADMONITION. 

College, an amiable, kind-hearted old man, who letirei 
at this time from his situation and went to end his 
years in his native land. It happened that the 23Td 
was fixed for his departure, and as I sat in deep dejec- 
tion in my study, grieving over the changed aspect of 
my country now that the antichristian law was come 
into full force, I saw the old man, full of national 
vivacity, walk briskly past, on his way to make in- 
quiries respecting a coach. The sight of his silver 
locks, shining in the sunbeam, and the conviction that 
he was probably going beyond the reach of Christian 
privileges, melted me : I seized a pen, and wrote him 
a most earnest letter, faithfully setting before him the 
fearfulness of that delusion in which he was not only 
himself wrapped, but daily wrapping up the souls of 
others — ^for he officiated as priest in the place. lim- 
plored him to read God's word ; I assured him how 
cordially I concurred in the declaration of his church, 
that either he or I was certainly on the road to hell ; 
for that two paths directly opposed to each other could 
not possibly end in the same place : I told him my own 
confidence of safety and salvation was grounded solely 
on the revealed, infallible word of God : and I charged 
him as he must face me at the judgment-seat of Christ, 
to search diligently into that only sure and safe direc- 
tory as to the bearing of his own path. I wrote 
affectionately, with many tears, and fervent prayers; 
and enclosing with the letter a present of books, had it 
given to him as he mounted the coach. Whether the 
Lord blessed, or may ye\.\iW* \\.lo Vvnv^ I know not: 
/ liope I delivered my ovfw so>3\. k^\fc^ ^\^^ ^^\^ 
indeed proved a great leWft? to my c.^^^^^^'^^ 't^^xs.'^. 



THE EOYAL STANDARD 28l 

1 took my little nephew and sallied fortli for a walk. 
It was a glorious day : the sun shone with surprising 
brilliancy from a cloudless sky ; and the fresh breeze 
had all the softness of advanced Spring. I strolled 
through a grove of oaks, pondering on the naval great- 
ness of my country, on the vaunted ' Hearts of oak ' 
that both formed her fleets and manned them, and be- 
wailing the infatuation that had now planted a deadly 
Upas in the midst of her fair national garden. Every 
object around me seemed to speak reproach, from the 
peaceful beauty of that fearless repose in which for so 
many centuries our happy isle had lain beneath the 
shadow of the Lord's hand. " I have nourished and 
brought up children, and they have rebelled against 
me," was the purport of the voice that seemed to 
breathe rebuke. Wandering on, I came to the wind- 
ing rampart of the college, a beautifully retired waUs, 
where mounds of earth, covered with grass, aid the 
military effect of that fine establishment ; and here a 
turn brought me at once upon an object calculated to 
wound me beyond all the rest. 

It was the royal standard of England, hoisted in 
honour of the king's name-day: an immense banner 
of rich silk, splendidly emblazoned with the well-known 
arms. England's three lions in the proud attitude of 
menacing advance ; Scotland's rampant one, rejoic- 
ing in his independence ; and poor Ireland's neglected 
harp, once tuned to the highest strains of inspired 
psalmody ; now for many a long age perverted to the 
service of idols, and polluted by the licentiou.^ €Lcv^^^ts% 
oF those who work on the passions oi Viet ^^^^x«^^s^ 
Tj'ret more deeply the fettex on lYv^u ao\3\a^^^^5Bk»»» 
24* 



<282 ICHABOD. 

were unrolled before me, just then drooping in a luU 
of the breeze; and the Irish quarter partially resting 
on a mound of green sod, where it lay languid and 
sad. I leaned against the opposite bank, weeping 
most abundantly as I gazed; for all the chivalrous 
feelings of former days were awakened to embitter the 
rest. How often had my heart beat joyously while I 
looked upon that noble standard, floating on the fourth 
of June, the birthday of good old George the third, 
whose prayerful fidelity to his sacred trust kept that 
flag secure, uncontaminated, victorious, through his 
sixty years' reign! And that head which he was 
ready to lay on a block rather than surrender the 
sacred protest, was mouldering with the dead — his son 
had surrendered it — our protest was gone ! I could 
not quite realize the fact, it appeared so incredible to 
me, after all I had read of the past, and all I had seen 
in Ireland, of the workings of Popery wherever it 
could snatch even momentary power. But the wind 
freshened again, the heavy folds of the gorgeous ban- 
ner slowly rose upon it, all its bright blazonry stood 
out in wonted pride, unconscious of the 'Ichabod' 
that sacrilegious hands had written on every trophy, 
and with a fresh burst of tears I turned away. 

For all this, and for the deep despondency that op 
pressed me then, I was rebuked, of course, by man; 
but God never rebuked me for it. Twelve years have 
elapsed, and each year has heaped upon us a fresh 
load of that " fVuit of our own ways," which will crush 
UB at last. That ' li^alm^ TMi^iSvxx^'^ ^^ \\& ^^-^diency- 
mongerih^ patrons \oved lo cft^\\.^ ^A\w\^vi^\\fc^^^ 
ieadly wound of the Beaal ^imotv^ m^, ^xv^ \.^^^>sa 



RETRIBUTION. 283 

again live, to our confusion. Ireland is all but given 
up as an uncontested prey to him; her Protes- 
tant church dismantled, her Protestant Bible mutilat- ' 
ed, her Protestant corporations sold, her Protestant 
landlords massacred as a matter tff course; and the 
vnry Union, any attempt at infracting which is high 
treason, made the object of unmasked attacks on the 
part of a man who has armed and marshalled her mil- 
tio-is in open rebellion against the British government, 
wfcich, jtidicially given over to infatuation, fawns on 
hn person and courts his patronage. In England, . 
disaffection to the crown, combined with and strength- 
0-^d by principles of gross infidelity, an increasing 
^ intempt of old institutions because they are based on 
Christianity, an open scorn of the Sabbath, and an im- 
aen«e falling away to popery in the mass of the peo- 
lie ; while, within the church, even in its pulpits and 
imong its most distinguished ministers, prevails a re- 
Hval of more than semipapal error, such as must 
wholly destroy the spiritual life of that body if it be 
opt speedily and summarily checked. Instead of this, 
we too well know that it is daily extending, bearing in 
itself the seeds of a future and cruel persecution of 
God's people. We cannot look on these things and 
deny that they have come upon us in just retribution 
for 1829; we cannot, without expecting at the Lord's 
hand such a compromise of his Majesty and truth as 
he will never make, look for deliverance from these 
fears and dangers until we have, by a national act, put 
away the evil of those doings wWc^ \iw^ ^xw^kfc^ 
bzm to forsake U8, 



LETTER XIY, 



EMPLOYMENT. 



How is it that Christians so often complain the) 
can find nothing to do for their Master? To heai 
some of them bemoaning their unprofitableness, wi 
might conclude that the harvest indeed is small, and 
the labourers many. So many servants out of emjdoy 
is a bad sign ; and to obviate the difficulty complained 
of I purpose showing you two or three ways in vrhi^ 
those who are so inclined may bestir themselves for 
the good of others. What a blessing were a working 
church ! and by a church I mean " the company of 
all faithful people," whomsoever and wheresoever 
they be. 

In the village where I lived, there was a very good 
national-school, well attended : also a Sunday-School; 
and the poorer inhabitants generally were of a respect- 
able class, with many of a higher grade, such as small 
tradesmen, and the families of those in subordinate 
offices about the Military College. I always took s 
great interest in the young ; and as love usually pro- 
duces love, there was no lack of affectionate feeling on 
their part. It occurred to me, as the Sunday was 
much devoted by most of them to idling about, that 
tasembling such of tKem «& ^kked it at my cottage 



SABBATH MEETING. 285 

vould afford an opportunity for scriptural instruction ; 
md without anything resembling a school, or any re- 
gular proposal, I found a little party of six or seven chii' 
iren assembled in the afternoon, to hear a chapter read, 
emswer a few questions upon it, and join in a short prayer. 
Making it as cheerful and unrestrained as possible, I 
found my little guests greatly pleased ; and on the next 
Sabbath my party was doubled, solely through the 
favourable report spread by them. One had asked 
me, * Please, Ma'am, may I bring my little sister 7 
and on the reply being given ' You may bring any 
body and every body you like,' a general beating up 
for recruits followed. In three or four weeks 
my assemblage amounted to sixty, only one half of 
whom could be crowded into the parlour of my 
small cottage. What was to be done ? The work was 
rather arduous, but as I too had been complaining not 
long before of having little to do for the Lord, expept 
with the pen, I resolved to brave a little extra labour. I 
dissired the girls to come at four, the boys at six, and 
allowing an interval of half hour between, we got 
Chrough it very well. A long table was set across the 
room, from corner to corner ; round this they were 
seated, each with a Bible, I being at the head of the 
table. I found this easy and sociable way of proceed- 
ing highly gratified the children : they never called, 
never thought it a school — they came bustling in with 
looks of great glee, particularly the boys, and greeted 
me with the affectionate freedom of young friends, 
A few words of introductory prayer were followed by 
the reading of one or more chapters, so that each had 
B verse or two; and then we talked. o\ei \!tA Y^iNASHk 



286 BOYS. 

of scripture very closely, mutually questioning each 
other. Many of tlie girls were as old as sixteen or 
seventeen, beautiful creatures, and very well-dressed : 
and what a privilege it was so to gather and so to arm 
them in a place -where alias ! innumerable snares beset 
their path. We concluded with a hymn; and long 
before the half-hour had expired that preceded the 
boy^s entrance, they were clustering like bees at tbe 
gate, impatient for the joyous rush j and to set them- 
selves round their dear table, with all that free confi- 
dence without which I never could succeed in really 
commanding the attention af boys. 

Our choice of chapters was peculiar, I found they 
wanted stirring subjects, and I gave them Gideon, 
Samson, Jonathan, Nehemiah, Boaz, Mordecai, Daniel, 
all the most manly characters of Old Testament his- 
tory, with the rich gospel that lies wrapped in every 
page of that precious volume. Even in the New 
Testament I found that individualizing as much as 
possible the speaker or the narrative produced great 
effects. Our blessed Lord himself, John Baptist Paul 
— all were brought before them as vividly as possible; 
and I can assure those who try to teach boys as tiiey 
would teach girls, that they are pursuing a wrong 
method. Mine have often coaxed an extra hour from 
me ; and I never once saw them willing to go, during 
the fifteen months of our happy meetings. If the 
least symptom of unruliness appeared, I had only to 
tell them they were my guests^ and I appealed to their 
feelings of manliness, whether a lady had not some 
claim to forbearance and respect. Nothing rights a 
boy of ten or twelve years like putting hfm on hi^ 



AN' EVENT. 287 

manbood ; and really my little lads became gentlemen 
in mind and manners, while, blessed be God ! not a 
few became, I trust, wise unto salvation. Their great- 
er temptation to disorderly doings was in the- laugh- 
able, authoritative style of Jack's supeAntendence. 
He was now rapidly fading, but in mind brighter than 
over. Seated in a large chair, a little to the rear of 
me, he kept strict watch over the party, and any de- 
viation from what he considered correct conduct was 
noticed with a threat of punishment, conveyed by 
pinching his own ear, slapping his own face, kicking 
o^t his foot, and similar indications of chastisement, 
with a knowing nod at the offender. But if he saw 
an approach to levity over the word of God, his man- 
ner wholly changed. Tears filled his eyes, he looked 
all grief and entreaty, and the words, ^ God see,' were 
earnestly spelled on his uplifted hands. No one could 
stand the appeal ; and very rarely had he occasion to 
make it I am sure his prayers helped forward the 
Yv:ork mightily. It was wonderful to see thirty-two 
robust, boisterous fellows, from nine to seventeen years 
old, sitting in perfect delight and perfect order, for 
two and even three hours, on a fine Sunday evening, 
never looking dissatisfied till they were told to go. 

J cannot help recording an event on which I look 
back with great thankfulness : though it was a terrible 
trial to me at the time. Two of my boys had a quar- 
rel one week-day. One of them was very teasing, the 
otiher very passionate. The latter ran to a butcher'a 
window close by, seized the large knife, and plunged 
it into the left side of his companion. Most mercifully 
tbe wound was not dangerous the keenness of the 



288 BOY WOUNDED. 

knife was in his favour ; it penetrated to within a 
short distance of the heart, but separated no largt vein, 
and within a few days the boy was out again. The 
Sunday, aftei* it occurred my party were exceedingly 
moved; they expressed great anger, and not a few 
threats were uttered against the culprit, whose parents 
had locked him up. On the following Sabbath I re- 
solved to make an effort to avert bad consequences, 
and also to arrest the poor boy in his dangerous course. 
He had rather justified himself than otherwise, and 
had shown a spirit sadly unsubdued, and unthankful 
for his escape from a deadly crime and its awful con- 
sequences. I sent word to him to come to my party: 
he replied he would not I repeated the summons, 
saying I should be exceedingly hurt if he did not 
No answer was returned. , The place next but one to 
me belonged to the wounded boy, that below it to his 
assailant; and the former was present, pale, indeed, 
but well. I lost no time in announcing to them that 
I expected P., which occasioned a burst of indigns- 
tion, some saying they would not stay in the room 
with him, and the rest seeming to assent. ' Then,' 
said I, 'you must go, for he wants instruction most: 
and the very feeling that makes you shrink from as- 
sociating with him proves that you are better taught 
So if you will leave me, do ; I must admit Iuol' Just 
then P. was seen coming down the little garden : he 
entered, his walk very erect, his eyes unflinching, and 
his dark brows knitted. The looks of my young lads 
were very eloquent ; his bold bearing exasperated them 
much. My heart seemed bursting its boundary with 
the violent palpitation of alarm, and other emotions 



FORGIVENESS. 289 

which I could scarcely suppress ; but I motioned to P. 
to take His usual place, and instantly rising offered up 
the usual prayer, with a petition for the spirit of mutual 
compassion, forgiveness, and love. I ceased, all re- 
mained standing, and certainly it was a period of most 
fearful interest. I looked imploringly at the wounded 
boy; he hesitated a moment, then suddenly turned, 
and with an air of noble frankness, held out his hand 
to P., who took it directly. I then offered him mine ;. 
he grasped it, and burst into tears. A delightful scene 
foUowed, each pressing to seal his forgiveness in the 
same manner, while Jack's countenance shone with 
almost heavenly beauty on a spectacle so congenial to 
his loving heart. We had a most happy evening, and 
I could not but tell my dear boys how much I rejoiced 
over tbem. Whatever may have been the effect on 
the characters of those concerned, I know not. I am 
persuaded the proceeding was a means of averting 
much mischief Boys are noble creatures when placed 
on their right footing; but I alwayjs think there is a 
great deal too much of what is technically termed old 
wom^nism in the mode of conducting their scriptural 
education. They are pugnacious animals too, and re- 
quire prudent management. News was brought me 
one evening, while they waited for admission, that two 
of them had stripped off their jackets to fight, the dis- 
pute being which loved their teacher most. ^ Exclude 
them bpth to-night,' said a friend, ^ and threaten to ex- 
pel them.' Instead of which I sent word that the one 
who first put on his jacket lov^d me most, and that I 
was r« ady to begin. In they both came, smiUng, and: 
25 



290 EMPLOTMEzrr. 

they got their lecture in due time, when a passage b 
point came before us. 

Now, who complains of non- employment while Eng 
land has so many neglected lambs of her fold together 
and so many who, in the duU routine of a school, get 
only a mechanical knowledge of what would deeply 
interest them if brought before them with the help of 
a little personal condescension and care? It is a 
branch of Christian duty for which all are competent 
who know the gospel ; and two, three, or four young 
people invited to come in for an hour or so at stated 
times^ to sit down at a table and talk qvqt the pas- 
sages of scripture which may appear best calculated 
to engage their pleased attention, may often prove the 
^undation for a noble work. It is particularly needed 
now, when information is universally sought after, 
and be it remembered, I am also speaking of a class 
above the very poor. They are a most important 
class, as we shall soon find; for from them are the 
Chartist bodies officered, and active agents supplied in 
works of infinite mischief False pride will interpose, 
no doubt. We like better to deal with those a good 
way removed, than with such as may claim a compa* 
rative approximation to our own rank ; and the devil 
desires no better auxiliary to his designs than the 
.pride of which he is the loving father. Again, ladies 
do not like to instruct boys : they are very wrong. 
Female influence is a powerful thing, and freely exerted 
for evil — why not for good % We brought all tEe sin 
mto the world, involving man in the ruin he was not 
tie first to seek • anA \t Va iV^ \ft«L%X. ^^ ^^xl ^^ x.^^ ^SS». 
him a little good now. 1 iift^e^i ^^^ ^^^ "^^ ^^W^ - 



PKEJl'DICES. 291 

tnd tKanks be to God I have taught many — who would 
be Tude to a female earnestly and kindly seeking his 
welfare, without attempting to crush that independence 
of spirit which is man's prerogative, and which no wo- 
man has a right to crush. 

I need not say that in the foregoing, and in all simi- 
lar works where the Lord permitted me to engage, I 
laboured diligently to make my young friends some- 
thing more than nominal Protestants. To omit this, 
in giving instruction, is the very madness of inconsis- 
tent folly and cruelty. 

A few weeks after the commencement of my weekly 
assemblages, I was called to the . metropolis in search 
of medical aid for a dear little child of my brother's. 
I found it, and all that Christian kindness could add to 
rendet it doubly valuable, at the hands of an estimable 
physician near whom I resolved to stay for a few 
weeks; and while secretly lamenting that here, at 
least, I should find nothing to do, an answer was given 
to my unbelief that might well shame it. To the 
same end, I will record this also, the circumstances 
being already well known, but not the delightful en- 
couragements that are afforded when a project is 
entered upon in single, simple reliance on the help of 
Him for whose glory his people desire to work. Un- 
belief in his willingness, — for we dare not doubt his 
power to prosper our poor attempts, — is the real bar 
to oi^ success. Such mistrust is infinitely disnon- 
ouring to him. 

Six years had elapsed since I left Ireland^ Wt tcc^ 

affection for the country and t\\e "^O"^^ -^^^xsass^^sss^^n 

anchdngeable. . The very ceulit o^ \N\^ \^^ V^"^ 



292 THE IRISH LANOUAOB. 

come the grave of my beloved brother, and this only 
added tenfold to the touching interest excited by the 
very mention of that land. Strange to say, I had 
never heard of the Irish Society, nor considered of 
what vast importance it would be to* make the Ian 
guage of the natives a medium of conveying spiritual 
instruction to them. The annual meeting was about 
to be held, and among the Irish clergymen forming 
the deputation to London, was the Rev. Charles Sey- 
mour, the venerable, and every way estimable pastor 
under whose ministry my brother had been placed at 
Castlebar, and from whom I had received letters, fully 
confirmatory of my sanguine hope, that he had indeed 
and wholly embraced the gospel of Christ. Longing 
to see Mr. Seymour, I went to him on the morning of 
the meeting; and most sweet was the testimony He 
had to give ; most tender the sympathy he evinced in 
aU my sorrow and all my gladness. After a conversa- 
tion that left me overflowing with gratitude for the 
blessings vouchsafed to my precious brother, he asked 
me to attend the meeting, and I went prepared to take 
a lively interest in whatever might be said respecting 
Ireland. How great was my astonishment when, for 
the'first time, I heard the story of Bishop BedeD, of 
the Irish Bible, and of the good work in rapid pro- 
gress among the aborigines of the land. The extent 
and inveteracy of the disease, I well knew ; but the 
suitability of the remedy had never been set before me. 
In fact, I hardly knew that the Irish was a written 
ianguage ; and strange it seemed to have passed three 
years in a part of the couiitT^ -wVwfti^VvVa ^x\.^xiwi%\^ 
jnxlbieny and in the \xowsft o$ ot\ft ^V'^^ i^-^ivj^ vs^ 



ST. OIL£S. 129S 

versed in that tongue with the rustic frequenters of 
her shop, yet to be so grossly ignorant of all relating 
to it I resolved to become an active partizan of the 
Irish Society in Ireland ; but a different turn was soon 
givea to my sympathies. Mr. Seymou^ spoke after 
the others : he said much calculated to prove the 
power of the language in preaching the gospel ; but 
suddenly reverting to the state of the many thousands 
of his poor countrymen congregated in London, he 
drew a most affecting picture of their destitute, degra- 
ded condition. He appealed to us as Christians ; and 
leminding us of our many privileges, bade us take 
eaie that the souls of his poor countrymen did not 
lise up in judgment to condemn us for allowing them 
to perish in the heart of our metropolis. ^ Open,' he 
said, ' a bread-shop in St. Giles's ; deal forth a little of 
the bread of life to their starving souls. Ye English 
Christians, I appeal to you for them: oh, pity my 
poor lost countrymen, open but a bread-shop in St 
Giles's 1' Tears ran down his venerable face, as he 
lifted his clasped hands, and bent towards us. The 
effect of his words on me was electric : I looked at 
him, and silently but fervently said, ^ So God help me 
as I will open you a bread-shop in St. Giles's, if He does 
but permit !' Again and again did I repeat the pledge ; 
and when Lord Roden spoke, — the first time of my 
seeing that noble Irishman, — and heartily seconded 
the appeal, I renewed the- secret promise, with such 
purpose of heart as rarely fails to accomplish its 
object. 
For some days I tried in vain to do aT\^X)Ms\%\«^«:A3^ 
it; bat OB the Sunday, passing fxota Ot^^V. '^Niasrfi^ 
25* 



294 AN AFPEAZ^ 

street to Long-acre, through the worst part of St 
Giles's, I saw the awful state of that district, and de 
clared to my companion, himself a devoted Irishman, 
my fixed resolve to have a church there. He warmly 
encouraged il, extravagant as the idea appeared; and 
I began to pray earnestly for direction from above 
Two nights after, a thought struck me; I wrote an 
appeal on behalf of the miserable Irish Papists in that 
place, likening their case among us to that of Lazarus 
lying at the rich man's gate, and imploring means to 
give them the gospel in their own tongue. This I 
had printed, and sent copies as I eould to various 
friends. Some smiled at my enthusiasm; others pointed 
out the work among distant heathens, as far more im- 
portant. Many wished me success; a few rebuked 
me for desiring to proselytize the members of another 
church ; and still fewer gave me money. At the end 
of a fortnight's hard begging I had got just seven 
pounds towards building a church I This, was sl^w 
work. One day, dining at the table of my dear friend 
Dr. P., he heard many bantering me for being so san- 
guine, and said, * You remind me of Columbus, going 
to the cathedral of Seville to ask a blessing on his ro- 
mantic project of discovering a new world. Every- 
body laughed at me. Nevertheless, Columbus sue 
ceeded, and so will jfou,^ At that moment a gentle- 
man sitting next me laid a sovereign on my piece of 
bread ; and th^ coincidence the gold and the ' bread- 
shop,' combined with the doctor's. confident prediction, 
put new life into me, I boldly said, ' I -will succeed.' 

With the sum of seven pounds in hand, I wrote to 
the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, begging him to 



A PROJECT. 295 

atk the Bishop of London if he would license my Irish 
church and an Irish clergyman, if I provided both. 
Lord Mountsandford took this letter to him ; and the 
next day he brought me this rather startling message : 
— ' The Bishop of London will license your church : 
Lichfield sends his love to you, and desires you will 
summon the gentlemen who are assisting you in this 
undertaking, — half a dozen or so, — to meet him in 
Sackville-street on Saturday next, and be there your- 
self. He will see what can be done to forward it.' 
Half a do^en gentlemen ! where was I to find them 7 
My only helpers were Mr. Maxwell, Dr. Pidduck, and 
Lord Mountsandford himself However, I went to 
work, praying incessantly, and solacing myself with 
that beautiful text, ^^ Go up to the mountain and bring 
wood and build the house, and I will take pleasure in 
it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord." I suppose 
I repeated that verse a hundred times a day, in my 
solitude, attending the sick child, and writing letters 
till I nearly £ei\ from my seat with exhaustion. 

Saturday arrived : I had no idea how fax* my appli- 
cations might have succeeded ; but if I had as many 
gentlemen there as pounds in my treasury, namely, 
seven, it would be sufficient. I went trembling with 
hope and fear, accompanied by two warm-hearted young 
Irish barristers whom my good friend Mr. Maxwell had 
pressed into the service. Oh what could I render 
unto the Lord for all his goodness to me, when I saw 
the glorious spectacle presented to my view at the 
hour appointed ! There sat the good Bishop Ryder 
in the. chair; beside him the Bishop of Bath and 
Welk; Lords Lorton, Lifford, Bexley, Mountsand^ 



296 THE IRISH CHUECH. 

ford, and Carberry ; and of other cler^men and gen* 
tlemen upwards of forty. < Let us ask a blessing, 
said the Bishop of Lichfield ; and when we all kneeled 
down to commit unto the Lord a work so new, so 
strange, and to poor human reason so hopelessly wild 
as this had appeared two days before, I thought I 
might as well die then as not; I could never die 
happier. 

All was zeal, love, unanimity ; they placed it on a 
good basis, and my seven pounds were multiplied by 
more than seven before we broke up. They did not 
take the work out of my hands, but formed themselves 
into a body for aiding in carrying it on : the rector 
of St. Giles's came forward voluntarily to give his 
hearty consent, and ten pounds ; and if there was a 
pillow of roses in London that night, I surely slept on 
it. In six weeks my memorable seven pounds swelled 
to thirteen hundred ; a church was bought, a pastor 
engaged ; and a noble meeting held in Freemason's 
Hall, to incorporate the new project with the Irish So- 
ciety. I weilt back to Sandhurst elated with joy, and 
lost no time in putting Up, most conspicuously written 
out on card, over my study fire-place, the lines that I 
had so often repeated during the preceding two months: 

Victorious Faith the promise sees 

And looks to Grod alone ; 
Laughs at impossibilities 

And says, ' It shall be done.' 

In the following November the Irish Episcopal ehureh 
in St. Giles's was opened for divine service on Advent 
Sandav, the Rev. H. H. Beamish officiating. A moie 



4 
UR. HOWELS. 297 

eloquent and fluent preacher, a more gifted and de- 
voted man, the whole church of God could not have 
rapplied. He preached the whole gospel in Irish to 
the listening, wondering people, who hung with delight 
upon accents so dear to them ; and he attacked their 
pettilent heresies with the bold faithfulness of one who 
meant what he said, when vowing to drive away all 
erroneous and strange doctrines from those under his 
eharge. God blessed most richly his ministry : many 
were awakened, several truly converted to Christ, and 
not a small number ADIy convinced of the falsehood 
^ their own superstition, which they forsook. We 
had forty communicants from among the most wretch- 
edly ignorant and bigotted of the Irish Romanists, be- 
fore Mr. Beamish left his post : and one of them had 
even endured a cruel martyrdom for the truth's sake. 
A bread-shop indeed it was: and the old Christian, 
whose fervent appeal had given rise to its establish- 
ment, himself preached there in Irish to a delighted 
congregation, before the Lord took him to Himself 

I must, however, go back to the period of my so- 
journ in London, to mention some other matters. Two 
eipecial blessings I obtained there: the ministry of 
Mr. Howels, and the friendship of one whom you well 
ki&ow by character as portrayed under the type of the 
hearts-ease in the Chapters on Flowers — Mr. Donald. 
The two blessings were indeed one ; for never were 
hearts more closely knit in brotherly love, than those 
of Howels and Donald, now together before the throne 
Off the Lamb. I cannot set forth what I owe to my 
pastor at Long Acre, in the way of ^strengthening my 
faith against the perilous delusions of Irvingism, which 



298 SPEAKING OUT. 

were continually seeking to enwrap me, but wliie]i,1ij 
God's grace. I had been enabled to resist, at the cooi- 
mencement, by an appeal to my Bible alone : I nniit 
enter more fully upon that presently. The moit 
valuable lesson, however, whic^ I learned from Ml 
Howels was, speaking out. UpVto that time I had 
been very cautious, and refraineoLfrom touching oo 
controversy, persuaded that to oj^se error opeidj 
and directly, was an unsafe proceec^ng. I had it* 
tacked it covertly, rather by lettihg^rth the light 
than by noticing the darkness, at least iA my writingi^ 
and in speaking to the Romanists ; but now I begn 
to feel that to '' contend earnestly fpr the faith ooes 
delivered to the saints" must necessarily include itt 
open denunciation of the errors which subverted tbft 
faith. Mr. Howels was peculiarly bold and direct iB 
his manner of preaching down heresy, in whatsoenr 
form it lifted up its head ; nor did he at all flioek 
from warning individuals. Contrary to the usoil 
plan of gently insinuating what he intended to conref, 
he left no possibility of mistaking his meaning. I wai 
greatly astonished, when, on the very first day of wj 
attendance at Long Acre, he abruptly said from tk 
pulpit, ' I am accused of dealing too severely with is- 
dividuals : they say I struck Irving too hard. IstAa 
Irving ! No, he struck himself, I did not strike him; 
who would strike a suicide V He proceeded to ex- 
hibit the suicidal effects of those doctrines which Mi« 
Irving was then beginning to proclaim ; and so con- 
pletely was my attention rivetted by the undisguised 
personality with which he had commenced, that it WW 
to me as the regular discussion of a particular cast, 



a- 
KITBCTUAL ^ODE OF INSTRUCTING. 299 

instead of being lost in the generalizing eiTect of what 
might apply to almost any thing. In like manner he 
dealt with Popery and with Socinianism, calling them 
by these their proper names, and specifying distinctly 
&ny man, living or dead, whose particular errors he 
was assailing. I found this manner of instructing 
most effectual : all that he said became, as it were, sc 
elassed in the memory, that each sentence was made 
available in the precise department to which it belonged. 
Through the goodness of God in teaching me out of 
his own blessed word, I &ad learned those truths which 
my pastor set forth ; and there was no mistaken view, 
•8 I remember, on my part, to be rectified by his in- 
structions. I went along with him fully, cordially, in 
all things save one, — the Second Advent, — but incal- 
culably did he strengthen me on points where before I 
indeed stood, but where now I felt that I stood fast ; 
and I soon learned that to possess the weapons of a 
warfare into which the church was entering was not 
enough : they must be openly used. His very plain 
speaking, which shocked some fastidious tastes, showed 
me how much we lose by diluting our native Saxon : 
and I resolved by God's grace to make a better use in 
future, of my mother-tongue. 

In warning my young Sabbath party against Popery, 
I had been used to say ' There are some mistaken peo- 
ple who will pay honour to those which are no gods : 
doing superstitious things/ and so forth, descrioing 
the observances of the Romish system. Now, I at 
once addressed them without circumlocution ^ Papists, 
who are by some foolishly and falsely called Catholics, 
art taught by their priests the most idolatrous, anti 



BOO OONTROVERST. 

christian things possible ;' and then proceeded to show 
those things. This had the effect I had expected; it 
embodied an idea otherwise vague and indistinct ; and 
ensured their remembering the particular errors when 
they should meet with the party named. To the Ro- 
manist himself I learned to be equally explicit, not 
merely combating idolatry as before, by dwelling on 
the command to worship God alone, but at once brand* 
ing as idolatrous specific acts habitually committed by 
those of his communion ; and showing at one view the 
actual sin with the divine proliibition of it. This is 
controversy ; and so long as the world lieth in wicked- 
ness the church must be a controversial body : this is 
proselytizing ; and so long as men are to be turned 
from darkness to light, we must proselytize. At the 
outset of my efforts for an Irish church in St. Giles's 
it was objected by one or two friends, * You want to 
make proselytes.* I answered, * No ; we only want to 
preach the Gospel.' A very few Sundays at Long 
Acre however changed my tone ; and thenceforth the 
reply was, ' To be sure we do ; of what avail will the 
preaching of Christ be, if it does not overthrow the 
dominion of Antichrist V At a subsequent period, an 
Irish reader of mine asked me, ' Ma'am, do you forbid 
me to speak controversially?' 'Certainly not: show 
the people their errors, as set forth by the Holy Spirit 
for that very purpose of convincing them of the sin.' 
I am thankful to hear you say that. Ma'am. Some 
of the gentlemen charge me never to engage in contro* 
rersy, but how can I help it ? When I was a Papist, 

/ read the Bible becausft it yiblS 1\v^ ot^^ >««}*. vft.\w&i. 

that I could well teact my ip\rgaa «^^ ^^\ w^^^^^^"^ 



SPEAKI^'G OUT. 801 

widiout being at all unsettled in my false religion, 

until I was teaching Miss , and she stopped me 

whenever we came to a strong passage against idolatry 
and the like, saying, * Now, Mr. how do you re- 
concile that with your religion V I was very mad at 
ker, and strove to forget; but I could not get the words 
oat of the Bible, and they troubled my conscience, 
tiHa at last I took to comparing Popery with what she 
had told me was written to warn me out of it : and by 
Qod's blessing out I came.' Another said, ' I might 
have read fifty times over, " The blood of Jesus Christ 
eleanseth from all sin," and not objected to it, and still 
xemained a Papist ; but a Protestant pointed it out, 
and said, '' If the blood of Christ eleanseth from all sin, 
what are your works, your penances, your expiatoiy 
masses good for ? And if the blood of Jesus Christ 
eleanseth from all sin, what more has purgatory to do 
far the soul ? And if there be no purgatory, what be- 
comes of the infallibility of your church? And if 
ycmr church be not infallible, what leg have you got 
td stand upon ?" I felt, continued the narrator, ^ as if 
die ground was cleaving under my feet ; and from that 
time I never rested till I had come to Christ for the 
blood of sprinkling, and cast my idols to the moles and 
the bats.' So much for controversy. 

I have noticed that I did not go with Mr. Howels on 
the subject ofthe Second Advent: I could not. In fact. 
I was a millennarian against my will. The three parti- 
culars on which I did not believe myself to be convinced 
fwre, the vengeful dispensation against the Loid'« 
aaemies preparatory to the tKouBan& ^«^"t% qI ^^R«^fc^•' 
NMs; the literal nature of tilie &T&t^ i^tAmV!&feTfiG^\^ ^ 
26 



302 JUDGMENT AND MERCY. 

surrection : and the personal reign. With regard to 
the first, I wished to believe that the gospel would be 
universailly victorious, subduing every heart, and 
bringing the whole world in peaceful submission to ae 
knowledge the Lord as King. I had once, as before 
stated, been startled by a reference to the sixty-thiid 
of Isaiah, and lulled to sleep again by the far-fetched 
comments of good Matthew Henry : and I confessed I 
had taken up the missionary cause on the gratuitoui 
assumption that we were to convert every body, ad 
could not agree to a less extensive triumph. Well ; I 
did not choose to bring this to the test of Scriptme, 
because I did not wish to be undeceived ; but just 
after the Irish meeting, one was held in reference to 
the Jews, at which I was present ; and forth stepped 
my valued friend M'Neile, whom I had not seen ibr a 
year, and with his little bible in his hand preached tbe 
obnoxious doctrine, to my infinite annoyance and con- 
viction ! He took up my preeise objection withont 
knowing it ; he spoke of those who could not see that 
a part of Grod's mercy was his judgment ; and with 
that glowing ardour tempered with deep solemnity 
that always gives him so much of the prophetic charac- 
teristic, if I may so speak, he read from the cxxxvi. 
Psalm, *' To Him that smote Egypt in their first-bom; 
for his MERCY endureth for ever" " To him which 
smote great kings, for his mercy endureth for eter : 
And slew famous kings, for his merct endureth fsf 
ever.^* This was the key-note of a strain that I deeply 
felt resounded through the whole soripiure, though 1 
had refused to heed it ; and then he turned to the lii. 
of Zsaiah^ and read the ^i«l «.iid part, of the second 



SCRimTRE. 



rtno, as quoted by our blessed Lord in the iv. of St. 
Jolin, to where he shut the book, saying, '^ this day is 
tkit scripture fuAUed in your ears'' But did the 
iddpture end here? No : the first adi^nt fulfilled so 
nmch of it; and He who then proclaimed ^'the ac- 
Mptable year of the Lord," should at his second com- 
lag proceed with that unfinished scripture " The day 
of vengeance of our God." And go on thence " To 
eomfort all that mourn: to appoint unto them that 
mourn in Zion," — and so the whole beautiful picture 
of millennial gladness and glory on which Isaiah ex- 
patiates rose before me, as consequent upon that '^ day 
ftp vengeance," whieh Christ has not yet in person pro- 
claimed. How angry I felt with that dauntless cham- 
pion of God's whole truth, for trampling upon my 
darling prejudices ! nevertheless he had done it ; and 
thenceforth I opened my mind to drink in the pure 
•imple meaning of the literal promise. 

The first resurrection I considered to be a resurrec- 
tion of the souls of the martyrs, whose spirits were to 
animate the happy race of believers during a thousand 
years. I confess some things puzzled me sorely in 
this interpratation : for instance, how could a soul be 
buried; and if not buried how did it rise? Again, 
those souls were under an altar in heaven, waiting 
for the completion of their company by means of a 
new persecution on earth, and it seemed rather a 
heathenish doctrine to transmigrate them into other 
faiodies; more especially as their own bodies would 
need them again. Besides, they were with Christ 
personally in heaven ; and to be without Christ person- 
ally on earth, was by no means an additional privilege. 



804 THE RESURRECTIOIf. 

I foaiid the thing untenable, and resolved to eonsidw 
it as wholly figurative ; but if so, then the final judg- 
ment, described also in that chapter, might be figan* 
tive too. I could not look my own inferences in tlie 
face ; so 1 wished to let the subject alone ; but then a 
blessing was distinctly pronounced on such as should 
read or hear the words of that prophecy; and I did 
not like to lose a blessing. 

Thus the matter stood : I had rigidly forborne to 
read any book, pro or con, or to be talked to about it 
Qne day, when the subject forced itself on me, I re- 
solved to strengthen myself against the modern view 
(as I wisely supposed it)- by prayerfully reading 
again what I already so well knew-— the xv. chapter of 
I Corinthians. I did so : and was suddenly struck by 
a recollection of the passage where the <^ saying" is 
written " Death is swallowed up in victory." I turn- 
ed to Isaiah xxv., read it, and found it unequivocally 
a description of the church's blessedness en earth— 
the millennium — at the outset of which the saying is 
written which '' shall come to pass" when Christ's 
people rise from the dead, ^ut will not all rise then? 
I went over the apostle's description once more, and 
found no word of the resurrection unto condemnation. 
The corruptible then raised would all put on inconup* 
tion ; the weakness, power ; the mortal, immortality ; 
having borne the image of the earthly, they were to 
bear the image of the heavenly. I was quite over- 
powered : could I reply against God ? The passage 
that I thought so formidable on my side failed me-' 
^Afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming 
Then cometh the end." But au interval of a thouaand 



MILLENNARIANIbH; 305 

j«tn might surely precede that *' Then," since more 
than eighteen hundred have already intervened since 
the acceptahle year of the Lord," and we have not yet 
seen " the day of vengeance of our God," though only 
a comma separates them in the Bihle. From this 
stfirting point I explored the scriptures in reference to 
Jl literal resurrection of Christ's people, at a literal 
coming previous to the thousand years of Satan's 
binding and the peace of the church. I saw it clear^ 
ly : I received it fully : and I hold it firmly at this 
day. 

Qn the continued personal presence of the Lord 
lesus during that period I was much longer unde- 
«ided ; but I received it gradually as necessary to the 
imnnonious completion of the whole. I shall have 
occasion to mention it again. Whenever Mr. Howels 
V>ok up this subject of the Second Advent, 1 was 
more than willing to be convinced, or rather uncon- 
» yinced by him ; but I could not. He always lost his 
tamper, talked of sending the millennarians to a lunatic 
asylum ; but nevet showed cause for their commit- 
■lent to such safe custody. DonaM was by no means 
^vourable to the views, and once asked me ^ Why do 
you hold this mistaken opinion V I answered, play- 
fully, ^ Because it is the only subject on which Howds 
ta&s nonsense.' He shook his head, and said, 'I 
candidly tell you, I wish he would let it abne.' He 
^id not however, let it alone ; and had he been spared 
to us to this day, he would, I doubt not, have been 
found among its most powerful proclaimers. 

It has often struck me what efforts the enemy has 
made to stifle this doctrine. The check given by 
26» 



806 FALSE CHRIST8. 

Irvingism was very great, and though it did not lead 
me to question what I found in my Bible, it made me 
very cautious in receiving, very backward in declaring, 
any farther light on the subject. Two years later, 8 
valuable Christian clergyman who had received, and 
alas ! still holds those deluding errors, when lamenting 
my awful pertinacity in resisting them, and warning 
me of my supposed sin, added, ^ Nevertheless I have 
hope of you my sister. You believe in the second 
advent : you will be saved by your faith in a glorified 
Saviour.' To which I answered, ^ I will not. I will 
be saved by my faith in a crucified Saviour. I believe 
in his glorious, pre-millennial coming, but it is his 
cross, not his crown, that saves my soul.* This was 
considered the climax of heresy, and I was given over 
as lost. 

But shall the abuse of a sublime truth by the gieat 
enemy lead us to reject it ? As well m&y we blot cot 
the ninety-first Psalm, because the devil quoted it, and* 
for a truly devilish pupose. No ; he knows that the 
shedding forth of greater light on this important branch 
of Christian knowledge is one of the signs of Christ's 
actual coming ; a token that his own time is short; 
therefore he endeavours to stifle it ; and ere k>Bg he 
will bring us false Christ s, to deceive if it were pos- 
sible, the very elect. We have need to be foxind 
watching t 



LETTER XV. 



DARKNEbb AND LIGHT. 



I WISH to bring into one view the subject with which 
I closed my last ; partly because the way of my escape 
ftom that snare was so similar to my preservation from 
Popery ; and partly because I doubt not that the great 
truth of the second advent will again be mixed up 
with the same, or with other deluding doctrines. We 
are remarkably warned hy our Lord of the " snare" 
• that shall be spread, the temptation that cometh upon 
the whole earth, from which his people will be kept ; 
and as we have no right or warrant to look for any 
farther revelation than we already have, it becomes 
deeply important to appreciate the sufficiency of that 
for the coming hour of trial. 

The first thing that aroused my attention to the new 
doctrines of Mr. Irving, was the singular case of Miss 
Fancourt. Had it been a person unknown to me, I 
might have thought less about it ; but I knew her. and 
het family ; and I was and am perfectly tsertain that 
the least attempt at deception was never practiced, 
never thought of by them. A sweet, patient, sufier- 
ing child of God, guileless as a babe, and whose bodi- 
ly affliction had moved my tenderest sympathy as I 
tat beside her couch of pain ; the intelligence of her 



308 THE TONGUES. 

instantaneous recovery, of ber having walked from her 
father's house at Hoxton to that of my hospitabk 
friend Mr. Hawtrey, in Hackney, and back, with my 
intimate knowledge alike of the localities and the indi- 
viduals concerned, came upon me with a reality the 
most overwhelming. I certainly held it to have been 
a miraculous answer to faithful prayer; and I was 
strongly predisposed by it to receive whatever might 
be placed before me on the same basis. 

Just then, within two or three days afterwards, a 
lady to whom I looked up as a most enlightened, zeal- 
ous Christian, wrote me a glowing letter, enclosing two 
little pamphlets or rather tracts, on the subject of 
miraculous gifts in the/ church, as set forth in the xiv. 
chapter, 1 Corinthians, which was quoted in full. She 
also gave me an account of the ^ tongues,' and exhorted 
me to pray for miraculous gifts, and to devote my pen 
immediately and wholly to this great cause. She 
added that her parents were violently opposed, but she 
hoped to obtain the ^gifts' herself, and by that means 
to silence all. I was confounded : I read the tracts, 
and all the scriptures pointed out in them as confirmft- 
tory of the view taken, and which certainly made out 
a strong case ; but I felt too that a reference to sin^ 
texts would not suffice ; I had always read the Bible 
as a continuous book, not as a collection of scraps; 
and even the division into chapter and verse annoyed 
Dae. I considered that if a man sent me a letter on 
business of importance I should never be oontent to 
Jook at a sentence here and another there, in order to 
arrive at his futt meamtv^, W\. ^w3\^i»».^^'b>^^fiSft\ 
much less would detacbL^d^wse*. t«^^^\«iXa^w5«0«^ 



THE TOUCHSTONE. 30^ 

jfibm !etten of the Apostles, indited by tKe Holy Ghost, 
rightly inform me as to the mind of the Spirit. Acr 
eordingly I that night took the New Testament up, 
kneeled, and fervently, most fervently prayed to b^ 
guided to all truth, kept from presumptuous sin, and 
led to glorify God by humbly receiving whatever he 
was pleased to reveal. I then seated myself on the 
side of my bed, and read the whole 6£ the New Testa- 
ment from the first chapter of Matthew to the Epistle 
of Jude, and the first seven chapters x)f the Revelation ; 
finishing that book on the morrow. 

The result was such as to make me decidedly reject 
the new pretensions. I cannot go over the subject 
here, it would be a treatise in itself; and my object is 
to recommend to you and others the same process, that 
each may have his own convictions based on the word 
of God, and not on the convictions of a fellow mortal. 
I was quite sure that if such an important change was 
to take place in t^he character of the dispensation, and 
women to become public teachers of men, I should find 
some express warrant for it ; since God would never 
require us to believe a miracle not wrought according 
to his word. I found that signs and wonders in the 
last days were the predicted marks of what was not to 
be received or followed ; and I began to regard with 
jealous suspicion this assumption ; resolved to watch 
most narrowly the doctrines they might preach. Miss 
Fancourt's case was argued at large in the Record 
newspaper ; and I soon came to the conclusion from 
which I have not swerved, that it was one of nervous, 
Bot organic disease ; and wKi\e asw\\i\Tv^ ^ ^'^'H '^^ 
Ood as the hearer of her prayer a.ti4 \iftAfet oflV^v «^^ 



310 

ness, I believed tbat it had been accomplisbed by the 
natural effects, mercifully ordered by him, of a natural 
cause. In this state of mind I remained, when a letter 
from a friend in Scotland brought me some account of 
a meeting where he had heard Mr. Irving expound on 
the subject of our adorable Lord's human nature, and 
which, he said, perplexed him. He stated the outline, 
slightly; but sufficiently to convince me that some 
great error lay beneath the surface, and this rendered 
me the more thankful that I had not lightly admitted 
the claim to supernatural powers, which, once acknow* 
lodged, would have given weight to any doctrine asso 
ciated with them. 

A little time brought me better acquainted with the 
nature of this heresy. Shrouded as it was in much 
obscurity, and perplexed with many contradictions, sp 
as to enable its unhappy propounder to deny in words 
what in substance he strongly advanced, nothing could 
strip it of its blasphemous character. He maintained 
that the human nature in which our Divine Lord was 
pleased to become incarnate was not only the likeness 
of sinful flesh, but flesh inherently sinful ; that He 
was assailed by every evil passion and corrupt inclina- 
tion ; that his principal suffering consisted in the wa^ 
ring of this unholy, depraved naturf against the pure 
spirit lodged within it ; that His conquest over sin was 
the conquest of his own sinful propensities ; that the 
final triumph was the putting to death of this same 
wicked nature on the cross ; and that having thus 
overcome in his own person all vile dispositions, it re- 
mained for eacK of M3 to \>eccjmei ^o^^^ VOc^^^^tJ^ 
free from sin, and enlilXftei to ^xvV^x V^iv^^^, \\^\tf4. 



SUrEKXATLTtAL AGENCY. 311 

err in this description, for I took it from the vile book 
ia which IVlr. Irving asserted the doctrine, and which 
with unspeakable horror I was compelled to read, in 
order, when brought into daily contact with his de- 
voted followers, to maintain the cause of truth against 
their assaults. A more atrocious outrage on the great 
mystery of our redemption never was fabricated. 
Socinianism could desire no more than to see the 
Deity of Christ thus degraded. Indeed it is very re- 
markable what an anti-christian character attaches to 
the whole device : for the heresy is worse than Arian, 
and the presumed miracles quite Popish. 

Great anxiety was shown to enlist me in this cause ; 
for my natural enthusiasm would have rendered me a 
zealous adherent, and my pen devoted to its advocacy 
might have done good service. They wished to test 
the miraele-working powers of their leader by causing 
me to hear ; and to prove the supernatural character 
of the utterances by making them audible to me pre- 
vious to such cure. However, I had not in vain read 
the 13th chapter of Deuteronomy, and their suecesfl' 
in both instances would have produced no other effect 
upon me than as Grod might have given me over to 
delusion in punishment for my presumptuous sin in 
seeking to any other standard of truth than * the law 
and the testimony.' I was far from denying the pro- 
bability of supernatural agency, for the doctrine was 
so truly diabolical that Satan might be likely enough 
to strengthen it with such signs and wonders as he 
was permitted to show, in order to try the faith. <3kf 
God^B people: and I know of ivo\\v\iv^ \W^ "^w^^ 
sooner put me on my guard ogeLiu^l ^iv^ iv^^ ^^!»^v 



312 SATANIC DEVICES. 

than seeing it backed by seeming miracles That 
Satan can work miracles there is no doubt, and that 
he will yet do so we are plainly warned. He seems 
to withhold his hand now, in order to conceal the fact 
of his existence ; for the spirit of the age is infidelity, 
not superstition ; but there will be a snare provided 
for each individual, according to his natural disposi- 
tion ; and the most devoutly disposed are they who 
have need to watch the most carefully against spiribial 
wickedness in high places. If man in his first state 
of obedience and happiness was the object of envy so 
deep and a plot so subtle and malignant as that which 
accomplished the fall of Adam, what must be the feel- 
ing of the great enemy against man delivered from his 
grasp, and restored to God's favour, — what his eage^ 
ness to bar to every soul the entrance upon a brighter 
Ed^n than that from which our first parents were 
driven ! Believing as I do that the curse will be taken 
off, and earth become again the fair and fertile garden 
that it once was, and knowing that Satan surely reads 
prophecy with a more accurate eye than we can do, I 
cannot doubt his rage being fearfully increased as the 
appointed time draws on ; nor can I question that he 
will make a separate effort against every class, every 
individual in Christ's church, as a last attempt to mar 
the triumphs of his Conqueror. We may well cling 
to the assurance that none of His sheep shall perish, 
neither be plucked from his hand ; but it behooves us 
to be extremely wary, and to watch against the de- 
vices of Satan with redoubled vigilance. 

Such considerations prevented my giving heed to 
any persuasion that &o\xght to btin^ me inta centaet 



FEBSUASIOffS. 313 

frith the professors of Irvingism. I had no difficulty 
in so doing for some time ; hut at length I took up 
my abode in the house of a lady whom T did not know 
to be a devoted follower of Mr. Irving. She was so 
warm-hearted, energetic, and sinceri , that firmly be- 
*lieving the work to be of God, and tha. to oppose it 
was to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, she could not but 
be most anxious to bring all whom she loved within 
the supposed ark of safety. She loved me ] and of 
course laboured diligently to accomplish my conver- 
sion, gathering about me the most estimable and most 
acute of those who followed with her, many of whom 
were also my personal friends. Finding that my 
main argument was always the heretical character of 
the doctrine preached, rather than the nothingness of 
its supposed attestations, they assured me that Irving 
was belied ; that he never intended to cohvey any such 
imputation on our Lord's human nature ; and that if 
I would only attend his ministry I should find he 
preached quite a different thing. His book was re- 
moved out of my reach, as soon as I was found read- 
ing it; but I provided myself with another copy, ex- 
amined, analyzed, and noted down the points of argu- 
ment, and proved to demonstration, that whether or 
dot he understood the full force of his own assertions, 
those assertions were precisely what we conceived 
them to be, most unscriptural, most blasphemous. I 
averred it to be so, and was of course met by most in- 
dignant denials that a man so holy in mind, so un« 
blemished in life, could possibly be a blasphemer, oi 
that persons living in daily prayer to God, earnestly 
desirous of being guided into all truth, should be suf- 
27 



314 CONFLICTS 

fered to go so far astray. To this I could only reply 
again, that what he was, oi what they were, did not 
affect the question when the doctrine promulgated wu 
totally contrary to Scripture. * Is it not written, By 
their fruits ye shall know them V * Yes ; and it 14 
also written, Satan himself is transformed into an angel 
of light' Indeed, the argument most constantly brought 
against me was the holy lives of the party ; but I could 
match them, not only among the blind pharis^es and 
the scribes, of whom our Lord said that they could 
not escape the damnation of hell ; not only among the 
dark devotees of Popery, and the blaspheming fol* 
lowers of Socinus, but among the heathen moralists 
who never so much as heard of a divine revelation, 
and who persecuted unto death the early Christians. 
Indeed it is not to be expected that such a master of 
delusion as he is who beguiled Eve by his subtlety, 
should seek to allure believers from the right way by 
means of any but persons of irreproachable character. 
Neither does it follow that the persons thus put for- 
ward to deceive are themselves hypocrites ; some such 
there will be in every class professing godliness, but I 
never suspected Mr. Irving himself, nor any one pei^ 
flonally known to me among that body, of professing 
anything they did not honestly believe. 

Many a time did I suffer grief far greater than I 
occasioned, when refusing to join my dear erring 
brethren in social worship. I knew some of them 
were in the habit of returning thanks to God the 
Father for imparting to the Lord Jesus such abun- 
dance of the Holy Spirit's influence as kept him from 
iiiinjng; and I would aoonei koiye died than have beto 



A TERMINATION. 3*6 

round assenting, even by my presence, to any such 
fearful impiety. Accordingly I invariably refused to 
meet tbem otherwise than in the interchange of cour* 
tesy and kindness; and whenever prayer was proposed 
I withdrew and prayed alone. To do this, cost me an 
effort that would spoil a whole night's rest ; and once 
in particular, when a large party unexpectedly came 
in from hearing a sermon and sat down to supper, and 
afterwards took their Bibles to read and pray, I found 
it almost too much for me to rise to declare my reason 
for retiring, and after a most affectionate good night, 
to leave them ; for I loved them wiell, and it seemed a 
most presuming thing on my part. I w-ept nearly all 
night after it ; but how great was my thankfulness on 
hearing, at the distance of se^veral years, that a very 
sweet and pious young lady, a stranger to me, who 
was about to resign herself wholly to their guidance at 
the sacrifice of filial duty, was so startled by my pro- 
ceeding, that on returning home she prayed for direc- 
tion in a spirit of real willingness to be led of God ; 
and after reading attentively such parts of the Scrip- 
tures as had been most perverted to maintain the cause 
of error, she saw the snare, and withdrew. Who shall 
estimate the value of an open protest ! 

Finding that an effort was about to be made to in- 
troduce and spread the delusions in Ireland, the ardent 
temperament of whose children appeared so favourable 
to their reception, I published a pamphlet, ' A Letter 
to a Friend on some subjects that trouble the Church.' 
in which I quoted Mr. Trving's own words, as pub- 
lished and re-published by himself in elucidation of 
his real tenets. This was an unpardonable instance 



316 APPREUENSIOMS. 

of hardened uubeliei n my part ; and it affected my 
friend so much tiidt w« ag^reed to part sooner than we 
had purposed. 1 look cack with thankfulness to that 
time ; for it was greatly blessed to establishing me in 
the faith ; and during three months of daily discussion 
between me and my zealous opponent, not one word 
had ever been uttered on either side, or one look ex- 
changed that WH> not Aven affectionately amicahier 
She was soon afterwaidh completely recovered out of 
the snare ; and we both recall our united sojourn with 
feelings of gratitude to Him who kept us still of one 
heart, even while we were not of one mind in the 
house. 

I should not pause so long on this part of my recol< 
lections, did I not apprehend a revival of the mischief 
in the church, or something similar to it. The he- 
retical doctrine will never be received except among 
semi-infidels, but it is probable the 'manifestations' 
may be joined to some more specious fbrm of anti- 
christianity ; still while we hold an unmutilated Bible, 
with the privilege of searching it throughout, and have 
access to the throne of grace, for mercy and for grace 
to help in time of need, we are safe in the using of 
those precious privileges. May the Lord enable us 
so to do ! 

I have gone forward in my sketch to avoid recurring 
to this subject : and now I return to the period of my 
delivering up a sacred trust into the hands of Him 
who committed it to me. Jack had lingered long, and 
sunk very gradually *, W\ hoyi "Vv^ ^^^^^ •a.^-w^^. Hif 
eldest sister, a very deei^e^ "Roxxvvda^^V ^^\xjkfc o^'^x^'sv 
the purpose of seeing \v\m, m^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^'^ ^^v>tf 



A 8UNS£T. 317 

had 'thelites of the ohurch.' Had the Abb6 re* 
mained, it is probable we should have soon found ouri- 
Belves deep in controversy ; for, as priest) he never 
should have crossed my threshold, to bring upon my 
house the curse attached to idolatrous worship; and 
there was happily no other within reach. • Jack re- 
quested me to promise him in his sister's presence thiit 
no Romish priest should come near him ; I willingly 
did so ; and moreover, informed her that if she was 
herself dying and askecL for one, he would not be ad- 
mitted under my roof The abomination that maketh 
desolate stands in many places where it ought not, but 
where I have authority it never did ; nor by God's 
grace ever shall. I have toleration full and free foi 
every form of Christianity, but none for Antichrist} 
come in what form he may. 

It may be possible to describe a glorious summer 
sunset, with all the softening splendour that it sheds 
around ; but to describe the setting of my dumb boy's 
sun of mortal life is impossible. He declined like the 
orb of day, gently, silently, gradually, yet swiftly, and 
gathered new beauties as he approached the horizon. 
His sufferings were great, but far greater his patience ; 
and nothing resembling a complaint ever escaped him. 
When appearing in the morning, with pallid, exhausted 
looks, if asked whether he had slept, he would reply, 
with a sweet smile, 'No, Jack no sleep; Jack thiiJL 
good Jesus Christ see poor Jack. Night dark; heaven 
all light ; soon see heaven. Cough much now, pain 
bad ; soon no cough, no pain.' This was his usual 
way of admitting how much kesuff^i^d^^^^^^^^A^ 
mg ia contrast the glory to \>e iftv^ti\ft^ Vxi\MSi^%ss3 
27* 



818 RESIGNATION. 

which seemed alretdy revealed to him. Knowing that 
his recovery was impossible, I refrained; with his foD 
concurrence, from having him tormented with mis- 
called alleviations, such as opiates, bloodletting, and 
so forth. All that kindness and skill could effect was 
gratuitously done for him, and every thing freely sup- 
plied by our medical friends ; but they admitted that 
no permanent relief could be given, and I always hold 
it cruel to embitter the dying season with applications 
that in the end increase the sufferings they temporarily 
subdue. This plan kept the boy's mind clear and 
calm : the ever-present Saviour being td him instead 
of all soothing drugs. Sometimes when greatly op- 
pressed, he has had leeches ; and T remember once 
half-a-dozen were put on his side, &t his own request. 
The inflammation was very great ; the torture dread- 
ful as they drew it to the surface ; and I was called to 
him, as he sat grasping the arm of a chair, and writh- 
ing convulsively. He said to me * Very, very pain ; 
pain bad, soon kill; and he seemed half wild with 
agony. Liooking up in my face, he saw me in tears; 
and instantly assumed his sweetest expression of coun- 
tenance, saying in a calm, leisurely way, that his pain 
was much, but the pain the Lord suffered much more : 
his was only in his side ; the Lord suffered in his side, 
his hands, his feet, and head. His pain would be over 
in half an hour, the Lord's lasted many hours ; he was 
' bad Jack,' the Lord was * good Jesus Christ.' Then 
again he observed the leeches made very little holes in 
has skin, and drew out a little blood ; but the thorns, 
the nails, the spear, tore the Lord's flesh, and all his 
blood ^shed out, — ^it was shed to save him ; and he 



THE RED HAND. 319 

raised his eyes, lifted his clasped hands, turned his 
whole face up towards heaven, saying 'Jack loves, 
loves, very loves good Jesus Christ !* When another 
violent pang made him start and writhe a little, he re- 
covered in a moment, nodded his head, and said, 

* Good pain, make Jack soon go heaven.* 

His sublime idea of the ' red hand' was ever present. 
He had told me some years before that when he had 
lain a good while in the grave, God would call aloud, 

* Jack !* and he would start, and say, 'Yes, me Jack,' 
Then he would rise, and see multitudes standing toge- 
ther, and God sitting on a cloud with a very large 
book in his hand — he called it 'Bible book^ — and 
would beckon him to stand before him while he opened 
the book, and looked at the top of the pages, till he 

came to the name of John B ^. In that page he 

told me, God had written all his 'bads,' every sin he 
had ever done ', and the page was full. So God would 
look, and strive to read it, and hold it to the sun for 
light, but it was all ' No, no nothing, none.' I asked 
him in some alarm if he had done no bad ? He said 
yes, much bads ; but when he first prayed to Jesus 
Christ he had taken the book out of God's hand, found 
that page, and pulling from his palm something which 
he described as filling up the hole made by the nail, 
had allowed the wound to bleed a little, passing his 
hand down the page so that, as he beautifully said, 
God could see none of Jack's bads, only Jesus Christ's 
blood. Nothing being thus found against him, God 
would shut the book, and there he would remain stand- 
ing before him, till the Lord Jesus came, and saying 
to God * MT Jack,' would put his arm around him, 



320 JOT AND PEACE. 

draw him aside, and bid him stand with the angels iiU 
the rest were judged. 

All this he told me with the placid but animated 
look of one who is relating a delightful fact : I stood 
amazed, for rarely had the plan of a sinner's ransom, 
appropriation, and justification been so perspicuously 
set forth in a pulpit as here it was by a poor deaf and 
dumb peasant boy, whose broken language was eked 
out by signs. He often told it to others, always mak' 
ing himself understood, and often have I seen the tears 
starting from a rough man's eye as he followed the 
glowing representation. Jack used to sit silent and 
thoughtful for a long time together in his easy chair 
when too weak to move about ; and then catching my 
eye, to say with a look of infinite satisfaction, ' Good 
red hand.' I am persuaded that it was his sole and 
solid support ; he never doubted, never feared, because 
his view of Christ's all-sufficiency was so exceedingly 
clear and realizing. It certainly never entered his 
head to question God's love to him. One night a ser 
vant went to his room, long after he had gone to bed: 
he was on his knees at the window, his hands and face 
held up towards a beautiful starlight sky. He did 
not perceive the servant's entrance ; and next morn- 
ing when I asked him about it, he told me that God 
was walking above, upon the stars ; and that he went 
to the window and Jield up his head that God might 
look down into it and see how very much he loved 
Jesus Christ. 

All his ideas were similar : all turned on thei one 
theme so dear to him : and their originality was inex* 
hauBtible. What could be finer than his notion oi 



TRUE WISDOM* 321 

the liglitning, that it was produced by a saddon open- 
bg and shutting of God's eye — or of the rainbow, 
that it was the reflection of God's smile ? What more 
^phic than his representation of Satan's malice and 
impotence, when, one evening, holding his finger to a 
candle, he snatched it back, as if burnt, pretending to 
be in great pain, and said ' Devil like candle.' Then 
with a sudden look of triumph he added * God like 
wind,' and with a most vehement puff at once extin* 
gnished the light. When it was rekindled he laughed 
and said <God kill Devil' 

He told me that God was always sitting still with 
tlie great book in his hand, and the Lord Jesus looking 
down for men, and crying to them, ' Come, man ; come, 
pray.' That the devil drew them back from listening, 
and persuaded them to spit up towards him, which 
was his sign for rebellion and contempt ; but if at last 
a man snatched his hand "from Satan, and prayed to 
the Lord Jesus, he went directly, took the book, found 
the name, and passed the ' red hand' over the page, on 
seeing which Satan would stamp and cry. He gave 
very grotesque descriptions of the evil spirit's mortifi- 
cation, and always ended by bestowing on him a hear- 
ty kick. From seeing the effect, in point of watchful- 
ness, prayer, and zeal, produced on this young Christian 
by such continual realization of the presence of the 
gl^at tempter, I have been led to question very much 
the policy, not to say the lawfulness, of excluding that 
terrible foe as we do from our general discourse. It 
seems to be regarded a manifest impropriety to name 
him except with the most studied circumlocution, as 
though \ve were afraid of treating him iiw^^i^^iSl:^ \ 



THE FC&MALIST. 

and he who is seldom named will not often be thought d 
Assuredly it is a great help to him in nis countless de- 
vices to be kept out of sight. We are prone to speak, 
to think, to act, as though we had only our own v3e 
natures to contend with, including perhaps a sort of 
general admission that something is at work to aid the 
cause of rebellion ; but it was far otherwise with Jack. 
If only conscious of the inward rising of a sullen or 
angry temper, he would immediately conclude that tbe 
devil was trying to make him grieve the Lord ; and 
he knelt down to pray that God would drive him away. 
The sight of a drunken man affected him deeply ; he 
would remark that the devil had drawn that man to 
the ale-house, put the cup into his hand with an assur 
ance that God did not see, or did not care ; and was 
now pushing him about to show the angels he had 
made that wretched being spit at the authority of the 
Lord. In like manner with all other vices, and some 
seeming virtues. As an instance of the latter, he knew 
a person who was vqry hostile to the gospel, and to the 
best of his power hindered it, but who nevertheless 
paid the most punctual regard to all the formalities of 
external public worship He almost frightened me by 
the picture he drew of that person's case, saying the 
devil walked to church with him, led him into a pew, 
set a hassock prominently forward for him to kneel on, 
put a handsome prayer-book into his hand ; and while 
he carefully followed all the service kept clapping him 
on the shoulder, saying * A very good pray.' I told 
this to a pious ministei, y^lio declared it was the most 
awfully just description o^ s^^^^m^tv^ W\x^3SI!i3\^ 
J^elped on by Satan^ Oial ^v^x \v^ V'i^T^ ^^. ^'KNiSs^ 



SYMIATHY. 323 

partaking of the Loi4*s supper. Jack told me tliat his 
feeling was * very, very love Jesus Christ ; very, very 
very hate devil: go, devil !' and with holy indignation 
he motioned, as it were, the enemy from him. He felt 
that he had overcome the accuser hy the blood of the 
Iamb. Oh that we all may take a lesson of wisdom 
from this simple child of God t 

During the winter months he sank daily : his great- 
est earthly delight was in occasionally seeing Mr. Don- 
ald, for whom he felt the fondest love, and who seemed 
to have a presentment of the happy union in which 
they would together soon rejoice before the Lord. 
Jack was courteous in manner, even to elegance ; most 
graceful ; and being now nineteen, tall and large, with 
the expression of infantine innocence and sweetness 6n 
a very fine countenance, no one could look on him 
without admiration ; nor treat him with roughness or 
disrespect : but Donald's tenderness of manner was no 
less conspicuous than his ; and I have watched that 
noble-minded Christian man waiting on the dying 
youth, as he sat patiently reclining in his chair, — for 
he could not lie down, — and the grateful humility with 
which every little kindness was received, until I al- 
most forgot what the rude, unfeeling world was like 
in that beautiful contemplation. How much the fruit 
in God's garden is beautified by the process that ri* 
pend it ! 

Jack laboured anxiously to convert his sister ; and 
as she could not read at all, the whole controversy wa/i 
carried on by signs. Mary was excessively mirthful. 
Jack unboundedly earnest ; and w\xfeii V^t ^vj^xiS. x^- 
macbes roused his Irish bloody t\x^ a^«iy& ^^& ^\\».^ 



324 EARNESTKES5. 

very comic. I remember he was once bringing a long 
list of accusations against ber priest, for taking liis 
mother's money, making the poor fast, while the licl) 
pais for dispensations to eat, inflicting cruel penan 
ces, drinking too much whiskey \ and finally telling 
the people to worship wooden and breaden gods. To 
all this Mary attended with perfect good humour, and 
then told him the same priest had christened him and 
made crosses upon him. Jack wrathfuUy intimated 
that he was then a baby, with a head like a doQ^s, and 
knew nothing : but if he had been wise he would have 
kicked his little foot into the priest's mouth. The 
controversy grew so warm that I had to part them. 
His horror of the priests was solely directed against 
their false religion ; when I told him of one being con- 
yerted, he leaped about for joy. 

At the commencement of the year 1831 he was evi- 
dently dying ; and we got a furlough for his brother 
to visit him. Poor Pat never went to bed but twice 
during th« fortnight he was there, so bitterly did he 
grieve over the companion of his early days; and 
many a sweet discourse passed between them, on the 
subject of the blessed hope that sustained the dying 
Christian. He only survived Pat's departure four 
days. On the third of February the last symptoms 
camo on ; the death-damps began to ooze out. his legs 
were swelled to the size of his body, and he sat in that 
state, incapable of receiving warmth, scarcely able to 
swallow, yet clear, bright, and tranquil, for thirty 
hours. The morning of the last day was marked by 
9ucb a revival of &treik^t\i \\i&\. \v^ ^^^^ ^*(:t5^s!^\k« 
goom with little lielp, an^ wYai^^ \sm»^«qJ^^ \» t» 



A DYING PROTEST. 825 

ftud to all who came near him. Fie told me, among 
«ther things, that once God destroyed all men by rain, 
jxcept those in the ark ; and that he would soon do it 
again, not with water but with fire. He described tha 
Lord as taking up the wicked by handfulls, breaking 
4hem, and throwing them into a fire ; repeating, ^ all 
bads,, all bads go fire/ I asked if he was not bad ; 
- '^Yas, Jack bad very.' Would he be thrown into the 
fire ? ' No : Jesus Christ loves poor Jack.' He then 
fpoke rapturously of the red hand,' of the angels he 
should soon be singing with, of the day when Satan 
should be cast into ihe pit, and of the delight he should 
have in seeing me again. He prayed for his family, 
begged me to teach Mary to read the Bible, t6 warn 
Pat against bad examj^e, to bring up my brother's 
boys to love Jesus Christ, and lastly he repeated over 
and over again the fervent injunction to love Ireland, 
to pray fox Ireland, to write books fot < Jack's poor 
Ireland/ and in every way to oppose Popery. He 
tailed it ' Roman,' always ; and It was a striking sight, 
that youth all but dead, kindlipg into the most ani- 
mated, stern, energetic warmth of manner raising his 
cold, damp hands, and spelling with them the words, 
* Roman is a lie.' ^ One Jesus Christ, one (meaning 
he was the only Saviour) Jack's one Jesus Christ;' 
and then, with a force as if he would have the charac- 
ters impressed on his hands, he reiterated, as slowly as 
possible, his dying Protest, * Roman is a lie !' Very 
sweetly he thanked me for all my care ; and now he 
seemed to bequeath to me his zeal against the destroy- 
er of his people. The last signs o? t^xwsn^ ^-ws^a ^^ 
tB the evening; his sight failed, \ie t\3X^«&l Vva v^^ 



836 A SLEEP. 

shook his head, and then smiled with eonscions |Jea- 
sure. At last he asked me to let him lie dpwn on the 
sofa where he had been sitting, and saying very calm< 
ly ' A sleep,' put his hand into mine, closed his eyes, 
and breathed his spirit forth so gently, that it was 
difficult to mark the precise moment of that joyfal 
change. 

I still hope to throw into a .volume th« numerous 
particulars that remain untold concerning this boy; 
and I will not now dwell upon the subject longer. 
God had graciously kept me faithful to my trust ; and 
I surrendered it, not without most keenly feeling the 
loss of such a companion, but with a glow of adoring 
thankfulness that overcame all selfish regrets. Thence- 
forth my lot was to be cast among strangers, and sore- 
ly did I miss the comforting, sympathizing monitor 
who for seven years had been teaching me more than 
I could teach him, but all my prayers had been an- 
swered, all my labours crowned; and with other duties 
before me I was enabled to look at the past, ta thank 
*Ood, and to take co\it%g^. 



LETTER XYI. 

A REMOVAL. 

Circumstances led me to decide on removing nearei 
tlie raetropoiis : and with reluctance I bade adien td 
Sandhurst, where I had refeiided five years. Jaick was 
buried under the east' window of the chapel of ease at 
Bagshot, there to rest till roused by the Lord's de- 
scending shout, the voice of the archangel, and the . 
trump of God^ I am very certain he will rise to glory 
and immortality. It was a severe trial to part with 
my school, to dispose of the endeared relics that had 
furnished a home blessed by my brother's presence, to 
bid farewell to many kind friends, and cast myself into 
the great wilderness of London. The feeling that op- 
pressed me was a conviction that I should there find 
nothing to do ; but I prayed to be made useful, and 
none ever asked work of a heavenly Master in vain. 
The dreadful famine in the west of Ireland had called 
forth a stream of English liberality, and collections 
were made every where for relief of the sufiering Irish : 
one was announced at Long- A ere chapel ; but before 
the day arrived, the committee put forth a statement 
that they had abundant funds and re(\uired no ms^x^. 
/ was then residing in BloomsWx-Y * ^«^^^ vi\\.tswws«»% 
the wretcbednesa of St Giiea's' au^ oi\\^«tTCvsv^ "^b* 



328 AN APPEAL. 

I wrote to Mr. Howels, begging him to say a word to 
his congregation on behalf of those Irish who were 
starving at their doors, whose miserable destitution 1 
laid before him as well as I could. He returned in« 
no answer ; but on the Sunday morning read my lettei 
from the pulpit, asked his flock to contribute, and col 
lected upwards of fifty pounds, which he gave to me. 

Knowing the character of the people so well, and 
longing to make the relief of their bodily wants sub- 
servient to a higher purpose. I resolved to visit in per- 
son every case recommended to my notice. Many of 
my friends stood agha^ at the proposal ; I should be in- 
sulted, murdered, by the Irish savages ; no lady could 
venture there, their language was so dreadful : no deli- 
cate person could survive the effects of such a noxious 
atmosphere. To this I replied that, happily, I could 
not hear their conversation : and as for the unwhole* 
someness, it coukl not be worse than Sierra Leone, ot 
other missionary stations, where many ladies went. 
Insult had never yet been my lot among the Irish ; and 
as to murder, it would be martyrdom in such a cause, 
of which I had little hope. So I turned my fifty 
pounds into bread, rice, milk, meal, coals, and soup, 
resolved to give no money, and on the very next 
day commenced the campaign against starvation and 
Popery in St. Giles's. 

For four months I persevered in the work, devoting 
from four to six hours every day to it ; and though 1 
never in the smallest degree concealeid or compromised 
the truth, or failed to place in the strongest light its 
contrast with the falsehood taught them, I never ex* 
pmenced a disrespect^uV ox wis^ui^ Wis. £^q^ qoi 



4fiI&H SCHOOLS. 



ftmoog the hundrods, the thousands who knew me as 
the enemy of their religion, but the loving friend of 
their country and o£ their souls. Often, when I went 
to visit and relieve some poor dying creature in a cel- 
lar or garret, where a dozen wholly unconnected with 
the sufferer were lodged in the same apartment, have 
I gathered them all about me by speaking of Ireland 
with the auction I really feel for it, and then shown 
them, from the Scriptures, in English, or by means of 
an Irish reader sometimes accompanying me, the only 
wAy of salvation, pointing out how very different was 
that by which they vainly sought it. My jdan was 
te discover such as were too ill to go to the Dispensary 
lor relief, or to select the most distressed objects whom 
I met there, and to take the bread of life along with 
the bread that perisheth into their wretched abodes. 
I was most ably and zealously helped by that benevo- 
lent Physietan who had always been foremost in every 
good and compassionate work for the Irish poor ; and 
to whose indefatigable zeal it is chiefly owing that 
Ht this day the poor lambs of that distressed flock 
are still gathered and taught in the schools which it 
was Donald's supreme delight to superintend. I can- 
not pass over in silence the devotion of Dr. Pidduck,. 
through many years, to an office the most laborious, 
the most repulsive, and in many respects the most 
thankless that a professional man can be engaged in 
— ^that of ministering to the diseased and filthy popula- 
tion of the district But many a soul that he has 
taught in the knowledge of Him whom to know is life 
eternal, will be found to rejoice him in the day when^ 
thaar poor bodies shall arise to meet the Locd. 
28* 



880 THE EEFOSM BILL. 

The schools in George-street to which I have alluM 
are the main blessing of the place : they were es^aW* 
lished long before the Irish gospel was ever introduesd 
there ; and they survive the Irish ministry which, 
alas ! has been withdrawn from the spot where God 
enabled me to plant it. Those schools are a bud of 
promise in the desolate wilderness, which may the 
Lord in his own good time cause to blossom again ! 

This year was memorable for the great struggle re- 
specting the Reform Bill, a measure rendered ruinout 
by the fatal act that preceded it, in 1829. It was not 
passed this year, owing to the steadiness of the peers ; 
but it became too evident that it could not long be re- 
sisted by one estate against the other two ; and it 
could not be expected that they who had assisted to 
open the door to admit the serpent's head would per- 
sist in keeping out his body. They had taken the 
first step down a rapid descent, and to pause was im 
possible, unless God gave them such a measure of 
grace as is rarely accorded to those who have betrayed 
a trust. He that is unfaithful in little will be so again 
in much ; and it was not a small thing to dash down 
the most sacred bulwarks of our national Protestantism. 
• Tory treachery did the deed ; and Tory influence was 
^he first to receive a death-wound by means of sched* 
ule A. 

Eighteen hundred and thirty-two saw the Reform 
Bill pass. The first act, almost of this reformed and 
papalized Parliament was, in the following year, to lop 
off ten bishopricks from the Irish Church, by means 
of the majority thus obtained. It was a base and 
erael proceedings and \t «isXiV\aVa4 \Dl ^axin^ eolonii 



VALUE OF A ROMISH OATH. 331 

the value of an oath taken by Romanists igainst the 
intereflta of their system ; for of those who had ob- 
tained admission to the British Parliament by solemnly 
swearing to do nothing prejudicial to the Protestant 
Church, all save three voted for this deadly blow, 
which was to be followed up by a series of attacks 
upon its very existence. The wonder was, that any- 
body wondered at this : I never did. I should have 
greatly marvelled had it been otherwise ; for who could 
expect the ' mother and mistress of all churches' to sit 
in contented equality, not to say in acknowledged in- 
feriority, beside one on which she is sworn through 
all her orders to set hjer foot, and to trample it into the 
dust ? I am not one of those who would let a hungry 
wolf into the fold, calculating on his polite or con- 
scientious forbearance not to worry the sheep. " The 
wicked will do wickedly," Scripture declares ; and 
what can we expect from him who is characterized by 
the same Scriptures as " that wicked ?" 

It is solemnly declared, that they who hated know-> 
ledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord ; who 
would none of his counsel and despised his reproof, 
shall eat of the fruit of their own ways, and be filled 
with their own devices. That our abandonment of 
the Protestant principle, which we know to be accord- 
ing to God's will, was a rejection of his counsel, and a 
departing from his fear, many are now constrained to 
confess, by seeing how strictly retributive is the dis- 
pensation under which we are laid. Look around« 
and what do we behold of the fruit of our own way in 
forming papal alliance ? it is evidently judicial. The 
rapid increase of Popish chapels^ and tha qi^w «S<Q!tXak 



332 EETIUBU1£0N. 

of proselytizing made on every side ; the eetaUisk 
uieiit of a powerful and wealthy ^ Institute,' for tht 
avowed purpose of extending Popery, and the tat 
nouncement of general prayer for the restoration of 
England to the Pope's fold ; the powerful wielding of 
the public press to the same end, and the ready tii 
afforded by parties who merge their nominal Protes- 
tantism in real, heartfelt hostility to the established 
form of church-government, and other national institu- 
tions ; all this we might have expected ; we did ex- 
pect and predict it too, openly enough, when striving 
against the overthrow of our defences. But wbo 
among us could have foreseen the dispensation by 
which judgment was to begin at the honse of God; or 
the marked retribution that makes the sin of the 
church the punishment of the church, literally filling 
us with our own devices, by transfusing Popery into 
the very veins of the ecclesiastical body ! Unques- 
tionably this is the most deadly s3rmptom of all ; and 
while we own that the Lord must, in the way of pe^ 
mission, have done this " evil" against his ofiending 
people, we cannot rationally doubt as to the means em- 
ployed. The great object once attained, of a restored 
footing in the legislature and other branches of public 
power, all was surely prepared, as under the Stuarts it 
ever was, to seize in every possible way the advantage 
gained ; and as the Church of England has been found 
the surest fortress of Protestant truth, the introduction 
of false principles among those to whom is committed 
the preparation of Ikei yoxm^ Tftsii W >JtiA Tainistry, 
iras of all things moat Aea\i«iV>\^. 'N^^^ ^iiDA»-w^^%wfc^ 
effected, by wliat wwana aom© oi \Vi^ «««*. «bs««i^^ 



^U8£yi8M. 33d 

learned men, of unexceptionable moral cbaracter and 
extensive influence in a Protestant university, and 
ministering in our church, became active instrument! 
of the papal foe, cannot be ascertained. All the ini- 
qvities of Popery are mysterious : die name mystery 
will remain emblazoned on the Harlot's brow, until 
the fire of God's wrath shall consume its brazen cha- 
racters. . It is vain to speculate about the origin of 
what only concerns us in. its effects; -and in those 
effects it does most* awfully concern us. I have read 
with attention what is put forth by the promulgators 
of these doctrines, — erroneously called new, for they 
helped to form the stumbling-block which Balaam put 
before the children of Israel, and were received among 
the Galatians in Paul's day& I hai^e brought them 
to the balances in which, by GkkI's grace, I had 
weighed Socinianism, Popery, Antinomianism, and 
Irvingism, and found them all wanting; and Puseyism 
tucked the beam no less speedily or decidedly than any 
of the former. The points on which I most clearly 
see it to be at once opposed to Scripture, and tainted 
with the papal leaven, are these : — 

I. The actual washing away of original sin, and 
conferring of the new birth by the rite of baptism, 
with the painful process by which a baptized person is 
to work his own way back to God after sinning away 
the supposed grace then received ; for neither of which 
dp I find one warrant in the word of God, but abun« 
dant confirmation of both in the catechisms of Rome. 

IL The sacrificial character of tVift o\\i«iX ^•a.«t«xaK\sX^ 
its eMciency in conveying grace by Ocv^ iaft\^ qtqX'^'si^ 
•ot, the myateriona change suppoaedl tQ\>« ^^om^^-^'' 



#* 



PlftBVISlf. 



the elements by the setting of them apurt for a mitim 
in itself commemorative, and the awful leverenee with 
which they are thenceforth to be regarded : in every 
particular of which I trace approximation to tht 
Romish maae, and a commensurate retrogression from 
the pure simplicity of the gospel 

III. The investing of one particular point in e 
building with superior sanctity, approaching it with 
bodily reverence, and making it a material thing that 
the minister should turn in that direction while fulfill- 
ing his office towards the people. This may seem a 
trivial and foolish whim ; and truly so it is in itself 
very foolish and pitiably trivial ; but when we see to 
what fearful idolatry the poor Romanists are brought 
by such puerile beginnings as these, and when we find a 
spiritual worship insisted upon throughout the New 
Testament, in direct contradistinction to will-worship^ 
voluntary humility, and all the parade of *< carnal 
ordinances," it becomes important in no common de- 
gree. In Edward's days, the martyr Ridley, then 
Bishop of London, actually broke down a part of the 
wall of St. Paul's ralher llian not wholly remove the 
Popish altar from its eastern niche ; and the plain, de- 
cent, scriptural table which he set in the chancel for 
the due celebration of the Lord's supper, was an object 
of continual rebuke and ribaldry on the part of the 
murdering persecutors who, particularly the infamous 
Bishops Bonner and Gardiner, called it an oyster-table. 
The ' altars' were of course set up again in Mary's 
reign ; and how tViey ivow com& \.o v^'^vt \xsl vi many 
of our churclies, and to T«\a.\n.Vcv c.o\ftisiaTv^^»is»!RRA'^ 
name of altar, isbeatknowvitoVVm^il Vmw^ \wsifc 



pus£yisH. 8ft5 

di are not ignorant, though we cannot fathom their 
ipth : and who no doubt always hoped to use this 
rersight of ours as a stepping-stone to the recovery of 
m lost footing. At all events, our Reformers are 
ear from the offence^ for we find in the rubric of our 
rrice-book no mention of altar, but these plain words 
relation to that which was to supersede it : — '' The 
*able, at the communion time^ having a fair white 
nen cloth upon it, shall stand in the body of the churchy 
'■ in the chancel^ where morning and evening prayer 
'€ appointed to be read." From this it would seem 
have been put out of the way at other times, pro- 
My to afford more room for the congregation during 
ineral prayers, and to have been brought out again 
it the communion time ;' and our parish churches 
ive been principally built in Popish days, afforded a 
die convenient space for the table where the old altar 
rmerly stood. Be this as it may, idolatry is again 
eeping in at that very niche; and though in ap 
latance far less formidable than the doctrinal errors 
eached, this rain practice will cost the church Very 
lar. 

lY. The assumption so strenuously resisted by our 
irtyrs, and so manifestly contrary to Scripture, of an 
Lthority over men's minds and consciences, based not 
ion a faithful adherence to the apostoHc doctrines, 
it upon a fortuitous succession to their external 
lee and functions. Fortuitous as regards the indi- 
dnal, for any one may obtain it ; but absolute and 
lehangeable as regards the office itself^ not b^ ^\t\.x^Sk 
the scriptural form in whicK t]he pnvWfc^^ ^x^^^l^^*- 
wtolic injunction and exam^, toxiS^tt^ft^^'S'vaX'^o*" 



336 rusEYi8H. 

cause an unbroken series of individuals have beensc 
appointed, of whom some have led the worship of die 
true God ; others have set up idols, and compelled the 
people to bow down to them; some have preached 
Christ ; others have themselves constituted the body 
of Antichrist; some have been commissioned and taught 
by the Holy Ghost ; others have been the habitation 
and the mouth-piece of devils ; and now, on the ground 
chosen by these successionists, the Pope of Rome is a 
true bishop, sitting in a true church ; and Babylon tke 
Great, whom God himself calls the Mother of Harlots 
and abominations of the earth, is our eldest sister, ooi 
venerated sister, in separating from whom we have 
made ourselves schismatics, and through whose filthy, 
polluted channel we must draw the waters of lifid, if we 
would receive them at all. Who can look at this dog- 
ma, and not be inclined to breathe the prayer of good 
King Edward's liturgy, so foolishly expunged by 
Elizabeth's temporizing, half-convicted prelates : — 
'^ From the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome, and all 
his detestable enormities, good Lord deliver us I" 

V. The dreadfully unscriptural tenet which they caB 
* reserve.' They say that the doctrine of the Atone 
ment is not to be openly nor at once preached to the 
people : That they are to be taught repentanee, ^ood 
works, and so forth, bat not to be told that Christ hat 
wrought out salvation for them, nor to hear the blee* 
sed truth that '^ the blood of Jesus Christ deansetli 
from all sin." They are not to be invited to ^^ Beh(^ 
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sia of the 
world." The Lord has indeed loudly and universally 
prockimed, " Look ujkt<» ue^ ^.lii \^ ^^ aaved, all tki 



PTJSEYI8M. 337 

I of the earth ;" bat these faithful and wise stew- 
trds arrest die message on its way, and silencing the 
voice of Jehovah, say to the people - Look unto uy and 
•we will show you a more excellent way.' I would not 
kave taken this fact upon the credit of any report 
whatever ; nothing but reading declarations to that ef- 
•lect in their own books would have convinced me that 
any ministers of the English church would have so 
trampled upon her institutions, no lesB than violated 
Scripture, as deliberately to withhold from the laity 
ilie knowledge whereby aloiie they alone can be saved. 
Many false pastors there have been, and too many 
there still are in our church, who do not teach, because 
they do not themselves know, the gospel of Christ ; 
but here is a case where it is supposed to be fully un- 
derstood by the clergy, and by them suppressed as 
tegards their flocks, except under particular circum- 
stances to be judged of themselves ! This is a direct 
instigation of Jesuit teachers who pull the wires alike 
unseen by the audience and unfelt by the puppets : it 
is a practice in the Romish system, little known ; but I 
have met with two instances where the priest — whe- 
ther impelled by conscience, or restrained by the im« 
mediate power of God, or else habitually, I know not 
-—being left alone with the person over whom he had 
been performing the mummeries called extreme unction, 
or ^ the rites of the church,' told him that all he had 
AoDB was of no real avail : that the virgin and the saints, 
to whom he had publicly exhorted him to cleave with 
full confidence, could not help him : and that unless it 
pleased Christ to save him he musigo to hell. In ona 
of these cases the individual survived long euou^k ta 
29 



838 PUSEYISM. 

repeat this ; in the other he recovered and immediatelf 
became a Protestant I believe if the followers of tke 
sect knew a little more than they do of the tricks and 
devices of Popery, they would be startled to find what 
hands they are in. It is fearful to think how near 
this wicked doctrine of reserve brings its holders to 
the apostle's anathema ; for that which preaches angbt 
but Christ, aught less than Christ ^ whom God has Mt 
forth to be a propitiation through his blood/' is '^an- 
other gospel." 

YI. They do not admit the Scriptures in their jdaia 
signification as commended to every man's plain judg- 
ment, as the sole and sufficient rule of faith. Certain 
doctors who wrote in the early ages of the Christian 
church, and who often darkened counsel by words 
without knowledge, are called ' fathers,' and invested 
with a sort of paternal authority which few Christian 
fathers would desire to assume over their children; 
thrusting their own notions in the place of God's com- 
mands. Truly, in some respects we may say to our Ox- 
ford brethren, ^' The Lord hath been sore displeased with 
your fathers ;" for they often abound in most grievoos 
errors, springing from their being men of many words. 
Yet to them we are required to yield both God's an* 
thority and our own undestanding; to shut out the 
glorious noon-day sun, and read oui lesson by the glinir 
mer of their rushlight 

YII. And I ^1 that this ought to have occupied 

the first place, for it is the main point — it constitutes 

the foundation of sVufUxig «%ivd tu^^^d in the plaes 

of the eternal rock — tiiew ti%elw:\3^iMa«v3Jw«\.^^ ^^k^ 

doctrim of JuBti&catkn \>7 YwflbL'. ^«^ \s^^>ay«^ 



pusETiair. 



kasan merit ; they represent man as a being capable 
of propitiating the offended Deity by his own works : 
thay stamble and fall upon that stone on which none 
can fall without bang broken. This, the main, essential 
distinction between real Christianity and every coun* 
terfeit that usurps the name, is the grand touchstone 
whereto we must bring them ; coming into contact 
with it, they shrink, and shrivel, and perish. 

I feel that I have scarcely touched upon this subject, 
though entering on it far more at large than on any of 
the preceding temptations to which my faith has been 
exposed. Perhaps I ought not to call this a tempta- 
tion ; for I saw the character of Popery too legibly 
stamped upon this delusion even from the first, to be 
in any danger from it ; but knowing what deceptions 
must abound in these days, and deeply feeling the im- 
portance of the caution, ^' Liet him that thinketh ha 
standeth take heed lest he fall," I always strive to feel 
myself endangered by every form of error that is 
broached ; and fly " to the law and to the testimony" 
for light, whenever a shadow crosses my path. Many 
a severe and most angry rebuke have I received from 
those who were openly or secretly connected with the 
party in question, and who usually take one of two 
grounds in their censure : either assuming with cleri- 
cal authority, which with ma is no authority at all, 
unless their succession be that of doctrine as well as 
of office ; or charging me with directing at individuals 
the remarks that duty compels me to make on ojwir 
ions. Of this I am wholly innocent : I do nQt.,tkvBlL 
Ood, personaJly know a singXa «\et^Ta»XL -vVws^.VNs^ 
Jeve to bm a propoundet o£ t\kafio «itoTL%*. •m^"'*^^*^ 



340 FusEnsM. 

enmity can I entertain against others, who in thsit 
private characters are wholly unknown to me? I 
never conversed with one of them : I always prefer to 
take men's opinions from .their published writings, he* 
cause in conversation, even where no bar exists to its 
greatest freedom, much may be explained away, and 
those explanations either forgotten or denied ; the same 
in a measure, holds good with preaching : but delibe- 
rate publications afford a tangible hold. Popery never 
could be openly dissected until the Council of Trent 
was so kind as to tie her down for our operations, 
by embodying in their decrees all the vague Proteus- 
like doctrines that she proclaimed and denied at plea- 
sure. 

I view this falling away on the part of a great num- 
ber of our clergymen as a direct judgment on us for 
our unfaithful confederacy with Antichristian Rome. 
I dread its progress, by the elevation to the episcopal 
authority of men holding the tenets in question, or 
the perversion of those already possessed of it ; and if 
this be permitted, a schism must ensue : all true Chris- 
tians, both clergy and people, separating from a church 
that will cast them out, and those edifices that now 
rise before us — the courts of a pure worship^ which 
we love to tread — will become again temples of idola- 
try, polluted, hftteful, and accursed. From such an is- 
sue may the Lord in his great mercy spare us ! We, 
who consented not to the purpose and deed of those 
who brought Popery back to power, and others who 
4av6 repented before GoA. o? njW\. \3tvss^ did in igno- 
rance and unbelief, may Vo^ mxi^s^ W w«si3v^^>a. 
this peculiar visitation \ Wt f^^%\ ^^^ wassrsv^ >»>« 



oFPosmoN 841 

dear from haviDg exceedingly provoked God to cha^ 
tiae us for our many public and private sins 1 Had 
Howels lived to this day, how would the walls of his 
chapel have rung with the warnings that his lips would 
never have been wewy of uttering, while pointing out 
the finger of Grod in this domestic visitation of Popery. 
But he, and Donald, who felt it even as he, were mer- 
cifully taken away from the evil to come. 
. During a sojourn of some, years a little to the north 
of London, I devoted myself more to the pen, and 
fouxkd less opportunity for other usefulness than in 
Sandhurst and Liondon; yet much encouragement 
was given to labour among the poor neglected Irid^ 
who may be found in every neighbourhood, and to 
whom few think of taking the gospel in their native 
tongue — still fewer of bearing with the desperate op* 
position that Satan will ever show to the work. We 
make the dej^orable state, morally and physically, at 
the Irish poor, an excuse first for not going among 
them at all, and then for relinquishing the work if we 
do venture to begin it In both cases it ought to j^ead 
for tenfold readiness and perseverance. I alway s found 
it a perilous task to attack the enemy in this strong . 
hold : not from any opposition encountered from the 
people themselves ; far otherwise : they ever received 
me gladly, and treated me with respect and grateful 
affection ; but Satan has many ways of assailing those 
whom he desires to hinder, and sometimes his chain is 
greatly lengthened for the trial of faith, and perfect* 
ing of humility and patience, where they nsA.^ \^ %^ 
fy lacking. There are spherea oi \xxAwA^Mto ^»^?^ 
nrhere the Christian may oCtaik «\sn$»'^ ^SL \tf3N. ^^^*^ 
29* 



S42 A MAGAZ».fSB, 

gether take up the apo8tle-« declaration, and say, 
" No man stood by me." This, to the full extent^ hat 
never yet been my experience ; but I have often found 
many against me, both without and within, when 
earnestly bent on dealing a blow >at the great Anti- 
chriet. It is no good sign when all goes on too 
smoothly. 

In 1834 I was induced to undwtake what seemed 
an arduous and alarming office: that of editing a 
periodical. I commenced it in much prayer, with no 
Utile trembling, and actuated by motives not selfish. 
That it was not laid down at the end of the second 
year, was owing to the great blessing just then given 
to my appeals on behalf of the cruelly oppressed and 
i&poverished Irish clergy through its means : and re- 
commencing, at the beginning of the third year, with 
an ardent desire to promote more than ever the sacied 
cause of Protestantism, I found the Lord prospering 
t)ie work beyond my best hopes ; and by his help 1 
continue it te this day. On the subject of the Irish 
church I must make a few remarks^ connected with 
my visit to that country, whence I addressed to you 
the '< Letters from Ireland," already published. 



LETTER XVII. 



IRELAND. 



It was my lot to witness, as I have before told 
you, tlie first outbreak of what proved to be an or- 
ganized war against the property of the Irish church. 
It did not assume this form avowedly while the 
question of conceding the demands of the Romanistf 
was yet in abeyance ; but all the manoeuvres of Cap* 
tain Rock, his enlistments, drillings, nightly sallies, 
and the whole system as developed during my abode 
in Kilkenny, were but preparatory to what had been 
long decided on as the first forward step after gaining 
what they had long clamoured for — ^a vantage ground 
from which to assail the hated fortress of Protestantism. 
It was at Knocktopher, within sight indeed of the 
sweet parsonage of Vioarsfield, that the dreadful 
slaughter occurred in which thirteen policemen feU, 
murdered. Dr. Hamilton's extensive union of Knock* 
topher and Kilmagany was first attacked ; the latter 
division of the parish lies on the very border of Tip 
perary, just where the nightly marauders entered the 
county Kilkenny. The men who had been first trained 
to the work as Rockites, now called iVi^xas^^^^^xiA^T^ 
^m a sport in which the ICHk^Tvuy wvaw ^^^^^^T* 
aader this name they declared o^n n^^t ^^vmN.^^ 



344 DE. HAMILTON. 

Established Church. One morning Di, Hamilton was 
told that some men desired to speak with him; ht 
immediately went to the hall-door, and saw four or 
five peasants. The carriageway to that door sweeps 
through a cluster of evergreens which shade the house 
in front ; but beyond them lies a wide expanse of 
waste ground. The men requested Dr. Hamilton to 
step a little to one side, so that the laurels might no 
longer intercept his view, and on complying he saw 
the whole plain covered with men, to the number of 
two or three thousand, armed with the formidable 
hooked sticks that they use in hurling, find with 
shillelaghs loaded with lead, besides concealed firearms, 
and other dangerouy weapons. On seeing this, Dr. 
Hamilton had the presence of mind to retreat back- 
wards towards the door, and I will say the heroism to 
shut it by means of the stout spring lock, thus at .once 
guarding his house from the enemy, and leaving him- 
self wholly unarmed and defenceless in their power : 
he had n&t even a hat on his head. He had taken 
care to slam the door with such violence as to startle 
the inhabitants of the house, and thus to apprize them 
of danger; and now he stood, calm and dignified, 
awaiting the will of his assailants. Many a san- 
guinary warning had he received, signed in blood, as- 
suring him that his own should /speedily be shed ; and 
now the hour seemed to have arrived when those me- 
naces should be made good. 

No violence however was attempted : the ibremost 
men told him that \i«) loi^l s^^ Vo'tt N^ixv xeaistanca 
must be against sucVx a mxAlVVi^^, y^xI^KS.-^ \xmS«^ 
and resolved to yield uo \ou%<ex WiV^^'wmmAs^.^A 



THE MASSACRE. 345 

heretic church. They insisted upon his dismissing 
his proctor, and refraining in future from demanding 
tithe from the Romanists of his parish ; adding many 
assurances of their determination to put down the 
system altogether. After thus warning and threaten- 
ing him, they departed ; and he of course lost no time 
in making known to the government what had oc- 
curred, and requesting a strong body of police for the 
protection of his house and family. 

A party was sent down, who lodged in and about 
Vicarsfield, and for a time all seemed quiet ; but at 
length the Hurlers again appeared, surrounding the 
house in immense numbers. The officer in command 
of the police formed his men, and a parley was de^ 
manded ; when the leaders of the insurgents said they 
would come to terms, but must have a conversatioa 
with the police in the open country some little way 
off, to which the latter most rashly consented, and pro- 
ceeded to the spot by the bohreen. This little lane 
has a fence of loose stones on either side, the ground 
rising nearly to the height of the rude wall, so that the 
men within it were much lower than those in the field 
around them. There was barely space for two men 
to walk abreast, and of course no room for any move- 
ment or manoeuvre. The policemen were allowed to 
proceed for some distance, and then the ruffians on 
either side suddenly turned on them, pquring dowa 
with dreadful impetuosity into the narrow pass, and 
murdering them almost without resistance. 

The terrible work was soon done, and the butchert 
dispersed. A wounded poVicem^iii "wVci Vvw^ -aSsMag^ 
miraculously escaped witK \\\s\\?e^xwi\.o\iKvft^*v^"«^"**S 



346 U&UEL DSSE&TXON. 

and burpting into tlTe hall, staggered and fall, eovand 
with blood. The panic was of eourse dieadfol ; and 
as soon as possible Dr. and Mrs. Hamilton, disgoisad 
and in a common cart, made their escape to Kilkenny, 
taking shelter in the castle with Lord Ormonde, 
whence they came to England, for aver exiled from 
their beloved and lovely home, and in fact stripped of 
everything; for to recover tithe in that parish was 
now impossible. The meek pastor, a wreck in body, 
but evermore cleaving to his Lord, lingered out some 
years among us, and then departed to where the wicked 
eease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest 
Several of the murderers were taken, sworn to, re- 
peatedly arrainged, tried, proved guilty, and set tt 
large ; because there was not found a jury who conld 
command nerve enough to lay down their own lives 
and those of their families by finding a verdict against 
them, though their guilt admitted not of even a doubt 
It seemed pretty well understood by both parties that 
the Irish church was given over for a prey to the 
teeth of her enemies, and one heavy blow after anothei 
from the hands of those who were sworn to uphold 
her, confirmed the supposition. Attempts were daily 
made to ascertain how far the enemy might venture ; 
and when it was found that they might use their own 
discretion, a general resistance to the payment of tithe 
ensued, and the clergy, particularly in the south, were 
soon reduced to abide in their unroofed houses the ut- 
most pressure of poverty and actual starvation. , Yee^ 
had it not been for the ever ready aid of England, 
those faithful, zealous, devoted ministers of the eve^ 
IsBting gospel might have been — would have beaB-*" 



7HE BI2SH0P OF LONDON. , 847 

iiteraily starved to death witli their wives and childrea 
Many were nearly so, when they had sold even tha 
last of their books, and every little artiele that they 
possessed for personal or domestic use, to purchase a 
scanty meal of potatoes. It could scarcely have been 
hoped by the friends, or anticipated by the foes of the 
Protestant church, that through such extremity tha 
persecuted ckrgy would be conducted, and again re-, 
stored to their flocks, purified and made- brighter by 
this searching fire. Yet so it was : God gave quiet- 
ness, and who could make trouble ? God had given 
commandment to Mess, and who could reverse it ? I 
was present at a meeting in Freemason's Hall, in De- 
cember, 1835, when the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
the Bishop of London, with a large number of clergy- 
men, noblemen and 'gentlemen, assembled to take into 
consideration the afflicted state of their brethren in 
Ireland. There was at the outset a decided depreca- 
tion of all political topics and allusions; but the 
speakers found, not excepting the venerable Primate 
who had enjoined such abstinence from secular topics, 
that it was utterly impossible to enter upon the sub- 
ject before them without adverting to the plain root 
of the matter. The Bishop of London distinctly at- 
tributed it all to a neglect of vindicating the majesty 
of the laws in Ireland ; and that neglect he plainly 
charged on the real culprits, assigning the true motive 
— a willingness to extinguish the Protestant church in 
Ireland. The effect of this meeting was very im- 
portant : it cheered the spirit of God's dear suffering 
servants, not so much by the liberal supply of imme- 
diate temporal aid, as by the open expression of waxc&. 



348 THE ARCHBISHOr OF TUAM. 

•ympathy on the part of their English brethren. I 
can bear witness, for I knew the fact, that the Bishop 
of London laboured in their cause up to the very lettei 
of that sweet command to do even as in similar cir- 
cumstances he would that others should do unto him. 
He sought out information ; he arranged, and made it 
available in the best possibFe manner ; and he put so 
much heart along with his superior head into the busi- 
ness, that I am very sure he did far more to rescue 
that precious church than even he himself has any 
suspicion of. Our dear brethren needed encourage- 
ment, such as could only be derived from the fellow- 
ship of those who had too long seemed to look upon 
their calamities with a cold, distant eye; and their 
malicious enemies wanted the encouragement on the 
same ground. Their language was, ^* Persecute them 
and take them, for there is none to deliver them." So 
Satan suggested ; but as usual he told a lie. 

And now I must name one whose memovy is indeed 
most precious to me — the late, the last Archbishop of 
Tuam. The last, through the infamous act of strik- 
ing off the ten bishopricksj including those arohiepif- 
copal sees that had existed from a date long prior to 
the introduction of Popery into these isles. Dr. 
Trench was indeed a prelate on the apostolic model, 
so lovely a character J[ have rarely met with. Sweet 
ness and tenderness, combined with decision the most 
marked and uncompromising, distinguished him. He 
had a pastor's heart indeed : the mind which was in 
Christ Jesus being in \\\m^ to the praise of the glory 
of that grace wtexeib'y ^ift N^^^a %^ *ii^iJs\^ \.^ idc!i\s»i'^ 
hia high station, Hia\i©Ml^^^*mVv»^Q^,%s^^w^ 



THE ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM. 349 

his brethren. He loved his country with the most 
ardent devotion of Christian patriotism. He protested 
to the last against the wicked Bill of 1829, and pre- 
dicted what has followed. He bent all his energies to 
oppose the anti-scriptural plan of national education 
in Ireland, which was one of the series of heavy blows 
aimed at Protestantism, and one of the hardest. ' He 
laboured indefatigably to spread the gospel in Irish 
among the native race ; and from its first opening to 
its lamented close, my Irish church in St. Giles's was 
the object of his tenderest concern. His life was 
shortened by grief for the desolation of the Lord's 
vineyard in his native land ; and .by the shameless 
abandonment even of the poor guards still left against 
Popish assumption, which permitted the turbulent 
John M'Hale to parade his anti-christian and illegal 
exhibitions at the very gate of his palace, while the 
gaudy mass-house lifted its head above his modest, 
venerable cathedral. That beloved Archbishop is now 
with Christ ; and most blessed is his memory in the 
church — most dear, and most precious to me. May 
the Lord grant us many like-minded with him, to stand 
fast in this evil day of rebuke and blasphemy 1 ' 

How melancholy is the contrast presented when we 
turnio another Irishman, who has the name of his coun- 
try ever glowing on his Hp, and her best life-blood reek- 
ing on his hands I It is not possible to compute th« 
amount of life lost by assassination alone, through th« 
turbulent doctrines and doings that have " agitated!' 
poor Ireland for the past twenty years, through the per- 
severance o£ one individual in &ec\dck|^ \)tA ^^^.qtbk^o^^ 
ment of his darling object. WWt t\jA\.\B>'fc\wiX>o^^^ 
30 



350 DANIE^ O'CON'NCLL. 

what he has sacrificed to attain it, he will know in the 
day of judgment What measures of success hai 
crowned his efforts we cannot tell, unless we might ven- 
ture to determine the precise nature of what he aims at 
If it be to benefit his country, he has injured her more 
than ever any one individual had power to do in the 
course of a long life. If to replenish his own hoards, and 
to earn a conspicuous notoriety,. he ha's acicomplished it, 
and it only remains to render up to God an account 
of the blood shed to secure what cannot avail him ih 
the day of wrath. Unquestionably the Lord has used 
that man to work out His own high purposes in a 
wonderful manner. We find him always moving so 
much like a puppet, that an unseen hand must surely 
be at the wires, whether an intermediate one between 
him and the Almighty cannot be known. Pft)bably 
the master-spring lies in the Propaganda at Rome; 
but we well know, that even so the spring is wholly 
under his guidance who worketh all things after the 
counsel of his own will. We may shudder when we 
look on this great apostle of all evil, rending the 
wounds of his poor lacerated country, and dashing 
from her the soothing draught of peace ; but we can- 
not fear either him or his machinations, seeing how 
surely God hath set him his bounds, which he cannot 
pass. I never saw this man until the day when an 
indignant burst of right English feeling, not to be re- 
strained by the presence of the beloved Prince Con 
sort, prevented his voice from being heard among the 
honest advocates for African improvement. I saw 
him then, and never did I look upon a human being 
with feelings of such miXk^«^\i^tt<^T^ c.vi&?^moii, and 



DANIEL O'CONNEUL 351 

disgust. Interested as I was in the abolition of negro 
slavery, and working with heart and hand for its ac- 
complishment, until it pleased God to crown our efforts 
with success, still from the moment I heard that 
Daniel 0* Connell had been permitted to stand forth 
at the anti-slavery meeting, and enrolled with accla- 
mation as a helper in the work, I wholly withdrew 
from all connection with the society, and laboured 
alone, un contaminated by so degrading an alliance. 
To estimate him aright, we must explore his bleeding 
country; we must number up the slain, including 
those who have paid on a gibbet the forfeiture of lives 
stained with murder, and we must follow the souls of 
those victims into an eternity of unutterable wo and 
endless despair. It is an awful thing for man to pos- 
sess influence over his fellows: no talent is so rich, 
none so liable to abuse, and surely none of which the 
Lord will more rigidly inquire how it has been applied. 
It was in the year 1837 that I had the opportunity 
of judging how far the events subsequent to the pass- 
ing of that " healing measure" in 1829 had justified 
the prognostications of its advocates in reference to 
Ireland. According to their predictions, I should have 
found the Established Church flourishing in the 
warmth of that brotherly love so freely promised by 
the graceful recipients of the long-sought boon, and 
doubly secure under the protection of their sworn 
amity. I should have found the Roman population 
peaceable, contented, every way improved ; dwelling 
in the sweetest harmony with their Protestant neigh- 
bours, and encouraged in all loyalty by a priesthood 
now become the faithful liegemen of the British crown. 



352 PROGRESS OF POPBRY. 

Happily I was not disappointed, for I never expected 
aught but the strongest contrast, to this picture, and 
such I found : Popery rampant, insolent, overbearing 
and evidently calculating on soon possessing the land 
in undisturbed security : Protestantism depressed, dis 
couraged, menaced, and barely enjoying an uncertain 
toleration, on the one hand from government, on the 
other from the mass of the Romish populace : the chil- 
dren of the poQr removed from those scriptural schools 
which were rising up on all sides during my former 
sbjourn, and placed under the power of the enemy, 
backed by full government patronage. I fell in with an 
army, marched at a great expense to the north, which 
alone was loyal and peaceable, to restrain the exhibi- 
tion of Protestant principles and devoted attachment to 
the house of Brunswick ; while no movement that I could 
discover was ever made, of military or constabulary, 
to intimidate the hosts of Ribbonmen who«were known 
to assemble for preparations, the object of which was 
a general massacre of all but their own class. Not* 
withstanding, I also found the persecuted church oc- 
cupying a higher hill, and shining with clearer lustre 
than ever before ; indicating, not the approaching suc- 
cess of Antichrist, but the preparedness of Grod's peo- 
ple to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, 
to stand. Of course I do not mean in mortal combat; 
but I do believe that the cause of Christ will never he 
wholly lost, even for a day, in Ireland ; and whatever 
temporary advantage may be gained by his enemies, 
I believe it will 1)© £o\\oyi^ \i^ \.\i^ ttAMim^hing of 
'truth in a very mutVeA mwMi^t. TV^ ^w^xsNaiCvs^^ 
Ood's word has been si\oii\\y ©iviv^^ ^^-^ vk.wWx.'^ ^^««»» 



ntOG&ESS OF P£0T£»lAIfTI8]f. 358 

win show them^lyes in the kour of need. While the 
oppresf ed clergy maintained their posts in the face of 
even a dieadful death to themselves and their little 
ones, the work proceeded among the people ; and there 
are tens 'of thousands among those now most confident- 
\y calculated on as the passive slaves of Rome, who, in 
the moment when their services are called for against 
the people of God, will openly fling off the fetter which 
has been privately unlocked, and show themselves on 
the Lord's side. None can estimate the value of the 
stand made by those ministers, in its bearing on the 
ehriatianizing of the country. Had they flinched and 
failed, the work was at an end. God gave them grace 
to endure ; and they will yet see the glorious event of 
their patience and faith. 

At the time of my writing this letter, we are looking 
in breathless anxiety for the next movement among the 
powers of Europe, in reference to the east Since the 
great blow was struck at Navarino, the drying up of 
the Euphrates has been progressive and without a 
pause. A sudden movement among the mountaineers 
of Syria has brought all Europe into the Land of 
Promise as a battle-fleld ; and though only the prelimi 
nary alarm has yet sounded, in comparison with what is 
to follow, still there is a general impression even among 
those who would scoff at the mention of Armageddon, 
that in the very spot pointed out by Scripture will the 
great conflict of warring kingdoms take place. Blessed 
are they that watch 1 

My mind is fully impressed witk the coa^U.^<E^\!k\!BaX 

we are about to be tried by ev^ry d^Vi^^ ^\^<i^^<%^aiBk 

can put in practice against us. E^vw^ ^'^ vix^^ ^^ 

30* 



854 CHUECH MEMBERSHIP. 

delusion will now be fnrbished, and presented to us ia 
the most attractive forms, with the addition of whtt- 
ever new ones can be contrived. Where shall we find 
security against them ? I, for one, know 'where it is 
to be found. You have heard in what way the Loid 
preserved me from several snares of Socinianism, Po- 
pery; Irvingism, Pusepsm ; and to these I may add 
what would certainly have been a great evi], needless 
schism, in separating from the church df England be- 
cause it is not altogether perfect, and joining some 
other communion where it is very questionable whe- 
ther I should have found so much of the good, or littk 
of the evil, as in my own. [ do not take up the lofty 
grounds that some do : I claim no exclusive privilege 
for my own church over those of other countries, 
being Protestant. I set little by the bare succession, 
however apostolical ; and of infallibility I believe we 
are all alike destitute, all alike liable to err. But I 
consider episcopacy to be the scriptural form of church 
government, and that our own comes as near the original 
constitution as any : I hold it the bounden, the impera- 
tive duty of the state to provide due religious teaching 
and public ministration of ordinances for its subjects ; 
and when such an institution is orthodox and weO 
ordered like ours, I consider it really displeasing to God 
that we should lightly separate from it. Yet should this 
church become imbued with the doctrines set forth by 
the Oxford Tracts rians, and require from her membeis 
a recognition of them as true, I would shake the dost 
from my feet as a testimony against her, and go fortk 
to worship Grod accotdin^ to my conscience ; and m* 



ANTINOIUANISM. 395 

x 

oording to the real spirit of that same chureh whieh 
would have falsely denied herself 

It was mj blessed priyilege, four years since, to 
abridge into two moderate sized volumes the En^sh 
Martyrology, as recorded by Foxe. In the pogress 
of this work I became better acquainted with the true 
doctrines of the Reformation than ever before : I com- 
pared them as I am wont to do everything, with what 
Grod has revealed ; and I am satisfied that they are 
perfectly accordant with scripture : if they were not 
80, I would rej^t th§m. By the same standard let 
us prove all things, that we may hold fast that which 
16 good. 

I have not part^ularized the trial of my scriptural 
principles when exposed for a )hort time to the perni- 
cious doctrines of a subtile and persuasive antinomian 
teacher. At first he only appeared to me to insist 
very strenuously on the doctrine of free, sovereign 
grace ; and greatly to magnify God in the saving of 
souls, wholly independent of aught that man can do ' 
but a little farther investigation convinced me that the 
vilest system of moral licentiousness might be built 
on such a foundation as he laid : and I found the dis- 
oourses of Peter and of Paul, as recorded in the Acts, 
especially etmclusive against his perverted notions. If 
is a most deadly thing, this antinomianism ; and I 
believe all extremes in doctrines where good men have 
much differed to be dangerous ; while at the same time 
tiiey are very deluding, for we all love to go far in aa 
argument, or under the influence of party spirit. 

Another ordeal, but one of much less pain in dis- 
cuBBion, was' found in the i1Ekvil\t^^^^^\.^xsc^i»^ft^\s<\ 



^6 WLKCLEfii. 

the irreproachable lives and amiable dispoeitions af 
the Frieuds, to their pecaliar mode of thinking 
Without any direct attempt at proselytizing, some of 
them made their religion very attractive to me, before 
I was at all well grounded and settled. Oa ejcamusA- 
tiou however, of their positions, by the aid of scrip 
ture alone, I found them, according to my belief^ 
untenable, as regards the rejection of the sacramenis^ 
and other minor points. I would deprecate the read- 
ing of books, in such cases, beyond the plainest stata- 
' ment of what the party inviting us to* join Ihem really 
hold ; and this I would bring to the safe test of God't 
word, examined as a whole^ at least the New Testament, 
in reference to that panicular point Prayer; hum- 
ble, earnest, diligent, persevering, must accompany the 
labour, or it will be worse than lost 

Of myself, I have now no more to say than that 
''by the help of my God 1 continue to this day," 
anxiously desirous to devote my little talent to his 
service, as he may graciously permit I have coveted 
no man's silver, or gold, or apparel, but counted it a 
privilege to labour with my hands and head, for myself 
and for those most dear to me. Many trials, varioiu 
and sharp, have been my portion : but they are passed 
away, and if I have not enlarged upon them it is from 
no reluctance to declare all the Lord's wonderful do- 
iugs, but from a desire to avoid speaking harshly of 
those who are departed. The Lord has accepted at 
my hand one ojSering, in the case of the jwecious 
dumb boy, received into glory through his rich bless- 
ing on my efforts ; and he mercifully gives me to see 
the weUare of two otlieTai QOiaua\.\A^ \» \aft «a vbl ^ 



Mr.RCIEf!. S57 

tng of my brother, over whose early years 1 have 
Q permitted to watch, and in whose growing pros- 
ity my heart can rejoice. He has been a very 
eiovLs master to me ; he has dealt very bountifully, 
I given me now tj^e abundance of dopestjo peace, 
h the light of his countenance to gladden my happy 
ne. Yet the brightest beam that falls uppn it is 
anticipation of that burst of glory when the Lord 
us shsdl be revealed from Heaven, to reign in 
bteousnese over the world that, shall soon, very 
o, acknowledge him the universal, eternal King : 
I ihe most fervent aspiration my heart desires to 
«r is the response to his promise of a speedy ad- 
iit. ^* Even so, Lord Jesus: ceme quicldy ! Anea' 



CONCLUDING REIABES. 



The PersGBal Reocrilections were written by Cktti 
lotte Elizabeth, at the olose of the year 1840 ; andli 
the opening Chapter she states the modyes which Id 
to such a publioatiQi>-4ier desire to preolude4he neoM 
sity of posthumous biography, by laying bet>re thi 
public all that they are justly entitled to know of tix 
private history of one who, in the providence of GSod 
Had been called to the responsible duties of Christiaii 
authorship. It was her intention to have enlarged thn 
sketch and to have continued the narrative, if the Lord 
spared her to a season of repose on earth, ere Hfl 
called her to the glorious and everlasting rest whicb 
remaineth for His people ; but all was otherwise or- 
dered, and the six years that elapsed after this publi- 
cation, were amongst the most laborious and active of 
her eventful life. The following brief and imperfect 
outline is therefore the only substitute which can be 
offered for her own more. comprehensive and perfect 
plan. 

In the year 1836 she removed from Edmonton— 
the residence alluded to in page 372 — to Blacluieath, 
where she remained until her removal to London^ 
about a year before \ieT d&^\k. 



OONCLin»N» SBMARK8. 850 

'■ In 1687 she again Tinted the land endeared to her 
by msiny preoious ties — the land of her spiritual birth, 
and where .now rested the remains of that brother 
whom she had so tenderly loved ; €uid in her ** Letters 
from Ireland" she has left behind her a graphic ac- 
count of this visit. In this year she also heard of 
the death of Captain Phelan, and in February 1841 
she became the wife of Mr. Tonna, her surviving 
widower.* In taking this step, unexpected as it was 
in her friends, she only sought counsel of the Lord ; 
nor did He refuse His guidance and blessing : and 
whUe the enjoyment of domestic peace did not induce 
any relaxation io-her desire to work in the Lord's 
vineyaid, He was graciously pleased to open to her 
new and extended spheres of usefulness. 

In the summer of 1841, she undertook, at the re- 
quest of the committee of the Protestant Associatioiii 
the editorship of the " Protestant Magazine," their 
official oirgan; her name, for obvious reasons, was 
not announced, although she continued as heretofore 
to write papers in it under her usual signature. 8he 
continued to discharge this in^rtant duty until the 
end of the year 1844, when the Magasine passed into 
other hands. The leading pa{)er, called '< The Watch- 
man," was always from her own pen ; and while the 
workings of Popery in its own undisguised form were 
narrowly watched and exposed, its more subtle mani- 
festations under the name of Tractarianism and High 
Churchmanship, were no less vigorously assailed. 
Strong and urgent were the remonstrances she n> 

* Although the third penon is ased to aToid the nnpleasaw 
egotism of the fint— the writer has no wish to conceal his identity 



CONGLUDCfG 

ceived from anonyixK>u8 correspondents to desiat 
this latter course ; and more than once the " Rev 
Editor" was cautioned not to admit into ," his" 
the productions of that most dangerous writer — 
lotte Elizabeth/ 

At about this time << Judah's Lion" was conum 
and published, month by month, in the << Ghi 
Lady's Magazine." This was her last work of fi 
The conviction grew cm her mind, that such wi 
were not wholly consistent with Christian sinceril 
truth ; and though she could not but admit tbi 
Lord had given an extensive blessing to hei 
labors in this department of literature, she attrj 
the welcome reception of such works to an unlu 
tone in the public mind. .To describe the oper 
of God the Holy Spirit, and the mighty work 
generation, as taking place in beings who existec 
in her own imagination, — to delineate struggl 
conscience which hod never taken place, — and, 
all, to indite prayers which had never been ut 
and reveal their answers — seemed to her now, 
thing like profanation ; and it was with some diff 
that she wrote the concluding chapters of the 
nating story in which her readers were so d 
interested. 

But she did not hesitate in the decision, tha 
should be her last work of the class. And hen 
evinced that strong conscientiousness which m; 
her character. Fictitious narrative was to her a ] 
ant recreation, rather than labor. The absence 
sound enabled her to shut out the real world. 
yiehliDg to the vivid ioi^^ulaes of her imaginatioi 



CONCLUlliiWG RSiUULRES. 361 

characters of her story were for the time living and 
actual beings, whose words and actions she was de. 
scribing as she heard and saw them. No previous 
■plan was laid down — not even the most general sketch 
f)rmed in her mind as to the outline of the story. 
The principal character generally owed its origin to 
some living prototype, tnd around him events and per- 
sons grouped themselves insensibly. At an early 
period in the month she would remark that it was the 
day for " Judah's Lion," and in the evening would 
relate the events that had befallen Alick Cohen and 
Da Costa, with as much eagerness and vivacity aa- 
though they had been actual occurrences of the day. 
On one occasion slie greeted the writer on his return 
home with the words, " Charley is better," alluding 
to her favorite character in the book,— and then re- 
marked, that she had met a dear friend who, almost 
with tears in her eyes, had entreated her not to let the 
dear child die. " And indeed," she added, ** I was^ 
quite unhappy about him myself." 

The manuscript was never read over, but sent at 
once to the printer's; and in reading the proofs she 
was sometimes affected even to tears. She declared 
that what she had written was oflen almost as new 
' and interresting to her as it could be to her readers ; 
yet on resuming the narrative, after the lapse of a 
month, the thread of the most intricate story was at 
once taken up, and with the re^wed abstracti(Hi its 
reality revived. 

The few years that passed from this time up to the 
period when the fatal malady made its appearance, 
w&CBf perhaps, amongst the happiest of her life«. Iia» 



S62 cavciAjmNG 

mediately after breakfast, s&e went to her desk, lock* 
ing the door to exclude iDterruptioa ; the company of 
her two dogs, and a splendid cockiitoa, assisting rather 
than interfering with her meditations } and, when her 
pen was laid aside, her garden afS>rded her ever new 
delight ; and, with her, gardening was no light occu. 
pation. She smiled at kdy-gardenersF who only en- 
joyed the labors of other»: — from the moment the 
gravel- walks and beds were formed, all was the work 
of her own hands, and the most labork)us operations 
"were to her refreshment and pleasure- Bach plant — 
each bud w£uft fiaimiliar to her ; she knew its history — 
its vicissitudes — •aad the growth of each became a 
source of never-failii^ interest. The emotions pro- 
duced in her mind by the brilliant tints of ^wers and 
gems, can only be compared to those of music in others* 
The writer weais at this moment a small diamond 
ring, which she kept in her desk, and placed on her 
finger when writing*; the occasional flashing of the 
brilliants as the light fell upon them, produced the 
most pleasurable sensations in her mind, and gready 
: aided the flow of thought and imagination. Her coun- 
tenance at such moments would light up with anima- 
* tion ; and, if an inquiring glance were tamed to her, 
: she would smile and say, "Oh J it was onlytbe dia- 
•.monds." 

Oflen would stie lay down her pen in the midsi of 

.-some work, requiring all the energy of her mind and 

: much concentration of thought, and go to her garden 

rSkr hal£an-hour ; and, ^hile seemingly wholly ab- 

rinrbed in pruning or tT«asp\«n\\M|^, ^%>n%&t:«^^ ^ss^. 

^tgmged in her work, and lilbe o^^g^jccoX Vs» ol ^cw^^ 



OONCLITDING BSMAHKS. 36S 

imply repaid by the rapidity with which she wrota 
out the ideas conceived and matured during this health- 
iul relaxation. A word spoken to her* at such time* 
would, however, have caused a painful interruption in 
the flow of thought — she compared the effect to a stone 
thrown into a quiet running brook — and would utterly 
disable her from writing for the rest of the day ; a 
circumstance difficult to impress upon the minds of 
servants : even those who would carefully absttdn 
from interruption, when they knew she was actually 
writing, could hardly understand that the same care 
was needful, when she wiis thu^ employed with her 
flowers. 

Her love for her garden waa only equalled by that 
for animals ; but it was in their unrestrained happi- 
ness that she delighted. Their habits, wants, feelinga^ 
were undecslood by her, and closely attended to ; and 
seldom did horses, dogs, pigeons, fowls, cockatoos, par. 
rots, falcons, squirrels, white mice, or dormice, lead 
a happier life than while under her keeping. She. 
felt that the alienation of the animals from man wai 
part of the penalty for man's original and habitual sin, 
and their reconciliation and love gave her a foretaste 
of the enjoyment she anticipated when, that curse 

♦ The reader ia doubtless aware that all communication was 
made to her by means of the finger alphabet, but so quick wag 
her apprehension of what was said, and so easy was it for thote 
about her to acquire great rapidity in this art, that her total deai^ 
ness was hardly felt to be even an inconvenience; sermoUi 
^eches, and conversations, even of the most voluble l^ake^^ 
could thus be conveyed to hex with pet&cl «q&^^ ^s^i^^^^rfi^^^^^Qbi^ 
omiaeion of a word. 



864 CONCLUDLNG REMAEXH. 

being removcK], '^ the child sliould lay its hand on the 
cockatrice's den." 

The least approach to cruelty or neglect to God'^ 
creatures, produced in her a feeling of intense indig* 
nation ; and, the inculcation of this principle in the 
minds of children, ^e held to be of great importance. 
With this view, she wrote a little book, called " Kind- 
ness to Animals," containing many interesting anec- 
dotes, which had occurred under her own eye. The 
secret of her love for them lay in the deep appreciation 
of the poet's words, 

* My Father made them all/ 

Her evenings in summer were devoled to exereise, 
and a walk of ten or twelve miles was no uncommon 
conclusion of a day, the early part of which had been 
divided between close application at her pen, and hard 
work in her garden. 

During the year 1842, in addition to her editorial 
labors, she wrote a work on Angelic Ministration, un- 
der the title of " Principalities and Powers in Heavenly 
Places." This subject was one on which she de- 
lighted to dwell, and on which she had already wriU 
ten two striking papers in her Magazine.* " Conform- 
ity," and " Dangers and Duties," also appeared during 
this year. 

But public events occurre d which were, to h^r, of 

most stirring and absorbing interest. No words can 

describe the intense joy and astonishment with which 

afie heard of the crealiow ot \Vv^ Ptol^stant Bishopric 

* See Christian Lady's "Nlaga-UTjefeT 5 wwarj ^xA Mjt^.V^v 

The papers are headed '' Neg\ecUiSL¥TveT^i^^^ ^^«v^^^^^.^ 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 36i 

31 Jerusalem, and that a Jew, who had been her hoiu , 
Dfed friend for nearly sixte^i years, was called, in the 
providence of God, to occupy this new and important 
post. True it is that a great change took place in her 
views on this subject ; and of that change, and the 
subsequent development of opinions which already 
began to assume a tangible form in her mind, it will 
be the writer's duty to lay before the Christian public 
a brief sketch ; and, in so doing, heVill but fulfil her 
dying charge to him. But, at the time, she saw in 
this appointment, the seeming return of God's favor 
to His own beloved nation ; — a cirbumcised Jew once 
more placed in spiritual authority on the heights of 
Zion, was an event so unexpected, so dazzling, that, 
for the moment, she overlooked, or was unwilling to 
see, many attendant circumstances, which soon plainly 
showed her that, however important, it was not, as she 
fondly trusted it was, tiie realization of her long^cher- 
ished hopes, the incipient restoration of Israel. << A 
Stray Chapter on Flowers," in the Magazine for Dec. 
1841, and the '< Protestants," or concluding papers in 
that woric, give so vivid an account of the impressions 
she then entertained, that any further remarks would 
be superfluous. 

Before this period, her attention had been turned^ 
to the true position in which the Christian Jew stands* 
towards his Gentile fellow-saints and fellow-believers. 
She had again resorted to that independent study of 
Scripture, discarding all human glosses 'and common- 
taries which had enabled her, by the Lord's help, to- 
detect and resist the many heresiea Vv^ n^\c^s^ "^ai^ 
Miemy of souls had sought \o "be^ga^^ \«x ^xqksw ^^a^ 



386 COA'CLUDIXG BJEAIABKl. 

true faith of the Grospel, as narrated in the preceding 
pages, and she had already been brought to the con- 
viction, from Scripture alone, that, as the covenant 
which granted to Abraham and to his seed forever the 
inheritance of the land of Canaan, had never been set 
aside, so neither was circumcision, the outward attest- 
ing seal to that covenant, to be rent from ofif the bond. 
A few days before his departure from England, she 
addressed a solemn and respectful letter to Bishop 
Alexander, urging him, on returning to the land of 
his fathers, to circumcise his sons, and testify by this 
act his belief, that they had part and lot in the prom- 
ised temporal inheritance. 

Continued study of Scripture matured and deveU 
oped her views on this important subject, and as they 
have been misunderstood and misrepresented, it will 
be desirable in this place, somewhat to anticipate the 
remaining brief narrative, in order to state them dis- 
tinctly. 

Having sought in vain in the Gospels for &ny ah'. 
rogation of the command to circumcise every maliS:^ 
the house of Israel, she next proceeded to a close in- 
vestigation of the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles. 
Every step in the inquiry led to a fuller and firmer 
conviction. Paul returns to Jerusalem and declares 
to the brethren " what things Grod had wrought among 
the Gentiles by his ministry." Acts xxi. 19. They 
glorify the Lord for these His wondrous works ; and 
then James aifd the Elders in the name of tho Church, 
remind him of the many ^^ myriads of Jews which be- 
lieve and are all zea\ouaoi^\)a&\T3Cw,^^ «xA\j^\Msv\hal 
a Tu moT obtains atnongsl \Iiae w» ^^\^^.\^fe V^Wsfeev^ \!5»^&f 



C0NCLT7DING ££MABKS. 967 

mg '' all the Jetos which are amongst the Grentiles to 
forsake Mases,* saying, that they ought not to circum- 
dse their children, neither to walk after the customs;" 
and in order to disprove this calumny, and in order 
'< that all may know that these things are nought," and 
that Paul himself walked orderly aod kept the law, 
they propose to him to^ take the tow of a Nazarite in 
the face of all the people, and thus openly to declara 
his innocence of the alleged charges. Paul agreed to 
the terras, took the vow, shaved his head, appeared ia 
the temple, and thus testified to the believing Jewg 
that were zealous of the law, that the things which 
they were informed of him were nought. 

Objectors replied to her, that in so doing, Paul 
merely yielded to the prejudices of his countrymen — 
that he erred greatly — and that his subsequent troubles 
and captivity arose from this very act.f 

" If Paul," she replied, — " if Paul had really don« 
what he was accused of; — had really taught Jews not 
to circumcise their children, and yet now, for fear of 
the Jews in Jerusalem, consented to make this solemn 
denial of the fact, — ^no words can express the extend 
of his hypocrisy. It would have been a most delibeir 
ate, solemn, acted-out lie, coupled with sacrilege — tho^ 
very temple of God and the divine ordinances of Mo- 
ses, being used as a mask and cloak for the decep. 
tion." 

These are almost her own words, and to show that 

* Or ^* Apostasy from Mosm." 

•f This is the argument by which Jerome in his own imperiouft 
style silenced and put down the miWer Augistine^ who adv<^ 
oated the very fiews now propoavieii to \)kij& C>&»TB»2a\tf3 C^«fis5»». 
Elizabeth. 



868 COIYCLUDLXG BE lA&KS, 

Paul's captivity was no f>enal infliction upon him, but 
indeed the very means by which he was to rear the 
trophies of the conquering Gtespel, even in Csesar's 
palace, she pointed to the circumstance, that in the 
very night when the chief captain had rescued him 
from the mob who had beset him, th0 Lord stood by 
him and bade him " be of good ^cheer," for as he had 
testified of Him in Jerusalem, so should he also testify 
of Him in Rome. Hb captivity was rather a reward 
than a punishment ; and it is to be observed, that those 
who assaulted him were the unbelieving Jews, not 
those who, while they believed in Jesus, were yet zeal- 
ous for the law ; and the alleged cause of their attack 
was a totally different and afklse one. (xxi. 28, 29.) 

The circumcision of Timothy and the non-circum* 
eision of .Titus were circumstances which at once fell 
into their places; the former by his mother's side 
was entitled to the seal, the latter, by both parents, a 
Greek. 

The feast of the Passover, — ^the wearing the fringed 
garment,* — ^the abstaining from unclean meats, were 
then examined in the same manner — standing however 
on a diflferent ground from circumcision, which was 
not of Moses, but of the fathers ; and nowhere could 
she find that the Christian Missionary had a warrant 
to burden the conscience of the Jew who sought salva- 
tion by the blood of the Lamb, who saw in Jesus of 
Nazareth his promised Messiah, bis redeeming kins- 
man, by requiring him to cease the observiance of 
those national ordinances, which, not being dependent 
•See Christian Lady'* M-a^jMsmft, 3 wJiOMi \^Aa, '''^^tfl&i^ 
and Phylacteries." 



CONCLUD/NCr RBMABKS'^ 869 

on the existence of the Temple, is yet possible to hijia 
in the lands of his dispersion. And it was to the last, 
her firm unshaken belief, that the converted Jews did 
observe all the ordinances during the whole of the New 
Testament history, and that the Priests, — ^numbers of 
whom became obedient to the faith,— <lid not cease to, 
perform their office, seeing in the lamb as it bled under 
their sacrificial knife, a lively retrospective type of the 
one sacrifice — the Lamb of God, whose blood ha4 
cleansed them from all sin. 

She noticed particularly that Paul, in the Epistle to 
the Hebrews, dwells almost exclusively oa ordinances, 
which the Roman eagle, Grod's avenging minister, wai 
about to sweep away and l-ender impossible : — ^viz. the 
Temple Services, the sacrifices, and the exercise of 
the functions of the Aaronio priesthood. The Paschal 
lamb too, though not in itself a sacrifice for sin, could 
only be killed in Jerusalem — ^but no such limitation 
attaches to keeping the days of unleavened bread, nor 
that " night to be much observed unto the Lord for 
bringing them out from the land of Egypt ;" Ex. xii. 
42., in the celebration of which the believing Jew, par- 
taker of a greater, even a spiritual redemption, might 
in obedience to his Lord's command, add the sweet re- 
membrancer of broken bread and poured-out wine, and 
sing with melody in his heart, the song of Moses and 
of the Lamb. 

When once her mind was convinced on these points, 
no worldly, consideration — ^na probable loss of popular- 
ity as a Christian writer — no fear of offending frienda 
whom she loved — could induce Yiex Vo Va^^'WO^^Xj^ 
opinions. No : she felt thai it wtxs \T\i\5ar--^"ws\v^"^^*^ 



370 eoMGivOma rbmajiks. 

truth — and it must, at any hazard, be told Sfat kuew 
thai it would be unwelcome to thousands ; for if her 
views were scriptural, then were all the mighty efforta 
the Church had hitherto made in behalf of the JewSf 
unscriptural ; and to the fact of their being so, did she 
attribute the small amount of success, that had as yet 
crowned their labors. In November, 1842, slie wrote 
and published a letter to Bishop Alexander* on this 
subject, and it is still before the Church ; for the cme 
reply that has been made to it, can hardly be called 
an answer. 

Let it not for a moment be supposed that she wished 
these ordinances to be pressed upon Jewish converts : 
she only contended for their Christian liberty, to fol- 
low the teaching of the Holy Spirit, whatever that 
might be. She wished the Gospel, and the Grospei 
alone — Christ Jesus and Him crucified, to be preached 
to the Jew. She wished them to hear the message, 
" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
saved," unaccompanied by any such additions as, 
"cease to circumcise your sons," — ^"work on the 
seventh-day Sabbath,"-^— throw off your Talith, and eat 
swine's flesh — conditions which, of course, are not 
said in words, but are practically enforced ; and is not 
this she said, making " uncircumcision" to avail some- 
thing ? or, at least, must it not seem so to the poor in- 
quiring Jew ? 

The charge hinted at by some, that she kept back 
from the Jew the essential saving truths of the Gospel, 

* Israel's Ordinances, a few thoughts on their perpetuity, in a 
ietter to the Right Rev. the Bishop of Jerusalem. Swo. Lon* 
doD. 1843. 



CONCLUDING BE.MAKKS. 371 

13 at once refuted by referring the reader to the many 
papers which she wrote at this time in her own Maga- 
zine, expressly addressed to the Jews, and extensive^ 
ly read by them,* and commented on in their public 
organ. 

And to this stfbject, the establishment of an indepen- 
dent Jewish press, attention must now be directed, for 
deeply did it engage her mind. In the beginning of 
the year 1842, she first saw a number of " The Voice 
of Jacob," a newspaper which had recently been es- 
tablished in London, and she hailed its appearance 
with great joy. She had long grieved over the igno- 
rance which prevailed amongst Christians as to the 
real state, character, and feelings of the Jews, and the 
great injury that was continually done to the cause of 
truth by the numberless calumnies, unwittingly prop 
agated by sincere Christians, and received as facts by 
attentive hearers ; and, in the very last article that 
she dictated,! in the month of June, 1846, when unabU 
to use her pen, she says, " A certain class of state- 
ments, alike painful and unjust to our Hebrew breth- 
ren, are continually going the round of the press, the 
pulpit, and the platform ; not, we are sure, with any 
design either to pain or to calumniate them, but sitnpiy 
because such statements have been taken on trust from 
obscure, malicious, or ignorant sources, and are now 
brought forward with the best possible intentions, to 
excite our Christian compassion for the desperate state 

• Christian Lady's Magazine, June, August, September, and 
October, 1842. 

t " TheHaphtorath." GhrisUan Lady's Magasna, July, \846^ 
p. W. 



872 CONCLtJDI]SG BBMAbKS. 

of blindness, hardness of heart, and active hostiUty 
against the truth, which are supposed to form the 
leading features in the character of a Jew :'* — and, 
farther on, in this paper, afler refuting and disproving 
the absurd, yet oft-repeated assertion^ that the 53rd of 
Iscdah is wilfully and designedly excluded from the 
Synagogue-service, she adds: — "Away with such 
means for promoting Christianity among the Jews ! it 
can promote nothing but contempt and mistrust on 
their part. We do bless God for the establishment of 
an Anglo- Jewish press; it is one of our sweetest re- 
flections that we did, wfth all our weak power, while 
yet wholly ignorant who were its conductors, help for- 
ward the circulation of * The Voice of Jacob.' In 
this we stood alone among Christians : we were re- 

,, buked, and chidden, and publicly admonished for coun- 
tenancing a publication that could not but be opposed 
to Christianity, All manner of Popish, eJl manner of 
worldly periodicals made their way unimpeded ; but, 
no sooner did the first people of the earth dare to lift 
up the voice in a manly and generous defence of their 
own national character, than it became a sort of sin to 
name the woric in public, lest any one should be tempt- 
ed to'read it, and be judaized out of hand by its insid 
ious doctrines." She rejoiced that the Jew could now 
speak out for himself, and say who and what he was. 
Strong in invincible truth, she feared no damage to its 
sacred cause from fair and open discussion ;' and, in 
matters of faith and doctrine, she felt it to be infinitely 
better that the men o^ JacoVi aVvowVd " btvn^ forth their 

strong reasons," instead oHee\\Tk^>i5a»x^««:^w»^yflL 

stided in a ono-isided couVrovexsY' 



CONCLUDING REJMARKS. 373 

But, its important bearing on the national character 
and prospects of the Jew mpst deeply impressed her ; 
and, when she saw that " The Voice of Jacob" never 
&iled to point the Jew to Palestine, as his own, hid 
inalieDable heritage, she at once gave the undertaking 
the whole support of her pen. Her advocacy was no- 
ticed and most kindly acknowledged in the columns 
of ^* The Voice of Jacob," and an intimacy, which 
soon ripened into the warmest, most affectionate friend* 
•hip, soon sprang up between her and its able and de- 
voted editor and proprietor, Jacob A. Franklin Esq.,-* 
a friendship which proved a solace and a comfort 
during many an hour of pain and sickness and suffer, 
ing, and which, " strong as death," was remembered 
in her very latest hour. 

To resume the narrative. The following works 
were written during the years 1842 and 1843 : "The 
Wrongs of Woman," and " The Church Visible in all 
Ages;" but a more than usual amount of her own 
writing appeared in the Magazine on the subject which 
now engrossed her attention, the cause of Isl'ael ; and, 
next to this, the noble efforts of her kind Christian 
friend, Lord Ashley, in behalf of the laboring classes. 
it must also be observed, that her acknowledged worka 
lo not comprise the whole or the most important labors 
)f.her pen. For, in the latter part of the year 1842,^ 

♦ Thig truly patriotic gentleman has recently been elected to a 
leat in the Jewish Board of Deputies ; an important post, in 
Mrbich his zeal and devotion to the cause of hie nation, may 
prove of eminent service. Sir Moses Montefiore presides over 
dus Board, the members of which are elected by the vari.ou&v^^'^ 
agognesj and which is recognized by \\i^\&^g(!^«Srax&«x^«:^^KriS^ 
tain all questions relating to Jem«\v e^fe\oT£A^xoArcv^J^J*>^** 



874 CONCLUDING EEMABES. 

the Committee of tlie Christian Influence Society, 
deeply impressed with a sense of the alarnoing state 
of the country, from the habitual grinding oppression 
to which the laboring classes were exposed, resolved 
upon the publication of a work to he expressly addres- 
sed to the Legislature and higher classes in the state, 
showing on undoubted evidence of fact the existing 
evils, and on plain scriptural grounds the inevitable 
consequences, of such a state of things. They pro- 
posed to her to undertake the work, with the under, 
standing, that not only was the book to be published 
without a name, but that every precaution must be 
used to keep it strictly secret, as it was not to be sup. 
posed that legislators and those for whose perusal it 
was intended, would pay much attention to a work on 
such a subject from a woman's pen. She was at once 
amply supplied with facts and information, both from 
Parliamentary Reports and private correspondence of 
many who were devoting themselves to this momen- 
tous inquiry. Most deeply did she feel the importance 
of the undertaking, and the responsibility which de- 
volved upon her, and nearly two months were devoted 
to reading and digesting the mass of materials which 
were placed in her hands ; and thus prepared, aided 
by her surprising memory, which enabled her not mily 
to recall to mind the facts she had read, but at once to 
refer to the place where she had read them, she com- 
menced the work, and with almost the same rapidity 
with which she would have written on the most famil- 
iar subject, she completed the " Perils of the Na- 

tion/' which was pubW^e^ %X 'C.^Xet m^^^wa. 

J 843. 



CONCLUDING REliCARKS. 879 

The work attracted immediate attention, and even 
m the highest places in the land inquiries were made 
as to the authorship, but the secret, confined to a very 
few persons, was never divulged. Many friends in 
naming the book to her, assured her that they knew 
who was the writer, and named men of the most oppo- 
site parties and opinions, but no one thought of attrib- 
uting It to a woman. The book speedily reached a 
second and a third edition ; and that it had a marked 
and decided influence, not only on the tone of public 
feeling, but directly on the Legislature, admits of no 
doubt. It was quoted on platforms and discussed in 
private circles ; three important societies may be at- 
tributed almost directly to its influence, viz., the So- 
ciety for improving the condition of the Laboring 
Classes, the Church Extension Fund, and the Cleri- 
cal Education Aid Fund ; and what were its eflTects 
in aiding the passing of the Mines apd Collieries' Bill, 
and the Ten hours Bill, and in bringing forward the 
Health of Towns Bill, will only be known when the 
secrets of all hearts are revealed.. 

In 1844, the Emperor Nicholas visited England, 
and she at once saw the importance of appealing to 
him in behalf of his oppressed and burdened Jewish 
subjects. The idea, once conceived, was instantly 
carried into effect. She was told that it was impossi- 
ble ; that the Emperor's visit was strictly a private 
one to the Queen of England ; aUd that any such step 
would be indecorous ; but these arguments had no 
power, when a hope, however distant, offered itself ai 
relieving, by even a fealYvet's 'wev^V^tb \5»^'^a«&. 
pressed upon these poor suffexeT^, ^e^ ^xssns^ ^^af* 



876 CONCLTTDIKG REM.IRKS 

touching and respectful memorial ; two days only re- 
mained of his sojourn in England : a competent per- 
son was employed to work during the night in writing 
it out most elegantly on vellum, and, on the two fol- 
lowing days, (hiring a carriage for the purpose,) she 
took it to the residence of all her influential friends, 
and obtained the signatures of 3i^ops, Peers, Privy 
Counsellors, Members of Parliament, and others, each 
aflixing to his name his rank and designation ; all be- 
ing the names of men who feared the Lord. The 
memorial was presented, and, on the Emperor's re- 
turn to Russia, a gracious reply was transmitted 
through the resident Ambassador. 

A similar memorial was presented by the Jews, and 
these were the only public addresses •f any kind re-, 
ceived by his majesty during his short visit to our shores. 

This was the last public act, requiring personal ex- 
ertion, in which she was permitted to engage. A few 
months h^fore this, a slight nodosity made its appear- 
ance in one of the lefl axillary glands, so slight that for 
some months she did not think it of sufficient impor- 
tance to name, even to the writer ; but it soon increased 
rapidly in size, though unaccompanied with pain or 
other inconvenience, until about the end of the year; 
and on the 24th of December it was pronounced by 
Mr. Listen to be cancer. She was firmly resolved to 
submit to no operation ; but her resolution on this point 
was not tested, for Mr. Listen declared that no opera- 
tion, even in the earliest stages of the disease, could 
Aave been attended witVv way ho^ of success, situated 
Ba the disease was in a iie«^. o^ ^«xv^^» \v w^w. ^^rsq^ 
BDd rapidly spread, so as to xeue^^T ^TVco^g, VJ^ v^ 



CONCLaDIXG lEMARKS. 8T7 

fill and difficult, and in the following touching words, 
ihe first announced the sad intelligence to her readers, 
in a paper entitled " Mogadore and the Jews." 

" And now out of a full heart, we must address our 
beloved Christian friends on a subject so near and so 
dear to us all, that though the enfeebled hand which 
traces these lines is compelled to cease from all other 
work, it will never rdinquish the conduct of the Chris- 
tian Lady's Magazine, while life enough remains to 
make it a medium for pleading this cause. We have 
been charged with bandying literary compliments with 
the conductors of ' The Voice of Jacob,' because our 
remarks are often quoted in that periodical. We have 
been taxed with seeking a spurious sort of popularity 
among the Jews, by putting forth views less opposed to 
their national principles, than the more orthodox creed 
of our more learned brethren ; or, at best, with sufier- 
ing our ardent affection for the race, so to overcome 
our Christian faithfulness, as to induce a compromise 
of truths unpalatable to them. Now, to all this we 
have a reply to make, that will pain many who read 
it: namely, that we are, and have been for twelve 
months past, struck with a mortal disease. For so 
long has cancer been preying on this worthless flesh, 
eating away its strength, and rendering that a most la- 
borious and painful toil which was before a delightful 
recreation : while many a sharp pang repeats the warn- 
ing that would, that must compel us to trample under 
foot any such inducement tb compromise as we have 
been suspected of listening to. No ; we never did, 
we never will compromise the favtMxvV*^*^ ^sJl ^ia!^ Qir»i- 
pel. The Lord (blessed forcvw \» ^'b w^MSNRk 'cJl "^ 



876 CONCLUDING REMASXS. 

Lord !) has most mercifully planted this silver arrow 
in the left side ; the right is free ; the right hand for- 
gets not its cunning ; Jerusalem is not forgotten." 

Prophetic words ! For when that dear right hand 
lay powerless hy her side — and when that tongue was 
cleaving, in death's last struggle, to the roof of her 
nnouth, Jerusalem indeed was not forgotten. The pain- 
ful details of her suflfering shall not be dwelt upon ; 
suffice it to say that the Lord was true to all his prom- 
ims, and upheld his child while He lovingly chasteaed 
her ; and comforted her with all his own tenderness, 
even M^hile He kept her in the furnace. Often did she 
thank God for the cancer ; often did she declare that 
nothing could have suited her so well, and «he would 
dwell on the Lord's distinguishing love in selecting the 
very stroke she most needed, for bodily pain was new 
to her, and above all bodily weaknessj while her mind 
retained its fullest, freshest vigor. This latter cir- 
cumstance, as well as the total absence of the dreadful 
lancinating pain so common to cancer, she attributed 
wholly under God, to the Homoeopathic remedies, and 
abstinence from opiates of every kind. This system 
of treatment was employed from the very first, as for 
some years previously she had experienced its striking 
efficacy in every case in which i^t had been tried, and 
it was persevered in to the very last, — Mr. Listen's 
surgical opinion merely having been taken in consul- 
tation with her own pliysician. Several papers on 
Homoeopathy from her pen will be found in her Mag- 
azine. 
It sufficed to speak to^iet oil ii\\^\j«t^^^ ^^^.^-^ fsscRi. 
ing^^f the future gVoty o^ Zvoti, at wi-j ^knxAx'^^ 



CONCLUDIXG REMABKS. 370 

theme, — and pain and suffering were forgotten ; and few 
could believe, when they saw her face kindling and 
glowing with animation, and heard her utter forth the 
stirring thoughts that filled her soul, that it was a dying 
woman who spoke to them, suffering intense agony 
with every motion of her body. I 

Kindness and love, and sympathy poured in on every 
side, and in her name would the writer now tell all 
those unknown correspondents who addressed her in 
such soothing and tender words, that though her own 
pen could not thank them, not even her dearest and 
known friends, she remembered all their affection be- 
fore the Lord, apd entreated him to recompense it a 
hundredfold into their bosoms, and to accept it as done 
unto Himself in the person of his unworthy servant. 
"Sick, and ye visited /ne." 

From the moment it became known that old cambrio 
would be a comfort to her, supplies of the softest and 
finest never failed. And very precious to her were simi* 
lar tokens of affection and sympathy from Jewish sisters, 
who though they knew her not, loved her, for loving their 
nation. She prayed that they too might find and know 
and love that Redeemer, whom they were thus uncon- 
sciously visiting, in his poor afilicted disciple. 

" JiMflea Capta" was written at this time. In the 
summer of this year, 1845, she removed to Londoi^ 
to the official residence of her husband, a change which 
from many circumstances, greatly added to her com- 
fort. Indeed her present state of health would have 
rendered his absence from her, during the whole day, 
guite impossible. Sea air beVn^ TfteOTMCftfc\A^^\si>Nw^% 
abe determined to go to SaiiAga\»,\i\x\ w\ ^Y$^^^c^.^»^ 



860 CONCLUDING REIIASK8. 

cident — the breakiug of the engine of the steani-venel, 
compelling all the passengers jn mid-river to betake 
themselves to boats — took her to Ramsgate, and this 
change of destination led to her personal acquaintajice 
with her dear friends Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, 
whose kindness so greatly comforted her during the 
remaining year of her life, and also marked Ramsgate 
as her future resting-place until the trumpet shall bid 
her rise to meet the Lord in the air. 

As soon as they heard of her arrival, Sir Moses and 
Lady Montefiore called upon her, and overwhelmed 
her during her stay with attentions and kindness. 
She visited them at their noble residence on the East 
Gliff, and it was a joyous moment to her when stand- 
ing with Sir Moses at a window in his library, over- 
looking the sea, he pointed his hand over the green 
waters and said, " There is Jerusalem ;" and one vied 
with the other in repeating from the prophet Isaiah, 
the glorious promises of Israel's future. A very char- 
acteristic description of the cliffs and beach near Sir 
Moses' residence will be found in the " Protestant" of 
Ae " Christian Lady's Magazine" for October, 1845. 

On her return to London her sufferings became com- 
paratively mitigated, but the disease continued to ad- 
Yanoe by slow degrees, and her strength gr^tly to 
fitil. Haemorrhage now became frequent and alarm- 
ing, and contributed to weaken her, and her left arm 
became fearfully swollen and wholly useless ; but still 
she continued to conduct her Magazine; .and to facil- 
itate the mechanical operation of writing, she invented 
during one of her sleepless nights a machine which 
Was immediately conslTuclcd by a clever, carpenter. 



C0NCLI3PING R£Mi.ItK8. 881 

It consisted of two rollers on a frame ; on the lower 
one many yards of paper were rolled, and as fast as 
she filled a page, writing with the frame resting on her 
knees, a turn of a small winch wound off the manu- 
script to the upper roller and brought up a dean sur- 
face of paper. In this manner she would write papers 
for the press, and letters to friends, measuring three, 
or four, or six yards in length. Dictation was very 
difficult to her ; no pen but her own could follow her 
thoughts with sufficiept rapidity, nor did she resort tq 
this mode of writing, until absolutely compelled to it, 
during the last two months of her life. 

The Evangelical Alliance was the last event in this 
passing world in which she evinced a deep interest. 
From the moment she had read the account of that de- 
lightful conference of the brethren in Liverpool, her 
whole soul was engaged in this most blessed work. 
She longed to labor in the cause, and had the Lord 
spared her, her pen would have been devoted to its 
advocacy. In January 1846, the first public meeting 
was held in London ; she prayed earnestly that the 
Lord would give her sufficient strength to attend it ; 
and He heard her prayer. For some previous days 
her strength seejned much renewed, and to the astoo- 
ishment of her friends, she was enabled to sit for five 
hours intensely enjoying the blessed scene before her. 
Thus she describes in the February Magazine, her 
last visit to — 

" Exeter Hall ! the scene of many a deeply inter- 
esting hour, the more enjoyed perhaps because not fre- 
quented but on occasions where the prevailing topic 
of the day was some one to vhioh a peculiar chord is 



S82 CONCLUDING B£MABK8. 

the he;»rt vibrated. I did not think to have again, 
under existing circumstances, taken my place among 
the thousands congregated within those walls; and 
when a friend laid before me tickets for the side-gal- 
leiy, it seemed almost like tantalizing a hungry per- 
0on with the sight of forbidden food. But then came 
the mental query, ' Can any real good be gedned, or 
any additional oppoitunity for usefulness be secured, 
by making an effort that undoubtedly might be made V 
The answer was decidedly affirmative : where a com- 
pany of avowed believers were assembled together, in 
the name of the Lord Jesus, and expressly for the pur- 
pose of promoting that peace and love which are the 
brightest ornaments of His Church, he could not fail to 
be in the midst of them ; nor could any fail of sharing 
a blessing who took part in such proceedings. This 
would be a real, solid advantage : while in the way of 
usefulness much was to be hoped, from the realizing 
effect produced in the mind, by actually witnessiog 
what could not be adequately represented on paper. 
Prayer was answered ; an interval of ease was vouch- 
safed ; strength abundantly sufficient for the occasion 
was given ; and sweetly refreshing to the spirit will 
ever be the remembrance of those five hours enjoyed 
in Exeter Hall!" 

Many reasons combined to make the speech of the . 
Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel particularly touching to 
her, and the following incident must be recorded in her 
own words. 

After a graphic description of the whole proceedings 
she continues as follows. " Mr. Noel was peculiarly 
energetic ; he grappVed m\\i \v!aa\i\^ ^T^ument?, and 



CONCLUDING REMABX8 888 

prepared his co-operating brethren for the extreme of 
opposition that Satan could raise against a work so 
eminently accordant with the very life and soul of the 
gospel. He alluded to the resistance that he, person- 
ally, had encountered, and was daily encountering in 
the active prosecution of the work ; and he spoke as 
one who was ready to bear and to do all things through 
the strengthening power of Christ. The readers of 
the Christian Lady's Magazine may easily compre* 
hend how, in that hour of sacred fellowship, its Edi- 
tor's heart smote her : not for having, on various points 
connected with Ireland and political matters, differed 
from Mr. Noel : noi for having openly protested against 
opinions in which she did not, nor does now concur ; 
but for having expressed that dissent in language of 
petulance, asperity, and uncharitaUeness, for which the 
only, excuse to be made is an unconditional acknowl- 
edgment of error, an unreserved request for pardon at 
our brother's hand^ We have since that blessed meet- 
ing, said this and more, by letter to himself, and re- 
ceived a most ready Christian response. We now pub- 
licly repeat the retraction of every harsh, every un- 
sisterly word ; and we pray that all may be obliter- 
ated from the minds of those who still remember it." 

After forcibly dwelling on the opposition which Sa- 
tan would raise against this holy work, she adds : " Is 
there no admonition conveyed to us in the pathetic re- 
proof, * How often would I have gathered thy children 
together, as a hen gaihereth her brood under her tffingSi 
and ye would not !' We have all seen that lovely 
sight, at the approach of danger or darkness, or when 
the parent thought the little ones had been too Um% 



884 COMCLUUlN(* U£Ali&K8. 

•eparated from her and from each other ; a paicel of 
straggling helpless chickens, at the well-known call, 
running helter-skelter to the delightful refuge; and 
small care do they take for precedence, poor things ! 
each being content on nestling as close as it can to the 
warmth-giving bosom, and of getting close to its fat, 
Bofl little brothers and sisters, for an additional share 
in the aggregate of heat and of domestic comfort. This 
is the time, and this is the place, where chickens grow 
and thrive ; here they acquire muscle and sinew, and 
a good coating of substantial feathers. Apart from 
this, all is vain : neither feeding, nor fighting will do: 
they may continue in most exclusive independence, 
ruffling their down at every brother's approach, anc 
stoutly maintaining that each has found the best holt 
to scratch in for a maintenance ; but thrive they will 
not. Oh, that now, when the winning call is going 
forth throughout the land, to gather the spattered brood 
together, under the wings of redeeming love, not one 
may be found, of whom it can ultimately be said, that 
he * would not.' " — These extracts will suffice to show 
her earnest interest in the cause of Evangelical Al- 
liance. 

Her residence in London afforded her many delight- 
ful interviews with beloved friends of former days ; 
and those farewell interviews, for such they proved to 
be, will be remembered by many with no common in- 
terest ; and it will be a pleasant reflection to many of 
them to know, how much she was cheered and soothed 
by them. One instance must be more especially al- 
luded to ; the unexpected arrival of her much-loved 
friend and brother, t\ie Hoiv. ^otcvewexU%3LwelU about 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. d85 

three weeks before her death. In former days they 
had been fellow-laborers in St. Giles', and together had 
visited the abodes of misery and wretchedness, and 
carried into them the sweet sound of Jesus' name ; and 
ever since her illness had assumed a serious aspect, 
his letters, full of Christian consolation, had cheered 
and supported her, and in many, many ways, had he 
contributed most caaterially to the comfort of his now 
stricken sister, and the joy felt by her during the hour 
they tlien passed together was such as none but saints 
and fellow-pilgrims can know. 

Mention must also be made of the kind and unre- 
mitting attention of her dear friend and pastor, the 
Rev. R. W. Dibdin, who now ministered in her own 
church in West Street, St. Giles', where she had ao 
often worshipped with her dear Irish converts. She 
was unable indeed to attend his public ministrations, 
but she delighted to feel that she was again a member 
of the West Street congregation. 

On their return from Russia, Sir Moses and Lady 
Montefiore renewed their kindness and fricAdship, and 
on his first visit to her, she repeated to him, with an 
earnestness, which neither he nor the writer will 
easily forget, the 120th Psalm ; after he had cheered 
her very soul by recounting how greatly the Lord had 
prospered his way, in his recent mission in behalf of 
his suffering countrymen. 

It was evident to all who saw her, that her time 
was now short, though few Eunticipated how near the 
day of departure was at hand. She was herself san- 
guine, not indeed in the hope of a final recovery, but 
that the disease had run its course — ^for all the sym^ 



886 CONCLUDING RBMABJCS. 

toms, except the bleeding, were much mitigated— and 
that she might yet be spared for some years to labor 
for the Lord on earth ; and in this belief, misled per- 
haps by hope, the writer strongly shared, nor did he 
realize the nearness of her end, until the damps of 
death were on her brow. 

And with this impression she wrote in the month of 
June the following preface to the 21st volume of her 
Magazine— the last she was to see completed. 

" In the common order of things, we could scarcely, 
perhaps, have calculated on completing our present 
volume with a good hope of continuing the work 
endeared by more than twelve years' devotion to it. 
But such is the tender mercy of the Lord ; so gentle 
his dealings, so mild the hand of fatherly chastise- 
ment, that by his dear help we not only continue to 
this day, in the enjoyment of unabated bodily health 
and cheerfulness of mind, but we feel more strongly 
than ever the blessed privilege of holding up even so 
humble and unpretending a banner as the Christian 
Lady's Magazine, among the ranks of those who are 
battling for the truth, against multiplying error. 

" It is recorded among the touching legends of 
Ireland, that when the followers of Brien the Brave 
were contending for their liberties and their homes 
against the Danes, a severe contest had left many 
wounded among them. On the following day the 
host was again called into the field, and the pooi 
maimed sufierers who were unable to support them- 
selves, demanded to be placed, each wounded roan 
between two sound ones ; thus going once more into 
action, and winning with their cotuuvainders a brilliant 



CONCLUDING BEMABKEL 387 

victory ere they died. We often think on this : like 
the true-hearted Irish, we^re loth to quit the field, or 
to withhold our poor crippled aid from the glorious 
cause. But protracted suffering induces some feeble,, 
ness : the mechanical action of writing is exceedingly 
difficult now ; and we call on our dear friends to help 
us on, by their continued prayers, the blessed eiect of 
which we have so .richly experienced ; that we may 
neither faint nor flee, but labor still with untiring de? 
votion ; and if such be the Lord's good pleasure, live 
to behold the coming triumph. 

" It is coming, and even at hand. On every side 
the clouds are breaking, which so long have veiled 
the bright future. All is in a state of transition; 
nothing remains as it was a few years back ; and 
dimly seen, yet sufficiently so to be identified, the 
lion-banner of Judah loosens its mighty folds from the 
bands of many generations, gleaming in the distance, 
a sure star of hope ; of rest to the troubled world. 
We never closed a volume with more joyous feelings 
than the present : may the Lord quickly realize every 
anticipation that is founded on the firm basis of his 
unchangeable promise!" 

« Whitehall, June, 1846." 

To her indeed the Lord has realized all her bright- 
est anticipations — ^to her the bright future is indeed 
unveiled. And who that knew and loved her, did not 
think of her, when the recent awful calamities fell 
upon her beloved Ireland ? Who did not feel that she 
had been indeed graciously removed before the evil 
days came ! 



888 CONCLUDIMG REHABXS. 

A friend brought her a rooted cutting from a plant 
which had been found gi owing in the arid soil oi 
Bethlehem, and she greatly delighted, as she gazed 
on it, to quote the words of Isaiah, '< He shall grow 
up as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry 
ground." On the subject of personal assurance she 
never had been in the habit of speaking, but its reality 
was best evidenced by the strong, feariess, passionate, 
almost impatient longing of her very soul for the 
Lord's return. Of herself she held the very lowest 
estimate, and few things distressed her more than 
when friends alluded to the results of her labors as an 
evidence of her own acceptance with God. She 
knew indeed that many saints were now in glory, and 
many were on the road to glory, through Grod's bless- 
ing on her instrumentality — " and yet," she would add, 
" I might be but the finger-post that points the road, 
but moves not on." About a fortnight before her 
death she suffered greatly in mind — all comfort was 
gone— darkness wat on her soul ; the sin of irritability, 
often yielded to— and who beholding her poor afflicted 
body could wonder at it — and as often mourned over, 
with tears and anguish of heart, seemed to her utterly 
incompatible with her being a child of Grod. She did 
not doubt the sufficiency of the Savioijr, but simply 
whether, if he had indeed called her, it were possible 
that she should show so little conformity to his image. 
This for the time was the language, not of her lip 
only, but of her inmost heart, and every moment 
some brief remark would betray the conflict she was 
enduring with the enemy. At last the writer said to 
ber suddenly, " Wil\\o\il ateTcv^\\xv^\.o ^Qxv\.T^^9Mcft.^hat 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 389 

you say — ^if you have not come to Jesus, come to Him 
now;" and opening a Bible, read to her the simplest 
promises and invitations that could be selected fer one 
who had never heard the Grospel. The Lord blessed 
his own word : she remained silent for a short time, 
and then " prayed," to use her own words, her favorite 
hymn, 

'' Rock of ages, deft for me,"— 

dwelling with special earnestness on the words, 

" CleaDse me from its guilt and power.'' 

From that time, with but slight interruption, her heart 
and tongue were full of praise to God for ail his good- 
ness to her. Once she said, " What a nasty offtfifiive 
thing is smoking flax, and yet Jesus will not quench h" 
She now greatly desired to visit the sea-side, and 
the doctors concurring in the belief that suchacF)^age 
would be beneficial, Ramsgate was selected, ard the 
10th of July was fixed for departure. She was very 
weak, and it was necessary to carry her from her 
apartments in the United Service Institution, to the 
carriage. It had been her wish that the six sergeants 
attached to the Institution should bear her pall in case 
of her death taking place there ; they carried her now 
alive indeed, but with the hand of death upon her. 
She thanked them most cordially for all their kindness 
and attention during her illness, and shaking hands with 
each, asked the Lord to bless them. On the way to 
the Terminus, she passed the great Mass-house, now 
rearing itself in St. George's Fields. She leant for- 
ward, and holding up her hand in denunciation against 
it, repeated, as had often been hex v?^ti\. Ssi "^As^^wwix 



800 COKCLUD^G REMARKS. 

the woids of the Psalmist, '< O daughter of BahyloOi 
that art to be destroyed !" On arriviDg at the station, 
ahe found that every care had been taken for her com. 
fort ; a separate carriage having been fitted up for her 
by orders of the Chairman, enabling her to lie down 
during the journey. Her ever-kind friend, Sir Moses, 
was waiting to bid her farewell, and placed beside her 
a basket of the choicest grapes to refresh her during 
the journey. Her heart was full of gratitude, which 
vented itself in the ofton-repeated words, " How good 
the Lord is, to make every one so kind to me." 

The moment the door of the carriage was closed, 
she bade her companions — ^her husband and her faith- 
ful servant, Mary Helms — kneel down, and ask the 
Lord to uphold her during the journey, and the prayer 
was graciously heard. 

When passing through Canterbury, her attention 
was directed to the splendid cathedral. She said, 
" Yes, it is very grand ; but there is where the mar- 
tyrs were starved to death !" pointing to the towers of 
an ancient gateway, which spans one of the main streets 
of the city. 

She arrived at Ramsgate at half-past six, and went 
to an hotel, as the apartments she was to occupy on 
the West Cliff were not yet vacated. She was fatigued 
and exhausted, and inunediately retired to rest; and 
her delight was great at finding that, as she lay on her 
pillow, she had a full view of the sea and entrance to 
the harbor. 

On the following morning, a slight bleeding com- 
menced, which soon became alarming, and a surgeon 
was imn: ediately called Vn. Hfi vvicsc.^^.^^ \sv «tanch> 



COIfCLVDING RSMABXS. . tM. 

lag tlie lunnoiThage, but not before mrflh blood .had 

been lost, as it was one of the larger blood-veasels 
which had now been invaded by the cancer. Mn 
Ayres, the surgeon, made some remark about her 
tranquillity and resignation, to which she replied, " It 
is the love of Jesus that sustains me." She now grew 
very faint, and Mr. Ayres' attention wab unremitting. 
She then said, " My flesh and my heart fail me, but 
Jesus does not fail me." A little weak wine and 
water somewhat revived her : and, as Mr. Ayres left 
the room, she said, with some energy, " Do you love 
the Lord Jesus ?" and showed pleasure when he gave 
a sign of assent. She then bade those around her 
kneel and pray for her, saying, " Pardon and aocept-- 
ance, nothing more." 

Her kind Jewish friends, Mr. and Mrs. Myers, had 
heard of her arrival, and immediately came to see her 
she was too feeble to say much to them, but was just 
able to tell them that Jesus upheld her — that he was 
her hope and refuge. 

Towards the evening she rallied, and, during the 
whole night, was calm and cheerful, even to playful- 
ness ; but hardly an hour passed without the words, 
" How very good He is to me." When the midnight 
train arrived, she was a little disappointed at finding 
that her physician, Mr. Hering, for whom a messen- 
ger had been sent immediately on the occurrence of 
the bleeding, could not arrive till the next day, and 
remarked that she did not think she would live to see 
him. In the morning of the 12th a marked change 
was apparent in her countenance ; her breathing be- 
came somewhat oppressed, and, at eleven o'clock^ «fcjb 



S93 cancLUDiNo bebeaeo. 

suddenly exclaimed, *< It is death." Mr. A.yre8 wat 
iimnediatelj sent for, and confirmed the sod truth: 
she seemed to sufier no pain : no sigh or groan escaped 
her : her countenance was perfectly calm, tranquil, 
and happy ; and she kept her eye steadily fixed on her 
hushand, following his every motion, and lowing un- 
easiness if, for a moment, he moved from her side. 
Life seemed slowly ebhing away. 

Once again her eyes brightened : her husband was 
leaning over her, and throwing her arm round his 
neck, and pressing his lips to hers, she exclaimed with 
intense emphasis, " I love you." 

All thought that these were her last words; but, 
it soon became evident that she was gathering her rs- 
maining strength for a mighty efibrt, and then, with 
death in every look and tone — gasping between each 
word — ^but with a loud, clear, distinct v(»oe, she ut- 
tered these words : — " Tell them" — naming some dear 
Jewish friends — << Tell them that Jesus is the Messiah ; 

and tell ." Her hand had forgotten its cunning; . 

her tongue was cleaving to the roof of her mouth, but 
Charlotte Elizabeth had not foi^otten Jerusalem. 

The breathings grew fainter and fainter, her brow 
was slightly convulsed, and at twenty minutes past 
two, she fell asleep in Jesus. 

She was buried in Ramsgate Church Yard on the 

15th ; a meeting of the inhabitants having been called 

in the Town Hall to show respect to her memory. 

The Church and Church-yard were crowded, and the 

service was most touchin^^ ^ifeTroftd by the Rev. 

H, H. Beamish, who cam© ttotci \jK>\!A^sck Xa yst^ssti^ 

the last office to his dear ^tYend wx^ «ffl^Kt-^J^^ ^T«aA 

of/uaouMi beloved Iwid- Th©^^%X^^C?Mi\*^ 



CONCLUDING REMiRKS. 308 

^ as lowered half-mast,' und a letter was read in the 
'['own Hall from Sir Moses Montefiorc, expressing his 
deep regret that he was unable from pressing business 
personally to attend the mournful ceremony. 

It was noticed in " The Voice of Jacob," that her 
death took place on the 9th of Ab, the day when, 
throughout the world, the Jews were mourning and 
fasting, in commemoration of the destruction of Jeru- 
salem, both by Nebuchadnezzar and by Titus — it was 
also the anniversary of the battle of the Boyne, the day 
when her room had always been decked with the 
choicest Orange Lilies. 

She had charged her husband two months previous- 
ly, never to lay her in a vault, but in a simple earth- . 
dug grave, and in- a perishable coffin, disliking all at- 
tempts to avert the Almighty decree, " Dust thou art, 
and unto dust thou shalt return." On visiting the lake 
of Mullingar, where her beloved brother was drowned, 
she brought away from the banks a little plant, which 
she preserved in her various gardens, and latterly in a 
flower-pot ; this she directed should be planted on her 
grave, together with some shamrocks and hearts-ease. 
She also directed that no stone should be laid over her, 
but that her resting-place should be marked by a sim- 
ple headstone, dictating the epitaph, which with the 
addition of the date has been thus inscribed, — 

HERE LIE THE MORTAL REMAINS OP 

CHARLOTTE ELIZABETIfl, 

THE BELOVED WIFE OF L. H. L ToHNA, 
WHO DEPARTl^LD tnlS ASS^ 
ON THE 12lH Olf ^\3171,*\^A&- 

LOOKING \5^TO ^^^V^^- 



APPENDIX 



SKETCH 

or THE 

LIFE OF THE AUTHOR'S BROTHER. 

BY THE LATE DR. SOUTHEY. 

PKOM THC QUARTERLY RKVIKW FOR JULY, 18S9. 

The " View of the Revolutions of Portugal since the clow 
•f the Peninsular War," is a book of great ability, written 
with full knowledge of the subject on which it treats, in the 
best spirit, with sound judgment and perfect discretion. In 
Its author, the late Captain Murray Browne, the British army 
has lost a man who was likely to have been one of its bright- 
est ornaments ; for he possessed, in an eminent degree, not 
only tlie physical and intellectual endowments requisite for 
his profession, but the gentleness and benignity of disposition 
which are required to temper it, and those vital principles of 
morality and religion which can alone secure the happiest 
disposition against the evil tendencies of a military life ; so 
that in mature manhood he had no cause to repent having 
chosen for himself this course in childhood, and persisted in 
his course against the wishes of his father. He was the 
only son of a clergyman at Norwich, who, yielding most re- 
luctantly to the ardent but determined inclination of the boy, 
obtained a commission for him, while yet a mere youth, in 
1809, and he immediately joined the 48th regiment, in Spain. 
He was in the battle of Busaco, and in that of Albuhera, on 
which last dreadful day his conduct attracted the favorable 
nodce of his commanding officer. After sharing for some 
time in the honors achieved by tl\e second division under Lord 

Hill, he entered the 13t\i Poivm^xx^^^ m\as{a^^ib.TA*^^iEas. 

aervice was noted by Sit ^u^imsiTy\3^^D»si^ «i s 



AfPEIfDIX. 805 

the ^atest promise. In that sen'icj In ciossed the Pyren- 
ees, and bore his part in the victories which terminated the 
Peninsular war. Soon afterwards, Marshal Beresford ap- 
pointed him to the situation of assistant qnarteimaster-gene- 
ral ; and from the favorable reports which weie made of him, 
unaccompanied by any solicitations on his own part, the 
Duke of York promoted him to a captaincy. He performed 
the duties of his staff situation in a manner which gained for 
him the esteem and confidence of Sir Archibald Campbell, to 
whose Portuguese division he was attached. His zeal and 
fidelity, indeed, were such, that they exposed him to immi- 
nent peril ; and once he narrowly escaped assassinatioa 
from some of the revolutionary party, whose purpose, of se- 
ducing the troops from their allegiance, he had discovered and 
bafiled. When the British oflicers were dismissed by the 
ruling party, in 1820, he retired to a gtiinta, near Torres No- 
vas, and there, being now a married man, farmed a little 
property, and quietly cultivated his olives. But it was not 
likely that one so well known in that country, and so thor- 
oughly qualified for public life, would long be left to enjoy 
retirement ; or that he would cease to take a lively interest 
in public afl^rs, or, feeling that interest, forbear to take a 
part m them. Accordingly, when he saw with what cruel 
indignities the poor old king of Portugal was treated, on his 
return from Brazil, indignation excited a generous feeling for 
Mm, and he entered into his interests with an ardor and a 
sincerity to which that unhappy king had been little accus- 
tomed, but which he perceived and felt, and valued as they 
deserved. One most important service Captain Browne ren- 
dered him, by influencing at a most perilous time, certain 
loc^l authorities in his favor; and by his own great exertions, 
and by rousing the king to an unusual effort. John VI. wat 
so sensible of this, that he wished to make him his aide^e* 
camp, being the only requital which, in the state of thraldom 
wherein he was held, it was in his power to offer : but to have 
accepted this, he must have given up his British commissioDi 
and his ambition was to rise in the service of his own cava 
try. In proportion as he bad deaer7«&N9^ ^ ^^BAVe&a^^Da^ 
be obiMbmd the I'l-will of thoro Yry N»\iaai\\M^VsD!^^ " "" 



806 APi'je.NDix. 

they haiod him for his Eii<;lish hlocnl, his Engh'sh principles 
and al)ovc all. for having frustrated their designs. I^oaATng 
at length, a scene of intrigues, baseness, and ingratitude, he 
returned to England, and the king of Portugal, as a last poool 
uf gratitude, directed his ambassador to solicit promotion foi 
him in his name. The application was not pressed, because 
Csiptiiiii Browne wislicd to complete a course of study at 
Sandhurst, before he madn any further arrangement. Johr 
VI., meantime, died. Deeming it necessary, then, not to lei 
auch a recommendation bo lost, he ap])lied to the Marquess 
Palmeila, and to tlie Marquess the Duke of York returned a 
most favorable answer, through Mr. Cainiing. The death of 
the Duke and of Mr. Cauuing, which both, so fatally, soon 
followed, did not aflort his inierosts ; his claims were ac- 
knowledged, and in tho Ix^ginning of 1828 ho joined the 76th 
regiment, at Castlebjir. in In^land, with fairer prospects than 
were generally understixxl l)y those who saw him dcdng cap- 
tain's duty with a regiment after all his services. The regi- 
ment was moved lo Mullingar in the spring ; soon afterwards, 
he went on the lake lo lish, missc^d a stroke when rowing, fell 
over, and was takon uj) dead. Such di^inonstrdtions of true 
grief have raroly been witnessed at a military funeral as 
when this excell'^nt man, in whoso society his brother officers 
delighted, and whom the soldiers loved as much as they re- 
spected, was committed to the grave. Not one of the regi- 
ment was absent when the service was performed. By this 
sudden stroke of caltunity, a widowed motlier was bereft of 
her only son, a sister of hor protector, a most affectionate 
vn(o of lier husband, and tlireo young children of their father ; 
and the army lost an officer, than whom no one in the service 
was more likely to have done honor to his country. 

The volume wliich ho published a few months only before 
Ills death is not one which will go the way of ephemeral pub- 
hcations — it will always have its place in the Bibliotheca 
Ilfstorica of that kmgioiw \o wYCvo-Vv vt. iclates ; and it ia one 
of those books w\uo.\\ wo vox^viw c^\i cs^t ^jerosft ^v^^casqx v 
feeling of respect Cot t\vc auWvox. 



