Page images
PDF
EPUB

did not come here, where all would be well off who could work. Were they thousands, and thousands, and thousands, all would be provided for; and she spoke from experience, having been here for nearly a dozen of years. She added, however, that those settlers were not the most prosperous who had come with their pockets full of money, and had made large purchases of land, and had laid out considerable sums of money in buildings, and in prodigious purchases of cattle, &c. as no adequate return had been obtained for great expenditures; but that every one of the labourers who had come to this country with Mr Birkbeck and Mr Flower, or who had followed them to their settlements, and who had turned out sober and industrious, were now in possession of a plantation of some extent, yielding them a comfortable livelihood. The wages of every one of the labourers was such as to enable them to save a certain sum every year from the period of their arrival, and, in the course of ten or twelve years, they had all scraped together enough of money for the purchase of settlements, on which they were living in comfort, in houses which they had built. They were, in fact, landed proprietors and farmers, living on their own property, and in as respectable a situation as any persons in this country. All had done well who had not begun on too large a scale."

"Mrs Pritchard had shown great taste in cutting trees here and there to obtain the sweetest peeps of the prairie. I hardly remember to have seen a more delightful prospect in any of the fertile valleys in England than from the front of the house."

"Albion is upon Mr Flower's part of the prairie, and was built by him. It was only begun twelve years ago, and contains a town-house, a smithy, three stores, one broad street, with lanes to the prairies and woods, all handsomely laid out, and perhaps more in the substantial English style than I have seen elsewhere in the western country. Mechanics of every necessary description are now resident at

Albion."

Mr Stuart says that all Mechanics should take out certificates of character, and illustrates the advice by the following narration :

"I had not been long at Mr Anderson's when I was applied to by a good-looking young man, from the west of Fifeshire in Scotland, whose name was John Boswell, to give him, or procure for him, a letter of recommendation to a ship-builder in New York. I had never seen him before, so far as I knew; but I had been acquainted with his father, a very respectable person in his line, a farm overseer to the late Mr Mutter of Annfield, near Dunfermline. Boswell's story was this:-He had been bred a ship-carpenter, had married, and was the father of two children. Finding his wages of about 2s. or 2s. 6d. per day insufficient for the maintenance of his family, he commenced being toll-keeper, but did not succeed in his new profession. He had, therefore, brought his wife and children to New York, being possessed only of a small sum of money, and of some furniture, a fowling-piece, &c. He had made application, immediately on his arrival at New York, some weeks previously for employment, but no one would receive him into his ship-building yard, in which there is much valuable property, without attestations of his character for honesty and sobriety. He accidentally heard of my being in the neighbourhood, and applied to me to give him such attestations. Knowing nothing previously of this young man but what I have mentioned, it was impossible for me to comply with his request, but I gave him a letter to a gentleman in the neighbourhood of New York, who might, I thought, be of use to him, stating exactly what I knew of him. Workmen in the ship-building line were at this period plentiful, and months followed before any opening occured for employing Boswell. In the meantime his finances were exhausted, and he had been obliged to part with some of the property he had brought with him. He was beginning to wish himself well home again when an offer of work was made to him. I happened to be in New York on the very day when this occurred, and remember well the pleasure which beamed in his eyes when he told me of

[ocr errors]

the offer, and asked me what wages he should propose. My advice to him was to leave that matter to his master, after he had been at work a week, and showed what he could do. The next time I saw Boswell he was in the receipt of two dollars a day for ten hours' work, and of as much more at the same rate per hour, if he chose to be longer employed. His gains, for he told me that he could live at one-half of the expence which it cost him to live in Scotland, although his family here had animal food three times a day,-soon enabled him to have a comfortable well-furnished house. where I again and again saw his family quite happy, and in which he had boarders. I sent for him to Hoboken, where I was then living, two or three days before I left New York, in the month of April 1831, that I might learn if I could be the bearer of any communication to his friends in Scotland. He came over to me in a better suit of clothes on his back and a better umbrella, than, I believe, I my. self possessed. He only wished, he said, his friends to know how well settled he now was. He had earned on the preceding day almost as much as he could earn at the same bu siness in Scotland in a week; and he hoped in less than twenty years to make a fortune, and return to Scotland."

"I have mentioned the whole particulars of this case. because it contains information which may be useful to many. I had reason to know, before I left New York, that Boswell was an excellent workman,-industrious, ho nest, and sober. He told me that he never drunk much whisky in his own country, and that he would take far les of it at New York, where, though it was much cheaper, it was of very inferior quality. Certificates of good characte are very requisite for all emigrants to the United States, but especially for mechanics and labourers; and they should either be procured from magistrates or from clergymen, no matter to what sect they belong. I need not add, that it is most important to obtain recommendations, where they can be got, to some respectable individual at the port where the emigrants first of all arrive."

With this we must for the present conclude. Our extracts are intended to be useful, to emigrants especially, We might have found many more amusing, but there are none more important.

PERSON AND MANNERS OF COWPER.

Cowper was of the middle stature; he had a fine, open, and expressive countenance, that indicated much thoughtfulness, and almost excessive sensibility. His eyes were more remarkable for the expression of tenderness than of penetration. The general expression of his countenance partook of that sedate cheerfulness, which so strikingly characterizes all his original productions, and which never failed to impart a peculiar charm to his conversation. His limbs were more remarkable for strength than for de licacy of form. He possessed a warm temperament, and he says of himself in a letter to his cousin, Mrs Bodham, dated February 27, 1790, that he was naturally "somewhat irritable," but, if he was, his religious prin ciple had so subdued that tendency, that a near relation, who was intimately acquainted with him the last ten years of his life, never saw his temper ruffled in a single instance.

on all occasions,

His manners were generally somewhat shy and reserved, particularly to strangers; when, however, he was in per fect health, and in such society as was quite congenial o his taste, they were perfectly free and unembarrassed; his conversation was unrestrained and cheerful; and his whole deportment was the most polite and graceful, especially to females, to whom he conducted himself, with the strictest delicacy and propriety. Much as Cowper was admired by those who knew him only as a writer, or as an occasional correspondent, he was infinitely more esteemed by his more intimate friends; indeed, the more intimately he was known, the more he was beloved and revered. Nor was this affectionate attachment so much the result of his brilliant talents, as it was of the real goodness of his disposition, and gentleness of his conduct.

BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH.

SUSANNA ANNESLEY, THE MOTHER OF
JOHN WESLEY.

THIS admirable woman, the youngest daughter of Dr. Annesley, was born about the year 1670. She possessed a highly improved mind, with a strong and masculine understanding. Though her father was a conscientious Non-conformist, he had too much dignity of mind, leaving his religion out of the question, to be a bigot. Under the parental roof, and "before she was thirteen years of age," say some of her biographers," she examined, without restraint, the whole controversy between the established church and the dissenters."* The issue of this examination was, that she renounced her fellowship with the latter, and adopted the creeds and forms of the Church of England; to which she zealously adhered.

It does not appear that her father threw any obstacles in her way; or that he afterwards disapproved of her marrying a rigid churchman. Nor is it known, after the most extensive search, that the slightest difference ever existed between Dr. Annesley and his son-in-law, or daughter, on the subject. It was about the year 1690 that she became the wife of Mr. Samuel Wesley. The marriage was blessed in all its circumstances; it was contracted in the prime of their youth; it was fruitful, and death did not divide them till they were both full of years. The excellence of Miss Annesley's mind was equal to the eminence of her birth. She was such a helpmate as Mr. Wesley required," and to her," says Dr. Clarke, "under God, the great eminence of the subsequent Wesley family is to be attributed.”

As Mr. Wesley's circumstances were narrow, the education of the children fell especially upon Mrs. Wesley, who seems to have possessed every qualification for a public or private teacher. The manner in which she taught her children is remarkable. This she has detailed in a letter to her son John, which we shall hereafter insert. She bore nineteen children to Mr. Wesley, most of whom lived to be educated; and ten came to man and woman's estate. Her son John mentions the calm serenity with which his mother transacted business, wrote letters, and conversed, surrounded by her fifteen children. All these were educated by herself; and as she was a woman that lived by rule she arranged everything so exactly, that for each operation she had sufficient time. It appears also, from several private papers, that she had no small share in managing the secular concerns of the rectory. Even the tithes and glebe were much under her inspection.

About the year 1700, Mrs. Wesley made a resolution to spend one hour morning and evening in private devotion, in prayer and meditation, and she religiously kept it ever after, unless when sickness, or some urgent call of duty to her family, obliged her to shorten it. If opportunity offered, she spent some time at noon in this religious and profitable employment. S She generally wrote her thoughts on different subjects at these seasons; and a great many of her meditations have been preserved in her own hand-writing. Though Mrs. Wesley allotted two hours in the day for meditation and prayer in private, no woman was ever more diligent in business, or attentive to family affairs than she was. Remarkable, as before observed, for method and good arrangement, both in her studies and business, she saved much time, and kept her mind free from perplexity. From several things which appear in her papers, it seems that she had acquired some knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages in her youth, though she never made any pretension to it. She had studied human nature well, and knew how to adapt her discourse both to youth and age.

Mrs. Wesley devoted as great a proportion of time as she could, to discourse with each of her children separately every night in the week, upon the duties and hopes of Christianity; and it may readily be believed, that these

It seems strange that a girl of thirteen years of age should be considered capable of deciding this question, though she might possess, as in the case of Mrs. Wesley, great natural talents.

circumstances of their childhood had no inconsiderable influence upon them in after life, and especially upon her two sons, John and Charles, when they became the founders and directors of a new community in the Christian Church. John's providential deliverance from the fire deeply impressed his mother, as it did himself, throughout the whole of his life. Among the private meditations which were found among Mrs. Wesley's papers, was one written long after the event, in which she expressed in prayer her intention to be more particularly careful of the soul of this child, which God had so mercifully provided for, that she might instil into him the principles of true religion and virtue ;-"Lord," she said, "give me grace to do it sincerely and prudently, and bless my attempts with good success. The peculiar care which was thus taken of his religious education, the habitual and fervent piety of both his parents, and his own surprising preservation, at an age when he was perfectly capable of remembering all the circumstances, combined to foster in him that disposition which afterwards developed itself with such force, and produced such important effects.

[ocr errors]

Mrs. Wesley taught her children from their infancy, duty to parents. She had little difficulty in breaking their wills, or reducing them to absolute subjection. They were early brought, by rational means, under a mild yoke: they were perfectly obedient to their parents, and were taught to wait their decision in every thing they were to have, or to perform. They were never permitted to command the servants. Mrs. Wesley charged the domestics to do nothing for any of her children unless they asked it with respect; and the children were duly informed that the servants had such orders. This is the foundation and essence of good breeding. Insolent, impudent, and disagreeable children are to be met with often, because this simple, but important mode of bringing them up is neglected. "Molly, Robert, be pleased to do so and so," was the usual method of request both from sons and daughters. They were never permitted to contend with each other; whatever differences arose, their parents were the umpires, and their decision was never disputed. The consequence was, there were few misunderstandings amongst them; and they had the character of being the most loving family in the county of Lincoln! But Mrs. Wesley's whole method of bringing up and managing her children, is so amply detailed in a letter to her son John, that it would be as great an injustice to her, as to the reader, to omit it.

Epworth, July 24th, 1732. "DEAR SON,-According to your desire, I have collected the principal rules I observed in educating my family.

"The children were always put into a regular method of living, in such things as they were capable of, from their birth; as in dressing and undressing, changing their linen, &c. The first quarter commonly passes in sleep. After that they were, if possible, laid into their cradle awake, and rocked to sleep; and so they were kept rocking till it was time for them to awake. This was done to bring them to a regular course of sleeping, which, at first, was three hours in the morning, and three in the afternoon; afterwards two hours, till they needed none at all. When turned a year old (and some before,) they were taught to fear the rod, and to cry softly, by which means they escaped much correction which they might otherwise have had; and that most odious noise of the crying of children was rarely heard in the house.

"As soon as they grew pretty strong, they were confined to three meals a-day. At dinner their little table and chairs were set by ours, where they could be overlooked: and they were suffered to eat and drink as much as they would, but not to call for any thing. If they wanted aught, they used to whisper to the maid that attended them, who came and spoke to me: and as soon as they could handle a knife and fork, they were set to our table. They were never suffered to choose their meat: but always made to eat such things as were provided for the family. Drinking, or eating between meals was never allowed, unless in case of sickness, which seldom happened. Nor were they suffered to go into the kitchen to ask any thing of the

servants, when they were at meat: if it was known they did so, they were certainly beat, and the servants severely reprimanded. At six, as soon as family prayer was over, they had their supper; at seven the maid washed them, and beginning at the youngest, she undressed and got them all to bed by eight; at which time she left them in their several rooms awake, for there was no such thing allowed, in our house, as sitting by a child till it fell asleep. They were so constantly used to eat and drink what was given them, that when any of them were ill, there was no difficulty in making them take the most unpleasant medicine, for they durst not refuse it.

"In order to form the minds of children, the first thing to be done is to conquer their will. To inform the understanding is a work of time; and must, with children, proceed by slow degrees, as they are able to bear it : but the subjecting the will is a thing that must be done at once, and the sooner the better; for by neglecting timely correction, they will contract a stubbornness and obstinacy which are hardly ever after conquered, and never without using such severity as would be as painful to me as to the child. In the esteem of the world, they pass for kind and indulgent, whom I call cruel parents; who permit their children to get habits which they know must be afterwards broken. When the will of a child is subdued, and it is brought to revere and stand in awe of its parents, then a great many childish follies and inadvertences may be passed by. Some should be overlooked, and others mildly reproved: but no wilful transgression ought ever to be forgiven children, without chastisement less or more, as the nature and circumstances of the case may require. I insist upon conquering the will of children betimes, because this is the only strong and rational foundation of a religious education, without which, both precept and example will be ineffectual. But when this is thoroughly done, then a child is capable of being governed by the reason and piety of its parents, till its own understanding comes to maturity, and the principles of religion have taken root in the mind.

"I cannot yet dismiss this subject. As self-will is the root of all sin and misery, so whatever cherishes this in children ensures their wretchedness and irreligion: whatever checks and mortifies it, promotes their future happiness and piety. This is still more evident, if we farther consider that religion is nothing else than doing the will of God, and not our own; that the one grand impediment to our temporal and eternal happiness being this self-will, no indulgence of it can be trivial, no denial unprofitable. Heaven or hell depends on this alone. So that the parent who studies to subdue it in his child, works together with God in the renewing and saving a soul. The parent who indulges it, does the devil's work; makes religion impracticable, salvation unattainable, and does all that in him lies to damn his child, soul and body, for ever.

"Our children were taught, as soon as they could speak, the Lord's prayer, which they were made to say at rising and bedtime constantly; to which, as they grew older, were added a short prayer for their parents, and such portion of Scripture, as their memories could bear. They were very early made to distinguish the Sabbath from other days. They were taught to be still at family prayers, and to ask a blessing immediately after meals, which they used to do by signs, before they could kneel or speak. They were quickly made to understand that they should have nothing they cried for, and instructed to speak respectfully for what they wanted.

Rising from their places, or going out of the room, was not permitted, except for good cause; and running into the yard, garden, or street, without leave, was always considered a capital offence.

"For some years we went on very well. Never were children better disposed to piety, or in more subjection to their parents, till that fatal dispersion of them, after the fire, into several families. In those they were left at full liberty to converse with servants, which before they had always been restrained from; and to run abroad to play with any children good or bad. They soon learned to ne glect a strict observance of the Sabbath: and got know. ledge of several songs, and bad things, which before they had no notion of. That civil behaviour, which made them admired, when they were at home, by all who saw them, was, in a great measure, lost; and clownish accent, and many rude ways learnt, which were not reformed, without some difficulty. When the house was rebuilt, and all the children brought home, we entered on a strict reform; and then we began the custom of singing psalms, at beginning and leaving school, morning and evening. Then also that of a general retirement at five o'clock was entered upon: when the oldest took the youngest that could speak, and the second the next, to whom they read the psalms for the day, and a chapter in the New Testament; as in the morning they were directed to read the psalms, and a chapter in the Old; after which they went to their private prayers, before they got their breakfast, or came into the family.

There were several by-laws observed among us. I men tion them here because I think them useful.

1. It had been observed that cowardice and fear of pun ishment often lead children into lying; till they get a cus tom of it which they cannot leave. To prevent this, a law was made, that whoever was charged with a fault, of which they were guilty, if they would ingenuously confes it, and promise to amend, should not be beaten. This rule prevented a great deal of lying.

2. That no sinful action, as lying, playing at church. or on the Lords Day, disobedience, quarrelling, &c., should ever pass unpunished.

3. That no child should ever be chid, or beat twice wor the same fault; and that if they amended, they should nëver be upbraided with it afterwards.

4. That every signal act of obedience, especially when i crossed their own inclinations, should be always commended and frequently rewarded, according to the merits of the case.

5. That if ever any child performed an act of obedience, or did anything with an intention to please, though the performance was not well, yet the obedience and intention should be kindly accepted, and the child, with sweetness, directed how to do better for the future.

6. That property be inviolably preserved; and none suffered to invade the property of another in the smallest matter, though it were but of the value of a farthing, or a pin; which they might not take from the owner withont, much less against, his consent. This rule can never be too much inculcated on the minds of children. 7. That promises be strictly observed; and a gift once bestowed, and the right so passed away from the donor, be not resumed, but left to the disposal of him to whom it was given; unless it were conditional, and the condition of the obligation not performed.

8. That no girl be taught to work till she can read very well; and then that she be kept to her work with the same application, and for the same time that she was held to in reading. This rule also much to be observed; for the putting children to learn sewing before they can read perfectly is the very reason why so few women can read fit to be

"Taking God's name in vain, cursing and swearing, profaneness, obscenity, rude ill-bred names, were never heard among them; nor were they ever permitted to call each other by their proper names, without the addition of brother or sister. There was no such thing as loud talking or playing allowed; but every one was kept close to busi-heard, and never to be well understood." ness for the six hours of school. And it is almost incredi

ble what a child may be taught in a quarter of a year by a vigorous application, if it have but a tolerable capacity, and good health. Kezzy excepted, all could read better in that time, than most women can do as long as they live.

After such management who can wonder at the rare ex cellence of the Wesley family? Mrs. Wesley never consi dered herself discharged from the care of her children. In to all situations, she followed them with her prayers and counsels: and her sons, even when they became men and

scholars, found the utility of her wise and parental instruc- | tions. They proposed to her their doubts, and consulted her in all their difficulties.

The following letter to Mr. John Wesley will show what care his excellent mother took of her son's spiritual progress, and of his regular deportment through life.

Jan. 31, 1727.

but she had no doubts or fears, nor any desire, but as soon as God should call, To depart, and be with Christ.' Friday July 23d, about three in the afternoon, I went to see my mother, and found her change was near. I sat down on the bed-side; she was in her last conflict, unable to speak, but I believe quite sensible: her look was calm and serene, and her eyes fixed upwards while we commended her soul

to God. I am fully persuaded, that the reason why so many seek to enter into the kingdom of heaven, but are not able, is, there is some Delilah, some beloved vice, they will not part with; hoping that by a strict observance of their duty in other things, that particular fault will be dispensed with. But, alas! they miserably deceive themselves. The way which leads to heaven is so narrow, the gate we must enter is so strait, that it will not permit a man to pass with one known unmortified sin about him. Therefore let every one, in the beginning of their Christian course, weigh what our Lord says, for whosoever having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is not fit for the kingdom of God.'

From three to four, the silver cord was loosing and the wheel breaking at the cistern; and then without any struggle, sigh, or groan, the soul was set at liberty. We stood, around the bed, and fulfilled her last request, uttered a little before she lost her speech, Children, as soon as I am released, sing a psalm to God.' Her age was 73. Sunday, 1st of August, about five in the afternoon, in the presence of a great number of people, I committed to the earth the body of my mother, to sleep with her fathers. The portion of Scripture from which I afterwards spoke, was, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, there was found no place for them. And I say the dead, "I am nothing pleased we advised you to have your small and great, stand before God; and the books were plaid; though I am that you think it too dear; because I opened; and another book was opened which is the Book take it to be an indication that you are disposed to thrift, of Life: and the dead were judged out of those things which which is a rare qualification in a young man who has his were written in the books, according to their works.'— fortune to make. Indeed such an one can hardly be too Rev. xx. 11, 12. It was one of the most solemn ason this side of wary, or too careful. I would not recommend taking semblies I ever saw, or expect to see thought for the morrow any further than is needful for our eternity. improvement of present opportunities, in a prudent manageMrs. Wesley was interred in Bunhill-fields burial ground, ment of those talents God has committed to our trust: and where so much precious dust reposes! A plain monumenNo far I think it is the duty of all to take thought for the tal stone is placed at the head of her grave. morrow. And I heartily wish you may be well apprized of this while life is young; for

Believe me youth; (for I am read in cases,

And bend beneath the weight of more than fifty years.) Believe me, dear son, old age is the worst time we can choose to mend either our lives or our fortunes. If the founda

tions of solid piety ars not laid betimes in sound principles, and virtuous dispositions; and if we neglect while strength and vigour last to lay up something ere the infirmities of age overtake us, it is a hundred to one that we shall die both poor and wicked.

"Ah! my dear son, did you with me stand on the verge of life, and saw before you a vast expanse, an unlimited duration of being, which you might shortly enter, upon, you can't conceive how all the inadvertances, mistakes, and sins of youth, would rise to your view! and how different the sentiments of sensitive pleasures, the desire of sexes, and the pernicious friendships of the world, would be then from what they are now, while health is entire, and seems to promise many years of life."

I was

SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE:-At the late Meath Assizes, Mr. Wallace, the eminent Barrister, in defending two persons named Reilly and Courtenay, against a charge of conspiracy sworn against them by a Miss Smith, related, in the course of his speech, the following singular circum. stance" Gentlemen of the Jury,-I implore of you not to place too implicit a confidence in the swearing of any human creature, when placed in a relative position with the person accused by the prisoners. Place not implicit confidence in any human being when brought forward to swear in their own case, where their fortunes, their lives, or their characters, are in jeopardy. There is one circumstance of my life to which I cannot recur without feelings, I may say, of repentance, of pain, and of sorrow, that I find difficult to overcome. When I look back to the circumstances connected with that event, and when I look around here to-day, and see his Lordship on the bench before me, and two poor unfortunate peasants at that bar charged with conspiracy, it brings to my recollection, with all the force of bitter regret, the part I acted on that occasion-an act Mrs. Wesley became a convert to her son John's opin- which I shall repent to the latest hour of my life. ions respecting "the witness of the spirit." He asked Mrs. at one time Counsel on one side, and his Lordship, who is Wesley whether his father had not the same evidence, and now on that bench before me, was Counsel at the other. A preached it to his people. She replied that he had it him- person of high rank and station in life was accused of a self, and declared a little before his death, he had no dark-horrid crime; a poor peasant was his accuser; he was tried ness nor doubt of his salvation; but that she did not re- for a conspiracy, and I was retained as Counsel on his bemember to have heard him preach upon it explicitly. Mr. half. The person accused was no less a personage than a Southey here intimates, that Mrs. Welsey 66 was then se- high dignitary of the church. He was of imposing miet venty years of age, which induces a reasonable suspicion and character-he came into Court to support his own that her powers of mind had become impaired, or she would case; the Gospels of the Lord God were put into his hands; not else have supposed that any other faith, or degree o. he raised his eyes to Heaven, to appeal to that God of Truth faith, was necessary, than that in which her husband had and Sanctity, whom he was going to blaspheme, that what lived and died." It is wisely, as well as eloquently said by he was about to swear was true. The solemnity he maniDr. Fuller, whose niece married the father of the rector of fested in taking that oath, which he knew to be false, Epworth as before mentioned; "Of such as deny that we would induce you to exclaim at once that he was innocent.. ad formerly in our churches all truth necessary to salva- He took the oath, accompanying it with an appeal to Hea tion, I ask Joseph's question to his brethren, Is your fa- ven that he was innocent of the charge imputed to him by her well? the old man-is he yet alive ?' So, how fare the prisoner; yet he swore what was false. I threw up the souls of their sires, and the ghosts of their grandfathers? my brief, exclaiming that he who made the charge was a are they yet alive? do they still survive in bliss and hap- vile conspirator. The unfortunate man was found guilty, piness? Oh no! they are dead; dead in soul, dead in and suffered an ignominious punishment.-(Here Mr. Walbody, dead temporally, dead eternally; if so be we had lace burst into tears, and every individual in the Court was not all truth necessary to salvation before their time.” deeply affected.)-Mr. Wallace, after an ineffectual endea vour to overcome his feelings, begged pardon for being so affected, and concluded by giving, with perfect confidence, the case of his clients into their hands." [The above alludes to the Bishop of Clogher, of infamous notoriety.]

[ocr errors]

Of the closing scene of Mrs. Wesley's life, her son John gives the following account :-"I left Bristol on the evening of Sunday, July 18th, 1742, and on Tuesday came to London. I found my mother on the borders of eternity;

THE IDENTICAL LAWRIE TOD.
OR THE WAY TO GET ON.

COLUMN FOR THE LADIES.

FORTUNATE MISTAKE.-When Miss Mellon, the present Duchess of St. Albans was an actress with a company in Staffordshire, a dissolute son of St. Crispin, who had made an impression on the sole of our heroine, having privately enlisted in a recruiting party of light horse, on the eve of departure for Liverpool, and thence to Ireland, an elopement was designed by the martial hero, and was dis covered in the following curious manner :-Miss Mellon took the part of a chamber-maid one evening in an afterpiece, and had to deliver a letter to her mistress on the stage, for the purpose of a meeting between supposed lov. ers. She had that evening, received a note from her lover,

LAWRIE TOD, as many of our readers may know, is the hero and the name of one of Mr. Galt's novels; but "the ideutical Lawrie" is a Mr. Thorburn, very much in character resembling his grotesque double, who during the times of political persecution, left Scotland for the United States, under a fama of rank Jacobinism. He was seen in New York in 1831, by Mr. Fergusson, whose amusing tour has lately been published, and is thus described "I frequently visited at the seed-store of Mr. Thorburn, a character of some celebrity, and of great originality, being, as he informed me, at my first interview, the "very identical Law-which named an early hour for their meeting and depar rie Tod" and that so far as the first volume of that enter- ture. This note and the stage letter were both deposited taining work goes, Galt had exactly recorded his life and in her bosom; and in the confusion or hurry on the stage, adventures. Besides other sources of enjoyment, Mr. Thor- she gave her own instead of the stage-letter, to her mistress, burn is distinguished for a lively and unfailing reliance which was immediately snatched away by the supposed upon a special over-ruling Providence-not a blind fatal- guardian, who was standing behind, and who was personated by a performer of the name of Forrester. Forrester, ism, but a conviction that in all the crosses of life a blesson opening it, at once saw the contents, which he instantly ing will be found by those who faithfully seek it. He de- communicated to the mother and father-in-law of the chamtailed many singular instances of this doctrine in his own bermaid on this our heroine was put under lock and history, and altogether gratified me much by his acquain- key, till the departure of the soldier shoemaker. Some tance. His original trade was that of a nail-maker at time after this Miss Mellon was transplanted from StaffordDalkeith, and by that alone he looked for a livelihood in shire to the boards of Drury Lane, where she was taken by the New World. Soon after his arrival, however, this the hand by Sheridan, and subsequently married Mr. Coutts, handicraft was annihilated by the introduction of machin the rich banker-he died and left her a princely income of ery, and poor Thorburn was driven to open a small grocery L.70,000 a-year, and she has since united her fortune with store for subsistence to Phemie and himself. It was his the young Duke of St. Albans, who is the third Duke in practice to visit the butcher-market at a late hour, that he the kingdom, in point of rank, and now enjoys the disti might pick up a cheap morsel; and observing a man offer-guished title of Duchess-She is said, by her admirers, to ing plants for sale in pots seemingly like himself rather be a most amiable and most charitable woman. low in the world, Thorburn accosted him. He proved to be a fellow-countryman, an industrious, but rather unsuccessful market gardener, of the name of Inglis, from Kirkcaldy; and from a sort of commiseration, Thorburn bought a rose-geranium, intending it to ornament his shop. this time he scarce knew a geranium from a cabbage." Pleased with his purchase, when he got home he painted the pot a gay green, and placed it in his window. now," says he, when he told me the story, with his eyes twinkling, "Mark the kindness of Providence. The day after my geranium appeared in its new pot, a lady happening to drive past, remarked its beauty, and not only bought it at a handsome price, but gave me such orders as enabled me to open a busy trade with poor Inglis. My shop soon became more celebrated for plants than for tea and tobac co; and many inquiries having been made for garden-seed, I procured an assortment, and gradually extended my trade till I reached the possession of the handsome premises and flourishing trade which I now enjoy." To Mr. Fergusson's account of this worthy little man, we may add, that he lately visited his native town, after an absence of nearly forty years, and, with other tokens of welcome, received the honour of a public dinner from his old friends and

townsmen.

At

"And

"SUNDAY SCHOOLS IN GLASGOW.-From a paper in this month's Sunday-School Teacher's Magazine, we learn, that Glasgow, which contains above 200,000 inhabitants, has about 20 Sabbath-School Associations, 10 of which are parochial, and the others connected with the different religious bodies. The number of schools is about 200, containing about 9000 children, most of them having from 20 to 40 scholars each. The schools are generally open only in the evening, when the teachers spend about two hours with their pupils, which are devoted to the exercises of praise and prayer, hearing the Bible read and explained, and in repeating Scripture lessons and catechising. Reading is rarely taught, except by the Wesleyan Methodists. Some of these schools have itinerating libraries of 20 or 30 volumes each, which are exchanged annually, and given out to the children once a fortnight.

This, for a native of Dalkeith, the very Scotch Palace of Flora, is impossible-ED,

CUPID AND MINERVA.

From Evenings in Greece, by Thomas Moore, Esq.,
No. II., just published.

As Love, one summer eve, was straying,
Who should he see at that soft hour,
But young Minerva, gravely playing
Her flute within an olive bower.

I need not say, 'tis Love's opinion,
That, grave, or merry, good or ill,
The sex all bow to his dominion,

As woman will be woman still.
Though seldom yet the boy hath given,
To learned dames his smiles or sighs,
So handsome Pallas look'd, that even
Love quite forgot the maid was wise;
Besides, a youth of his discerning

Knew well that, by a shady rill,
At sunset hour-whate'er her learning-
A woman will be woman still.
Her flute he praised in terms ecstatic,
Wishing it dumb-nor cared how soon-
For Wisdom's notes, howe'erchromatic,
To Love seem always out of tune.
But long as he found face to flatter,

The nymph found breath to shake and thrill;
As, weak or wise-it doth not matter-
Woman, at heart, is woman still.

Love changed his plan, with warmth exclaiming,
"How brilliant was her lips' soft dye!"
And much that flute, the sly rogue, blaming,
For twisting lips so sweet awry.
The nymph look'd down-beheld her features
Reflected in the passing rill,

And started, shock'd-for, ah, ye ereatures!
Ev'n when divine, you're woman still.

Quick from the lips it made so odious,
That graceless flute the Goddess took,
And, while yet fill'd with breath melodious,
Flung it into the glassy brook;
Where, as its vocal life was fleeting
Adown the current, faint and shrill,
At distance long 'twas heard repeating,
"Woman, alas, vain woman still!"

« PreviousContinue »