him and see our horses "Hector" and "Ajax," "Balius" and "Xanthus."

Amongst the deepest remembrances of that time, is that of my mother's first telling me of God. She was very fond of instructing me, and leading me to inquire into the causes of things; as, for example, of light as coming from the sun, or water from the sea or clouds; so that I was led to inquire of her, "But where did the sun and the sea come from?" She told me to think for a day, and endeavour to find out, but that if I could not, at the end of that time she would tell me. The day seemed interminable; and failing in my endeavour, the next morning I renewed my inquiry. She answered very solemnly that she would take me into a room where we should be alone, and there she would tell me. She took me upstairs, through her bedroom, into a little dressing-room, into which I was not habitually allowed to enter, but which from that time I as distinctly remember as though I now saw everything in it. She shut the door, and said she was now going to answer my question; that that answer would be the most important thing I should ever hear in my life, for that it would involve everything I should hereafter feel, or think, or do; - that if I made a good use of it, I should have such happiness, that nothing whatever could make me completely miserable; but if, on the contrary, I made a bad use of this knowledge, nothing could make me happy.

She then spoke to me of God; of His omnipotence; of His omnipresence; of His great wisdom shown in all He had made; of His great love to all His creatures, whether

Phong that time, on Sun lays she always taught me one „e t'e Commandments, a dla ise of the Lord's Prayer, or be texts from the Sermon on the Mount, and ex

to me; as a'so

question or two in Dr. Priest

Ay & Scepture Catecism. She made me read to her one of Mrs. Rabauld's Prose Hymns for Children; and somepipios she wou'd make me sit still with her, after the I was going to say this instruction prpinct of Friends stancÀ deeply into my heart; but it would be more correct were I to say, that though at times it returned with power, there were long seasons when it was not the least intuential.

Memwhile these impressions were crossed by many very My father and mother constantly desired opposite ones I rememme to bear pam like a Philosopher or a Stoie. bor my mother telling me of the little Spartan boy, who,

having stolen a fox, let it gnaw him to the heart without his betraying pain; and she asked me when I should be able to do the same. One day some cotton which was on my hand having caught fire, my mother bade me bring it slowly to her. She was at the opposite end of a long room; and I was told to walk slowly, lest the flame should catch my dress; and not to mind the pain, but to be like the boys of Sparta. I did so; but the scar remained on my hand many, many years. I also recollect with shame, that my endeavours to be a philosopher were not grounded on any love of philosophy; but partly on an inordinate tendency to self-esteem, which made me like to see my own doings in a grandiose point of view; and partly from the feeling of humiliation in seeing my own character as poor and commonplace and conquered by circumstances. They were also founded on my tender love to my dear and honoured mother; whose noble character had in reality that magnanimity which I thus attempted to copy. My father, too, equally wished me to be a philosopher; and liked to instruct me in the rudiments of science. I had a pretty little monkey named Jack, a dog, a cat, a rabbit, and other animals. It was my delight to hear my father explain the Linnæan Orders; and to have him show me the teeth and claws of my various pets, classifying them, from the Primates Jack to the Brutum Sus.

I well remember one day when George Bott, the Friends' Dentist, came to examine my teeth. I agreed to have my front teeth drawn before my mother came in from her walk, that I might puzzle her as to my classification, as I

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I was

want the four teeth in the upper jaw, the distinctive should 1 sat still and had them all out, mark of the Primates. that it might be over when she arrived. George Bott said the best little girl he had ever seen;" and took from his pockets a paper of comtits as my reward. But I drow up and said, "Do you think Regulus, and Epictetus, and Seneca, would take a reward for learing pain; or the htt's Spartan boys?" He laughed heartily; and, my mother just then coming in, he said, " Thy little girl is too much of a philosopher to be rewarded for bearing pain, but still I hope she is enough of a child to like these comfits, as a mark of love and kindness;" to which I acested with great delight.

A few more words relative to this period; the remembrance of which, though clear, is almost like a shadow. It is of my Aunt Mary Galton, my father's sister; whom we used to call my Aunt Polly. I used to delight in going She would often bid me to Pudson when she was there,

place my httle stool beside her at tea, and tell me long and interesting tany tales; and still oftener Scripture histories, illustrative of the pictures on the Dutch tiles, which then formed the common ornament of chimneyI used to listen with delight to the history of proces Noah or of Alaham, of Joseph and his Brethren, of Calebs and Jodita, of David and Jonathan; and well do I rewall the contrast, even then, between the inflation and exulting pride with which I heard the stories of the Greer heroes and philosophers and the sweet and soothing fecline of rest with which I listened to those of the holy men of old, The one seemed like the glare and strength

of the noon-day sun; the other like the sweet and refreshing calm of evening.

My Aunt Polly about this time became greatly changed. I believe, from various little evidences which have since reached me, that she then became truly converted to God. Outwardly she assumed the strictest garb of a Friend, and exchanged her silk for a camlet gown; she no longer related fairy tales; but told me more of Scripture, and that more sweetly; she pointed out to me the wisdom and goodness of God in all the fruits and flowers of the garden, and in all else that she thought my childish mind could apprehend. She soon became ill, and was sent, for her health, to the Hotwells, Bristol; from which place she never returned. Before she went, she came to take leave of us.

"I am going," I think she said, "never to come back." I replied, "Oh, let me go with you!" to which she answered, solemnly looking up, "If thou wouldst be where I hope to be, thou must trust where I desire to trust." Her words made an indelible impression upon me. Though I did not understand them, I believed that something awful and solemn was associated with their meaning, but I dared not ask anybody to explain it. When, some months afterwards, I heard of her death, these words rose up before me; and, for a season, seemed ever present with me.

There were still a few other seeds scattered at this time in my mind, which I shall mention, because they struck deep root in my tastes and character. The books in which

I delighted were not only eagerly read, but each of my