that it would render him incapable of practising at the bar. Independently of this defect, however, a strong religious feeling induced him, at that time,

to

wish to enter the Ministry. After much anxiety, and many painful struggles with adverse circumstances, he entered as a Sizar of St. John's, Cambridge. His mother contributed £20 per annum towards the necessary college expenses, and other friends made up the remaining sum.

With dutiful affection, he looked forward to the time when he should be able to return these obligations to his beloved parent. In one of his letters to his mother, he says:

"One of my first earthly wishes is to make you comfortable, and provide that rest and quiet for your mind which you so much need; and never fear but I shall have it in my power some time or other."

But God had willed it otherwise. His delicate frame was unequal to the exertions he made in the pursuit of knowledge; and he died at the age of twenty-one, October 19th, 1806.

Many heave a sigh of regret to the memory of his genius and worth; but to the heart of the fond mother, his early death must have been a trial indeed. She lost not only the poet but the son.— His filial affection inspired the following beautiful lines to her :

TO MY MOTHER.

"And canst thou, mother, for a moment, think,
That we, thy children, when old age shall shed,
Its blanching honours on thy weary head,

Could from our best of duties ever shrink?

Sooner the sun from his high sphere should sink,
Than we, ungrateful, leave thee in that day,
To pine in solitude thy life away,

Or shun thee, tottering on the grave's cold brink.
Banish the thought-where'er our steps may roam,
O'er smiling plains, or wastes without a tree,
Still will fond memory point our hearts to thee,
And paint the pleasures of thy peaceful home;
While duty bids us all thy griefs assuage,
And smooth the pillow of thy sinking age."

F 3

MRS. JOB ALLEN,

MOTHER OF WILLIAM ALLEN.

THIS estimable woman (a member of the Society of Friends) was the wife of Job Allen, a silk manufacturer, of Spitalfields, and the mother of the laborious and philanthropic William Allen.She, in conjunction with her husband, endeavoured to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; and that their efforts were blessed, especially in the case of the son above mentioned, may be seen by the early indications of piety found in his diary, as well as in the whole tenor of his life.

When only seventeen, he records having "experienced comfort" in striving against evil thoughts. He grieves over his "impatience." He contemplates with pleasure the happy state of those who are led and guided by the spirit of truth, and he makes a resolve to spend no time unprofitably.

Those benevolent feelings, which were afterwards the mainspring of his actions, and led to his selfdenying exertions in the cause of the African slave, the prisoner, the friendless and homeless, and the ignorant and neglected child, were early called forth by the death of a faithful dog, killed by acci

dent in the street, which circumstance, he says, "caused him " a day of bitterness and sorrow.'

He carried out his principles as an Abolitionist, by the disuse of sugar for a period of forty-three years, on account of its being one of the chief commodities procured by the labour of slaves.

William Allen remained under the watchful and tender care of his excellent parents, until he had arrived at manhood, and during this time he was engaged in his father's business; but although he was diligent and attentive, he had no taste for it, and he employed his leisure in making experiments in astronomy, and other scientific pursuits. When only fourteen years of age, he constructed a teles-cope, by which he could see the satellites of Jupiter. As he himself tells us, "not being strong in cash," he was obliged to go to work economically. He therefore bought an eye-piece and an object-glass for a shilling, and a sheet of pasteboard for two-pence; with these materials, to his great delight, his telescope answered the purpose.

His taste for chemistry, which he afterwards cultivated with so much success, displayed itself very early; and his talents bid fair to raise him to distinction. A brilliant career was opening before him, and his mother might have looked forward, with maternal pride, to his name becoming one day celebrated in the world of science. She was not insensible to such advantages, but she was aware of the temptations to which they would lead, and also the weakness of the human heart.She had, moreover, higher hopes and anticipations in prospect for him, and she endeavoured to direct his energies to a still nobler aim. She did not consider that her responsibility was at an end when

her children entered on the busy scenes of life, and were no longer immediately under her watchful care. She was therefore in the habit of writing to them on the all-important subject of religion. The following brief extracts are from letters addressed to her son William ;

"Oh how I long that the Most High would anoint, appoint, and dedicate his sons to turn the attention of men to their greatest good, and arouse them from their beds of ease before the solemn sound goes forth-Time shall be no longer.' He who has loved thee from thy early youth has called thee to love him; above all, to dedicate thyself to him, to surrender thy all to him, to be made use of as he shall direct. The reins of government should not be in thy hands but in his, to turn thee into the path he may in future appoint, and out of what thou, as a man, would'st have chosen for thyself. Ah! my dear, it is not the strength of natural affection which leads me to say, thou wast not intended to spend all thy time in earthly pursuits, but, through submission to the operations of that power which creates anew, thou art designed to lead the minds of others, both by example and precept, from earth to heaven. I believe that it may be said of thee, as it was said to Peter-Satan hath desired to have thee, that he may sift thee as wheat,' but I humbly hope that the same advocate will plead for thee, that thy faith fail not,"

Again,

"I entreat thee again to consider the necessity of setting thyself more at liberty in future. Thou