express. To-day I feel better in my head, although I am weak in body. You must not expect to see me at present -that is quite out of the question."

On the Sunday before his death he was overheard at prayer. He was struggling earnestly against a momentary temptation to cling to life. "Mother," said he, on coming down stairs, "I have been trying to say from my heart : 'Not my will, Lord, but thine be done." "

In the course of the following week he said in answer to some inquiries from his relative, the Rev. J. Bruce, "I feel like a weaned child." To several others he said: "I have no rapturous joy, but I have solid peace, solid peace." A few hours before he died, he several times repeated : 'All is right." "All is right." And on his mother asking if Christ were precious, he replied with peculiar emphasis : "He is precious." "He is precious." He sank gradually. At a quarter before one on Saturday noon, November 3rd, his matured and happy spirit was taken to the bosom of its God.

"So fades a summer cloud away;

So sinks the gale when storms are o'er ;
So gently shuts the eye of day;

So dies a wave along the shore.
Life's labour done, as sinks the clay,

Light from its load the spirit flies;
While heaven and earth combine to say,

'How blest the righteous when he dies!'"

CHAPTER XIII.

Some particulars in which Mr. Hessel is commended as an example to young men : 1. In his devotedness to self-improvement-The importance attaching to the period of youth-Impressive testimony of Sir Walter Scott-A word to Parents-2. In his just and comprehensive views of what constitutes self-improvement-Sir Walter Scott on the culture of the heart-Firmness, force, and nobleness of character-Sir James Macintosh-Dr. Channing-3. In the purpose for which self-improvement was sought-4. In the means he employed to secure it-Self-improvement not to be sought too anxiously-A word to those who "have no talent "-who "have no time to read "-who "have had no education "-True greatness is accessible to all.

A DELINEATION of Mr. Hessel's character would be superfluous here. Every page of this biography has reflected some feature. His mind and heart have been laid open to inspection. And worse than superfluous would be an attempt at eulogy. This volume has not been compiled for his glorification, but for the benefit of young men, to aid and stimulate them in self-culture. It may further tend to secure this object to weave the chief threads of his mental and moral history, to gather the scattered lights of his experience into a focus. An opportunity will be afforded of exhibiting two or three features of character which only social intercourse could reveal.

The reader will have observed that I am far from exhibiting him as in every respect a model. He had his faults, and I have not concealed them. In several respects however he was well worthy of imitation. Earnestly would I urge my young readers to adopt him as an example in the following particulars :

1. In HIS DEVOTEDNESS TO SELF-IMPROVEMENT. Every

living thing is capable of growth and culture. Our Creator has clearly designed it to receive culture. What a contrast between the wild and the cultivated rose! Culture has transformed the bitter crab into the fragrant apple, and the astringent sloe into the delicious plum. The elephant, the horse, the dog, and even the sheep, have evinced considerable latent susceptibilities of education. And does man, the noblest of earth's creatures, least repay or demand culture? Compare the savage with the citizen, the rustic with the philosopher, and the fact of the desirableness and importance of thorough culture flashes before you. The achievements of commerce, science, legislation, and philanthropy, loudly proclaim the mighty capabilities with which his glorious Creator has entrusted man. And few, very few, have exhibited the full development of their capabilities. With rare exceptions, the best period for securing full development has been but partially improved. My dear young friends, your period of life is incomparably the most important. Deposit two acorns in the ground; let one have every advantage of soil, air, and protection from injury, during its first ten or twenty years, and the other be at a disadvantage in all these respects, and what a difference will be visible throughout the period of their growth! Listen then to the counsels of a friend, and cherish a deep, prayerful, purpose to make the most of the varied powers with which the Almighty has endowed you. Could those whose names you venerate or respect return from the spiritworld and express the regret they experience that they did not better employ their early opportunities, your estimate of the importance of this period of life would be greatly enhanced. Some of them recorded this sentiment ere they departed. Listen to the record of one of Britain's most popular authors-the late Sir Walter Scott. "If it should ever fall to the lot of youth to peruse these pages, let such a reader remember that it is with the deepest regret that

YOUTH THE FORMATIVE PERIOD OF LIFE.

235

I recollect in my manhood the opportunities of learning which I neglected in my youth; that through every part of my literary career I have felt pinched and hampered by my own ignorance; and that I would at this moment give half the reputation I have had the good fortune to acquire, if by doing so I could rest the remaining part upon a sound foundation of learning and science." Lodge then this truth deeply in your hearts: the present is the formative period of your whole existence. Your habits, character, and destiny, are all now in course of formation. What you do now will affect your future doings through time and eternity. If you do wrong, you will find undoing toilsome work. If negligence is the greatest crime with which you may have to charge yourselves, you will find that to be cause of unutterable self-reproach. Begin life well therefore; propose to yourself lofty aims; cherish pure sentiments; let every day augment the strength of your purposes and the success of your pursuits; and a glorious consummation will be yours. "Show me the man" says Capel Loft, "who has made the most of his faculties, and I will show you a being sublimated to the height of the angelic nature-a miracle of all perfections." The first step you have to take is to become possessed by the desire -the purpose-to make the best use of your capabilities.

Parents, let it be one of your chief aims to inspire your children with this spirit. Surely it is of the first importance that they should be early imbued with right conceptions as to whose they are, and for what they were created. Surely the acquisition of knowledge, or of accomplishments, for the sake of a subsistence, is trifling in comparison of this. You have it in your power to imbue their opening minds with these sentiments and purposes, and if you do not, can you wonder if they should practically treat them as of secondary consequence, and prove a grief instead of a joy to you, and a mischief instead

of a benefit to society? And what reason will you assign on "the great day" when charged by them with such cruel negligence?

Why do so many of the young of the present day spend their leisure in mere pleasure-seeking? and that pleasure, in many instances, of a degrading and sensual nature? Why do so many others feel a greater interest in the culture of plants, or flowers, or animals, than of themselves? Mainly because they were not better instructed by those to whom their training was intrusted by their Creator. Fathers and mothers reflect! Desirable as it is for your sons and daughters to experience gratification, it is surely transcendently more important that they should seek the improvement of their own combined nature. If you would have them to be men and women worthy of their times, their country, and their God, imbue them with an earnest desire-a governing purpose-to secure self-improvement. In this matter John Hessel is a worthy example.

2. HIS JUST AND COMPREHENSIVE VIEWS OF WHAT CONSTITUTES SELF-IMPROVEMENT are worthy of adoption. Many young persons, eager for improvement, largely fail in securing it through contracted or erroneous views as to what constitutes it. Acquisition of knowledge is the improvement of one part of our nature only, and not the noblest. The right view of self-improvement embraces the whole of our powers, our relationships, and our duration. This was the view Mr. Hessel took. "Endeavour to keep in view," says he, "that the cultivation of the intellect is not the end of existence-that every other faculty is given for the service of the moral faculties. Moral sensibility and power are the great objects at which I must aim." He proposed to himself universal excellence; and nothing less than this, dear reader, should be your aim. To aim at less is to inflict upon yourself an irreparable mischief.