was nothing through our whole journey across Nova Scotia, looked so dreary to me as the desolate and abandoned hovels of the new settlers. These mournful objects meet the eye in different directions, and fill the mind with a variety of melancholy sensations. Ah! there is a spot that pleased the inexperienced eye of a poor exile. There he built his hut of rough logs, and thither he conducted the partner of his joys and sorrows, with the little ones. Yonder, with his brawny arm, he felled the lofty trees, and opened a path for the sunshine to the long neglected bosom of the earth. Here was his first cleared field, still full of black stumps; the marks of the spade and the plough, with the appearance of a scanty harvest are still visible. But the winter came upon him; and the produce of his two small fields, which he had stored so carefully in a corner of his log house, was exhausted before the long and severe winter was over. He had no money to buy provisions, nor could he and his family by any means subsist till a coming harvest. A council was held, and he and his wife, with weeping eyes, bade farewell to their home in the wilderness, and they never had courage to make a second trial of the unkind soil.

We travelled all night, and as morning opened upon us, the country greatly improved, and continued to do so to Halifax, where we arrived on the 3rd instant, in the afternoon.

As I related the cause of my detention in my last, I need not repeat it here. The Columbia sailed the evening I arrived. As soon as the Wesleyan ministers knew I was in town, they shewed me every mark of kindness and respect. Here I met my old acquaintance, the Rev. William Crosscombe, who is superintendent of the Halifax circuit. He and his excellent wife were glad to see me. I found them both as ardent in the cause of Christ, and as deeply devoted

to God as when I parted with them in 1835 at Montreal. Mr. C. introduced me to his colleague, the Rev. Charles De Wolfe. We had not been long together before I found in him a kindred spirit. We have had some delightful rides over the peninsula, and have taken the sweetest council on the things of God. He is a most intelligent person, and possesses talents, which will, I have no doubt, enable him, if spared, to take the first rank among the able ministers of the New Testament.

A home was provided for me at the house of Mr. Billings, a merchant of the city. He, with his two daughters, had just sailed for England; but Mrs. B. notwithstanding all her cares in the absence of her husband, seemed delighted to show me every kindness that hospitality could devise: dear woman, she was greatly troubled at a little incident which I know will amuse you. Mrs. B. was inquired of whether she could accommodate a stranger for a few days at her house: her mind being troubled about the departure of her husband and daughters for England, and worn down with the fatigue of getting them in readiness, she shrank from any additional trouble; so casting a glance at the stranger, who, by the way, was far from presenting a tidy appearance, being in his travelling dress, unshaven, and covered with the dust of a long journey, she gave a positive refusal; and, indeed, I could not blame her. This was Saturday, and I obtained lodgings elsewhere.

Next day she was in her place in the house of God, and hearing your friend in one of his happiest hours unfolding the wonders of redemption; she became sorely troubled, exclaiming to herself, "Oh! what is this that I have done? I have turned away from my house a servant of God-I have turned away from my door a minister of Jesus Christ." The following morning she applied to Mr. Crosscombe, and insisted

I should make her house my home. I did so, and in her I found a mother indeed.

was!

I am now preaching every night to good congregations. A few have been converted to God. Will you believe me, if I tell you that I visited the Theatre while in Quebec.-The Theatre Royal!—And, that I was on the stage, and took part in what was going on. That I had authority to order the necessary scenery; the theatre filled; and that I received great applause for my performances. Well, so it But it was at a temperance meeting. I chose a dark prison scene for the drapery behind the stage! and brought forward two prisoners to be tried before a judge and his jury. The names of the prisoners were the Devil and Alcohol. The chairman was the judge, and all who had not signed the total abstinence pledge, were the jury; and the verdict against alcohol was to be given by the act of signing the pledge. On commencing my address, I told them it was proper, before I preferred my charges against the prisoners, or called forth my witnesses, to apprize them, that I never had had the honour of being a lawyer, nor had I ever had a lawsuit with man, woman, or child, all the days of my life; and, therefore, that they must not expect me to adorn my speech with legal phrases, nor cramp myself with the technicalities of that profession. We had a stirring time, and a noble verdict against alcohol.

At the close of the meeting, Mr. Booth, of whom I think you heard me speak when in * * * * *, and who is the father of the temperance society in Quebec, came forward on the stage, and taking from his breast his own splendid medal, presented it to me, with a very neat speech, in the midst of tremendous applause. I arose, and returned thanks to Mr. B., and acknowledged the kindness of the audience, as well as I was capable; but really, I had no command of my feel

ings, the thing was so unexpected, and so unmerited, that it almost unmaned me.-As ever, &c. &c.

J. C.

P. S. Please present my love to Mr. *** and tell him he makes out a plausible case, but it is far from being sound; and closer consideration will lead him. to greatly qualify, or abandon the sentiment, "that a sinner is not so much endangered who does not commit many sins, although entangled and overcome by one." I wish he would remember the saying of a good man upon the same subject-" If a bird be ensnared by one leg, it is as surely the prey of the fowler, as if it were seized by both wings!" A minister, now with God, used to say, some with a full career, throw themselves headlong into hell; others go slowly, step, by step, but certainly drop into it.' But I would add another, from a higher source, digest it as he may ::- "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."-James, ii. 10. If in view of these self-evident facts, he can make out his state to be a safe one, his conscience is seared with a hoter iron than I thought it was.

66

LETTER XIII.

TO THE SAME.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 18th, 1841.

My dear Friend,

In a former letter I informed you that I entered this city on the 3rd instant; since then, I have spent several hours of each day in walking through the town, as well as in rambling around the environs.

The

city is built upon a peninsula, formed by the old Chebucto harbour on one side, and by a sheet of water on the other, called the North-West Arm. The latter is an outlet to the ocean, which extends in the rear of the town, about three miles, reaching to within a mile and a half of Bedford Basin. Here the isthmus is formed north of the city. The peninsula contains about three thousand acres, two hundred and forty of which is reserved for a common. The city is built upon the declivity of a hill, which rises two hundred and fifty-two feet above the level of the sea, on the west side of the harbour. It is crowned with an unfinished citadel, upon which a telegraph is erected. Hundreds of men are now employed by the British government to complete it. It has already a very imposing appearance, and is intended to be a fortress of great strength; though, I should think, inferior to Quebec. Halifax looks well from the village of Dartmouth, on the east side of the harbour; but when the harbour is crossed, and the town subjected to a pedestrian survey,

"What a falling off is there!"

so true is the sentiment of another poet,—

""Tis distance lends enchantment to the scene."

The houses are mostly built of wood; I presume there are not sixty brick or stone buildings in the place. These wooden houses are deformed by a sooty kind of wash, or paint, which gives them a most gloomy and dirty appearance. It is entirely unlike any American city I have ever seen. There are, however, a few buildings exceedingly neat, and brightly and tastefully painted; but they only serve to throw the others into more murky and gloomy relief. The city is about two miles long, and half a mile in width. There are eight streets running north and south, intersected by fifteen in the contrary direction. I