CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 Margaret V. Hull 
 Lace Making 
 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924051219412 
 
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 1864. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Olney — Bedford — Bunyan — Turvey — The Rev. 
 
 Legh Richmond— The Duke of Kent 3 — 13 
 
 II. 
 
 A Walk through Olney— Cowper's House — The 
 Summer House — The Church — Rev. John 
 Newton — Rev. T. Scott — Rev. H. Gauntlett 17 — 39 
 
 III. 
 
 Teaching of Mr. Newton and Mr. Scott not all 
 lost — Inequality between the Work to be done, 
 and the provided Means — Suggestions by the 
 Rural Dean of Fordham 43—48 
 
 IV. 
 The Bridge — Beau and the Water Lily — The 
 
 Schools — The Lame Boy and his Mother .... 51 — 56 
 
 V. 
 The Lace-Makers — How to help them — Advan- 
 tages of Religious Education — " Lace Tell- 
 ings" 59—7° 
 
 VI. 
 Weston — Lady Hesketh — Clergymen's Families — 
 
 The Sorrows of Genius 73 — 86 
 
 VII. 
 
 The Olney Hymns — How to shew our Gratitude 
 
 — Conclusion 8q — 106 
 
" A little spring had lost its way, 
 
 Amid the grass and fern ; 
 A passing stranger scooped a well 
 
 Where weary men might turn. 
 He walled it in, and hung with care 
 
 A ladle at the brink — 
 He thought not of the deed he did, 
 
 But judged that toil might drink. 
 He passed again, and lo ! the well, 
 
 By summers never dried, 
 Had cooled ten thousand parching tongues, 
 
 And saved a life beside. 
 
 A dreamer dropped a random thought — 
 
 'Twas old, and yet 'twas new — 
 A simple fancy of the brain, 
 
 But strong in being true ; 
 It shone upon a genial mind, 
 
 And lo ! its light became 
 A lamp of life— a beacon-ray — 
 
 A monitory flame. 
 The thought was small, its issue great ; 
 
 A watch-fire on the hill, 
 It sheds its radiance far adown, 
 
 And cheers the valley still." 
 
T. 
 
 OLNEY — BEDFORD — BUNYAN — TURVEY — THE REV. 
 LEGH RICHMOND — THE DUKE OF KENT. 
 
 In olden time our forefathers attached 
 great importance to certain localities, 
 rendered famous by the lives or deaths 
 of certain men who were esteemed to be 
 in some way serviceable to the interests 
 of the Church; and periodically made 
 pilgrimages to their shrines, expecting 
 thereby to secure to themselves some cor- 
 poreal or spiritual benefit. Chaucer, in 
 his " Canterbury Tales," supposed to be 
 told during a pilgrimage to the shrine of 
 Thomas A'Becket, has very graphically 
 portrayed the abuses attending these 
 peregrinations; which so bedimmed the 
 illustrious memory of even very good 
 men, that our forefathers of the Refor- 
 mation were only too glad to rid them- 
 b 2 
 
4 WE NEED BEST. 
 
 selves of customs, out of which, when the 
 spirit had departed, evil only seemed to 
 arise. 
 
 And so perhaps we have gone some- 
 times to the opposite extreme, and have 
 not sufficiently put ourselves in sympathy 
 with the wisdom of the really Good and 
 Great who have gone before, by the light 
 of whose labours we see our way more 
 clearly than many generations preceding 
 us. 
 
 Indeed, many seem to have no time to 
 think of the past at all ; and as little to 
 penetrate into our own country, very far 
 remote from the railway stations, cab- 
 stands, or telegraph offices, — artificialities 
 of life which have become so necessary to 
 our comfort, that it requires a very con- 
 siderable effort for town-bred people to 
 think of being without them ; although 
 mind and body would be alike refreshed 
 by a sojourn where they have not in- 
 truded. We live in an age of such 
 
OLNEY. 
 
 excitement and bustle, that to make the 
 least impression on our minds, everything 
 must be new and startling, or — to use a 
 very expressive word of recent coinage — 
 decidedly " Sensational." We have good 
 reason to be thankful that we live in this 
 age of railways, telegraphs, and news- 
 papers, when the active virtues are better 
 appreciated than they were sixty or 
 seventy years ago : but we have trials of 
 our own from which our great grand- 
 fathers were exempt ; and there are few 
 even of those who have been long and 
 earnestly engaged in the luxury of doing 
 good, who do not sometimes feel gra- 
 dually stealing over them, a craving for a 
 temporary rest in some quiet old place, 
 remote from the noise and turmoil of 
 modern town life. 
 
 Just such a place is Olney : it remains 
 very much as it was eighty years ago, 
 and then it was considered old-fashioned. 
 Perhaps one reason why, with its literary 
 
THE RAILWAYS. 
 
 associations, it should have remained 
 stationary, is its distance from a railway 
 station ; for it stands nearly in the centre 
 of a quadrangle, formed by the North- 
 western, the Great Northern, the Mid- 
 land, and the Northampton and Peter- 
 borough Railways, being eight or nine 
 miles distant from any station. 
 
 In childhood I had learned to love 
 many of the " Olney Hymns ;" and at 
 school, Cowper's descriptions had de- 
 lighted me; so when the opportunity 
 came, I was only too glad to visit Olney. 
 
 " Going to Olney," exclaimed a 
 friend; — "Where is that 1 ? Oh yes! the 
 ' Olney Hymns,' — and Cowper lived 
 there, did he not ! Well, really I never 
 thought of that being a place one could 
 go to now-a-days." 
 
 And it did seem more like a dream 
 than a reality, the idea of being wafted 
 into a region so poetic to Cowper's eye, 
 that its sweetness, embalmed in his 
 
WHBEB IS OLNEY? 7 
 
 beautiful word-pictures, has rarely failed 
 to bring soul refreshment to sick and 
 weary hearts ; and has opened the eyes 
 of many a mind to the appreciation of 
 common beauties and homely virtues. 
 
 Most of us are familiar enough with 
 the name, — for as long as we can remem- 
 ber, we have seen " Olney Hymns " on 
 the top shelf in the book-case, standing 
 beside the "Pilgrim's Progress," "Bos- 
 ton's Fourfold State," "Richmond's. 
 Annals of the Poor," "Scott's Life," 
 "Cowper's Poems," and many others 
 well known to the last generation, when 
 interesting Sunday books were scarce : — 
 but farther than this, we of the present 
 time know less what or where Olney is, 
 than too many of us care to confess. 
 
 Olney, then, is a very small town 
 in the north of Buckinghamshire, about 
 ten miles from Northampton. The in- 
 habitants number about 2,400, having 
 remained much the same for the last cen- 
 
8 HOW DO THE OLNEY POOH LIVE ? 
 
 tury. They are generally very poor, and 
 occupied in Agriculture, Lace and Shoe 
 making ; but the residence and labours 
 among them of good and great men have 
 helped to raise the minds of many above 
 the poverty of their circumstances, who 
 evidence by their lives that "Godliness 
 with contentment is great gain." The 
 average estimate for each poor person's 
 living, or rather vegetating there, is three 
 shillings a week, though very many have 
 to live on much less. They seldom taste 
 meat of any kind ; and drag out a mere 
 existence on bread and tea, which many 
 sometimes find difficulty in procuring. 
 Were it not for the Ladies' Clothing 
 Society, they often could not get any 
 clothes ; yet by their example they might 
 teach, what many persons need to learn 
 — gratitude for the mercies they possess. 
 Having had great enjoyment in visit- 
 ing Olney, I have a great desire to share 
 it with you, dear reader, that you may 
 
OlttEY A QtTIBT PLACE. 9 
 
 likewise have the pleasure of taking an 
 interest in the people as well as the old 
 associations of that little known, yet 
 world-famous town and neighbourhood. 
 
 Perhaps the most profitable hour I 
 ever spent was at a meeting, where 
 silence reigned for nearly an hour; and 
 although the immediate change from the 
 busy world outside, to perfect stillness 
 within, was strange, — it may have been 
 that the transition from worldly thoughts 
 and surroundings to the silent companion- 
 ship of those whose communings were 
 supposed to be with the Highest, acted 
 sympathetically; but certainly both myself 
 and companion realized that it was good 
 to be there. 
 
 With somewhat similar feelings, I 
 suppose, I anticipated my visit to Olney : 
 — nor was I disappointed. Having gladly 
 left behind me the multitudinous sights 
 and sounds of London, I stopped one beau- 
 tiful July day at the Sharnbrook Station of 
 
10 PLEASANT BOTJTE TO OUTEY. 
 
 the Great Northern Eailway. Waves of 
 sorrow surging even then, have since 
 rolled over my heart, but the soft shim- 
 mer of the leaves, the velvety look of the 
 emerald turf bordering the road-side, and 
 the hedge-rows wreathed with sweet wild 
 flowers, remain clearly photographed in 
 my memory of that nine miles' drive, and 
 give daily a deeper sympathy with the 
 Poet's verdict : — 
 
 " God made the country : — man the town." 
 
 For those to whom saving of expense 
 and time are no objects of consideration, 
 the most decidedly pleasant route is by 
 Bedford, on the Midland Eailway, from 
 King's Cross; as thus there is the op- 
 portunity of visiting Bedford, in the Jail 
 of which Bunyan produced that charm of 
 our childhood, " The Pilgrim's Progress," 
 one of the instances of how God can 
 overrule the afflictions of His people for 
 His own glory, and the good of man. 
 
LEGH RICHMOND. 11 
 
 On the way to Olney, from Bedford, 
 the tourist passes through Turvey, the 
 various institutions of which, through the 
 fostering care of the resident proprietor, 
 retain the impress of the large-hearted, 
 clear-headed, planning, teaching, training, 
 and management of the late Rev. Legh 
 Richmond, for twenty-two years the Rec- 
 tor of Turvey, though perhaps better 
 known to the world as the Author of 
 "The Dairyman's Daughter," "The 
 Young Cottager," and " The Negro Ser- 
 vant," the production of which gave the 
 first impulse to the Tract Society. There 
 is a singular agreement between the 
 account in Mr. Grimshawe's Memoirs, 
 published more than thirty-five years 
 ago, and the present state of Turvey; 
 doubtless much owing to the constant 
 care of Mr. Higgins, who has spent many 
 thousands of pounds in restoring the 
 Church, building Schools, a Working 
 Men's Institute, Cottage Improvements, 
 
12 1.EGH RICHMOND. 
 
 and everything that money can procure 
 for the happiness or welfare of the com- 
 munity. There is something truly great 
 in the thought of a man thus practically 
 recognizing the duties of landed property, 
 and making them his life business. 
 
 It is pleasant also to know that a man 
 possessing so much influence upon the 
 community at large, both by speech and 
 pen, did the work of his own little parish 
 faithfully and wisely; and that so far 
 as man was concerned, it did not go un- 
 rewarded. " Seest thou a man diligent 
 in his business 1 " said the wise man ; 
 " he shall stand before kings ;" was true 
 in the case of Legh Eichmond, for 
 he was many years Chaplain to our 
 beloved Queen's father, and followed 
 him to the grave. This beautiful tri- 
 bute to the Duke's memory is from 
 Mr. Grimshawe's Memoirs : — " Charity in 
 him lost its patron ; the cause of God its 
 firm and unshaken supporter ; and illus- 
 
THE CHEAPEST BOUTE TO OLNEY. 13 
 
 trious rank its ornament and example. 
 Testimonies like these are instructive to 
 the living, while they are honourable to 
 the dead. They prove that in this coun- 
 try, whenever exalted station is adorned 
 with corresponding virtues, and con- 
 secrated to high and noble ends, it never 
 fails to obtain the best of all kinds of 
 homage — the homage of the heart." 
 
 The least expensive way to reach Olney 
 is by the third class afternoon Train 
 from Euston Square, which stops at the 
 Wolverton Station, whence the omnibus 
 goes every evening to Olney. 
 
" I was a stricken deer, that left the herd 
 Long since. With many an arrow deep infixed 
 My panting side was charged, when I withdrew 
 To seek a tranquil death in distant shades. 
 There was I found by One who had Himself 
 Been hurt by archers. In His side He bore, 
 And in His hands and feet, the cruel scars. 
 With gentle force soliciting the darts, 
 He drew them forth, and healed, and bade me live." 
 
 The Task. 
 
 " God has a definite Life-plan for every human person, 
 guiding him and her, visibly or invisibly, towards 
 some exact thing, which it will be the true signifi- 
 cance and glory of their lives to have accomplished." 
 
II. 
 
 A WALK THROUGH OMJEY — OOWPEIt's HOUSE THE 
 
 SUMMER HOUSE THE CHURCH — REV. JOHN NEW- 
 TON — REV. T. SCOTT — REV. H. GAUNTLETT. 
 
 Olney consists principally of one long 
 wide street, with various odds and ends 
 of out-of-the-way places. Many of the 
 houses have gable ends towards the street, 
 and are very old and rough looking; 
 but substantial and clean in appearance, 
 owing to their being built of a kind of 
 freestone which does not gather much 
 moss. One bears the date a.d. 1570. 
 
 The centre of the village widens into 
 a kind of triangle, called the Market- 
 place; one of the outlets of which is 
 Silver End, the St. Giles's of Olney. On 
 the south of this Market-place is the old 
 house where Cowper resided for nearly 
 twenty years with Mrs. Unwin. It now 
 
18 A WALK THBOTOH OLNET. 
 
 belongs to Mr. W. Collingridge, who has 
 let it to several tenants. 
 
 Two or three doors off I used to visit 
 an old lady who recollected sitting on 
 Cowper's knee, and was very proud of 
 stirring her fire with the Poet's poker, 
 which seemed rather the worse for wear. 
 She was one of the few remaining links 
 between the present and a bygone age ; 
 which are quickly passing away. When 
 I saw her last winter, she was failing 
 very gradually, and has since died. 
 
 Cowper's Summer-house, from which 
 he dates one of his letters, describing it 
 as not much bigger than a sedan chair, 
 is built of wood and plaster, with a red 
 tile roof, and is in excellent preservation. 
 As the garden is now let separately from 
 the house, let us go round this corner to 
 the left, to ask for the key at the door of 
 Mr. Anthony Morris, in whose possession it 
 is, and who always seems so pleased to be 
 asked for it, that we almost feel on better 
 
cowpee's summer house. 19 
 
 terms with ourselves for haying given him 
 the opportunity of conferring the favour. 
 Here we are, seated in a veritable Poet's 
 comer. Poor common-place humanity 
 has been trying to make a niche for itself 
 in the Temple of Fame, the walls, door and 
 ceiling, being one mass of scribble of visi- 
 tors' names, many having come immense 
 distances for the purpose of seeing it. 
 
 There are lace makers sitting at their 
 work, singing at the doors of those very 
 same cottages, just as they did when they 
 so sweetly soothed Cowper's mind by sing- 
 ing his own beautiful hymn — 
 
 " Oh, for a closer walk -with God !" 
 
 And here is the gate which Cowper 
 had put up for his own use, that so he 
 might, without the trouble of going round 
 the street, visit his friend the Eev. John 
 Newton, when they were composing the 
 "Olney Hymns'' together. In imagina- 
 tion, for the hinges have long since grown 
 too rusty, we pass through it into the 
 c 2 
 
20 OLNEY CHTJBOH. 
 
 Vicarage garden and house, and find 
 ourselves near the Church. It is in the 
 early English style ; and the spire, which 
 is 180 feet high, makes a fine appearance 
 in the landscape. It has a beautiful peal 
 of bells, and an excellent clock which 
 chimes several tunes.* 
 
 The clergymen of Olney have fre- 
 quently been in advance of their genera- 
 tion. Doctrines and duties which in 
 them were singular, are now commonly 
 acknowledged. 
 
 I have somewhere heard or read, that 
 down from the Reformation, even in the 
 darkest times, here the Gospel has been 
 faithfully preached; and that passage 
 comes home to the mind with peculiar 
 force, " The righteous shall be in ever- 
 lasting remembrance;" for the names of 
 
 * At present there axe four Sunday services ; 
 but owing to the pressure of local circumstances, 
 it is much feared that the numher will have to be 
 reduced — to the sorrow of many. 
 
THE OLBEGYMBN OF OLNEY. 21 
 
 these good and holy ministers have been 
 as household words. Moses Browne, 
 John Newton, Thomas Scott, Melville 
 Home, Christopher Stephenson, and 
 others, have left the impress of their 
 minds upon the people's hearts and lives. 
 
 He whose name we are most accus- 
 tomed to associate with that of Olney, as 
 being the chosen friend of Cowper, 
 requires our first attention. A famous 
 man used to say that everybody some 
 time or other would be the better or the 
 worse for having but spoken to a good or 
 a bad man. Few could speak to John 
 Newton without being the better for it. 
 
 Like most men, who have done much 
 to help their fellow creatures, he had a 
 good, loving mother, who took such an 
 interest in his education, that though she 
 died before he had reached his seventh 
 year, she had given him a taste for read- 
 ing, and had stored his memory with 
 many valuable things, besides portions of 
 
22 a mother's influence. 
 
 Scripture, Catechisms, Hymns and Poems. 
 The remembrance of his dedication to the 
 ministry by her prayers previous to his 
 sixth year, restrained him from many sins 
 into which he would otherwise have 
 fallen, and after a lapse of nearly thirty 
 years decided him to enter the Church. 
 
 He seems to have been remarkably 
 susceptible of good female influence, and 
 is one of the many instances of the value 
 and power of attachment in guiding 
 youths aright at a time when all else 
 seems to have lost much apparent power 
 of control. When about seventeen, he 
 first saw his future wife, then a little girl 
 of fourteen, who, till he found his Saviour, 
 seems to have been his guiding star, and 
 afterwards his best earthly blessing. 
 Soon after, he was, through his own 
 carelessness, impressed on board a man- 
 of-war, made a midshipman, deserted, 
 and was flogged. In his rage at his 
 consequent hardships and indignities, 
 
JOHN NEWTON'S EARlY LIFE. 23 
 
 he formed the design of murdering the 
 captain, but desisted, because he could 
 not bear that she should think ill of him. 
 The ship into which he exchanged was 
 engaged in the slave trade, and he pre- 
 ferred remaining a slave at Sierra Leone 
 to returning with the mate of the vessel, 
 and was for three years shamefully treated 
 by his master's wife, herself a slave. 
 
 By the intervention of a friend of his 
 father's, he was rescued. It is remark- 
 able that during all this time his only 
 comfort was the study of Euclid, which 
 he completely mastered. He had seen, 
 suffered, and done much evil; but he 
 had a strong will, which, when turned 
 in the right direction, made him a means 
 of great blessing. He had received no 
 literary instruction whatever after he was 
 ten years old ; but by dint of an inflexible 
 purpose, and an excellent understanding, 
 he became during his voyages a pro- 
 ficient in Latin, learnt the rudiments 
 
24 TENDERNESS OF HIS CHARACTER. 
 
 of Mathematics and French; and later, 
 when on land, acquired a fair knowledge 
 of Greek, Hebrew and Syriac. Desperate 
 as he had been in wickedness, defying 
 both God and man, a feminine tenderness 
 seems to have lurked in his nature. " He 
 could live," says his biographer, Mr. 
 Cecil, " no longer than he could love." 
 
 "I see in this world," he once re- 
 marked, " two heaps, human happiness 
 and human misery. If I can take but 
 the smallest bit from one heap and add 
 to the other, I carry a point. If a child 
 has dropped a halfpenny, and by giving 
 it another I can wipe away its tears, I 
 feel I have done something. I should be 
 glad indeed to do greater things, but I 
 will not neglect this." No words could 
 convey a more forcible impression of the 
 importance of not deeming any sorrow too 
 insignificant for interposition, or show in 
 stronger colours the tenderness of his 
 own disposition. 
 
HIS CATHOLICITY. 25 
 
 Though his principles and conduct had 
 long been fixed, he was not ordained to 
 the Curacy of Olney till he was nearly 
 thirty-nine years of age. He filled it for 
 nearly twenty-two years ; after which, by 
 the kindness of his friend Mr. Thornton, 
 he was transferred to the more congenial 
 sphere .of St. Mary Woolnoth, London, 
 where he preached till after his eightieth 
 year, and which for many years was the 
 rallying point of those who at that time 
 had most interest in the promotion of 
 living practical religion. 
 
 His house was open to Christians of all 
 ranks and denominations, where, like a 
 father among his children, he used to 
 entertain, encourage, and instruct his 
 friends, especially younger ministers, or 
 candidates for the ministry ; where also 
 the poor, the afflicted, and the tempted, 
 found an asylum and a sympathy, which 
 they could scarcely find, in an equal 
 degree, anywhere besides. 
 
26 DEFINITION OF TETTE BELIGION. 
 
 His preaching and conversation were 
 characterised by very quaint common 
 sense, such as — 
 
 "True religion is an habitual recollection of 
 God and intention to serve Him, and this turns 
 every thing to gold. We are apt to suppose that 
 we need something splendid to evince our de- 
 votion ; but true devotion equalizes things : — 
 ■washing plates and cleaning shoes is a high office, 
 if performed in a right spirit," 
 
 " My principal method of defeating heresy is by 
 establishing truth. One proposes to fill a bushel 
 with, tares ; now if I can fill it first with wheat, I 
 shall defy his attempts." 
 
 " Candour forbids us to estimate a character 
 from its accidental blots." 
 
 "The Lord has intentions far beyond our ken, 
 for opening a wide door, while He stops the mouth 
 of a useful preacher. John. Bunyan would not 
 have done half the good he did, if he had remained 
 preaching in Bedford, instead of being shut up in 
 Bedford prison." 
 
 " Sometimes I compare the troubles which 
 we have to undergo in the course of the year to a 
 great bundle of fagots, far too large for us to lift. 
 But God does not require us to carry the whole 
 at once ; He mercifully unties the bundle, and 
 gives us first one stick, which we are to carry to- 
 day, and then another, which we are to carry 
 
CHRISTIAN LIFE — MINISTRY. 27 
 
 to-morrow, and so on. This we might easily 
 manage, if we would only take the burden ap- 
 pointed for us each day ; but we choose tp increase 
 our troubles by carrying yesterday's stick over 
 again to-day, and adding to-morrow's burden to 
 our load, before we are required to bear it." 
 
 In his singular personal experience 
 and mental characteristics, we see much 
 whereby we might account for many of 
 his religious views ; and partly the reason 
 why these when grafted on to less genial 
 dispositions, produced sometimes a less 
 satisfactory result than was expected by 
 those with whom they were considered 
 all powerful. The doctrine, that God, 
 out of His own full and free love, had 
 purchased him personally by the precious 
 blood of His own dear Son from the con- 
 sequences of a broken law, was to his 
 mind an incentive to, rather than an 
 immunity from its requirements, requir- 
 ing from him a life devotion of grateful 
 service to those most needing it for his 
 Saviour's sake. 
 
28 BEV. THOMAS SCOTT. 
 
 We grievously err if we suppose his 
 to have been a cold, narrow-minded, 
 heaven : circumscribing creed. No man 
 ever cultivated more earnestly the love 
 of his fellow Christians, or made greater 
 efforts to bring others lovingly within 
 the fold of the Good Shepherd. But 
 men seem to have varying spiritual gifts, 
 fitting them for different spheres of use- 
 fulness. His were eminently calculated 
 to build up believers in their most holy 
 faith. 
 
 Now the Eev. Thomas Scott, who 
 after a short interregnum succeeded Mr. 
 Newton at Olney, was if possible a still 
 more remarkable man, though not in the 
 same way. He was not so generally attrac- 
 tive as a preacher; yet his acquaintance 
 with Scripture was so minute and compre- 
 hensive, his general knowledge so exten- 
 sive, and his power of reasoning so acute 
 and logical, that he seemed almost like 
 an intellectual giant among children ; and 
 
STUDY OF SELF-CONTROL. 29 
 
 those who heard him benefited exceed- 
 ingly. He was a man calculated to give an 
 impression to his age rather than take one 
 from it. In reading the memoirs written 
 by his son, one cannot help admiring his 
 stalwart, brave and honest character, in 
 the progress of his search after truth, 
 and the almost instantaneous adaptation 
 thereto of his life, as he gradually reached 
 one stage after the other. He had for 
 many years previously been Curate at 
 Stoke, Ravenstone, and Weston, all within 
 a short distance of Olney, and had derived 
 great benefit from the friendship and 
 example of Mr. Newton. He was a man 
 of most extraordinary ability, and his 
 maxim was, whatever he did, to do it with 
 all his might. Naturally, he had a proud 
 and rugged temper; but from the time 
 he first subjected his mind to the teaching 
 of the Gospel, he so set himself to the 
 study of self-control, that he became 
 especially eminent for the very qualities 
 
30 soott's industry. 
 
 of which he had previously been deficient. 
 He was always at work, always busy, 
 always redeeming time; yet never in a 
 hurry. His very relaxations were often 
 equal to the diligence of others. But it 
 was not merely incessant labour which 
 distinguished him : for his attention was 
 always occupied by his proper work. He 
 was not merely studious, but studious of 
 what was immediately useful. From an 
 early age he was almost entirely self- 
 taught; the only education he received 
 having been at a Grammar school, from 
 the age of ten to fifteen. He had no aid 
 afterwards from masters, small means for 
 the purchase of books, little sympathy or 
 assistance from friends, and scarcely any 
 access to great collections. A few first- 
 rate works formed his library, and these 
 he thoroughly mastered ; yet he produced 
 a Commentary, which since its first issue 
 has been universally acknowledged as a 
 standard Work. He never remitted his 
 
THE LESSON OF HIS LIFE. 31 
 
 exertions in improving his works ; and 
 after thirty-three years bestowed on his 
 Commentary, was as assiduous in revising, 
 as he had originally been in composing it. 
 The marginal references alone cost him 
 seven years of labour. 
 
 The lesson of his life is almost sublime 
 in its simple grandeur : that of a young 
 man entering his life business on a de- 
 finite plan, with the clearly defined object 
 of thoroughly mastering every department 
 of it, going on with it, never growing 
 hopelessly weary, completing it, and only 
 ending the fifth revision with his death. 
 
 As in the case of most Biblical Com- 
 mentators on a large scale, the business 
 part gave him great trouble and anxiety 
 for many years, but God vindicated the 
 honour of His servant, and never allowed 
 him to be put to shame : " Not one thing 
 that he feared came upon him, but every 
 hope was realized or exceeded." 
 
 He was for some time Chaplain at the 
 
32 HIS CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 
 
 Lock Hospital, and held some other 
 Lectureships in London. 
 
 For many years, at Aston Sandford, 
 he trained the first Church Missionary 
 Students ; and at the age of sixty-one 
 commenced the study of Susoo and 
 Arabic, for the purpose of reading with 
 them. 
 
 Some of his notions were almost erratic, 
 or at least inconsistent with what many 
 would consider common worldly pru- 
 dence. Some of his maxims were — " Serve 
 God by the day, and trust him by the 
 day." "Never flinch a service because 
 nothing is paid for it: when you want 
 it in reality, you or yours, He will pay 
 it." " Trust in the Lord, and do good ; 
 dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be 
 fed." " You cannot do a better service 
 to the world, than by bequeathing to it 
 a well educated family. Let this be your 
 care, the rest will be the Lord's." 
 
 He was singularly successful in train- 
 
HIS MEDICAL SKILL. 33 
 
 ing his own family. They all turned out 
 well, and if I mistake not, the Eev. T. 
 Scott, Chaplain of the London Hospital, 
 is one of his grandsons. 
 
 He had a considerable amount of 
 medical skill, by which, about the time 
 he first went to Oluey, he saved many 
 lives from the effects of the Small Pox, 
 which at that time was rife in the neigh- 
 bourhood; although he seems to have 
 roused the ire of the people by the 
 vigorous perseverance of his remedial 
 measures, which ran counter to their 
 prejudices against fresh air and thorough 
 cleanliness. The expense to which he 
 subjected himself on this occasion was 
 remarkably met, by a person from whom 
 he neither before nor after received 
 money, sending him £15. 5s., which 
 covered it. 
 
 He was also very fond of gardening. 
 On his death-bed, he sent for his son, for 
 the purpose of mentioning " something 
 
 D 
 
34 THE BIBLE SOCIETY. 
 
 of a worldly nature." He says, "I 
 expected, of course, that he had some 
 communication to make respecting the 
 arrangement of his affairs. But to my 
 no small surprise, he said it was time for 
 planting his usual crop of potatoes for 
 the poor ; and he begged that I and my 
 brother would take steps for doing it, in 
 a manner best calculated to secure the 
 benefit to those for whom it was intended 
 after his decease." A remarkable instance 
 of " the ruling passion strong in death." 
 
 He was the " London clergyman " 
 whom Mr. Charles, of Bala, mentioned 
 as having given him such encouragement 
 in his desire to supply the Welsh people 
 with Bibles in their own language, his 
 efforts in London ultimately leading to 
 the establishment of the Bible Society. 
 
 With very limited personal means, 
 he yet always managed to be helping 
 some one forward ; and very few of his 
 relations were not, some time or other, 
 
REV. HENRY GATJNTLETT. 35 
 
 obliged to that very brother whom they 
 had formerly almost despised. 
 
 The Ret. Henry Gauntlett, the 
 father of " the Gathered Lily," (published 
 by the Tract Society,) is remembered with 
 especial reverence by many of the present 
 generation : it may have been the efficient 
 aid which he received from his large 
 family, and his sympathy with them, had 
 given him general influence with young 
 people. He took much interest in 
 Missions, and trained some of the Church 
 Missionary Students at Olney, previous 
 to the establishment of the Institution at 
 Islington. 
 
 After a long course of usefulness, as 
 well as much trial, he died suddenly, 
 though not without that kind of inti- 
 mation which God's servants sometimes 
 receive, that their earthly labours are 
 about to end. On the evening previous 
 to that of his death, he had been writing 
 his Easter Sermon, and had finished the 
 d 2 
 
36 FORETASTE OF THE GLORY 
 
 following beautiful paragraph, which in 
 the circumstances is so remarkable, that 
 I quote it. The subject was 1 Cor. xv. 20, 
 " Now is Christ risen from the dead," and 
 it ends thus : — 
 
 If, beloved brethren, you are risen with Christ, 
 you have no reason to dread the approach of death. 
 Tour final and bodily resurrection cannot indeed 
 take place till you have passed through the grave. 
 It is appointed unto you once to die : but your 
 Redeemer has taken away the sting of death. Is 
 death dreaded by you because it is the wages of 
 sin ? But Christ has procured the forgiveness of 
 sins by His death, and has declared the justification 
 of every believer by rising from the dead. Are 
 you afraid of the pains of death ? But Christ has 
 gone before, and smoothed and sanctified the way ; 
 and He has promised to accompany you, when you 
 are called to pass through it. Tou may therefore 
 say with the Psalmist, "Though I walk through 
 the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no 
 evil, for Thou art with me ; Thy rod and Thy staff 
 they comfort me." Fear not, then, Christian; 
 you need not be afraid of its consequences. To 
 die will be to you everlasting gain. Tou are 
 united to Christ by His Spirit ; immediately after 
 death your soul will be still more closely united to 
 Him, though your body will be consigned to the 
 
WHICH SHALL BE REVEALED. 37 
 
 tomb ; and when the glorious morning of the 
 resurrection shall arrive, then the perfect union 
 shall take place, when by His mighty power He 
 shall raise you from your bed of death, and make 
 you like Himself. " It doth not yet appear what 
 we shall be, but we know that when He shall 
 appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him 
 as He is." The body is sown in corruption ; but 
 it will be raised in incorruption : it is sown in dis- 
 honour ; it will be raised in glory : it is sown a 
 natural body ; it will be raised a spiritual body. 
 The resurrection will give you beauty for ashes, 
 the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of 
 praise for the spirit of heaviness. Then God Him- 
 self shall " wipe away all tears from all eyes ; and 
 there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor 
 crying, neither shall there be any more pain ; for 
 the former things are passed away : and He that 
 sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things 
 new. And there shall be no more curse ; but the 
 throne of God, and of the Lamb shall be in it, and 
 His servants shall serve Him. And they shall see 
 His face ; and His name shall be in their foreheads. 
 And there shall be no night there, and they need 
 no candle, neither light of the sun ; for the Lord 
 God giveth them light : and they shall reign for 
 ever and ever." 
 
 Newton, Scott, and Gauntlett, are good 
 representatives of the life-influence of 
 
38 LIGHT GROWS CLEABEB 
 
 some of the phases of religious thought to 
 which the Church has been successively 
 awakening, viz. : — The necessity of per- 
 sonal heart conversion, resulting in life 
 devotion and assurance of God's love : 
 — The privilege of God's children in 
 being allowed to work with and for their 
 Father, leading to an accurate and ear- 
 nest study of His Word, that so they 
 might better know and do His will: — 
 And the living interest with which the 
 study of ancient prophecy has invested 
 the acknowledged representatives of His 
 people Israel, with whose future are 
 bound up the destinies of the human race. 
 Another wave of thought has evolved the 
 practical results of our realization that 
 He has kept His Word to a thousand 
 generations. And now 
 
 "It is with words respecting the coming king- 
 dom, that we axe to comfort one another, and 
 well we may : for thence bursts forth a glory that 
 illuminates our darkness ; which throws a light 
 upon the whole Word of God ; and all the way in 
 
AS THE DAWN APPEOACHES. 39 
 
 which He is leading us. It is full of joy, and 
 ought to be no less practical in its influence. It 
 lets us see that service is our glory. Now we 
 shall have our penny-a-day, our daily provision, 
 received in the evening, in the time of trial, or of 
 darkness; and this we shall have whether we 
 have wrought long or short in the vineyard. So 
 much all that labour receive ; none are promised 
 more in this life ; and none will receive less. AH 
 who labour for God shall have, now in this pre- 
 sent life, all that is absolutely necessary for 
 them. 
 
 " The reward is different in the morning of the 
 resurrection. Then, when they are able to bear 
 it, shall they that have made much for God in this 
 stewardship, be more exalted in the kingdom, and 
 be intrusted with a larger distribution of Divine 
 goodness. Let us then labour truly and fully for 
 God ; and verily we shall be fed. Let us liberally 
 give ourselves, and all that we have unto God ; 
 and verily we shall in no wise lose our reward. 
 may the Bride now arise from the dust, disen- 
 tangle herself from all the bands with which 
 her enemies, and stiE more her false friends, 
 have bound her ; and let her indeed make her- 
 self ready : The Lord is at hand ! " — " World to 
 Come. ' ' — Wilson. 
 
III. 
 
 "It is not only large Associations and wealthy Societies, 
 with vast machinery, that have won great things for the 
 Church of God. How much has been accomplished by 
 means of solitary individuals, single minds and single 
 hearts, bringing to bear upon others the power of that 
 special gift with which God has endowed them for His 
 service ! Of these latter, also, it may be said, it is not 
 so much by what they have themselves performed, as 
 by the activity they have infused into other minds. 
 Vaughan says of Schleiremacher, ' He did not so much 
 desire to found a school, as to stimulate individu- 
 alities.' " 
 
in. 
 
 TEACHING OF MR. NEWTON AND MB. SCOTT NOT ALL 
 LOST — INEQUALITY BETWEEN THE WORK TO BE 
 
 DONE, AND THE PROVIDED MEANS SUGGESTIONS BY 
 
 THE BUBAL DEAN OP EORDHAM, CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 
 
 Doubtless at Olney, as elsewhere, 
 many might have more fully availed 
 themselves of their great religious privi- 
 leges: yet among the poor there are to 
 be met some of the clearest thinking 
 and most contented Christians; and the 
 clergymen preach as if they expected to 
 be understood. 
 
 It has been said by persons of quite 
 opposite opinions, that Newton and Scott 
 both saw at Olney the inefncacy of their 
 style of preaching in producing moral 
 reformation; but they are not the only 
 true-hearted men who have been dis- 
 
44 HIDDEN SEED. 
 
 couraged at their own seeming want of 
 success. Does not God in His Word tell 
 His servants to sow in faith, promising 
 that the fruit shall appear, though it may 
 be, as in the present case, after many 
 days? But Mr. Scott himself said, six 
 years after he left Olney, that he found 
 he had done more good than he thought. 
 
 True, opinion may vary as to the 
 desirability of preaching a one-sided view 
 of truth anywhere : but we must all agree 
 that where the memory of departed ex- 
 cellence lives in the hearts of a people, 
 enabling them, amidst much trial and 
 discouragement, to persevere contentedly 
 in doing what is right and kind, their 
 Pastors' labours have not been in vain in 
 the Lord. 
 
 We should endeavour to judge fairly 
 of the past, by remembering that to such 
 men we owe a great deal of that remark- 
 able awakening to practical Christianity 
 now distinguishing the Church, but in 
 
THE CHTJECH NEEDS HELP. 45 
 
 which she has been growing for the last 
 eighty or ninety years. 
 
 The living of Olney is valued at £124 
 a year — a noteworthy example of the 
 need there is of greater consideration 
 with regard to the necessities of a neigh- 
 bourhood in the appropriation of the 
 Church funds. 
 
 Judging by the poverty of the people 
 and the work to be done, one would 
 think the clergy here should certainly 
 have larger means at their disposal than 
 they have in the smaller villages round. 
 "With no resident landed proprietor on 
 whom would naturally devolve the honor 
 of taking the lead in forwarding their 
 efforts to help these poor but industrious 
 people, and hampered at every turn for 
 lack of the temporal means necessary for 
 the vigorous performance of almost any 
 efficient parish work, little need we 
 wonder if sometimes the clergy should 
 grow faint and weary at the sight of so 
 
46 LIBEBALITY 0E OLNET. 
 
 much physical want and suffering, which 
 might, with the aid of a little money and 
 thought, be so easily alleviated 
 
 We have already, in passing through 
 Turvey, seen what may be done by the 
 combined employment of head, heart, and 
 wealth. For want of the latter, Olney 
 languishes; although during the recent 
 Cotton distress the inhabitants sent £70 
 to Lancashire, the poorest contributing 
 gladly their halfpence to help those they 
 considered worse off than themselves. 
 
 In John Newton's time, Mr. Henry 
 Thornton made him his Almoner to the 
 extent of some hundreds annually ; but 
 no one thinks of doing anything of the 
 kind now, although the poor are just as 
 numerous and as needy as they were 
 then. 
 
 One cannot help wishing that the 
 suggestions lately thrown out by the 
 Rural Dean of Fordham, Cambridgeshire, 
 were generally acted upon. Speaking of 
 
SYSTEMATIC HELP. 47 
 
 the want of funds to carry out certain 
 advisable measures, he said: — 
 
 Firstly. I think it only right that we should 
 bring such a subject before the landed proprietors 
 of the several parishes. I know in many instances 
 they are non-resident ; nevertheless, I believe they 
 are much more ■willing to respond to any reason- 
 able appeal that may be made to them, than we 
 might think. 
 
 Secondly. The parishes in this Deanery vary 
 in many respects. Some are comparatively rich, 
 and others poor. "Why not apply to the richer 
 parishes throughout the Deanery to assist the 
 poorer, by Sermons and Collections ? 
 
 Why not, indeed % 
 
 At many of our watering places, such 
 as Brighton, Bath, Cheltenham, Hastings, 
 Leamington, Malvern, Torquay, as well 
 as in Town, there are whole congre- 
 gations of comparatively rich people, 
 many of whom are without any parochial 
 ties whatever of a pecuniary nature. 
 Could not their clergy bring the subject 
 before them of any particular parish, the 
 wants of which they might themselves 
 
48 STEWARDS RESPONSIBLE. 
 
 know, or which with a little trouble they 
 could easily find out; and thus be the 
 happy means of opening up new channels, 
 Whereby this and other forgotten corners 
 of the Master's -vineyard might be irri- 
 gated and nourished, blessing both giver 
 and receiver with the means which are 
 now wasted, often with great personal 
 and relative injury. 
 
 Stewardship involves responsibility. In 
 these places there are also many more 
 residing who derive their wealth from 
 rents and manufactures; but who for 
 health or pleasure have sometimes vir- 
 tually abandoned the duties which pro- 
 perty entails. To such persons certainly, 
 their temporary ministers owe the duty of 
 setting forth plainly what is due to those 
 whom God has entrusted to their care. 
 
IV. 
 
 We have gained some knowledge worth having, in the 
 day when we have read for ourselves any fresh page of 
 human life, and reflected upon it. We must do this 
 before we can understand how to help the sorrowful 
 and aid the deserving. The relief bestowed by first 
 impulse does them very little good, but every method of 
 helping them effectually to help themselves, is worth 
 all the study and prayer bestowed upon it." — Life 
 Wokk. 
 
*^>* r <-' 
 
IV. 
 
 THE BRIDGE — BEAU AND THE 'WATER LILT — THE 
 SCHOOLS — THE LAME BOY AND HIS MOTHER. 
 
 Near the Church is the Bridge, which 
 is long in proportion to the width of the 
 river, on account of the swampy nature 
 of its banks. Cowper has made its pre- 
 decessor famous in his opening lines of 
 the fourth book of " The Task." 
 
 " Hark ! 'tis the twanging horn o'er yonder 
 bridge, 
 That with its wearisome but needful length 
 Bestrides the flood, in which the moon 
 Sees her unwrinkled face reflected bright." 
 
 The river Ouse, which plays so impor- 
 tant a part in " The Task," has an equal 
 share in the amusements of the neigh- 
 bourhood. In winter, when, owing to its 
 extremely weedy state, it overflows its 
 e 2 
 
52 THE KIVEE OTJSE. 
 
 banks, if sufficiently frozen, the boys skate 
 very securely upon the meadows : in sum- 
 mer they bathe and fish in it. Pic-nics 
 also are held on some of its numerous 
 beautiful islets. On one occasion our 
 craft was so often hindered by the rushes 
 and flags, that a proposal was gravely 
 made by one of the party to land, and 
 take turns at playing the Ancient Briton, 
 with his coracle on his back, till we 
 should find clearer water. In some places 
 the surface of the river was half covered 
 with water lilies, perhaps growing from 
 the same roots as those from which 
 Cowper's dog Beau plucked his, when thus 
 he drew forth the Poet's eulogium : — 
 
 " The noon was shady, and soft airs 
 Swept Ouse's silent tide, 
 "When 'scaped from literary cares, 
 I wandered on his side. 
 
 My spaniel, prettiest of his race, 
 
 And high in pedigree, 
 (Two nymphs adorned with every grace 
 
 That spaniel found for me,) 
 
BEAU AND THE WATER LILY. 53 
 
 Now wantoned lost in flags and reeds, 
 
 Now starting into sight, 
 Pursued the swallow o'er the meads 
 
 With scarce a slower flight. 
 
 It was the time when Ouse displayed 
 
 His lilies newly blown ; 
 Their beauties I intent surveyed 
 
 And one I wished my own. 
 
 With cane extended far I sought 
 
 To steer it close to land ; 
 But still the prize, though nearly caught, 
 
 Escaped my eager hand. 
 
 Beau marked my unsuccessful pains 
 
 With fixed considerate face, 
 And puzzling set his puppy brains 
 
 To comprehend the case. 
 
 But with a cherup clear and strong, 
 
 Dispersing all his dream, 
 I thence withdrew, and followed long 
 
 The windings of the stream. 
 
 My ramble ended, I returned ; 
 
 Beau trotting far before, 
 The floating wreath again discerned, 
 
 And plunging left the shore. 
 
54 THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS. 
 
 I saw him with that lily cropped 
 
 Impatient swim to meet 
 My quick approach, and soon he dropped 
 
 The treasure at my feet. 
 
 Charmed with the sight, The world, I cried, 
 
 Shall hear of this thy deed : 
 My dog shall mortify the pride 
 
 Of man's superior breed. 
 
 But chief myself I will enjoin : 
 
 Awake at duty's call, 
 To show a love as prompt as thine 
 
 To Him who gives me all !" 
 
 It is much to be regretted, that some 
 decided measures are not taken to clear 
 the bed of the river ; as doubtless thereby 
 much of the ague, rheumatism, low fever, 
 and consumption, to which old and young 
 are liable, might be prevented. In wet 
 seasons, when the river is swollen, many 
 of the houses are flooded. 
 
 But we have only been looking at 
 the river from the bridge, so we shall 
 turn back, and peep in at the National 
 
THE LAMB BOY AND HIS MOTHER. 55 
 
 Schools. As in most agricultural districts, 
 there are very few hoys ahove the age 
 of ten at school, hut here is one much 
 older, with an intelligent face — the 
 schoolmaster will tell you more about 
 him. He is very lame, although much 
 stronger than he used to be, the result of 
 a sojourn at the Orthopaedic Hospital. 
 At one time he was left-handed, but some 
 ladies kindly took a great deal of trouble, 
 and taught him to use his right hand 
 for writing. He hopes one day to be able 
 to earn his living in some way, and he 
 would like that this should be as seek- 
 ing first the kingdom of God and His 
 righteousness. 
 
 His widowed mother has been confined 
 to bed for years with an internal disease, 
 which sorely tries her faith and patience, 
 but has been made a means of blessing 
 to the parish: her sufferings and need 
 giving opportunity for many thoughts 
 and deeds of love, while her thankful- 
 
56 THE LAME BOY AND HIS MOTHER. 
 
 ness for little services is almost over-, 
 whelming. The friends who have so 
 kindly contributed to her comforts during 
 the past year, are gratefully remembered 
 in her prayers. 
 
V. 
 
 " A thriftless, slatternly woman makes a disorderly house, 
 in which there can be no 'joy.' She understands not 
 the duties of a ' wife! and she knows not how to turn it 
 into a ' home! She drives her husband to" drink, and 
 meets with ill-treatment from him when drunken ; and, 
 having none to sympathise with her, she grows reckless 
 and drunken also, to drown her despair. This is the 
 history of two-thirds of the women of every low street 
 of a large city, and of those in many a town, and even 
 village likewise." — Life Work. 
 
THE LACE-MAKERS — HOW TO HELP THEM — ADVAN- 
 TAGES OF BELIGIOT78 EDUCATION — " LACE TELLINGS." 
 
 As I said before, the inhabitants of 
 Olney are much engaged in lace-making ; 
 and as the little girls are " put to the 
 pillow" as early as six or seven years 
 of age, they are taken away from the 
 National Schools very young. The ladies 
 try to make up for the loss by Evening 
 Classes, and extra effort on Sundays, when 
 school is open three times a day. But it 
 seems to be a very reasonable question, 
 whether when the lace-making is so 
 miserably paid, it would not be better to 
 discountenance the practice of bringing so 
 many girls up to this kind of manufacture. 
 At the highest price they have been able 
 
60 ENGLISH "MALTESE" LACE. 
 
 to secure for a long time, they can only 
 earn a very scanty subsistence, the best 
 workers seldom getting more than four 
 shillings a week. Ladies might do the 
 poor people a service by purchasing their 
 best specimens of work at remunerative 
 prices. It is little known as English 
 manufacture, and generally passes for 
 Maltese, to which it is frequently superior. 
 Some of the collars and cuffs are beauti- 
 fully even and delicate in their texture, 
 and the coiffures, lappets, parasol covers, 
 and the black and white laces, sold by. 
 the yard, are very handsome ; and as 
 being the work of our own poor, should 
 certainly not be held in less esteem than 
 that of foreigners. For years past, to 
 procure the bare necessaries of existence, 
 they have been obliged from infancy to 
 labour so constantly as to be unable to 
 give much attention to ordinary household 
 affairs ; but of course this may be re- 
 medied by paying them better for their 
 
THE TRAINING SCHOOL. 61 
 
 work, that they may not require to sit 
 so many hours at the pillow. 
 
 As it is, many, when they become wives 
 and mothers, are so ill prepared for their 
 duties, that they do not know how to put 
 on the simplest patch ; and I am told 
 that several women eke out a living by 
 mending for the others ; which is certainly 
 better than wearing their clothes till they 
 drop to pieces, but not the most econo- 
 mical way for poor people. There is also 
 a great dearth of domestic service, which 
 is more respectable, and a better prepara- 
 tion for the home duties of married life. 
 Dr. Langley, the father and predecessor 
 of the present esteemed Vicar, made an 
 effort to establish a Training School for 
 servants. Would it not be well to en- 
 deavour to revive this ? Very many 
 families, doubtless, would like to be sup- 
 plied with servants from such a place as 
 Olney, trained so as to be given health 
 .and activity in the perfect performance of 
 
62 THE TRAINING SOHOOL. 
 
 all domestic duties ; having an intelligent 
 acquaintance with the Truth of God, and 
 an earnest desire to recommend it by the 
 cheerful performance of all relative duty. 
 Surely the women of Olney have now 
 sufficiently had experience of what is to 
 be gained by sacrificing personal health, 
 domestic comfort, social usefulness, and 
 their share in the great mission of 
 England — to the cramping, bleaching, 
 poverty-stricken manufacture of Lace- 
 Making ; for the women and girls 
 have a kind of bleached appearance; 
 and although intelligent, seem to have 
 almost as little idea of their circum- 
 stances being improved as the Irish, 
 not a great many years ago, generally 
 had. Extremely low diet, and continual 
 sedentary occupation, may have some- 
 thing to do with their seeming want 
 of hope. Weak health is also much too 
 common. And yet some, even of the 
 poorest, have a keener appreciation of the 
 
cowpe&'s laoe-makee. 63 
 
 beautiful in Nature and Literature, with 
 more general knowledge, than is usual in 
 the same class of life in England. Pos- 
 sibly the foundation of this has been in 
 their religious education and poetical 
 associations. You remember Cowper's 
 lines : — 
 
 " Ton Cottager, who weaves at her own door, 
 Pillow and bobbins all her little store, 
 Content, though mean, and cheerful if not 
 
 gay, 
 Shuffling her threads about the live-long day ; 
 Just earns a scanty pittance, and at night 
 Lies down secure, her heart and pocket light ; 
 She, for her humble sphere by nature fit, 
 Has little understanding and no wit ; 
 Receives no praise ; but though her lot be 
 
 such, 
 (Toilsome and indigent) she renders much ; 
 Just knows, and knows no more, her Bible 
 
 true^- 
 A truth the brilliant Frenchman* never knew 
 And in that charter reads with sparkling 
 
 Her title to a treasure in the skies. 
 » Voltaire. 
 
64 INTELLIGENCE OF THE LACE-MAKERS. 
 
 Oh, happy peasant ! Oh, unhappy bard ! 
 His the mere tinsel, her's the rich reward : 
 He praised perhaps for ages yet to come, 
 She never heard of half a mile, from home : 
 He lost in errors his own heart prefers, 
 She safe in the simplicity of hers." 
 
 More than fifty years ago, Mr. Gauntlett 
 wrote : — 
 
 "I have occasionally visited some of the lace 
 rooms in Olney, of about six or seven feet square, 
 and sat down with three or four females, who 
 probably had never been ten miles distant from 
 home, working at their pillows, or as a stranger 
 would suppose, playing with their lace bobbins. 
 "While their fingers have been moving, with the 
 rapidity of those of a lady performing a concerto 
 on the piano-forte, I have been instructed, edified, 
 and surprised at their conversation. I have on 
 several occasions sat, with astonishment, to hear 
 specimens of natural eloquence. I have mentally 
 criticised the language and the sentiments of 
 my humble and intelligent companions. I have 
 sometimes said to myself, Tou have delivered 
 sentiments which would do honour to a lady of 
 superior education, in language which would not 
 disgrace her. 
 
 " I have proceeded in my reflections : Well, you 
 have, from your childhood, sat under the ministry 
 
THE LACE SCHOOL. 65 
 
 of Newton, Scott, Bean, Home, and Stephenson. 
 They have visited you in your cottages. You have 
 constantly read your Bible, and other useful 
 religious boots. God has given you good natural 
 talents, and you have not laid them up in a 
 napkin. After reflections of this kind, my primd 
 facie astonishment has subsided, and been lost in 
 admiration at the effect of religious information 
 and principles." 
 
 Upon inquiry, a friend residing at 
 Olney has supplied me with the follow- 
 ing particulars respecting the songs of 
 "the Lace-Makers." 
 
 " The children learn to make lace, not 
 so much at home with their mothers, as 
 at lace schools kept by dames. When 
 the lace trade was better, most boys used 
 to learn as well as the girls; and even 
 men used to make lace, as they could earn 
 more at ' the pillow' than at agricultural 
 labour. I have seen old men who made 
 good wages at the beginning of this 
 century." 
 
 "The 'Songs of the Lace-Makers ' were 
 
 F 
 
66 LACE TELLINGS. 
 
 of the same class as the Nursery rhymes, 
 
 ' Hush-a-bye baby, on the tree top,' &c, 
 
 and were sung by the children while 
 at work. The proficiency of the children 
 was estimated by the number of pins they 
 could stick in an hour. They were set so 
 many score of pins, and counted as they 
 went on. The singing, or rather chant- 
 ing, assisted them in the counting, and 
 also kept them together in their work. 
 I am told that we cannot imagine either 
 the effect of thirty or forty children's 
 voices uniting in this ' sing-song,' nor yet 
 the aid it was to them. 
 
 " These ' Lace Tellings,' as they were 
 called, were repeated over and over, the 
 number at the beginning lessening as the 
 task appointed neared its conclusion, as — 
 
 ' Nineteen miles have I got to go.' 
 ' Eighteen miles have I got to go.' 
 ' Seventeen miles have I got to go.' 
 
LACE TELLINGS. 67 
 
 " It is only the very old people who 
 remember anything about these ' Lace 
 Tellings,' as they have not been used in 
 the schools about Olney for many years. 
 Latterly they have sung hymns, or some 
 of the current songs of the day. 
 
 " From the specimens we have been able 
 to collect from the memories of the old 
 Lace-Maker in the portrait, and one of 
 her friends, few will be disposed to re- 
 gret that the old ' Tellings ' have become 
 obsolete. These that follow are evidently 
 the ' Songs of the Lace-Makers,' men- 
 tioned in the Northamptonshire Glossary, 
 as assisting ' the young worker;' and are 
 thrown aside with other childish things 
 on leaving the Lace school. The ' old 
 and plain songs' of Shakespeare seem 
 rather to be the songs of grown up young 
 women." 
 
"LACE TELLINGS." 
 
 " Nineteen' miles have I got to go, 
 Be the roads ever so dirty, 
 And never a penny in my purse, , 
 
 But farthings five and thirty. 
 
 Ten to buy oatmeal — ten to buy salt, 
 Ten to buy pins and laces, 
 
 Other odd five to buy nicknacks 
 To please my country lasses. 
 
 n. 
 I'll tell my mother when I get home 
 What a sad thing my father's done ; 
 He earned a penny, and spent a groat, 
 Burned a hole in his holiday coat. 
 
 m. 
 
 Nineteen miles to Spangle Church, 
 Nineteen miles to the green tree ; 
 
 Nineteen miles to my lady's white house, 
 And there you may have your tea. 
 
 rv. 
 Up the street, and down the street, 
 
 "With windows made of glass, 
 Call at ' Mary Muskett's '* door 
 
 There's a pretty lass. 
 
 • The name of any girl present was inserted here. 
 
LACE TELLINGS. 69 
 
 With rosy in her bosom, 
 With a dimple in her chin, 
 
 Come all you lads and lasses 
 Let this fair maid walk in. 
 
 Nineteen long lines hang over my door, 
 The harder I work the shorter my score ; 
 The more I do play, it sticks at a stay — 
 So come, little fingers, let's twihk away. 
 
 There's twinkum and twankum, and five to 
 
 your four ; 
 Them as are done first, they may give o'er : 
 My shoes are to borrow, my true love's to 
 
 I cannot get married till after next week. 
 
 The plums are so scarce, the flour so dear, 
 I cannot get married till after next year ; 
 The pitcher is broken, how can it be mended : 
 My work is to do, and cannot be ended." 
 
 How sadly, and yet how curiously, the 
 consciousness of habitual poverty must 
 have burnt itself into the people's 
 thoughts, ere it thus found expression 
 in earliest childhood. Their poverty has 
 been our gain : the active sympathy of 
 
70 THE OLNEY HYMNS. 
 
 Newton and Cowper with their trials, 
 has given to " the Olney Hymns " an un- 
 dying verve — an inexhaustible fragrance 
 and adaptation to the expression of the 
 wants of those who are in the Training 
 School of Affliction. 
 
 " happy they who know the Lord, 
 "With whom He deigns to dwell ; 
 He feeds and cheers them by His Word, 
 His arm supports them well. 
 
 To them in each distressing hour, 
 
 His throne of grace is near ; 
 And when they plead His love and power, 
 
 He stands engaged to hear. 
 
 His presence sweetens all our cares, 
 And makes our burdens light ; 
 
 A word from Him dispels our fears, 
 And gilds the gloom of night. 
 
 Let us enjoy, and highly prize, 
 
 These tokens of Thy love ; 
 Till Thou shalt bid our spirits rise, 
 
 To worship Thee above." 
 
 Newton. 
 
VI. 
 
 ; A great sorrow recasts a soul : it either draws it nearer 
 to the Friend whose intimacy must elevate it ; or 
 drives it into the far cold space of rebellion and 
 despair." — Life Work. 
 
VI. 
 
 WESTON — LADY HE8KETH — CLERGYMEN'S FAMILIES 
 THE SORROWS OP GENIUS. 
 
 Of course Olney has likewise had its 
 share of social disadvantages. As in 
 most small places, if everybody has had 
 the pleasure of knowing almost everybody 
 else, everybody likewise might have been 
 acquainted with everybody else's business 
 long before the person most concerned 
 knew it himself, and a great deal better. 
 The public interest in his affairs was so 
 painful to Cowper, that he gladly escaped 
 to the quiet little village of Weston, up 
 this road to the left. As the distance is 
 only a mile or so, let us follow him. 
 
 Weston is very prettily situated on the 
 rising ground overlooking the Valley of 
 
74 
 
 WESTON. 
 
 the Ouse. And as we ascend the hill, our 
 thoughts filled with the remembrance of 
 the afflicted Poet, an overwhelming reali- 
 zation of God's love in the gift of Jesus to 
 us, rises within our hearts when we call 
 to mind the influence it had upon his 
 sorrowful life ; for although (through his 
 mental affliction) he believed himself to 
 have no share in the blessings purchased 
 by Jesus, he lived to bless others with that 
 knowledge which he thought was his own 
 condemnation, and to make them happy in 
 the loving companionship of that Saviour, 
 who, as he feared, had cast him out. 
 
 And we feel grateful to his friend, who 
 gave him such free access to these beauti- 
 ful woods, where 
 
 " The calm retreat, the silent shade, 
 With prayer and praise agree ; 
 And seem hy Thy sweet Spirit made 
 For those who follow Thee." 
 
 There stands the cheerful, old-fashioned 
 house where the Poet lived with his good 
 
cowper's HOUSE AT WESTON. 75 
 
 cousin, Lady Hesketh, while he translated 
 Homer ; and our hearts warm at the 
 remembrance of her example of true 
 hearted, judicious, sisterly devotion, to 
 which we owe so much of the develop- 
 ment of Cowper's genius. 
 
 It was this same house which Mr. B. 
 Higgins nominally let to Mr. Scott at 
 half its rent, but in reality never took any 
 money, the only acknowledgment he ever 
 permitted being a hamper of pears from 
 a particular tree in the garden, for which 
 he sent a regular receipt. And a sweet 
 little cabinet picture arises before our 
 imaginations, as we think of him after- 
 wards, under less favourable auspices, as 
 Curate of Olney, correcting the proof of 
 his sermon on Kepentance, or gathering 
 in the materials for his Commentary, with 
 the baby on his knee, or his foot rocking 
 the cradle, his wife working beside him ; 
 the one room serving for study and 
 nursery, because they could not afford 
 
76 OOWPER's HOUSE AT WESTON'. 
 
 separate fire and candle, and be at the 
 same time kind to the poor. And filled 
 with these remembrances, we endea- 
 vour to solve that very difficult problem, 
 gravely suggested by one of his biogra- 
 phers, as to how far a young clergyman, 
 with no fortune, is justified in burdening 
 himself with the care of a family on only 
 £80 a year. And the circumstances being 
 favourable to reflection, other questions 
 suggest themselves ; such as — In such a 
 state of things, whether, after all, as in 
 the Church of Rome, a clergyman may 
 not really be better fitted for training his 
 people to the practice of family religion, 
 as being himself shut out from the 
 various troublous experiences of trying 
 to bring up a gentleman's family on the 
 income of a moderately paid mechanic ? 
 But hush! what are we thinking of? 
 All this was settled for us long ago, when 
 our fathers protested against that notion, 
 " Forbidding to marry," as being one of 
 
THE FATHERLY CLERGYMAN. 77 
 
 the marks of Antichrist. Besides, is there 
 really any necessity for such a state of 
 things % Is anybody to blame \ Who is it 1 
 Might not those who have this world's 
 goods sometimes make things pleasant, by 
 shewing a little more liberality to " those 
 who preach the Gospel ;" and at least save 
 them from being obliged to deny them- 
 selves to the genial influences of family 
 affection ? 
 
 Some of us can recall how we felt in 
 childhood, that the clergyman who had 
 children of his own was so much more 
 nicely kind; and long before we could 
 appreciate his teaching, won our love to 
 what was best for us. 
 
 We lovingly remember the bright eyes 
 and busy hands of many clergymen's 
 daughters, whose lives have been a daily 
 blessing, and who were a constant sun- 
 shine where most needed in their fathers' 
 districts — their most efficient Visitors and 
 Sunday School Teachers. 
 
78 the clergyman's wife. 
 
 And we have also known her whose 
 life has been the embodiment of all 
 wifely, motherly, and friendly duty; 
 whose presence seemed to bring with it 
 moral strength and healing power; her 
 husband's most faithful coadjutor, supple- 
 ment and rest. And now, when the pro- 
 fession of faith in Christ is beginning to be 
 regarded less as a mere death-bed viati- 
 cum, than as a life-confession of gratitude 
 — when children may give their hearts to 
 Jesus, and yet expect and hope to enjoy 
 a long life devoted to His service — when 
 women are allowed to find their sphere of 
 labour in preparing the way for the 
 world's regeneration — when the clergy- 
 man's " duty " is no longer fulfilled by so 
 many rounds of Church Services for the 
 benefit of the few grown-up idle people, 
 who are glad of anything to save them- 
 selves from the miseries of ennui — it is 
 only fair that he should have all the 
 home-help he can. This cannot well be 
 
clergyman's home-help. 79 
 
 the case, if he remain unmarried, or 
 if his own and his wife's mind and 
 time be constantly harassed with the 
 small cares attendant on bringing up 
 a family, with the stinted means of 
 a merely vegetating existence ; and if 
 his children have gradually to learn 
 that their first and last duty in life is 
 to look out for themselves. Instead of 
 having some little stock of their own from 
 which they may, as is expected of them, 
 minister to the wants of others, through 
 the privations of their infancy and youth, 
 too many clergymen's families become 
 permanently enfeebled. He should be 
 an illustration of the efficacy of believing 
 prayer, and an encouragement thereto. 
 The prayer of the righteous is, " Give me 
 neither poverty nor riches ; feed me with 
 food convenient for me ;" and his Master's 
 stewards should see that his prayer does 
 not go unanswered. 
 
 Here is the usual entrance to Weston 
 
80 WESTON PARK. 
 
 Park, the scene of " The Winter's Walk 
 at Noon," where we can easily verify the 
 truthfulness of Cowper's word-painting : 
 for, with the exception of changes wrought 
 hy time, every spot may be identified, 
 even to the ascent, where 
 
 " Ancle deep in moss and flowery thyme, 
 We mount again, and feel at every step 
 Our foot half sunk in hillocks green and soft, 
 Eaised by the mole, the miner of the soil." 
 
 One can scarcely conceive how it 
 brings out the beauties of the poetry, 
 and even enhances the interest, to read 
 it under the same auspices as those by 
 which it was inspired. 
 
 The ability to recognise and appreciate 
 the efforts of a Great Genius, in endea- 
 vouring to make his conceptions intelli- 
 gible and useful to common minds, has 
 been placed next to that of being one's 
 self a Genius. Excellence in almost any 
 pursuit, usually has the effect of isolating 
 him who aims at it, from ordinary sym- 
 
SCIENCE THE REALIZATION OF POETRY. 81 
 
 pathy and companionship. Few, if any, 
 of those among whom his lot is cast 
 can understand, and still less enter into, 
 the intensity of either his sorrows or 
 his joys. The utmost he need expect 
 from those nearest, is toleration of his 
 seemingly idle vagaries, until they have 
 either won golden opinions, or the stamp 
 of public approbation has given cur- 
 rency to perhaps the least valuable of his 
 thoughts. When fortune smiles upon his 
 efforts, so do his friends ; but the first of 
 her rewards generally comes too late for 
 him to do much good with it ; and the 
 other, when those have passed away for 
 whose sake alone fame was ever of any 
 value. 
 
 A great and good man has well said, 
 " All great and good thoughts are truth- 
 ful and practical, and true poetry itself 
 is so. But when poetry is realized, slow 
 and shallow minds lose sight of the poetry, 
 as if it were not in the facts before them. 
 
82 SCIENCE THE REALIZATION OF POETRY. 
 
 They look at the outside of the materials, 
 and forget to look for what is in them. 
 They admire the carved foliage of the 
 chapiters, but see not the shechinah ; they 
 are dazzled at the blazing brilliance of the 
 gems upon the high priest's breast-plate, 
 but discern no divine meaning in their 
 renderings of light ; they handle the wires 
 of the electro-telegraph, but perceive not 
 the tractable lightning, and feel not the 
 grandeur of the thought, that man has 
 made the glittering arrows of the 
 Almighty the medium between soul and 
 soul hundreds of miles apart. They 
 acknowledge that the prophet's words 
 are poetical when he says, that for stones 
 they shall have iron ; but they see nothing 
 of this truth in thousands of miles of 
 railway, and the means of bringing this 
 broad fair world of minds into one com 
 pact and sensitive community. The poetry 
 of truth is nothing to those whose business 
 is onlv a trade ; and knowledge is valued 
 
THE POET'S SOBBOWS OtTB GAIN. 83 
 
 only as a saleable commodity, by those 
 whose souls live in the market." * 
 
 And another, in true sympathy with 
 Columbus, when working out his ideal 
 search for a new continent, has educed 
 this very practical suggestion : — 
 
 " Still on our "way, with careworn face, 
 Abstracted eye, and sauntering pace, 
 
 May pass one such, as he ; 
 "Whose mind heaves with a secret force, 
 That shall be felt along the course 
 
 Of dim Futurity. 
 
 Call him not fanatic or fool, * 
 
 Thou stoic of the modern school ; 
 
 Columbus-like, his aim 
 Points forward with a true presage, 
 And nations of a later age 
 
 May rise to bless his name." 
 
 The Poet's laurels need not be envied, 
 for they are won with difficulty. Like 
 the flowery thyme on the mossy bank 
 which we have just been climbing, it is 
 
 *Dr. Moore's "Man and his Motives." 
 
 G 2 
 
84 YAEDLEY CHASE. 
 
 generally under some crushing sorrow 
 that the soul's sweetest fragrance is 
 expressed. 
 
 Our walk is ended :— to follow Cowper 
 through his, would be to copy his poem, 
 and prevent you from deriving the full 
 benefit of this sketch, which has been 
 to induce you to go a little out of the 
 beaten track, to retrace paths, in memory 
 of the sainted dead who have long since 
 rested from their labours, but whose work 
 on human hearts still lives. 
 
 In either summer or winter, more 
 delightful walks scarcely can be taken 
 than may be found in the neighbour- 
 hood of Olney. Yardley Chase belongs 
 to the Marquis of Northampton, and is 
 not too far for a good pedestrian. 
 There may be seen some enormous oak- 
 trees, which, from appearance, might be 
 cotemporaries of the cedars of Lebanon. 
 One feels awed in the hoary presence 
 of these forest giants, representatives of 
 
cowpeb's oak. 85 
 
 bygone ages. We wonder when and 
 what must have been their prime, when 
 their age is so majestic. 
 
 " Cowper's Oak," par excellence, is thir- 
 teen yards in girth. I suppose he was sit- 
 ting in its decayed hollow, when he thus 
 apostrophised it : — 
 
 ' Thou wast a bauble once ; a cup and ball, 
 Which babes might play with ; and the thievish jay, 
 Seeking her food, with ease might have purloined 
 The auburn nut that held thee, swallowing down 
 Thy yet close folded latitude of boughs, 
 And all thy embryo vastness at a gulp. 
 Time made thee what thou wast — king of the 
 
 woods ; 
 And time hath made thee what thou art — a cave 
 For owls to roost in." 
 
 Seldom have we the same harmonious 
 blending of outward beauty with enno- 
 bling, heart enriching, practical thought, 
 no less than poetical association, such as 
 is suggested by a sojourn in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Olney. Other scenery may 
 
86 EARTH GIVEN BACK HEB. PEISTINE BEAUTY. 
 
 be more bold or romantic ; but you will 
 agree with Cowper, that 
 
 " Scenes must be beautiful, which daily viewed 
 Please daily, and where novelty survives 
 Long knowledge, and the scrutiny of years : 
 Praise justly due to those which I describe." 
 
 And to his mind they were suggestive 
 of other 
 
 . . . . " Scenes surpassing fable and yet true, 
 Scenes of accomplished bliss ! which who can see 
 Though but in distant prospect, and not feel 
 His soul refreshed with foretaste of the joy ? 
 Eivera of gladness water all the earth, 
 And clothe all climes with beauty ; the reproach 
 Of barrenness is past. The fruitful field 
 Laughs with abundance ; and the land, once lean, 
 Or fertile only in its own disgrace, 
 Exults to see its thistly curse repealed." 
 
VII. 
 
 ' God's love hath in us wealth upheaped, — 
 Only by giving is it reaped ; 
 The body withers, and the mind, 
 If pent in by a selfish rind. 
 
 Give strength, give thought, give deeds, give pell', 
 
 Give love, give tears, and give thyself. 
 
 Give, give, be always giving ; 
 
 Who gives not is not living ! 
 
 The more we give 
 
 The more we live.'' 
 
vn. 
 
 THE OLNEY HYMNS — JOHN NEWTON AS A POET — HOW 
 TO SHEW OUR GRATITUDE — CONCLUSION. 
 
 The Olney Hymns were the joint pro- 
 duction of Cowper, and his friend the 
 Rev. John Newton. 
 
 A distinguishing mark of Genius is 
 modesty. John Newton's self estimate 
 is characteristic: "If the Lord whom 
 I serve, has been pleased to favour me 
 with that mediocrity of talent, which 
 may qualify me for usefulness to the 
 weak and the poor of. His flock, without 
 quite disgusting persons of superior dis- 
 cernment, I have reason to be satisfied." 
 
 Many of the Olney Hymns are very 
 beautiful. If you have ever known what 
 it is to be wearied and fretted with mul- 
 
90 THE OLNET HYMNS. 
 
 tiplying cares, which could neither be con- 
 trolled nor dismissed, how the thought 
 of this hymn, like a breeze of balmy air 
 across the heath-clad upland, might have 
 cooled your fevered brow ! 
 
 " Quiet, Lord, my fro ward heart, 
 Make me teachable and mild, 
 Upright, simple, free from art, 
 Make me as a weaned child : 
 From distrust and envy free, 
 Pleased -with all that pleases Thee. 
 
 What Thou shalt to-day provide, 
 
 Let me as a child receive ; 
 What to-morrow may betide, 
 Calmly to Thy wisdom leave : 
 'Tis enough that Thou dost care, 
 Why should I the burden bear ? 
 
 As a little child relies 
 
 On a care beyond its own ; 
 Knows 'tis neither strong nor wise, 
 Fears to stir one step alone : 
 May I thus with Thee abide 
 As my Father, Guard and Guide ! " 
 
 Many who have known the weariness 
 of privation and perplexity, have felt their 
 
PROVIDENCE. 91 
 
 strength renewed as the eagle's while 
 singing — 
 
 " Begone, unbelief, my Saviour is near, 
 And for my relief mil surely appear : 
 By prayer let me wrestle, and He will perforin, 
 With Christ in the vessel, I smile at the storm. 
 
 Though dark be my way, since He is my 
 
 guide, 
 'Tis mine to obey, 'tis His to provide ; 
 Though cisterns be broken, and creatures all 
 
 fail, 
 The word He has spoken shall surely prevail. 
 
 His love in time past forbids me to think 
 He'll leave me at last in trouble to sink ; 
 Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review, 
 Confirms His good pleasure to help me quite 
 through. 
 
 How bitter that cup, no heart can conceive, 
 "Which He drank quite up, that sinners might 
 
 live ! 
 His way was much rougher, and darker than 
 
 mine ; 
 Did Jesus thus suffer, and shall I repine ? 
 
 Since all that I meet shall work for my good, 
 The bitter is sweet, the medicine is food ; 
 
92 OTTR ELDEE BBOTHEE. 
 
 Though painful at present, 'twill cease before 
 
 long 
 And then, oh how pleasant the conqueror's 
 song ! " 
 
 And where, out of the Bible, shall we 
 find the love of Jesus more simply told 
 than thus % 
 
 " One there is above all others 
 
 "Well deserves the name of Friend ; 
 His is love beyond a brother's, 
 Costly, free, and knows no end : 
 They who once His kindness prove, 
 Find it everlasting love ! 
 
 Which of all our friends to save us, 
 Could or would have shed his blood ? 
 ' But our Jesus died to have us 
 Reconciled in Him to God : 
 
 This was boundless love indeed ! 
 Jesus is a Friend in need. 
 
 When He lived on earth abased, 
 
 Friend of sinners was His name ; 
 Now above all glory raised, 
 He rejoices in the same : 
 
 Still He calls them brethren, Mends, 
 And to all their wants attends. 
 
EEJOIOING. 93 
 
 Could we bear from one another, 
 What He daily bears from us ? 
 Yet this Glorious Friend and Brother, 
 Loves us though we treat Him thus : 
 Though for good we render ill, 
 He accounts us brethren still." 
 
 And what a gladsomeness the Christian 
 pilgrim realizes in this : — 
 
 " Sometimes a light surprises 
 
 The Christian as he sings ; 
 It is the Lord who rises 
 
 "With healing in His wings : 
 When comforts are declining, 
 
 He grants the soul again, 
 A season of clear shining, 
 
 To cheer it after rain. 
 
 In holy contemplation, 
 
 We sweetly then pursue 
 The theme of God's salvation, 
 
 And find it ever new : 
 Set free from present sorrow, 
 
 We cheerfully can say, 
 E'en let the unknown morrow 
 
 Bring with it what it may : — 
 
 It can bring with it nothing 
 But He will bear us through ; 
 
94 'WHAT WE OWE TO OLNEY. 
 
 Who gives the lilies clothing 
 
 "Will clothe His people too : 
 Beneath the spreading heavens, 
 
 No creature but is fed ; 
 And He who feeds the ravens, 
 
 "Will give His children bread. 
 
 Though vine nor fig tree neither 
 
 Their wonted fruit should bear, 
 Though all the fields should wither, 
 
 Nor flock nor herds be there : 
 Yet God the same abiding, 
 
 His praise shall tune my voice ; 
 For while in Him confiding, 
 
 I cannot but rejoice." 
 
 No wonder the Olney poor bear their 
 poverty so patiently, with these holy 
 thoughts embodied in their birthright 
 Cradle Hymns. 
 
 We owe a long standing debt of grati- 
 tude to the Olney Poets, as well as to 
 others to whom these people were dear. 
 He whose Life has been nourished in our 
 hearts by their labours, is looking for 
 fruit, and has said, " Ye have the poor 
 always with you, but Me ye have not 
 
HOW TO REPAY IT. 95 
 
 always :" may He also have the joy of 
 saying, "Inasmuch as ye have done it 
 unto one of the least of these my brethren, 
 ye have done it unto Me." 
 
 Many of the aged and sick in Olney 
 suffer great privations ; that which gives 
 them the most pain, sometimes seeming 
 to be, that they should not be able to help 
 others worse off than themselves. And 
 some persons who may have been most 
 interested, may not be able soon personally 
 to visit Olney, and yet have the ability and 
 desire to contribute to the comforts of these 
 poor people through the ensuing winter. 
 This they may very easily do through 
 the Vicar, the Rev. J. P. Langley. 
 
 The following extracts give a fair 
 sample of the state of the Olney poor. 
 A kind friend had sent Five Guineas for 
 their relief; and in the first, the writer is 
 accounting for his stewardship. One can- 
 not help hop'ing he may have much more 
 of the same kind of pleasure : — 
 
96 cheist's beetheen 
 
 "And now I must tell you something about our 
 doings for the poor with the money God has sent 
 me through you. 
 
 " Our poor are very different from the Irish and 
 the London poor. You visit, and become well 
 acquainted with people here, and they make no 
 complaints ; you have to drag their circumstances 
 from them, to know how they are off for what we 
 count absolute necessaries of life ; and they are so 
 grateful for the least thing done for them. Of 
 course here, as elsewhere, there are exceptions ; 
 there are black sheep whom you cannot help, as 
 they will not help themselves. 
 
 "When Mrs. K.'s kind donation came to hand, I 
 began to inquire among steady people with large 
 young families, to see what was most needed. I 
 found that very few had more than one blanket 
 to each bed, very commonly two blankets to three 
 beds ; and in one instance the woman had to make 
 up four beds, and had only one blanket. 
 
 " The poor seem to start with a pair of blankets 
 when they marry. When their family increases, 
 so as to require a second bed, they cannot buy 
 new blankets ;* so the parents spare one blanket, 
 and make up with their day clothes, (in winter 
 often damp and wet.) When a third bed is 
 needed, they too often have to make shift with 
 a sheet, the patchwork quilt, and day clothes. 
 
 * A labourer's wages are only 10*. a week j and the 
 lace-makers' earnings rarely exceed a halfpenny an hour. 
 
IN STJITERING. 97 
 
 " 1. — E. and A. K. — Husband, wife, and five 
 children under nine : eldest boy eight years old, 
 * * learning shoe-work. Girl six years old, learning 
 lace, but neither yet earning. Husband, shoe- 
 maker; wages 12s. a week when in full work, 
 which is not always the case. Rent Is. Id. a 
 week. They make up three beds, but have only 
 three pairs of sheets and two blankets. I gave 
 them a new blanket, to their great comfort. 
 
 " 2. — Mrs. L. — Lost her husband a few weeks 
 ago, after a very long illness, (consumption.) The 
 eldest girl has lately become an idiot, and is now 
 in an asylum. There are five boys and one girl 
 at home ; of this number two are at the day- 
 school, and four boys are at work, one of whom 
 does not cast his earnings into the common stock, 
 but provides for himself. They make up four 
 beds, with three pairs of sheets and one blanket. 
 I gave them two more. 
 
 " 3. — W. and J. A. — Labourer, earning 10*. Six 
 children under twelve years ; the eldest earns 6d. 
 at lace. Out of this 10*. 6d. they pay Eent 1 
 
 Clothing Club 4 
 
 Sick Club 5 
 
 1 9 
 leaving 8*. 9d. for food, fire and sundries for eight 
 persons. Two of the children are sent out to 
 sleep with relations. The rest managed with two 
 beds and two blankets. I gave them a bed and 
 
 H 
 
98 "I WAS NAKED," 
 
 a small pair of blankets. One friend got me tie 
 tick at trade price, and gave me her work in 
 making it, and another filled it with chaff. The 
 poor woman will still have to get sheets, &c. She 
 was very grateful. These people never ask for 
 anything, and would never have told their needs 
 if we had not gone to inquire. 
 
 " 4. — J. and M. "W. — Labourer, earns 9s. 6rf. 
 Four children under eleven years old, and delicate. 
 Rent 1*. 6d. Three beds and three blankets, two 
 of them old and thin. I gave them one more. 
 They are very badly off for clothes : two of the 
 boys have one garment between them, and go to 
 Sunday School alternately. I shall probably do 
 something more for them. 
 
 " 5. — T. D., the poor paralysed man, feels the 
 cold very much, and is only kept warm by hot 
 water bottles. They have no fire-place up stairs ; 
 so I have bought a little stove, which I shall lend 
 them as long as he needs. It will certainly be the 
 kindest way of helping them. 
 
 " And so you see I try to relieve each particular 
 case in the way that will be most helpful. Tou 
 would be amused to hear the gratitude of some of 
 the women. Several have said they have not had 
 such a present since they were married, as the 
 blanket. To some we have given warm stockings, 
 to others flannel, &c. I have given already twelve 
 blankets to ten families. 
 
 " 6. — Man, wife, and six children : five at 
 
"AND YE CLOTHED MB.'' 99 
 
 home. The man subject to epileptic fits, which 
 occur very frequently; he is seldom a week 
 without them, therefore very often unable to work. 
 The eldest boy earns 4s. per week. A girl aged 
 twelve, generally accompanies her father to his 
 work, or makes lace. The three younger girls are 
 unable to do anything. One has a spinal affection, 
 the back is very much grown out. The mother 
 has taken her to the Infirmary, but is told the 
 child needs good support, and should go to an 
 Infirmary at the sea-side. 
 
 " The mother works very hard, takes in washing 
 for the poor who are too old to do it themselves, 
 
 and makes about 2 6 
 
 Boy 4 
 
 Parish 1 
 
 7 6 
 
 " Father uncertain. Kent 1*. 6d. per week. 
 
 " 7.' — Man, and wife (who has kept her bed 
 for ten years), three daughters and a son. 
 
 " The man has earned 10s., but is to have now 
 9s. a week. The boy is often out of work ; when he 
 has it to do, he can earn 9s. The three girls earn 
 about 2s. each, I should think, but they are 
 hindered attending upon their mother. 
 
 " "We do not consider them so badly off as some 
 of our poor ; but it is a sad life for the girls. 
 
 " 8. — The man aged forty, and wife. Four boys, 
 the eldest twelve years old. The man has been 
 
 H 2 
 
100 " BICK, AND YE -VISITED ME." 
 
 afflicted for nearly two years -with Kheumatism, 
 and is not able to earn anything. Has been to 
 the Infirmary three times, but derived no benefit. 
 The doctor says an abscess is forming.* Before 
 his illness they were tolerably well off, and pay a 
 higher rent than the very poor, (3*. per week,) for 
 which he has a comfortable cottage and good 
 sized garden. But a succession of misfortunes 
 has brought them very low. He is in a club, 
 and now on half-pay, from which he gets . . 3 6 
 
 Parish 5 6 
 
 Boy 1 
 
 10 
 " 9. — The man, aged sixty-seven, (formerly a 
 labourer,) has been blind for the last nine and a 
 half years. His wife, aged seventy-three, has 
 been lame since she was twelve years old. They 
 are quite unable to earn anything. 
 
 "From the Parish they have 5*. 4d. Rent Is., 
 which they always pay every week, leaving 4s. 4d. 
 for everything else." 
 
 Early in the commencement of this 
 present year, a dear friend asked the 
 writer to try what could be done to help 
 one of Christ's patiently suffering poor 
 people at Olney, in whom she had long 
 
 * The man has died since this was written. 
 
LET US FOLLOW CHRIST. 101 
 
 taken an affectionate interest. But it 
 almost seemed as if, in the minds of most 
 persons to whom application was made, 
 Olney was either a myth, or had grown 
 into some curious kind of poetic fossil 
 belonging to the days of Newton and 
 Cowper. There was not a little difficulty 
 in persuading some of them that it is still 
 in existence ; although, when they knew 
 that its inhabitants really deserved and 
 needed their sympathy and help, they were 
 willing enough to give both. 
 
 Is it possible to be well acquainted 
 with the poetic, religious, and biographic 
 history of Olney and its neighbourhood, 
 and not take a practical and loving interest 
 in its present state "? But that our efforts 
 for the good of others may be guided 
 aright, we need high principles and 
 motives for ourselves. 
 
 " How delightful when we shall all, with one 
 heart, be disposed fully to follow our Leader, — 
 to ' follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth ! ' 
 
102 THE LAW OF LOVE, 
 
 Let us look to Christ crucified : He is both the 
 Crucified One, and the Anointed One. Christ as 
 the Crucified One, or in regard to His humiliation, 
 is to be considered, 1st, in His coming down into 
 our low estate ; 2nd, His obedience therein to the 
 Tather, fulfilling the great Law of Love in our 
 behalf, going about doing good ; and 3rd, His 
 suffering and death, in order to atone for our guilt, 
 and procure both our release from punishment, 
 and our promotion to the enjoyment of the rights 
 and privileges of the children of God. 
 
 " Looking unto Jesus thus, we are taught to see 
 how lost we were, when nothing short of so costly 
 a sacrifice could save us. We see something of 
 the extent of the gratitude we owe to God for pro- 
 viding us with so all-sufficient a Saviour ; and we 
 are taught the great lesson of self-sacrifice for the 
 good of others ; exemplified in Him who came 
 into our world, and here lived a life of privation, 
 and died a death the most painful and ignominious, 
 in order to procure pardon for, and repentance in, 
 His enemies. In His patient submission to the will 
 of His Father, and wondrous manifestation of 
 goodwill unto men, He hath truly given us example 
 that we should follow His steps. 
 
 "But we look to Jesus, not merely as the Cruci- 
 fied One ; we regard Him as the very Christ. He 
 arose from the dead ; He ascended up on high, 
 receiving gifts to give unto men ; yea, unto us who 
 were rebellious ! He makes intercession for us, 
 
EXHIBITED IN CHRIST JESUS. 103 
 
 while waiting our improvement of the blessings 
 bestowed ; not willing that any should perish, but 
 that all should come to repentance : — even that 
 the blessed promise, which can scarcely be too 
 often brought to our remembrance, should be ful- 
 filled in us : ' In the Lord shall ail the seed of 
 Israel be justified, and shall glory :' Isa. xlv. 25. 
 By all that He is doing, and will do, as well as by 
 all He did as the Crucified One, He is teaching us 
 His own great lesson of love. Israel cannot be 
 raised up, except as being obedient to that 
 Law of Love which our Saviour lived and died, 
 and which He rose again, and ever liveth to 
 illustrate. 
 
 This Law of Life in Christ Jesus requires that 
 the illustration given of it, by our Blessed 
 Eedeemer, should be more fully brought out; 
 especially in regard to the relation in which the 
 rich and poor should stand to each other. Chris- 
 tianity must be seen as providing for more than 
 mere personal salvation ; it must be felt as teaching 
 us that charity which hath been abundantly mani- 
 fested toward us by our Blessed Eedeemer ; both 
 in His humiliation upon earth, and in His ex- 
 altation, now that He is at the right hand of the 
 Father in heaven. He, who is one with the 
 Highest in heaven, is also one with the lowest 
 upon earth ; and He regards what is done unto one 
 of the least of these His brethren, as done unto 
 Himself. 
 
104 "YE aeb not your own," 
 
 "Our talents and influence of any kind we 
 ought not to regard as absolutely our own : we 
 must not think that we may either leave them 
 unemployed, or employ them for merely our own 
 pleasure, or others' amusement. By the example 
 of Christ, we are taught to seek out the lost, and 
 earnestly endeavour their deliverance from the 
 power of evil. In this work, it is expected of us 
 according to that which we have : this we are 
 faithfully to use, and God will give more. "We 
 owe it to ourselves, and to the Author of our being, 
 that we cultivate our powers, to the utmost degree 
 consistent with our own health, and the welfare 
 of those around us. And to our fellow-men, in 
 honour of God our Saviour, we are so to hold our- 
 selves debtors, that we employ all that we are, and 
 all that we have, in the furtherance of their 
 greatest good, — yea, of any good, whereby we 
 may be given an opportunity of saying, not in 
 word only, but in very deed, ' Thanks be unto 
 God for His unspeakable gift.' 
 
 "Not in fragments of time that we cannot 
 otherwise dispose of; not with powers jaded 
 in the service of the world, worn out in the 
 worship of mammon ; but with our best, are 
 we to attend to His living temples. "We are 
 to see that what we are given wherewith to 
 feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the 
 homeless, teach the ignorant, recover the wan- 
 dering, and render the society of the saints 
 
" YE ABE BOUGHT WITH A PEICB." 105 
 
 and the service of God delightful, is used as the 
 Master hath appointed. We greatly deceive our- 
 selves if we look upon such means, and the 
 improvement we can make of them, as our own. 
 We must awake from this delusion, and in earnest 
 act ; — not as seeking praise, or power, or wealth, 
 or ease, or pleasure, for ourselves ; but as seeking, 
 with all our hearts, to do good unto all, as we 
 have opportunity. If we have literary ability, or 
 musical talent, or any other power, — the power of 
 teaching babes, or persuading men, or comforting 
 the distressed ; — whatever it is, should it be only 
 like the poor widow's two mites, or be it like the 
 five talents left with the faithful servant, it belongs 
 to the Lord ; and He bids us use it for the good 
 of those who need, and whom we have the power 
 of benefiting." — " Mission of HMjaJi." — Wilson. 
 
 " Work away ! 
 For the Father's eye is on us, 
 Never off us, still upon us, 
 Work away ! 
 Work and pray ! 
 Pray ! and work will be completer ; 
 Work ! and prayer will be the sweeter ; 
 Love ! and prayer and work the fleeter 
 Will ascend upon their way ! " 
 
 Printed at the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, Palestine Place 
 Bethnal Green, London, N.E. 
 
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