1851–1854

In order more fully to utilize his vast and various stores of information, he instituted and faithfully carried out a simple but effective system of common-place book and index. There is a series of books, of small superficial extent but considerable thickness, and firmly bound in leather, the size and shape being determined with a regard to convenience in carrying them about in railway journeys or stroUs by the seashore. They are marked A, B, C, etc., and entitled Bibhne or Bookessence. Volume A is carried about until it is filled; then it is laid on the sheH and B takes its place.

Never and nowhere does he write an abstract of any book or portion of a book. The entries are mainly of two kinds — either, first, a mere reference to a fact or argument, with the volume and page of the book in which it is found; or, second, the fact, or argument, or illustration copied verbatim with a reference to the author and the page. In determining whether of these two methods should be followed in any given case, he was guided by one or both of these two circumstances, viz., whether the authority were permanently within his reach, and whether the portion were short or long. If he could lay his hand on the book at any time, and especially if the statement which interested him was of considerable extent, he contented himself with a heading to indicate the theme, and a reference to its place. If, on the other hand, the book could not be easily obtained, and especially if the coveted morsel was small, it was inserted bodily, duly flanked with inverted commas, and authenticated by its author’s name.

As a specimen of the former class, take a few references to facts in Livingstone’s Zambesi: —

“Plants begin to bud before rain or dew, .... 48

Man sells himself for three pieces of cloth, buys a man, woman,

and child, and has one piece left, ..... 49

Negro love of trade, ........ 50

Water rises a foot: that Englishman is doing something to the river, 63

Holiness, .......... 64

Birds of song congregate round villages, .... 65

Work preventive of fever,. ...... 72

Female mosquitoes the only biters, ..... 96

Take it leisurely, 179

Continuance in well-doing alone secures continual respect,. 180’

This goes on through the whole volume. The next book he happens to read is treated in the same way. Through a certain natural taste, cultivated and strengthened by long practice, he fastens on everything that suits his purpose in every book he reads, as a bee sucks all the honey that any flower happens to contain, and then flies off to the next. Thus the labour of much reading is not lost. The book goes out of sight, but the Bibline remains in the reader’s possession.

One larger book is employed as an alphabetical index to make these miscellaneous stores easily available. For each subject contained in the day-books a distinctive title is contrived: this is inserted in the index under its appropriate letter, and all the entries connected with that subject, scattered over the whole series of volumes, grouped together there.

For example, you open the Index at the middle of letter M, and you find the heading memoey in large characters at the top of the broad margin, and the page filled with various references, thus —

“J/?mon/.-Galaffi in Colchester’s (Abbot) Diary, Genoa, 1819. Pick on means of improving, (TrUbner). De Quincey in Trencb’s iUuatrations, 143. Curious creation of, Ad. Clark’s Life, 9. Morbid Winslow, Life of Lawson, 127, 235. Failure, Brydone in Life of Scott, 10, 1 10. Scott’s own, 10, 210. Dug. Stewart, Jeffrey, D 51 Clarifying power of, D 50. Tricks of, A 10. A. Hallam’swant of, N. Brit. Review, 14, 495. Of languages; the man who knew the greatest number of dialects, Elder Adelung, Athenm. Jan. 17, /63, p. 94. Bad, Le Sage, Disraeli’s Lit. Char. 120. Bentley’s, not good! HaUam, 4, 12. Optima Memoriae ars est penitus intelligere Erasm. op. i. 512. Augustini Confess, hb. 10. Feats of, Jordan’s Vie de M. La Croze, p. 225. Amst. 1741. Muretus Vari Leetiones, lib. III. cap. i. 31. 1586. Joseph Scaliger and others, Sir W. Hamilton’s Lectures, ii. 208, 224, 222. Life of Mezzofanti (Dr. Rossi), 32. Aided by Method, Lettsom’s Life, 17, 148, ii. 53.

Ode to, Tennyson, 26.

Rogers, Pleasures of.

Addison Alexander’s Scrap Book.

Softening and exaggerating power of, Wordsworth, v. 82. Rapidity of Recollection, LeifchUd’s Tracts, 215. Scratching back of head in order to remember, Jackson, 3, 378.”

Turning, as directed, to vol. D, p. 51, we find

“Failure of Memory. — Lord. Jeffrey told Professor Miller that his plan was to prepare his speeches, not writing them, for his penmanship made writing irksome to him, and he could not dictate. But he composed and arranged in so many mental compartments what he meant to say. In preparing for his first speech in Parliament, he was more than usually careful, and had grouped his materials in four divisions. “I got on quite well with the first and the second; but when I had done with them, hehold no third was forthcoming. Of course I had to scramble into number four as well as I could, but by this time the speech was ruined. Of course, the moment I sat down the truant came slipping back into my mind, and was entirely at my service.”

At D 50 the insertion is —

“Clarifying power of memory — ‘Was Ich sah und horte

Selten fuhlt Ich, was es war,
Solang der Eindruck die Besinnung sti5rte;

In der Erinn’rung ward nur’s Klar.’ — Ruckert.”

The plan was not complete at the first; it was matured by degrees. In the first volume, “begun, Brighton, 5th September, 1845; finished at 28 Stafford Street, Edinburgh, 30th May 1850,” the material is inserted under distinct heads and at different places. The four divisions are — Extracts from borrowed books; References to books in my own possession; Projects; and Sources of illustration.

In the second volume the scheme is one degree more fully developed. There is no division of the subjects now, according to their kind; they follow each other as they arise in the order of time, with absolutely no regard to their nature. To make the miscellaneous mass available, a few pages at the end are reserved for a brief and imperfect index. As the materials accumulated, the necessity for a more perfect organization became apparent. In the third volume, accordingly, “Book-Essence, Bundle III,” introduced by a motto from Sir J. Davies —

“Skill comes so slow, and life so fast doth fly; We learn so little, and forget so much” —

there is neither a classification of subjects nor a final index.

The index for these volumes and all their successors is begun on a larger scale, and transferred to a separate book. Henceforth the Day-book, and the Ledger that makes it available, proceed pari passu with the utmost exactness and regularity to the close. Nor did this labour cease until the powers of nature finally gave way. The sixth and last volume, begun in August 1866, deals with books that were published that year, and stops abruptly in the middle.

In the first volume, where the subjects are to some extent classified, a small but very interesting group occurs, under the head of “Projects:” —

“A book of parables.

“Tbe manse and the minister of the old Scottisb time.

“Tbe knight vaulting over the sea-cliflF.

“The bundle of myrrh, or truth as it is in Jesus,

“The manifesto of Messiah the Prince, — Sermon on the Mount.

“The Mount of Olives, — some thoughts on prayer.

“A little book to induce people to read the Bible with interest and expectation.

“A short system of personal theology in little volumes — 1. Evidences; 2. The Gospel; 3. Essential Christianity, as opposed to Church systems.”

The list extends much further. Let these suffice as specimens. Those who are acquainted with his works wUl observe that several of these conceptions were happily realized; the greater number, however, remain as conceptions and aims only. He had always a multitude of objects lying in perspective before his view drawing him forward. Although he had survived in possession of all his faculties to fourscore, he would still have been only in the middle of his work. He was never done. Before one design was executed, two were projected. The longer lie lived, therefore, the more he left undone when he was called away.

The fifth volume bears that it was begun at 48 Euston Square, in October 1862, and finished in the British Museum, in July 1866, Turning to the end, curious to learn what he may have inserted in his Day-book while he sat at the table in that great repository of knowledge, with many seekers, each following his own bent, sitting silent near him, we find these miscellaneous jottings, all bearing on his life-work: —

“Obsolete controversies, like Martello towers a hundred miles inland — frigates rotten on the stocks.

“Hasten the time when every heart shall be an altar, and every man a living temple, — when every sinner shall have found a Saviour, and, in a world wherein dwelleth righteousness, that Saviour shall have found His recompense.

“Mind and its mysteries. Would be very nice if we could put a mind under a bell-glass as we do a bee-hive, and watch the coming and going of fancies, and the laying up of thoughts, — sweet fancies gathered from flowers of fact in memory’s cells.

“Impatience of the profound. Wish a sea, transparent to the bottom.

“Outside observers or surface people. * A primrose by a river’s brim’ does not tell a tale of a thousand springs.

“Sun has been forming heat and awaking motion.

“A mind many-flavoured (pine-apple).

“Send forth Thy light this day to guide us. May good be done, may truth be spoken, our neighbours benefited, God glorified.”

The last entry of the last volume, written not long before his final illness, is a short poem by W. Alexander.

“J. S.

*’ Oh, Counsellor! four thousand years
One question tremulous with tears,
One awful question vexed our fears.

They asked the vault, but no one spoke.
They asked the depth, no answer woke.
They asked their heart — that only broke.

They looked, and sometimes on the height

Far off they saw a haze of white,

That was a storm, but looked like light.

The secret of the years is read,
The enigma of the quick and dead
By the child-voice interpreted.

Oh, everlasting Father, God!

Sun after sun went down, and trod

Race after race the earth’s green sod.

Till generations seemed to be

But dead waves of an endless sea —

But dead leaves from a deathless tree.

But Thou hast come, and now we know
Each wave hath an eternal flow,
Each leaf a lifetime after snow.”

In this manner an immense and varied store of materials has been accumulated, classified, and labelled, so as to be easily found when wanted. I understand he was in the habit of frequently referring to these repositories for materials during the progress of his compositions. The volumes of Bibline were always kept at hand for reference while he was at work. But even though he had less directly or less frequently referred to these repositories, this would not prove that his labour was lost in compiling them. It would rather prove that he had reaped the richest fruit from his labour. The process of recording and arranging everything that seemed instructive, either in his reading or his observation, tended to give him fuller and more permanent possession of the facts and thoughts. Thus, when the same conceptions were afterwards needed, they flowed from his mind all the more readily that they had been written in the book, and flowed in combination with other facts and thoughts obtained from other sources — the whole tinged by his own peculiar genius, and emerging to all intents the new creations of his own mind. No man made more use of what others had written, and yet no writer of his day was more thoroughly independent and original. So intense, indeed, was the idiosyncracy of his thought and style, that what he wrote anonymously was recognised as well as what he wrote over his own name. He did not possess the faculty either of adopting other people’s methods, or of concealing his own.

“42 GowER Steeet, Jan. 8, 1851.

“My deak William, — ... Last week I sent your friend Fraser an article for the Forth British on Doddridge. It will fill two sheets of that respectable periodical, and took three days of my time, and was a tax on my weary brains.”

This paper was greatly appreciated. At a subsequent date, the editor. Professor Fraser, writes, “Isaac “Watts is still on my list of promises; will you enable me without delay to transfer it to the list of performances? When I remember the happiness so many readers derived from Doddridge, I long to see the North British the instrument of communicating not less happiness in connexion with the name of Watts.”

THE PLACE OF HIS “FATHERS SEPULCHRES.” 405

TO MR. JAMES WATSON.
” Stonehouse, by Hamilton, Feb. 21, 1851.

“My dear Friend, — It occurs to me that the best plan will be to print our Bibliographical preface last, and keep for it all our phizzical and other illustrations. In the meanwhile, I send matter enough to set the printer agoing; to-morrow I may send the third lecture {Royal Preacher). No printing better answers my idea than just such a page of type as these ‘Young Men’s Lectures, and, as you say, quite severe, at least quite simple.

“I have seldom been so much touched by the death of an imknown friend as my kind friend Mr. Westley. ,1 was looking forward to visit his premises as soon as any friend was with us on whom such a sight would be well bestowed; and the cordial greeting and some occasional intercourse were among the joys for which I hoped this summer. And I feel it not a little affecting that I and mine should have been among the last objects of his far-reaching kindness. Nor do I forget, my dear Mr. Watson, that all this gratification, actual and prospective, was just one particular under the general head of a most extensive and fruitful friendship.”

“Stonehouse, Feb. 21, 1851.

“My dear Annie, — To-day I went and stood in the sunshine at the grave of Christina, and looked down on that emblem of life, the Avon, ’ bright and loud, and speeding to the sea.’ And when I read on my grandfather’s tombstone, ‘Born at Milnholm, Jan. 12, 1738; died at Longridge, Jan. 8, 1822;’ I wondered if a fifth generation would ever stand at the grave of another James Hamilton in the year 1927, and think — How curious! if my grandfather had been still alive, he would have been 113 years old! Perhaps before that time death himself shall die. Last night Uncle John, James Walker, and three of the Bogside cousins took tea with us; so that I have seen them without the fatigue of a pilgrimage through these impenetrable roads. Uncle Thomas’s school is a splendid place. They have got a very purpose-like teacher, and he has already more pupils than he can easily manage.”

A noble school in the village of Stonehouse, the contribution of Mr. Thomas Hamilton, of London, to the education of his native parish.

“Stonehouse, Feb. 21, 1851.

“My dear Andrew, — Dr. Candhsh has gone to London to give one of the Exeter Hall Lectures to Young Men (‘Inspiration’ is his subject), and in fulfilment of an old promise he takes Regent Square for two Sabbaths and I take Free St. George’s. This has given me three pleasant days at Stonehouse. Mamma I find quite as well as I could have hoped. Her faculty of locomotion is not great, and her spirits are somewhat abated, but otherwise she is much as she used to be. For Uncle Thomas’s school they have got Mr. Arthur, a purposelike and popular teacher. In the day-school there are about 100 scholars, and as many more at night; and as manners as well as morals will be added to the usual curriculum, it promises to be a great boon to the neighbourhood. Very touching it was to look down on life’s emblem far below, the bright-flashing and noisy Avon, hasting to the sea, and then to mark the gable of the parish church, old and ruinous, like a paralytic preacher trying to speak of the world to come, but speaking more distinctly of human frailty....

“I do not wonder at your elation in making Humboldt’s acquaintance. But as you are not a naturalist, it would have been better bestowed on me. I could have talked (at least listened) about intertropical vegetation and corpuscular life at the equator, and you would be more at home with Baron Grimm and his Mdhrchen (rightly spelled?) It is a grand thing to have seen the old Baron. You should write down the ipsissima verba of his conversation.”

TO HIS WIFE.

“4 S. Charlotte Street, Edinbtjroh,
Feb. 22, 1851.

“One of my visits was to Lord Cockburn, Mrs. Stewart’s father. He met me on the stair and said, ‘Are you James Hamilton? The footman said something about a doctor. Here, my dear, let me introduce you to Cardinal Wiseman! ’

“Well, my loved one, by the time you get this, half of the time will be past. We shall have a great deal to say when we meet. More love we cannot feel when together than when apart. Very sweet has been that fountain of joy in the desert which yourself and your affection have opened for me, my Annie. May we drink together at the river of pleasure on high, and by growing holiness and love to our dear Redeemer, may we be growing in meetness for that crowning joy.”

“4 S. Charlotte Street, Edinburgh,
March 1, 1851.

“My dear Lady Pirie, — The tidings have arrived for which your friends were perhaps better prepared than yourself, whose ajffection up to the latest would be hoping against hope. When on yesterday fortnight I left your house with my present journey in prospect, it was with very faint expectation of ever seeing Sir John in the body until the consummation of all things. And now that these long weeks of exhaustion and dying strife are over, amidst all the grief for the public and private loss, it becomes me to give thanks to Him who hath abolished death, and through whose great sacrifice we fervently trust that our departed friend has exchanged a bed of suffering for the society of spirits made perfect. For Sir John I always felt the deepest respect and affection, and I had good reason. Not only was he a citizen of the highest standing, but all his influence was exerted for patriotic and Christian ends. And personally I was much beholden to him. Knowing how beset he was with applications of all sorts, I endeavoured to tax his kindness as little as I could; but I never applied to him on behaK of any one but his good offices were instantly exerted with a cheerfulness and heartiness which made me doubly his debtor. From what I have been cognisant of in this way, T am sure that no one can reckon the number of young men who owe their advancement in life to his generous friendliness. And you also know how impossible it is to sum up the amount of his charities. Nor can I ever forget the uniform kindness and courtesy of these nine years “FORGET NOT ALL HIS BENEFITS.” 409

that I have been favoured with his friendship. And now that all his worth and integrity and public spirit have passed away from this world, in common with numbers more, I shall never cease to cherish his memory. What you have lost, you yourseK fully know, or rather, I should say, He knows who alone can fill the void. You will, I am fully assured, find Him a present help and all-suflfi.- cient Comforter. And to His grace commending you, I remain, dear Lady Pirie, affectionately and gratefully yours, James Hamilton.”

“42 GowER Street,
Sabbath Evening, March 9, 1851.

“No lot is more favoured than mine. A slight sore throat, disabling me for preaching this evening (the first time this winter) gives me time to think of my mercies.

“My dear wife and our two little children, our commodious house and a large library, my mother and brothers still spared, our nearness to St. John’s Wood, Uncle Thomas and many friends, freedom from debt, ability to preach every Sabbath for a year, the church full, the members more numerous than ever, are among the outward mercies.

“Then of such as are spiritual To me God says, ‘This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased: hear him;’ and I think I am well pleased with the Son of God. I think there is no voice I like so well to hear, nor any name which I would so desire to spread. To me Jesus says ‘Come imto me,’ and I hope that I have gone. In my own languid way I trust that I am often going to Him. To those that believe He is precious, and surely He

410 SERMON IN ST. GEORGE’s, EDINBURGH.

is precious to me. I speak of Him little, and I seldom feel those rapturous emotions towards Him with which the bosoms of better disciples burn; but surely He is in a true sense my Alpha and Omega. “Without Him my life would have neither meaning nor motive. I love literature and the natural sciences, and I love our Free Church; but I would have no heart to extend that Church if I did not think that it is the cause of Christ, and I would have no true zest in books and study if I could not lay their products at the Saviour’s feet. Though in a very faint and inferior sense, may I not hope that ’ for me to live is Christ;’ and if I am right in the premiss, if Christ is mine, then all things are mine.

“On Thursday se’nnight I preached a sermon in Free St. George’s on behalf of ‘the Shelter.’ When it was over, in the vestry Dr. Smyttan said, ‘Let me introduce you to a namesake — another James Hamilton.’ So I shook hands with Mr. Hamilton of Ninevar, who was counting the collection, and marked his fresh hale aspect, so promising of years to come. But in a few minutes after he was carried home apoplectic, and never more was conscious, till he died on Sabbath morning. He was a pious man, and it is pleasant to think that his last employment was a labour of love. To me it was very solemn, — the identity of the name and the fact that a sermon of mine was the last he ever should hear. It is remarkable too that I should never have spoken to him till that hour, and very likely I was the last person with whom he shook hands.”

A note from a Christian foreigner sojourning in London serves to throw a cross-light on the useful life of the minister and author: —

FROM C. SCHONBERG.
“9 Barnard’s Inn, Holborn, March 25, 1851.

“Reverend Sir, — Let me beg of you kindly to accept a copy of our Moravian Hymns, and to receive at the same time the renewal of my best thanks for the precious gift of your writings, which I shall read over and over again, prizing them very much. The prayer and conversation I enjoyed in your house was like a brook by the way to the refreshment of my soul. This winter, which I have spent in London, has proved to me a spring-time productive of many germs and blossoms, and deeply implanted in my memory is your acquaintance and your writings, which by a gracious Providence I have been permitted to meet with. May our Lord, through His love and life-giving power, grant to you long to continue an instrument of great and rare benefits to your fellow-pilgrims. — I remain, reverend sir, faithfully yours, C. Schonberg.”

FROM LADY VERNEY.

“4 Heskbth Crescent, Torquay, June 12, 1851. “Dear Dr. Hamilton, — ... As I have been prowling among the rock pools, investigating their wonders, and making acquaintance with their inhabitants, I have had continually in mind your comparison of them to the various religious denominations whom the rising tide of love and truth is sooner or later to merge into one. I am delighted to hear that so distinguished a fish as Merle d’Aubign found his way into the little episcopal pool in Woburn Chapel. I hope he may have stirred the water there to much purpose. — Believe me, yours most truly and obliged, Eliza Vekney.”

FROM MR.

“June 18, 1851.

“... I am glad that you retain, dear Sir, amidst your arduous stated exertions, all that elasticity of mind which enables you to produce ‘things new and old,’ in such large variety and with such affluence of manifold illustration. Glad, because this is always so conducive to attraction by impression, and more, I should think, in our own than in any former age. I feel more than ever the value of intellectual vigour and imaginative resources in recommending great truths, as the close approach, not to say arrival, of old age makes me acquainted with the declension of such powers and advantages. I have, indeed, been indulged with a full year of exemption from depression, a most unusual period with me, and calling for my deepest gratitude; but at present I have some symptoms of that cloud which has so often overshadowed me, and, to use your own words, ’ it is not easy to muster up a smile.’ — I am, my dear Sir, yours most truly.”

I confess I have sometimes been provoked by hearing good people whose range of ideas was limited, and whose sensibilities were not very tender, criticising severely the methods of James Hamilton as a preacher and a writer.

He was too poetical — he gave fancies instead of the solid, searching truth. Little did they know — they were incapable of comprehending — how the gospel found its way on the wings of his bright imagination into hearts that needed its consolations, but were closed against the entrance of coarser forms. This gentleman’s note serves to show that in his “diversities of operation” the Lord iinds a use for every talent he has bestowed and sanctified. The feet and the hands are very useful in the mystic body; but let them beware of despising the seeing eyes and the hearing ear.

FEOM SIR GEOEGE SINCLAIR.

“Thfkso Castle, 8th July 1851.” My dear Friend, — I cannot find it in my heart to employ a less familiar designation when addressing the son of a father for whom I cherished so sincere a regard, and the biographer of a sister (Lady Colquhoun) to whom I was so tenderly attached, to say nothing of his personal claims on my affectionate esteem, as a devoted minister and an accomplished scholar. Your letter was read in the same spirit in which it was written — I of course mean that of kindness and satisfaction. The painful conflict which preceded my solitary disruption has terminated in procuring for me a security and spirituality of mind to which I had for a long time been in a great measure a stranger. It is delightful to find myself once more associated in the bonds of holy fellowship with the men whom I most love and revere, and whose cause and Church I

He did not abandon the Establishment with the body of the Free Church in 1843, but followed on fuller conviction at a later date.

414 “THE ROYAL PEEACHER.”

believe to be identified with the Church and cause of Christ I am (not proud, but) humhled, when I contrast the cordial gratulations which I have received from many dear and much respected well-wishers with my own claims upon their sympathy and good-will. At my age, and in my state of suffering and infirmity, I can do little (oh, how much too little!) in furtherance of these great principles, to which we both attach so much importance, but I will do what I can whilst I can, and not forget that to each of us the night cometh when no man can work. I am exceedingly indebted to you for the very kind and valuable present by which your letter was accompanied, of which I have just read enough to convince me how much pleasure and instruction I shall receive from a reiterated and attentive perusal of the whole. I am astonished at the profound research and multiform erudition displayed in the introduction, as well as by the apposite illustrations and cogent appeals both to the heart and conscience contained in the lectures themselves (on Ecclesiastes — The Royal Preacher).... — Beheve me ever to remain, with much esteem and regard, most faithfully yours,

“Geoege Sinclaik.”

to mr, arnot.

“42 GowER Street, July 19, 1851.” My dear Friend, — Now that three weeks are past, I can venture to write to the reviewer of The Royal Preacher. Had I written sooner I should have disclaimed half the praise of that pleasant eulogy; and though my self-love has not yet so enlarged its capacity as to swallow the “whole, yet I have found out a use for it alL I say to myself, ‘That dear kind Arnot knows what I would like to do, and in his friendliness he thinks I have already done it. He is very shrewd withal, and likely he sees better than myself what I might do, and he speaks of it as un fait accompli So I must look on this article as a plan or portrait of what I ought to be, and take it as J. H.’s vade-mecum in search of himself.* Indeed, I deeply feel how short I come of what your partiality would represent; but still the qualities which you ascribe to me are exactly those which I would like to have, and the warmth of brotherly kindness which inspired that paper brought the tears into my eyes. J. H.”

On the 2d of August this year the minister and congregation of Regent Square suffered an irreparable loss in the death of Mr. William Hamilton. Through the gravity of his character, and the wisdom of his counsels, and the Christian meekness of his spirit, he had been a pillar in the church from its origin; and the survivors, accustomed to lean on his judgment, felt as a family bereaved by his removal The minister loved and revered him as a father; and the esteem in which his judgment was held may in some degree be measured by the number of letters addressed to him on all the gi-aver questions, whether congregational or general, as they emerged. One of the “projects” which Dr. Hamilton long cherished was to write a triple biography — memoirs of William Hamilton, James Nisbet, and Sir John Pirie, as characteristic specimens of the Christian merchant, differing much from each other, yet all conspiring as constituent expressions to form an epistle of Christ. He published some notices of Mr. Hamilton’s life and character in a sermon preached on the occasion of his death, but the larger purpose was never executed.

“October 1851.

“The kindness of Mr. M’Gregor of the Queen’s Hotel (Glasgow) is much to be remembered. After faring sumptuously for two days and a night, he would suffer us to pay nothing, and put it all to the credit of Life in Earnest.”

“London, i?’e6. 26, 1852. “My deae William, — ... My reading at present lies chiefly in the direction of Church History. I have a great hankering to write the true Acta Sanctorum, — the story of all the heroic and beautiful deeds which have been impelled by love to the Saviour. But for a history of the political corporations called Churches, I have little turn; and from the bulky compilations all round me, it is hard work segregating the materials of a truly Christian history. I would do it first of all in the way of popular lectures — say a dozen each winter; and these might afterwards be either published in lecture form or re-digested in chapters. The vision is pleasant for the moment, and gives some vigour to my reading.”

Failing health again compelled resource to a German watering-place.

“WlLDBAD, WliRTEMBERO, Juhj 26, 1852.

“My dear William, — Last week Annie wrote you a letter, but on reading it over I thought it gave such a sad representation of my health that I almost prevented her from sending it. The truth is, that I know of little the matter with myself; the only thing visible being a little heat upon my hands, which comes and goes, and is occasioned by a too acid tendency of the stomach. But though there is little visible, no doubt there is something latent. From what they tell me, and from what I feel, I believe I have over- taxed my powers, and now experience a temporary exhaustion. I am conscious, too, of a more irritable state of the nervous system, originating in the same source. This travelling is, I quite believe, the best remedy, and if you saw me at tahle-d’hdte, or climbing such hills as we crossed last week, you would think me a very enviable invalid. They have provided supply for Regent Square tiU the end of August, and by that time I fondly hope to be able for my work, and by a strict avoidance of extrinsic engagements, perhaps may do more justice to the congregation and myself than ever. My chest, I may just add, has felt sounder, for the last four months, than I have known it during the last six years.”

“Nov. 12, 1852.

“I wish I could take to, and delight in, goodness apart from and despite of everything else.... Alas! I esteem but do not enjoy him in private. I suppose it is on some such principle as prevents me liking carrots and other esculents which do not suit my idiosyncracy,’but which nevertheless contain a great deal of nutriment. It would be a healthier state to be less eclectic.”

2 D

418 “THE WAY HOME.”

Early in March 1853 a great calamity befell the family of one of Dr. Hamilton’s dearest friends, George Barbour, Esq. of Bonskeid. With his wife and children and servants he was approaching Manchester, by Bolton, in the train after dark, when the carriages ran off the rails, and a very great disaster ensued. Mr, Barbour’s two bright little boys were killed, with the nurse, and himself and Mrs. Barbour much injured,^ The driver of the engine, who had run the train over rotten sleepers at the rate of sixty miles an hour, was convicted of culpable homicide. The public mind was much stirred by the event, and many families were smitten with a life-long grief.

Tenderly associated with Mr. Barbour as his chief coadjutor in the conduct of the China Mission, Dr. Hamilton entered in spirit into the sorrow that had come upon his house, but could not in the first instance communicate directly either with him or with Mrs. Barbour, on account of their suffering from the accident. In these circumstances he addressed himself to Mr. Barbour’s brother, Robert Barbour, Esq., of Bolesworth Castle: —

TO E. BAEBOUE, ESQ., MANCHESTEE.

“London, March 9, ] 853. “My dear Sie, — For the last three days your dear brother and his wife and yourselves have been more in my thoughts than all other things; and although in such

1 An account of this great bereavement, under the title, The Way Home, written by the sorrowing, yet rejoicing, mother of the children, was printed — first privately, and afterwards published; one of the most affecting and instructive narratives of our day.

a sad calamity no words can be any comfort except God’s own, in the mere act of writing to you I find some relief to myself. With the great grace God had given to them, there were none on whom the blow could faU who could bear it as the beloved sufferers will. How different had it been some godless worldly family, whose treasure is all here, and whose only home is an earthly one! Those happy children are safe from every peril, and, introduced by the Saviour himself, are now beholding the face of His Father. What accomplished scholars, what lovely characters they will be when their parents see them again! And our dear blessed friends themselves, though we tremble at the desolate scene which awaits them on this side, and though we would be apt to think that they did not need so sore a trial, assuredly for them there is some deep and peculiar blessing buried in this dark cloud. And I am sure the dispensation is and will be sanctified to thousands. Many a heart has it softened, and into many an eye has it brought the tear of tenderness, even among those who did not know them. It has made them feel, ‘Why am I exempted V And it has helped to make them prize much-forgotten mercies more. It is good to weep with those that weep, and I feel assured that never were more prayers offered on their behalf than just at this time. In the Presbytery of London, last Tuesday, the sufferers were especially prayed for, on the suggestion of Mr. Gillespie, who spoke with much feeling, and who was listened to with emotion, for some present had not then heard of the accident. — Believe me, my dear Sir, most truly yours, James Hamilton.”

420” THE LIGHT TO THE PATH.**

In the course of this summer appeared one of the most attractive and useful of all Dr. Hamilton’s works — a series of essays on various aspects of the Holy Scriptures. The little book appeared at first under the rather unfortunate title, The Lamp and the Lantern; for this, in later editions, was substituted, The Light to the Path. It contains many passages of surpassing eloquence. It is fitted to be eminently useful, and it has in point of fact been greatly honoured as an instrument of good. It must have been a singular delight to the author to receive at various periods, from eminent persons at home and abroad, testimonies to its efficacy in commending the Word of God to the world, and in making it more dear to those who already had begun to draw from it the water of life. Some of these testimonies will be submitted at the place which their dates assign to them. The first is from an eminently competent witness, the late Sir George Sinclair, Bart.: —

“Thurso Castle, June 4, 1853. “My deak Fkiend, — I lose no time in offering my best acknowledgments for your most acceptable present. Any work of yours must be both precious and popular, — combining, as it never fails to do, research with originality of sentiment, terseness with truth, and piety with poetry of expression. You possess the happy art of rendering the strong meat of doctrine pleasing and palatable by the skilful admixture of interesting anecdote and felicitous illustration. I have no doubt that this seasonable publication will do great good to the cause of Christ, whilst it will at the same time add largely to the fame of its beloved and respected author, I wish he were here to talk over many of the important topics which it elucidates so forcibly, and which are so momentous at the present crisis.... Geoege Sinclair,”

It was the characteristic of his mind that he must always have a work in hand, and several in prospect. This constant impulse and eagerness toward work was perhaps the most commanding and distinguishing feature of the man. He was like a machine wound up and set in motion, which could not stop until the course of life was run. There have been other instances of a similar intensity and continuity of action; but, in most cases, these lives of extraordinary impetuousity have been shaded by some morbid irritability, or unapproachableness. In Hamilton’s life, the two factors, of congenital talents and superadded grace, so balanced each other, that the prodigious impetus of his course never crushed a fly. Although, from the gravity of the mass, and the celerity of the motion, the momentum was vast, it remained so completely under control that little children, so far from dreading it, liked nothing so much as to cast themselves in its way. There have been greater minds, and there have been as cheerful spirits, but not often has so much of the little-child cheerfulness been united to so much force.

The next effort was Excelsior. His letter in reply to the suggestion of the publisher, describes pretty nearly the plan that was ultimately adopted: —

“48EUSTON Square, June 16, 1853.

“My dear Mr. Watson, — The subject of our conversation this morning has been a good deal in my thoughts

422 PLAN OF ‘’EXCELSIOR.’*

since it was first propounded to me; and I feel its importance rising, and its attractions increasing.

“To bring into existence a literature which would quicken the intelligence and refine the taste of young men, and which, with God’s blessing, might strengthen their moral and religious principles, and help to cultivate all good affections, is surely as legitimate an object as the Young Men’s Christian Association could set before itself, and it is one into which your house could enter with all its heart.

“And I think it quite practicable. With such a Magazine as you spoke of, completing itself in a three years’ cycle, you might (besides one paper of practical Christianity, and some lively Scripture illustration every month) supply a series of articles which would be virtual introductions to the sciences, and summaries of history, sacred and civil; glances at inventions, manufactures, etc., and the A B C of the fine arts. To catch the shyer fishes, you might have a tale; and to keep your readers well informed on all that is transpiring, your idea is a good one, that each number should conclude with a summary of monthly memorabilia.

“But, to give it this catholic and permanent character, there should be as little as possible of local or association intelligence. It would be better that the Association printed a separate fly-leaf every month, or a half- sheet every quarter, for its own news and notices, and stitched it under the cover, so as to keep, for subjects of abiding importance, a book which you wish to be bound up and consulted in future, — a sort of young man’s cyclopsedia.

“A good deal of solid and useful writing may be pro-YOUNG men’s christian ASSOCIATION. 423

cured ’ on reasonable terms; ’ but if we invite men like Isaac Taylor, or Sir D, Brewster, or Archbishop Whately, or ladies like Mrs. Stowe and Miss Wetherell to contribute, we should be prepared to give them liberal remuneration. And, seeking not merely immediate sale, but high and enduring usefulness, we should (I submit) aim at a larger proportion of first-class contribution than the sprinkling allowed in most magazines.

“Through its lectures and classes, the Association has already done a great deal towards the object at which this periodical would aim; and its highest success would be if it should contribute a notable impulse to the culture — mental, moral, and spiritual — of the rising race of our country. With this view, it should be made so attractive that no one will grudge his money for it, and those who cannot buy it will still be eager to read it. — Ever yours affectionately, James Hamilton.”

“London, July 21, 1853.

“My dear William, — To-morrow, by the days of the month, it will be twelve years since I was inducted to Regent Square. Last Sabbath, I introduced Mr, Keedy at John Knox’s, and I am now the grandfather of nearly all the Presbytery. It is curious that Dr. Gordon, who introduced me at Regent Square, haxi all but consented to introduce Mr. Keedy. But twelve years have made the Doctor more fraU. Mamma will have a lively remembrance of that journey to London. I wish she could come up and see our new house, now that it is all straight. It is a delightful residence.

“I have begun to learn Dutch, with Count de Zuyler for an amateur tutor. It is difficult, but I hope to conquer it. I allow myself only one lesson a week.

“I am half through the Life of Haydon the artist. As I am fond of pictures, I am deeply interested. Its anecdotes are amusing, and its flashes of genius splendid, but its self-consciousness and arrogance are hideous.

“Your old friend Masson dined with me on Monday. On Tuesday, I dined at Tulse HiU, and baptized the little son of Mr. Boyd, whom mamma may possibly remember. Yesterday I took tea at Mrs. Hunter Blair’s with Lady Emma Campbell, who had been calling on us last week. To-morrow I have two young Dutch ministers dining with me; and on Saturday I dine at Guildhall, to meet her Majesty’s Ministers. But having excellent health, and long forenoons, I do not feel this gaiety much of an interruption. Besides, I have in my head the scheme of a new magazine, to which I hope to make a great deal of it subservient.”

From this time forward, he took a lively interest in the Dutch language and literature. He made as much proficiency in his studies as enabled him to consult the theologians and enjoy the poets of Holland. Among his many manuscript books one is devoted to that country, and is filled with facts and thoughts regarding its topography and commerce and history and literature.

“Dining out” was in itself regarded rather as a thief of time; but now having undertaken the charge of a magazine devoted to literature and art, as well as morals and religion, he will find a use for everything. Men and things in general will go to constitute grist for his mill.

FROM MR. ABBOTT LAURENCE.

“Boston, September 24, 1853.

“My dear Dr. Hamilton, — Mrs. Laurence placed in my hands your very kind note of the 5th of July, with the little volume TJie Lamp and the Lantern, and a charming, precious volume it is. I asked the privilege of Mrs. Laurence to write for her, and to offer our united thanks for your kind remembrance of us. I wish particularly to thank you for the felicitous manner with which you have introduced the name of my good deceased brother. He was in truth a thorough Bible man. Mrs, Laurence informs me that she has ordered our agent in London to send a dozen copies of The Lamp and the Lantern. My intention is to have the work republished here, believing it will promote the cause of piety and true religion. We very often speak of you and Mrs. Hamilton, and I cannot omit the expression of our united wishes that you would pass your next vacation in this country. It is a small matter now to cross the Atlantic. I am sure you will be repaid for the journey. ... A. L.”

“Dec. 1853.

“Last March we moved into this house, 48 Euston Square. There cannot be a more commodious residence; and although the rent and taxes will absorb two-fifths of my stipend, its airy apartments are (in my case) almost essential to the prosecution of ministerial work.

“During the year I published The Lamp and the Lantern and A Memoir of R. Williams. I have just corrected a new edition of The Royal Preacher. And for the next three years, if health is granted, my spare time will “be fully occupied in editing Excelsior, a paper through which I hope to give some good impulses to the rising race, should they be induced to read it.

“I have preached seventy- one sermons in Regent Square, of which only fifty were newly written.”

R Williams, whose Memoir he edited, was the devoted medical missionary who perished in the disastrous expedition to Patagonia.

“London, Feb. 22, 1854.

“My dear William, — It is a shame that I should be so tardy in answering your letter. The blame lies with Excelsior. I do not let him interfere with my ministerial work, but he makes a cut-up in my correspondence....

“I have hardly recovered yet from the sensation of time uselessly engulfed in entertaining a man whose arrogance accepts it all as a rightful homage, and who himseK has no idea of time’s preciousness....

“I confess, however, that I would be a better host if I had not such a nervous feeling about the value of time. There may be miserliness here as well as in regard to money; and of late I fear my panic about the smallness of my own stock is almost morbid.”

“48 EusTON Square, London,
March 29, 1854.

“My deae William, — My main object in taking the pen this morning is to try and persuade you all to a London pilgrimage this season. If you could clear out a few weeks in April or May, so as to bring up mamma and the children, they could remain till July or August, or later; and there would be no difficulty in finding a convoy for them on their way homeward if you yourself could not return for them. Jane and William would acquire the English accent! and Annie would learn to sing, — to say nothing of the gumption which the little cockneys would imbibe from their Scottish cousins. I really think the change would do you all good, and it would be a great look forward to us....

“It is now a year since I had the least interruption from illness, so that I have got on even better than you. On writing I thrive, but week-evening sermons and itinerancy have been my ruin. This is the healthiest, strongest winter I have ever had.

“Last night Annie and I were at a scientific soiree at a neighbour’s — Dr. Gladstone’s. Graham, Faraday, and all the chemists were there, and the cakes and ices were very good practical chemistry....

“I hope you like Excelsior. To me it is a great source of enjoyment, but I would almost like to write it all myself, so difficult is it to get articles made to order, — that is, so difficult is it to get other people just to enter into your own idea, and do the thing in the way you wish. The next number will contain some good papers, one by Binney, and another by Andrew’s friend. Professor Latham. ... J. H.

“P.S. — Pray do grant OUR request, dear mamma, and come and see us with William and the children. — Your affectionate Annie.”

FEOM A SOCIETY OF YOUNG LADIES IN BOSTON, U.S.

“Rev. Dr. Hamiltok. Boston, April 18, 18.54.

“Dear Sir, — We have thought it might not be displeasing to you to hear again from the little circle of young ladies in Boston who first addressed you about three years ago. Our pastor is about to sail for England, and as he hopes for the pleasure of forming a personal acquaintance with you, we venture to improve this opportunity for sending you a letter by him.

““We wish to thank you for the very kind letter which we received from you in reply to ours. It gave us all a great deal of pleasure, and has been read and re-read many times. Most of all, we thank you for the assurance that we had a place in your prayers. We have loved to think of this; and sometimes during months that followed the receipt of your letter, when our meetings were more than usually delightful, when we felt ‘our hearts burn within us,’ and realized the presence of our Saviour, the remark was made as we separated, ‘Perhaps Dr. Hamilton has been praying for us this afternoon.’ We still continue the practice of reading some book of a devotional character at our meetings. We have read some excellent works, but the wish is often expressed that Dr. Hamilton would write another book for us like the Mount of Olives. You may like to know that it is now more than five years since we commenced our meetings. We have continued them during this time with but trifling interruptions. Since our first meeting there have been many changes in our little band. We have had both additions and losses. Some have left ns for new homes and new duties on earth, and one for a brighter, better home in heaven, where prayer is exchanged for endless praise. We know that coming years must bring many more changes, that soon we may all be scattered, but we trust we are united by ties which time and distance cannot break. It is our constant prayer, that the future of each may be guided by our Heavenly Father, and that we may be fitted for an eternal reunion around the throne of God and the Lamb. For this, may we not still ask an interest in your prayers? Some of us are hoping to see you in England, but may we not all hope to add our welcome to the many which would await you in America? May our Heavenly Father long preserve your life and health, and as in the past so in all the future crown your labours with His blessing, and increase your usefulness more and more.

“Commending you and your family to His loving-kindness, we remain, with the highest respect and esteem, — Your young friends,

“Sophie L. Wateebury. Julia E. Marvin.

Kate E. Waterbury. Mary G. Parker.

Susan H. Keep. Abby Bancroft.

Martha M. Waldron. Ellen S. S. Clarke.”

We are inclined to set a very high value on this letter, As cold water to a thirsty soul, this good news from a far country must have been singularly refreshing to the wearied spirit of the worker at his solitary desk in the heart of London. The winged words that he had sent out at random on the world had alighted on a group of maidens, met to read and pray together on the other side of the Atlantic. The Mount of Olives helped them to lift their hearts to heaven. They opened a correspondence with the author; they prayed for him, and he for them, to our Common Father. Here is a link that helps to bind the two nations together in perpetual amity. These bonds, and a multitude like them, we venture to affirm, maintain peace between us and our great offspring in the West more efficiently than all the protocols of the diplomats. The politicians of this land did not display great wisdom at the crisis of the difficulty; but the manifold Christian friendships that run imseen like submarine wires between us and the Americans, did more to prevent war than the prejudices and blunders of political parties to stir it up.

The frank and affectionate testimony given by Mr. Arthur to the value of the Memoir oj Williams ought not to be omitted. It is the evidence of a thoroughly competent witness — an eulogium honourable ahke to him who bestows and him who receives it: —

“Wesleyan Mission House, BiSHOPSGATE Street within, London, July 23, 1854.

“My dear Dr. Hamilton, — Several times have I been on the point of writing a word to say how my whole heart thanks you for the Memoir of Williams, but the constant drive of work has from time to time pushed a postponable duty out of the way. Some of your works may circulate wider, but I doubt whether any will live longer. I hardly know whether most to admire the abstinence from much writing, or the effectiveness of what you have written.

I have had a good laugh out of several Methodist circles at your epithet, a ‘Church upon wheels.’ The book will brace up many a young missionary to hardihood such as he would not else have reached.... — Yours very sincerely, Wm. Artiiue.”

The Session of Regent Square, from the time of Irving’s early days, constituted a most remarkable brotherhood in the heart of London. As its ranks were thinned from time to time they were again recruited, so that throughout the period of Dr. Hamilton’s ministry the corporation maintained its vigour unimpaired. Many distinguished men of business have served God in connexion with it during the current century. As the venerated men who had been chiefs in trying times were successively removed, the survivors mourned over the bereavement like the members of a family. This year another stroke fell, Mr. Nisbet, the eminent publisher of Berners Street, was removed in a good old age. The minister preached an appropriate sermon on the occasion of his death. Nothing else could have satisfied either the yearnings of his own heart, or the expectations of the congregation. But a briefer, freer sketch of his venerable friend, written by Dr-Hamilton, in February 1867, a short time before his own decease, very happily and truly presents the leading features of Mr. Nisbet’s character. It was published in the Daily Review newspaper, on the occasion of the appearance of the Memoir of Mr. Nisbet by his son-in-law, Mr. Wallace. A short extract from this paper is subjoined.^

1” The distinguishing feature in his character was the multiplicity of his per-The sketch in its integrity presents with extraordinary precision the salient points in the character both of the minister himself, and the elder whose memory he honoured. Of no man but ]Ir. Msbet could the same thing have been written, and no man but Dr. Hamilton could have written them.

Mr. Nisbet treated Dr. Hamilton as a son, both in affection and faithfulness. He manifested for the minister an untiring love, but he was nothing loath to give him such advice as he considered needful So ardently did Mr. Nisbet love, that he could not hold his peace when anything displeased him. They understood each other; and if on the part of the senior a suggestion was never withheld, on the part of the junior freedom was never resented.

sonal services. No doubt he had a good income, and with a bountiful heart and a liberal hand he gave great sums away; but others have been richer, and their gifts correspondingly greater. But we have never known any one in labours of love so abundant, so ubiquitous and untiring. Never giving his sympathy where he did not also give money; he never gave either where he did not withal give time and trouble. An attentive, affectionate hearer of the Word, he was pre-eminently a doer of the work. With no distracting tastes, no passion for art, no turn for books, no hankering after holidays, and with an establishment which he had taught in some degree to take care of itself, most of his time was available for the business of beneficence, and to that business right joyfully did he give it. Blessed with habitual health, sanguine, inventive, aggressive, no one could complain that in cutting out work for others he shirked his own; and it would be no exaggeration to say that, during the last forty years of his life, there was rarely a leisure hour which was not given either to social worship or the service of philanthropy. In the morning you met him climbing Haverstock Hill to an Orphan School Committee; at noon, if you found him on his own premises, instead of authors and printers, his levee consisted of wanderers from Scotland, and waifs from all the world, worn-out craftsmen in quest of pensions, and foreign pastors seeking British aid; later in the day, if you stepped into a ward of Middlesex Hospital, or stumbled into a cellar of his congregational district, you might hear the tender tones of his voice praying beside the sick man’s bed; and the evening would conclude with a fatherly visit to some young men’s society or a missionary jubilation in Exeter Hall.”

A series of letters from Governor Briggs of Massachusetts, and Mr. Amos Laurence of Boston, has come into the editor’s hands a little after date; but as the letters are equally intelligible and valuable at any place, they are here submitted entire. They serve to show what estimate was formed of Dr. Hamilton’s works by Christian men of highest station and highest worth in the United States. They betray a fondness of friendship which is in these days very refreshing. May the kind words of those eminent men awaken kind echoes in many British hearts: —

GOVERNOR BRIGGS TO MR, AMOS LAURENCE.

“PiTTSFiELD, July 16, 1849.

“Liv dear Friend, — The dozen copies of Life in Earnest came safely to hand three days since. I thank you for sending them, and assure you they shall be distributed where they will, I hope, do good. Never did a book bear a more appropriate title. Next to the Book of books, I never read one with more pleasure or interest. Its author must have possessed a large measure of the spirit of the Bible to have so happily and so forcibly addressed himself to all classes of men. The serious Christian and the thoughtless worldling; the man of industry and the man standing ‘all the day idle;’ age and youth are all alike fitly addressed.

“For the pleasure, and I hope for the benefit I have received in reading and re-reading this precious little volume, I sincerely thank the author. I should be most happy to know him, and shake his hand, for I am sure his hand belongs to a right heart. Though I have no reason to expect that pleasure here, I hope to meet him in the bright and happy presence of that Divine Master in whose name he has spoken so well. — Truly your friend, Geo. N, Briggs,”

MR. AMOS LAURENCE TO DR. HAMILTON.

“To Rev. James Hamilton, of the National Scotch Church, Regent Square, London.

“Boston, Mass., U.S., July 18, 1849.” Sir, — The few lines on the other side are from our excellent Governor of the State, whose good word may be grate-

2.E ful to you, coming as it will from a Christian brother across the Atlantic. If it should ever happen you to visit this country, I need not say how great the pleasure would be to see you. I ‘m a ’ minute man,’ living by the day and by the ounce, not having sat at table with my family for a dozen years or more, and weigh my food, which is the most simple, and with a keen appetite when I leave off, have learnt the true Epicurean living; yet with this frail body I am compensated for all privations, by enjoying such treats as Life in Earnest in a way that few are allowed. I have cleared out the Sabbath School depository three times in the last four weeks, and have scattered the work broad-cast, and intend to do so, if my health allows. Among the persons I have given a copy to my younger brother, who is soon to be with you in England as minister to your Court. I commend him to your prayers and to your confidence, for he is a true man. I hope this may be handed to you by my youngest brother, who will probably be in London after this reaches him. His wife is with him, and is a true daughter of Scotch ancestors. Old Dr. Nesbit was her grandfather, and her family feel an interest in everything from the ’ old home.’ With great respect for your character, I am, Sir, your admirer,

“A:yios Laurence.”

Additional.

“March 14, 1850.

“This letter reached my brother Samuel in a fortnight in Germany. On his return to London he called at your house, but had laid the letter away so carefully that he could not find it, and never saw it again until this morning, when he found it while arranging papers in his new home in this city. I regret his not finding you at home, but it may only be an increased motive for you to come and see us. I will promise you as hearty and joyous a welcome as you would receive among your own people, we are all so deeply interested in reading your Memoir of Lady Colquhoun; and personally I am no less interested in reading your lecture on ‘The Literary Attractions of the Bible,’ delivered in November, and I have sent the copy (which my good sister, Mrs. Abbott Laurence,

AMERICAN ESTIMATE OF “ROYAL PEEACHER.” 435

recently presented to me) to the printers, to be republished here in tract form, to be scattered over our country. It is a gem worth more than any in your Queen’s crown. We are a little troubled here just now by the agitation of the slavery question, and the foam of our Slave States will pass off. It is our ’ poison,’ and its flavour is hard to get rid of. Our excellent Governor — Briggs — administers the State government in the spirit of a Christian ruler and the simplicity of an apostle. I have recently had an agreeable visit from Rev. John Thomson of the Scotch Free Church, now of St. John’s, New Brunswick, out from Scotland in 1848, where he was a settled minister. I received an account of the ‘St. Mark’s Free Church,’ copied from the Scottish Guardian of Sept. 21, 1849, from Dr. M’Gilvray, to whom I pray you to present me kindly when you see him. — With the highest respect, I assure you of my afiectionate interest in you,

“ijios Laurence.”

GOVERNOR BRIGGS TO MR. A LAURENCE.

“PiTTSFiELD, March 31, 1851.

“My DEAR Friend, — Your kind note of the 1 8th inst., in a package of good things — among which was one of the best of all things, Dr. Hamilton’s lecture before the Young Men’s Christian Association in London, on the 4th of February last, entitled ‘Solomon the Prince and Solomon the Preacher’ — came duly to hand. Absence from home, and various other hindrances, have prevented an earlier reply. I can’t tell you how much I have been charmed, delighted, and instructed by the reading of the rich and beautiful lecture. As a fellow-man and as a fellow-Christian I feel under great obligations to the eloquent author of this production for his efforts to impress upon the minds of the young men of his generation correct views of the sacred Scriptures, and the general truths which they inculcate.

“His remarkable lecture before the same Association last year, upon ‘The Literary Attractions of the Bible,’ is eminently calculated to produce the same desirable result. Thousands of young men in this country have read, with thrilling interest, that beautiful address. Its effects upon them, and upon those who will feel their influence, will be manifest after its worthy and faithful author shall have entered upon his reward in another and happier state of existence. I am highly gratified with the suggestion which you make in your note, of presenting to the young men of our country ‘Solomon the Prince and Solomon the Preacher.’ By doing so you will increase that obligation which your countrymen and humanity are already under to you for your numerous and continued acts of Christian munificence. I should be most happy in any way to be instrumental in laying before our young men this intellectual and moral treasure. How the destiny of our country would brighten if the noble and truly Christian sentiment uttered by Dr. Hamilton in his last lecture, that ’ the saint is greater than the sage, and discipleship to Jesus is the pinnacle of human dignity,’ could be made to sink deep into the heart of the young men of the United States!

“I hope before long, but how soon I cannot say, to have the pleasure of taking you by the hand. Above all, we are indulging the hope that we shall be made happy by welcoming you to our home during the coming summer.

«G. N. B.”

MR, A. LAURENCE TO DR. HAMILTON.

“Boston, April 5, 1851.” Reverend and dear Sir, — I will not withhold from you the charming letter of my friend Briggs, nor will I attempt to express in words my delight on receiving your letter of February 15, and its accompaniments. The lecture delivered to the young men on the ith of February, although designated by you as a ’ fragment,’ I sent to my friend, with a copy of your letter, asking of him whether he would advise its reprinting, and whether he would scatter it with its predecessor 1 If so I would pay the expense. His answer you have here; and I have the pleasure of saying that the ’ fragment ’ will be ready to circulate by thousands the present week; and when you shall have added your further comments upon ‘Solomon,’ and his works, our American Tract Society will be ready to publish the whole by hundreds of thousands, I trust: thus enabling you to preach through our whole country. The Memoir of Lady Colquhoun is a precious jewel, which I shall keep among my treasures, to leave to my descendants. I had previously purchased a number of copies of the American edition, and scattered them among my friends, so that there is great interest to see your copy to me.

“The part of your letter which touched my heart most was that in which you speak of my brother Abbott, and say of him, that * no foreign minister is such a favourite with the British pubHc,’ for it brought him before me like a daguerreotype likeness of every period of his life for fifty years: first as the guiding spirit of the boys of our own neighbourhood in breaking through the deep snow drifts which often blocked up the roads in winter; then as my apprentice in the city, and in a few years as the young military champion, to watch night and day, under arms, on the Point of Bunkerliill nearest the ocean, the movements of a British fleet lying withing four or five miles off him, which threatened the storming of Boston, but which happily they did not attempt; and, soon after, embarking in the very first ship from this port for England, after the close of the war, to purchase goods, and in eighty-four days after he sailed from here I received his first shipment; and, from that time to this, our firm has been successful, and has never been changed, except by adding ‘and Co.’ when other partners were admitted; and he has been making his way to the people’s respect and afiection from that time to this, and now fills the only public station I would not have protested against his accepting, feeling that ‘place’ cannot impart ’ grace; ’ and my prayers ascend continually for him, that he may do his work under the full impression that he must give account to Him whose eye is constantly upon him, and whose ’ well done ’ will be infinitely better than all things are. I believe he is awakening an interest in Europe to learn more about this country; and the people will be amazed to see what opportunities are here enjoyed for happiness for the great masses; and what we most fear is that ignorance which will bring everything down to its own level, instead of that true knowledge that shall level up the lowest places, which are inundated with foreign emigrants. Our duty is plain; if we do not educate and elevate this class of our people they will change our system of government within fifty years. Virtue and intelligence is the basis of this government, and the duty of all good men is to keep it pure. My brother Samuel will probably hand you this letter, or if he does not, he will call on you soon after you receive it. He was the youngest, and the son of the old age of my parents, and the ’ pet ’ of the whole family, and has more in him to love than either Abbott or I have. His wife is a granddaughter of Dr. Nesbit of Montrose, who came to this country in 1785, to be the President of Dickinson College, in Pennsylvania, and I believe he spent his days there in labouring to build it up. His granddaughter is dear to me as my own sister, and is the mother of seven as fine children as can be found in one family this side the Grampian hills. The two oldest boys have been in France, at school, the last year, and will return home with their father. I hope you will see them, and give them your blessing, for they are ’ true Scots ’ in their feelings and capacities. And now, my friend, what can I say that will influence you to come here and enjoy with me the beautiful scenes upon and around our Mount Zion. I live fast, for hardly a day passes that I do not ride. I am admonished to stop, for my head grows dizzy. Farewell. — With highest respect and aff’ection, I am most truly yours, Amos Laurence.

“Rev. Dr. Hamilton,

42 Gower St, London.

ps. — Mrs. Laurence desires me to present to you and your lady her most respectful regards, with the assurance that your writings are very precious to her. She also is a grand-daughter of a clergyman of your * Kirk,’ and enjoys, with a keen relish, its best writings.”