guilty; and showed it, not only by the changes of his countenance, but by his desperate attempts to change the subject." It was in vain, however, that he strove to get out of the Christian preacher's power. The vicar pressed the charge of guilt, till the sweat started to the gambler's brow, and he cried, "For God's sake, say no more! I know it is wrong. I dare not reflect upon it!" Yet the vicar did not shrink from his duty; but still urged his reproof, till he thought he had reason to believe that the man would give up his sin. More changes! Among them, we have lately had one which does not come often. We have got a new Archbishop of Canterbury: Dr. Benson. My thoughts about good, departed Dr. Sale, and his rebuke of horse-race gambling, put into my mind. another thought :-Could the new Archbishop be persuaded and encouraged also to do a bit of real conscience work, in higher quarters? While we had Dr. Benson in old Lincoln, as canon of our noble cathedral, he won a very high reputation, for what were held to be his great qualities and salutary influence, among young clergymen and aspirants for clerical office. In Cornwall, as Bishop of Truro, he was also regarded as being highly instrumental in the same kind of work. Dr. Benson now ranks next to the Royal Family: above the Lord High Chancellor and Archbishop of York, and above all mere Dukes, Marquises, Earls, and so forth, in the land. If I wished to speak a word in the ear of the Prince of Wales, and were to present my request at the door of Marlborough House, or Sandringham, doubtless, a policeman would tell me, very peremptorily, to "walk off"-or he would take me to the lock-up. But, Dr. Benson can have an interview with the heir to the Crown, almost at any time that he asks for it. Will he act like a real Christian minister, and ask for such an interview, and talk to the Prince like a real Christian minister? Thus : "Your Royal Highness is, doubtless, a little curious, from the tone of my note to you, saying that I wished for a strictly private interview,-to know what it is that I want to say to you. I must tell you, at once, that I am come to make an appeal to your conscience. By what I hold to be the Providence of God, I am placed next to your illustrious family, in the order of precedence; and I am placed thus, with the concurrence, at least, if not by the immediate wish of my sovereign, your Most Gracious mother. Thus doubly compelled, I feel I must perform my conscientious duty, or pronounce myself to be a self-condemned man. "I am constituted your spiritual adviser. You are become the avowed and openly proclaimed patron of horse-racing! Does not your Royal Highness know that the most current literature of the day declares horse-racing means gambling? And do you not feel that you have been won over by bad advisers to take a most unworthy position? That is not all. That is not all. Horse-racing is Gambling? become the vice of vices-the curse of the land. drawn ruinously into the en For all ranks are couragement of it. And the reports are so current -they are, in fact, in almost everybody's mouthof the huge SIN which holds high festival at great horse-race times, that I cannot suppose you to be ignorant of it. Do you not know what goes on in Doncaster, for instance, during the great race-week, in each September? Importation of scores of prostitutes-immigration of scores of practised thieves, thimble-riggers, pick-pockets, gamblers, and cheats of every description-liquor shops open at night— houses of ill-fame all open-drinking, cursing, swearing, and fighting-in plain words, Hell broke loose, in the slums of Doncaster!' "Now, I appeal to you, most illustrious prince— I am content on my bended knee to appeal to you— whether you can for one moment continue to hold the infamous and scandalous position report-uncontradicted by yourself and confirmed by your practice-assigns to you. Will you not yield to me at once, and say, 'I will more, either go to see a horse-race, or bet upon one'? give it all up, and never "Never mind the jeers of those who have been so E the gamblers You will have proud of their bad conquest over you and black-legs, titled and untitled! the gratitude, the faithful attachment and heartfelt love of all Christian men in the land. "Do you not feel that that will be an inexpressibly precious exchange for the bad honour rendered you by men with whom you were so lately associated? “I will not ask your forgiveness. Your Royal Highness knows that I have only done my bounden duty. May God help you to receive my request with instant approval, and give you a long life, and a happy reign, over a grateful and happy people." Dare you do this? Dr. Benson! Latimer would have done it, if he could live again, and fill your place. Will you do it? I IV. SORROWFUL THOUGHTS ABOUT STRIKES. HAVE been so bold as to address a word to the Primate of all England; and, I trust, his Grace will think I have addressed him in real courtesy. I am sure I meant to do so. Let me, now, return to my more-accustomed work: that of talking to working men. I wrote as follows, in 1876 "An intelligent Scottish friend tells me in a letter, the other day, that the prolonged strike of the colliers of Fifeshire, and the iron workers of Glasgow, is inflicting suffering upon the strikers which they endeavour in vain to conceal. The haggard looks of many of the men proclaim their wretchedness. The deprivation which themselves and their families. undergo is so great that weak constitutions are giving way, and some are dying for want of food. It is the common talk in the collier villages of Fife, when a corpse is carried out to be buried, "There goes another victim of the strike!" The seeming heroism there is in all this-the resistance to the death of what they consider to be |