jects was like one who felt their importance, and wished her child to do so likewise. First instructed by her to read, I have not forgotten in my Bible lessons, with what simplicity and propriety she used to explain and comment on the Word of God-its precepts and examples. These infantine catechetical exercises still vibrate in my recollection, and confirm to my own mind the great advantage attendant upon the earliest possible endeavours to win the attention, and store the memory with religious knowledge. Her natural abilities, which were of a superior character, enabled her to converse with a very little child, with much effect; and there was a tenderness of affection, united to a firmness of manner, which greatly promoted the best interests of a nursery education.

"My mother had six children, three of whom died in infancy. A very affecting circumstance accompanied the death of one of them, and was a severe trial to her maternal feelings. Her then youngest child, a sweet little boy, just two years old, was, through the carelessness of his nurse, precipitated from a bed-room window upon the pavement beneath. I was, at that time, six years of age, and happened to be walking on the very spot, when the distressing event occurred; I was, therefore, the first to take up, and deliver into our agonised mother's arms, the poor little sufferer. The head was fractured, and he only survived the fall about thirty hours. I preserve still a very distinct and lively remembrance of the struggle between the natural feelings of the mother, and the spiritual resignation of the Christian. She passed the sad interval of suspense in almost continual prayer, and found a present help in time of trouble,

Frequently, during that day, did she retire with me; and, as I knelt beside her, she uttered the feelings and desires of her heart to God. I remember her saying, 'If I cease praying for five minutes, I am ready to sink under this unlooked-for distress; but when I pray, God comforts and upholds me: His will, not mine, be done.' Once she said, 'Help me to pray, my child. Christ suffers little children to come to him, and forbids them not. Say something.' What shall I say, mamma? Shall I fetch a book?' 'Not now,' she replied; speak from your heart, and ask God that we may be reconciled to his will, and bear this trial with patience.'

6

"The day after the infant's death, she took me to the bed on which my little brother lay; and, kneeling down, she wept for a few minutes in silence, and, then taking his cold hand in one of her's, and mine in the other, she said-Lord, if it had not been Thy good pleasure, it had not been thus: Thy will be done! I needed this heavy trial to show me more of myself, and to wean me from the world. Forgive my sins, Oh God! and let me not murmur.' Then, looking at the cherub countenance of her babe, she added"Thou art not lost, but gone before!' She then put his hand into mine, and said—' If you live, my child, never forget this; and may I one day meet you both in heaven.'

"I have dwelt upon this part of my parent's history, because she has frequently told me that it was not only the greatest shock which her feelings were ever called upon to sustain, but that she was persuaded it was over-ruled by God for the most salutary purpose, as it concerned the spiritual dis

To the end of her life,

cipline of her own heart. she wore a little locket, attached to her watch, containing a lock of her poor little Henry's hair, and she often looked at it, and spoke of it, as a remembrance of God's goodness to her at a most trying

season.

"These things occurred at Stockport, while we were on a visit to my father's mother and sisters, in the early part of the year 1778. Not many weeks after the death of this child, my father proposed a tour into Yorkshire, Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Lancashire, with a view to the restoration of my mother's health and spirits, which had materially suffered from her distress of mind.

"My mother had a correct taste for landscape scenery, and loved to trace the hand of the Creator in his works. She had also an acquaintance with the history, antiquity, and biography of her country, which was much gratified by the objects both of Art and Nature associated with them. Her memory was enriched with many of the best descriptive passages in the works of the poets, and she was able to quote and apply them to the various objects which presented themselves to their notice. My father's mind was perfectly congenial with her's in these things.

"To this journey in my childhood, accompanied as it was, by the tender anxiety of my mother in particular, to direct my attention to every object worthy of notice; and the impressive manner in which her late severe trial led her to utter her sentiments, I ascribe much of my own turn of mind, as associated with the works of Nature. She taught me the importance of treasuring up useful information-cultivating a taste for the wonders of

Nature and Art-and learning how much it is the Christian's duty

'To look through Nature, up to Nature's God.'

"In the year 1782, my father quitted his residence at Liverpool, and settled in the city of Bath, where he practised as a physician about twentyfour years.

"In the whole of their deportment, and in the management of the family, my parents maintained great order and propriety, founded upon conscientious principles. They steadily resisted the torrent of folly, vice, and dissipation for which the gay city of Bath is distinguished. While the giddy votaries of fashionable life incessantly whirled in the vortex of ensnaring pleasure, they cultivated, for themselves and their children, sentiments and habits of a domestic and rational character. Their evenings were much spent at home, in family reading and improving conversation. By pursuing this course, they hoped to lay a foundation for future domestic usefulness in their children's dispositions. I shall ever retain a grateful remembrance of the sober and temperate regulations which characterised my paternal roof. It was their chief desire to bring us up in the fear of God, and to teach us the important lesson of self-denial, so essential to the formation of Christian principle.

"My dear mother felt much anxiety on my account, during the period of my residence in Trinity College, Cambridge. Her letters used to breathe the language of parental caution, and evidenced the correctness of her judgment. The following extract is from one bearing date 1710:

"I hope that my son does not, in the midst of his literary studies, forget those that pertain to religion. I cannot help trembling for my country in these days of infidel democracy. I fear too many young students at college treat the Scriptures with neglect, if not with contempt. Some such have lately passed the Christmas vacation at Bath, and have made a very unbecoming display of their sentiments, in the coffee-houses and public rooms. I sincerely hope that you will be preserved from this contagion. It has been my prayer to God from your infancy, that you might live and die a true Christian. I am more anxious about this point, than about your classical and mathematical attainments, important as they may be. I know you will bear with a mother's exhortations; they come from a heart which has long beat with anxiety for your welfare.'

"In a subsequent letter of the same period, she writes:

"Your sentiments in answer to your father's last, on the subject of religion, gave me no small satisfaction. Whoever deserts that firm foundation is exposed to every gale of passion; and at best spends his life in a comfortless and agitated state: for doubt is misery to a thinking mind; and human reason, with all its self-sufficiency, is easily misled by inclination.""

Mrs. Richmond expressed great satisfaction when her son conscientiously made choice of the Church as his future profession, in preference to the law, for which he was at first intended. When speaking on this subject, he says:—