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SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
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SELF-MADE 
 
 MEN., 
 
 ' ' 1 I . 
 
 BY THE 
 
 EEV. WILLIAM ANDERSON, 
 
 MEMBER OF TEE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. 
 
 “ He that chiefly owes himself unto himself is the substantial man.” 
 
 Sir Thomas Browne. 
 
 “ Unquestionably, the greatest thing that can be said of a man is, that he had 
 no father j that he sprang from notliing, and made himself; that he was born 
 mud, and died marble.” — Eev. Thomas Binney. 
 
 “ I am my own ancestry.” — H apoleon, 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN SNOW, 36, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1861. 
 
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30^CX^ O^Stechert. 
 
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 TO YOUNG MEN. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 Dear Priekds, — 
 
 In dedicating to yon this small volume, we claim not 
 the deference that is due to a lengthened experience. 
 With your views and feelings, your hopes and fears, wo 
 have still a ready and lively sympathy. But, having 
 enjoyed many opportunities for observation, some time 
 for reflection, and having had a little experience of the 
 invigorating power of persevering exercise, we have 
 written with the view of encouraging you to strive 
 after excellence. 
 
 We have used the phrase, Self-made Men,” on the 
 title-page and throughout the treatise, as indicating, in 
 its popular acceptation, the purpose and function of 
 our hook, and offering some colourable air of novelty ; 
 at the same time we have kept in mind that, in the 
 strict and absolute sense, no man is self-made: the 
 most individual of our race are debtors to things, to 
 men, and, emphatically, to Grod. Let us be cognizant 
 and reminiscent of that wise and true sentence of 
 Wordsworth: — “These two thmgs, contradictory as 
 
VI 
 
 DEDICATION, 
 
 they may seem, must go together — manly dependence 
 and manly independence, manly reliance and manly 
 self-reliance.’’ 
 
 With more leisure, we are willing to persuade our- 
 selves that we could have improved the literature of 
 the work ; hut such as it is, if it shall, through the 
 Divine blessing, incite you to cultivate the grand cha- 
 racteristics of true manhood, this we shall consider 
 far greater reward than literary reputation. 
 
 Believe me, 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 WILLIAM ANDEESON. 
 
 Oldham, Novemler^ 1860. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Inteoductory and Explanatory 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Characteristics op Selp-made Men 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Examples op Selp-made Men : — 
 Section I. — John Bunyan . 
 Section II. — Edward Baines . 
 Section III. — Hugh Miller 
 Section IV. — John Kitto , ^ 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 How Men are Made • . , 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1 
 
 30 
 
 . 64 
 
 . 115 
 . 147 
 . 218 
 
 . 266 
 
 Appeals Founded on the Preceding Chapters . 
 
 . 293 
 
SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 i 
 
 IJ^TEODIjgTOIlT EXPLAISTATOET. 
 
 “ There is no man, however scanty his faculties, however limited 
 his advantages, who may not make the mast and the best of him- 
 self. Nor can he tell what he may attain, for ‘ every one that hath, 
 to him shall be given ; but from him that hath not, shall be taken 
 away even that which he seemeth to have.’ He may carry on this 
 great first work whether he be in private or public life ; whether he 
 be servant or master ; whether he live in obscurity or publicity ; 
 whether studying in the halls of learning, or plying his daily task 
 in the manufactory, at the loom, in the smithy over the anvil, or in 
 the field, following the plough ; whether and however he may be occu- 
 pied, he may still be developing, regulating, controlling, perfect- 
 ing the little world within his own breast.” 
 
 Eev. Hfgh Stotvell, A.M. 
 
 Selp-made men are best-made men. This is so generally 
 acknowledged, that it has been often said there are no 
 men but those who have made themselves. To aid and 
 encourage self- development is the object of the book 
 now commenced. Man is a microcosm — a little world 
 in himself. To reform society, we must begin with the 
 individual. Some, indeed, fancy that Total Abstinence 
 Societies, Infant Schools, N’ational Education, Exten- 
 sion of the Franchise, Eeligious Eevivals, combined with 
 indictments, imprisonments, and executions, will ulti- 
 
2 
 
 INTEODTJCTOET AKD EXPLANATOET. 
 
 mately set the social system right. To this we unhesi- 
 tatingly answer, JSTo. Such appliances may amuse with 
 hopes ; hut these hopes must prove fallacious. You may 
 shout Liberty, Lraternity, Equality,” so as to surprise 
 the eagle sweeping through his high aerial home ! What 
 of that, unless the streams that cleanse and regenerate 
 get at the heart ? Eeforms must spring from within. 
 Society will be elevated, when the individuals composing 
 it consecrate their energies upon the altars of knowledge, 
 virtue, and religion; but not till then. You have the 
 power of forming your own character and opinions ; and 
 not only your ovm peace, happiness, and prosperity, but 
 the progress, power, and glory of your country depend 
 upon the use you make of the immortal powers Grod has 
 given you. Whether we shall succeed in getting you to 
 determine, by Grod’s help, to make yourselves men in 
 the truest and most comprehensive sense of the term, 
 remains to be shown ; the object, however, is of sufficient 
 importance to justify a sincere attempt. 
 
 This self-manufacture is your own work. Whatever 
 the outward circumstances in which you are placed — 
 whatever your educational and social advantages — you 
 can never transfer this task to others. We insist, there- 
 fore, most urgently upon the supreme importance of 
 engaging in it. The objects you ought to have in view 
 are fourfold : — a secular object, an intellectual object, a 
 moral object, and a spiritual object. These may all be 
 secured. 
 
 Some are bom in opulence, ivith silver spoons in their 
 mouths, and so far as things temporal are concerned, are 
 made, not by themselves but by others. But the in- 
 heriting of a fortune is a questionable benefit ; like a 
 burning sun, it may dry up the manly qualities of 
 the soul, and leave its possessor the passive subject of 
 impressions, the weak creature of circumstances, while 
 
rPTTEODUCTOEY AND EXPLANATOET. 
 
 3 
 
 the toils, anxieties, and privations of industrious poverty- 
 are favourable to developing strength and steadfast- 
 ness. We do not disparage wealth and rank, but we 
 do say, a creature may put on scarlet and ermine, and 
 wear ducal coronets, and yet be no man — not have the 
 spirit of a man in him ; and a man, the law of whose 
 rising is as immutable as that which secures the rising of 
 the sun to-morrow, may be sheltered from the storms of 
 the rude world beneath the thatched roof, fed with bread 
 no better than the barley-loaves of the mountain fare, 
 and have nothing but water from the spring to drink. 
 Eight nobly does the poet sing, — 
 
 “ Is there, for honest poverty, 
 
 That hangs his head, and a’ that ? 
 
 The coward slave — we pass him by, 
 
 We dare be poor for a’ that ! 
 
 For a’ that, and a’ that, 
 
 Our toils obscure, and a’ that ; 
 
 The rank is hut the guinea’s stamp, 
 
 The man’s the gowd for a’ that.” 
 
 Almighty Grod has stamped a dignity upon labour ; it 
 is more than honest, it is honourable. Labour is the 
 great pervading principle of the universe. It is the law 
 of the sky above us, the earth beneath us, and the sea, 
 which for ever heaves and pants around us. Brindley, 
 the engineer, was asked by a committee of the House of 
 Commons for what purpose he conceived rivers to have 
 been created ? After a slight pause, he replied, ‘‘ Un- 
 doubtedly to feed canals.” His idea evidently was, that 
 Grod made a working, not an idle world. Emphatically 
 is labour the law of humanity. Adam was placed in the 
 garden, not to bask in its sunshine, sleep among its 
 flowers, and listen to the beautiful birds singing on its 
 lovely trees ; but to dress it and to keep it. In conse- 
 quence of sin, labour is now more toilsome and less re^ 
 
4 
 
 IKTEODTJCTOET AND EXPLANATOET. 
 
 munerative. “ In tlie sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat 
 bread.” Yet, when the heart and the head, the arm and 
 the limb, are all nerved to meet our appointed lot, what 
 seems a curse becomes no common blessing. Next to 
 the Grospel, work is the greatest boon to the world. 
 Pops and fools may sneer at it, but wise men will not 
 join them in their sneers. They know that “ clamorous 
 labour knocks with its hundred hands at the golden 
 gate of the morning,” providing each day for the wants 
 of the nine hundred millions that people the globe. The 
 all- wise Creator has so constituted Ds, that we cannot at 
 the same time be idle and happy. The flower raised by 
 a man’s own hand is the fairest ; the fruit he himself has 
 grown is the sweetest. “ If there is a man who can eat 
 his bread at peace with Grod and man, it is that man who 
 has brought that bread out of the earth by his own 
 honest industry. It is cankered by no fraud — wet by 
 no tear — it is stained by no blood.” Peter the G-reat 
 one day forged eighteen poods of iron, and put his own 
 particular mark on each bar. Then he went to the pro- 
 prietor, and asked how much he gave his workmen per 
 pood ? “ Three kopecks or an altina,” answered Muller. 
 
 “Very well,” replied the Czar, “I have then earned 
 eighteen altinas.” Muller brought eighteen ducats, and 
 oflering them to Peter, told him that he could not give 
 a workman like his Majesty less per pood. Peter refused 
 the sum, saying, “ Keep your ducats, I have not worked 
 better than any other man ; give me what you would 
 give to another ; I want to buy a pair of shoes, of which 
 I am in great need.” At the same time he showed him 
 his shoes, which had once been mended, and were again 
 full of holes. Peter accepted the eighteen altinas, and 
 bought himself* a pair of new shoes, which he used to 
 show with much pleasure, saying, “ These I earned with 
 the sweat of my brow.” Scott felt an especial charm in 
 
IIS^TEODIJCTOET AND EXPLANATOET. 
 
 5 
 
 the building of Abbotsford ; he had worked for it with 
 his pen and brain. 
 
 “ Work ! and pure slumbers shall wait on thy pillow — 
 
 Work! thou shalt ride over care’s coming billow. 
 
 Lie not down wearied ’neath woe’s weeping willow, — 
 
 Work with a stout heart and resolute will! 
 
 Work for some good, be it ever so slowly — 
 
 Cherish some flower, be it ever so lowly — 
 
 Labour ! all labour is noble and holt ! ” 
 
 A right-hearted and noble workman has thus exhorted 
 us — Think of living ! Thy life, wert thou the pitiful- 
 est of all the sons of the earth, is no idle dream, but a 
 solemn reality. It is thine own ; it is all thou hast to 
 confront eternity with. Worh^ then, like a star, unhast- 
 ing, yet unending.” 
 
 This book must be a short one — a book of hints. We 
 therefore proceed to speak of your material improvement. 
 You must work for your bread ; you ought to wish for 
 secular success; and you may, by your own efforts, realize 
 a competency, or even a fortune. But we do not con- 
 sider wealth, as wealth is generally understood, essential 
 to your making the best of yourself. Money is not the 
 root of all evil, — the Apostle is not to be understood 
 literally. It is a good thing in a good cause. A man 
 may be rich, and yet noble, generous, large-hearted, and 
 open-handed; but if he set his heart upon riches, his 
 spirit is debased, his feelings blunted, his conscience 
 perverted, and his natural susceptibility deadened. How 
 many of our merchants and manufacturers make the 
 counting-house their sanctuary, the Exchange their temple, 
 gold their Grod, and bank-notes their Bible ? Wealth is 
 power, but its power has its limits. It cannot purchase 
 peace, nor health, nor a true friend. It will not silence 
 an accusing conscience, nor remove terror from the brow 
 of death, nor pay your debts at the bar of Heaven. A 
 
6 
 
 INTEODTJCTORT AND EXPLANATOET. 
 
 man of the right stamp has no wish to find a little 
 California, or to have a legacy left him by some rich 
 bachelor uncle or maiden aunt, or to get a prize in a 
 lottery ; but resources equal to his position in the world, 
 and sufficient to support his credit and respectability. 
 To have the wolf at the door, and the vulture at the 
 heart, night and day, is a terrible thing. “ He that 
 sleeps too soundly, let him borrow the pillow of the 
 debtor.” Depend upon it, a competency is a first-rate 
 thing; and it is right — right, by all means — ^that you 
 should aim at it, and struggle for it. 
 
 All who depend upon their own exertions, for their own 
 support and that of their families, are deeply interested in 
 keeping up the price of labour ; but what foolish methods 
 are often taken to accomplish this end ? A very common 
 plan is to strike^ when a single fortnight will more than 
 exhaust your resources ; but the abandon and glee of a day’s 
 fun, and the excitement of a monster meeting, outweigh the 
 dictates of prudence ; fluent gabblers are substituted for 
 men of sense ; and after a good deal of speechifying and 
 cheering, a low tavern too frequently receives the more en- 
 thusiastic heroes; there, amidst the excitement of drinking, 
 they soon grow deaf to time, and become oblivious to all 
 about the strike. Amiable dreamers ! ye will never raise 
 your wages in that way. It may be a broad assertion to 
 say, that combinations have been wholly useless ; but 
 certainly the mass of them have been foolish and futile : 
 for the rate of wages, in the long run, is ruled by laws as 
 fixed as those which rule the planets. Moreover, these 
 unions are often injurious to the operative. A large 
 employer said, the other day, that he was connected with 
 the press ; and it appeared that in the printers’ union 
 they had a general assembly and various presbyteries. 
 The rate of pay was 5d. per thousand letters, but in 
 Aberdeen it was only 4^d. The general assembly 
 
INTRODrCTORT AND EXPLANATOBT. 
 
 7 
 
 decided that the Aberdeen pay should be 5d., and that 
 the Aberdeen printers should strike. The printers said, 
 ‘‘We do not want to strike; we are satisfied with the 
 pay ; and as house-rent and living are a great deal 
 cheaper in Aberdeen than in London, Liverpool, and 
 other great cities, 4|d. is better to us in Aberdeen than 
 fid. to you in London.” The general assembly would 
 not listen to that sensible reasoning, and compelled the 
 men to strike, against their inclinations and clearest 
 convictions ; and they were obliged to leave their 
 families in want and misery, to obey the mandates of 
 that general assembly. This was a species of tyranny 
 not to be borne with. Some are of opinion that 
 Communism, or Socialism, is the only temporal salvation 
 for the working classes. Well, what then? what then? 
 Were the masters to give half their profits to the work- 
 men in the shape of wages, this would only raise them 
 about one shilling per week ! The masters never will 
 enter into a partnership that would entitle the workmen 
 to share in the gains, and yet be exempt from the losses, 
 of trade. Others think that the co-operative system will 
 soon become general, and the profits of trade be mutually 
 divided. Some great thinkers have faith in this theory, 
 and some successful experiments have been made. It is 
 certainly beautiful to look at, but at present it seems 
 impracticable. There is a more excellent way. Shake 
 yourself rid of these ; it is but little they can do for 
 you ; but, if made of the right stufi*, you can do a great 
 deal for yourself ; and, if not, extraneous help cannot be 
 of much service ; for, “ To lather an ass’s head is only 
 wasting soap.” Sydney Smith, when writing about the 
 wrongs of Ireland, and the foolish cries raised by the 
 people, said, — “ What trash to be bawling in the streets 
 about the ‘ Green Isle,’ and the ‘ Isle of the Ocean,’ and 
 the bold anthem of ‘ Erin-go-bragh.’ A far better anthem 
 
8 
 
 IKTEODTJCTOET AKD EXPLAIfATOET. 
 
 would be, Erin-go-bread and cheese, Erin-go-cabins that 
 \ keep out the rain, Erin-go-pantaloons without holes in 
 them.” And just so, what trash to be crying about 
 trades’ unions, and the relation between employer and 
 employed being radically wrong, and co-operative 
 s^tems ! A far better cry would be, — Down with in- 
 toxicating drinks, and Down with pawn-shops, and Down 
 with the men who croak about the badness of the times. 
 Do not listen to stump orators preaching from the text, 
 “ A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work.” The text is 
 good, but their sermons are wretched. Make the most 
 of the advantages, opportunities, and properties peculiar 
 to yourself, and you will make yoiu* way, as thousands 
 have done before you. Samuel Budgett was poor when 
 he picked up a horse shoe, carried it three miles, and 
 then sold it to a blacksmith for a penny. So was 
 William Hutton, when he slept on a butcher’s block 
 in one of the streets of Lichfield, and lived on turnips 
 all the way to Birmingham. Stand forth like a man, and 
 God will help you to improve your position. “ All men 
 will praise thee, when thou doest well for thyself.” 
 
 But this is not enough. Tour wealth may be very 
 great ; you may own warehouses, mills, ships, and 
 estates: this is much, and far from an inglorious 
 achievement. You must, however, strive for something 
 higher and nobler — you must make conquests in the 
 realms of knowledge — you must make yourself an 
 intelligent and well-informed man. Oh ! it is the very 
 mockery of hell to estimate man, who has notions of 
 and aspirations after absolute perfection, by the money 
 standard ! 
 
 “ The mind’s the standard of the man.” 
 
 Intellectual advancement is the duty of all, and within 
 the reach of all possessed of reason and the common 
 properties of their species. There are no barriers inter- 
 
INTEODUCTOET AND EXPLANATOET. 
 
 9 
 
 cepting one section of the community from perceptions 
 and spiritual enjoyments peculiar to another section. 
 The middle and upper classes possess golden oppor- 
 tunities ; old Colleges and University Halls are open 
 to them. But languages and science are not acquired by 
 miracle within learned walls. There is no regia via of 
 climbing the rugged steps of knowledge, no railroad to 
 the temple of science. The real intellectual instructor 
 of man is the great and awful soul within himself. 
 Hence we have illiterate men of letters ; gentlemen who 
 have listened to the profound prelections of distinguished 
 professors ; who append B.A. or M. A. to their names ; and 
 yet resemble the sapient youth who boasted that he had 
 attended two Universities ; to which the reply was, 
 “ And I knew a calf that sucked two cows, and the more 
 he sucked, the bigger a calf he became.” As the 
 Academic is not the certain, so it is not the only path to 
 mental success. There is another way, more circidtous 
 and difdcult certainly ; yet here thousands have had 
 sufB.cient ardour and courage to walk with dauntless 
 steps, accomplishing for themselves the very objects for 
 which Professorial Chairs have been established. All 
 honour to the wealthy gentlemen who come from their 
 Universities enwreathed with chaplets, prophetic of 
 coming victories on a wider arena and a sterner fight ; 
 but nobler still the poor men who come forth from the 
 mason’s shed, the smithy, the factory, and enfranchise 
 themselves in the republic of letters. 
 
 There never were such facilities for acquiring know- 
 ledge as at present. There are Mechanics’ Institutions, 
 People’s Colleges, Young Men’s Christian Associations, 
 and Pree Libraries. The artisan, when he returns from 
 the labours of the day, and the clerk and the shopkeeper, 
 when released from the desk and the counter, may at 
 their pleasure hold fellowship with the elite of the whole 
 
10 
 
 INTEODrCTOET AKD EXPLATTATOET. 
 
 earth. The labourer, if he has prepared his mind to 
 enjoy “ the feast of reason and the flow of soul,” may 
 have free access to whatever statesmen, philosophers, 
 travellers, historians, poets, or divines, he may choose to 
 select. He can listen to the eloquence of Chatham, 
 and Burke, and Chalmers ; and grow familiar with the 
 writings of Shakespeare, Milton, Bacon, and Macaulay. 
 By study the hand-labourer may be transformed into the 
 head-labourer. The preferableness of the latter to the 
 former needs no illustration. Ton may rise into a 
 philosopher, a poet, a statesman, or a divine. ISTo need 
 to shake the head compassionately, as if we were talking 
 about impossibilities. James Watt, who realized Milton’s 
 bold Action of chariots moving by vital impulse, was a 
 mathematical instrument maker. Bobert Burns walked 
 in glory and in joy, 
 
 “ Driving his laurelled plough.” 
 
 John Bright is one of the people; and Luther went from 
 door to door begging his bread. None of these could 
 boast that he 
 
 “ Deduced his birth 
 
 From loins enthroned, or rulers of the earth.” 
 
 In 1833, Leigh Hunt, above whose grave the dust has 
 just been arranged, published Ultra Crepidarius, a 
 satire upon William Gifford,” the talented editor of the 
 Quarterly Review. It will not do, in our day, to say, 
 What have working men to do with science and literature? 
 The proverb, “ Let the shoemaker stick to his last,” is 
 obsolete. We are very glad that certain shoemakers 
 have been wise enough not to ‘‘ stick to the last.” Had 
 William Carey stuck to his last, Christian missions 
 would have been destitute of one of their brightest orna- 
 ments. Had William Huntingdon minded his cobbling, 
 he had never risen to be the celebrated and popular 
 minister of Providence Chapel, Gray’s Inn Lane, London. 
 
lOTEODrCTOET AND EXPLANATOET. 
 
 11 
 
 Had this despicable maxim been acted upon by Samuel 
 Drew, we had never read the celebrated essay on the 
 “Immortality and Immateriality of the Soul.” If it 
 had been the motto of John Partridge, he had never 
 been appointed physician to Charles II. ! If this had 
 been the watchword of Dr. Morrison, he had not been 
 the first, and in some respects the greatest of all, in the 
 Chinese missions. If this principle had influenced a 
 young shoemaker in Plymouth workhouse, we had not 
 been able to hold up John Kitto as a self-made man. If 
 this proverb had been obeyed, we should not have heard 
 of Eobert Bloomfield, G-eorge Pox, Horton Bentley, 
 John Pounds, and other illustrious sons of St. Crispin. 
 Among working men, tailors, carpenters, masons, shep- 
 herds, sailors, and fishermen, as well as shoemakers, we 
 find the most extraordinary instances of mental heroism 
 — of wondrous self-made men. 
 
 There is no necessity why you should neglect your 
 work in order to study. Not long ago, at Thurso, in 
 the far north of Scotland, Sir E. Murchison discovered a 
 person named Eobert Dick, not only a capital baker, but 
 ‘a profound geologist, and a first-rate botanist. Labour 
 and literature are perfectly compatible. Toil supplies 
 the means of reading, and reading sweetens toil, when 
 the moral feelings are right. He that reads most will 
 work best, if actuated by a proper sense of duty. Ben 
 Jonson worked at the building of Lincoln’s Inn, “ and 
 while he had a trowel in his hand, had a book in his 
 pocket.” John Bethune maybe mentioned as a proof 
 of the ease with which self-culture may be combined 
 with handicraft. We quote from his life: — “In the 
 midst of this enthusiasm for a favourite pursuit, it may 
 perhaps be supposed that he would in some measure 
 neglect his work, and altogether renounce those duties 
 which, as a member of society, he owed to others. The 
 
12 
 
 IKTEODTJCTOET AFD EXPLAI^ATOET. 
 
 very reverse of this, however, was the case. Prom his 
 work he was never absent a day, or even an hour, when 
 the weather admitted of going abroad ; and if at any 
 time he was inclined to fret, it was when kept at home 
 by rain or deep snow. Nor scarcely was there ever a 
 man who gave his time or assistance to his poor fellow- 
 creatures more willingly than he did. Whatever he may 
 have accomplished in self-improvement, he did solely by 
 keeping one object steadily in view, and devoting to it 
 the whole of those hours which others devote to amuse- 
 ment, idle conversation, and visiting acquaintances. He 
 willingly went, indeed, wherever he thought he could 
 be of service to a poor suffering fellow- creature, but he 
 never lost an hour in paying formal visits. So far was 
 he from being a lover of gossip, that after having been 
 prevented from reading or writing for some hours by 
 company which he did not consider very interesting, I 
 have sometimes heard him say, with a melancholy air, 
 ‘ I have lost an evening.’ ” 
 
 We have spoken of books ; we add. Nature is a grand 
 instrument of highest intellectual culture. Strong ob- 
 jection might be taken to the assertion — 
 
 “ Small have continual plodders ever won, 
 
 Save base authority from others’ books.” 
 
 But certainly the man, whose powers of observation are 
 in happy exercise, can not merely find glory in the grass, 
 and beauty in the flowers, but useful, practical wisdom 
 and advice. 
 
 “ To him the meanest flower that blows can give 
 Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.” 
 
 Where is knowledge to be found ? The star-beam darts 
 it down ; the breeze whispers it ; the grove preaches it ; 
 the waving forest is vocal with it ; the ocean wafts it 
 from pole to pole; the thunder, in full diapason, rolls 
 
I^TTEODTJCTOET AND EXPLANATOET. 
 
 13 
 
 it out : knowledge is everywhere — above, beneath, 
 around, beside us. JN’ature is ever pouring it forth out 
 of her thousand mouths. And on earth and heaven, 
 sea and land, cloud and sky, fountain and river, nodding 
 tree and blooming flower, every intelligent and sentient 
 being is free to gaze. 
 
 “ Nature, enchanting nature, .... 
 
 Is free to all men ; universal prize.” 
 
 How painful to think that multitudes are going blind- 
 fold through a world like this, a Grod-made and Grod- 
 plenished world. John Campbell tells us that the 
 aborigines of South Africa looked up to the sun with 
 the eye of an ox.” And the poet of the lakes says of 
 Peter Bell, — 
 
 “ He roved among the vales and streams, 
 
 In the greenwood and hollow dell ; 
 
 They were his dwellings night and day ; 
 
 But nature ne^er could find the way 
 Into the heart of Peter Bell, 
 
 “ In vain thro’ every changeful year, 
 
 Did nature lead him as before — 
 
 A 'primrose hy a river's hrim^ 
 
 A yellow primrose was to him^ 
 
 And it was nothing more." 
 
 But what joy, what varied and everlasting joy, is his who 
 has educated himself in the knowledge of Grod’s works! — 
 an education, we have no hesitation in saying, infinitely 
 more valuable, as a means of happiness and real eleva- 
 tion of character, than all the literary stores of Grreece 
 and Home. Such a man discovers 
 
 “ Tongues in trees, books in tlie running brooks. 
 
 Sermons in stones, and good in everything.” 
 
 He feels a transport higher and purer in the exercise of 
 his intellectual powers, than ever gourmand in the 
 gratification of his animal propensities. 
 
14 
 
 IKTBODUCTORT AND EXPLANATOEY. 
 
 Anotlier most powerful reason for self-teacliing is, 
 that you are giving a voice to your wrongs, and urging 
 your just claims. All England is ringing with the cry 
 for Eeform. Now we firmly believe the sentiment so 
 often repeated by O’Connell, — 
 
 “ Who would be free, 
 
 Himself must strike the blow.” 
 
 But remember, that nothing is more dangerous than the 
 right of suffrage connected with profound ignorance. 
 It is absolutely sickening to hear men dogmatize on 
 subjects of which they are as ignorant as of the Chinese 
 language. Let this never be said of you. Go not to 
 the polls ; touch not the springs that set in motion the 
 vast machinery of the State, till you have formed a just 
 conception of the turn you are giving affairs. Bead the 
 constitution and history of your ovm country ; inform 
 yourself by actual inquiry on the chief subjects of public 
 policy ; read authorities on the subject ; investigate all 
 that experience has demonstrated upon it ; make your- 
 self worthy of a share in the government of this glo- 
 rious nation, and the elective franchise will soon be 
 your own. Talk about a money qualification, freehold 
 and household suffrage ! — give us men somewhat con- 
 formed to their Creator’s ideal, men of intellect and 
 men of conscience, and let every one of them have a 
 vote. A great statesman on the other side of the 
 Atlantic once said, ‘‘ A man has an ass worth £ 5 , and 
 consequently is entitled to a vote ; but the ass dies 
 before the day of election, and he is disfranchised ; well, 
 who had the vote, the man or the ass ? ” ! Why should 
 not all the three classes of society be represented ? As 
 true a heart may beat in the breast of the peasant as in 
 the bosom of a peer. 
 
 “ I ask not of his lineage, 
 
 I ask not of his name, 
 
INTKODUCTOET AND EXPLANATORY. 
 
 15 
 
 If manliness be in his heart, 
 
 He noble birth may claim. 
 
 The palace or the hovel, 
 
 Where first his life began, 
 
 I seek not of — but answer this : 
 
 ‘ Is he an honest man ? * 
 
 “ Then blush not now — what matters it 
 Where first he drew his breath ? 
 
 A manger was the cradle-bed 
 Of Him of Nazareth. 
 
 Be nought, be any, everything — 
 
 I care not what you be. 
 
 If ‘ Yes ’ you answer, when I ask, 
 
 ‘ Art thou pure, true, and free ? ’ ” 
 
 And many of the people have as well cultivated minds 
 as members of the Upper House. Eecent disclosures 
 have made us less astonished at the remark of the 
 worthy Cambridge Professor, “ Heaven forbid that we 
 should educate the people down to the level of the 
 House of Lords 1” 
 
 Again. Knowledge is power.” This aphorism of 
 Lord Bacon is as true as it is beautiful. Step into that 
 printing office. Why does the compositor receive more 
 wages than the man that cleans the machinery and 
 sweeps out the room ? He knows more. Why does the 
 corrector of the press receive more than the compositor ? 
 He knows more. Why does the writer of leading articles 
 receive more than the corrector of the press ? He knows 
 more. One man is simply a porter, and can lift a heavy 
 weight ; another draws from the vapours of water the 
 most powerful and most obedient of moving forces. The 
 difference is simply a difference in point of knowledge. 
 Truly, “ Knowledge is power.” The vessel dashing white 
 the waves of remotest seas ; that tireless creature, the 
 iron horse, galloping over moorlands and under moun- 
 tains, at the rate of thirty or sixty miles per hour ; the 
 
16 
 
 IKTEODUCTOEY AND EXPLANATOET. 
 
 slender galvanic current, flashing from continent to 
 continent with the speed of lightning ; — these are illus- 
 trations. A person once passing through a park saw 
 nailed to one of the trees, “ All dogs found in this park 
 will he shot.” A friend remarked, “ Unless dogs can 
 read, they are pretty badly off* here.” But an ignorant 
 man in the present age is worse off; for, unlike the 
 dog, he has no master to read for him. Knowledge 
 is power.” This is true of countries as well as of in- 
 dividuals. Uor, contrast Scotland and Mexico. The 
 former, despite its naked mountains, its frozen uplands, 
 and its sky of iron, sends more productions of its soil and 
 arts to different nations than the latter, with its gold 
 and silver mines, its eternal spring, and its tropical 
 vegetation ! What is the secret of this mystery ? What 
 is the resolution of this enigma ? In Scotland science 
 pursues her studies, literature dreams her dreams, and 
 religion smiles with serene and majestic love. In 
 Mexico, “ daricness covers the earthy and gross darkness 
 the peopled Everything that dignifies the character and 
 uplifts the man dwindles and dies. 
 
 “ Ignorance is the curse of Grod.” 
 
 It accounts for the uncertain politics, the falsehood, the 
 licentiousness and misery of the Continent. It has sunk 
 and degraded Ireland — made that fairest isle of the ocean 
 the thing we blush to name. It has turned the hardy 
 Eomans into the poor, fiddling, lazy, enslaved Italians of 
 the present day. Knowledge is the garden of Eden, 
 Ignorance a desolate wilderness. 
 
 Do you wish to gain the respect of your fellow-men, 
 and the favour of your Grod ? then read and think, and 
 cultivate your intellect. Men are beginning to be esti- 
 mated, not by their wealth, political or social status, 
 but by what they really are. True greatness is not 
 hereditary, but personal. Titles, ribands, garters, regalia; 
 
IKTRODrCTOET AFD EXPLANATOET. 
 
 17 
 
 these are miserable distinctions, unless representative of 
 inner worth. Ignorant and profligate princes are despised, 
 and intelligent and virtuous peasants are honoured. Your 
 lot may have been cast in the ‘‘ unsunned nooks” of the 
 world, still you are men ; you have great powers, linking 
 you to Grod and eternity ; you are not merely citizens, 
 subjects, or operatives ; Grod never created you simply 
 for the labour market. We have no sympathy with that 
 utilitarian spirit that always asks, “ Of what use is it?” 
 And we reply, in the words of Emerson, “Is it for 
 use ! Nature is debased ; as if one, looking at the 
 ocean, can remember only the price of fish!” Man is 
 a greater name than king or president ; greater than the 
 whole material universe ; and he is to cultivate himself 
 because he is a man. This is indeed the real purpose 
 and business of life. 
 
 But we pass on to a higher department of your nature, 
 the moral department; for in deep and immortal interest 
 the moral qualities far transcend the intellectual powers ; 
 consequently, the training of the former is even more 
 important than the discipline of the latter. It is not 
 the head but the heart that determines a man’s excel- 
 lence or worthlessness. Indeed, this is the law of all 
 intelligent being. Moral disposition, not mental endow- 
 ments, differences Grabriel from Satan. The illimitable 
 distance between them consists in this : Grabriel is all 
 love and holiness, Satan all hatred and sin. The loftiest 
 intellect, if allied to a malignant, malevolent disposition, 
 resembles a vast volcano, a moral Vesuvius, flashing 
 brilliantly, but vomiting desolation and death into every 
 quarter of the shuddering and shrinking world. A 
 homely • intellect, combined with a loving, truthful 
 heart, is like the dawn of the living day breaking mildly 
 over the mountains, and scattering the darkness. Be 
 not carried away by an idolatry of talent, any more than 
 
18 
 
 INTEODTJCTOEY AIS^D EXPLAIS^ATOET. 
 
 by an idolatry of money. As in the commercial world, 
 “ Money, money, money,” is tbe incessant cry ; so in the 
 literary world, tbe untiring cry is for men of talent, 
 men of genius, poets, pbilosopbers, orators. Alas ! we 
 assemble even in tbe sanctuary, not to do homage to tbe 
 Grod of Heaven, but to offer incense to tbe mind of man. 
 We are dissatisfied with plain statements of Gospel 
 truth, and desire its being overlaid with tbe conceits of 
 an exuberant imagination. Tbe things we admire and 
 commend, in tbe illustration of Scriptural truth, are 
 tbe same as those we applaud in tbe orator, or in 
 tbe treatise which explains some worldly science. 
 Ours is not moral feeling, or spiritual enjoyment, 
 but mental gratification. We read of men who are 
 to be worshipped, not on account of their meekness 
 and benevolence, but because of their brilliant genius 
 and magnificent attainments. Tbe far-famed Thomas 
 Carlyle has discoursed of tbe hero as a divinity, a king, 
 poet, prophet, priest, and man of letters. Be not 
 deceived ; no man is a hero that does not deny himself, 
 serve his generation, and glorify his God. There is a 
 greater victory than that of military conquest. “ He 
 that ruleth his own spirit is greater than he that taketh 
 a city.” Yes, he who can control and regulate his 
 appetites and passions is nobler far than Caesar at the 
 head of his bannered hosts, planting his eagle standard 
 upon our British shores ; greater far than Alexander, 
 weeping his childish tears of mortified ambition, because 
 his occupation is gone. Bor these conquerors, who 
 aspired to grasp the sceptre of the world, had their clear 
 eye darkened by the storms of passion ; their ruling 
 principle could not sustain them ; their overweening and 
 insane ambition fiung them prostrate in degradation and 
 death. Genius is a cvirse, unless regulated by sound 
 moral principle. 
 
INTEODUCTORT AND EXPLAN ATOET. 
 
 19 
 
 Now, it is not difficult to show that moral habits can 
 only he attained by the most assiduous self-culture. 
 
 ‘‘ Hear and understand : not that which goeth into the 
 mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of 
 the mouth, this defileth a man.” And again, ‘‘Those 
 things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from 
 the heart; and they defile the man. Tor out of the 
 heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, forni- 
 cations, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies; these are 
 the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen 
 hands defileth not a man.” Christ evidently takes what 
 “ goeth into the mouth” as representative of all exter- 
 nalities : all that goeth in through the eye, the ear, the 
 touch, and the smell, as well as through “ the mouth.” 
 The idea is, that the source of moral character is not 
 external circumstances, but inward, mental life. “ Unto 
 the pure all things are pure ; but unto them that are 
 defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their 
 minds and consciences are defiled.” Every moment 
 impressions are being made from without ; the gates of 
 the soul are always crowded with passengers, pressing 
 on to the depths of man’s nature ; but consciousness 
 informs us of a power within which takes action upon 
 the impressions, welcomes or expels the passengers, and 
 forms the character. Highwaymen may call at your 
 house : that is not your fault ; but, if you invite them in, 
 then you are to blame. “ A good man out of the good 
 treasures of the heart bringeth forth good things ; and an 
 evil man out of the evil treasures bringeth forth evil 
 things.” Man cannot be made either good or bad by 
 parents, teachers, or acts of parliament. The poet’s 
 adage, 
 
 “ ’Tis education forms the common mind : 
 
 Just as the twig is bent, the tree’s inclin’d,” 
 
 is one of very limited applicability. Upon the highest 
 
20 iH^TRODTJCTOilT AND EXPLANATORY. 
 
 of all authority we know, that man is armed with 
 complete power to bend circumstances to his will, and 
 determine his own charactef. Let us turn for a moment 
 to rural scenes for an analogy. When Spring, with her 
 dissolving breath, melts the frost and clears the soil of 
 snow, the farmer yokes his team, and driving the bright 
 ploughshare through its breast, scatters his seed far and 
 wide, harrows it into the bosom of the ground; eradicates 
 weeds, drains marshes, manures, irrigates, and thus directs 
 the spontaneity of nature into the useful channel of pro- 
 ducing food for man. Precisely so in the great field of 
 the human mind. There a soil of wonderful fertility 
 is given to man to cultivate. He cannot give the 
 productiveness that operates in mind any more than he 
 can make the gentle zephyrs blow, the soft showers 
 descend, the warm dews fall, and the sunbeams shine ; — 
 but he can modify, control, or regulate this spontaneity ; 
 he can root out thorns and briers, pluck up moral hem- 
 lock, and hew down mighty forests of upas trees ; he can 
 sow good seed, and supply the conditions of material, 
 mental, moral, and spiritual progress — a diligent use 
 of the means, love of truth, humility of spirit, and 
 dependence on God’s blessing; or he can withhold the 
 necessary conditions ; but for this he is responsible to 
 God, who will one day call him for sentence. Pealize 
 this wonderful, refiex, transformative power of the soul. 
 Pemember there is this difference between the farmer 
 and thee : he may employ other hands to sow the seed in 
 spring and bind the sheaves in autumn ; thine own hand 
 must sow the seed, and thou thyself must reap the 
 harvest. You are both alike, however, in this respect, 
 “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly; and 
 he who soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully.” 
 Again we remind thee, thou feeble one, that others can 
 give thee but little help ; they may carry thy body to 
 
IJiTTIlODUCTOBT AND EXPLANATOBY. 
 
 21 
 
 the summit of the lofty mountain, but the holy hill of 
 moral dignity thou must climb thyself. If thou wouldst 
 raise a noble character, thyself must be the builder, 
 Up, then, and 
 
 “ Grather the honey from the weed, 
 
 And make a moral of the devil himself.” 
 
 We might go over in detail the whole of the moral 
 habits, and urge upon you, by appropriate motives, their 
 adoption and cultivation ; but for the limits of a small 
 volume so wide and diversified a field is out of the 
 question. Eranklin’s plan was doubtless a good one ; 
 he formed a scale for the virtues, including therein 
 Temperance, Silence, Order, Uespect, Frugality, Inde- 
 pendence, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, 
 Tranquillity, Chastity, and Humility. 
 
 The following were the rules he laid down for the 
 discipline of his life : — 
 
 Tempeeance. 
 
 Silence. 
 
 Oedee. 
 
 Eesolution, 
 
 Feu&ality. 
 
 Industey. 
 
 SiNCEEITY. 
 
 Justice. 
 
 Modeeation^ 
 
 Cleanliness. 
 
 Teanquillity. 
 
 Humility. 
 
 Eat not to fullness j drink not to elevation. 
 
 Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself ; 
 avoid trifling conversation. 
 
 Let all your things have their places; let each part 
 of your business have its time. 
 
 Resolve to perform what you ought ; perform 
 without fail what you resolve. 
 
 Make no expense, but do good to others or your- 
 self ; that is, waste nothing. 
 
 Lose no time ; be always employed in something 
 useful ; cut off all unnecessary actions. 
 
 Use no hurtful deceit ; think innocently and 
 justly ; and if you speak, speak accordingly. 
 
 Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the 
 benefits that are your duty, 
 
 Avoid extremes ; forbear resenting injuries. 
 
 Suffer no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habi- 
 tation. 
 
 Be not disturbed about trifles, or at accidents 
 common or unavoidable. 
 
 Imitate J esus Christ. 
 
IlS^TRODUCTORT AIS^D EXPLANATORY. 
 
 In the material world there is a power that hinds 
 planet to planet, and causes all those heavenly bodies to 
 move in their spheres with the utmost exactness ; which 
 moves alike the great ocean and the tiny pool ; not an 
 atom, whether in the heavens, on the earth, or in the 
 waters, can elude its rule. And so in the moral system. 
 Grod has placed a mysterious power in the soul, partaking 
 alike of head and heart, sometimes called reason, some- 
 times conscience, sometimes the moral faculty. Be its 
 name what it may, if it be rightly educated, all will go 
 on well. Appetites, desires, affections, and passions will 
 act most harmoniously. The most important work of 
 the self-teacher is to enthrone this sense of right and 
 wrong. “ Conscience,” says Todd, ‘‘ is a motive which 
 can be brought to bear upon all, and can be cultivated 
 till she calls every energy, every susceptibility, every 
 faculty of the soul, into constant, vigorous, powerful 
 action.” There is no end to the growth of this moral 
 force in man. There have been men whom no power in 
 the universe could swerve from the path of duty. When 
 Themistocles privately signified to Aristides his intention 
 of burning a certain fleet, and thus making Athens the 
 undisputed sovereign of the sea, the latter, shocked at 
 the base design, spoke not a word, but returning to the 
 assembly, informed them that nothmg could be more advan- 
 tageous to Athens, but at the same time nothing could be 
 more unjust. The people accepted the sentiments of the 
 magistrate, and rejected the proposal of the general, 
 without inquiring into the nature of it, and bestowed 
 upon Aristides the surname of Just. In the reign of 
 Charles II., the borough of Hull, Yorkshire, chose 
 Andrew Marvel, a gentleman of small fortune, and 
 maintained him in London, for the public service. 
 With a view to bribe him, his old schoolfellow, the 
 Lord Treasurer Danby, called on him in'his garret. At 
 
INTRODUCTORY AND EXPLANATORY. 
 
 23 
 
 parting, tlie Lord Treasurer slipped into his hands a 
 cheque for £1,000, and then went into his chariot. 
 Marvel, looking at the paper, called after the Treasurer, 
 
 Mj Lord, I request another moment.” They went up 
 again to the garret, and Buttons, the servant hoy, was 
 called. ‘‘Jack, what had I for dinner yesterday?” 
 “ Don’t you remember, sir, you had the little shoulder 
 of mutton you ordered me to buy from a woman in the 
 market?” “Very right; what have I for dinner to-day ?” 
 “ Don’t you know, sir, that you made me lay up the 
 blade-bone to broil ?” “ ’Tis so ; very right ; go away. 
 
 My Lord, do you hear ? Andrew Marvel’s dinner is 
 provided ; there’s your piece of paper ; I want it not. I 
 knew the sort of kindness you intended. I live here to 
 serve my constituents. The Ministry may seek men for 
 their purpose ; I am not one.” Charter the moral 
 faculty. As Carlyle says, “ Make yourself an honest 
 man, and then you may be sure there is one rascal less 
 in the world.” 
 
 We now advance to the consideration of the noblest, 
 the infinitely worthy object of study and pursuit — 
 Eeliuion. This branch of our subject has been in some 
 degree forestalled, whilst treating of moral culture ; 
 indeed, the moral and spiritual can scarcely be separated. 
 Morality is an all-important part of religion, and reli- 
 gion is the only sure foundation of morality. Now 
 what we maintain is, that man, without religion, cannot 
 reach his highest manhood. How can he, when the 
 noblest faculty of his mind is lying dead ! He may be 
 secularly successful — as a tradesman, he may rule his 
 guild; as a merchant, he may be a prince, a golden 
 millionaire, and thousands may call him “ a made man,” 
 envy, flatter, fawn, yea, worship him, as of old certain 
 people worshipped a golden calf. “You must be a happy 
 man, Mr. Eothschild !” “ Happy ! me happy ! What ! 
 
24 
 
 INTRODTJCTOET AND EXPLANATORY. 
 
 happy, when just as you are going to dine you have a 
 letter put into your hand, saying, ‘ If you do not send 
 me £500, I will blow your brains out ? ’ Happy ! when 
 you have to sleep with pistols at your pillow ! ” He 
 may be intellectually successful ; but if his heaven- 
 born genius has been perverted, his fame is a phantom, 
 his distinction a bubble ; empty and unsatisfactory are 
 all his honours, and instead of rejoicing over him as a 
 man, we mourn over him as a wreck. How sad the 
 declaration of one who had many manly qualities. I 
 fear it will be some time before I tune my harp again. 
 By Babel’s streams I have sat and wept. I have only 
 known existence by the pressure of the heavy hand of 
 sickness, and have counted time by the repercussions of 
 pain. Bheumatism, cold, and fever have formed to me a 
 terrible combination. I close my eyes in misery, and 
 open them without hope. I look on the vernal day, and 
 say with poor Eergusson, — ■ 
 
 “ ‘ Say, wherefore has an all-indulgent Heaven, 
 
 Light to the comfortless and wretched given ?’ ” 
 
 Not more eloquent than true are the words of Sir 
 Archibald Alison, Bart. “No lasting fame is to be ac- 
 quired, even by the highest genius, save that which is 
 devoted to the purposes of virtue ; for the few poems of 
 Bums, which we now lament, have long since passed into 
 oblivion, and those on which his immortal fame is rested 
 are pure as the driven snow.” He may be morally suc- 
 cessful — completely master himself — do what Burns 
 never did — 
 
 On reason build resolve. 
 
 That column of true majesty is man.” 
 
 There are ungodly men that you can no more help 
 loving, than you can help being attracted by the wall- 
 flower in the crevice of an old ruin, or the wild flower 
 on the bleak moorland. The young ruler left Jesus, yet 
 
INTRODUCTORY AND EXPLANATORY. 
 
 25 
 
 Jesus loved him. Man’s chief end, however, is to 
 glorify Grod, and to enjoy Him for ever ; and he who, 
 instead of aiming at this noble end, disowns his Creator, 
 cannot be a true man. 
 
 If you would be a man of the highest style, you must 
 be a Christian ; and a Christian is one who believes the 
 Holy Scriptures to be a Divine authority — who conforms 
 to the requirements which Grod has enjoined in the 
 Bible, and enjoys the blessings which Grod has provided 
 in the Grospel. How important is faith ! It restores 
 lost love, lost harmony, and lost usefulness. Man has 
 then an eye for the beauty of holiness, an ear for the 
 music of heaven ; grace is poured into his heart, and he 
 speaks with another tongue and in another language. 
 “ It is a great mistake,” says the Bev. A. Baleigh, “ to 
 eulogize character, or sobriety, or commerce, or any one 
 thing, as the whole secret of a people’s advancement ; 
 or to refer to high art as demonstrating an approxima- 
 tion to perfection. Hot one, nor all these united, could 
 satisfy the cravings of the heart of man, who is to be 
 king of earth, until that which is highest and holiest — 
 the Divine — comes in to pervade, and harmonize, and 
 beautify, and lift all up to Grod. Religion is the com- 
 plement and crown of all other excellencies, the vital 
 air and sustaining aliment by which they live and thrive ; 
 and man can make no advancement towards his high 
 destiny, unless he devoutly lift his eye to the Throne of 
 the great King, and say, ‘ O Lord our Grod, how excel- 
 lent is Thy name in all the earth !’ ” 
 
 Now, in spiritual as in other things, there must be 
 individual action. Our object is not to indulge in theo- 
 logical pastime, but to work out practical realities ; we 
 shall, therefore, leave the fall, predestination, election, 
 and other cognate doctrines, to the Scotch metaphysi- 
 cians and the Grerman theologians. The fact, that the 
 
26 
 
 INTEODrCTOET AIS^D EXPLAT^ATOET. 
 
 forth-putting of a Divine energy is essential in order 
 that the soul may he quickened from the death of sin 
 to the life of holiness, in no respect affects our position ; 
 for here, as everywhere in the economy of grace, it will 
 he found, that as is the internal condition, so is the 
 external blessing. Grod does not work upon man as the 
 painter works upon the canvas, or as the mechanic works 
 upon the metal. No; He works in man in order that 
 man may will and do ; that man may worh out his own 
 salvation with fear and trembling. Blessed harmony of 
 Grod’s working and man’» working ! Happy union of 
 Grod’s grace and man’s obedience! ‘^Grive all diligence 
 to make your calling and election sure.” “ Add to your 
 faith, virtue ; and to virtue, knowledge ; and to know- 
 ledge, temperance ; and to temperance, patience ; and to 
 patience, godliness ; and to godliness, brotherly kind- 
 ness ; and to brotherly kindness, charity.” “ Whatsoever 
 things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatso- 
 ever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, what- 
 soever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good 
 report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, 
 think on these things.” “ Bollow after, that you may ap- 
 prehend that for which you are apprehended of Christ.” 
 “ Borgetting those things which are behind, and reaching 
 forth unto those things which are before, press toward the 
 mark for the prize of the high calling of Grod in Christ 
 Jesus.” Thus the highest of all culture — the noblest of 
 all developments, requires self-labour. 
 
 A charge to keep I have; 
 
 A God to glorify : 
 
 A never-dying soul to save, 
 
 And fit it for the sky.” 
 
 Infidels say that religion trammels the soul, fetters 
 the thoughts, limits the views, and imprisons the judg- 
 ment. Let the dignifying and ennobling character of its 
 
IlSrTEODrCTOET EXPLAI^ATORT. 
 
 27 
 
 tliemes be the conclusive reply. What science can boast 
 of truths so magnificent and sublime as the religion of 
 Jesus — so calculated to expand and exalt all the powers 
 of intellect ? Much infidelity arises from sheer vanity 
 and conceit. Many who can scarcely write their own 
 names, but who have read the loose, ill-written, and con- 
 tradictory pamphlet of some profligate atheist, fancying 
 themselves too profound to be imposed on by others, 
 talk about being emancipated from the thraldom of 
 superstition, and tell us that the Bible has served its 
 purpose, and now contains only heaps of Hebrew old 
 clothes — Jew stars long since gone out.” To intellec- 
 tual puppyism we reply in the words of the celebrated 
 wit, ‘‘ How rich I should become, if I could buy those 
 persons, so wise in their own conceit, at their just market 
 value, and sell them again at the value they set upon 
 themselves.” That would be to buy in the cheapest, and 
 sell in the dearest market. But are they all fools who 
 have believed and do believe in that old blessed hope ? 
 Ho! we, too, can speak of great names. Addison, 
 Bacon, Boyle, Bowdler, Butler, Calvin, Chalmers, 
 Cowper, Edwards, Eoster, Hall, Locke, Massillon, Milton, 
 Heander, Hewton, Owen, Paley, and many more. But 
 you say, the arguments that satisfied these men do not 
 remove your difficulties. Possibly not ; one almost as 
 wise as yourself pronounced a certain person “wiser in his 
 own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.” 
 
 So far as numbers and intelligence are concerned, the 
 verdict is decidedly in favour of Christianity. There are, 
 however, sincere doubters ; and in addressing them we 
 would not indulge in the language of scorn or reproach, 
 but of pity and kind-hearted expostulation. You are i. 
 sorely perplexed about many things in the Bible. Are 
 you not equally baffied about many things in nature? 
 Ho you understand yourself? “ The mind takes itself 
 
28 
 
 INTEODUCTOBT AND EXPLANATORY. 
 
 into its own hands, turns itself about, as a savage would 
 a watch, or a monkey a letter, interrogates itself, listens 
 to the echo of its own voice, and is obliged, after all, to 
 lay itself down, with a very puzzled expression, and 
 acknowledge, that of its very self it knows little or 
 nothing.” You live in a land where the strength of light 
 is measured by the intensity of shade ; nevertheless, if 
 true-hearted, you need not fear ; for, to use the words of 
 Pascal, ‘‘ there is in Christianity light enough for those 
 who sincerely wish to see, and darkness enough to con- 
 found those of an opposite disposition.” There are, 
 there must be, facts and difficulties in the Bible that 
 “ perplex mortals.” But, as Butler truly observes, “the 
 evidence of religion is fully sufficient for all the purposes 
 of probation, how far soever it is from being satisfactory 
 as to the purposes of curiosity.” The external evidence 
 of Christianity is sufficient to convince any man who is 
 not one mass of prejudice ; but the internal is straight er, 
 nobler, surer. There is a dread uneasiness, an aching 
 void, an earnest craving in every unsaved soul. Grod 
 made us for Himself, and we are restless, till we rest on 
 Him. Nothing can satisfy the soul but the contem- 
 plation and enjoyment of Divinity. Philip had universal 
 conscience on his side when he said, “ Lord, show us the 
 Pather, and it sufficeth us.” Let the capacious intellect, 
 that has been marching up and down the fields of science, 
 literature, or philosophy, agitated by vain speculations, 
 be brought to see God as revealed in Christ, and it will 
 be satisfied. Let the heart, torn and bleeding, and 
 uttering forlorn wails, see the Father in the Son, and it 
 will be healed, and filled with joy. Let the conscience, 
 echoing all the thunders of Sinai, be brought to God 
 through the Mediator, and its storm will be succeeded 
 by a calm. “ I know,” said the greatest of Apostles, 
 when he came to die, “ in whom I have believed, and am 
 
IKTRODUCTOET KNJ) EXPLANATORY. 
 
 29 
 
 persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have 
 committed unto Him against that day.” This conviction 
 was an experimental one. He that belie veth on the 
 Son of God hath the witness in himself.” There is no 
 resisting this testimony. It is the voice within corrre- 
 sponding to the voice without, and changing the faltering 
 “ perhaps” into a loud and authoritative “ It is — it must 
 be so!” This strongest evidence of real Christianity 
 is level to the capacity, and within the reach of the 
 humble peasant, who knows nothing about the external 
 evidences. 
 
 Thus have we striven, however feebly, to introduce 
 and explain our subject — self-made men — men who 
 have trampled doubt and difficulty under their feet, and 
 raised themselves to positions of eminence and honour, 
 with very little help from others. Our object is to get 
 ^ou to determine, deliberately and solemnly, that you 
 will make a diligent and irreproachable use of the 
 talents which God has given you. Thousands, who 
 chiefly owed themselves unto themselves, have paved 
 their own way, made their own fortune, raised their 
 own monument, and thus gained more creditable laurels 
 than the accidents of rank or circumstance could have 
 bestowed. If you will, you can write your names in the 
 register of those glorious self-made men 1 'No power in 
 society, no hardship in your condition, can prevent you 
 from becoming men, secularly, intellectually, morally, 
 and religiously. Hesolve, then, on the attainment of 
 perfect manhood ; so that, afterwards, it may truly be 
 declared that you were 
 
 ‘‘ Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands, 
 Darkened by shadows of earth, hut reflecting an image of heaven.” 
 
30 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 CHARACTEEISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 “A great deal has been written and said lately about heroes. 
 The principle of heroism operates with more or less power in pro- 
 portion to organism and circumstances : but, in your definition of a 
 hero, you cannot go much beyond that ; a man with a good back- 
 bone, integrity, faith — these are the elements out of which the 
 noblest characters that ever blessed our world have been built up ; 
 and while the reader admires that which looks so great in history, 
 let him remember that these are elements also which are found, or 
 which may be found, in every cottage.” 
 
 Eev. Edwin Paxton Hood. 
 
 History informs ns that, towards the close of the 
 fifteenth century, there lived a notable man of the name 
 of Trebonius, who conducted a school after a fashion of 
 his own. We can easily imagine that this noble type of 
 humanity treated the rude nobility and ignorant priest- 
 hood of his times with very little ceremony indeed. But 
 when he entered his school, he was affected with the 
 most profound reverence, and would never appear with 
 covered head before his boys. “ Who can tell,” said he, 
 “ what may yet rise up from amidst these youth ? There 
 may be among them those who shall guide the destinies of 
 the empire!” The monk that shook the world was at 
 that time under the tuition of that eccentric school- 
 master. A career of excellence is open to all ; any man 
 may become what earth shall admire and heaven approve. 
 If you will but deliberately and determinately purpose 
 to cultivate the j^rinciples and virtues which constitute 
 
CHAEACTERISTICS OE SELE-MADE MEIST. 
 
 31 
 
 the elements of every well-formed character — resolve 
 to he something, and to do something in this world, 
 Grod will help you, and we dare not limit your achieve- 
 ments. 
 
 The following characteristics of self-made men we 
 shall now elucidate : — Eirst, a deep sense of their native 
 dignity and grandeur ; second ly, high hopes as to the 
 position they will one day occupy ; t ^rdly , a proper 
 appreciation of the value of time ; fourthly, a true 
 estimate of the worth of odd pence ; fifthly, industry ; 
 sixthly, perseverance ; seventhly, decision of character ; 
 eighthly, strong moral ^“^^nciple ; ninthly, eyesight ; 
 tenthly, what they do, they do well. Others might he 
 mentioned, but the above must suffice. 
 
 Self-made men have a deep sense of their native dignity 
 and grandeur. Man has a soul, an immortal soul. He 
 was made in the image and after the likeness of God. 
 He has a higher life than that which beats in the pulse ; 
 and when the body returns to the dust as it was, the 
 spirit returns to God who gave it. Man cannot die. 
 Death is to him, not annihilation, but a mere change of 
 existence. 
 
 “ What is the thing of greatest price 
 The whole creation round ? 
 
 That which was lost in Paradise, 
 
 That which in Christ is found ; — 
 
 The soul of man — Jehovah’s breath — 
 
 That keeps two worlds at strife ; 
 
 Hell moves below to work its death, 
 
 Heaven stoops to give it life.” 
 
 The stars shall fade, the sun himself be extinguished in 
 eternal darkness, the heavens be rolled together like a 
 scroll, “ the solemn temples,” the gorgeous palaces,” 
 “ the cloud-capt towers,” shall pass away like an airy 
 vision, and be attended in their flight by the ‘‘ great 
 
32 
 
 CHAEACTEEISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 globe” itself ; but that noble endowment wbicb consti- 
 tutes manbood shall survive the general wreck, and exult 
 in the enjoyment of youth immortal. Man’s soul is 
 greater than the whole material universe, mundane and 
 celestial. He is conscious of existence. It is not. 
 
 “ Know’st thou the importance of the soul immortal ? 
 
 Behold the sky’s midnight glory, worlds on worlds ! 
 
 One thousand add, and twice ten thousand more. 
 
 Then weigh the whole — one soul outweighs them all.” 
 
 Angels minister to its wants ; devils quarrel about it ; 
 the Son of Grod shed his blood to redeem it. . Life is its 
 seed-time, eternity its harvest. ISTever to come to an end, 
 never to come nearer an end, is indeed amazing, over- 
 whelming, incomprehensible ! But such is the inheritance 
 of man ! 
 
 Great as man is, he may be still greater; for he is 
 capable of improvement to an extent of which he can 
 form no adequate conception. The flowers that bloom 
 in our gardens are not more beautiful than those that 
 grew in Eden. The sea is not more grand now than when 
 the old Phoenicians disturbed its stillness. The sun shines 
 not more brightly on us than he did on Adam. All 
 material things soon reach a point beyond which they 
 cannot go. Instinct grows apace, and the animals are 
 soon complete in all their faculties and powers. 
 
 “ Their little all flows in at once ; 
 
 In ages they no more can know, or do, 
 
 Or sufier, or enjoy.” 
 
 It is different with man: he goes on improving. Ten 
 thousand monuments attest his progress. Heroes may 
 sigh for more worlds to conquer, but the world of mind 
 is without limit and without boundary. The more we 
 learn, the more anxious we are to learn ; the less is our 
 labour, and the greater our progress. 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEIf. 
 
 33 
 
 Advancement in goodness keeps pace with advance- 
 ment in knowledge. Repeated acts of obedience grow 
 into habit. Ton have resisted temptation, and the 
 passion, so strong and clamorous, has become weak and 
 quiet. You have crushed the viper, trodden upon it, 
 killed it. Thus the waverer is confirmed in righteous- 
 ness, and he that is holy becomes holier still. The 
 traveller who set out, at first weak and feeble, gathers 
 strength as he proceeds, and at last enters the mansions 
 of Paradise. True men feel that this is the grandeur of 
 their nature, and the dignity of their destiny ; and 
 pursue this high vocation cheerfully, earnestly, hopefully, 
 till grace is merged in glory, and the twinkling star of 
 earth is exchanged for the blazing sun of heaven. 
 
 High hopes as to the position they will one day occupy 
 are characteristic of self-made men. The young are too 
 apt to imagine honours more distinguished than ever 
 were won, homes more beautiful than ever were built 
 on earth, and joys more thrilling than ever fell to the lot 
 of mortal. 
 
 “ Congenial hope ! thy passion-kindling power, 
 
 How bright, how strong in youth’s untroubled hour ! 
 
 On yon proud height, with genius hand in hand, 
 
 I see thee light, and wave thy golden wand.” 
 
 We do not condemn dreams and reveries ; when regu- 
 lated by sound judgment, they have their share in the 
 development of manhood. The men who rise to emi- 
 nence are not those who resemble the dull dray-horse; 
 but those who pierce into the future, and picture to 
 themselves what they may yet become. The mind thus 
 connected with a lofty object is kept upon the stretch, 
 and presses onwards and upwards with energy and per- 
 severance. The young author cherishes the most splen- 
 did visions of literary fame ; in imagination, his poetry 
 has taken its place by Milton’s ; his history by Macau- 
 D 
 
34 
 
 CHARACTEEISTICS OE SELE-MADE MEI^. 
 
 lay’s ; his disquisition by Burke’s ; and his sermon by 
 Caird’s. The rising painter fancies himself equal to 
 Michael Angelo, Eaphael, Wilkie, or some other great 
 artist, who has stamped his strong soul on canvas. The 
 aspiring orator thinks of Cicero pleading in the forum, 
 and Demosthenes, who wielded at will the fierce demo- 
 cracy of Athens, ‘‘ and fulmined over Greece to Macedon 
 and Artaxerxes’ throne,” — strives to rival their match- 
 less eloquence, and dreams of crowded audiences, melted 
 under his lofty periods and resistless appeals. You say 
 these visions are as vain as they are gigantic. Nay, 
 verily, everybody believes that there are. as good fish in 
 the sea, as ever have been taken out of it ; and who 
 knows but that your success may surpass that of those 
 who have gone before? TVho knows ^ “There’s the 
 rub.” A boy said to Benjamin West, “ There is the 
 horse, saddled and bridled ; so come, get up behind me.” 
 “ Behind you ! I will ride behind nobody ! ” “ Oh, very 
 
 well, then I will ride behind you ; so mount.” The boy 
 said he was going to be apprenticed to a tailor on the 
 morrow, and inquired what Benjamin was going to be? 
 “A painter.” A painter! what sort of a trade is a 
 painter ; I never heard of it before.” “ A painter is the 
 companion of kings and emperors.” “You are surely 
 mad ; there are neither kings nor emperors in America.” 
 “ Oh, but there are plenty in other parts of the world.’ 
 His hopes were realized. He was patronized for thirty 
 years by George III., who, through the Duke of Glou- 
 cester, offered him a knighthood. His reply was, “ No 
 man entertains a higher respect for political distinctions 
 and honours than myself; but I really think I have 
 earned greater eminence by my pencil already, than 
 knighthood could confer upon me.” 
 
 “ Dreams grow realities to earnest men.” 
 
 Shoot your arrow at the sun ; it may not strike it. 
 
CHARACTEEISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 35 
 
 but it will fly bigber than if you took a lower aim. 
 Wbatever tbe path along wbicb you are to travel 
 and to toil in life, select a standard of greatness un- 
 measured — infinite ; you may not equal it, but you will 
 rise bigber than if you attempted less. One wbo now 
 bolds a distinguished place in tbe ministry says, that 
 when a student, struggling under tbe most unfavourable 
 circumstances, without a single friend to drop a word of 
 encouragement, nothing to cheer him on but bis own 
 brave heart, his thoughts were wont to dwell on tbe 
 history of Luther, the blue-eyed, fair-haired Saxon boy, 
 who used to sing for his bread through the streets of his 
 native village, but who afterwards became celebrated as 
 the hero of the E^eformation, and still rules Christian 
 Europe from his grave. And to the hope thus inspired, 
 he ascribes his present eminent position. “ Brother, 
 thou hast in thee possibility for much : the possibility of 
 writing in the eternal skies the record of a heroic life.” 
 Let thy watchword be — Excelsior ! 
 
 Self-made men have a projper appreciation of the value 
 of spare moments. Time is the stuff out of which life is 
 manufactured. Many become wise and good, not be» 
 cause they have much leisure, but because they make a 
 good use of spare moments. In regard to time, as well 
 as other things, they remember the Saviour's words, 
 “ Grather up the fragments, that nothing be lost.” We 
 read some time ago of a young man, who perused a 
 history of England, while waiting for his meals in a 
 boarding-house. Southey has calculated, that a quarter 
 of an hour each day would enable any man to gain the 
 command of all the languages of Europe in a very short 
 time, and consequently all its intellectual wealth. Who 
 cannot spare that quarter of an hour ? Dr. Doddridge, 
 in reference to his “ Paraphrase on the 'New Testament” 
 
36 
 
 CHAEACTERISTICS OE SELE-MADE MEIS". 
 
 — one of the best of commentaries on that portion of 
 the Bible in the English language — said, that its being 
 written at all was owing to the difference between rising 
 at five and at seven o’clock in the morning. There are 
 many eloquent in eulogizing the glories of sunset. We, 
 with Doddridge, and other great men, believe that sun- 
 rise, for many reasons, far surpasses sunset. The former 
 casts the latter into the shade. 
 
 Early to bed, and early to rise, 
 
 Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” 
 
 Physicians say that six hours’ sleep are sufficient, and 
 that the whole system is prostrated by indulging in this 
 luxury. There can be no doubt, most people could take 
 two or three hours from sleep, with advantage both to 
 body and mind. 
 
 “ Did you but knowj when bathed in dew, 
 
 How sweet the little violet grew, 
 
 Amidst the thorny brake ; 
 
 How fragrant blew the ambient air 
 O’er beds of primroses so fair. 
 
 Your pillow you’d forsake ? 
 
 “ Paler than the autumnal leaf, 
 
 Or the wan hue of pining grief, 
 
 The cheek of sloth doth grow 5 
 Nor can cosmetic, wash, or ball. 
 
 Nature’s own favourite tints recall. 
 
 If once you let them go.” 
 
 Every student knows that the mind is more vigorous in 
 the morning than at any subsequent part of the day, 
 and consequently works more efficiently. “All my 
 commentaries on the Scriptures,” says Barnes, “have 
 been written before nine o’clock in the morning. At 
 the very beginning, more than thirty years ago, I 
 adopted a resolution to stop writing on these Notes 
 when the clock struck nine.” This eminently distin- 
 
CHARACTEEISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEIf. 
 
 37 
 
 guished man traces his publications on the Scriptures to 
 the fact of rising at four in the morning. “ I refer to 
 these morning hours ; to the stillness and quiet of my 
 room in this house of Grod, when I have been permitted 
 to ‘ prevent the dawning of the morning,’ in the study 
 of the Bible, while the inhabitants of this great city 
 were slumbering round about me, and before the cares 
 of the day, and its direct responsibilities came on me, to 
 the hours which I have thus spent in a close contempla- 
 tion of divine truth, endeavouring to understand its 
 import, to remove the difficulties which might pertain to 
 it, and to ascertain its practical bearing on the Christian 
 life. I refer, I say, to these scenes as among the happiest 
 portions of my life.” 
 
 Depend upon it, a wise employment of time had 
 much to do with the elevation of our self-made men, 
 of high renown and wonderful deeds. If you are 
 to be numbered with them, you must seize on spare 
 moments, and turn fragments to golden account ; 
 you must fix on a noble end, and labour, and toil, and 
 struggle till it be attained. Here multitudes make most 
 egregious and deplorable mistakes. They fight bravely, 
 wait patiently, suffer manfully; and after much self- 
 denial, great anxiety, mental and physical exertion, dis- 
 cover that they have been beating the air, pursuing a 
 bubble. Time is too precious to be wasted on trifles. 
 Did you ever read the following advertisement ? “ Lost, 
 
 yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two 
 golden hours, each secured by sixty diamond minutes ; 
 no reward is offered, for they are gone for ever ! ” Alas ! 
 how many squander this precious gift, and, when too 
 late, utter the piercing cry, Call time back again : if 
 you can call back time again, then there may be hope for 
 me ; but time is gone ! ” When the great and gifted 
 Elizabeth was dying, she cried out, “ Am inch of time ! 
 
38 
 
 CHARACTEEISTICS OE SELF-MADE MEIT. 
 
 Millions of money for an incli of time ! ’’ Poor Queen ! 
 she was lying on a splendid bed ; she had been accus- 
 tomed to a new dress every day ; she had ten thousand 
 dresses in her wardrobe, and at her feet a kingdom, on 
 which the sun never sets ; but all was of no value. She 
 had lived for seventy years ; but that which should have 
 occupied a lifetime was crowded into a few moments ; 
 and, when it was too late, the wealth of her kingdom 
 would have been given for “ an inch of time.’’ A life 
 of seventy years is made up of thirty-seven million 
 minutes ; these drop away at the rate of sixty in an 
 hour, and go on steadily, day and night, summer and 
 winter, without let or hindrance. Eesolve earnestly to 
 make the most and the best of all your powers and 
 capacities ; seek not gold only, but contend for freedom, 
 humanity, religion ; seize and improve the shortest in- 
 tervals of possible action, and we dare not limit your 
 success. Some years ago, a young man employed at 
 Blantyre Print Works, in Scotland, despite all his pri- 
 vations, determined to get a good education. He 
 employed his leisure hours in the cultivation of his 
 mind ; worked hard at Blantyre Pactory in summer, and 
 harder at Glasgow University in winter ; rose step by 
 step, until he became a minister of the Gospel. He is 
 now Dr. Livingstone, the celebrated African traveller, 
 whose recent visit to his native land was hailed with 
 such enthusiasm. 
 
 A true estimate of the value of odd 'pence is also 
 characteristic of self-'made 'men. Some despise small 
 things as beneath their notice. But the Creator attends 
 to the minute as well as to the great ; upholds an 
 insect, and takes care of an archangel ; superintends a 
 mote, and takes cognizance of a world. The Eedeemer 
 of our race condescended to mere matter of detail, and 
 
CHAEACTEEISTICS OF SELE-MAEE MEN. 
 
 39 
 
 reproved an humble woman for ambitious housewifery. 
 When He hung upon the cross, He remembered his 
 mother, and committed her to the care of one, of whose 
 kindness and gentleness He was well assured. And 
 when He shivered the stone of the sepulchre to frag- 
 ments, and arose triumphant. He folded the linen clothes 
 and the napkin, and laid them in order apart. Nature, 
 through all her works, proclaims the power of littles. 
 Ton tree that rocks to and fro, and shelters you from 
 the howling tempest, was once a little seed. That 
 sapling, which an infant’s arm might bend, before long 
 will laugh at the hurricane, and defy the storm. “ By 
 time and patience, the acorn became an oak.” Grains 
 make a mountain, drops an ocean, and pence a fortune. 
 Money, like everything else, is accumulative; like the 
 snowball, it is increased by being rolled among its own 
 particles. Yon merchant prince, who adds £1,000 to 
 £1,000 every year, began life an errand boy ; the secret 
 of his success was, that when he had to sweep the office, 
 and do the drudgery of the shop, and sleep in the cellar, 
 he added penny to penny, and sovereign to sovereign 
 when he rose to be a clerk. One shilling a week 
 amounts in seven years to £20 3s. 4d. Two shillings, to 
 £40 6s. 8d. Three shillings, to £60 10s. Tour shil- 
 lings, to £80 13s. 4d. Five shillings, to £100 16s. 8d. 
 Thus with due economy, if a man be dependent, he may 
 become independent ; if poor, he may become rich ; if a 
 tenant, he may become a freeholder; if a servant, a 
 master. 
 
 ‘‘In 1847,” says Dr. Baker, inspector of factories, 
 Leeds, “there were two overlookers, of forty years of 
 age, who had saved £100 apiece, by hard labour, and 
 went into partnership in the manufacturing districts. 
 They hired a certain quantity of machinery, and spun 
 by commission. In 1848, they had nearly lost aU their 
 
40 
 
 CHAEACTERISTICS OP SELF-MADE MEIS-. 
 
 money, and on one Saturday, in my presence, got to higli 
 words as to who should pay the wages for that week. 
 In 1849, they were netting, each man, £1,200 ayear, and 
 have since separated, and become masters for themselves, 
 and a year ago (1855), were worth £7,000 apiece.” 
 
 At a festive gathering of the Commercial Travellers’ 
 School, some two or three years ago, the chairman, Sir 
 Edward Bulwer Lytton, said — “ Mr. Greorge Moore, the 
 treasurer of this Society, is an eminent example of the 
 qualities by which wealth is obtained, and of the virtues 
 in the exercise of which it should be spent. He may 
 well be proud of having been the architect of his own 
 fortune. When he came to London, he was only seven- 
 teen years old, and was without a friend. At the age of 
 twenty-two, he became traveller for an eminent firm in 
 the lace trade. His zeal and his abilities founded his 
 reputation. That reputation led on to fortune. He 
 became partner in that great firm, which he has since so 
 conspicuously advanced. Well has he since used his 
 advantages, by doing all the good in his power ; in pro- 
 moting charities for the relief of distress, and for the 
 education of the young. He has thrown his whole 
 heart and soul into services of that nature with as much 
 ardour as if he were again building up a fortune for his 
 own children.” 
 
 “ To catch Dame Fortune’s golden smile, 
 
 Assiduous, wait upon her ; 
 
 And gather gear by ev’ry wile 
 That’s justified by honour : 
 
 Not for to hide it in a hedge, 
 
 Nor for a train-attendant ; 
 
 But for the glorious privilege 
 Of being independent.^^ 
 
 A young man, about the age of twenty-one, went into 
 the city of Paris, in 1788, in search of a situation. He 
 had nothing to trust to but Providence and a letter of 
 
CHARACTEEISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEIf. 
 
 41 
 
 introduction to a celebrated banking establishment. He 
 called on tbe gentleman at tbe bead of it, in full expec- 
 tation of finding employment. Monsieur Perregeaux 
 glanced hastily over his letter, and then returned it, 
 saying, “We have nothing for you to do, sir.” The 
 young man’s hopes died within him. He almost burst 
 into tears. But there was no help for it. So he bowed 
 and retired in dejected silence. As he passed through 
 the court-yard of the building, he saw a pin lying on 
 the pavement. He picked it up, and stuck it carefully 
 into the sleeve of his coat. The banker saw what took 
 place, and augured from it a habit of economy. He 
 called him back, and offered him an humble situation in 
 the establishment. Prom that he rose, by degrees, till 
 he became the principal partner in the firm, and eventu- 
 ally the chief banker in Paris. Thus Jacques Laffitte, 
 the son of a poor carpenter in Bayonne, under G-od> 
 owed his fortune to the picking up of a pin. 
 
 We do not recommend you to become misers. The 
 man who scrapes for money, and finds his enjoyment in 
 it, is a miserable, unhappy man. But we do wish you to 
 form provident habits, so that you may be able to satisfy 
 every reasonable want, pay your way, and have some- 
 thing over, in order that you may taste the highest of all 
 joy, that of benevolence. Two gentlemen engaged in 
 procuring subscriptions for the Bible Society, in passing 
 a fine large house, heard the gentleman who lived there 
 reproving his servants in the kitchen for extravagance in 
 throwing away the ends of candles and half-burned lamp- 
 lighters. “Well,” said one of the collectors to the other, 
 “it’s not worth while to stop here ; for a man who is so 
 careful about the ends of his candles, will hardly give any- 
 thing for the Bible.” “It will do no harm to try,” said the 
 other. They went in, and were agreeably surprised at 
 receiving a very large subscription, “ Sir,” said one of 
 
42 
 
 CHAEACTEEISTICS OT SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 the collectors, “ the amount of your subscription greatly 
 surprises us ; for when we heard you, a few moments ago, 
 reproving your servants for not saving the ends of the 
 candles, we thought it hardly worth while to stop.” 
 ‘‘ Ah, gentlemen,” said he, “ it is by the habit of care- 
 fulness in little things that I am able to give largely to 
 the Bible Society and other good objects.” We do not 
 dwell longer on this topic ; suflS.ce it to say, that our 
 opinion is, if you do not rise to your proper position in 
 the world, it is not owing to the tyranny of masters, but 
 the tyranny of evil habits, appetites, and passions. 
 
 Self-made men have learned the importance of industry. 
 They do not fritter away precious time, panting for genius 
 to supplement labour. Those poor things who parade 
 our streets, exhibiting their handsome personages, im- 
 perials, fashionable neck-ties, diamond rings, and sticks 
 of curious twist, not only fancy that all the ladies are in 
 love with them, but imagine they are universal geniuses! 
 Will-o'-the-wisp is the only universal genius. These 
 sublime triflers think it is better to walk than to run, 
 better to stand than to walk, better to sit than stand, 
 and better to lie than to sit. Doubtless there are true 
 geniuses in the world — men whose vocation is not simply 
 to shine, but to suffer, and labour, and wait. Neverthe- 
 less, considering the number of counterfeits, he was not 
 far wrong who said, “ A genius is one who can do every- 
 thing, except anything that is useful.” 
 
 Labour is the condition of success. The men who 
 have risen echo the sentiment of Edmund Burke, 
 Applaud us when we run, console us when we fall, 
 cheer us when we recover, but let us pass on ; for Grod’s 
 sake, let us pass on.” There are few exceptions to the 
 rule, ‘‘ Grreat performances are the fruits of great labours.” 
 Sheridan, on a certain occasion, appeared in Westminster 
 
CHAEACTERISTICS OE SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 43 
 
 Hall without a bag,” and made a brilliant oration 
 without materials ; but for two or three days before he 
 was so busy from morning to night, in the reading and 
 writing of papers, as to complain of motes before his eyes. 
 Even poets believe in industry. When Eogers was about 
 to woo the muse, he took to his bed, ordered sawdust to 
 be spread upon the road, and told the servant to assure 
 all callers that he was as well as could possibly be 
 expected. Byron is reported to have said, that he might 
 as soon whistle for the wind, as attempt to compose 
 poetry off-hand. Melvill, of London, vrrites and re- 
 writes his sermons, and frequently devotes a whole week 
 to the composition of a single discourse. Some of our 
 geniuses boast that their sermons are quite extempore, 
 or written at one short sitting. Well, results would 
 seem to intimate that they speak the truth. Melvill’ s 
 churches are too small — theirs too large. They are 
 brilliant in the drawing-room, but cannot be listened to 
 in the pulpit; and hence these gentlemen, that find 
 sermon-making such easy work, empty church after 
 church in succession. Eew have a better right to speak 
 to this theme than Dr. Gruthrie, of Edinburgh ; and what 
 is his estimate of preaching ? “ Preaching is not at all 
 
 an easy thing. They only will find it easy who make 
 easy work of it. I agree with Eobert Hall, who, when 
 asked how many sermons a clergyman could get up in a 
 week ? replied, ^ If a deep thinker and a great con- 
 denser, one ; if he is a common man, two ; and if an 
 idiot, half a dozen.’ ” The majestic spirits we bid you 
 imitate believed the words of the Latin poet : — 
 
 “ Nil nisi magno 
 Yita labore dedit mortalibus.” 
 
 Time was when Sir Isaac Newton was a dull scholar, and 
 kept convenient place at the bottom of his class ; but he 
 took to working, and became the greatest philosopher of 
 
44 
 
 CHARACTEEISTICS OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 his own or any age. Time was when Apelles conld only 
 produce a daub ; but he “ let no day pass without a 
 line;” and ere long he painted an Alexander. Lord 
 Cockburn never gained a prize at school ; but afterwards, 
 as the result of genuine labour, became celebrated as a 
 judge. A student in the University of Oxford was 
 aroused from his slumbers by one of his companions 
 standing at his bedside, and thus accosting him — “ Paley, 
 I have come to tell you, that unless you renounce your 
 habits of indolence, I must renounce your company.” 
 But for that reproof, Paley might have been forgotten as 
 soon as he was shovelled into his grave. Alexander 
 Adam is a fine illustration of industry raising its pos- 
 sessor from obscurity to distinction. While studying at 
 the University of Edinburgh, he had to support himself 
 by private teaching, for which he received one guinea a 
 quarter. He breakfasted and supped on porridge and 
 small beer ; a penny loaf served him for dinner. Scot- 
 land sternly rears many such brave young scholars every 
 year. In 1768, he was appointed rector of the High 
 School, Edinburgh, a situation he filled for nearly forty 
 years with distinguished ability and success, discharging 
 its duties with singular devotion, and raising the re- 
 putation of the school beyond what it had ever been 
 before. Dr. Adam’s fame chiefly rests on his “ Eoman 
 Antiquities,” for many years by far the best manual on 
 that subject in existence. He died from the effects 
 of intense study. The writer of the biography in the 
 Encyclopcedia Britannica informs us, that in the wan- 
 derings of his mind he was constantly reverting to the 
 business of the class, and addressing his boys ; and in 
 the last hour of his life, as he fancied himself ex- 
 amining on the lesson of the day, he stopped short, 
 and said, “ But it grows dark, you may go,” and almost 
 instantly expired. 
 
CHAEACTEEISTICS OP SELP-MADE MEK. 
 
 45 
 
 “ I have seen,” says Bames, “ the value of industry ; 
 and as I owe to this, under Grod, whatever success I have 
 obtained, it seems to me not improper to speak of it 
 here, and to recommend the habit to those who are just 
 entering upon life. 
 
 “ I had nothing else to depend on but this. I had no 
 capital when I began life ; I had no powerful patronage 
 to help me ; I had no natural endowments — as I believe 
 no man has — that could supply the place of industry ; 
 and it is not improper here to say, that all that I have 
 been able to do in this world has been the result of 
 habits of industry, which began early in life ; which 
 were commended to me by the example of a venerated 
 father ; and which have been, and are, an abiding source 
 of enjoyment.” 
 
 We sometimes wonder that Jerome, Chrysostom, 
 Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Baxter, and men of other 
 days, could have found time to fill so many folios with 
 the productions of their pens. Dr. Johnson was once 
 asked how he could account for the voluminous writings 
 of the Christian Bathers. His reply was, Nothing is 
 easier ;” and he at once began a calculation, to show what 
 would be the effect in the ordinary term of a man’s life, 
 if he wrote only one octavo page in a day ; and the 
 question was satisfactorily answered. 
 
 In all departments of effort, industry will accomplish 
 results truly wonderful. Many of our men of capital were 
 at first poor, performing the meanest drudgery, but doing 
 it vdth their whole hearts. Esteemed by their fellow- 
 workers, valued by their masters, then junior partners, 
 ultimately potent and honoured employers. The People’s 
 Park, Halifax, is the munificent gift of Frank Crossley, 
 Esq., M.P., and cost £30,000. In a speech at Halifax, 
 a few weeks ago. Lord Brougham referred to it in 
 the following terms : — Anything so splendid, so beau- 
 
46 
 
 CHAEACTEEISTICS OE SELE-MADE MEI^. 
 
 tiful ; anything so useful, whicli is far better than either 
 splendour or beauty ; anything giving such a wholesome 
 enjoyment to the working classes in their hours of re- 
 laxation from toil, it is almost impossible to conceive. 
 The people of Halifax need not envy the richest posses- 
 sion of the greatest landed proprietor.” And who is 
 Erank Crossley? His father was a clerk in a carpet 
 manufactory ; his mother a domestic servant, and he 
 acquired his vast wealth, not by a sudden bound, but by 
 patient toil. 
 
 Again, ^ersemrance is characteristic of self-made men. 
 Now and then, at uncertain intervals, great soldiers, 
 statesmen, orators, philosophers, poets, appear. These 
 make the world think of them, give new directions to 
 human affairs, create history, write their names in the 
 annals of fame ; and when centuries have rolled away, 
 they are “ familiar in our mouths as household words.” 
 But all have not gigantic minds, just as all have not 
 prodigious bodies ; it is, therefore, comforting to know 
 that inferior men can do the work of the world by 
 something better than genius, ^perseverance. This can 
 suffer, and labour, and wait 1 Most men get on by 
 sticking to it. At first the hare left the tortoise behind, 
 but the tortoise was first at the goal. “ A rolling stone 
 gathers no moss.” “ A stroke at every tree fells none.” 
 “ Keep the shop, and the shop will keep thee.” 
 
 I never knew an oft-removed tree, 
 
 Nor yet an oft-removed family, 
 
 That throve so well as those that settled be.” 
 
 There have been instances of men who have made their 
 fortunes by leaving one business for another; but for 
 one that has succeeded, hundreds have failed. Eor the 
 benefit of the fickle, the irresolute, and discontented, 
 who are always complaining about the inconvenience 
 
CHAEACTEEISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEIST. 
 
 47 
 
 and annoyance of their present situation, we relate the 
 following fable : — “ An ass that belonged to a gardener, 
 and had little to eat and much to do, besought Jupiter 
 to give him another master. Jupiter, angry at his dis- 
 content, made him over to a potter. He had now heavier 
 burdens to carry than before, and again appealed to 
 Jupiter, who contrived that he should be sold to a 
 tanner. The ass, having now fallen into worse hands 
 than ever, and observing daily how his master was 
 employed, exclaimed, with a groan, ‘ Alas ! wretch that 
 I am ! it had been better for me to have remained with 
 my former master ; for now I see that my present owner 
 not only works me harder while living, but will not even 
 spare my hide when I am dead !’ ” 
 
 Let your motto be, ‘‘ Perseverando vinces,” and your 
 cry the cry of strength and decision — It can be done,” 
 and you will try^ and try^ and tet with increased reso- 
 lution, till you do it ! Some one has said that there are 
 three kinds of men in the world, — the “wills,” the 
 “ won’ts,” and the “ can’ts.” The first effect everything ; 
 the next oppose everything ; and the last fail in every- 
 thing. “I will” builds our railroads and steamboats; 
 “I won’t” don’t believe in experiments and nonsense; 
 while “I can’t” grows weeds for wheat, and commonly 
 ends his days in the slow digestion of a court of bank- 
 ruptcy ! There is a profundity of philosophy in his 
 words, well calculated to profit the rising generation. 
 King Eobert Bruce, on one occasion, was about to give 
 up all for lost. At that critical moment a spider 
 attracted his attention. Trying to gain a certain point, 
 it fell to the ground again and again ; but still the little 
 creature, though baffled oft, perpetually returned to the 
 charge, and at the fortieth effort succeeded. “ Surely,” 
 said Bruce, “if a spider can succeed after so many 
 failures, I can cover my defeats ; and, as if touched by 
 
48 
 
 CHARACTEEISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEIf. 
 
 an electric influence, he sallied forth from his hiding- 
 place, rallied his troops, and won the day. 
 
 Never despair,” should be the watchword of the 
 self-maker. There are few difficulties that perseverance 
 cannot conquer. Yet nothing is more common than for 
 people to flatter their self-esteem, and excuse their 
 indolence, by referring prosperity to the caprice or par- 
 tiality of fortune — to fatalism, or destiny. Providence 
 helps those who help themselves. Happiness and riches 
 are, in some degree, in every man’s power : they are the 
 reward of virtuous exertions. It is truly amazing to see 
 what perseverance will do and suffer, what battles she 
 has fought, what difficulties overcome, what transforma- 
 tions wrought, what trials endured ! She raiseth up 
 the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from 
 the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make 
 them inherit the thrones of glory!” There was a poor 
 boy once, who resolved to get an education. He had to 
 work hard all day, and, when evening came, he had no 
 place to read in, and no light to read by ; so he used to 
 take his book, and go into the street, and stand by some 
 shop window, and study in the light that shone from it. 
 And sometimes, when the stores were closed before he 
 got through, he would climb up a lamp-post, and hold 
 on with one hand, while he held his book with the other. 
 Brave youth, who thought not of yielding, but nailed 
 his colours to the mast; it is not surprising that he 
 became distinguished for his learning. Demosthenes, 
 we are told, had a weak voice, a thick way of speaking, 
 and was so short-breathed, that he could not utter a 
 whole period without stopping. His first attempt at 
 oratory met with hisses, and he withdrew, hanging down 
 his head in the utmost confusion. Cast down, but not 
 discouraged, he met a friend, who assured him that all 
 his natural defects might be removed. Demosthenes 
 
CHAEACTERISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEIT. 
 
 49 
 
 resolved to overcome the difficulties. The result Tvas 
 one of the noblest triumphs of indomitable perseverance. 
 By the use of small pebbles, he corrected his pronun- 
 ciation ; by climbing the steep hills, he strengthened his 
 lungs ; by delivering his orations at the sea-side, he 
 increased the power of his voice ; by reading Thucydides, 
 he acquired vigour of style ; by exercising before the 
 mirror, he learned gracefulness of gesture, and made 
 himself the wonder and delight of his countrymen. The 
 voice of Demosthenes transformed the Grecian warriors 
 into men. A mighty cry, like an electric telegraph, 
 passed over the land ; the cry of the soldier was, “ Let 
 us conquer or die !” Steady perseverance enabled De- 
 mosthenes to write his name in the book of immortality. 
 
 “ For Hercules himself must yield to odds ; 
 
 And many strokes, though with a little axe, 
 
 Hew down and fell the hardest-timbered oak.” 
 
 Troy, it has been said, yielded not to the magnitude of 
 the Grecian army, nor the martial skill of Achilles, 
 but to ten years’ perseverance. 
 
 George Stephenson is a noble illustration of the fact, 
 that the royal distinctions of mind and moral intrepidity 
 are found in the peasant’s hut, as well as in the prince’s 
 palace. The humble dwelling in which he was born 
 consisted of a single apartment ; the walls were unplas- 
 tered, the floor of clay, and the rafters bare. His father, 
 Bobert, and his mother, Mabel Stephenson, brought up 
 a family of six children on the sum of twelve shillings a 
 week. What lights and shadows do we observe in the 
 life of this man ! Leading a horse at the plough when 
 scarcely able to stride the furrow, a farmer’s boy at 
 twopence a day ; afterwards the owner of landed estates 
 and much personal property ; now mending his neigh- 
 bours’ clocks and watches at night ; then extensive 
 locomotive manufacturer at Newcastle ; railway con- 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 CHAEACTERISTICS OF SELF-MADE METs^. 
 
 tractor, and great colliery and ironwork proprietor, at 
 Clay Cross ; at one time overwhelmed with difficulties, 
 and weeping bitterly, because he knew not where his lot 
 would be cast ; at another, the promoter and benefactor 
 of all nations, from the line to the pole! ‘‘Well do I 
 remember the beginning of my career as an engineer, 
 and the great perseverance that was required for me to 
 get on. Not having served an apprenticeship, I had 
 made up my mind to go to America, considering that no 
 one would trust me to act as an engineer. However, I 
 was trusted in some small matters, and succeeded in 
 giving satisfaction. Grreater trusts were reposed in me, 
 in which I also succeeded. Soon after, I commenced 
 making the locomotive engine : and the results of my per- 
 severance you have this day witnessed.” In reply to the 
 curiosity of a stranger lady, he said, “ Why, madam, they 
 used to call me Greorge Stephenson ; I am now called 
 Greorge Stephenson, Esquire^ of Tapton House, near 
 Chesterfield ; and, further, let me say, that I’ve dined 
 with princes, peers, and commoners, with persons of all 
 classes, from the humblest to the highest ; I’ve dined off 
 a red herring, when seated in a hedge-bottom, and have 
 gone through the meanest drudgery ; I’ve seen mankind 
 in all its phases ; and the conclusion I have arrived at is 
 this, that if we were all stripped, there is not much 
 difference!” Truly Greorge Stephenson, the chief of 
 English engineers, was a gigantic expounder of per- 
 severance. 
 
 “ A weathercock of a man, whiffling about with every 
 breeze, cannot have true steadiness of mind. Self-satis- 
 faction worries and annoys him ; but a cheerful vigour 
 and energy grows out of an intelligent, unviolating 
 purpose. It gives dignity and honour to character. 
 Men cannot but admire the mind that marches steadily 
 on through sunshine and shade, calm and storm, smiles 
 
CHAEACTEEISTICS OF SELF-MADE AIE^T. 
 
 51 
 
 and frowns ; glad of favour, but pressing on without ; 
 thankful for aid, but fixed on advancing at all events. 
 Such men establish for themselves a character which 
 cannot but be seen and honoured. It gives success. In 
 any enterprise which is not downright madness, such 
 a man must succeed. He has the chief element of 
 triumph over every difdculty ; and, if he is not an idiot, 
 he will do something in the world. He will not reach 
 his ends at a leap, but he will reach them. He moves, 
 not rapidly, but surely. When you want to find him 
 by-and-by, you will know where to look. Ton will look 
 at the topmost rounds of the ladder of success, and you 
 will find him about there somewhere.” 
 
 It is unnecessary to dwell longer upon what must be 
 felt as a firm conviction — that nothing really good can 
 be got without ardour and perseverance — a resolute, 
 manly will. To the fickle, the conceited, the impatient, 
 we say. Stand off ! Do not make yourselves ridiculous 
 by entering the lists. Your position is that of mere 
 spectators. Ton may rejoice and clap your hands at the 
 humble and the earnest, the persevering and the brave, 
 who can conquer difficulties, stand drudgery, bear to 
 be reminded of their ignorance, and add new jewels 
 to their already lustrous crowns ; but spare yourselves 
 the humiliation of a defeat, by attempting to reach the 
 top of Parnassus at a bound. Tour mission is to take 
 to the “ short and easy methods,” “ Drench without a 
 master,” and “ German in six lessons;” or, better still, 
 put yourselves under the tuition of that wonderful man, 
 who, some three or four years ago, advertised himself as 
 a schoolmaster who educated young gentlemen without 
 the help of books ! 
 
 Self-made men are marked by decision of character. 
 They have a sturdy, stubborn something about them, that 
 
52 
 
 CHAEACTEEISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEIS". 
 
 notlimg will overcome. They are not much troubled 
 with doubts, and fears, and difficulties. Dowered with 
 earnestness, courage, will, they make a road through 
 the impassable. Sir Thomas Dowell Buxton, himself a 
 splendid example of a self-made man, has said, “ The 
 longer I live, the more I am convinced, that the great 
 difference between the feeble and the strong, the great 
 and the insignificant, is energy^ invincible determination^ a 
 purpose once fixed, and then death or victory. That will 
 do anything for a man that can be done in this world ; 
 and no talents, no opportunities, no circumstances, will 
 make a two-legged creature a man without it.” Eesolute 
 men can say with the old Eoman, ‘‘ Nihil arduum mor- 
 talibus.” Don’t be afraid, man ; difficulties are ouly 
 relative. There ara a thousand difficulties in the way,” 
 is true. “ There is no difficulty at all,” is also true. 
 The truth of the statement, in each case, depends upon 
 the speaker. There is no difficulty in the thing to be 
 done; the difficulty lies solely in the inability of the 
 proposer. That little child is struggling hard to lift 
 the footstool on which it has been sitting; it cannot. 
 Whence the difficulty? That blind old man makes 
 serious sport” to thousands, by hurling an amphi- 
 theatre to the ground. You could not have done it. 
 Why not ? Samson found no difficulty. One of the 
 current fallacies of society is, ‘‘The thing cannot be 
 done.” Yes, it can. Anything can be done, provided it 
 do not involve a contradiction in terms, or a violation of 
 immutable law. Material difficulties will not yield to 
 material power, except by a very slow process ; but 
 bring in mind, and embody it in art, and difficulties 
 vanish. Mind masters matter, and art is mind in action. 
 
 No human being, who habitually halts between two 
 opinions, who cannot decide promptly, and, having de- 
 cided, act as if there were no such word as fail, can ever 
 
CHARACTEEISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEIS-. 
 
 53 
 
 "be great. A characterless man, a poor creature of straw, 
 without an aim or a purpose in life ; the sport of every 
 wave, ‘‘yawing,” as the sailors say, to every point of 
 the compass with every breath of caprice that blows, is 
 pretty sure to become a helpless cast-away before his 
 voyage of life is half completed. Weathercock men are 
 Nature's failures. They are good for nothing. Better 
 dead downright obstinacy, than eternal vacillation; 
 better total blindness to danger, however great, than 
 the hesitancy which is for ever weighing the possibilities 
 of defeat against the chances of victory. 
 
 “ To be weak is miserable. 
 
 Doing or suffering.” 
 
 Have faith, man ! faith in yourself, faith in your work, 
 faith in Grod, faith that “ laughs at impossibilities, and 
 cries. It shall be done!” And you shall win a glorious 
 victory, and receive at last a glorious reward. 
 
 “ Nothing will serve but resolute nerve, 
 
 To battle the battle of life, man.” 
 
 Behold the decided man, who starts in life with a 
 determination to reach a given point, and adheres un- 
 waveringly to his purpose, rejecting the advice of the 
 over- cautious, and defying the auguries of the timid. 
 Universal homage is paid to him. “ Give us the man,” 
 shout the multitude, “ who will step forward, and take 
 the responsibility.” Instanter he is the idol, the lord, 
 and the king among men. Decision has been the pre- 
 dominant characteristic of the men whose names are 
 imperishable on the pages of history. It was this which 
 shut up Demosthenes in his subterranean study, and 
 made him the orator of all time. It was this which 
 made Caesar victorious in the civil wars, which spoke 
 out to the pilot in the storm — “ Bear not, thou bearest 
 Caesar and his fortunes ! ” It was this which made 
 
54 
 
 CHARACTEEISTICS OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 Pompey exclaim, wlien hazarding his life on a tem- 
 pestuous sea, in order to he at Pome, “It is necessary 
 for me to go ; it is not necessary for me to live.” It 
 was this which made Columbus, despite laughs and 
 sneers, travel from court to court, showing his maps and 
 charts, demonstrating the actuality of a new world. It 
 was this which made Luther the hero of the Peforma- 
 tion, which expressed his famous answer to Spalatin, now 
 on the lips of every school-boy, — “If there were as 
 many devils in Worms as there are tiles upon the houses, 
 I would enter and dictated his celebrated reply to 
 an illustrious assembly, — “ Since your most serene Ma- 
 jesty, and your high Mightinesses, demand a simple, 
 clear, and explicit answer of me, I will give it. I cannot 
 submit my faith either to pope or councils, since it is 
 as clear as day that they have often fallen into error, 
 and even into great contradictions with themselves. If, 
 then, I am not convinced by testimonies from Scripture, 
 or by evident reasons ; if I am not persuaded by the 
 very passages I have cited ; and if my conscience be not 
 thus made captive by the word of Grod, I can and will 
 retract nothing; for it is not safe for a Christian to 
 speak against his conscience. Here I am ; I can no 
 OTHERWISE ; God help me. Amen ! ” It was this 
 which made Calvin stand, unawed, before dogmas hoary 
 with antiquity, and cloud-capt with the anathemas of 
 Pome. It was this which made Cromwell great and 
 glorious, the lord protector of the commonwealth of 
 England, Scotland, and Ireland. It was this which 
 made Knox stand, fearless, in the pulpit, with a carabine 
 levelled at his head; oppose, to the face, proud nobles 
 and prouder churchmen ; and wring civil and religious 
 liberty from the convulsive grasp of kings and princes. 
 It was this which made ISTelson run up his immortal 
 signal, “England expects every man to do his duty.” 
 
CHAEACTEEISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEIS". 
 
 55 
 
 It was this which made Napoleon an Emperor; it is 
 perfectly refreshing to think of this man, carrying an 
 army over the eternal Alps by the strength of his own 
 will, 
 
 “ Up, cried the great Napoleon, 
 
 Over these hills I’ll go ; 
 
 I know not the word impossible, — 
 
 Up, Frenchmen, up, and do. 
 
 “ And how they climbed theseAlpine heights. 
 
 And cut their passage through. 
 
 Is written in characters sublime. 
 
 On the eternal snow.” 
 
 It was this which made Wellington persevere manfully 
 in the face of difficulties. The army was in rags, ill-fed, 
 and ill-paid ; nevertheless, he fought his victorious way 
 mile by mile, till he reached Paris, a conqueror ; having 
 driven before him Massena and Soult, the famous mar- 
 shals of the Emperor, who had never been out-generalled 
 before. This great man knew nothing about the word 
 despondency ; but was well acquainted with the little 
 word can. 
 
 ‘‘ Up, shouted conquering Wellington, 
 
 At famous Waterloo ; 
 
 Up, up, my guards, my Britons, up. 
 
 And lay the foemen low. 
 
 “ Away, away, o’er heaps of slain. 
 
 These mighty warriors sped. 
 
 And e’er another morning dawned. 
 
 The invincibles lay dead.” 
 
 Now, what is our meaning in this muster-roll ? Do 
 we mean to set the seal of our approbation upon the 
 actions of all these men ? No ; it is melancholy to 
 contemplate the misdirected efforts of some of them. 
 But we meaD to gather out of them the principle in- 
 
56 
 
 CHAEACTEEISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEIN". 
 
 volved in all, tliat decision of character is essential to 
 arduous enterprises and trying occasions. Silky fellows 
 may do for intrigue ; but founders, liberators, con- 
 querors, saviours, and reformers, have all been men of 
 unsbakeable firmness, of tbe warrior ring. 
 
 If you would be a self-made man, you must take for 
 your motto — ‘‘ Ml desperandum.” Never mind, tbougb 
 tbe Andes be in your way ; buckle on your wallet, tie 
 your shoes, take a firm bold of your stall*, and scale tbe 
 barrier. Alpine mountains vanish before a determined 
 and resolute mind. “ Madam,” said one of this stamp, 
 to Marie Antoinette, “ if tbe thing is only difidcult, it is 
 done ; if it is impossible, it shall be done.” 
 
 ‘‘ If boldly I advance, the fires I see, 
 
 More fierce in aspect than in fact may be ; 
 
 But come the worst. As thus the hero spoke, 
 
 A desperate leap amid the flames he took. 
 
 Boldness unmatched ! yet did no heat intense, 
 
 As of surrounding fire, affect his sense, 
 
 Nor rightly in a space so brief he knew. 
 
 If fancied were the flames he saw, or true, 
 
 Bor, hardly touched, the baseless phantom flew.” 
 
 When difficulties are thus confronted, they are conquered. 
 Eobert Nicoll, writing to his mother, says — “Do not 
 mistake me, mother ; I am not one of those men who 
 faint and falter in the great battle of life. I look upon 
 earth as a place where every man is set to struggle and 
 to work, that he may be made humble and pure-hearted, 
 and fit for the better land, for which earth is a pre- 
 paration, to which earth is the gate. Cowardly is 
 that man who bows before the storm of life ; who runs 
 not the needful race manfully, and with a cheerful 
 heart. 
 
 “ If men would but consider how little of real evil 
 there is in all the ills of which they are so much afraid 
 
CHAEACTERISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 57 
 
 — poverty included, there would be more virtue and 
 happiness, and less world and mammon- worship on earth 
 than there is 
 
 ‘‘ This is my philosophy, and its motto is, — 
 
 ‘ Despair ! thy name is written on 
 The roll of common men.’ 
 
 Half the unhappiness of life springs from looking back 
 to griefs which are past, and forward with fear to the 
 future. Tear not for me, my dear mother, for I feel 
 myself daily growing firmer, and more hopeful in spirit. 
 The more I think and reflect — and thinking instead of 
 reading is now my occupation — I feel that whether I be 
 growing richer or not, I am growing a wiser man, which 
 is far better. Pain, poverty, and all the other wild 
 beasts of life which so affright others, I am so bold as to 
 think I could look in the face without shrinking, with- 
 out losing respect for myself, faith in man’s high 
 destinies, or trust in Grod.” 
 
 Young men cannot too frequently consult, firmly 
 credit, and thoroughly digest, the following graphic and 
 instructive passage from the Autobiography of Alexander 
 Somerville. “ When filling a cart of manure at the 
 farm dunghill, I never stopped work because my side of 
 the cart might be heaped up before the other side, at 
 which was another man; I pushed over what I had 
 heaped up to help him, as doubtless he did to help me, 
 when I was last and he was first. When I have filled 
 my column or columns of a newspaper, or a sheet of a 
 magazine, with the literature for which I was to be paid, 
 I have never stopped, if the subject required more 
 elucidation, or the paper or magazine more matter, 
 because there was no contract for more payment, or no 
 likelihood of there being more. When I have lived in 
 a barrack-room, I have stopped my own work, and have 
 
58 
 
 CHAEACTEEISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEIS’. 
 
 taken a baby from a soldier’s wife, when sbe had to 
 work, and nursed it, or have gone for water for her, or 
 have cleaned another man’s accoutrements, though it 
 was no part of my duty to do so. When I have been 
 engaged in political literature, and travelling for a news- 
 paper, I have not hesitated to travel many miles out of 
 my road to ascertain a local fact, or to pursue a subject 
 into its minutest particulars, if it appeared that the 
 public were unacquainted with the facts of the subject ; 
 and this at times when I had work to do, which was 
 much more pleasant and profitable. When I have 
 needed employment, I have accepted it, at whatever 
 wages I could obtain ; at plough, in farm drain, in stone 
 quarry, in breaking stones for roads, at wood-cutting, in 
 saw-pit, as a civilian, or a soldier. I have in London 
 cleaned out a stable, and groomed a cabman’s horse, for 
 sixpence, and been thankful to the cabman for the six- 
 pence. I have subsequently tried literature, and have 
 done as much writing for ten shillings as I have 
 readily obtained, been sought after, and offered, ten 
 guineas for. But had I not been content to begin at 
 the beginning, and accepted shillings, I would not have 
 risen to guineas. I have lost nothing by working. 
 Whether at labouring or literary work, with spade or 
 with pen, I have been my own helper.” Somerville’s 
 motto seems to have been, “ Never prepare ; never post- 
 pone; always proceed.” Gio and do likewise; ignore 
 difficulties, privations, cares, anxieties ; fix on a good 
 cause ; trust Providence, run towards it like a strong 
 man, and you will achieve objects that neither wealth 
 nor talent could have accomplished. 
 
 Another characteristic of self-made men is, strong 
 moral principle. It was the want of this that made 
 Pergusson, the Scottish poet, a moral wreck. What 
 
CHABACTEEISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEK. 
 
 59 
 
 more emphatic, or more honest warning, can he found 
 on this head than the writings of Burns himself ? 
 
 “ Is there a man, whose judgment clear 
 Can others teach the course to steer, 
 
 Yet runs, himself, life’s mad career. 
 
 Wild as the wave ? 
 
 Here pause — and, thro’ the starting tear. 
 
 Survey this grave. 
 
 The poor inhabitant below 
 
 Was quick to learn, and wise to know, 
 
 And keenly felt the friendly glow. 
 
 And softer jiame ; 
 
 But thoughtless follies laid him low, 
 
 And stain’d his name! 
 
 “ Header, attend! — whether thy soul 
 Soars fancy’s flights beyond the pole. 
 
 Or, darkling, grubs this earthly hole, 
 
 In low pursuit ; 
 
 Know, prudent, cautious self-control 
 Is wisdom’s root.” 
 
 Sir Humphrey Davy, whose discoveries in chemistry 
 have surrounded his name with a halo of glory, and 
 made it one of the brightest on the roll of the self-made 
 said, “ I should prefer a firm religious belief to any other 
 blessing.” 
 
 Eyesight is another characteristic of self-made men. 
 “ A scholar in this great university — the world — and 
 the same his book and study, he cloisters not his medi- 
 tations in the narrow darkness of a room, but sends them 
 abroad with his eyes, and his brain travels with his feet. 
 He looks not upon a thing as a yawning stranger at 
 novelties ; but his search is more mysterious and inward, 
 and he spells heaven out of earth.” Self-made men 
 look not at the green meadows, the clear streams, and 
 
60 
 
 CHARACTEEISTICS OF SELF-MADE MEJiT. 
 
 the purple clouds that pavilion the sun, through the 
 lenses of books, but with ‘‘ open face,” and with naked, 
 eagle eye. Burns paints Bruar Water from his own 
 eyesight, and as if no such scene had ever been described 
 before. It may be to this direct contact with nature, 
 on the part of Shakespeare, that Gray alludes in his 
 “ Progress of Poesy : ” — 
 
 “ Far from the sun and summer’s gale, 
 
 In thy green lap was nature’s darling laid ; 
 
 What time, where lucid Avon stray’d, 
 
 To him the mighty mother did unveil 
 Her awful face ; the dauntless child 
 Stretched forth his little arms, and smiled.” 
 
 Observation is the great gate of the temple of knowledge 
 • — the mother of that common sense, which, “ though no 
 science, is fairly worth the seven.” And the men we 
 speak of, although little acquainted with abstract 
 theories, are rich in practical knowledge ; they have 
 seen man, “unaccommodated man,” in all his strength 
 and weakness — in all his merits and demerits. How 
 “ stale, flat, and unprofitable” is the knowledge of the 
 book-worm, compared with this, derived from the study 
 of men and things ! 
 
 There is yet another characteristic of self-made men — 
 What they do, they do thoroughly. Many know every- 
 thing, and yet know nothing ; they read on all subjects, 
 but master no subject. Bobert Hall was once asked, 
 whether he thought Dr. Kippis a clever man ? He 
 replied, “ that, probably, he was, naturally ; but he had 
 laid so many books on his brains, that they could not 
 move.” Self-made men have read but few books, but 
 how thoroughly they have mastered those few ! Bead 
 the writings of the self-taught authors, and you will 
 admit the truth of the old caution, “ Beware the man of 
 
CHAEACTEEISTICS OP SELP-MADE MEIST. 
 
 61 
 
 one book.” Better one rood of land you can call your 
 own for ever, than acres held in uncertain occupation. 
 One thing at a time, and do it well, yea, as well as you 
 can. “ Billy Gray, what do you presume to scold me 
 for ? You are a rich man, it is true ; but didn’t I know 
 you when you were nothing but a drummer ? ” “ Well,” 
 said Mr. Grray, ‘‘ didn’t I drum wel] , eh ? didn’t I drum 
 well 7^'' The men who have risen from the ranks have 
 all done their drumming well : their admirable maxim 
 was, — 
 
 “ Honour and fame from no condition rise ; 
 
 Act well your part — ’tis there true honour lies.” 
 
 A famous sculptor, while employed in finishing one of 
 his celebrated statues, received a visit from a friend, who 
 expressed his admiration of the work, but who, on 
 repeating the visit, was astonished at the apparently 
 slow progress which had been made, and exclaimed, 
 “ You have been idle since I saw you last.” By no 
 means,” was the artist’s reply ; I have re-touched this 
 part, and polished that ; I have softened this feature, 
 and brought out this muscle ; I have given more expres- 
 sion to this lip, and more energy to this limb.” Well, 
 well,” interrupted his friend ; “ but all these are trifles.” 
 “ It may be so,” was the answer ; “ but recollect that 
 trifles make perfection, and that perfection is no trifle ! ” 
 
 Let every young man, whose eye glances upon this 
 page, read, and re-read, and read again, “ My Own 
 Work,” from the powerful and practical pen of Horatius 
 Bonar, D.D., in “ Excelsior:” — “ There is work for all of 
 us ; and there is special work for each. It is work not 
 for societies or alliances, but it is work for individual 
 minds and hands. It is work which I cannot do in a 
 crowd, or as one of a mass, but as one man, acting 
 singly, according to my own gifts, and under a sense 
 
62 
 
 CHARACTEEISTICS OE SELE-MAEE MEIf. 
 
 of my personal responsibilities. There is, no doubt, 
 associated work for me to do ; I must do my work as 
 part of the world’s great whole, or as a member of some 
 body. But I have special work to do as one individual, 
 who, by Grod’s plan and appointment, have a separate 
 position, separate responsibilities, and a separate work, — 
 a work which, if I do not do it, must be left undone. 
 No one of my fellows can do that special work for me 
 which I have come into the world to do. He may do a 
 higher work, — a greater work, — but he cannot do my 
 work. I cannot hand my work over to him, any more 
 than I can hand over my responsibilities or my gifts. 
 Nor can I delegate my work to any association of men, 
 however well-ordered and powerful. They have their 
 own work to do, and it may be a very noble one, but 
 they cannot do my work for me. I must do it with 
 these hands, or with these lips, which Grod has given me. 
 I may do little, or I may do much ; that matters not, — it 
 must be my own work. And by doing my own work, 
 poor as it may seem to some, I shall better fulfil Grod’s 
 end in making me what I am, and more truly glorify 
 His name, than if I were either going out of my sphere 
 to do the work of another, or calling in another into my 
 sphere to do my proper work for me. The low grass-tuft 
 is not the branching elm, nor is it the fragrant rose ; but 
 it has a position to occupy, and a work to do, in the 
 arrangements of Grod for this earth of ours, which neither 
 elm nor rose can undertake. 
 
 “ Besides, I have a crown to win ; and who can win it 
 for me ? I cannot reach it through the toil of another, 
 through the operations of any society of men. I must 
 wfin it for myself. No fellow man can wear it for me, 
 and no fellow man can win it for me. I must press 
 forward to the mark for the prize of my high calling. 
 My right of entrance into the kingdom has, I know, been 
 
CHAEACTEEISTICS OE SELE-MAEE MEK. 
 
 63 
 
 won for me by the Son of Grod. That was a work for 
 Him alone to do. And He has done it ! I owe my 
 deliverance to His blood alone, — I owe my acceptance 
 to His righteousness alone. But still there remains a 
 race for me to run, a prize to secure. And therefore must 
 I work without ceasing, with my eye upon the glory 
 to be revealed, when the Lord returns, forgetting 
 what is behind, reaching on to what is before, ^ if that 
 by any means I may attain unto the resurrection 
 of the dead.’ ” 
 
64 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEX. 
 
 SECTION I.— JOHN BUNYAN. 
 
 Simple, enchanting man ! what does not the world owe to thee 
 and to the great Being who could produce such as thee ? Teacher 
 alike of the infant and of the aged; who canst direct the first 
 thought, and resolve the last doubt of man : property alike of the 
 peasant and the prince ; welcomed by the ignorant and honoured 
 by the wise ; thou hast translated Christianity into a new language, 
 and that a universal one ! Thou art the prose poet of all time !” 
 
 GrEOEaE Oefoe, Esq. 
 
 Mex are prone to boast of tbeir bigb descent. In tlie 
 biographies of those who have had an aristocratic 
 standing in the world, we are generally informed that 
 the family is one of very ancient date, having, it is 
 believed, come into England with the Conqueror. It 
 were difdcult to find a better illustration of this pride 
 of birth than Sir Walter Scott. That story-telling 
 magician deemed it a higher honour to take his seat 
 among the lamds of Eoxburgh, as baronet of Abbotsford, 
 than to have his name enrolled with Milton, Shake- 
 speare, and Byron ; and the celebrated author is careful 
 to inform his readers that he was born a gentleman. 
 Many bear themselves haughtily under the name and 
 banner of ancestors that were a disgrace to the world, 
 
EXAMPLES or SELE-MADE MEl^f. 
 
 65 
 
 and who escaped the gallows only because their robberies 
 and murders were perpetrated on an extensive scale. If 
 the rolls of lineage were unfolded, it would be seen that 
 a great proportion of what this world dignifies with the 
 name of nobility had its origin in barbarian oppression 
 and royal profligacy. Still, according to general compu- 
 tation, to be born in a palace is sufiicient to make one 
 great ; even supposing its owner has need to ask Heaven’s 
 forgiveness for the means by which he came to its 
 possession. What preparations were made some years 
 ago to celebrate the birth of the son born to Louis 
 Hapoleon, the Emperor of the Erench ! He was to be 
 called the King of Algiers. He was to be rocked in a 
 silver cradle. Gruns were fired, bells rimg, flags waved, 
 bonfires lighted, illuminations made ; and Paris, if not 
 all Erance, was intoxicated with joy. One might have 
 supposed that that child was the greatest ever born into 
 this world. Ho ! a greater than earthly prince or poten- 
 tate was born in a stable, and cradled in a manger. 
 More true greatness comes from the cottage than the 
 palace. The son of the peasant is oftentimes a greater 
 honour to humanity, than the son of the prince. The 
 accidents of birth, and titles of rank, are not themselves 
 worthy of the name of greatness. Saladin, before he 
 expired, ordered his winding-sheet to be carried as a 
 standard through every street of the city, while a crier 
 went before and proclaimed, “ This is all that remains to 
 the mighty Saladin, the conqueror of the East.” The 
 haughty Elizabeth checked the attendant who applied to 
 her, in the time of her last affliction, the empty, high- 
 sounding titles of royalty. How true are those burning 
 words, which fell from the lips of Prince Henry, as he 
 sat by the deathbed of his royal father, — 
 
 ‘‘ Why doth the crown lie there upon his pillow. 
 
 Being so troublesome a bedfellow ? 
 
66 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEJT. 
 
 Oh ! polish’d perturbation ! golden care ! 
 
 That keep’st the ports of slumber open wide 
 To many a watchful night ! — sleep with it now ! 
 
 Yet not so sound, and half so deeply sweet, 
 
 As he, whose brow with homely biggin bound, 
 
 Snores out the watch of night.” 
 
 You may be the greatest king that ever reigned — as rich 
 as Croesus, as learned as Leland, as generous as Reynolds, 
 as scientific as Newton, as poetic as Milton, as logical as 
 Locke, and yet not be truly great. Solomon says, “ I 
 have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking, as 
 servants upon the earth.” 
 
 “ ’Tis only noble to be good ; 
 
 Kind hearts are more than coronets, 
 
 And simple faith than Korman blood.” 
 
 So sang Tennyson; and our first example of a self- 
 made man is a splendid illustration of the song. Lor 
 John Bunyan had no Norman, but some have supposed 
 that he had gipsy, blood in his veins. Yet this 
 man’s biographies, like those of Burns and Napoleon, 
 might well form a gallery by themselves. Such men as 
 Ivimey, and Philip, and Southey, and Offer, and Cheever, 
 and Montgomery, and Macaulay, have visited his grave, 
 erected a tomb over it, and wreathed garlands for his 
 gifted brow. The man whom Cowper praised anony- 
 mously, 
 
 “ Lest so despised a name should move a tear,” 
 
 has extorted eulogies from a greater number of critics 
 than ever combined to praise a man of genius, who was 
 also a man of God. Swift, and Johnson, and Byron, and 
 Pranklin, and Mackintosh, and Coleridge, and Arnold, — 
 all revelled with delight in the pages of the tinker- 
 teacher, whose soul nature had formed of the finer clay. 
 
 After such biographers and critics, some may think it 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEl?'. 
 
 67 
 
 almost impertinence for ns to say a word about this 
 low-born son of genius. But some subjects seem in- 
 exhaustible; and every man, accustomed to think for 
 himself, has his own way of handling the most familiar 
 subject, and may give some particular phases a pro- 
 minence, and secure for them an attention which is their 
 due, but which they have not received. We shall, first, 
 sketch Bunyan’s eventful life; secondly, speak of his 
 merits as a theologian ; thirdly, try to account for his 
 popularity as a preacher ; fourthly, notice his claims as 
 a writer ; fifthly, present him as a bold confessor for the 
 truth ; and sixthly, make a few closing remarks. 
 
 John Bunyan was born at Elstow, near Bedford, in 
 1628. His father was a brazier, or tinker, and he 
 worked at the same handicraft for bread. His pedigree 
 is thus given by himself “ My descent was of a low 
 and inconsiderable generation ; my father’s house being 
 of that rank that is meanest and most despised of all the 
 families in the land.” Again, he observes, — ‘‘ The poor 
 Christian has something to answer them that reproach 
 him for his ignoble pedigree, and shortness of the glory 
 of the wisdom of this world. Here may that man say, 
 I am taken out of the dunghill. I was born in a base 
 and low estate ; but I fear God. This is the highest 
 and most noble ; he hath the honour, the life, and glory, 
 that is lasting.” Eortunately for Bunyan, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of his birthplace, a noble charity spread the 
 blessings of education. There he learned to read and 
 write. However, he soon lost the little he had learned, 
 and that almost utterly. There has been a good deal of 
 controversy regarding Bunyan’s early days. Some have 
 taken it for granted, that he was in all respects a noto- 
 rious reprobate ; and others have laboured to show that 
 his wickedness has been greatly overcharged ; that he 
 
68 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEX. 
 
 never was a drunkard, a libertine, or a lover of san- 
 guinary sports : and that the thing which gave Bunyan 
 any notoriety among his companions, and which made him 
 afterwards appear to himself such a monster of iniquity, 
 was his energy of character. We might be expected to 
 balance these opinions together, and fix the preponde- 
 rance. This, however, we feel to be a difficult task, and 
 would rather decline it. Dr. Southey says, ‘‘ The worst 
 of what he was in his worst days, is to be expressed in a 
 single word, the full meaning of which no circumlocution 
 can convey ; and which, though it may hardly be deemed 
 presentable in serious composition, I shall use, as 
 Bunyan himself (no mealy-mouthed writer) would have 
 used it, had it in his days borne the same acceptation in 
 which it is now universally understood ; — in that word, 
 then, he had been a 'blackguard^'* 
 
 ‘‘ The very head and front of his offending 
 Hath this extent — no more.” 
 
 An inveterate habit of swearing was the principal ele- 
 ment in Bunyan’ s character. Think of Elstow in 1643, 
 a quiet English village, with its few houses scattered 
 about, in picturesque and beautiful confusion. It is 
 evening. The wild birds have retired to the old steeple, 
 and the domestic fowls have left the dewy fields. But 
 the old tinker’s donkey is still biting the buttercup and 
 the daisy ; while his master, amidst the loud laughter of 
 the more coarse and vulgar inhabitants, retails tap -room 
 wit and local news. And yonder is young Bunyan, 
 engaged in a game called “ cat,” or playing pitch-and- 
 toss. That rough youth, with the shaggy eyebrows, 
 grim enough to be a climbing boy, is made up of vivid 
 fancy and vehement emotion. He can do nothing by 
 halves. He throws his whole heart into everything. 
 His energetic movements, authoritative vociferations, 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEI^. 
 
 69 
 
 and loud execrations, at once mark kim out as tke raga- 
 muffin ringleader. He tkus describes bimself : — ‘‘I 
 speak my experience; I was one of those great sin- 
 breeders ; I infected all the youth of the town where I 
 was born ; the neighbours counted me so ; my practice 
 proved me so : wherefore, Christ Jesus took me first ; 
 and taking me first, the contagion was much allayed all 
 the town over. When Grod made me sigh, they would 
 hearken, and inquiringly say. What’s the matter with 
 John ? When I went out to seek the bread of life, 
 some of them would follow, and the rest be put into a 
 muse at home. Some of them, perceiving that Grod had 
 mercy upon me, came crying to Him for mercy too.” 
 Much has been said and written about the ungodliness 
 of Bunyan’s youth ; possibly more than was just. But 
 of this there can be no doubt, that he was eminently a 
 pitchy brand snatched from the fire. 
 
 In his seventeenth year, we find him a poor swearing 
 soldier. The army into which Bunyan entered is de- 
 scribed as being “ where wickedness abounded.” This is 
 characteristic of the army still. Most of our soldiers are 
 poor scape-graces from the streets ; their mental depravity 
 and immoral habits fitting them for all the military glory 
 of rapine and desolation. It is not known positively 
 whether he belonged to the Boyal or the Parliamentary 
 army ; but there are many and strong reasons for sup- 
 posing that he joined the Boyal army. His loyalty was 
 remarkable. Let the man himself testify. do confess 
 myself one of the old-fashioned professors, that covet to 
 fear Grod, and honour the king.” Pray for the long life 
 of the king.” “ Pray that Grod would discover all plots 
 and conspiracies against his person and government.” 
 “ Will you rebel against the king ? is a word that shakes 
 the world.” Again ; his profligate character would have 
 ill-comported with the pious habits of the republican 
 
70 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE MEIS'. 
 
 troops. Tliey were men who had the fear of Grod 
 before their eyes, and had no other fear; with them 
 religion was a reality, not a semblance ; they carried 
 Bibles as well as mnskets ; they were men of sacred 
 melody as well as of martial mnsic. Once more, 
 Bunyan’s military sayings make it highly probable that 
 he was one of Bnpert’s roisterons dragoons. “ As we 
 say, blood np to the ears.” “ Bun up, man ; put on the 
 harness.” The father’s sword in the hand of a sucking 
 child is not able to conquer a foe.” But this poor 
 depraved soldier is destined, by a gracious Providence, 
 to do noble and true things ; to kindle into a hero ; to 
 vindicate himself, under Grod, as an illustrious example 
 of a self-made man. Divine Providence will qualify 
 him for his work, and render him immortal till it be 
 done. He fell into the sea at one time ; at another 
 time he fell out of a boat into Bedford river ; one day 
 an adder glided across his path. Bunyan struck her 
 over the back with his stick, and then forced open the 
 creature’s mouth, and plucked out the sting. Another 
 day he is drawn as a soldier to go to the siege of 
 Leicester ; but when ready to set out, a comrade sought 
 leave to take his place. Bunyan consented. His com- 
 panion was shot through the head, and died. To what 
 do you attribute these hair-breadth escapes ? To acci- 
 dent ! coincidence ! chance ! Ko ; but to the kind 
 supervisioil and wise care of Grod. If there be any- 
 thing plain in the world, it is this — that Grod 
 
 “ Overrules all mortal things, 
 
 And manages our mean affairs.” 
 
 When Charles was defeated at Haseby, Bunyan re- 
 turned to Bedford full of military ideas, and hardened 
 in sin : conscience now and then, despite the lullabies 
 he sang, and the opiates he administered, spake with 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEK. 
 
 71 
 
 trumpet tongue, and threw him into a very perspiration 
 of fear ; yet he resolved to indulge in such carnal de- 
 lights and sensual pleasures as fell in his way. Eriends 
 advised the quondam soldier to take unto himself a wife. 
 Such a youth, at the age of twenty, might have been 
 expected to marry some young woman as worthless as 
 himself. But not so. His first biographer says, “ His 
 poverty, and irregular course of life, made it very 
 difficult for him to get a wife suitable to his inclination ; 
 and because none that were rich would yield to his 
 allurements, he found himself constrained to marry one 
 without any fortune, though very virtuous, loving, and 
 conformably obedient and obliging, being born of good, 
 honest, and godly parents, who had instructed her, as 
 well as they were able, in the ways of truth and saving 
 knowledge.” He himself says, “ This woman and I 
 came together as poor as might be, not having so much 
 household stuff as a dish or spoon betwixt us both.” To 
 marry in such circumstances was certainly indicative of 
 some temerity, and we hope our young readers will be 
 very cautious in imitating this example. Still we claim 
 of you to deal gently with the youth who marries for 
 love, and takes no thought for the future ; but pour out 
 in full flow your indignation on the head of the old 
 bachelor, who does not marry because he cannot find a 
 woman made of money. Bunyan got a wife whose 
 fortune was internal^ not external. Had her sole re- 
 commendations been a pretty face, a light heart, and 
 a heavy purse, she had not been sufdciently attractive 
 to keep such a heavy body as her husband from rolling 
 into the fields of space. But being affectionate, amiable, 
 mild, and pious, she managed to keep him at home ; and 
 by her converse and example, and by reading the two 
 books which he received as her only portion — “The 
 
72 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEX". 
 
 Practice of Piety,” and Tlie Plain Man’s Pathway to 
 Heaven,” the Ploly Spirit first wrought upon his soul. 
 While, however, we glorify the singular Providence that 
 united him to such a wife, we must not forget that it 
 was rather a hazardous step on her part, for it was taken 
 at the expense of the apostolic injunction, “ Be not un- 
 equally yoked ;” and though it turned out better than 
 could have been expected, we warn other godly women 
 against listening to the suit of an ungodly man. 
 
 We come now to the most important event of Bunyan’s 
 life, namely, the renovation of his soul. Conversion is 
 not a superficial matter, but a radical reform, a change 
 that we believe the purest, gentlest, loveliest, most 
 amiable creature stands as much in need of as yon 
 fallen sister, who walks the streets, and drinks the dregs 
 of her damning curse. The anxious efforts of the tinker’s 
 wife were attended by the Divine blessing. He began 
 regularly to attend Divine worship, and formed an 
 attachment, almost idolatrous, to the externalisms of 
 religion. A pungent sermon on sabbath-breaking made 
 an extraordinary impression on his mind, and he left off 
 that wicked habit. Standing one day at a neighbour’s 
 window, cursing and swearing, as was his wonted manner, 
 an abandoned woman protested that he was the ungod- 
 liest fellow for swearing that ever she heard in all her 
 life, and able to spoil all the youth of the town, 
 if they came in his company. He was silenced in a 
 moment — ^blushed before the Grod of heaven, and wished 
 in his heart that he were a little child again, that his 
 father might teach him to speak without profanity. 
 Anon he was scared wdth dreams in the night, and 
 visions distinct and terrible. Soon the question was 
 prompted, ‘^What must I do to be saved?” And the 
 cry awakened, “ Grod be merciful to me, a sinner.” 
 
EXAMPLES or SELE-MAEE MEIS". 
 
 73 
 
 Tten, from tlie conversation of some poor but godly 
 women, who spake as if ‘‘joy did make them speak” — 
 from interviews with holy Mr. Grifford, and reading 
 Luther on the Gralatians, he gained glimpses of the 
 truth. Lor two years he was assaulted with fiercest 
 temptations ; encountered Apollyon in the valley, and 
 their swords struck fire in the shadow of death. 
 At length, the clouds rolled away from his heart and 
 from his destiny ; he walked forth a man under the 
 inspiration of new motives, sustained by noble impulses, 
 and actuated by a heavenly hope. Extricated from 
 the slough of despond, the course of the ringleader 
 in all vice was for the most part onward, upward, and 
 heavenward. 
 
 When twenty- six years of age, he was admitted a 
 member of the Baptist church, under the pastorate of 
 Mr. Grifford, a minister in Bedford, whose life-story was 
 nearly as remarkable as Bunyan’s own. He had not 
 been long a member of the church, when he was solicited 
 to speak a word of exhortation to the brethren. Afraid 
 of presumption, and in the timid modesty of spiritual 
 childhood, he did not venture at first further than to 
 address his friends in their more private meetings, or to 
 make brief practical remarks on the sermons preached 
 by others in the villages. Here his vast powers began 
 to be developed ; his hearers were so pleased, that they 
 urged him forward to more public services. These,” 
 says Dr. Hamilton, he was too humble to covet, and too 
 earnest to refuse. Though his education was sufficiently 
 rude, Grod had given him from the first a strong, athletic 
 mind and a glowing heart, — that downright logic and 
 teeming fancy, whose bold strokes and burning images 
 heat the Saxon temper to the welding point, and make 
 the popular orator of our English multitude. Then his 
 low original, and rough, wild history, however much they 
 
74 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEK. 
 
 might have subjected him to scorn, had he exchanged his 
 leathern apron for a silken one, or scrambled from the 
 hedge-side into the high places of the church, entailed 
 no suspicion, and awakened much surprise, when the 
 Bedford townsmen saw their blaspheming neighbour a 
 new man, and, in a way so disinterested, preaching the 
 faith which he once destroyed. The town turned out to 
 hear ; and, though there was some mockery, many were 
 deeply moved.” 
 
 On the 12th of November, 1660, he had intended to 
 preach to a small congregation in a private house at 
 Samsell, in Bedfordshire, from these words : — “ Dost 
 thou believe on the Son of Grod ? ” But Brancis 
 Wingate, a neighbouring justice of the peace, issued 
 his warrant to apprehend the preacher. The constable, 
 showing the warrant, ordered him to come down from 
 the pulpit. Bunyan mildly but firmly refused. The 
 constable then took hold of his coat, and was about to 
 remove him, when Bunyan, who had a man’s eyes in his 
 head, and a man’s brains behind them, with the open 
 Bible in his hand, looked the constable steadily in the 
 face : the man let go, turned pale, and retired from his 
 presence. “ The wicked fiee when no man pursueth : 
 but the righteous are bold as a lion.” In due course he 
 was brought before the justice; a single word might have 
 saved him; but that word would have sacrificed his 
 principles, and these he regarded as far more important 
 than his life. So he was committed to jail, till the 
 ensuing sessions should be held at Bedford. There he 
 is convicted of preaching the Grospel to the poor, and 
 praying without the Common Prayer-Book ! Yes, 
 astounding as the fact may seem, while felons, male- 
 factors, and men guilty of the highest crimes, are 
 freely pardoned, John Bunyan, for no crime what- 
 ever, is shut up for twelve years within iron bars and 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEX. 
 
 stone walls ! But tliej were years of joy, not of 
 sorrow. In one of his stanzas he quaintly expresses 
 his feelings : — 
 
 ‘‘ The trutli and I were both here cast 
 Together ; and we do 
 Lie arm in arm, and so hold fast 
 Each other : this is true.” 
 
 John Bunyan, in the narrow cell of the common jail 
 of Bedford, knew the truth, and the truth made him 
 happy, — happier far than that most miserable specimen 
 of royalty, Charles II., on his throne. The King was 
 false, foolish, and profligate ; the prisoner was a man of 
 stern virtue and lofty character, and hence his laurels 
 are yet fresh and fair. You cannot make such a man 
 miserable ; he has the herb, heart’ s-ease, in his bosom ; 
 and his dungeon becomes his bower. His heroine wife 
 and four children are permitted to visit him ; and with 
 what an affectionate expression he looks upon Mary, 
 blind, and therefore best-beloved ! On the table are 
 three books — the Bible, the Concordance, and Box’s 
 Book of Martyrs, with its records of the men who have 
 “ washed their robes, and made them white in the blood 
 of the Lamb.” His body is confined, but his spirit is 
 free. Even now he can see the land where 
 
 “ Everlasting spring abides, 
 
 And never withering flowers ! ” 
 
 — ^be dazzled with light reflected from the jasper walls of 
 the “ city that hath foundations” — hear sweeter voices 
 than wife or child breaking upon his ear ! Above all. He 
 who is fairer than the sons of men whispers, ‘‘ Be thou 
 faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” 
 He falls down on his knees on the cold stone floor, offers 
 up his evening devotions, sleeps till day-break, and then 
 
76 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 awakes, and sings ! Well miglit lie write, “ I was had 
 home to prison.” 
 
 “ Stone walls do not a prison make, 
 
 Nor iron bars a cage ; 
 
 Minds innocent and quiet take 
 That for an hermitage.’’ 
 
 Grod gave him favour in the ejes of the gaoler, and he 
 met with singular indulgence. Tor months he was a 
 regular attender at the church meetings of his brethren 
 in Bedford, and was chosen pastor while a prisoner. 
 Some of the bishops, who had heard of the unusual 
 liberty granted Bunyan, sent a messenger from London 
 to Bedford, to ascertain the truth. Our dreamer was at 
 home with his family that night ; but felt so uneasy, that 
 he told his wife he must return to his prison-home. The 
 gaoler gruffly informed him that he might keep better 
 hours. Early in the morning the messenger came, and 
 said, “Are all the prisoners safe?” “Yes.” “Is John 
 Bunyan safe?” “Yes.” “Let me see him.” He was 
 called, and appeared, and the messenger went his way. 
 After he was gone, the gaoler said to Bunyan, “ Well, 
 you may go out again when you think proper ; for you 
 know when to return better than I can tell you.” How 
 strange that Bunyan could not sleep at home that night, 
 and that he went back to prison before the messenger 
 arrived ! A happy accident, and nothing more ! So fools 
 say ; but wise men, who read their Bibles, say it was 
 Divine Providence. 
 
 In 1672, Bichard Carver, a sailor, and a member of 
 the Society of Eriends, who had saved the King’s life 
 after his defeat at Worcester, sought, as his recompence, 
 that the King would set at liberty the poor pious Quaker 
 sufferers, that they might bless him, and that he might 
 have that peace and satisfaction which follows good and 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE ME^f. 
 
 77 
 
 benevolent actions. Tbe King at first attempted to 
 argue ; then offered to release six ; ultimately a clumsy 
 deed was prepared, which was so framed as to include 
 prisoners of other denominations. Thus John Bunyan 
 obtained his liberty. During his twelve years’ imprison- 
 ment, he wrote the following books : — “ Of Prayer by 
 the Spirit,” The Holy City,” Besurrection,” Grrace 
 Abounding,” and the first part of the Pilgrim’s 
 Progress.” His last undertaking brought down upon 
 him the blessing of the peace-maker. A young gentle- 
 man, who had incurred his father’s displeasure, and 
 feared lest he should be disinherited, pitched upon 
 Bunyan as a fit person to pave the way for his return 
 to his father’s house. The good old man succeeded ; 
 but, in riding from Beading to London, he was tho- 
 roughly drenched with excessive rains. Pever seized 
 him at the house of Mr. Strudwick, a grocer, at the 
 Star, on Snow Hill. Here, after ten days’ illness, he 
 died, having numbered sixty years, and written sixty- 
 two books. There is some uncertainty as to the day 
 of his decease: the 12th, 17th, and 31st of August, 
 1688, have all been named. He was buried in the new 
 burying-place, near the Artillery Grround ; where he 
 sleeps, in the sure and certain hope of a blessed 
 resurrection. 
 
 Thrice welcome, death ! 
 
 That, after many a painful, bleeding step. 
 
 Conducts us to our home, and lands us safe 
 On the long wished-for shore. — All thanks to Him 
 Who scourg’d the venom out ! Sure the last end 
 Of the good man is peace ! How calm his exit ! 
 Night-dews fall not more gently to the ground. 
 Nor weary, worn-out winds, expire so soft. 
 
 * # # * # 
 
 By unperceived degrees he wears away ; 
 
 Yet, like the sun, seems largest at his setting.” 
 
78 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE MEN. 
 
 The staff has dropped from the pilgrim’s hand, and the 
 mantle of mortality has been laid aside; as he entered 
 the river, angels lined its banks to receive and escort 
 him up to the celestial and eternal city. All heaven 
 'was in commotion about the scion of a despised family, 
 who began his career unknown and unheard of in the 
 world, but who, by God’s grace, made himself a most 
 celebrated name, testified the truth of the gospel, was 
 honoured in converting thousands, endured persecution 
 and scorn unmoved. The Master took this good and 
 faithful servant by the hand, and said, “ Enter thou into 
 the joy of thy Lord ! ” 
 
 “ I HEABn A YOICE EROM HEAYEN SATINU TJNTO ME, 
 Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the 
 Lord erom henceeorth : Tea, saith the Spirit ; 
 THAT they mat REST EROM THEIR LABOURS; AND 
 THEIR WORKS DO EOLLOW THEM ! ” 
 
 We shall now describe, in a few brief paragraphs, this 
 self-made, or rather God-made theologian. John Bunyan 
 was not, according to the computation of this world, one 
 of the sons of the prophets. His father had not been a 
 minister, and he himself had not been a student in any 
 of our theological colleges. It is perfectly possible for 
 a man to be a theologian, by the teaching of the Holy 
 Ghost alone, without the help of man. Some of our 
 most honoured ministers have received their theology 
 in the same way that Paul was taught the gospel, “ by 
 the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Ah ! what though a 
 man may have been educated in the universities ; trained 
 in the schools of the prophets ; treasured with the 
 learned lore of eighteen centuries ; deeply rooted in all 
 biblical science ; say we that these things are useless in 
 a minister ? say we that these things are worthless to 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEIT. 
 
 79 
 
 the church ? Grod forbid ! But this we say, that a man 
 may “ understand all mysteries, and all knowledge,” yet 
 after all embrace the childish legends of Borne, or the 
 negativism of the “ everlasting no ! ” while a tinker like 
 Bunyan, unaided by systematic theology, takes the Bible 
 as the foundation of his creed, and arrives at doctrines 
 almost always according to the analogy of faith. 
 
 Our fathers struggled for the right of private judg- 
 ment in matters of faith and worship ; and we their sons 
 will insist upon it, as essential to salvation, that every 
 man think for himself, judge for himself, decide for 
 himself, in matters of religious belief. Nor Prince, nor 
 Pope, nor Prelatist, nor Presbytery, nor Conference, 
 may dictate how we shall worship, or what we shall 
 believe. The Bible ; the Bible only ; the Bible wholly, 
 must form the basis of our creed. This is a leading 
 tenet of the Beformation — the glory and distinction of 
 Protestantism — man’s noblest right and privilege, to be 
 responsible to Grod alone, in things pertaining to the 
 conscience. Many, alas ! laugh at the poor Bomanist, 
 with his implicit faith — ‘‘ What do you believe ? ” “I 
 believe what the church believes.” “ And what does the 
 church believe ? ” “ The church believes what I believe.” 
 “ Well, what do the church and you both believe ? ” 
 The church and I both believe the same thing ! ” — who 
 are themselves of the same kith and kin; for many 
 professed Protestants talk in this way. “ I was born in 
 the Church of England, and I shall continue in it.” Or, 
 “All my friends are connected with the Wesleyans, and 
 I shall not leave the Methodists.” Or, “ My parents 
 belonged to the Baptist denomination, so I shall not 
 forsake my mother churcn.” John Bunyan dared to 
 exercise his own head ; so he left a lordly ecclesiastical 
 establishment, boasting of apostolical succession, and 
 proclaiming itself to be the only true church of Christ, 
 
80 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEIS". 
 
 and became a burning and a sbining light in tbe obscnre, 
 despised, and persecuted Baptist cburcb. Tes, John 
 Bunyan made good use of his Bible. His theology was 
 the fruit of laborious investigation of that sacred 
 volume. “ Every chapter in it was a chapter in his 
 history ; and every verse touched and thrilled some 
 chord in his heart.” Like the poor man’s lamb, it “ lay in 
 his bosom, and was to him as a daughter.” 'No Jew 
 ever loved Jerusalem more than he loved the sacred 
 volume. It was the standard by which he judged con- 
 cerning the true church, terms of communion, conscience, 
 character, and creed. Let all theological students learn 
 to do the same. “ Call no man master upon earth. One 
 is your master, even Christ.” “ Prove all things. Hold 
 fast that which is good.” ‘‘Let every man be fully 
 persuaded in his own mind.” “ So then, every one shall 
 give account of himself to Grod.” John Calvin, dis- 
 tinguished by vastness of learning, acuteness of logic, 
 and comprehensiveness of exegetical view, wrote a system 
 of theology, whose praise or blame is in all the churches ; 
 but his love for one great principle of truth — divine 
 sovereignty — led him to trench on human privilege. 
 Dr. Adam Clarke, despite his hatred of systematic 
 theology, framed a system of his own, and affection for 
 the leading principle — the freedom of the will — led him 
 to ignore the foreknowledge of Grod. He claimed per- 
 fection for the creature, but denied it to the Creator ! 
 Professor Einney, of Oberlin, teaches the doctrine of 
 entire sanctification ; and Professor Gribson, of Grlasgow, 
 writes a book on the Inahility of Man, natural and moral, 
 to lelieve the Testimony of God. We could easily 
 adduce more specimens of the inconsistencies and follies 
 of theologians, but the above is sufficient to show, that 
 reformers and leaders are but earthen vessels — frail and 
 broken cisterns; men often divided among themselves 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 81 
 
 as to trutli and error ; lost in snares, and sunken in 
 marshes ! Leave these, and betake yourself to better 
 teachers, the apostles and .^prophets. Divine sovereignty, 
 foreknowledge, free will, human ability, &c., are doctrines 
 clearly taught in Scripture. Ton are under no obligation 
 to harmonize these apparently opposite truths, but you are 
 bound to believe them, and may expect to understand 
 them in the upper world, when the light of the moon 
 shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun 
 shall be sevenfold.” “Lather,” said I to the librarian, 
 “ what are these huge volumes, which fill the whole side 
 of the library ? ” “ These,” said he, “ are the interpreters 
 of the Scriptures.” “There is a prodigious number of 
 them,” replied I ; “ the Scriptures must have been very 
 dark formerly, and be very clear at present. Do there 
 still remain any doubts ? Are there now any points 
 contested ? ” “ Are there ! ” answered he, with surprise. 
 
 “ Are there ! There are almost as many as there are 
 lines.” “ You astonish me,” said I ; “ what then have all 
 these authors been doing ? ” “ These authors,” returned 
 
 he, “ never searched the Scriptures for what ought to be 
 believed, but for what they did believe themselves. They 
 did not consider them as a book wherein were contained 
 the doctrines which they ought to receive, but as a work 
 which might be made to authorize their own ideas.” It 
 is thus that churches, and universities, and kingdoms 
 have been convulsed with controversy ; that oceans of ink 
 have been exhausted, and “ riven pens to havoc hewn,” 
 and some of the greatest and best men of their age 
 been well-nigh driven out of all theology, natural and 
 revealed ! 
 
 John Bunyan, like all the Puritans, was a genuine, 
 deep-hearted Calvinist. But how admirably practical, 
 how broad and grand was his Calvinism ! He never 
 limited the infinite mercy of God in Christ JesuB. 
 
 a 
 
82 
 
 EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEIS". 
 
 Without reserve, lie invited the very chief of sinners to 
 the foot of the cross, and assured them, in the language 
 of his Master, Whosoever cometh, shall in no wise be 
 cast out.” While far removed from Antinomianism, his 
 doctrine was clear and distinct. He believed that 
 sovereign grace alone made men to diifer; that the 
 atonement secured the salvation of a countless multitude ; 
 that election was eternal and unconditional — ^with all his 
 catholicity, he classed those who doubted this among the 
 army of Diaboliis ; that apart from the influences of the 
 Holy Spirit, there would be no soul saved; that in 
 journeying to the celestial city, believers, like the Israel- 
 ites, in travelling towards the earthly Jerusalem, go from 
 strength to strength, till every one of them appears 
 before God in Zion; that the witness of the Spirit is 
 the privilege of all God’s faithful people. In his own 
 inimitable way he shows, in the case of Ignorance,” how 
 impossible it is to enter heaven without it. When he 
 stood before the gate of heaven, the shining ones asked 
 him for his certificate. So he fumbled in his bosom, and 
 found none. Then said they. Have you none ? But the 
 man answered never a word. So they told the King, 
 but he would not come down to see him, but commanded 
 them to go out and take him, and bind him hand and foot, 
 and bear him away. Then they took him up, and carried 
 him through the air to the door that I saw in the side of 
 the hill, and put him in there. Then I saw that there was 
 a way to hell, even from the gates of heaven.” That the 
 Christian life is a vralk, a fight ; that the important 
 thing is, not how a man dies, but how he lives ; — these 
 are some of the important truths which have been illus- 
 trated by his resplendent genius. 
 
 We are perfectly aware that Bunyan’s theology is now 
 despised by many who admire his genius. “A good 
 man,” say they, a giant in his day ; — we are grateful 
 
EXAMPLES OP SELE-MADE MEX. 
 
 83 
 
 for liis contributions to theological literature ; — he did 
 his work, and did it well ; — ^but there was much of the 
 religion of Jesus of which he knew no more than of the 
 modern geology, or the Copernican astronomy ; — his 
 pages contain nothing for thousands, now floating on the 
 stormy ocean of doubt.” To these we reply, that Bunyan 
 was behind his period in nothing, and before it in many 
 things ; and his was the period of Hampden, Selden, 
 Howe, Vane, and of Cromwell. "We claim no man as 
 the theologian for all time, for the simple reason, that we 
 do not believe in stereotyped creeds. There is nothing 
 new in theology but what is false. Still, as the free 
 minded men of quite another era, we have surely ad- 
 vanced in our knowledge of it; and most fervently do 
 we wish that some mind of giant power, high culture, 
 and Christian principle, would take up the question of 
 the Christian evidences, and present it in a form worthy 
 of the subject itself, and of the age we live in. We 
 freely confess, that we prefer Williams, and Payne, and 
 Wardlaw, to Bunyan, on certain disputed points of 
 theology. Yet, as Grilfillan remarks, “ when stripped of 
 the phraseology, and severed from the mistakes of his 
 age, his works seem to contain the best, clearest, and 
 boldest exhibition of truth ever given by uninspired man.” 
 
 On the subject of baptism, Bunyan has expressed 
 himself with his usual fulness and precision. He was 
 satisfied, in his own mind, that baptism was not a 
 relative, but a personal duty ; at the same time, he held 
 that the Lord’s table was for the Lord’s people, — for all 
 who made a profession of faith with intelligence, and 
 justified it by a corresponding character and deportment. 
 ‘‘ Strange,” he says : “ take two Christians equal on all 
 points but this ; nay, let one go far beyond the other for 
 grace and holiness ; yet this circumstance of water shall 
 drown and sweep away all his excellences ; not counting 
 
84 ' 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEX. 
 
 him worthy of that reception, that with heart and hand 
 shall be given to a novice in religion, because he consents 
 to water.” Thus in liberality of sentiment and width of 
 view he was far ahead of his contemporaries, and of 
 course had to pay the penalty. Tor nearly eighteen 
 years he was vilely slandered ; various attempts were 
 made to take away his members, disturb the peace of his 
 congregation, and alienate him from the church which he 
 dearly loved. The most learned of the Baptist ministers 
 challenged him to a grand theological battle in the 
 metropolis ; in which, doubtless, the unlettered mechanic 
 would have been overwhelmed with Latin and Grreek 
 quotations from the Tathers, cut to pieces with syllogistic 
 weapons, and buried among learned dust. Bunyan wisely 
 appealed to the press as the better mode of controversy ,* 
 brought forward the inspired grandfathers against the 
 Tathers ; with Grospel truth, the ‘‘right Jerusalem blade,” 
 he proved himself a mighty man of valour, shivering their 
 syllogistic weapons in their grasp, and with the breath of 
 universal benevolence blowing away their learned dust. 
 Three able men published their joint answer; it was dis- 
 figured by uncharitable vituperation. Their brother was 
 in prison, and they visited him with gall and wormwood, 
 instead of refreshing cordials. One of his adversaries 
 called him a devil, and likened him to Zimri, who slew his 
 master. When will men learn that the wrath of man 
 worketh not the righteousness of Grod” — that such fiery 
 zeal is contrary to the spirit of Christ ? The late Eobert 
 Hall, who discussed, with much acuteness, the questio 
 vexata of free communion, thus writes : — “ The most 
 virulent reproaches were cast upon the admirable Bunyan, 
 during his own time, for presuming to break the yoke ; 
 and whoever impartially examines the spirit of Mr. Booth’s 
 < Apology,’ will perceive that its venerable author regards 
 him, together with his successors, much in the light of 
 
EXAMPLES or SELE-MALE MEX. 
 
 85 
 
 rebels and insurgents, or, to use tbe mildest terms, as 
 contumacious despisers of legitimate authority.” Bunyan 
 closes this reply to his bigoted opponents in words worthy 
 of an apostle : “ Mine to serve the Christians, so long as 
 I can look out at those eyes, that have had so much dirt 
 thrown at them by many.” 
 
 How passing strange that Christian men should have 
 punished their brethren for non-conformity on minor 
 matters of religion, while they themselves were groaning 
 under acts of uniformity concerning rites and ceremonies • 
 ‘‘Woe unto you, Pharisees, who whiten and garnish the 
 outside of a sepulchre, while within it is full of un- 
 cleanness, hypocrisy, and iniquity!” Baptism is not the 
 gate of glory. Millions of little children who, dying in 
 infancy, were never sprinkled, go to heaven without 
 baptism ; and multitudes who have been baptized in 
 water, on a profession of their faith, perislf. The passage 
 from death unto life is not made at the expense of a few 
 shudders. On many points there is room for differences 
 of opinion. Let us, therefore, pause before rashly con- 
 demning, or severing ourselves from a brother, because 
 the husbandry of his soul displays results which the 
 culture of our minds has not reared or ripened. The 
 wonder is., not that we are divided on many subjects, 
 but that, considering our various idiosyncracies, we are 
 so harmonious as to what constitutes saving truth. This 
 sublime assimilation of thought is unparalleled in the 
 history of mind. We all hold the head, even Christ ; we 
 are all one on the fundamentals ; we are all agreed as 
 to the way of salvation. Unto us there is but “one 
 Grod, and one Mediator between Grod and men, the 
 man Christ Jesus.” Denominationalism is neither re- 
 ligion nor the “ power of God unto salvation.” Let 
 us, therefore, be catholic in our sympathies, and manly 
 in our actions. 
 
86 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEX. 
 
 "W^e come now to sketcli the rugged Baptist preacher. 
 Much has recently been preached and published on the 
 pulpit. The land has been made to ring, and the press 
 to groan, under lamentations over its inefficiency. These 
 complaints are not altogether without reason. Ecclesias- 
 tical authority may assign this sphere of earthly labour 
 to men whom Grod has never qualified for it. To con- 
 stitute a Christian minister, four things are necessary, — 
 faith, experience, practice, and gifts. “ The preaching of 
 the cross is to them that perish foolishness;” but the 
 fishermen, tent-makers, and publicans Christ sent to be 
 its heralds, were not fools. And the good men who are 
 always talking about the Lord delighting to use weak 
 instruments, misunderstand the Scriptures ; — the empty 
 benches and the scattered few might suggest a re-exami- 
 nation of the passage. All God-sent ministers are mighty 
 to strike hom^ to the seared consciences and rotten hearts 
 of sinners, and to confound gainsay ers. Men who have 
 no gift to teach, warn, or exhort, ought to remember 
 that God may be glorified in a trade as well as in a 
 profession ; that the man who excels in weaving cloth, 
 making garments, building houses, or even in blacking 
 shoes, is more honoured and more useful than the weak 
 brother in the ministry. “ All the authorities in the 
 universe cannot make him an ambassador for Christ, to 
 whom Christ himself has given no power to beseech men 
 to be reconciled to God — no power to warn every man, 
 that he may present every man perfect. The pretence of 
 a Christianity without ministers, served by a priesthood 
 who can manipulate, read prayers that others wrote, 
 organize solemnities, and keep times and seasons, but 
 who cannot rightly ‘ divide the word of truth cannot 
 ‘ preach the Gospel with demonstration of the Spirit, and 
 with power;’ cannot do anything but what the most 
 senseless, or the most wicked, of men could do, if drilled 
 
EXAMPLES or SELE-MADE MEX. 
 
 87 
 
 to it — is one of those marvels of imposition before which 
 we are at once abashed and indignant : indignant, that, 
 with the New Testament still living, men dare palm this 
 upon ns for Christianity ; and abashed, that human 
 nature is ready to accept such a travesty.” 
 
 The quotation is from the ‘‘ Tongue of Tire.” It is the 
 first essential of a preacher, whatever his creed, that he 
 be sufficiently engaging to be attentively listened to ; 
 and without this preliminary merit, no other merit, 
 however great, is of any avail whatever. Well, what 
 is the state of the modern pulpit ? According to general 
 rumour, hundreds of pastors completely fail to interest 
 their flocks. Hearers look forward to the sabbath minis- 
 trations as a weariness, and attend church simply as a 
 matter of duty. “ What a weariness,” say some, “ is an 
 ordinary meeting on one of the fifty-two ordinary Sundays 
 of the year ! What a dreary thing is an ordinary sermon 
 of an ordinary minister ! He does not wish to preach it ; 
 the audience does not wish to hear it ; so he makes a feint 
 of preaching — they a feint of hearing him preach. But 
 he preaches not — they hear not. He is dull as the 
 cushion he beats — they as the cushions they cover.” We 
 heard of a shrewd idiot, in Torfarshire, who sometimes 
 quite surprised the people by his replies. The congre- 
 gation of the parish church had for some time distressed 
 the minister by their habit of sleeping in the church. 
 He had often endeavoured to impress them with a sense 
 of the impropriety of such conduct ; and one day, when 
 lamie was sitting in the front gallery, wide awake, 
 while many were slumbering round him, the clergyman 
 endeavoured to awaken the attention of his hearers by 
 saying, “You see even Jamie Eraser, the idiot, does not 
 fall asleep, as many of you are doing.” Jamie, not 
 liking, perhaps, to be thus designated, coolly replied, 
 “An’ I hadna’ been an idiot, I wad ha’ been sleeping too.” 
 
88 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEX. 
 
 But while we have no word of defence to utter on 
 behalf of false and worthless preachers, we do complain 
 of the unreasonableness of peojple in regard to true 
 'preachers. They compare the ordinary preachers of 
 their own day with the far-famed ones of former times, 
 and then tell us, with a sigh, that there is nothing more 
 remarkable than this — the vast superiority of the 
 preaching of the past to the preaching of the present. 
 They forget that Sherlock, Tillotson, Burnet, Stillingfleet, 
 and Beveridge, were ‘‘men who could set forth the 
 majesty and beauty of Christianity with such justness of 
 thought, and such energy of language, that the indolent 
 Charles roused himself to listen, and the fastidious 
 Buckingham forgot to sneer;” that John Bunyan was 
 “a burning and a shining light,” the greatest natural 
 genius that ever lifted up his voice in behalf of religion. 
 These men are visible to us, because they were sons of 
 Anak, towering above the ordinary men of the seven- 
 teenth century, higher than they would do above the 
 ordinary men of the nineteenth. We hazard the asser- 
 tion, that preachers may now be found in the village and 
 the small rural town, who would have divided attention 
 with the preachers in the city and the metropolis fifty years 
 ago. This the crowded congregations of not a few attest. 
 
 We have another quarrel with our gratuitous critics. 
 It is this : — They expect us to be diligent in visiting, to 
 look after the schools, to preach two or three times 
 weekly to the same audience, on the same subject, and 
 dazzle them each time with the coruscations of our 
 eloquence. Modern sermons are contrasted with the 
 brilliant speeches of Burke, Box, and Sheridan, when 
 they stood up in Westminster Hall to accuse Warren 
 Hastings. They forget that these men had time to 
 prepare their great orations, and opportunity of hus- 
 banding all their strength for the one grand effort. 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEX. 89 
 
 Moreover, the audience was exciting — made for the men 
 and the occasion ; whereas ministers are often dis- 
 couraged by the imperfect sympathies of their hearers. 
 When John Foster was settled at Kewcastle-on-Tyne, 
 he had only about half-a-dozen sensible fellows, who sat 
 on the right hand side of the meeting. Many years 
 afterwards, at the request of a large circle of intelligent 
 friends, he consented to deliver a fortnightly lecture in 
 Broadmead Chapel, Bristol. The auditory was composed 
 of the Hite of the various religious communities. The 
 preacher, knowing that he had an audience who felt no 
 ordinary interest in his extraordinary ministrations, took 
 a wider range of subjects, and was more elaborate in his 
 address than is ‘ usual in the pulpit. What is his own 
 verdict as to the studious part ? “ This one discourse a 
 
 fortnight costs me as much labour, perhaps, as it is usual 
 to bestow on the five or six sermons exacted in the 
 fortnight of a preacher’s life ! ” When fewer demands 
 are made on the preachers, then, and not till then, may a 
 higher class of sermons be expected. We fully recog- 
 nize the importance of pastoral visitation, when conducted 
 as it ought to be. But if the assembled congregation is 
 to be feasted on the Sunday, it must occupy a subor- 
 dinate place. Perhaps an eccentric and gifted minister 
 in Grlasgow is about orthodox on this point. One of his 
 people called, complaining that he had been a member 
 of his congregation for eighteen years, and had never 
 been visited by his pastor. You should be very thank- 
 ful, replied Mr. Anderson. How’s that, sir ?” rejoined 
 the member. “I never visit any but those into whose 
 houses God has entered by affiction. It seems you have 
 been eighteen years without afiliction in your family ; 
 few are so highly privileged. I trust other eighteen 
 years may elapse ere I be in your house, sir. Good 
 morning.” 
 
90 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEX. 
 
 Time would fail us to speak of all the different theories 
 afloat as to what the pulpit should be. Some expect the 
 minister to make them very good and devout, and to 
 conduct them safely to heaven without any effort of them 
 own ! Others murmur about the smallness of the con- 
 gregation, and so few being added to the church ; when 
 the preacher’s influence is destroyed by their own sordid 
 aims, dishonest dealings, and hypocritical lives. The 
 church members are the witnesses. The pastor may pray 
 earnestly in his closet ; work hard, with book and brain, 
 in his study ; ascend his pulpit, and preach with almost 
 angelic eloquence ; but if the witnesses contradict him, 
 how can the truth prevail? One wants a splendid 
 personnel ^ “ weak, stunted, wretched, deformed-looking 
 men have no business in the pulpit.” A good voice and 
 prepossessing figure are essential ! The Kingdom of 
 Grod is meat and drink, a rubric, a ritual, a canon ! 
 He prays the Lord of the harvest to send forth 
 gentlemen^ not labourers I The want of the age is 
 men to make graceful genuflexions before the altar 
 — accomplished masters of the ceremonies ! Another 
 must have a man of talent. "What cares he for lullabies 
 and elegant inanities ! He wishes a man with trumpet- 
 tongue, to preach rousing and startling sermons ; 
 with imagination of angelic sweep and soar, to depict 
 the horrors of eternal darkness, and the rapturous joys 
 and hymning choristers of Heaven; with intellect that 
 can penetrate into the deeper recesses of the truth, 
 and scatter to the winds the dogmas of the heretic ! 
 And so on, ad infinitum. Our idea of preaching will 
 come out in our remarks on the subject of the present 
 sketch. 
 
 Many years ago a pamphlet was published, entitled, 
 “ Observations on the Present State of Theological 
 Tuition in the Hnited Secession Church.” The first 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEX. 
 
 91 
 
 sentence was — “ In England it requires ten men to make 
 a pin ; in Scotland it requires only one man to make a 
 minister, and hence it is that, in polish and point, a hatch 
 of Scotch parsons is so inferior to a hatch of English 
 pins !” Afterwards two more were appointed ; and then 
 three others were added to their number. Well, here is 
 a minister who was neither made hy man nor men — who 
 received no formal training for his work. He was not 
 set apart to the ministry hy the hands of a hishop or a 
 presbytery — hut he was chosen of Grod, and ordained of 
 Heaven. He was not consecrated with the oil of the 
 Vatican, hut he was anointed with the Holy Spirit’s 
 grace. He was arrayed neither in black gown nor white, 
 but he was robed with the true vestment — an invisible 
 garment of power. He was not in the regular line of the 
 apostolical succession, but his call was endorsed by the 
 church’s Head : he could say, The seal of mine apostle- 
 ship are te tn the Loed ! Though I be not an apostle 
 unto others, yet doubtless I am unto you.” He was not 
 acquainted with classics, mathematics, history, logic, and 
 ancient theological dissertations, but he was not ignorant. 
 ‘‘ The fears,” says Coleridge, in his “ Aids to Eehection,” 
 “the hopes, the remembrances, the anticipations, the 
 inward and outward experience, the belief and the faith 
 of a Christian, form of themselves a philosophy and a 
 sum of knowledge, which a life spent in the grove of 
 Academus or the Painted Porch could not have attained 
 or collected.” Such were his qualifications, and the 
 result was, that he became one of the most popular 
 preachers of the day. In his annual visit to London, 
 twelve hundred people would gather at seven in the 
 morning of a winter’s working day to hear him. Hr. 
 John Owen, the facile princeps of Puritan theology, 
 assured King Charles that for the tinker’s ability to 
 prate he would gladly give away his own stores of 
 
92 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEK. 
 
 learning. Greorge Wliitefield created him Bishop Bnnyan, 
 and truly he would have honoured the bench of bishops ; 
 for he was one of the truest, holiest, and greatest men 
 Grod ever sent into this world. He wore no mitre upon 
 earth ; but, as was said by Canon Miller in reference to 
 the late John Angell James, An archbishop might covet 
 his crown in the great day.” 
 
 JSTor need we wonder that his preaching found “ favour 
 both with Grod and man;” for he was thoroughly in 
 earnest. In my preaching I have really been in pain, 
 and have as it were travailed to bring forth fresli 
 children to Grod. If I were fruitless, it mattered not 
 who commended me ; but if I were fruitful, I cared not 
 who did condemn.” I have counted as if I had goodly 
 buildings and lordships in those places where my children 
 were born, my heart hath been so vrrapped up in this 
 glorious work, that I counted myself more blessed and 
 honoured of Hod by this, than if he had made me the 
 emperor of the Christian world, or the lord of all the 
 glory of the earth without it.” 'No chemist in his 
 laboratory ; no astronomer in his observatory ; no soldier 
 in the field ; no sailor in the storm ; no statesman in the 
 parliament ; no merchant on the exchange ; no miser 
 counting his gold ; no proud, ardent spirit pursuing 
 fame, was ever in more deadly, terrible earnest. 
 Verily, he was an enthusiastic worker, whose eye gazed 
 earnestly upon a prize ; whose heart swelled with desires 
 to grasp it ; and that prize was infinitely worthy of all 
 his energies ; it was that he might win Christ, save 
 himself, and those who heard him. “ I was once a 
 captive,” said one, and I know the sweets of liberty.” 
 So Bnnyan had been in chains ; had felt the stings of 
 conscience, and put up to heaven the piercing prayer, 
 ‘‘ Lord, save me, I perish ;” pursued by the scenes of 
 judgment he had cried, in agony, ‘‘ A thousand worlds for 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEX. 
 
 93 
 
 one Christ !” Tea, in the dark valley he had encountered 
 Ap oily on, and put him to flight ; he conquered, hut only 
 through Him that loved him. His sermons were all the 
 better for this stern discipline. Commend us to the 
 preacher who knows by experience about the bitterness 
 of sin ; who has overcome temptations, and battled with 
 real devils. 
 
 He was a man of singular piety. A man may have 
 infinite talent, great sacred love, profound wisdom, and 
 graceful speech ; but if he be destitute of personal piety, 
 that is a valid objection. One of the saddest sights in 
 this world is an ungodly educated ministerj gifted with 
 genius. “ Were we forced,” says the Hev. W. Arthur, 
 “ to choose between two men, one of whom is an accom- 
 plished scholar, without practical godliness, the other a 
 holy and gifted man, without refined scholarship, — to ask 
 us the question, which we would prefer for our ministry, 
 is about as respectful to our faith, as Christians, as it 
 would be respectful to the common-sense of a shipowner, 
 solemnly to ask whether he preferred, as a pilot for his 
 ships, a scholar from a nautical academy, who had never 
 walked a deck, or a rough sailor, who had often sailed 
 the very waters over which the precious freight must be 
 conveyed.” Grod may, in His sovereign mercy, save 
 others by one who is not saved himself. Yet, generally, 
 it is not so. His eloquence and learning may dazzle and 
 excite, and bring thousands around his pulpit to hang 
 breathless upon his lips ; but no prodigal is reclaimed, 
 no real good done. While an illiterate man like John 
 Bunyan stands up, and vdth holy fire burning in his 
 bosom, denounces sin, and preaches the Grospel, his 
 words come home to the heart, find an echo in the 
 thrilled or startled soul, and hundreds are converted. If 
 we would make others feel, we must feel ourselves. If 
 we would be useful, we must be holy. 
 
M 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE MEK. 
 
 Anotlier secret of Bunyan’s popularity as a preacher 
 was the plain, strong Saxon words which he always used. 
 The common nomenclature of the pulpit, the techni- 
 calities of theological science, and the mystic Grermanism, 
 which in our day is all the rage with certain would-be 
 intellectual preachers, he knew nothing about. Neither 
 did his sermons smack of Latin, nor Glreek, nor Trench. 
 A few months ago, a congregation were informed, that 
 Zaccheus got into the sycomore tree “to escape the 
 pressure of external impediments ! ” Our preacher 
 would have used the direct, simple words of the Bible, 
 “ to see Him.” He never attempted to use fine language, 
 but preached in a style level to the understandings of 
 the common people ; opened his mouth in as plain, 
 strong Saxon as a modern chartist ; delighted multi- 
 tudes, and ofiended not a few. He dared to be himself, 
 and to clothe the great truths of the Gospel in the 
 language of every-day life, of the market-place, and the 
 domestic circle. Potatoes he would have straightfor- 
 wardly called potatoes, and not “ a staple article of diet 
 for the poor.” Of course he would not have suited our 
 smooth. West-end respectabilities ; they would have 
 deemed him a low kind of fellow, unworthy of being 
 listened to by ladies and gentlemen; they must have 
 a minister who knows how to behave himself, and who 
 can read sermons “ faultily faultless, icily regular, 
 splendidly null.” But speaking, with such felicity as he 
 did, the noble Anglo-Saxon, the language of Shakspeare, 
 and Milton, and Byron ; and without any Bible twang 
 to lull sleepy congregations into a still deeper slumber, 
 he could not fail in being popular with the masses. Let 
 those who deal with their fellow-men, on behalf of God, 
 learn from his example to aim at making their meaning 
 plain. What a fine compliment was that, which a poor 
 woman unintentionally paid to Hr. Adam Clarke, in one 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEX. 
 
 95 
 
 of tbe Shetland isles. She had heard of his celebrity, and 
 went and heard him at Lerwick. On her return home, 
 she remarked with great simplicity, ^‘They say that 
 Dr. Clarke is a learned man, and I expected to find him 
 such; but he is only like another man; for I could 
 understand every word he said.” 
 
 We add, that John Bunyan was an evangelical 
 preacher. With him all men, the loftiest as well as 
 the lowliest, were wholly corrupt, dead, lost, perishing — 
 unable by their own wisdom, wealth, or genius, to re- 
 cover the position whence they have fallen; and the 
 Grospel he preached was not negative, but positive — life 
 to the dead, pardon to the guilty, bread to the hungry, 
 raiment to the naked, salvation to the lost. He knew 
 that the want of the age was a faithful proclamation of 
 the Grospel message — “ Christ died for our sins according 
 to the Scriptures,” sufiered for us what we deserved as 
 sinners, and obeyed for us what we owed as creatures ; 
 appealed to that faith which M[orketh by love, purifieth 
 the heart, and overcometh the world. He aimed at 
 fixing the attention of his audience on his theme, not 
 on himself. On being told by one that he delivered an 
 excellent sermon, he replied, You need not tell me 
 that ; the devil told me before I left the pulpit.” What 
 godly minister has not mourned over a tendency to hold 
 himself up instead of the Saviour ; to indulge in the 
 fiowers of rhetoric, when sinners are perishing for the 
 bread of life ; to entertain men with elegant composition, 
 when they are on the crumbling margin of the stream of 
 death. Ah ! it were for the best of us to remember the 
 words of the seraphic Cowper 
 
 “ What ! — will a man play tricks, will he indulge 
 A silly, fond conceit of his fair fame, 
 
 And just proportion, fashionable mien, 
 
 And pretty face, in presence of his God ? 
 
96 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEX. 
 
 Or will lie seek to dazzle me with tropes, 
 
 As with the diamond on his lily hand, 
 
 And play his brilliant part before my eyes. 
 
 When I am hungry for the bread of life ? 
 
 He mocks his Maker, prostitutes and shames 
 His noble office, and instead of truth. 
 
 Displaying his own beauty, starves his flock.” 
 
 “ If the clergymen of our day,” said the late Daniel 
 Webster, of America, ‘‘ would return to the simplicity 
 of the Grospel, and preach more to individuals and less 
 to the crowd, there would not he so much complaint of 
 the decline of religion. Many of the ministers of the 
 present day take their text from St. Paul, and preach 
 from the newspapers. When they do so, I prefer to 
 enjoy my own thoughts, rather than to listen. I want 
 my pastor to come to me in the spirit of the Grospel, 
 saying, ^ You are mortal ; your probation is brief ; your 
 work must he done speedily. You are immortal, too ; 
 you are hastening to the bar of Grod ; the Judge is 
 standing before the door.’ When I am admonished 
 thus, I have no disposition to muse or sleep.” If our 
 preaching is to be really useful, or permanently attrac- 
 tive, Christ’s atoning sacrifice must be our motto and 
 our watchword still. The doctrines that sounded from 
 Bunyan’s pulpit must sound from our pulpits. 
 
 His preaching was characterized by totality. He had 
 in himself all the elements of full-orbed humanity, and in 
 his preaching he lets all of them out. The following 
 remarks seem exceedingly just and discriminative: — 
 “ French preachers are apt to deal too exclusively in the 
 one article, fancy ; and though you are amused, for the 
 moment, with the rocket-shower of brilliant and many- 
 tinted ideas which fall sparklingly around you, when the 
 exhibition is ended, you are disappointed to find that the 
 whole was momentary, and that from all the ruby and 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEK. 
 
 97 
 
 emerald rain, scarcely one gem of solid thouglit remains. 
 Scottisli preachers are apt to indulge the argumentative 
 cacoethes of their country, and cramming into a tract or 
 sermon as much hard thinking as the Bramah-pressure 
 of hydrostatic intellects can condense into the iron para- 
 graphs, they leave no room for such delicate materials 
 as fancy and feeling, illustration, imagery, or affectionate 
 appeal. Whilst Irish pulpit orators are so surcharged 
 with their own exuberant enthusiasm, that their main 
 hope of making you think as they think, is to make you 
 feel as they feel. The heart is their Aristotle ; and if 
 they cannot win you by a smile, or melt you by a tear, 
 they would think it labour lost to try a syllogism. 
 Bunyan was neither Trench, nor Scotch, nor Irish. He 
 embodied in his person, though greatly magnified, the 
 average mind of England — playful, affectionate, down- 
 right. His intellectual power comes out chiefly in that 
 homely, self-commending sense — the brief, business-like 
 reasoning, which might be termed Saxon logic, and of 
 which Swift in one century, and Cobbett in another, are 
 obvious instances. His premises are not always true, 
 nor his inferences always legitimate : but there is such 
 evident absence of sophistry; his statements are so 
 sincere, and his conclusions so direct ; the language is so 
 perspicuous, and the appeal is made so honestly to each 
 hearer’s understanding, that his popularity as a reasoner 
 is inevitable.” And while his intellect perceived the 
 truth most clearly, his imperial imagination adorned it 
 with flowers and^ figures, that captivated the man of 
 fancy. In him, as has been said, imagination exists, not 
 as a dilution, but as an intense essence. He could 
 create at will. Learned divines had puzzled themselves 
 and their hearers with subtle distinctions and abstract 
 principles ; these, in the mind of Bunyan, were trans- 
 formed into visible realities. He loved to present truth 
 
98 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE HEX'. 
 
 in the concrete. His principles had an external form ; 
 they livedj moved, and talked. And then the likenesses 
 he photographed were so true every way, that those 
 who listened, with stolid indifference, to the laboured 
 sermons of great metaphysicians, were interested, roused, 
 and melted by the poor unlettered mechanic ! Images 
 and similitudes, as has been well said, are the pictures 
 of the soul. The form of a syllogism may soon be for- 
 gotten ; but a happy, and felicitous, and graphic picture 
 stereotypes itself upon the soul, and abides there for 
 ever. This method of preaching gives freshness to truths 
 that have ceased to strike, and sharpness to sentiments 
 that have lost their edge. He who spake as never man 
 spake, adopted this style. It will be popular as long as 
 the sea sounds, the stars twinkle, and the flowers bloom. 
 In fine, Bunyan appeals not only to the intellect and the 
 imagination, but to the heart. He was a man of kind- 
 ness and compassion. A free, brave, brotherly soul, 
 without any theological rancour. Like Hall and Chal- 
 mers, he laughed, and played, and talked nonsense with 
 children. The Church of Borne committed a great 
 mistake when she forbade her priests to marry ; few 
 things have a stronger tendency to keep the heart fresh 
 and warm, than the tender associations of the domestic 
 circle. What genuine sorrow he feels for poor Mr. 
 Badman. As he describes his life and death, we can 
 almost see his manly face bathed in tears. Oh, it is 
 charming to see the joy that sparkles in his eye and 
 plays over his countenance, as he vsrrites how Mr. 
 Beady-to-halt, and Miss Much-afraid, danced for very 
 gladness, that Griant Despair’s head had been severed 
 from his shoulders, and that Doubting Castle had 
 been demolished. Let us remember, in all our endea- 
 vours to benefit our fellows, that the heart can only 
 be reached by the warm sympathy of love. Society 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 99 
 
 will not be scolded out of vice, nor frightened into 
 virtue — 
 
 ‘‘ In this the lordlier chivalry.” 
 
 We must not be prophets of wrath, but apostles of 
 mildness and charitj. “ The public is just a big baby ! ” 
 Let us take it in our arms, and clasp it to our breasts. 
 
 There is no reason to suppose that Bunyan read his 
 sermons. He who was so careful to find a Scripture 
 warrant for entering on the work of the ministry, was 
 not likely to commence a practice for which there is no 
 Bible precedent. We have known some popular orators 
 read again and again, and yet again, sermons printed 
 and published and sold years ago. These gentlemen 
 leave the making and preaching of new sermons to men 
 who do much work for little pay. In Little Tower Street, 
 near Mincing Lane, London, there lives a reverend gen- 
 tleman, who for the past six years has turned out two 
 original sermons every week in lithographed manuscript. 
 He has been in the habit of charging for these sermons 
 2s. 6(J. each ; but now, by special request, he is about 
 to issue a new series at Is. 6d. ; so a church can be 
 supplied with sermons a whole year for the small sum 
 of £7 16s. ! If ministers would leave reading and take 
 to preaching, the sermon manufactory in Little Tower 
 Street would soon cease to exist, the reverend quack 
 would soon be finished. ‘^That was a new sermon I 
 preached [read] to-day; how did you like it, James?” 
 “ Pretty well, but I think I’d stick to the old ones, 
 Eobert ; they are the best.” Our preacher took the 
 scriptural way — viz., prepared new sermons, and then 
 preached them. Christianity was not planted in the 
 world by sermon reading ; the Crusades were not ori- 
 ginated by sermon reading ; the Eeformation was not 
 brought about by sermon reading ! Did the Covenanters 
 
100 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEJf. 
 
 of Scotland, or tlie Puritans of England, or tlie Wal- 
 denses of the European Continent, read their sermons ? 
 Despite the fact, that it is sanctioned by many good men, 
 we must condemn it, as unphilosophical, and a sin 
 against the true theory of oratory. It is not tolerated 
 at the bar, or on the stage, only in the pulpit. A sleepy- 
 headed bishop once asked Grarrick, the celebrated actor, 
 why it was that actors, who dealt in fiction, gained 
 the attention of their hearers ; while ministers of the 
 Grospel, who treated of solemn facts, were not listened 
 to? Garrick replied, ‘‘We speak fiction as if it were 
 truth ; you speak truth as if it were fiction !” Give us 
 ministers like Bunyan, and no such reproach will be 
 brought against us. We care little whether they come 
 from the college, the shop, the factory, or the farm. 
 Heavenly degrees against university degrees all the 
 world over ! 
 
 We promised to say a few words about this self-made 
 man as an author. And here we must act upon the 
 principle of selection; suffice it to say, that although, 
 viewed strictly as a theologian^ his works would place 
 him very high even among Puritan divines, still it is 
 as the allegorist of the Christian character and life that 
 he stands peerless. We shall, therefore, omit his other 
 works, and even his minor allegories, such as “ The 
 Heavenly Eootman.” “ Solomon’s Temple Spiritualized;” 
 “ A Discourse of the House of the Eorest of Lebanon ;” 
 “The Water of Life ;” “ The Barren Eig Tree;” “ Life 
 and Death of Mr. Badman,” &c.; and confine ourselves 
 to the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” and the “ Holy War.” 
 
 The “Pilgrim’s Progress” is very precious to us, and 
 shall be, “ while memory holds a seat on this distracted 
 globe.” Our first perusal of this enchanting volume 
 was at a very early age, in the “ land of the mountain 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEN. 
 
 101 
 
 and tlie flood.” The good parish minister, whose death 
 we saw recently recorded, was about to visit our home 
 on a diet of catechizing ; but such was our boyish 
 enthusiasm, that we neglected the catechism, read on at 
 the ingenious dream, till we read it through, and then, 
 like Dr. Johnson, wished it had been longer. To how 
 many has the reading of this marvellous book been an 
 epoch in their lives. ^‘It seizes us in childhood with 
 the strong hand of its power,” exclaims the Eev. W. 
 M. Punshon ; “ our manhood surrenders to the spell of 
 its sorcery, and its grasp upon us relaxes not when 
 ^ mingles the brown of life with sober grey nay, is 
 often strongest amid the weariness of waning years. Its 
 scenes are familiar to us as the faces of home. Its 
 characters live to our perceptions, no less than to our 
 understanding. We have seen them all, conversed with 
 them, realized their diversities of character and expe- 
 rience for ourselves. There never was a poem which so 
 thoroughly took possession of our hearts, and hurried 
 them along upon the stream of the story. We have an 
 identity of interest with the hero in all his doubts and 
 dangers. We start with him on pilgrimage ; we speed 
 with him in eager haste to the gate ; we gaze with him 
 on the sights of wonder ; we climb with him the difficult 
 hill ; the blood rushes to our cheek, warm and proud, as 
 we gird ourselves for the battle with Apollyon ; it 
 curdles at the heart again, amid the ‘ hydras and 
 chimeras dire’ of the Valley of the Shadow of Death ; 
 we look with him upon the scoffing multitude from the 
 cage of the Tower of Vanity ; we now lie, listless and 
 sad, and now flee, fleet and happy, from the cell in 
 Doubting Castle ; we walk with him amid the pleasant- 
 ness of Beulah ; we ford the river in his company ; we 
 hear the joy-bells ringing in the city of habitations ; we 
 see and greet the hosts of welcoming angels ; and it is 
 
102 
 
 EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEK, 
 
 to US as the gasp of agony, with which the drowning 
 come hack to life, when some rude call of worldly con- 
 cernment arouses us from our reverie, and we wake, and 
 behold, it is a dream !” 
 
 Tes, but dream though it be, the pictures, the charac- 
 ters, and the scenes are engraven upon the memory, and 
 burned into the heart. Toplady, speaking of the Pil- 
 grim’s Progress,” says — “ It is, in short, a masterpiece of 
 piety and genius, and will, we doubt not, be of standing 
 use to the people of Grod, so long as the sun and moon 
 endure.” Br. Cheever — “ Perhaps no other work could 
 be named which, admired by cultivated minds, has had, 
 at the same time, such an ameliorating effect on the 
 working classes in society as the ‘ Pilgrim’s Progress.’ ” 
 Dr. Arnold, of Eugby— His ^ Pilgrim’s Progress ’ seems 
 to be a complete reflection of Scripture, with none of 
 the rubbish of the theologians mixed up with it.” The 
 late Lord Macaulay — “ There is no book in our litera- 
 ture, on which we would so readily stake the fame of 
 the old, unpolluted English language; no book which 
 shows so well how rich that language is in its own 
 proper wealth, and how little it has been improved by 
 all that it has borrowed. Though there were many 
 clever men in England during the latter part of the 
 seventeenth century, there were only two great creative 
 minds ; one of those minds produced the ‘ Paradise 
 Lost,’ the other the ‘ Pilgrim’s Progress.’ ” Lord 
 Campbell — “ He composed the noblest of allegories, the 
 merit of which was first discovered by the lowly, but 
 which is now lauded by the most refined critics, and 
 which has done more to awaken piety, and to enforce 
 the precepts of Christian morality, than all the sermons 
 which have been published by all the prelates of the 
 Anglican Church. Ho production of mortal pen ever 
 gained such universal ascendency over the heart of 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEIf. 
 
 103 
 
 luimanitj.” A missionary wrote home to inform his 
 Christian friends, that a fierce Malay sat up three nights 
 to read it. The pundit who was engaged to translate 
 it into Singhalese, was deeply affected ; and when 
 Christian’s burden fell from his back, at the sight of 
 Christ crucified, he was completely overcome with joy ; 
 he laughed, wept, clapped his hands, danced, and shouted 
 ‘‘Delightful, delightful!” In Europe, America, Africa, 
 and Asia, it has turned the delighted attention of 
 thousands to the wonderful works of Grod. It has been 
 illustrated with crude prints and splendid engravings. 
 It is to be found on the smoky cupboard of the cottage, 
 and in the sumptuous drawing-room of the palace. 
 
 We confess we were surprised, even in this age of 
 startling discoveries and of historical doubts, on recently 
 learning that the tinker, John Bunyan, never wrote the 
 “ Pilgrim’s Progress” at all ; hut was simply an illiterate 
 mender of pots and pans, and a fellow who took care, 
 when he patched up one hole in a kettle, to knock out a 
 larger in its stead ; and, according to our informer, stole 
 the whole hook bodily from a Erench writer of the 
 fifteenth century, of the name of Gruillaume de Gruile- 
 ville, and did not put himself to the trouble of disguising 
 or disfiguring the stolen article, so as to avoid the 
 detection and conviction that have now come upon him. 
 
 The following is from the private correspondence of 
 the Freeman's Journal : — 
 
 “ It was asserted, some time ago, that Bunyan, who 
 wrote the ‘ Pilgrim’s Progress,’ was an impostor, and 
 that the whole story was made up from an ancient 
 manuscript. Several erudite members of the Beformed 
 Church wrote letters to the newspapers, denouncing the 
 libel, and claiming for honest John Bunyan the whole 
 credit of having conceived and written the famous 
 
104 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE 
 
 ‘ Progress.’ Miss Catherine Isabella Gust bas, however, 
 taken up the gauntlet thrown down hj Dr. Gumming 
 and other admirers of Mr. Bunyan, and has shown, 
 beyond all possibility of doubt, and on the most irrefra- 
 gable evidence, that Bunyan, the ‘ Star of Protestantism,’ 
 was a mere duifer, and a shabby, unprincipled duffer, into 
 the bargain. She has published (this day) a translation 
 from the Prench manuscript copy in the British Museum 
 of the ‘ Pylgremage of the Sowle, by Gruillaume De Grui- 
 leville, a churchman, who flourished in the fifteenth 
 century. The original work was translated in England 
 seventy years before the Eeformation, and was printed 
 by Caxton in 1483. Bunyan’s ‘ Pilgrim’s Progress’ is 
 nearly a verbatim copy of this rare work, with a fevr 
 alterations here and there, to give it the tinge of 
 originality.” 
 
 JSTow, we have heard a good deal of foolish clamour 
 about the plagiarisms of Milton, Mirabeau, Eox, Chal- 
 mers, Hall, and Disraeli ; but we were not prepared for 
 this onslaught on the Grlorious Dreamer of Bedford. 
 But, alas ! no man is too great or too good to be 
 reviled and slandered by underlings, who, if all thrown 
 together in the opposing scale, would at once kick the 
 beam. So it seems John Bunyan was in the habit of 
 prowling about in dusty libraries, amongst neglected 
 French manuscripts, in the capacity of a sublime literary 
 swindler, and excelled quite as much in giving a tinge of 
 originality to a rare work, as in making old pots and pans 
 look almost as well as new! We are no admirers of 
 tinkers, but vre love fair play ; and it is only justice to 
 say, ihat this class of men have always been singularly 
 free from literary imposture ; — they have left this crime 
 to people of higher rank and more brilliant accomplish- 
 ments. It is not very likely that the “ Pilgrim’s 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEK 
 
 105 
 
 Progress,” — “ the creed of Calvin illustrated by the 
 genius of Shakespeare,” — was stolen from a work by a 
 clergyman of the Armenian Church. What was his own 
 declaration concerning the composition of the Pilgrim’s 
 Progress”? 
 
 “ Manner and matter, too, was all mine own ; 
 
 Nor was it unto any mortal known 
 Till I had done it. Nor did any then, 
 
 By books, by wits, by tongues, or hand, or pen, 
 
 Add five words to it, or wrote half a line 
 Thereof : the whole and ev’ry whit is mine.” 
 
 The greatest men are the simplest ; and so are the 
 greatest books. Accordingly, the “ Pilgrim’s Progress,” 
 like the Bible, is its own best interpreter. A late 
 eminent clergyman and commentator, Thomas Scott, 
 published an edition of it, with illustrative notes, and 
 kindly presented a copy to one of his poor parishioners. 
 Some time afterwards the man was met by the clergy- 
 man, who inquired, “ Well, have you read the ‘ Pilgrim’s 
 Progress’ ? ” The reply was, “ Yes, sir.” It was further 
 asked, Do you think you understand it?” “ O, yes, 
 sir,” was the answer, with this somewhat unexpected 
 addition, — and I hope, before long, I shall understand 
 the notes !” 
 
 There are at least two books bearing the title of the 
 “Holy War;” the one by Thomas Puller, the son of a 
 clergyman in Northamptonshire, and the other by John 
 Bunyan. The work of the former was first published in 
 1640, and that of the latter in 1682. Puller’s book is 
 an account of the expedition undertaken to wrest 
 Palestine out of the hands of the infidels ; Bunyan’s 
 describes a war made to wrest the soul of man out of the 
 hands of the devil. Puller’s wit is so remarkable, that 
 we shall take the liberty of presenting the reader with a 
 few specimens. Concerning Samson, he says, his love of 
 
106 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEX. 
 
 sweetness brouglit him some sour sauce, and had well 
 nigh cost him his life. When the Eomans waged war 
 against Judea, they took 9,000 captives, and Puller 
 remarks, that they who sold their Saviour for thirty 
 pence, were themselves sold thirty for a penny. Bribery 
 v/as not unpalatable to the Holy See ; and Puller quaintly 
 informs us, that the cardinal’s eyes were old and dim ; 
 the glass that he looked through must, therefore, be well 
 silvered. Borne boasted that her sway extended over the 
 greatest amount of territory ; Puller replied, that accord- 
 ing to that principle the surveyors of land, and not the 
 divines, would be the fittest judges as to which was the 
 best religion. Various nations furnished soldiers for the 
 Crusades, and Puller assures us that the Irishmen’s feet 
 did not stick fast in their bogs. These are a few examples 
 of Puller’s style, and from them you may judge of the 
 character of his Holy War.” 
 
 Bunyan’s Holy War” is altogether different in pur- 
 pose and aim : it is the Pall and Bedemption of man. 
 It has been sadly under-estimated. We do not say it is 
 equal to the Pilgrim’s Progress that was Bunyan’s 
 masterpiece. What the Alps are among the mountains, 
 what the eagle is among the birds, what the sun is among 
 the stars, such is the Pilgrim’s Progress” among unin- 
 spired books. It is the monarch volume, the king of 
 allegories. The Holy War” has suffered much from 
 the unparalleled fame of its predecessor. If a man write 
 an extraordinary book, it is too often assumed that all 
 his other works must be rubbish. Emerson was quite 
 sure that Croly had exhausted his genius in Paris in 
 1815 and many sage critics predicted that Mrs. Stowe 
 would write nothing worthy of being read after Uncle 
 Tom’s Cabin.” If a minister preach a few good sermons, 
 and fill the chapel, many good people in their ignorance 
 and stupidity express their fears that he will not wear 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE MEK. 
 
 107 
 
 well ; and others, moved by envy and jealousy, forthwith 
 dub him a charlatan. Now we humbly opine, that such 
 conduct is grossly unjust ; for the premises warrant infe- 
 rences of an altogether different character. Bunyan’s 
 mind was essentially creative ; it was exhaustless as 
 nature herself He could form new worlds, and spin 
 new creations never thought of before. Had he, like 
 Scott, been spurred on by the ambition of founding a 
 family ; or had he been a professional litterateur^ writing 
 for bread, he had produced many ‘‘ Pilgrim’s Progresses.” 
 
 We have somewhere read that the Holy War” now 
 lies neglected, like some old claymore which once reeked 
 at gory Culloden. It may be so ; but the circulation of 
 a book is not always a true index of its merit. We could 
 name some trashy novels that are a thousand times more 
 popular than Butler’s ‘^Analogy of Eeligion.” The “Life 
 and Death of Poor Cock Eobin” has completely eclipsed 
 Milton’s “ Paradise Lost and “ Napoleon’s Book of 
 Pate” is far more read than the works of our most cele- 
 brated authors. If you wish to find man’s redemption 
 clearly set forth ; to gain a deep acquaintance with the 
 human heart ; to see the struggles of the soul, as it 
 fights its way from doubt to assurance, graphically de- 
 scribed, — then study the “ Holy War.”. The late Lord 
 Macaulay was of opinion, that had there been no “ Pil- 
 grim’s Progress,” the most magnificent allegory would be 
 the “ Holy War.” 
 
 Dugald Stewart says, “ As the air of a gentleman can 
 only be acquired by being habitually in the best society, 
 so grace in composition must be attained by an habitual 
 acquaintance with classical writers.” “ Plato,” observes 
 Longinus, “has taught us that the surest mode of 
 attaining perfection in style is to imitate and emulate 
 the illustrious writers of former days.” “ What English 
 author would you take in hand?” asks Dr. Beard, — ■ 
 
108 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 Shakspeare, or Milton ? Between tke two tke option 
 lies. I know not wkick to prefer, and think it safer to 
 declare that the English mind comprises the qualities of 
 hoth : — Shakespeare and Milton, put together, make one 
 Englishman of the highest and richest endowments. I 
 urge on you the study of Shakspeare and Milton.” We 
 admire — who does not admire? — the masterpieces of 
 antiquity, and the great English classics ; hut we know 
 that many men of great learning and exact training have 
 remained through life very defective as regards style; 
 while others, half- illiterate, have attained a strength and 
 beauty of diction all but perfect. Of this Bunyan is the 
 most striking example. Who taught him the art of com- 
 position ? JN'oone! What model did he study? The 
 Scriptures only ! Yet he ranks, and will always rank, as 
 one of the first of English writers. Truly, this self-made 
 man wielded an inimitable pen. His direct, simple, 
 strong, unmistakeable words, have secured his fame. 
 
 Bunyan, a blaspheming tinker, the leader of village 
 reprobates, with the help of God, made himself one of 
 England’s famous confessors. His great popularity as a 
 preacher soon excited persecution. The doctors and 
 priests of the country did open against” him ; and five 
 months after the Bestoration, he was arrested, and com- 
 mitted to Bedford jail. Seven weeks after his imprison- 
 ment, he was brought up at the quarter sessions, charged 
 with being “ a common upholder of unlawful meetings 
 and conventicles ;” and as neither arguments, nor threats, 
 nor flattery, nor ridicule, could prevail on the dauntless 
 man to leave off preaching, this was his sentence : — “ You 
 must be had back to prison, there lie for three months 
 following ; and if you do not submit to go to church and 
 hear Divine service, you must be banished the realm ; and 
 after that, if you should be found in the realm, without the 
 special license of the king, you must stretch by the neck 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEIf. 
 
 109 
 
 for it, I tell you plainly.” So spake Justice Keelin. Bunyan 
 bravely answered, “ I am at a point with you. If I were 
 out of prison to-day, I would preach the Grospel again 
 to-morrow, by the help of Grod.” At the assizes of 1661, 
 his noble wife — after having travelled to London with a 
 petition to the House of Lords — appeared several times 
 before the Judges to plead her husband’s cause. She 
 was ill-understood, and judged of harshly, by Justices 
 Twisdon and Chester ; but appreciated and understood by 
 Sir Matthew Hale, beneath whose ermine there throbbed 
 a Grod-fearing heart, and who believed in affection, and 
 in the strength of woman’s devotion. am sorry, 
 
 woman,” said the pious judge, “ that I can do thee no 
 good.” So, when she found that her advocacy was all 
 in vain, she burst forth into tears, not so much because 
 they were so hard-hearted against her, but because of the 
 accomit they would have to render at the coming of the 
 Lord.” Oh, rare woman ! thou wert not less heroic than 
 thy husband! No “storied urn or animated bust” re- 
 vives thy recollection ; but thy record is on high, and thy 
 virtues are inscribed on an enduring monument ! We 
 are not going to turn sentimental, but common justice 
 to the sex demands that we acknowledge their devotion 
 to Christ and His cause in all ages of the world. If it 
 be true that woman owes much to Christianity, it is a 
 kindred truth that Christianity owes much to woman. 
 If by her sin came into the world, by her also came the 
 Saviour : and while man forsook his Lord, woman’s 
 fidelity was never impeached. As has been beautifully 
 and truthfully said, she was first at the cross, and last at 
 the sepulchre I 
 
 And so Bunyan had to remain in prison ; but his heart 
 quailed not with the lapse of time. When he had been 
 nearly twelve years in that foul dungeon, he thus ex- 
 presses his unfaltering resolution : — “ I have determined 
 
ilO 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEIS'. 
 
 — the Almighty Grod being my help and my shield — yet 
 to suffer, if frail life might continue so long, even until 
 the moss shall grow over my eye-brows, rather than 
 violate my faith and my principles.” Here we have the 
 true martyr spirit, the nobleness of religious decision. 
 Well might Grilfillan make Carlyle exclaim, Honour to 
 thee, brave pilgrim, for thou also wert a hero!” So, 
 Mr. Infidel, they are not all hollow hypocrites who 
 profess religion. When or where were hypocrites ever 
 known to suffer for their principles ? Yet Christendom 
 has been strewed thick with the ashes, and dyed red with 
 the blood, of men who would gladly have laid down as 
 many lives for Christ as they had hairs on their head. 
 It is reported of Hapoleon, that he said to Greneral 
 Bertrand in St. Helena, “ Alexander, Ciesar, Charle- 
 magne, and I have founded empires ; but on what have 
 we rested the creations of our genius ? On force. Only 
 Jesus has founded an empire of love ; and at this 
 moment millions of men would die for Him 1 ” 
 
 We have now arrived at the closing remarks. Bunyan 
 was singularly free from sectarianism. It is sad to 
 think how many things are done every day that ought 
 not to be done ; and which would not be done, if we had 
 sound Christian hearts. Are there not many who belong 
 wholly to their own little narrow denomination ? They 
 know nothing about others ; and they desire to know 
 nothing, simply because they do not pronounce their shib- 
 boleth! We humbly opine, there is much to admire in all 
 persuasions who deserve the name of Christians. Let 
 us only be Christians, and then whether as Episcopalians, 
 Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, or Independents, 
 we can truly say that we belong to those whose princi- 
 ples tend to promote that righteousness which exalts a 
 nation, and which has made England great and glorious. 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 Ill 
 
 John Eunyan dipped his pen in the Catholicism of 
 Catholicity. He had no sympathy with any how- 
 ever novel, or specious, or popular, which corrupted or 
 darkened the simplicity of the Grospel. With him 
 charity was not a mere clap-trap sentiment for the 
 platform ; but a deep conviction, a strong principle, a 
 fruit of the Holy Spirit. One of his favourite texts 
 was, By this shall all men know that ye are my 
 disciples, if ye love one another !” 
 
 It is no uncommon thing to adopt a creed, and then 
 go to Scripture to get it confirmed. Eunyan drew 
 his great principles of faith and practice directly from 
 the Bible. A wise man will revere the memory of 
 Athanasius, Augustin, and Anselm, of Luther, Calvin, 
 and Jonathan Edwards ; but at the same time will bring 
 their opinions to the touch-stone of revelation : truth he 
 will accept, come from where it will ; error he will reject, 
 wherever it appears. 
 
 The following paragraph, from the address delivered 
 in Poultry Chapel, May 10th, 1859, by the Eev. Dr. 
 Greorge Legge, Chairman of the Congregational Union 
 of England and Wales, is so fitted to serve the cause 
 of sound learning, evangelical truth, and Christian 
 liberty, that we transcribe it entire : — 
 
 I know that every thoughtful man amongst us 
 must aim after systematic views of the truth he pro- 
 fesses to believe and teach ; whether it relates to 
 what is now styled distinctively ‘ Theology, or Chris- 
 tology, or Anthropology, or Deontology, or Escha- 
 tology.’ I am satisfied that it will be for our benefit, 
 — our great intellectual benefit, — to consult what have 
 been called our ‘ bodies of divinity,’ from those of 
 Calvin, Melancthon, and the Westminster divines, to 
 Hill and Chalmers, Payne and Wardlaw. Only we 
 
112 
 
 EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 must remember, that tbej all entered on tbeir works 
 with foregone conclusions ; and that their views have 
 no more claim to authority over us than those of 
 Pelagius, Limborch, Watson, or Pinney. But to my 
 thinking, there presents itself a more excellent way — a 
 way which has been eminently characteristic of our 
 denomination, ever since the memorable utterance of 
 Eobinson to the Pilgrim Bathers, and which distin- 
 guished it before that — which, in verity, goes far to 
 define its peculiarity before the world. I mean the way 
 of consulting the Scriptures, to make out a truly Biblical 
 theology; not in the common-place manner of cbapter- 
 and-verse citation, which has been made, and can easily 
 be made, available to support doctrines apparently the 
 most contrasted; but by a careful examination of the 
 contents of the New Testament, not forgetting those 
 of the Old, — by a consideration of the circumstances 
 in which its penmen wrote, and of the general drift of 
 their meaning ; by a comparison of their deliverances one 
 by one, and one after another ; if by auy means we may 
 arrive at the will of Grod, and the mind of the Spirit. 
 In following out such a method as this, we shall 
 perhaps discover a particular truth barely hinted at 
 here, and there fully developed ; here shadowed in 
 metaphor, and there unveiled in pure simplicity ; here 
 set forth as the ground of a theory, and there repre- 
 sented as a principle of action ; here proclaimed objec- 
 tively as a historical fact, and there insisted on subjectively 
 as a spiritual power. And if we believe in the inspiration 
 of the writers of the New Testament, and in its dominion 
 over our own faith, we must accept the one view as well 
 as the other, not without the endeavour to bring them 
 into intellectual harmony or practical unisou ; though in 
 doing so we may find ourselves remote enough from the 
 stand-point of Calvinism, and not very near the domain 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE MEI5'. 
 
 113 
 
 of Arminius. Whatever the issue, we should only he 
 dealing with the Book of Eevelation as physicists have 
 dealt with the Book of Nature since the days of Lord 
 Bacon. We all know the results of the interrogation of 
 nature to science and to art, by his methods of obser- 
 vation, experiment, and induction, — how wonderful and 
 glorious. And if our Beformers, and Puritans, and 
 Nonconformists had prosecuted their investigation of 
 Scripture in the same spirit and by the same rule, I 
 imagine that by this time theology would have come to 
 be recognized as the queen of all the sciences, and have 
 more than entered on its destined work as the regenerator 
 of all society.” 
 
 We take our leave of this poor son of nobody, who 
 struggled up his way to distinction, and made himself 
 one of England’s most eminent men, in the words of the 
 brief character appended to ‘‘ Grrace Abounding — 
 
 “ He appeared in countenance to be of a stern and 
 rough temper ; but in his conversation mild and affable ; 
 not given to loquacity or much discourse in company, 
 unless some urgent occasion required it ; observing never 
 to boast of himself or his parts, but rather seem low in 
 his own eyes, and submit himself to the judgment of 
 others ; abhorring lying and swearing ; being just in all 
 that lay in his power to his word, not seeming to revenge 
 injuries, loving to reconcile differences, and make friend- 
 ship with all : he had a sharp, quick eye ; accomplished 
 with an excellent discerning of persons, being of good 
 judgment and quick wit. As for his person, he was tall 
 of stature, strong-boned, though not corpulent ; some- 
 what of a ruddy face, with sparkling eyes, wearing his 
 hair on his upper lip after the old British fashion ; his 
 hair reddish, but in his later days time had sprinkled it 
 with grey ; his nose well set, but not declining or bend- 
 
 I 
 
114 
 
 EXAMPLES OF SELF-MALE MEX". 
 
 ing, and liis moutli moderate large ; his forehead somewhat 
 high, and his habit always plain and modest. And thus 
 have we impartially described the internal and external 
 parts of a person, whose death hath been much regretted; 
 a person who had tried the smiles and frowns of time ; 
 not puffed up in prosperity, nor shaken in adversity, 
 always holding the golden mean.” 
 
 In him at once did three great worthies shine. 
 
 Historian, poet, and a choice divine ; 
 
 Then let him rest in undisturbed dust, 
 
 Until the resurrection of the just/^ 
 
115 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 [continued.] 
 
 EXAMPLES OF SELF-MALE MEIN. 
 
 SECTION II.— EDWARD BAINES. 
 
 “ As a man, I grieve for one who had risen to so high an eminence 
 by the virtuous exercise of his talents. As a lover of my country, I 
 cannot but mourn the loss of the honest, consistent, and powerful 
 advocate of her civil and religious liberties. And as a Christian, 
 whatever differences of opinion there might exist between us, I rest 
 in the hope that his sincerity was nothing less than mine, and that 
 He who searches all hearts has accepted him as a true disciple of 
 His beloved Son.” 
 
 Rev. Dr. Hutton. 
 
 How false is that opinion — sometimes held in ignorance, 
 and sometimes held with a noble purpose — the opinion 
 that our country affords no scope for the elevation of the 
 working man. That we have many faults, we frankly 
 confess ; drunkenness is debasing, and, alas ! in Britain 
 it is a national vice. How galling to our pride the 
 remark of a foreigner, “ It is a blessed thing for the 
 world that you Englishmen are a drunken race. Such 
 are your powers, and energy, and talent, that otherwise 
 you would have become masters of the world.” And, 
 moreover, there are whole classes of our fellow- creatures, 
 with hearts and brains like ourselves, doomed to a kind 
 
116 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE MEK. 
 
 and an amount of labour, at the contemplation of which 
 our blood boils and freezes by turns. They are treated 
 worse than the beasts that perish ; they are denied the 
 fresh air of earth and the fair light of heaven, the food 
 necessary for support, and the sweet sleep nature 
 demands. Those of you who have read Hood’s ‘‘ Bridge 
 of Sighs,” or “ Lady’s Dream,” or “ Song of a Shirt,” 
 know what we mean. Oh ! pity it is that our nobility 
 should wear garments stained with the blood of broken 
 hearts ! All honour and all success to those philan- 
 thropists who are lifting up their open and honest 
 protest against intem^perance, and dragging oppression 
 and wrong to the light of day. It were sheer folly to 
 attempt, like Shem and Japhet, to walk backwards, 
 and spread a mantle over our sins : they will not cover. 
 Still, as compared with other nations, we are quite siure 
 that we have no reason to blush for our country. Lofty 
 things have been said about Trance, and Glermany, and 
 America : far be it from us to despise or slander our 
 neighbours ; yet these countries must not be named in 
 the same breath with Britain. Trance is groaning under 
 military despotism ; in Hermany we find students of the 
 University so abject and mean, as to beg, hat in hand, on 
 the public road ; while from America we hear the forlorn 
 wail of the slave ! Hot more eloquent than true is the 
 eulogy of Mr. Curran : — “ I speak in the spirit of the 
 British law, which makes liberty commensurate with, 
 and inseparable from, British soil ; which proclaims even 
 to the stranger and sojourner, the moment he sets his 
 foot upon British earth, that the ground on which he 
 treads is holy, and consecrated by the genius of Universal 
 Emancipation. Ho matter in what language his doom 
 may have been pronounced; — no matter what complexion 
 incompatible with freedom an Indian or an African sun 
 may have burned upon him ; — no matter in what disas- 
 
EXAMPLES or SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 117 
 
 trous battle bis liberty may have been cloven down ; — no 
 matter with wbat solemnities be may bave been devoted 
 upon tbe altar of slavery ; tbe first moment be touches 
 tbe sacred soil of Britain, tbe altar and tbe god sink 
 together in tbe dust ; bis soul walks abroad in her own 
 majesty; bis body swells beyond tbe measure of bis 
 chains, that burst from around him, and he stands 
 redeemed, regenerated, disenthralled, by tbe irresistible 
 genius of Universal Emancipation.” Not only do tbe 
 subjects of Queen Victoria enjoy the highest amount of 
 freedom, but tbe sun never sets on her dominions. Before 
 bis evening rays leave tbe spires of Quebec, bis morning 
 beams bave shone for three hours on Port J ackson ; and 
 while sinking beneath tbe waters of Lake Superior, bis 
 eye opens upon tbe Granges. Here tbe marriage tie is 
 inviolate ; tbe shield of protection is thrown around our 
 commerce and agriculture ; our merchants are men of 
 integrity and industry ; our peasantry are respected, our 
 soldiers courageous, and our sailors valorous ; our will 
 reigns throughout tbe world, and nations and kingdoms 
 have found it invincible and inflexible ; our education is 
 in a more healthy state than that of any other nation of 
 Europe. Best of all, our homes are sanctified by tbe pre- 
 sence of Divinity, and on our altars tbe flame of heavenly 
 devotion is ever burning. 
 
 “ England, with all thy faults I love thee still!” 
 
 Thou art tbe asylum of freedom ! As tbe Jew, a wan- 
 derer in all lands, never prays without turning bis face 
 towards Jerusalem, so there are brethren and friends, in 
 almost every country, who daily exclaim, “If we forget 
 thee^ O JEn gland ! may our right bands forget their 
 cunning, and our tongues cleave to tbe roofs of our 
 mouths !” Where palm-trees wave their graceful plumes, 
 rivers run over sands of gold, and birds of jewelled lustre 
 flash and flicker among gorgeous flowers, yonder African, 
 
118 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELF-MALE MEK. 
 
 thou hast made free, lifts his hands to Heaven, and 
 invokes a blessing on thee and thy children ! In other 
 lands tyrants use their mailed hands, and the people dare 
 not disagree ; but in England we may educate, print, 
 meet together, and talk freely on all subjects, whether 
 they relate to social life, science, literature, politics, or 
 religion. We are proud of our country. Here worth is 
 sure to he acknowledged ; from the deepest obscurity a 
 man may rise to fame and fortune ; the base-born peasant 
 become Prime Minister ! 
 
 John Arthur Eoebuck, Esq., M.P. for Sheffield, in his 
 recent address at the opening of the Hew Mechanics’ 
 Hall, Middlesbro’, expressed himself as both puzzled and 
 struck by an observation of the Eight Hon. Benjamin 
 Disraeli, to the effect that the great object of mechanics’ 
 institutes is to afford greater facilities for working men 
 advancing themselves in the social sphere. A man like 
 Disraeli, who with his own bold hand has fought his way 
 to distinction against fearful odds, is not very likely to 
 damp the ardour of the young by telling them that it is 
 useless, or almost hopeless, to attempt raising themselves 
 above their present position. Life is not a lottery, but a 
 science ; and certain qualities and talents must inevitably 
 lead to results grand and glorious. Of this Mr. Disraeli 
 himself is a striking illustration. In 1837 the House of 
 Commons despised him, laughed at him, hissed him, and 
 refused to hear him. “I am not at all surprised,” he said, 
 as he resumed his seat, “ at the reception I have expe- 
 rienced. I have begun several times many things, and I 
 have often succeeded at last. I sit down now, but the 
 time will come when you will listen to me.” Soon after 
 he spoke, and they did listen to him. In 1852, he was 
 appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, and leader of 
 the House of Commons. There is nothing under the 
 sun more certain than this, that every man has his 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 119 
 
 opportunity, and wliat lie has got to do in the meantime 
 is to prepare for it. Mr. Roebuck told the people at 
 Middlesbro’ that their great object should be, not to 
 raise themselves above their condition, but to supply 
 themselves with the means of being happy in that sphere 
 in which they moved. We are not acquainted with 
 Middlesbro’ ; it may be a paradise regained ; but we know 
 that in these populous northern regions the working 
 classes should aim at elevating themselves above their 
 present condition. Mr. Roebuck besides informed his 
 audience, that any one man who had raised himself to a 
 higher position, by intellect and by knowledge, is as one 
 among many millions. We beg leave to answer the 
 member for Sheffield in the words of Lord Stanley, — 
 I believe there is not one town westward from here 
 (Accrington) to Liverpool, or eastward over the hills, not 
 one town in all the West Riding, where you may not find 
 some one or two men — men wealthy and powerful, men 
 who are large employers of labour, and who are looked 
 up to by society — who have in early life earned their 
 fifteen or twenty shillings a week, it may be in the very 
 mill of which they afterwards became the owners.” 
 Many eminent and illustrious men have risen from the 
 ranks in Lancashire. Lew require to be told about Sir 
 Richard Arkwright, Sir Robert Peel, and Edward Baines, 
 Esq., M.P. Doubtless these are remarkable instances, 
 but they are not, therefore, exceptional instances. Every 
 year thousands of operatives, who have to struggle for 
 bread, and wrestle with iron fortune, avail themselves of 
 educational advantages ; and every year hundreds of them 
 receive prizes for proficiency in the different branches of 
 art, literature, and science. They are the glory of their 
 country, and about many of them fame may yet be 
 clamorous. 
 
 In introducing another example of a self-made man, 
 
120 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 we would first glance at his personal history; and^ 
 secondly, give an analysis of his general character as 
 a man, a journalist, and a statesman. 
 
 Eather more than eighty years ago, a healthy and 
 sprightly boy was born at Walton-le~dale, a village in the 
 beautiful valley of the Ribble, near Preston, in Lancashire. 
 When very young, he was received into the family of his 
 maternal uncle, Mr. Thomas Pigg, a slate merchant, near 
 Hawkshead, a small town among the lakes. Here he resided 
 about six years, and attended the Tree G-rammar-school, 
 with the poet Wordsworth as his schoolfellow. Con- 
 cerning Edward’s progress, we are left very much in the 
 dark ; but his master, Edward Christian, Esq., who after- 
 wards became a professor in the University of Cambridge, 
 was perfectly sure that he would either be a great man 
 or be hanged ! ” Happily this oracle was verified in the 
 former of these alternatives. At the Preston Eree 
 Grammar-school, to which he was subsequently sent, and 
 where he remained for several years in the lower depart- 
 ment — none but the sons of freemen being admitted to 
 the higher — ^he was distinguished more as the ringleader of 
 a rebellion against the pompous and ill-educated dominie, 
 than as a scholar. The boys, having assembled in the 
 schoolroom, fastened up the door with huge nails, and 
 one of the younger lads was despatched to bring food for 
 the garrison. Eor two or three days they bafiled all the 
 efforts of the exasperated dictator. At length the mayor, 
 town-clerk, and officers were sent for, to intimidate the 
 insurgents. The young rogues, however, must be allowed 
 all the honours of war ; their condition of surrender, as 
 expressed by Baines, their leader, was a full pardon, 
 and a certain number of holidays. The mayor gave them 
 a few hours to consider ; and, on his second visit, the 
 doors were found open, the besieged having fled to the 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 121 
 
 woods of Penwortham. They all slept at home that 
 night, and, by some friendly interposition, escaped the 
 punishment they had deserved. Prolics and boyish 
 prauks having been laid aside, he and five companions 
 having come to know that America was a wonderful 
 field for talent, planned a first-class academy on the 
 other side of the Atlantic. Edward was to be principal, 
 the others professors. So, with the view of enlightening 
 the Yankees, and making their own fortunes, they left 
 Preston one Sunday morning, on foot, for Liverpool, with 
 some two or three pounds in their pockets; but next 
 Eriday, instead of being out of sight of land, the principal 
 and professors found themselves relieving their hunger 
 in a bean-field near Eufibrd, their last penny having been 
 spent. When they regained their homes that night, 
 they found their pride considerably diminished, and their 
 practical wisdom very much increased. After an ordi- 
 nary school education, Edward, at the age of sixteen, 
 was apprenticed to Mr. Thomas Walker, of Preston, with 
 whom he remained till he was twenty-one. Being a 
 young man of vigorous talents and enterprising spirit, 
 Mr. Baines made known his desire to Mr. Walker to 
 find a situation where there would be greater scope for 
 improvement. The latter consented to give him up his 
 indentures ; and the young printer, with the approbation 
 of his parents, left his native town to push his way in the 
 world, watched by his father’s eye, and followed by a 
 mother’s prayers. A friend accompanied him that 
 eventful morning to Clitheroe, but he crossed the hills 
 into Yorkshire, with his staff in his hand, his bundle 
 imder his arm, and all his wealth in his pocket. Weary 
 with his journey, he entered the town of Leeds a perfect 
 stranger. Having found the shop of Messrs. Binns and 
 Brown, he inquired whether they had room for an 
 apprentice to finish his time. He was referred to the 
 
122 
 
 EXAMPLES OP SELE-MALE MEN". 
 
 foreman ; and, as lie entered the office of the Mercury^ 
 he resolved in his OAvn mind, that, if he should obtain 
 admittance there, he would never leave it. 
 
 In 1795, Edward Baines found himself in the Leeds 
 Mercury office, with two years and a half of his appren- 
 ticeship yet to run. hie soon won the esteem and 
 confidence of Messrs. Binns and Brown, who valued him 
 highly, as one who acted up to a maxim which he often 
 quoted, Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing 
 well.” Actuated by a laudable ambition to improve his 
 temporal condition, he practised frugality, cultivated 
 strictly temperate habits, and chose virtuous companions. 
 With a view to intellectual improvement, he joined a 
 society called the Leasoning Society, became a frequent 
 speaker, and improved much from the exercise. The 
 president, when he understood the character of the 
 new member, called him a diamond in the rough ; but 
 that roughness was soon exchanged for polish, and 
 hesitation of speech for fluency of utterance. It has 
 been said, that from boyhood he determined to follow 
 the example of Benjamin Eranklin, the great American 
 printer and patriot ; and there were so many points 
 of resemblance between the two men, that Edward 
 Baines was called the Eranklin of Leeds. 
 
 His apprenticeship terminated in September, 1797, and 
 next day he commenced business on his own account, in 
 the Bose and Crown Yard, Briggate, in partnership with 
 Mr. John Eenwick. The firm was Baines & Eenwick.” 
 He had saved a little money, and he got a loan of £100 
 from his father. An item in his first stock-taking shows 
 on how small a scale he commenced : — “ Materials at 
 the time of beginning with J. Eenwick, £78.” A few 
 months proved that Eenwick was not a suitable partner, 
 so a separation took place early in 1798. On the 2nd 
 of July, 1798, Mr. Baines married Miss Charlotte 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEIS". 
 
 123 
 
 Talbot, the daughter of Mr. Matthew Talbot, of Leeds, 
 author of a very valuable analysis of the Bible. This 
 second and somewhat hastily formed partnership proved 
 both lasting and congenial. To this truly excellent 
 woman, Edward Baines owed much. Of her it may 
 verily be said, that the price of a virtuous woman is 
 far above rubies,” and that “ her husband safely trusted 
 in her, and praised her.” He now took a house, with 
 a commodious printing ofBce adjoining, in Dickinson’s 
 Court, Briggate ; and by diligence in business, and 
 economy at home, he began to rise in the world. 
 
 When Mr. Baines had been in business nearly four 
 years, and had established his character as a man of 
 integrity, prudence, and energy ; the friend of liberal 
 politics, and the foe of monopolies and restrictions of 
 every kind ; he was induced to take a step which proved 
 to be the turning point in his life. Under Mr. James 
 Bowling, the Mercury had vigorously advocated reform, 
 civil and religious liberty ; but when it came into the 
 possession of Messrs. Binns and Brown, it assumed the 
 general tone of the Tories. The reformers felt their 
 anomalous position, and suggested the establishment of 
 a party organ. Mr. James Biscoff, author of the 
 ‘‘History of Wool and Woollen Manufacture,” after 
 some discussion, said — “ If you find the money, I will 
 find the man.” He rightly judged that Mr. Baines 
 was every way qualified to do justice to their opinions, 
 and make the newspaper respected. Mr. Baines was 
 found willing to undertake the enterprise, the sum of 
 £1,000 was subscribed, and in the month of March, 
 1801, he became the proprietor of the Leeds Mercury. 
 Eree from dictation and control, the editor, proprietor, 
 and publisher, all in one, he flung himself into the 
 stormy political controversies of the day, and conducted 
 the Mercury as well as if he had done nothing else all 
 
124 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEIST. 
 
 his life long. In a few years he repaid the loans, with 
 interest, and owed no man anything hut love and grati- 
 tude, which he cherished until death. 
 
 Just when the Mercury had been fairly launched upon 
 the stormy ocean of public opinion, and her steady 
 navigator, full of courage and youthful ardour, felt 
 assured that she would plough her way safely through 
 the billows, and that, ere long, ,he would drop his anchor 
 and end his voyage in the desired haven, one of those 
 events happened which confuse ordinary men, and put 
 them off their equilibrium. One evening in November, 
 1805, Mr. and Mrs. Baines were both at an exhibition of 
 automata at the Music Hall, the profits of which were 
 given to the widows and children of the sailors who had 
 fallen with Nelson at Trafalgar: at the new house, which 
 Mr. Baines had taken, two boys and two girls were left, 
 in charge of servants and a relation. About eight o’clock 
 the people of Leeds were startled by the reddening of 
 the whole horizon, in the direction of Park Square ; soon 
 a messenger shouted at the door of the crowded Music 
 Hall, Mr. Baines’s house is on fire!” The distracted 
 father rushed forth without hat, and hastened to the 
 huge burning pile. The poor mother, torn between the 
 conflicting claims of hope and despair, sometimes ran, 
 sometimes stood, transfixed with terror. She, too, at 
 length reached the scene of the conflagration ; but the 
 servants were not to be seen, and the spectators of the 
 flames knew nothing about the children. Parents alone 
 can understand the feelings of the father and the mother 
 as they stood together that night, weeping for their 
 children. But their tears were soon changed to praises 
 — with two gallant sons and two fair daughters they 
 were rich — when informed that the ^‘treasures” were 
 safe: their joy knew no bounds. Contrary to what 
 might have been expected, Mr. Baines had forgotten to 
 
EXAMPLES OE-SELE-MADE MEN. 125 
 
 insure, and the loss was considerable ; but be possessed 
 that quiet energy, so visible in a Marlborough, a Monk, 
 and a Havelock ; so, instead of sprawling on the ground, 
 be rose to his feet ; instead of clasping bis bands in 
 agony, he began to work, and in a short time became 
 more powerful than ever. The fire he turned into a 
 positive blessing ; it taught him a lesson for life. 
 
 Only one year in the course of the fifty of Mr. Baines’s 
 married life did death enter bis dwelling — rare fortune, 
 in so large a family. But that year, 1810, within six 
 weeks of each other, bis fourth and fifth sons, the 
 former at the age of two years, and the latter at the age 
 of eight months, were laid in the cold grave. He felt the 
 bereavements most keenly, and wept hot tears over these 
 home flowers. In the following year he lost his father, 
 of whom the obituary notice was in these words : — He 
 closed a long life of probity and active usefulness, by 
 the serene death of a Christian.” 
 
 About this period we find him happily opposing the 
 inquisitorial and unjust income tax, and unhappily, as it 
 now seems, opposing a war, the result of which was to 
 consign the ambitious Napoleon to the lonely rock of 
 St. Helena, and to give this nation a peace which lasted, 
 with slight exceptions, for nearly forty years. In the 
 year 1817, there was much distress in the country, and 
 great political excitement. Mr. Baines was the staunch 
 advocate for parliamentary reform. Time for reform,” 
 said he, “ must be made ; it never will be found ; and 
 in my mind no time is so proper as the present. The 
 nation is feeling the effects of the present system, and 
 nations seldom act but when they feel.” The public 
 were roused, and demagogues took advantage of the 
 agitation, to stir up the people to acts of outrage. It 
 was said that Manchester was to be burnt ; and a pas- 
 sionate stump orator proposed that the people of 
 
126 
 
 EXAMPLES OF SELF-MAEE MEJiT. 
 
 Lancashire should go up to London in a body to present 
 their petitions ; taking blankets with them, in order that 
 they might sleep, during their journey, under the open 
 canopy of heaven ! Lumours were spread that an insur- 
 rection was about to break out in the West Eiding of 
 Yorkshire, and fear prevailed among the magistracy. 
 The Home Secretary, Lord Sidmouth, employed spies to 
 obtain information ; but the spies increased the fears of 
 the people, and created the conspiracies. To Mr. Baines 
 chiefly belonged the honour of dragging this abominable 
 system to the light, and holding up the wretches, who 
 attempted to entrap innocent men, to indignant scorn. 
 A full account of the machinations of one of these 
 miserable men was published in the Mercury, and read 
 in both houses of parliament. The spy-system was ex- 
 ploded, and public tranquillity restored. 
 
 In the year 1818, we find this self-made man living in 
 a house of his own. DifSculties had vanished before 
 his energetic spirit. The bar, which had checked many, 
 could not stop him. His business was now greatly ex- 
 tended, and his newspaper raised to be the first in York- 
 shire, and among the first of the provincial press. By 
 his high talents and sterling integrity, his moderation in 
 prosperity, and patience under adversity, he had made 
 himself a name of which England may well be proud. 
 There he is at the age of forty-five, prudence presiding 
 over his household, and as may be expected, his nine 
 children walking in wisdom’s ways. Behold, how good 
 and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in 
 unity.” So sang the royal poet of Israel. So say we. 
 
 Eaised himself, he did not sit down and take his ease, 
 but sought to raise others. Passing by many of his 
 efforts on behalf of the heirs of poverty and the children 
 of toil, we would dwell for a little on his exertions to 
 promote popular education. At that time a strong 
 
EXAMPLES or SELE-MALE MEN. 
 
 127 
 
 prejudice existed against teacliing the working classes 
 reading and writing; many gravely affirmed that uni- 
 versal education would introduce atheism, heresy, and 
 sedition. Some even went the length of saying, that 
 knowledge would drive the common people mad. Alas ! 
 there are still among us representatives of the past, who 
 magnify the advantages of the old, and deprecate the 
 new, who sigh after 
 
 “ The good old days when they were young, 
 
 And Greorge the Third was king” — 
 
 when not one in twenty in the manufacturing districts 
 of Yorkshire and Lancashire could write their own 
 names, or even read their Bibles. Mr. Baines, however, 
 knew that men who can think, and reason, and feel, 
 require more than the bread that groweth stale, and 
 more than the meat that perisheth ; and so he stood in 
 the front rank, regardless of friend or foe, and assisted 
 to establish the Eoyal Lancasterian School, the Philo- 
 sophical and Literary Society, the Model Infant School, 
 the Temperance Society, and those noble and praise- 
 worthy Mechanics’ Institutes, which have given learning 
 to the child, the adult, and the grown-up man. 
 
 It seems to be the fate of every new movement, how- 
 ever excellent, to meet with opposition. In Mr. Smiles’s 
 Life of Greorge Stephenson, we find the following objec- 
 tions to railway communication : — “ It was declared that 
 its formation would prevent cows grazing and hens 
 laying. The poisoned air from the locomotives would 
 kill the birds as they flew over them, and render the 
 preservation of pheasants and foxes no longer possible. 
 Householders adjoining the projected lines were told 
 that their houses would be burnt up by the fire thrown 
 from the engine-chimneys, while the air around would 
 be polluted by clouds of smoke. There would no longer 
 
128 
 
 EXAMPLES or SELE-MALE HEX'. 
 
 be any nse for borses ; and if railways extended, the 
 species would become extinguished, and oats and bay 
 unsaleable commodities. Travelling by road would be 
 rendered bigbly dangerous, and country inns would be 
 ruined. Boilers would burst, and blow passengers to 
 atoms. But then there was always this consolation to 
 wind up with, that the weight of the locomotive would 
 completely prevent its moving ; and that railways, if 
 made, would never be worked by steam power.” Mr. 
 Baines, from the commencement of the railway system, 
 vigorously promoted that improved method of transit. 
 He was a director of some lines, and a shareholder in 
 several. Doubtless, many would think that he had more 
 money than wisdom, when he took a long lease of about 
 eleven hundred acres of Chat Moss ; but when Gleorge 
 Stephenson, a few years afterwards, talked of carrying a 
 railway over the self-same bog, it was ignorance incon- 
 ceivable, it was perfect madness ! 
 
 In 1832, the Beform Bill was passed, which conferred 
 upon Leeds the right of returning members of parlia- 
 ment. Mr. Baines w^as thought by many of the electors 
 to be well qualified to serve them ; his name was circu- 
 lated among his fellow-reformers, nientioned at meetings, 
 and even appeared in newspapers. But considering 
 himself unqualified, and being engaged in a literary 
 work, he gave a prompt and decided negative to all such 
 suggestions, and eloquently expounded the claims of 
 the wealthy, upright, and enlightened Mr. John Mar- 
 shall, together with the brilliant late Lord Macaulay. 
 In little more than a year the latter was appointed to a 
 seat in the council of the Grovernor-Greneral of India. 
 At a large meeting, a blunt elector proposed their 
 townsman, Mr. Baines, amidst loud applause ; the motion 
 was seconded by another elector, and supported by 
 many ; one of whom said, — “ Mr. Baines was brought up 
 
EXAMPLES OP SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 129 
 
 amongst them ; they had seen his beginning ; he had 
 begun at the bottom, and he had been regularly rising to 
 the present period. When he wanted a man to take 
 care of the public money, he would see whether he 
 managed his own affairs well ; and if he did so, he was 
 the man for guarding the public interests. Mr. Baines 
 was thus eminently qualified ; he was intimately ac- 
 quainted, too, with the local and commercial interests of 
 Leeds. If they elected Mr. Baines as their representa- 
 tive, it was fair to conclude that he would continue in 
 that capacity as long as Providence should support him, 
 and they were zealous to have him as their member.” 
 Several questions were put to Mr. Baines, which were 
 answered satisfactorily, and the meeting resolved, amidst 
 the greatest enthusiasm, that he should be their can- 
 didate. The Chairman, in announcing the decision to 
 Mr. Baines, said, — I shall, sir, recollect, to the latest 
 period of my life, with the greatest pleasure, that in so 
 large a meeting of the electors of Leeds, you have been 
 unanimously fixed upon as a fit person to act as their 
 representative.” Accordingly, in Pebruary, 1834, Mr. 
 Baines was elected member for Leeds. As stated by 
 Mr. Pawkes, who stood by the side of the new member 
 on the hustings, it was the most perfect, the most 
 satisfactory, and most admirable popular triumph that 
 was ever achieved.” He had entered Leeds an obscure 
 apprentice, unknown to a single inhabitant ; now he is 
 returned at the top of the poll, and honoured with a 
 popular demonstration when he left to take his seat 
 in the House of Commons. There was nothing to bias 
 the choice of his fellow-townsmen, but their know- 
 ledge of his moral and intellectual qualities. The 
 prestige of rank was out of the question, for they all 
 knew that his origin was lowly; his fortune was moderate, 
 and he could exercise no undue influence. We may add, 
 
 k; 
 
130 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE MEJT. 
 
 that he continued to represent the borough in three 
 successive parliaments, being re-elected at the general 
 elections of 1835 and 1837. After the official declara- 
 tion of the poll in 1835, Mr. Eaines said : — 
 
 “ I have not canvassed a single elector. I have asked 
 no person for his suffrage. I have used no influence, 
 because, in reality, I had none to use. I have expended 
 no money — I will not say because I had none to expend, 
 but I should have thought it an improper application of 
 money to apply it to the attainment of votes. The 
 honour you have conferred upon me has been perfectly 
 spontaneous.” 
 
 At the election of 1837, Mr. Baines occupied a most 
 honourable position ; he had polled a greater number of 
 votes than had ever been given to any member since the 
 enfranchisement of the borough. 
 
 But the strength of the strongest of us is weakness. 
 Edward Baines had not only been favoured by his 
 countrymen and by fortune, but also by nature herself ; 
 for she had given him an iron frame, that enabled him 
 to rise above his labours, and permitted him, for many 
 years, to enjoy his rare and rich rewards. Literary 
 labours, business cares, parliamentary vigils, and political 
 strifes, with their exciting fervour, had seemed to sit 
 lightly upon his manly heart. But whatever burns 
 consumes. Even his fine constitution gave signs of 
 decay ; the sand in the glass of life showed symptoms of 
 being nearly spent ; and almost for the first time the 
 medical man was called in. His skilful surgeon told 
 him that his complaint was not slight, and that, con- 
 sidering his advanced years, he could not, with safety, 
 continue the exertions to which he had been accustomed. 
 
 It was about this period that he underwent a great 
 inward change. Hitherto, the Gospel had been to him 
 an unsolved enigma — an “open secret.” How, conscious 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MALE MEIS’. 
 
 131 
 
 of tlie utter alienation of his heart, in all its desires and 
 affections from Grod, — in all his natural loveliness, with 
 all his gentle and amiable attractions, although his life 
 has been highly virtuous, he calls himself a sinner, and 
 looks for mercy through the Saviour’s blood alone. The 
 quick eye of his excellent pastor, the Kev. J ohn Ely, soon 
 discovered that it was no partial change that had come 
 over Mr. Baines, and suggested the duty of making an 
 open profession of religion ; and accordingly, on the 3rd 
 of January, 1840, he was admitted a member of the 
 church of Salem Chapel. 
 
 On the 25th of May, 1841, Mr. Baines took leave of 
 his constituency, in an address which was read to a large 
 meeting of the liberal electors, who, on the motion of 
 Mr. John Hope Shaw, seconded by Mr. Flint, passed 
 the following resolution : — 
 
 “ That the cordial thanks of this meeting be given to 
 Edward Baines, Esq., for his able and indefatigable and 
 devoted services, during the seven years he has been one 
 of the representatives of this borough in Parliament.” 
 
 But panegyrics did not satisfy his old constituents. 
 Their love and gratitude must be expressed in something 
 more substantial. A subscription of several hundred 
 pounds was raised, and a splendid silver service pur- 
 chased and presented to him. The following is the 
 description published by the committee : — 
 
 ‘‘The present consists of a candelabrum, or centre- 
 piece for the dining table, thirty-one inches high, and 
 four silver- covered dishes, richly ornamented, en suite, 
 weighing together, 575 ounces. Erom the base of the 
 candelabrum, which is triangular, presenting three faces 
 or tablets, rises a group of palm trees, from the foliage 
 of which spring six branches to hold lights. These are 
 surmounted by a highly wrought bowl, with a border 
 of oak-leaves and acorns. Three figures, representing 
 
132 
 
 EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEIS". 
 
 Truth, Liberty, and Justice, very beautifully executed in 
 frosted silver, occupy the three corners of the base, and 
 give an extremely chaste and elegant finish to the design. 
 On one of the tablets is a well-executed landscape in 
 bas-relief, with emblems of agriculture in the foreground, 
 and a railroad in the distance. The second occupied by 
 a printing press (identified with the Mercury by a 
 caduceus)^ a merchant-vessel, woolsacks, bales of cloth, 
 and other appropriate emblems of commerce and manu- 
 factures. The remaining tablet bears the following 
 inscription : — • 
 
 “ Presented to 
 
 EDWAED BAINES, Esq., 
 
 By bis Friends and Fellow- Townsmen, 
 
 In admiration of tbe Integrity, Zeal, and Ability with which 
 He has advocated the Principles of 
 Civil and Beligions Liberty 
 During a Public Life of more than Forty Years ; 
 
 And to evince their Gratitude 
 For his important Services as a faithful and indefatigable 
 Kepresentative of the Borough of Leeds 
 In Three successive Parliaments. 
 
 Leeds, November, 1841.” 
 
 The Music Hall, in which the testimonial was pre- 
 sented, was filled to overflowing. Conservative, Whig, 
 and ultra-Kadical vied with each other in doing honour 
 to the zealous advocate of civil and religious liberty. 
 
 After his honourable retirement from parliamentary 
 duties, Mr. Baines, with diminished health and enfeebled 
 powers, continued to devote himself to the amelioration of 
 his species. He could not 
 
 “ Lay his old age upon the lap of ease.” 
 
 The real truth is, as expressed by our great Christian 
 poet, Cowper, — 
 
 “ A want of occupation is not rest ; 
 
 A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed.” 
 
EXAMPLES or SELF-MADE MEIT. 
 
 133 
 
 He was cliosen the first President of the United Me- 
 chanics’ Institution and Literary Society. He took an 
 active part in erecting a new house of recovery in Leeds, 
 as also in building the borough gaol. For several years 
 he was very useful as a magistrate for the borough, and 
 also for the West Hiding; and, as an ex-officio guardian 
 of the poor, he succeeded in obtaining relief for many 
 friendless unfortunates. His last public appearance was 
 pleading for the rights and relieving the distresses of 
 the poor. A few days after this — namely, on the 
 22nd of May, 1848 — ^he went, with his wife and one of 
 his daughters, to Ben Hhydding, for the benefit of the 
 invigorating air and charming scenery. No one would 
 have thought he was in his seventy-fifth year. His foot 
 was light, his figure erect, and his countenance un- 
 wrinkled. Nevertheless, he was on the brink of the 
 grave. He sustained a serious loss of blood on July 
 the iOth, and on the 19th alarm was felt, and his 
 medical adviser, Mr. Teale, was sent for. On the 22nd 
 he inquired of the doctor — What is the tendency of all 
 these things ? — is it to recover, or otherwise ?” Not to 
 recover,” was the candid though gentle reply; and the 
 ^ast enemy was approaching. One of his daughters 
 asked — Do you know us all, father ? ” He replied, in 
 a feeble yet distinct voice, Yes, and love you all as 
 tenderly as ever. It is a great consolation to me to see 
 you all in so hopeful a state. Next to the assurance that 
 one’s self is interested in the love of Grod, is the happi- 
 ness and joy of knowing that those we tenderly love 
 in possession of that great blessing.” 
 
 Soon after he called for his wife, his faithful helpmate 
 of fifty years, who was seated behind the sorrowing 
 children who stood around his bed. She came forward. 
 He gave her his hand in token of love, gazing tenderly, 
 as if about to bid her farewell. She, however, first broke 
 
134 
 
 EXAMPLES or SELE-MAEE ME5T. 
 
 the silence, by reminding him of the many times they 
 bad prayed together, and then inquiring, — “ Can you 
 entirely trust your soul in the hands of the Saviour?” 
 With characteristic modesty, he replied/^ Yes, but I feel 
 diffident in speaking of my religious feelings, and wish 
 not to use too strong expressions.” Then, turning 
 towards his children, he said, — “ Dr. Hamilton said, ‘ Be 
 very kind to my wife wffien I am gone I ask you to be 
 very kind to your mother.” Speaking for all, one of his 
 daughters responded, ‘^We will.” He continued, — “I 
 have very much reason to ask it. Through God, all 
 the implantation of good in you has been on her part.” 
 The eminently devout mother said, — “ I refer it all to the 
 goodness of God, who blesses the weakest means. You 
 will,” she continued, “ only precede me a short time. 
 The most earnest desire of my soul has ever been, that 
 God would hear my prayers for yowr salvation. He did 
 hear them for our children. How He has given me 
 the richest consolation in seeing His work perfected 
 in you.” 
 
 Old Jacob, propped upon pillows, leaning on his staff, 
 pausing for breath, and speaking in brief and broken 
 sentences, blessed his twelve sons : and Edward Baines, 
 wdth patriarchal dignity and melting tenderness, ad- 
 dressed his sons and daughters individually ; charging 
 them especially to keep out of the way of temptation, to 
 have regular family prayer, and to train up their children 
 into Christian men. He also addressed three of his 
 grandchildren, who were present, and feelingly took 
 leave of two boys in his employment, and sent his 
 respects to their fathers. Eor his medical man, whose 
 skilful attention smoothed his dying pillow, his prayers 
 wait an answer — are they not recorded in the book of 
 remembrance ? 
 
 The singing of hymns by his daughters afforded him 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEK. 
 
 185 
 
 great delight. He asked for the beautiful hymn of Sir 
 E/. Grant, beginning — 
 
 “ When gathering clouds around I view, 
 
 And days are dark, and friends are few. 
 
 On Him I lean, who not in vain 
 Experienced every human pain ; 
 
 He sees my wants, allays my fears, 
 
 And counts and treasures up my tears.” 
 
 He also expressed his admiration of the verse — 
 
 “ A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, 
 
 On Thy kind arms I fall ; 
 
 Be Thou my strength and righteousness. 
 
 My Jesus, and my all !” 
 
 Afteiwards, when the text was quoted — He is able to 
 save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him,” 
 his enphatic response was — “ And, what is much better. 
 He is willing.''^ These were about his last words. For 
 some hours he was almost unconscious ; then, without 
 convUsion or struggle, he breathed his last ; his star set 
 on this world, to rise and shine in brighter skies. Mark 
 thou the perfect man, and behold the upright : for the 
 end cf that man is peace.” 
 
 Me come now, secondly, to analyze his general cha- 
 racter as a man, a journalist, and a statesman. 
 
 Me have now, aided by his filial and accomplished 
 biographer, traced Mr. Baines’s long life to its close ; and 
 dorbtless many and distinct impressions of the massive- 
 ness of his character must have been made on the reader’s 
 mind. Still, a few remarks on his physical, mental, and 
 moral character, each separately, may tend to deepen 
 tkese. 
 
 Nature gave the world “ assurance of a man,” in the 
 height, form, strength, and agility of Edward Baines. 
 
136 
 
 EXAMPLES or SELE-MADE MEI^. 
 
 Erect in carriage, graceful in his movements, handsome 
 in features, and his complexion fair. Old age came, and 
 slightly sprinkled his soft brown hair with grey ; but no 
 furrow marked his cheek, and the lines on his forehead 
 w^ere only dimly visible. A colossal person, however, is 
 sometimes animated by less than an ordinary degree of 
 intellectual power. Samson possessed amazing bodily 
 strength ; but it was, in some respects at least, a weak 
 head that stood on his broad shoulders. The riddle 
 of this Hercules of the heathen world is indeed the 
 parable of the lame — the legs are not equal.” Part of 
 the saying is fanciful, part of it is false, and which, if a 
 dark saying,” is anything but deep. Again, as in the 
 case of Absalom, w^e often see winning manners, grace, 
 and beauty, and much that pleases the eye, and mii^isters 
 to the pride of life, united to moral baseness, hi Mr. 
 Baines there was a remarkable correspondence, between 
 the physical, mental, and moral constitution. BWevo- 
 lence was seen in his countenance, intellect was throned 
 on his brow, and physical energy strung his frame. 
 
 His mental powers were of a high order. He had 
 masculine vigour of thought, tempered by calm deli- 
 beration : his perceptive powers were not quick ; but, 
 by close and laborious investigation, he arrived at sj'Ugu- 
 larly clear conclusions. Judgment — that act oi the 
 mind by which one thing is affirmed or denied of another 
 — he possessed in an eminent degree. This mad^him 
 invaluable as an adviser, and rendered his long public 
 career of nearly half a century so free from errors. Of 
 imagination, whether stimulative or delineative, he yas 
 rather deficient. This is evident from his writings, ^nd 
 also from the fact that he enjoyed Crabbe, who, to use 
 the language of phrenology, had more individuality than 
 ideality, quite as much as Shakespeare, who possessed 
 imagination in both her forms in an extraordinary 
 
EXAMPLES or SELE-MADE MEJT. 
 
 187 
 
 measure. The circumstances of his youth, and, in after 
 life, the claims of domestic duties, business, and public 
 interests, prevented the acquisition of ample stores of 
 literature; human nature was his favourite subject of 
 study and contemplation ; yet he was fond of literature, 
 was no mean critic, and had a good taste. 
 
 Mr. Baines’s moral character is not difficult to describe. 
 It was no chaos of beauties and defects; on the con- 
 trary, we can see no dark and baneful moral taint in it ; 
 and, judged by our high Christian standard, he was a 
 good man. After he had, by his own exertions, realized 
 an ample fortune, he frequently referred to the day when 
 he crossed the hills into Yorkshire an obscure apprentice; 
 and with the gratitude and humility of the old patriarch 
 confessed, — ‘‘ I am not worthy of the least of all the 
 mercies, and of all the truth, wffiich thou hast showed 
 unto thy servant ; for with my staff I 'passed over this 
 Jordan ; and now I am become two hands T Surrounded 
 by temptations and corrupting appliances, his integrity 
 was often assailed, but never overcome. Although 
 the subject of much abuse and strong hostility (these 
 did sour his temper), his wounds quickly healed; and 
 he could co-operate with his bitterest enemy in effecting 
 a public good. In malice he was a child, but in under- 
 standing a man.” At the same time there was no want 
 of courage, either personal or moral. When a lady was 
 insulted by three ruffians, he did not hesitate to knock 
 one of them down, and when afterwards attacked by all 
 the three, he did not run, not he, but placed his back 
 against a wall, and defended himself like a man. Tie 
 could say ‘‘JSTo” to thousands of angry opponents, when 
 necessary, and stand unmoved at the echo, and calmly 
 sustain popular disapprobation, till they learned to 
 admire his character and motives. Not less remarkable 
 was his habitual cheerfulness. He did not go about 
 
138 
 
 EXAMPLES or SELE-MAEE MEX. 
 
 witli cloudy brow, downcast look, and mournful step, as 
 if tbe only sound that met bis ear was the sbriek of tbe 
 death struggle, or the chaunt of the funeral dirge. On 
 the contrary, he was playful, and looked as much as 
 possible on the bright side of things. Mr. Heaton’s 
 gravity was often overcome, and Mrs. Binns used to say, 
 — I know who is there, when I hear John Heaton 
 laugh.” We think it is Carlyle who says, “ No one is 
 hopelessly bad, who can laugh well.” Mr. Baines illus- 
 trated the line of Burns, — 
 
 “ It’s gude to be merry and wise.” 
 
 Happy himself, he made all around him happy, and 
 proved that real enjoyment was compatible with dili- 
 gence in business, and altogether independent of ribaldry 
 or intemperance. That right heavenly virtue, charity, 
 was not lacking. While he walked the carpeted rooms 
 of wealth, while his table was loaded with plenty, he 
 thought of the starving poor in their naked dwellings, 
 who had but a crust of bread and a cruse of water. On 
 certain days he had quite a levee of unfortunates, many 
 of whom, alas ! were the authors of their own misfortunes. 
 But his was no blind benevolence : he firmly reproved 
 the errors of the working classes ; and told a company 
 of about forty men, women, and children, that the evils 
 they complained of would not be remedied by compulsory 
 interference between workmen and their employers ; 
 that the men, who called their masters tyrants, were 
 generally greater tyrants themselves ; that they had no 
 more right to dictate the rate of wages to their masters, 
 than their masters had to dictate to them what they 
 should accept for their labour. How refreshing his 
 tender, playful affection for his wife and children. 
 What melting touches of sympathy are seen in his letters. 
 Amid the hardening contests of the world, and the arid 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 139 
 
 subtleties of political controversy, bis heart was kept 
 free from steely indifference by the tender associations 
 of home, the wife of his bosom, and the children Grod 
 had given him. Mr. Baines was not destitute of a manly 
 self-consciousness. He knew that he had risen from the 
 ranks, and could face the world without fear. He 
 valued highly the honours his townsmen bestowed upon 
 him, but would have preferred hardship and obscurity 
 to distinction and fortune purchased at the price of 
 principle. Of this we have a striking illustration. 
 Before his conversion, he attended the Unitarian Chapel 
 at one of the services every Sunday ; the minister being 
 an eloquent preacher, and a man of great moral worth. 
 For the other service he attended Salem Chapel, and 
 heard the Independent minister, with whose doctrinal 
 views he agreed. A miserly lady said to him one day, — 
 “ Mr. Baines, I commend your conduct very much ; you 
 are all things to all men ; that is the way to succeed in 
 business.” From that moment his resolution was fixed, 
 and ever afterwards he attended the preaching of which 
 he conscientiously approved. While anxious to elevate 
 his family, he did not forget to teach them that virtue, 
 goodness, wisdom, and true honour, were far more im- 
 portant than rank or riches. His ambition was of the 
 laudable, not the censurable kind. 
 
 But we must hurry on to survey Edward Baines as a 
 journalist. Carlyle somewhere sneers at the newspaper 
 editor. We look upon a good family newspaper as 
 one of the greatest powers under God for the advance- 
 ment of the civilization of man. What the press has 
 done for Britain no man can tell, no angel can conceive ; 
 and what it is destined to do, only the Omniscient can 
 foresee. It not only publishes the discoveries of the 
 
140 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEI^'. 
 
 philosoplier, the songs of the poet, the orations of the 
 barrister, and the sermons of the preacher, but it 
 exposes villainy, denounces tyranny, and ridicules super- 
 stition. The despots of the continent of Europe know 
 that it would not do to unfetter the press. The 
 most independent, the most truthful, and consequently 
 the most powerful press in the world, is that of Grreat 
 Britain ! 
 
 We yield to no man in love of country; and like 
 Coleridge, we do not call the sod our country, but 
 language, religion, laws, government, blood ; yet, soberly, 
 and after deliberate consideration, we say. Let Britain 
 sink into the depths of the sea rather than our press be 
 gagged or fettered. An able editor is one of the untitled, 
 uncrowned monarchs, who speak to, guide, and rule the 
 age. Such an one was the subject of our sketch. Seated 
 in the editorial chair of the Mercury^ the young pro- 
 prietor set about the improvement of his journal with 
 determined energy. The difficulties at the commence- 
 ment were sufficient to daunt an ordinary man. The 
 print had come down to the low ebb of seven or eight 
 hundred copies. Nor need we wonder, when we bear in 
 mind that at that time a newspaper was made up of 
 slender summaries, partial criticisms, garbled scraps of 
 foreign intelligence, and mere attempts at reporting. 
 A London paper, a pot of paste, and a pair of scissors, 
 were thought about all that was necessary for a provincial 
 editor. Mr. Baines introduced another era ; a true friend 
 of liberty, both civil and religious, an advocate for par- 
 liamentary reform, and opposed to the slave trade, — ^to 
 give scope for these opinions, from the first he intro- 
 duced a leading article. It was brief and unpretending ; 
 still it was a step in advance. He was, moreover, the 
 first Yorkshire editor that sent a reporter to the York 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEN. 
 
 141 
 
 assizes. Superior management quickly extended the 
 circulation of the Mercury, and increased tke number 
 of advertisements. In tlie year 1803, its size was in- 
 creased. In the year 1804, the circulation had risen to 
 an average of 1,500 copies. In the year 1806, the 
 circulation had reached an average of 1,950 copies. In 
 the year 1809, it was again enlarged, at which time the 
 editor said, — It now ranlvs with the first provincial 
 ‘papers of the United Kingdom.” It still continued to 
 progress. Between the years 1823 and 1827, the im- 
 provements were very great. In 1825, it was stated that 
 ‘ ‘ the Leeds Mercury contains a larger quantity of matter 
 than any other paper in the British dominions. It 
 includes upwards of one-fourth more matter than it 
 included five years ago ; in other words, we have gained 
 since that, about seven columns in the contents of the 
 paper.” In the year 1826, a great enlargement was 
 made in the size of the page. Again, in the year 
 1827, a still further enlargement took place. It was 
 then stated, that it contained as many words as are 
 usually found in an octavo volume of three hundred pages. 
 In the year 1829, the average circulation was upwards of 
 5,000 weekly. Bor nearly fifty years this successful 
 journalist was the unflinching advocate of liberty with 
 order, and progress with security ; of free government, 
 free thought, and free speech ; and the old files testify 
 that he was deficient neither in spirit nor ability. His 
 indefatigable activity was not exhausted in the “ con- 
 tinual dropping” of editorial work. In the years 1822 
 and 1823, he wrote the historical and topographical 
 departments of The History, Directory, and Gazetteer 
 of the County of York.” And in the years 1824 and 
 1825, he wrote the same departments of a similar work 
 for Lancashire. In the year 1831, appeared the first 
 
142 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 part of his principal literary work, “The History of the 
 County Palatine of Lancaster.” The work was not 
 finished till 1836. The booksellers and deliverers of 
 Lancashire have their golden memories of the harvest 
 they reaped from the sale of this hook. In the year 
 1845, a permanent supplement of four pages was added 
 to the Mercury. It now contained 180,000 words, 
 having increased nearly nine-fold in the hands of Mr. 
 Baines. Many of onr newspapers prostitute their 
 columns to the quack, in utter disregard of the robbery 
 and ruin of the ignorant and credulous ; sport with the 
 sacredness of character, to gratify editorial malice, and 
 please the depraved taste of censorious and envious 
 subscribers ; publish lies, known to be lies ; and suppress 
 and refuse insertion to truth, when known to be truth. 
 The Mercury made no pretensions to the character of 
 being a religions newspaper, but its pages were marked 
 by candour, patriotism, and intelligence. The editor had 
 no holy corner for hymns, and prayers, and bits of 
 Scripture, and sermons, while the rest was disfigured by 
 profane jokes, licentious sentiments, and impudent ad- 
 vertisements ! He steeped the entire sheet in the spirit 
 of truth and honesty. His connection with the press 
 was during times of great excitement and party violence; 
 and most assuredly he was no sycophant of that porten- 
 tous individual who happened to be premier^ yet he was 
 never threatened with legal proceedings by the Grovern- 
 ment, or any public body. An action was brought 
 against him by a rival editor ; but the verdict, with one 
 shilling damages, proved the opinion of the jury as to the 
 proceeding. It is impossible always to escape the resent- 
 ment of persons who consider themselves aggrieved; 
 but perhaps no one placed in similar circumstances 
 suffered so little from law expenses. 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEN". 
 
 143 
 
 We come, lastly, to speak of Mr. Baines as a statesman. 
 He entered Parliament with a well-informed mind, and 
 ample powers of expressing thought both by speech and 
 writing, but with a nobler end in view than to acquire 
 distinction as an orator, a sentence-maker, a painter of 
 brilliant ideas. A man may write nice letters to be read 
 on platforms ; on the hustings he may shatter all oppo- 
 sition by the lightning of his eloquence ; in the House 
 his brilliant oratory may be acknowledged by cheers ; 
 and yet he may be playing the game of selfishness ; 
 ready to sell his country’s birthright and blood for place, 
 pension, or revenue. There was no clap-trap and cajolery, 
 no clothing of sedition in seductive words, with Edward 
 Baines ; but a determination to substantiate in Parliament 
 all that he had promised out of it. Pie never forgot in 
 the House of Commons that he had a constituency behind 
 him, and to promote the welfare of that constituency he 
 offered the most earnest toil. In all his deliberations and 
 decisions he had an undivided respect for the interests of 
 the common weal. Truly his was Boman patriotism ; 
 and, to use the old Boman phrase, he deserved well of his 
 country. It is all very good to have a few eloquent men, 
 like Lord Brougham, Lord Derby, Mr. Glladstone, Mr. 
 Disraeli, and Mr. Box, who occasionally charm their 
 fellow-members from the plodding realities of legislation, 
 and the dull lucubrations of the practical men. 'Neyer- 
 theless, in order to obtain a right parliament, we must 
 have men of scrupulous uprightness, firm principle, moral 
 consistency, and religious faith. Mr. Baines was no^red- 
 tapist, but a statesman ; no off-hand debater, saying 
 whatever came in his head on the spur of the moment, 
 but a thoroughly sincere politician, reverencing truth, 
 and respecting political character ; no ultra-radical, but 
 a liberal reformer, who well knew that maxim of Hesiod’s, 
 
144 
 
 EXAMPLES or SELE-MADE MEI^. 
 
 “ He is a fool who does not know how much better the 
 half is than the whole.” His parliamentary career 
 affords a singular example of zeal continuously directed 
 to the correction of abuses and the enlargement of the 
 bases of human happiness. Every subject connected 
 with the welfare of the people interested him, — the 
 better observance of the Sabbath, the poor-law amend- 
 ment bill, the improvement of municipal corporations, 
 the bill for the general registration of births, marriages, 
 and deaths, the bill for dissenters’ marriages, the civil 
 offices declaration bill, the abolishing of church-rates, 
 the negro emancipation act, the repeal of the corn- 
 laws, &c., received his countenance and support; and 
 one of these measures, at least, owed to him its birth. 
 To all the questions of the day he devoted himself with 
 untiring energy ; worked with an honest heart and loving 
 purpose ; nor was he ever known to be dismayed by defeat 
 or sickened by contention. During a long and stormy 
 session Mr. Baines wrote, — “ It is one of the greatest 
 domestic blessings to be a member of a united family, 
 and nothing can be more mischievous than to let any 
 root of bitterness spring up amongst those who ought to 
 cultivate this union. With these views, I have always 
 been anxious, in our own family, over which it has 
 pleased God to place me, that we should place the most 
 liberal construction upon each other’s conduct ; that we 
 should not do or say anything to disturb our mutual 
 affection and good will ; and that, whenever anything 
 that might interrupt our harmony should arise, we 
 should endeavour as much as possible to re-unite, and 
 to remove the cause of misunderstanding,” Here we 
 see his genial nature overflowing with healthy and 
 happy affection. We recommend these sentiments to 
 the careful study of all heads of families, assured that 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEIT. 145 
 
 they lie at the very foundation of all domestic happiness. 
 It has been said that youth is a blunder, manhood a 
 struggle, and old age a regret. To the champions of 
 justice, freedom, education, humanity, and religion, 
 youth may be an exciting struggle, manhood may 
 afford little repose, but old age is a triumph. A 
 great statesman, who was dying in England some 
 two hundred years ago, is reported to have said, “If 
 I had served my Giod as faithfully as I have served 
 my king. He had not cast me off in my old age.” Alas 1 
 he had made human favour his ruling passion, and 
 now its laurels were dropping off. Edward Baines 
 steered his course by the star of God’s Word, and 
 sought the people’s profit, without a thought of fame, 
 which, however, came ; not because it was sought after, 
 but because it was deserved. On his death, letters from 
 men of eminence poured in upon the widow and chil- 
 dren, full of the most gratifying expressions of regard 
 to him, mingled with sorrow for their loss. “ Quam civi- 
 tati earns fuerit, moerore funeris indicatum est,” says 
 the Boman orator. The honours of his public funeral 
 indicated how high and general was the esteem in 
 which he was held. The great public men of the town, 
 and indeed throughout Yorkshire, went in procession 
 before the hearse and mourners, while numerous private 
 carriages followed after. Many thousands joined that 
 solemn throng ; but none shed hotter tears than the 
 poor, who felt that they had lost their friend. A full 
 length portrait, by Waller, was bought by public sub- 
 scription, and hung up in the hall of the Mechanics’ 
 Institution and Literary Society. May it inspire the 
 young with an ambition to follow his example. A 
 statue was raised to his memory, and placed by the 
 town council in their noble Town Hall. The following 
 inscription was determined upon by the committee : — 
 
146 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 ‘‘ TO COMMEMOEATE 
 
 THE PUBLIC SEEVICES AND PEIVATE VIETUES 
 OE 
 
 EDWAED BAINES, 
 
 WHO FAITHEULLY, ABLY, AND ZEALOUSLY EEPEESENTED THE 
 BOEOUGH OF LEEDS 
 IN THEEE SUCCESSIVE PAELIAMENTS. 
 
 AS A MAN, A CITIZEN, AND A PATEIOT, HE WAS DISTINGUISHED BY 
 HIS INTEGEITY AND PEESEYEEANCE, HIS BENEVOLENCE AND 
 PUBLIC SPIEIT, HIS INDEPENDENCE AND CONSISTENCY. 
 
 THIS MONUMENT 
 
 IS EEECTED BY VOLUNTAEY SUBSCEIPTION, 
 
 THAT POSTEEITY MAY KNOW AND EMULATE 
 A CHAEACTEE LOVED AND HONOUEED 
 BY HIS CONTEMPOEAEIES. 
 
 Born 5th February, 1774, Died 3rd August, 1848.” 
 
 “ Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that 
 getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than 
 the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She 
 is more precious than rubies : and all the things thou canst desire 
 are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right 
 hand ; and in her left hand riches and honour.” 
 
147 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 [continued.] 
 
 EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEN". 
 
 SECTION III.— HUGH MILLEE. 
 
 “ Scotland has been the mother of many giants ; hut few whom 
 she has brought forth and sternly nursed have made for themselves a 
 name more worthy of her, none better formed for floating buoyantly 
 down the stream of time, than Hugh Miller.’* 
 
 Fraser^ s Magazine, 
 
 Scotland is only a mere speck on the map of the globe, 
 but she is great for all that. Natural affection for our 
 fatherland we think a beautiful and praiseworthy senti- 
 ment. The King of Israel exclaimed, “ O that some 
 one would give me to drink of the water of the well of 
 Bethlehem!” He had quenched his thirst from that 
 fountain when a boy ; it was the water which his father 
 Jesse had drunk ; and it was, therefore, more delicious 
 than nectar. Scotchmen are passionately fond of their 
 country ; they are all patriots, and may say, in the words 
 of the poet, — 
 
 Where’er I roam, whatever realms I see. 
 
 My heart, untravelled, fondly turns to thee.” 
 
148 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 The very heather is more beautiful to them than the rose 
 of Sharon : — 
 
 “ The dark hair of our maidens, it decks on our hills, 
 
 And the place of a plume in the bonnet it fills ; 
 
 On the mountain it blooms, and in valleys below ; 
 
 Oh, the bonnie brown heather of Scotland, O ! 
 
 The heather, the heather, the bonnie brown heather, 
 
 The heather, the heather of Scotland, O ! ” 
 
 The thistle is loved because it rears itself in the land of 
 the mountain and the flood : — 
 
 “ The rough burr-thistle, spreading wide 
 Amang the bearded bear; 
 
 I turn’d the clipper- weeds aside. 
 
 And spared the symbol dear.” 
 
 Tea, so strong is this love of country, that he whose 
 bosom is a stranger to it is consigned to oblivion : — 
 
 “ Breathes there a man with soul so dead. 
 
 Who never to himself hath said. 
 
 This is my own, my native land ! 
 
 Whose heart hath ne’er within him burned, 
 
 As home his footsteps he hath turned, 
 
 From wandering on a foreign strand ? 
 
 If such there be, go, mark him well : 
 
 For him no minstrel’s raptures swell ; 
 
 High though his titles, proud his name. 
 
 Boundless his wealth as wish can claim, 
 
 Despite these titles, power, and pelf, 
 
 The wretch, concentred all in self. 
 
 Living, shall forfeit fair renown. 
 
 And doubly dying, shall go down 
 To the vile dust from whence he sprung. 
 
 Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung.” 
 
 And it must be confessed that there is some reason for 
 this national pride. Tor what is there that the genius of 
 the Attica of the North cannot accomplish, whether it be 
 the highest eflbrt of human ambition, or the humblest 
 
EXAMPLES OP SELE-MADE MEIST. 
 
 149 
 
 essay of talent ? Look we at the tented field ; she has 
 had her Wallace, her Bruce, her Moore, and her Lord 
 Clyde. The best rifle shot in Great Britain is a Scotch- 
 man. In philosophy she has always facile prince]ps. 
 Not to speak of Leslie, Eeid, Stewart, Hamilton, and 
 Brewster, by the works of her two sons, Adam Smith 
 and James Watt, she has anticipated England in the 
 study of riches, and applied the most potent of forces to 
 an infinite variety of arts. Among travellers, she can 
 name Bruce, Park, Moffat, Clapperton, Gumming, and 
 Livingstone. She has had such poets as Burns, Scott, 
 Campbell, Pollok, Fergusson, Eamsay, Nicoll, and Smith, 
 with other songsters that breathed forth words of beauty 
 and words of fragrance. She has shone in the senate. 
 The greatest jurists and the best judges England ever 
 saw were Scotchmen ; and, poor as the worldly remu- 
 neration is, the most able and accomplished of her sons 
 have willingly devoted themselves to the ministry ; — 
 hence she can boast of Chalmers, Irving, Caird, Guthrie, 
 McLeod, and Candlish. These, and many others that 
 might have been mentioned, are fitted to foster a strong 
 national feeling, which, if kept within certain limits, is 
 both interesting and valuable. Nevertheless, it would be 
 good for our lofty Caledonian brethren, who are just 
 rather apt to complain of imaginary disrespect and 
 neglect, to remember that they have received many 
 benefits from England : and if our Irish friends, instead 
 of making that fairest isle of the ocean vocal with the 
 music of their woes, would bear in mind that it is not 
 England, — for she has done much to elevate them, — 
 but a dead, false, and oppressive church, that has 
 been, and still is, the curse of their unhappy country, 
 it would be better for them. It is best for England, 
 Scotland, and Ireland, never to forget that they are 
 mutual helps to each other. We may indulge in glorifi- 
 
150 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEIf. 
 
 cations of onr respective peoples as we please; but bistoiy 
 is a lie, if we are not better governed now by one Queen, 
 than we were wont to be by three Kings ! 
 
 Kortb Britain has presented us with many bright 
 examples of men emerging from comparatively humble 
 and obscure circumstances to honour and fame. Youths 
 born to no acres, by toil, self-denial, perseverance, and 
 application, acquire riches, and rise not only to local 
 eminence, but win a name that nations pronounce with 
 reverence. Her colleges are cheap, and hence many, 
 well entitled to be called self-made men, manage to give 
 themselves a university education. The struggle of 
 some of these men upwards, in the face of fearful odds, 
 is almost sublime. We have known students working 
 four hours a day at their trade, and others engaging in 
 the private tuition of the sons of the rich, and thus, 
 aided perhaps by a bursary, gaining the object of their 
 ambition. Alexander Murray’s father taught him the 
 alphabet, by drawing the letters on the board of an old 
 wool-card with the black end of a burned heather stem ! 
 Ultimately he went to the university, and after eight 
 years’ study — the length of time prescribed to all who 
 go to the church, before they are permitted to “ wag 
 their pow in a poopit,” and thump Grospel out of the 
 Bible — he obtained his clerical licence, rose to fame as a 
 linguist, and received the degree of D.I). When John 
 Leyden left his native braes, and appeared in the Greek 
 class-room, clad in humble, home-spun garb, the students 
 received him with loud and silly laughter ; and when he 
 rose to recite his exercises, his broad Teviotdale dialect 
 disturbed even the Professors’ gravity; but he proved 
 that he could labour as diligently with the mind as his 
 ancestors had done with ploughshare and shepherd’s 
 crook. In the incredibly short space of six months, he 
 was able to sustain an examination before the Medical 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 151 
 
 Board, and obtain bis degree. Mr. Eobert GTrant, author 
 of the History of Physical Astronomy,” recently ap- 
 pointed to the chair left vacant in Grlasgow University 
 by the late lamented Professor Nichol, was born to no 
 inheritance, but by his brains he made conquests for him- 
 self. The Lord Chancellor of England was once “ plain 
 John Campbell,” a student at St. Andrew’s, drilling 
 his pupils in Latin and Greek, and living sparingly on 
 a few pounds a year ! What these received from their 
 respective colleges was nothing to what they acquired 
 for themselves. They had a hard fight, but a glorious 
 victory. 
 
 But there is balm in other places besides Gilead ; 
 many have made themselves famous without going to 
 Edinburgh, Glasgow, St. Andrew’s, or Aberdeen. Shall 
 we adduce in proof of our position, James Eerguson, 
 who measured the heavens, and mapped out the universe, 
 with a string of beads stretched betwixt his eye and the 
 firmament ? William Milne, who assisted in translating 
 the Scriptures into the Chinese language, and in opening 
 a way for the introduction of Christianity into that 
 heathen empire, was, during the greater part of his life, 
 a shepherd. On his appearing before the presbytery of 
 Aberdeen, the gentlemen were astonished when he pre- 
 sented himself in a highland cap, and other articles of 
 dress little corresponding with aspirations for literary 
 fame, and were disposed to reject him. Being asked to 
 pray, however, he addressed God with such humility, 
 fervour, and intelligence, that their minds were changed 
 respecting him. David Wilkie, at whose strange ways 
 the sages used to shake their heads, by indomi- 
 table perseverance became a distinguished member of 
 the Eoyal Academy, and was created a knight by 
 William lY., as a tribute to his genius. John Philip, 
 who, twenty-six years ago, took Erench leave of Aber- 
 
152 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 deeu, and worked Ms passage on board a coasting vessel 
 from Scotland to London, for the purpose of gloating 
 upon art, and with strange dreams of art-inspiration, 
 returned to his northern home, succeeded in painting a 
 picture that attracted the notice of Lord Panmure, and 
 was last year elevated to the honourable rank of E.A. 
 
 But we must abide by Hugh Miller, one of the most 
 remarkable men on the roll of the self-made. We shall 
 first narrate the leading incidents of his career; secondly, 
 speak of him as an ecclesiastical polemic ; thirdly, notice 
 Ms literary and scientific attainments ; and, fourthly, 
 point out a few of the great qualities that combined to 
 form the character of this wondrous man. 
 
 Hugh Miller was born on the 10th day of October, 
 in the year 1802, in a long, low house, in the seaport 
 town of Cromarty. He does not try to trace his family 
 to illustrious ancestors, but tells us honestly that his 
 progenitors were a long line of seafaring men, skilful, 
 adventurous sailors, some of whom had coasted along 
 the Scottish shores as early as the times of Sir Andrew 
 Wood and the bold Bartons; and, mayhap, helped to 
 man that verrie monstrous schippe, the Great Michael, 
 that cumbered all Scotland to get her to sea.” His 
 father was a man of much kindliness of heart and 
 placidity of temper. In his sixth or seventh year, he 
 was sent from a farm-house, which had been Ms home 
 for the two previous years, to drown a litter of puppies 
 in an adjacent pond; but instead of committing them 
 to the liquid element, he sat down beside the pool, and 
 began to cry ; and finally, after wasting much time in a 
 paroxysm of indecision and sorrow, tucked tjiem up in 
 Ms kilt, and turned his steps towards his mother’s house, 
 which he reached before nightfall. The good woman, a 
 sailor’s widow, in very humble circumstances, raised her 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 153 
 
 hands, and exclaimed, Oh, my unlucky boy ! what’s this? 
 what brings 3^ou here?” “The little doggies, mither, I 
 couldna drown the little doggies ; and I took them to 
 you.” In course of time, the boy grew up into a man 
 of strength and valour ; and although he retained through 
 life the genial nature he had evinced at the pond, there 
 was some wild blood in his veins, which on two or three 
 occasions made him sufdciently formidable, and once 
 interfered very considerably with his plans and pros- 
 pects. Like his forefathers during many generations, 
 he went on shipboard, and ultimately became master of 
 a sloop that sailed from his native Cromarty. The 
 dangers of the sea are not less proverbial in modern 
 history than in ancient song. “ Poor Miller ! ” exclaimed 
 the master of a smack in the London and Inverness 
 trade ; “if he does not enter the Erith in an hour, he 
 will never enter it at all. Grood sound vessel, and better 
 sailor never stepped between stem and stern ; but last 
 night has, I fear, been too much for him. He should 
 have been here long ere now.” That hour fled ; that 
 day passed away in gloom and tempest ; but no sail 
 appeared in the offing. Another morning dawned, and 
 the storm ceased; but the day wore on, the evening 
 again fell, and the most sanguine lost all hope of ever 
 again seeing the sloop or her crew. The town-clock had 
 tolled the midnight hour, when a heavy foot was heard 
 pacing along the now silent streets. It passed, and anon 
 returned ; stopped for a moment opposite the captain’s 
 dwelling, then approached the door, where there was a 
 second pause, and then a faltering knock, that struck 
 terror into the hearts of those within. The door was 
 opened, and Jack Grant, the mate, staggered in, and 
 flung himself into a chair. “ Jack,” exclaimed the 
 master’s mother-in-law, — for his wife was dead long ere 
 now, and lying in the quiet family burying-place, — 
 
154 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 “where’s my cousin ? where’s Hugh ?” “The master’s 
 safe and well,” said Jack ; “ but the poor Friendshijp lies 
 in scales on the bar of Tindhorn.” “ Grod be praised !” 
 ejaculated the widow. “Let the gear go!” This hap- 
 pened towards the close of the year 1797. But a still 
 more melancholy event was at hand. The sea had been 
 the tomb of the male members of the family for upwards 
 of a century, and destiny was not to be foiled in the case 
 of the captain. Assisted by generous friends, he got a 
 new vessel, which, though not equal in point of size to 
 the Friendship, was wholly built of oak, every plank and 
 beam of which he had seen laid down. On the 10th of 
 November, in the year 1807, a howling tempest lashed 
 the mighty main, upheaved the discoloured deep, and 
 strewed the beach with wrecks and dead bodies. “ Mil- 
 ler’s seamanship has saved him once more!” said a 
 Cromarty skipper, who, safely moored in an English 
 harbour, marked the square-rigged sloop clearing a for- 
 midable headland, and stretching out by a long tack into 
 the sea. But the night fell wild and stormy, and no 
 vestige of vessel or hands was ever more heard of. 
 And thus perished a man, who, according to the compu- 
 tation of his seafaring friends, was the best sailor that 
 ever ploughed the Moray Erith. 
 
 The sad event had neither been imagined nor dreamed 
 at the bay of Cromarty. The household are gathered 
 around the cottage fire ; the sailor’s second wife, and the 
 mother of the subject of our sketch, plies the cheerful 
 needle ; her son, a boy of five years of age, is sitting by 
 her side, when the house-door, which had been left 
 unfastened, fell open, and the youth is despatched to 
 shut it. What followed, let Hugh Miller himself testify. 
 “Day had not wholly disappeared, but it was fast posting 
 on to night, and a grey haze spread a neutral tint of 
 dimness over every more distant object, but left the 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE ME^f. 
 
 155 
 
 nearer ones comparatively distinct, when I saw at the 
 open door, within less than a yard of my breast, as 
 plainly as I ever saw anything, a dissevered hand and 
 arm stretched towards me. Hand and arm were appa- 
 rently those of a female ; they bore a livid and sodden 
 appearance ; and directly fronting me, where the body 
 ought to have been, there was only blank, transparent 
 space, through which I could see the dim forms of the 
 objects beyond. I was fearfully startled, and ran 
 shrieking to my mother, telling what I ^ha^d seeh ; tod 
 the house-girl, whom she sent next to shut the door, 
 apparently affected by my terror, also returned frightened, 
 and said that she too had seen the woman’s hand ; which, 
 however, did not seem to be the case. And finally, my 
 mother going to the door, saw nothing, though she was 
 much impressed by the extremeness of my terror, and 
 the minuteness of my description. I communicate the 
 story, as it lies fixed in my memory, without attempting 
 to explain it. The supposed apparition may have been 
 merely a momentary affection of the eye, of the nature 
 described by Sir Walter Scott, in his ‘ Demonology,’ 
 and Sir David Brewster, in his ‘ Natural Magic.’ But 
 if so, the affection was one of which I experienced no 
 after-return ; and its coincidence with the probable time 
 of my father’s death seems at least curious.” We may 
 add that, though just turned five years of age, this was 
 not the first vision seen by the boy. Old John Deddes, 
 his buccaneering ancestor, dead fully fifty years before, 
 had already appeared to the youth, in the identical light- 
 blue coat he wore when alive. We make no attempt to 
 explain these visions ; for our own parts, we believe there 
 are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of 
 in our philosophy. And while, on the one hand, we 
 would avoid the Scylla of superstition, we would, on the 
 other, beware of the Charybdis of scepticism. Hugh 
 
156 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 Miller never forgot his first great sorrow ; day after day, 
 month after month, when hope had died in every bosom 
 save his own, might he have been seen climbing that 
 grassy knoll, from which a glorious view, stretching away 
 into infinitude, is obtained ; hut his eye, unarrested by 
 the marvels of nature, is sweeping the furthest verge of 
 the horizon, intent only on discovering amid the swelling 
 waves the barque that had borne his father from him 
 never to return. In early manhood his deep, heartfelt 
 grief for his father found utterance in verse ; but poetry 
 was not Hugh Miller’s province. His finest poetry is 
 his prose. The painter, who could not express the excess 
 of grief, covered with a veil the face of Agamemnon. 
 The journeyman stonemason’s sorrow was too deep to 
 find adequate utterance in such poetry as he could 
 write ; and possibly it had been better had he never 
 attempted the theme. 
 
 Previous to his father’s death, Hugh Miller had been 
 sent to a dame’s school, who taught him to pronounce 
 the alphabet in the antique fashion. A knowledge of the 
 letters themselves he had already acquired by studying 
 the signboards of Cromarty; the jugs, glasses, bottles, 
 ships, and animals of which, though drawn with no great 
 artistic skill, could be actually recognized, and of course 
 excited his utmost admiration. Under the tuition of 
 this old lady, he threaded his way through the Shorter 
 Catechism, the Proverbs of Solomon, the New Testament, 
 and at length entered her highest, the Bible class ; but 
 all the while he had no adequate sense of the tendency 
 of his lessons — consequently, all was dark and chaotic. 
 At last he discovered that the art of reading was the art 
 of discovering stories in books, and from that moment 
 drudgery gave place to delight. He read again and again 
 the thrilling story of Jose2)h; then that of Samson and the 
 Philistines ; of David and Goliath ; of the prophets Elijah 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEIS". 
 
 157 
 
 and Elisha ; and after these, the ISTew Testament stories 
 and parables. By this time he had been adopted by his 
 two maternal uncles, types of a class of men that, from 
 age to age, have made the peasantry of Scotland loved 
 at home and revered abroad. His elder uncle, James, 
 the harness-maker, had a clear head and much native 
 sagacity, a singularly retentive memory, and great thirst 
 for information. His younger uncle, Alexander, the 
 Cartwright, was different from his brother both in intel- 
 lect and temperament, but characterized by the same 
 strict integrity ; his religious feelings were perhaps more 
 deep. James was fond of a joke ; Alexander grave and 
 serious. At the home of these excellent men, Hugh 
 Miller heard interesting books read, and their contents 
 freely discussed. Uncle James put into his hands Blind 
 Harry’s “Wallace:” he was intoxicated with the fiery 
 narratives ; the fierce breathings of hot, intolerant 
 patriotism ; and the stories of astonishing prowess. 
 Erom the story of Scotland’s hero-guardian, he passed 
 on to the story of the hero-king ; and in Barbour’s 
 “ Bruce” read how gloriously the latter consummated 
 the work which the former had so gloriously begun. 
 His Scottish blood now boiled up in a spring-tide fiood ; 
 and, instead of vexing his mother by wishing himself big 
 enough to be a sailor, he longed to “ follow to the field 
 some warlike lord,” that the wrongs and sufferings of 
 these noble heroes might yet be avenged. Uncle Alex- 
 ander had a great talent for natural history, and by his 
 description of foreign plants and animals, and of the aspect 
 of the distant regions which he had visited, when a sailor, 
 inspired young Miller with similar tastes to his own; 
 and, in their rambles on the wold or by the sea-shore, 
 initiated him into the study of that science, of which, 
 in after-life, he became so distinguished an ornament. 
 Sunday schools the uncles regarded as highly creditable 
 
158 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 to the teachers, but very discreditable to the parents and 
 relatives of the taught ; and so, of course, they never sent 
 their nephew there, but catechised him at home, first on 
 the Shorter Catechism, and then on the Mother’s Cate- 
 chism of Willison ; and also read in his hearing the old 
 divines. Schoolmasters these of the right sort ! To 
 these two uncles Hugh Miller owed more than to all his 
 subsequent teachers put together. 
 
 After some twelve months’ instruction from the old 
 woman, Hugh Miller was transferred to the Grrammar- 
 school of Cromarty. The parish schoolmaster was a good 
 scholar ; at college he had disputed the prizes in mathe- 
 matics and languages with one of the most distinguished 
 students. He was in the habit of advising the parents 
 or relations of those he considered his clever lads to give 
 them a classical education; so, meeting Uncle James one 
 day, he recommended him to put his nephew into Latin. 
 This the harness-maker had already resolved upon, and 
 so Hugh Miller, along with fo ur other boys, immediately 
 commenced the study of the Roman tongue. I laboured,” 
 says he, in that very interesting work, his “ Schools and 
 Schoolmasters,” “ with tolerable diligence for a day or 
 two ; but there was no one to tell me what the rules 
 meant, or whether they really meant anything; and when 
 I got as far as penna, a pen, and saw how the changes 
 were rung on one poor word, that did not seem to me of 
 more importance in the old language than in the modern, 
 I began miserably to flag, and to long for my English 
 reading, with its interesting stories and picture-like 
 descriptions. The ‘ Rudiments’ was by far the dullest 
 book I had ever seen; it embodied no thought that I 
 could perceive, and certainly it contained no narrative. 
 None of my class-fellows were by any means bright ; and 
 yet when the class, which the master very soon learned 
 to distinguish as the heavy class, was called up, I was 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 159 
 
 generally found at its nether end.” JSTo teacher in the 
 North had sent more students to college than the master 
 of the Grrammar-school ; yet it was admitted on all hands 
 that he was in no wise remarkable for keeping idle boys 
 at their work, and the parents and guardians were loud 
 in their complaints that he was not suitable. Accordingly 
 the wealthier inhabitants clubbed together, and got up a 
 subscription school of their own; hut the new school- 
 master, although a rather clever young man, proved an 
 unsteady one. On receiving his salary at term- days, he 
 worshipped at the shrine of Bacchus as long as his money 
 lasted. Gretting rid of him, they procured a licentiate of 
 the church, who seemed a steady, thoughtful, and pains- 
 taking teacher ; hut coming in contact with some zealous 
 Baptists, he got so puzzled and perplexed as to whether 
 baptism should be performed in or out of the water, that 
 his health became affected, and he was obliged to resign 
 his charge. Then, after a while, another licentiate was 
 got, who was always getting into debt, and always 
 courting, though with little success, wealthy ladies. To 
 this school Hugh Miller was transferred, at the instance 
 of Uncle James ; but in a few weeks this pedagogue also 
 resigned. After a long vacation, a fourth schoolmaster 
 was appointed. He appears to have been a fop, and 
 of course soon became obnoxious to his scholars, who 
 in a few days designated him by a nickname. None 
 were more insubordinate than Hugh Miller. He was 
 always in scrapes. On one occasion he exchanged 
 blows with a boy of his own standing across the form ; 
 both were called up, and received their palmies : his 
 opponent began to cry ; Hugh said to him, Te big, 
 blubbering blockhead, take that for a drubbing from me.” 
 He received a few more palmies, but did not care for 
 that. On another occasion he had a quarrel with a 
 desperate Mulatto, who drew his knife upon him ; but 
 
160 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEIS*. 
 
 instead of running, Miller drew his, and, quick as 
 thought, stabbed him in the thigh. What turned out to 
 he the conclusion of his school career, was rather a mis- 
 fortune than a crime. The broad Scotch pronunciation 
 which he had learned at the dame’s school still clung to 
 him ; and, moreover, he had not been taught to break 
 the words into syllables. “ When required one evening,” 
 says he, to spell the word awful, I spelt it letter for 
 letter, without break or pause, as a-w-f-u-1. ‘ No,’ said 
 
 the master, ‘ a-w, aw, f-u-1, awful, spell again.’ This 
 seemed preposterous spelling. It was sticking in an a, 
 as I thought, into the middle of the word, where, I was 
 sure, no a had a right to be ; and so I spelt it as at first. 
 The master recompensed my supposed contumacy with a 
 sharp cut athwart the ears with his tawse, and again 
 demanding the spelling of the word ; I yet again spelt 
 it as at first. But on receiving a second cut, I refused 
 to spell it any more ; and determined on overcoming 
 my obstinacy, he laid hold of me, and attempted throwing 
 me down.” This he found more difiicult than he had 
 expected ; for a time it seemed rather doubtful on which 
 side the victory would turn. At length the pupil was 
 tripped over a form ; and when he got to his feet again, 
 he took his cap from off the peg, marched out of the 
 school, and never more returned. Poor fellow ! his 
 school days had been in a great degree wasted. Cer- 
 tainly, he had not sold his chance of immortality for a 
 gilded book ! In the school he had been a wild, idle 
 boy, but afterwards, as not seldom happens, by assiduous 
 self-instruction, and indomitable toil, he raised himself 
 to a high position in society, and gained permanent 
 renown. 
 
 When just turned seventeen, Hugh Miller might have 
 been seen dressed in a suit of strong moleskin clothes, 
 and a pair of heavy hob-nailed shoes, waiting only for 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE ME5T. 
 
 161 
 
 the breaking up of the winter frosts, to begin work as a 
 mason. Without labour neither well-being nor being is 
 possible. The fish may leap in onr streams and oceans ; 
 our trees and bushes may be laden with fruit ; onr hills 
 and vales may support cattle, and all manner of four- 
 footed beasts ; our fields and gardens may produce corn, and 
 breathe fragrance ; our springs and fountains may yield 
 an ample supply of clearest, sweetest water ; but all this 
 would profit us nothing ; we would starve amidst plenty; 
 perish surrounded by abundance, were it not for labour ! 
 We hold it as an axiom, that all who labour form but 
 one community. The phrase — working- classes — means, 
 or ought to mean, all who work. And they who do not 
 work, fail to fulfil the first law of existence. Tain would 
 uncles James and Sandy have seen their nephew rising 
 to distinction in some one of the learned professions ; 
 though the labour of their hands formed their only 
 wealth, they offered to assist him in getting through 
 college. But he had no wish, and, as he imagined, no 
 peculiar fitness to be either a lawyer or a medical man, 
 and true ministers he believed to be special creations of 
 the grace of Grod. In this his uncles perfectly concurred; 
 better be a poor mason ; better be anything honest, 
 however humble, than an uncalled minister. Would to 
 Grod this kind of belief were more general, for those 
 manufactured out of ordinary men by professors, in a 
 given number of years, only disgrace religion by their 
 inanity and dullness. “ Timber to timber,” said the con- 
 scientious minister at an ordination, when, prevented by 
 a sense of duty from laying his hand upon the candi- 
 date’s head, he laid his walking-stick thereon, quietly 
 remarking, “Timber to timber.” Apprenticed to the 
 husband of one of his maternal aunts, Hugh Miller 
 set to work in the quarry. David, by whom he was 
 initiated into the mysteries of mason-craft, was a most 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 industrious and conscientious workman, with a good 
 dash of eccentricity about him. On one occasion, when 
 a too heavily loaded boat was overtaken by a series of 
 rippling seas, and suddenly sunk, leaving him up to the 
 neck in water, he merely said to his partner, on seeing his 
 favourite snuff-mull go floating past, “ Od, Andro, man, 
 just rax out your ban’ and tak’ in my snuff-box.” On 
 another, when a large mass of boulder-clay tumbled into 
 the quarry with such force, that it bent a massive iron 
 lever like a bow, and crushed a strong wheelbarrow to 
 fragments, he relieved the minds of his workmen, who 
 expected to find him as flat as a flounder, by remarking, 
 “ Od, I draid, Andro, man, we have lost our good bar- 
 row.” At first, the old man was of opinion that his 
 relative would make but a poor workman, and he fre- 
 quently complained to his wife about her stupid nephew. 
 The lad laboured under disadvantages ; in his absent fits 
 he was almost impervious to instruction; and again, 
 when the undertakings of his schoolboy days involved 
 the building of a house, he used to be the mason. All 
 this he had to unlearn, and in the course of a feAV 
 months he did unlearn it all ; and then, having acquired 
 a considerable mastery over the mallet, he astonished his 
 uncle one morning by setting himself to compete with 
 him, and by hewing nearly two feet of pavement for his 
 one. And so David came to the conclusion, that he 
 would turn out a grand workman after all. In the 
 quarry, and that still more vulgar place, the bothy, he 
 learned more important lessons than were taught in 
 either the grammar or subscription schools of Cromarty. 
 Of this he himself was fully aware ; hence that truly 
 eloquent apostrophe to labour, in his “ Schools and 
 Schoolmasters.” “Noble, upright, self-relying toil! 
 Who that knows thy solid worth and value would be 
 ashamed of thy hard hands, and thy soiled vestoents, 
 
EXAMPLES or SELE-MALE MEIf. 
 
 163 
 
 and thy obscure tasks ; thy humble cottage, and hard 
 couch, and homely fare ! save for thee and thy lessons, man 
 in society would everywhere sink into a sad compound of 
 the fiehd and the wild beast, and this fallen world be as 
 certainly a moral as a natural wilderness.” 
 
 On the termination of his apprenticeship, work failing 
 in the north, but promising to be abundant in the great 
 towns of the south, Hugh Miller, bidding adieu to his 
 beloved mother, — who, after a long widowhood of more 
 than eleven years, had entered into a second marriage, 
 — and his worthy uncles, sailed from his native Cromarty, 
 for “ stately Edinburgh, throned on crags.” With that 
 true eye for the beautiful and the sublime, whether in 
 art or nature, which never failed him, he spent some 
 time in surveying the palaces and towers, the charac- 
 teristic streets and picturesque scenes of the Scottish 
 capital, and then commenced work at a manor-house, a 
 few miles to the south of Edinburgh. His fellow-work- 
 men were accomplished stonecutters, but tainted in even 
 an extreme degree with narrowness and exclusiveness. 
 And when, instead of breaking down in the trial, the 
 foreman estimated his services at the same rate as their 
 own, he became an object of undisguised hostility and 
 dislike. He was, they said, “ a Highlander newly come 
 to Scotland,” and, if not chased northwards again, would 
 carry home with him half the money in the country. The 
 builders criticised very unfairly the workmanship of the 
 stones which he hewed, and said they could not lay them; 
 the hewers refused to assist him in carrying in or in 
 turning the weightier blocks on which he wrought ; but 
 the foreman, a worthy, pious man, stood his friend, and 
 encouraged him to persevere. “ Ho not suffer yourself 
 to be driven from the work,” said he, ‘‘and they will soon 
 tire out, and leave you to pursue your own course. I 
 know exactly the nature of your offence; you do not 
 
164 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 drink with them, or treat them ; hut they will soon cease 
 to expect that you should; and, when once they find that 
 you are not to be coerced or driven off, they will let you 
 alone.” Hugh Miller was a stubborn individual; so, 
 instead of bending his neck to their yoke, he resolutely 
 refused to yield to their mean practices. To use his own 
 words, “It is only a weak man whom the wind deprives 
 of his cloak ; a man of the average strength is more in 
 danger of losing it when assailed by the genial beams of 
 a too kindly sun.” It was well that the Horlander had 
 courage to think and act for himself, otherwise the con- 
 sequences might have been fatal. Two-thirds of the 
 masons at Niddry House devoted the Monday and Tues- 
 day after pay-day to drinking and debauchery. Of 
 course they scoffed at religion. “ Johnnie, boy, if you 
 set yourself to convert me. I’ll brak your face ;” “ Kirks 
 ar no very bad things, after a’;” “ I aye liked to be in a 
 kirk, for the sake of decency, once a twelvemonth ;” “ I 
 hav’na’ been kirked for the last ten months, but I’m just 
 only waiting for a rainy Sabbath, to lay in a stock o’ 
 divinity for the year,” were remarks often heard in the 
 workshed. With the exception of some three or four 
 devout men, the squad was well represented by its hero, 
 Charles, a demoralized, reckless, yet generous-hearted 
 fellow, the only blackguard Hugh Miller ever found 
 possessing magnanimity and other noble virtues. Winter 
 came on, and the weekly wages were lowered from twenty- 
 four to fifteen shillings per week. This was too great a 
 reduction, according to Miller’s own calculation, by about 
 one shilling and ninepence. And so, on coming to his 
 work one Monday morning, he learned that there was a 
 grand strike all over the district. He received the intel- 
 ligence with as little of the enthusiasm of the “ indepen- 
 dent associated mechanic” as possibly may be. “ You 
 ure right in your claims,” he said to Charles ; “ but you 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 165 
 
 have taken a bad time for urging them, and will be beaten 
 to a certainty. The masters are much better prepared for 
 a strike than you are. How, may I ask, are you yourself 
 prepared with the sinews of war ?” “ Very ill, indeed,” 
 
 said Charles, scratching his head ; if the masters don’t 
 give in before Saturday, it’s all up with me ! ” Miller 
 resolutely stood aloof from the combination, obstinately 
 refused to lift a finger in assertion of the alleged rights 
 of fellows who had no respect for rights that were indis- 
 putably his. Some have blamed him for this ; in our 
 opinion, he deserved praise. He had sagacity enough to 
 discover that reason and common sense had no place in 
 the councils of trade societies ; and too independent a 
 mind to submit to their odious dictation. We wonder 
 that men, calling themselves free-born Britons, should 
 promulgate arbitrary rules, and erect tyrannical tribunals. 
 It is said that Ireland lost the flannel, lace, silk, and 
 glove trade, through the exactions and demands of such 
 societies. This is certain, that a large employer in the 
 iron trade removed his capital from Dublin because of 
 the interference of the union. Daniel O’Connell de- 
 noimced absenteeism as a curse to his country, and laid a 
 multitude of the wrongs that afilicted his fatherland at 
 the door of Saxon mal-administration ; and yet this very 
 man said that trades’ unions had done more evil to 
 Ireland than absenteeism and Saxon mal-administration 
 put together. Dor masters or committees to attempt to 
 fix the rate of wages is unjust and impolitic. Every man 
 has a right to make the most and the best of himself. 
 Skilled artisans are, in sober fact, wealthier men than the 
 majority of ministers ; yet, if the latter were to strike 
 to-morrow, we should vehemently oppose going for a 
 uniform rate of wages. Some men are worth their weight 
 of gold ; other men are not worth their weight of lead. 
 Trades’ unions throw obstacles in the way of unprofes- 
 
166 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEX. 
 
 sional but ingenious mechanics, like George Stephenson. 
 They are not allowed to compete with others in the 
 skilled labour market. We hold that every man ought 
 to have a chance to rise. Would it be right for em- 
 ployers to combine to prevent journeymen from becoming 
 masters ? If not, why refuse to work with men whose 
 services are equal, perhaps superior, to your own, because 
 they have been self-helped ? Shame upon the hundreds 
 of thousands of our countrj^men who are afraid of 
 competing with others less favoured in their youth than 
 they, and who tremble to give a fair stage to every man ! 
 All hail the day when monopoly, intimidation, and 
 coercion shall cease ; when every act of oppression, 
 whether on the part of a government, a master, or a 
 trades’ union, shall be received with indignation ; when 
 every man with a head upon his shoulders, and a heart to 
 work, shall be welcomed as a brother ! Toolish and futile 
 have the mass of combinations been. The remedy has 
 been worse than the disease. Men have come out for an 
 advance of wages, and after a few months’ idleness, and 
 a loss of some £50,000 or £150,000, as a rule go back to 
 work at the old wages, but under conditions con- 
 siderably more stringent than before. If men had suffi- 
 cient self-reliance to set themselves to labour apart 
 on their own internal resources, it would be all the 
 better for them. We are aware that a good deal 
 might be said in favour of these unions. Centuries ago 
 oppression was rampant ; the strong ruled the weak with 
 a heavy hand ; the employers disregarded the rights of 
 the employed ; and the working classes thought it neces- 
 sary to combine for self-defence and the recovery of their 
 freedom. Justice and liberality, equity and generosity, 
 fair and open dealing on the part of the masters, would 
 render these strikes, so disastrous to the country, so 
 paralyzing to labour, and crippling to capital, impossible. 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE MEIT. 
 
 167 
 
 There are at least some establishments where the workers 
 are treated in such a way that there is no danger of a 
 strike. In the year 1842, when there was a general 
 strike among the colliers, those employed by one 
 master remained true to him. They unanimously agreed 
 to address him, and in their address said, — With the 
 voice of one man, we declare our design to defend your 
 honour, and all in connection with you.” Lord Elles- 
 mere’s reply explained how the affections of these 
 rude, ignorant men, had been won. “ It cannot be too 
 widely known how liberally the working classes of this 
 country are disposed to reward with their goodwill and 
 affection those to whom, rightly or wrongly, they attribute 
 similar feelings towards themselves.” So, masters, we 
 do not impose upon you an impossibility, for the colliers 
 are the worst class of workmen to manage. 
 
 But we have been forgetting ourselves. After two 
 j^ears’ labour, Hugh Miller felt that he was losing flesh 
 and strength, and resolved to return, for a time at least, 
 to his native north ; and after a tedious voyage of seven 
 days, was warmly welcomed on the beach of Cromarty 
 by his two uncles, and other friends and relations. 
 About this time he underwent the most important 
 of all changes in the history of the human soul; that 
 change which affects all a man’s relations to Grod and 
 to the whole moral universe beside. “ A grand epoch 
 for a man ; properly, the one epoch ; the turning point 
 which guides, upwards or downwards, him and his 
 activity for evermore.” From the Sabbath day cate- 
 chisings of his uncles, the readings of the old divines, 
 and the teachings of the pulpit, he had, in common with 
 his countrymen, acquired a considerable amount of 
 religious knowledge. He had, moreover, when in Edin- 
 burgh, seen the pious seceder retiring every night, before 
 going to bed, to his closet, the blue vault with all its 
 
168 
 
 EXAMPLES or SELF-MADE MEIf. 
 
 stars ; but bis faitb bad not embraced Christianity in its 
 spirit and its life. On bis return to Cromarty be found 
 an old companion, under tbe power of religious impres- 
 sions, throwing up a remunerative business, and pre- 
 paring for tbe work of tbe ministry, although be bad no 
 influence and no patron. Tbe perfect disinterestedness 
 of bis friend’s abnegation of every worldly prospect 
 deeply impressed him, and bis religion became a religion 
 of tbe heart. Hugh Miller shall tell tbe story of bis 
 conversion in bis own words : — “ I was led to see at this 
 time, through tbe instrumentality of my friend, that my 
 tbeologic system bad previously wanted a central object, 
 to which tbe heart, as certainly as tbe intellect, could 
 attach itself; and that tbe true centre of an efficient 
 Christianity is, as tbe name ought of itself to indicate, 
 ‘the Word made flesh.’ Around this central sun of 
 tbe Christian system, — appreciated, however, not as a 
 doctrine^ which is a mere abstraction, but as a Divine 
 Person, so truly man, that tbe affections of tbe human 
 heart can lay bold upon Him, and so truly Grod, that tbe 
 mind, through faitb, can at all times, and in all places, 
 be brought into direct contact with Him, — all that is 
 really religious takes its place in a subsidiary and 
 subordinate relation. I say, subsidiary and subordinate. 
 Tbe Divine Man is tbe great attractive centre, tbe sole 
 gravitating point of a system, which owes Him all its 
 coherency, and which would be but a chaos were He 
 away. It seems to be tbe existence of tbe human 
 nature, in this central and paramount object, that imparts 
 to Christianity, in its subjective character, its peculiar 
 power of influencing and controlling tbe human mind. 
 There may be men who, through a peculiar idiosyncracy 
 of constitution, are capable of loving, after a sort, an 
 abstract God, unseen and unconceivable, though, as 
 shown by the air of sickly sentimentality borne by 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 169 
 
 almost all that has been said and written on the subject, 
 the feeling, in its true form, must be a very rare and 
 exceptional one. In all my experience of men, I never 
 knew a genuine instance of it. The love of an abstract 
 God seems to be as little natural to the ordinary human 
 constitution, as the love of an abstract sun or planet. 
 
 The true Humanity and true 
 
 Divinity of the adorable Saviour is a truth equally 
 receivable by at once the humblest and the loftiest 
 intellects. Poor dying children, possessed of but a few 
 simple ideas, and men of the most robust intellects, such 
 as the Chalmerses, Posters, and Halls of the Christian 
 church, find themselves equally able to rest upon the 
 man Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever.” Of 
 this fundamental truth of the two natures, that con- 
 densed enunciation of the Gospel which forms the 
 watchword of our faith, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shalt be saved,’ is a direct and palpable 
 embodiment ; and Christianity is but a mere name with- 
 out it The theologians have, perhaps, 
 
 too frequently dwelt on the Saviour’s vicarious satisfac- 
 tion for human sin in its relation to the offended justice 
 of the Father. How, or on what principle, the Father 
 was satisfied, I know not, and may never know. The 
 enunciation regarding vicarious satisfaction may be 
 properly received in faith as a fact ; but I suspect not 
 properly reasoned upon until we shall be able to bring 
 the moral sense of Deity, with its requirements, within 
 the limits of a small and trivial logic. But the thorough 
 adaptation of the scheme to man’s nature is greatly more 
 appreciable, and lies fully within the reach of observa- 
 tion and experience. And how thorough that adaptation 
 is, all who have really looked at the matter ought to be 
 competent to say.” This brief outline of Hugh Miller’s 
 faith is in perfect harmony with the oracles of divine 
 
170 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEX. 
 
 trutli. The object of faith is not a history, not a name, 
 not an ofB^ce, not a work, but a 'personal^ living, divine 
 Saviour. In the well-known accents of our kinsman- 
 Eedeemer, we hear the very voice of the Eternal ; and in 
 drawing near to one who has a heart touched with the 
 feeling of our infirmities, we feel that now we can cast our- 
 selves, as penitent children, upon the Eatherhood of Grod. 
 
 After breathing his native air for a few months, his 
 constitution threw off the malady, and he began to 
 experience the enjoyment of the convalescent. During 
 this pleasant period he amused himself in hewing for 
 his uncles, from an original design, an ornate dial-stone, 
 which still exists, a memorial of his superior skill, even 
 in the more elaborate and ornamental department of the 
 craft. When his health had become fully established, 
 he commenced executing sculptured tablets in his native 
 town and neighbourhood, of a higher style than had been 
 attempted in the north, and also to some extent, we 
 doubt not, improving the literature of God’s acre ; 
 certainly not one of the least necessary things. What 
 lamentable proofs of bad taste are furnished by our monu- 
 mental inscriptions. Addison has well said, — Some 
 epitaphs are so extravagant, that the dead person would 
 blush ; and others so excessively modest, that they deliver 
 the character of the person departed in Greek and 
 Hebrew, and by that means are not understood once in a 
 twelvemonth.” Duller hit the characteristics of a fitting 
 epitaph, when he said that the shortest, plainest, and 
 truest epitaphs are the best.” We fear Byron’s couplet 
 is not more satiric than truthful, — 
 
 “ When all is done, upon their tombs are seen, 
 
 Not what they are, but what they should have been.” 
 
 The complimentary terms, in which epitaphs are usually 
 expressed, quite explain the question of the child who 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 171 
 
 inquired, in astonishment, where they buried the had 
 people? As for odd and ridiculous epitaphs, their 
 number is legion. How shocking the following, which 
 may be read in a churchyard in Ayrshire : — 
 
 “ Wha is it that’s lying here ? 
 
 Robin Wood, ye needna speer. 
 
 Eh, Robin, is this you? 
 
 Ou, aye ; but I’m deed noo ! ” 
 
 Who, even in the colony of death, can banish comic 
 feelings on reading the following stanza, composed by 
 four magistrates ; the first of whom wrote — 
 
 “Here lies Anderson, Provost of Dundee.” 
 
 The second, at the expense of tautology and grammar, 
 wrote — 
 
 “ Here lies Him, here lies He !” 
 
 The third, availing himself of a poet’s liberty, wrote — 
 
 “ Hallelujah ! Hallelujee !” 
 
 And the fourth, recurring to the source of all knowledge, 
 wrote — 
 
 “A, B, C, D, E, E, H!” 
 
 The Town Council passed a vote of thanks upon the 
 authors, and caused the lines to be engraved on the 
 worthy provost’s monument ! And what irreverent 
 blunders does the mason sometimes commit, as he sits 
 upon the gravestone, whistling cheerfully at his task ? 
 An English mason, hired by a bereaved widower to erect 
 a tombstone to his wife, instead of engraving that fine 
 aphorism of the royal sage, A virtuous woman is a 
 crown to her husband,” corrupted the text, by substi- 
 tuting “ 5s.” for the crown” ! Hugh Miller’s biblical 
 knowledge and literary tastes prevented him from falling 
 
172 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE M'E'N. 
 
 into such mistakes. Work becoming scarce about Cro- 
 marty, under advice of a friend, who had a high opinion 
 of his merits as a sculptor, he paid a visit to Inverness in 
 the year 1828, and inserted an advertisement in one of 
 the newspapers, asking leave to toil ; and, as even Scotch 
 masons make curious enough mistakes now and then, 
 Hugh Miller thought it would be a point of some im- 
 portance gained could he certify the Inverness people 
 that he at least had literature sufficient to enable him to 
 cut inscriptions. So, having a letter of introduction to 
 an influential minister, he repaired at once to the manse. 
 After waiting a considerable length of time in the ante- 
 room, amidst pauper women who had come for their 
 weekly allowances, and young men, some of whom 
 wanted to be married, others to get their children 
 baptized, he obtained an interview, and presented his 
 reverence with the letter, together with an ode to the 
 Ness, which he had just completed. The minister 
 graciously condescended to read both. At the close of 
 the latter, which was read aloud and with great delibe- 
 ration, he paused, looked puzzled, and then unfortunately 
 commenced to criticise. “ You use a word that is not 
 English, — ‘ Thy winding wuarge along.’ Marge 1 What 
 is marge?” “You will find it in Johnson,” said the 
 stonecutter. “ Ah, but we must not use all the words 
 that we find in Johnson.” “ But the poets make frequent 
 useofit.” “Whatpoets?” “Spenser.” “Too old, too old; 
 no authority now.” “ But the Wartons also use it.” “ I 
 don’t know the Wartons.” “ It occurs also in one of the 
 most finished sonnets of Henry Kirke White.” “ What 
 sonnet ?” “ That to the river Trent, — 
 
 “ ‘ Once more, O Trent ! along thy pebbly marge, 
 
 A pensive invalid, reduced and pale, 
 
 From the close sick-room newly set at large, 
 
 Woos to his woe- worn cheek the pleasant gale.’ ” 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 173 
 
 The parish priest belonged to that rather numerous class 
 who claim authority on the ground of their office, and 
 keep the gloss of the clerical enamel” peculiarly bright. 
 He had, moreover, been so accustomed to be deferred to, 
 that he occasionally forgot that he was not a standard 
 himself. 'No won'der, then, that this unexpected appeal 
 to the highest authorities, on behalf of a word he had 
 declared obsolete, so ruffied his temper that he hurried 
 the poor mason to the door, and called in one of the old 
 withered women. This,” said Hugh Miller to himself, 
 as he stepped into the street, “ is the sort of patronage 
 which letters of introduction procure for one. I don’t think 
 I’ll seek any more of it.” He next addressed the mem- 
 bers of the Northern Institution in a somewhat lengthy 
 poem, which they do not seem to have deemed worthy of 
 notice. It was then, accompanied by a letter of expla- 
 nation, despatched to the newspaper. Alas ! a single 
 line in italics, in the next number, intimated that it was 
 not to appear. But a great mind is not cowed by morti- 
 fication and disappointment. Hugh Miller resolved to 
 look less to others, and to put more confidence in his 
 own powers, and trod along the street half an inch higher 
 on the strength of the resolution ; and, as if to reward 
 his magnanimity, he immediately got an order for cutting 
 an inscription, and two little jobs in Cromarty besides, 
 which he was to execute on his return home. Before 
 quitting Inverness, he was informed of a sad bereave- 
 ment. Uncle James, who had been so tolerant of his 
 boyish follies, and had unwittingly flattered his vanity 
 by taking him pretty much at his own estimate, was no 
 more ; and, on reaching Cromarty, he found his mother 
 making the grave-clothes. He devoted the few weeks 
 which still remained of the working season to the hewing 
 of a tombstone for his uncle, on which he inscribed an 
 epitaph, which had the rare merit of being true. It 
 
174 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 cliaracterized “James Wright” as “an honest, warm- 
 hearted man, who had the happiness of living without 
 reproach, and of dying without fear.” Hugh Miller was 
 honoured with many remarkable visitors when working 
 in the churchyard. The minister, the late Mr. Stewart, 
 of Cromarty, a most original thinker and profound theo- 
 logian, and withal a most genial man, marvellously devoid 
 of oflo^cial pomposity, would stand beside him for hours, 
 discussing every sort of subject, from the deeds of mode- 
 rate divines to the ideas of Isaac Taylor on the corrup- 
 tions of Christianity, or the possibilities of the future 
 state. As a set-off against his interview with the Inver- 
 ness parson, we shall state his first, or rather first and 
 second, conversations with the minister of Cromarty. 
 “ Well, lad, it is your dinner hour; I hear I have a poet 
 among my people.” “I doubt it much.” “Well, one 
 may fall short of being a poet, and yet gain by exercising 
 one’s tastes and talents in the poetic walk. The accom- 
 plishment of verse is at least not a vulgar one.” The 
 conversation went on as they passed along the street, and 
 the minister stood awhile opposite the manse door, quite 
 at home with the man in moleskin. “I am forming,” 
 said he, “ a small library for our Sabbath school 
 scholars and teachers ; most of the hooks are simple 
 enough little things ; but it contains a few works 
 of the intellectual class. Call upon me this evening, 
 that we may look over them, and you may perhaps 
 find among them some volumes you would wish to read.” 
 The mason waited upon him in the evening, and per- 
 ceived that the minister was curiously sounding him, 
 and taking his measure in all directions. He inquired 
 regarding his reading, and found that in the belles- 
 lettres, especially in English literature, it was about as 
 extensive as his own. He next inquired respecting his 
 acquaintance with the metaphysicians. “ Had he read 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 175 
 
 Eeid?” ‘‘ Yes.” ‘‘ Brown ?” “ Yes.^’ Hume ?” 
 
 “ Yes.” “Ah, ah ! Hume ! ! By the way, has he not 
 something very ingenious about miracles ? Ho you 
 remember his argument?” The mechanic stated the 
 argument. “ Ah, very ingenious, most ingenious. And 
 how would you answer that ?” He said — “ He thought 
 he could give an abstract of the reply of Campbell,” and 
 sketched in outline the reverend doctor’s argument, 
 “ And do you deem that satisfactory ? ” said the minister. 
 “No, not at all,” he replied. “No, no! that's not 
 satisfactory.” “ But perfectly satisfactory, that such is 
 the general partiality for the better side, that the worse 
 argument has been received as perfectly adequate for the 
 last sixty years.” Mr. Stewart’s face gleamed with the 
 rich humour that entered so largely into his constitution, 
 and the conversation turned into other channels. In that 
 graveyard the stonecutter made the acquaintance of the 
 late Sir Thomas Dick Lauder ; and, mallet in hand, 
 questioned Professor Pillans, of the Edinburgh Univer- 
 sity, concerning the cohesive agent in the non- calcareous 
 sandstone, which he was engaged in hewing. Not 
 unfrequently he had a still more interesting class of 
 visitors, accomplished, intellectual ladies, with whom 
 he discussed interesting topics in science and literature. 
 One day, when the Cromarty poet was engaged in con- 
 versation with two elderly females, a young lady, too 
 beautiful to be harmless, came running down the walk, 
 and addressing the other two, apparently quite in a flurry 
 — “ 0, come, come away, I have been seeking you ever 
 so long.” She stayed scarce a minute, ere she tripped 
 ofl* again, nor did Hugh Miller perceive that she favoured 
 him with a single glance. In Edinburgh, she had 
 received all the advantages which a flrst-rate education 
 could confer, and in England had enjoyed the advantages 
 of superior position : of course she had many admirers ; 
 
176 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 fine young fellows, who dressed well, looked well, and 
 liad good prospects ! But Lydia Mackenzie Eraser’s 
 mental powers were equal to her personal cliarms, and 
 in that dust-besprinkled mecbanic, in his shirt sleeves, 
 and with leather apron before him, she discerned* a truly 
 noble man ! In about a twelvemonth they came to a 
 mutual understanding ; and as the young lady’s mother, 
 on the first blush of the thing, deemed an operative 
 mason no very fitting match for her daughter, they 
 prudently agreed to delay the marriage for three years ; 
 and if, during that period, no suitable field of exertion 
 should turn up at home, they should then leave Scotland 
 for America, and share together, in the land of their 
 adoption, whatever might be in store for them. 
 
 Two of the three years had well nigh rolled away, 
 and Hugh Miller began seriously to think about the 
 backwoods of America. But Providence had ordained 
 differently. Cromarty, though a town of considerable 
 trade, was unfurnished with a branch bank; but at 
 length the Commercial Bank of Scotland agreed to make 
 it the scene of one of its agencies, and arranged with a 
 sagacious and successful merchant of the place to act 
 as its agent. One morning. Miller received an invitation 
 to breakfast with Mr. Boss, and after partaking of the 
 cup that cheers, but does not inebriate, to his astonish- 
 ment, was offered the accountantship of the branch 
 bank. “ After a pause of a full half-minute, I said that 
 the walk was one in which I had no experience what- 
 ever ; that even the little knowledge of figures which I 
 had acquired at school had been suffered to fade and get 
 dim in my mind from want of practice ; and that I feared 
 I would make but a very indifferent accountant. ‘ I shall 
 undertake for you,’ said Mr. Boss, ‘ and do my best to 
 assist you. All you have to do at present is just to 
 signify your acceptance of the offer made.’ I referred 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 177 
 
 to the young man who, I understood, had been already 
 nominated accountant. Mr. Boss stated that, being 
 wholly a stranger to him, and as the office was one of 
 great trust, he had, as the responsible party, sought the 
 security of a guarantee, which the gentleman who had 
 recommended the young man declined to give; and so 
 his recommendation had fallen to the ground. ‘‘But 
 I can give you no guarantee,” I -said. “ Erom you,” 
 rejoined Mr. Boss, “none shall ever be asked.” 
 He sailed from Cromarty at the end of November, in 
 the year 1834, in an old, and hardly seaworthy coasting 
 vessel, for Edinburgh, with the view of gaining the 
 necessary experience of the workings of a branch 
 bank ; and, after a very rough passage, landed at 
 Leith on a bleak December morning, just in time to 
 escape a tremendous storm. Being now upwards of 
 thirty-two years of age, he was somewhat afraid that he 
 might fail to pass muster as an accountant. He deter- 
 mined, however, that, if unsuccessful, it should not be 
 for want of patient labour, and entered Edinburgh in 
 something like spirits on the ground of that resolution. 
 Linlithgow was the place fixed on as the scene of his 
 initiation into the mysteries of his new calling. He must 
 have been exceedingly awkward as a pupil-accountant : 
 for the agent having gone to Edinburgh a few days 
 after his arrival, intimated in the head office that it 
 would be in vain to attempt making “yon man” a 
 bank clerk. At length he grasped the system ; and just 
 as he had reached this stage, the accountant was called 
 away to an appointment in England, and the manager 
 again going into Edinburgh, left him in charge of the 
 bank. He was asked how, in the absence of the ac- 
 countant, he could get away. He said he had left 
 Miller in the office. “ What ! the incompetent ” “ 0, 
 
 that,” replied he, “ is all a mistake ; the incompetent 
 
178 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE METT. 
 
 has already mastered our system.” After a residence of 
 about two months in Linlithgow, Hugh Miller returned 
 to Cromarty, and was regularly installed accountant of 
 the Commercial Bank, now opened in his native town. 
 The two years of probation came to a close ; and after a 
 courtship of five years, he was united to Lydia Macken- 
 zie Eraser, by his minister, Mr. Stewart. A house built 
 by his father for himself, forty years before, formed their 
 home for the three following years. 
 
 It was in the middle of the year 1839 that Hugh 
 Miller first struggled into name and notice. A fierce 
 controversy was then raging between the Scottish Church 
 and the Imperial Parliament; the disruption loomed 
 over the future, and men’s hearts failed them for fear. 
 The kirk possesses imperishable memories, and is the 
 Scotchman’s boast. Por that theology which Calvin and 
 Knox systematized; for those psalms and that catechism, 
 which still continue to form the opinions of her earnest 
 and sturdy youth, the Northern is ready to stain the 
 heather with his blood. In the hour of the church’s 
 peril, the bank clerk learned to know how much he 
 really valued her ; how strong and numerous the asso- 
 ciations that bound her to his affections : and with all 
 the perfervidum ingenium Scotorum, plunged into the 
 thick of the fight. His zeal warmed swiftly to white 
 heat. When respectable men in almost every inn and 
 stage-coach were inveighing against the utter folly of 
 the non-intrusionists, and the worse than madness of 
 the church courts, he was passing sleepless nights and 
 undertaking long journeys, to glean from actual observa- 
 tion the materials of a truthful description, which he 
 trusted would help those better ministers who were 
 trying to rescue from the hands of an aristocracy who, 
 as a body at least, had no spiritual interest in the church, 
 a patrimony won for them by the blood of their fathers. 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 179 
 
 during the struggles and sufferings of more than a 
 hundred years. Such zeal and such writing thrilled 
 electrically over Scotland. All the Edinburgh press, 
 with the exception of one newspaper, had declared 
 against the evangelical party. To start an organ of 
 their own was a comparatively easy matter : but all the 
 ready-made editors of the kingdom had declared against 
 them, too ; and the peculiar diflB.culty was to find one 
 able to make such a journal respected. Speedily it 
 became known, that in the obscure town of Cro- 
 marty, 
 
 “ Mid humble dwellings born,” 
 
 there lived a man, whose peculiar training, peculiar 
 reading, and peculiar genius, every way fitted him for 
 the editorship of the projected newspaper. A letter was 
 despatched to the north, inviting the quondam stone- 
 cutter to meet, in the Scottish capital, the men so soon 
 to figure as the heroes of the Disruption. After calmly 
 balancing the arguments, he concluded that the hand of 
 Grod was in the arrangement, accepted the editorial 
 chair of the newspaper, and returned to Cromarty to 
 fulfil his engagements with the bank till the close of its 
 financial year, which, in the Commercial Bank offices, 
 takes place at the end of autumn. It was arranged that 
 the first number of the Witness should appear on the 
 15th January, 1840. During the intervening weeks, the 
 editor-elect was fortunate enough to find specimens on 
 which Agassiz has founded two of his fossil species; 
 got at parting, an elegant breakfast-service of plate, 
 from a kind and numerous circle of friends, of all shades 
 of politics, and both sides of the church-controversy; 
 was honoured with a public dinner, at which Dncle 
 Sandy was present, and had his health most cordially 
 drunk by the company in the character of Mr. Miller's 
 best and earliest fi:ien(L At tha close of the speech 
 
180 
 
 EXAMPLES OP SELE-MAEE MEIf. 
 
 made by the guest of the evening, the fiddlers struck up, 
 as well they might, — 
 
 “ A man’s a man for a’ that.” 
 
 Then, taking leave of his mother and uncle, of his 
 respected minister, and his esteemed superior in the 
 bank, Mr. Hoss, he set out for the metropolis, and in a 
 few days was seated at the editorial desk. We do not 
 at present follow him as he descends into the arena of 
 ecclesiastical conflict : how admirably he was fitted for the 
 mighty task for which he girt himself ; how well he filled 
 the difficult position of defender of sacred and spiritual 
 privileges ; how signal the service he rendered the Tree 
 Church during the seventeen years he conducted the 
 Witness, will appear when we come to view Mr. Miller 
 from another stand-point. Soon after his connection 
 with the Witness, he was offered a situation on the 
 Times. The salary was such as showed the high estimate 
 of his powers entertained by the proprietors ; but cir- 
 cumstances prevented its acceptance. In the course of 
 the first three years, his employers doubled his editorial 
 income. The money originally invested in the Witness, 
 was offered him through Dr. Chalmers, as a sort of 
 honorarium ; but as firmly refused as it was handsomely 
 tendered. At a subsequent period, Professor Miller, as 
 the representative of a select circle of wealthy Tree 
 Churchmen, waited upon him to intimate a resolution 
 to bestow a testimonial, in the shape of a mansion ; but 
 this proposal was also declined. “ I know,” said the 
 editor in reply, ‘‘ that as the defender of Tree Church 
 principles, my intentions have been pure and loyal ; but 
 I am not quite sure I have always been successful in 
 doing the right thing, nor have I done anything that is 
 worthy of such consideration from my friends. I believe 
 my way is to make yet.” 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEN". 
 
 181 
 
 Towards the close of his life — we believe in the year 
 1852, Hugh Miller betook himself to the platform. His 
 maiden speech was delivered to an audience of working 
 men ; his chairman was the Duke of Argyle. Gleorge 
 Stephenson once said to Sir Robert Peel, ‘‘ Why, of all 
 the powers above and under the earth, there seems to me 
 to be no power so great as the gift of the gab.” Certainly 
 the career of not a few amongst our contemporaries has 
 proven that eloquence has a power greater far than 
 parchment pedigrees. Mr. Miller, however, was too late 
 in taking the field to acquire the readiness and fluency 
 necessary to render his public discourses very comfortable 
 to himself. His composition was beautiful, his reasoning 
 logical, his illustrations brilliant, but his oratory was 
 defective. No enthusiasm shone on his face, or quivered 
 on his lips. He could feed, not thrill or tickle his 
 auditory. Nevertheless, though totally unacquainted 
 with the tricks of the lecture-room, he was highly 
 popular. It is intolerable,” said one, ‘‘to think of the 
 literary coteries of London being overcrowded in the 
 accent of an Ecclefechan carter.” It may seem equally 
 strange that the Cromarty mason, whose oral instructions 
 were scarcely intelligible to southern ears, should have 
 been among the most acceptable lecturers that appeared 
 in Exeter Hall, under the auspices of the Young Men’s 
 Christian Association. In Grlasgow, multitudes flocked 
 to listen to him discoursing on the mysteries of geology, 
 while at Edinburgh numerous and brilliant companies 
 met, in Queen Street Hall, to hear him discuss recondite 
 subjects. We may add, that such services were always 
 cheerfully and readily given, when time and strength 
 would allow, without fee or reward, solely for the 
 luxury of doing good. This sentiment was highly 
 honourable to him ; still, it is well to remember, and also 
 to illustrate the principle — sound according to the ac- 
 
182 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE METf. 
 
 cepted doctrines of political economy, — that all labourers 
 should share in the profits of labour ; and that this 
 share should be more or less, as the profits of labour 
 rise or fall. 
 
 We come now to the closing scene. Let the accom- 
 plished biographer of Chalmers tell that awful story : — 
 “ In the belief,” says Dr. Hanna, ‘‘that nothing touching 
 the character and memory of such a man can be re- 
 garded with other than the deepest interest, the friends 
 of Mr. Hugh Miller have thought it due at once to his 
 great name, and to the cause of truth, to lay fully before 
 the public a statement of the most mournful circumstances 
 under which he has departed from this life. For some 
 months past, his over-tasked intellect had given evidence of 
 disorder. He became the prey of false, exaggerated alarms. 
 He fancied — if, indeed, it was a fancy — that occasionally, 
 and for brief intervals, his faculties quite failed him — that 
 his mind broke down. He was engaged at this time with 
 a treatise on the ‘Testimony of the Hocks,’ upon which he 
 was putting out all his strength — ^working at his topmost 
 pitch of intensity. Hours after midnight the light was 
 seen to glimmer through the windows of that room, which 
 within the same eventful week was to witness the close 
 of the volume, and the close of the writer’s life. This 
 over- working of the brain began to tell upon his mental 
 health. He had always been somewhat moodily appre- 
 hensive of being attacked by footpads, and he carried 
 loaded firearms about his person. Latterly, having 
 occasion sometimes to return to Portobello from Edin- 
 burgh at unseasonable hours, he had furnished himself 
 with a revolver. But now, to all his old fears as to 
 attacks upon his person, there was added an exciting 
 and overmastering impression that his house, and espe- 
 cially his museum, the fruit of so much care, which was 
 x3ontained in a separate outer building, were exposed to 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEN. 
 
 183 
 
 the assaults of burglars. He read all the recent stories 
 of house robberies. He believed that one night lately an 
 actual attempt to break in upon his museum had been 
 made. A^isions of ticket-of-leave men prowling about his 
 premises haunted him by day and by night. The revolver, 
 which lay nightly near him, was not ^. enough ; a broad- 
 bladed dagger was kept beside it ; whilst behind him, at 
 his bed-head, a claymore stood ready at hand. A week 
 or so ago, a new and more aggravated feature of cerebral 
 disorder showed itself, in sudden and singular sensations 
 in his head. They came only after lengthened intervals. 
 They did not last long, but were intensely violent. The 
 terrible idea that his brain was deeply and hopelessly 
 diseased — that his mind was on the verge of ruin — took 
 hold of him, and stood out before his eye in all that 
 appalling magnitude in which such an imagination as his 
 alone could picture it. It was mostly at night that these 
 wild paroxysms of the brain visited him ; but, until last 
 Monday, he had spoken of them to no one. A friend, 
 who had a long conversation with him on the Thursday 
 of last week, never enjoyed an interview more, or remem- 
 bers him in a more genial mood. On Saturday forenoon 
 another friend from Edinburgh found him in the same 
 happy frame. On the forenoon of Sunday last he wor- 
 shipped in the Eree Church at Portobello, and in the 
 evening read a little work (the ‘ Polestar of Eaith’) which 
 had been put into his hands — penning a brief notice of 
 it, his last contribution to the Witness. About ten 
 o’clock on Monday morning he took what, with him, was 
 an altogether unusual step. He called on Dr. Balfour, 
 in Portobello, to consult him as to his state of health. 
 ‘ On my asking,’ says Dr. Balfour, in a communication 
 with which we have been favoured, ‘what was the matter 
 with him, he replied, “ My brain is giving way. I cannot 
 put two thoughts together to-day; I have had a dreadful 
 
184 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE MEIf. 
 
 night of it ; I cannot face another such ; I was impressed 
 with the idea that my museum was attacked by robbers, 
 and that I had got up, put on my clothes, and gone out 
 with a loaded pistol to shoot them. Immediately after 
 that I became unconscious. How long that continued I 
 cannot say ; but when I awoke in the morning I was 
 trembling all over, and quite confused in my brain. On 
 rising, I felt as if a stiletto was suddenly, and as quietly 
 as an electric shock, passed through my brain from front 
 to back, and left a burning sensation on the top of my 
 brain, just below the bone. So thoroughly convinced 
 was I that I must have been out through the night, that 
 I examined my trousers to see if they were wet or covered 
 with mud, but I could find none.” He further said, — “ I 
 may state that I was somewhat similarly affected through 
 the night twice last week, and I examined my trousers in 
 the morning to see if I had been out. Still, the terrible 
 sensations were not nearly so bad as they were last night ; 
 and I may further inform you, that towards the end of 
 last week, while passing through the Exchange in Edin- 
 burgh, I was seized with such a giddiness, that I stag- 
 gered, and would, I think, have fallen, had I not got into 
 an entry, where I leaned against the wall, and became 
 quite unconscious for some seconds.” ’ Hr. Balfour stated 
 his opinion of the case, told him that he was over-working 
 his brain, and agreed to call on him on the following day, 
 to make a fuller examination. Meanwhile, the quick 
 eye of affection had noticed that there was something 
 wrong, and on Monday forenoon Mrs. Miller came up to 
 Edinburgh, to express her anxiety to Professor Miller, and 
 request that he would see her husband. ‘ I arranged,’ says 
 Professor Miller, ‘ to meet Hr. Balfour at Shrubmount 
 (Mr. Hugh Miller’s house) on the afternoon of next day. 
 "We met accordingly, at half-past three, on Tuesday. He 
 was a little annoyed at Mrs. Miller’s having given me the 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEN. 
 
 185 
 
 trouble, as be called it, but received me quite in bis 
 ordinary kind, friendly manner. We examined bis cbest, 
 and found that unusually well ; but soon we discovered 
 that it was bead symptoms that made bim uneasy. He 
 acknowledged having been, nigbt after nigbt, up till very 
 late in tbe morning, working bard and continuously at 
 bis new book, “ wbicb,” with much satisfaction, he said, 
 “I have finished this day.” He was sensible that bis bead 
 bad suffered in consequence, as evidenced in two ways : — 
 first, occasionally, be felt as if a very fine poniard bad been 
 suddenly passed through and through bis brain. Tbe pain 
 was intense, and momentarily followed by confusion and 
 giddiness, and tbe sense of being “very drunk” — unable to 
 stand or walk. He thought that a period of unconscious- 
 ness must have followed this — a kind of swoon, but he 
 bad never fallen. Second, — what annoyed bim most, 
 however, was a kind of nightmare, wbicb for some 
 nights past bad rendered sleep most miserable. It was 
 no dream, be said ; he saw no distinct vision, and could 
 remember nothing of what bad passed accurately. It 
 was a sense of vague and yet intense horror, with a con- 
 viction of being abroad in tbe nigbt wind, and dragged 
 through places, as if by some invisible power. “ Last 
 nigbt,” be said, “I felt as if I bad been ridden by a 
 witch for fifty miles, and rose far more wearied in mind 
 and body than when I lay down.” So strong was bis 
 conviction of having be n out, that he bad difficulty of 
 persuading himself to tbe contrary, by carefully examining 
 bis clothes in the morning, to see if they were not wet or 
 dirty ; and be looked inquiringly and anxiously to bis 
 wife, asking if she was sure be had not been out, and 
 walking in this disturbed trance or dream. His pulse 
 was quiet, but tongue foul. Tbe bead was not hot, but 
 be could not say it was free from pain. We came to tbe 
 conclusion that be was suffering from an over-worked 
 
186 
 
 EXAMPLES OP SELE-MALE MEN. 
 
 mind, disordering his digestive organs, enervating his 
 whole frame, and threatening serious head affection. 
 We told him this, and enjoined absolute discontinuance 
 of work, bed at eleven, light supper, (he had all his life- 
 time made that a principal meal,) thinning the hair of 
 the head, a warm sponging-bath at bedtime, &c. To all 
 our commands he readily promised obedience, not forget- 
 ting the discontinuance of neck-rubbing, to which he had 
 unfortunately been prevailed on to submit some days 
 before. Tor fully an hour we talked together on these 
 and other subjects, and I left him with no apprehension 
 of impending evil, and little doubting but that a short 
 time of rest and regimen would restore him to his wonted 
 vigour.’ It was a cheerful hour that was thus passed, 
 and his wife and family partook of the hopeful feeling 
 with which his kind friend. Professor Miller, had parted 
 with him. It was now near dinner-hour, and the servant 
 entered the room to spread the table. She found Mr. 
 Miller in the room alone. Another of the paroxysms 
 was on him. His face was such a picture of horror, that 
 she shrank in terror from the sight. He flung himself 
 on a sofa, and buried his head, as if in agony, upon the 
 cushion. Again, however, the vision flitted by, and left 
 him in perfect health. The evening was spent quietly 
 with his family. During tea he employed himself in 
 reading aloud Cowper’s ‘ Castaway,’ the ‘ Sonnet on Mary 
 Unwin,’ and one of the most playful pieces, for the 
 special pleasure of his children. Having corrected some 
 proofs of the forthcoming volume, he went upstairs 
 to his study. At the appointed hour he had taken the 
 bath, but, unfortunately, his natural and peculiar repug- 
 nance to physic had induced him to leave untaken the 
 medicine that had been prescribed. He had retired into 
 his sleeping-room — a small apartment opening out of his 
 study, and which, for some time past, in consideration of 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 187 
 
 the delicate state of his wife’s health, and the irregulari- 
 ties of his own hours of study, he occupied at night alone 
 — and lain some time upon the bed. The horrible trance, 
 more horrible than ever, must have returned. All that 
 can now be known of what followed is to be gathered 
 from the facts ; and next morning his body, half dressed, 
 was found lying lifeless on the floor, the feet upon the 
 study rug, and the chest pierced with the ball of the 
 revolver pistol, which was found lying in the bath that 
 stood close by. The deadly bullet had perforated the 
 left lung, grazed the heart, cut through the pulmonary 
 artery at its root, and lodged in the rib in the right side. 
 Death must have been instantaneous. The servant, by 
 whom the body was first discovered, acting with singular 
 discretion, gave no alarm, but went instantly in search of 
 the doctor and minister; and on the latter the melancholy 
 duty was devolved of breaking the fearful intelligence to 
 that now broken-hearted widow, over whose bitter sorrow 
 it becomes us to draw the veil. The body was lifted, and 
 laid upon the bed. We saw it there a few hours after- 
 wards. The head lay back, sideways on the pillow. 
 There was the massive brow, the firm-set, manly features 
 we had so often looked upon admiringly, just as we had 
 lately seen them — no touch or trace upon them of disease 
 — nothing but that overspread pallor of death to distin- 
 guish them from what they had been ; but the expression 
 of that countenance in death will live in our memory for 
 ever. Death by gun-shot wounds is said to leave no trace 
 of suffering behind ; and never was there a face of the 
 dead freer from all shadow of pain, or grief, or conflict, 
 than that of our dear departed friend. And as we bent 
 over it, and remembered the troubled look it sometimes 
 had in life, and thought what must have been the 
 sublimely terrific expression that it wore at the moment 
 when the fatal deed was done, we could not help thinking 
 
188 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEIf. 
 
 that it lay there to tell us, in that expression of unruffled 
 majestic repose that sat upon every feature, what we so 
 assuredly believe, that the spirit had passed through a 
 terrible tornado, in which reason had been broken down ; 
 but that it had made the great passage in safety, and 
 stood looking back to us, in humble, grateful triumph, 
 from the other side. 
 
 “ On looking round the room in which the body had 
 been discovered, a folio sheet of paper was seen lying on 
 the table. On the centre of the page the following 
 lines were written ; the last which that pen was ever to 
 trace : — 
 
 “ ‘ Dearest Lydia, — My brain burns. I must have 
 walked ; and a fearful dream rises upon me. I cannot 
 bear the horrible thought. God and Lather of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me. Dearest 
 Lydia, dear children, farewell. My brain burns, as the 
 recollection grows. My dear, dear wife, farewell ! 
 
 “ ' Hu an Millek.’ 
 
 “ What a legacy of love to a broken-hearted family ! 
 And to us and all who loved him, how pleasing to observe, 
 in that bewildering hour, when the horror of that great 
 darkness came down upon that noble spirit, and some 
 hideous, shapeless phantom overpowered it, and took 
 from it even the capacity to discern the right from the 
 wrong, humility and faith and affection still kept their 
 hold — amid the ruins of the intellect, that tender heart 
 remaining still unbroken ! These last lines remain as 
 the surest evidence of the mysterious power that laid 
 his spirit prostrate, and of the noble elements of which 
 that spirit was composed — humble, and reverent, and 
 loving to the last. 
 
 “On Friday, at the request of friends, and under the 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEI^’. 
 
 189 
 
 authority of the procurator-fiscal, a 'post 'mortem ex- 
 amination of the body took place. We subjoin the 
 result : — 
 
 “ Edinburgh, December 26, 1856. 
 
 “We hereby certify, on soul and conscience, that we 
 have this day examined the body of Mr. Hugh Miller, 
 at Shrubmount, Portobello. 
 
 “The cause of death we found to be a pistol-shot 
 through the left side of the chest ; and this, we are 
 satisfied, was inflicted by his own hand. 
 
 “ Erom the diseased appearances found in the brain, 
 taken in connection with the history of the case, we have 
 no doubt that the act was suicidal, under the impulse of 
 insanity. 
 
 “ James Millee, 
 
 “ A. H. Baleotje, 
 
 “ W. T. G-aedxee, 
 
 “ A. M. Edwaeds.” 
 
 Humbling yet true is the saying, that much learning 
 is often allied to madness ; and it is but a thin partition 
 which frequently separates betwixt the workings of 
 genius, and the eccentricities of an imbecile mind. Sir 
 Isaac JSTewton, before his death, was unable to compre- 
 hend the meaning of one of his own axioms. That 
 strangely gifted son of genius. Dean Swift, died a lunatic. 
 Even Hugh Miller, the geological king of Scotland, 
 whose name was inscribed on the noblest page of modern 
 history — the man of deep religious principle — died by 
 his own hand! Well may we exclaim, “Lord, what is 
 man ?” But when the intellect had gone, and the power 
 of genius had passed away, the heart was as strong as 
 ever. On the eve of his marriage, he presented Miss 
 Eraser with a pocket Bible, upon the blank pages of 
 which he wrote, — 
 
190 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 ‘‘ Lydia, since ill by sordid gift 
 Were love like mine express’d, 
 
 Take heaven’s best boon, this sacred Book, 
 From him who loves thee best. 
 
 Love strong as that I bear to thee 
 Were sure unaptly told 
 By dying flowers, or lifeless gems, 
 
 Or soul-ensnaring gold. 
 
 “ I know ’twas He who formed this heart. 
 Who seeks this heart to guide ; 
 
 For why ? — He bids me love thee more 
 Than all on earth beside — 
 
 Yes, Lydia, bids me cleave to thee. 
 
 As long this heart has cleaved : — 
 Would, dearest, that His other laws 
 Were half so well received! 
 
 “ Full many a change, my only love. 
 
 On human life attends ; 
 
 And at the cold sepulchral stone 
 Th’ uncertain vista ends. 
 
 How best to bear each various change. 
 Should weal or woe befall, 
 
 To love, live, die, this Sacred Book, 
 
 Lydia, it tells us all. 
 
 “ Oh, much-belovedj our coming day 
 To us is all unknown ; 
 
 But sure we stand a broader mark 
 Than they who stand alone. 
 
 One knows it all : not His an eye 
 Like ours, obscured and dim ; 
 
 And, knowing us, He gives this Book, 
 That we may know of Him. 
 
 “ His words, my love, are gracious words. 
 And gracious thoughts express ; 
 
 He cares e’en for each little bird 
 That wings the blue abyss. 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 191 
 
 Of coming wants and woes He thought, 
 
 Ere want or woe began ; 
 
 And took to Him a human heart, 
 
 That He might feel for man. 
 
 “ Then, oh, my first, my only love. 
 
 The kindliest, dearest, best ! 
 
 On Him may all our hopes repose — 
 
 On Him our wishes rest. 
 
 His be the future’s doubtful day. 
 
 Let joy or grief befall ; 
 
 In life or death, in weal or woe. 
 
 Our God, our guide, our all” — 
 
 and that last epistle, which might he said to be written 
 in his life’s blood, showed that his aifections turned to 
 her as strongly on the verge of eternity. One thing 
 about his death is cheering ; he died a suicide, truly, — 
 but it was incessant labour in the service of God and 
 humanity that dug his grave. Tor him to live was 
 Christ ; and, consequently, for him to die was gain. 
 
 “ A star hath left the kindling sky, 
 
 A lovely northern light ; 
 
 Many a planet is on high. 
 
 But that hath left the night.” 
 
 The people wept at his death, and sighed again over 
 his obsequies. The din of business was hushed. Silence 
 reigned in the metropolis, save where the funeral bell 
 sounded its deep-toned knell. In that general assembly, 
 controversy was hid, partisanship was laid aside, and 
 men of all ranks, all classes, and of all creeds, vied with 
 each other in presenting to the mighty dead the most 
 solemn and sacred homage. It was no common loss the 
 land mourned, on the 29th of December ; and amidst 
 the ripples of individual grief, and the tidal surges of 
 a nation’s lamentation, was the dust of Hugh Miller 
 
192 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEIT. 
 
 laid in tlie Grange Ceineterj, beside tbe dust of Thomas 
 Chalmers. 
 
 We shall now, in the second place, speak of Hugh 
 Miller as an ecclesiastical polemic. Freedom of religious 
 opinion and worship is one of the great foundation 
 stones of liberty. For Christ’s sole right to rule His 
 own house, and to regulate, without Caesar’s interference, 
 the affairs of His church. His people have mounted the 
 scaffold, embraced the stake, died in exile, and gone to 
 heaven to wear the crown of martyrdom. The apostles 
 publicly proclaimed this doctrine, “ Whether it be 
 right, in the sight of God, to hearken unto you more 
 than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the 
 things we have seen and heard.” Few countries have 
 been more honoured than Scotland, to testify and to 
 suffer for Christ’s kingly crown. The vigorous, self- 
 asserting Scotch were the very last to bow the neck to 
 the yoke of popery : and when at last the lights of 
 Iona were quenched, the darkness was but of short 
 duration. John Knox, by the energy of his will, 
 character, and preaching, freed his countrymen from 
 that system of falsehood and of fraud. Soon after, an 
 attempt was made to subject the Scotch to a sort of 
 semi-papal rule, and the famous Hampton court was 
 held, to convince Andrew Melville and his coadjutors 
 how old-fashioned and anti-scriptural were their views ; 
 but neither crown nor crosier could induce them to 
 accept the jurisdiction of a civil court in matters purely 
 ecclesiastical. When the Dean of Edinburgh began to 
 read the liturgy in the High Church of St. Giles, 
 Jenny Geddes — honour to her memory! — lifted up her 
 cutty-stool, and crying out, “Villain, wilt thou read the 
 mass at my lug ?” hurled it at his head 1 The Eoyal 
 Commissioner dismissed the Glasgow General Assembly, 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEIS". 
 
 193 
 
 but the brave Alexander Henderson commanded the 
 members to keep their places, and told them that, since 
 the representative of an earthly power was so jealous 
 about the honour of his master, it became the ministers 
 of the Church of Christ to be zealous for the honour of 
 theirs. During the long and bloody, but glorious years 
 of persecution, not less than eighteen thousand were 
 faithful unto death, and sleep in the wild glens, the 
 dark mosses, and the misty mountains, waiting the 
 resurrection of the just. 
 
 “ In a dream of the night I was wafted away 
 To the mnirlands of mist, where the martyrs lay ; 
 
 Where Cameron’s sword and his Bible are seen, 
 
 Engraved on the stone where the heather grows green.” 
 
 One fonder of exposing blemishes than extolling beauties 
 may remind us of the theological austerities and warlike 
 tendencies of the Covenanters. To such we reply. Our 
 ancestors were truly noble and godlike men ; their pur- 
 pose was as high as heaven ; and if the men of the 
 present generation may not adopt their methods, and 
 accept as orthodox every article of their creed, let them 
 seek to 
 
 “ Boll their raptures, and to catch their fire.” 
 
 In the year 1712, the Act of Patronage was passed, by 
 which the right of the people to choose their pastors was 
 wrested from them ; and some years afterwards an 
 attempt was made to deprive the people of the last 
 vestige of popular privilege they yet enjoyed. This 
 could not be borne, and the deep undertone of discon- 
 tent found a voice in the celebrated sermon of Ebenezer 
 Erskine, preached before the synod of Perth and Stirling, 
 October 10, 1732. “The stone which the builders refused 
 is become the head stone of the corner.” Devout men 
 hailed Erskine as a noble witness for the truth; but, 
 
 o 
 
194 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEJ^". 
 
 alas ! the mass of the ministers were becoming deeply 
 leavened with the spirit of Erastianism ; and the Church 
 of Scotland, which had shone so resplendent among the 
 churches of the Reformation, began to feel herself a 
 waning light ; under the patronage of the State her 
 lamp had well nigh gone out. ISTotwithstanding the nar- 
 rowness of our self-imposed limits, we must be allowed 
 to single out one specimen of by no means the worst 
 class of men which, under the Robertsonian policy, filled 
 her pulpits. A young dissenting licentiate had received ap- 
 pointments to preach in a parish in Buteshire. Some days 
 after his advent, the parish minister called, and intimated, 
 that as there was plenty of room in the manse, it was 
 useless being at the expense of lodgings ; he might live 
 with him. The clergyman then began to inquire about 
 his habits of study, and his intentions as to sermon- 
 making. “Do you,” he said, “ mean to prepare fresh 
 sermons for your people every week?” The seceder 
 assenting, the moderate burst into a fit of laughter, and 
 said, “ I have only preached four sermons during all the 
 time I have been here. I deliver them every month. I 
 always take care to change the texts, and I believe, that, 
 with the exception of blind David, not one of my 
 parishioners has found me out.” The Buteshire parson 
 had also a new way of conducting his diets of visitation. 
 “ I make intimation,” said he to the young minister, 
 “that the people of a given district are to meet me at a 
 particular public-house, where I have dinner prepared for 
 them. I go gradually round my parish in this way. And 
 I believe,” he added, in a tone of quiet satire, “the people 
 relish my visitations much better than they are likely to 
 do yours.” Robertson, whilst supporting to the utmost 
 the rights of the patrons, always preserved the form of a 
 call from the people ; but Dr. Hill, of St. Andrew’s, his 
 successor in the leadership of the church, proposed that 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEK. 
 
 195 
 
 the call be abolished. This shows how far the church had 
 deflected from the doctrines and spirit of the Reformers. 
 But amidst the faithless some were faithful. Dr. Thomas 
 Hardy lifted up his bold and energetic voice, and declared 
 that the experience of seventy years, and the revolt of 
 one hundred thousand people, were proofs that absolute 
 patronage was irreconcilable with the genius of presby- 
 tery. By-and-by evangelical men began to be born in 
 an Erastian establishment. In the year 1814, Dr. Andrew 
 Thomson became minister of St. George’s, Edinburgh. 
 Erom the pulpit, the platform, and through the press, he 
 asserted, with all the manly splendour of his eloquence, 
 the spiritual independence of the church. A storm began 
 to gather, which was destined to burst over Scotland 
 with the fury of a tornado. Evangelical leaders began 
 to multiply. When many an Eli old and many a Samuel 
 young were trembling for the ark of God, the Hercu- 
 lean Chalmers, with an energy of character and powers 
 of oratory that astonished the church and the world, 
 summoned his countrymen to the help of the Lord, to 
 the help of the Lord against the mighty ; Candlish, clear, 
 cogent, and logical, laid hold of the webs of sophistry 
 woven by the moderates, and tore them to shreds ; 
 Guthrie, with the Covenanting sentiment burning and 
 flashing in his heart, fought over again the battles of 
 Drumclog and Bothwell, and warned the Imperial Par- 
 liament to tread lightly on the consciences of Scottish 
 people. It was then that Hugh Miller commenced his 
 singularly successful career as an ecclesiastical polemic 
 by addressing the following letter to Lord Brougham: — 
 
 “ With many thousands of my countrymen, I have 
 waited in deep anxiety for your lordship’s opinion on the 
 Auchterarder case. Aware that what may seem clear, as 
 a matter of right, may yet be exceedingly doubtful as a 
 
196 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 question of law ; aware, too, that your lordship had to 
 decide in this matter, not as legislator, but as a judge, I 
 was afraid, that though you yourself might be our friend, 
 yet you might have to pronounce the law our enemy. 
 And yet, the bare majority by which the case had been 
 carried against us in the Court of Session — the con- 
 sideration, too, that the judges, who had declared in our 
 favour, rank among the ablest lawyers and most accom- 
 plished men that our country has ever produced, had 
 inclined me to hope that the statute-book, as interpreted 
 by your lordship, might not be found very decidedly 
 against us. But of you yourself, my lord, I could enter- 
 tain no doubt. You had exerted all your energies in 
 sweeping away the Old Sarums and East Betfords of the 
 constitution. Could I once harbour the suspicion, that 
 you had become tolerant of the Old Sarums and East 
 Betfords of the church! You had declared, whether 
 wisely or otherwise, that men possessed of no property 
 qualification, and as humble and as little taught as the 
 individual who now addresses you, should be admitted, 
 on the strength of their moral and intellectual qualities 
 alone, to exercise a voice in the legislature of the country. 
 Could I suppose for a moment, that you deemed that 
 portion of these very men, which falls to the share of 
 Scotland, unfitted to exercise a voice in the election of a 
 parish minister 1 — or rather, for I understate the case, 
 that you held them unworthy of being emancipated from 
 the thraldom of a degrading law — the remnant of a bar- 
 barous code, which conveys them over by thousands, and 
 miles square, to the charge of patronage-courting clergy- 
 men, practically unacquainted with the religion they 
 profess to teach 1 Surely the people of Scotland are not 
 so changed, but that they know at least as much of 
 the doctrines of the New Testament, as of the princi- 
 ples of civil government, — and of the requisites of a 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEK. 
 
 107 
 
 Gospel minister, as of the qualifications of a member of 
 parliament ! 
 
 “You have decided against us, my lord ; you have 
 even said, that we had better rest contented with the 
 existing statutes, as interpreted by your lordship, than 
 involve ourselves in the dangers and difiiculties of a new 
 enactment. Nay, more wonderful still ! all your sym- 
 pathies on the occasion seemed to have been reserved for 
 the times and the memory of men who first imparted its 
 practical efficiency to a law, under which we and our 
 fathers have groaned, and which we have ever regarded 
 as not only subversive of our natural rights as men, but 
 of our well-being as Christians. Highly as your lord- 
 ship estimates our political wisdom, you have no opinion 
 whatever of our religious taste and knowledge. Is it at 
 all possible that you, my lord, a native of Scotland, and 
 possessed of more general information than perhaps any 
 other man living, can have yet to learn that we have 
 thought long and deeply of our religion, whereas our 
 political speculations began but yesterday ; that our po- 
 pular struggles have been struggles for the right of wor- 
 shipping God according to the dictates of our conscience, 
 and under the guidance of ministers of our own choice ; 
 and that when anxiously employed in finding arguments 
 by which rights, so dear to us, might be rationally 
 defended, our discovery of the principles of civil liberty 
 was merely a sort of chance- consequence of the search? 
 Examine yourself, my lord. Is your mind free from all 
 bias in this matter ? Are you quite sure that your 
 admiration of an illustrious relative, at a period when 
 your judgment was comparatively unformed, has not had 
 the effect of rendering his opinions your prejudices ? 
 Principal Eobertson was unquestionably a great man, — 
 but consider in what way. Great as a leader, — not as a 
 ^Father in the Church;’ it is not to ministers such as 
 
198 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEX. 
 
 the Principal, that the excellent among my countrymen 
 look up for spiritual guidance amid the temptations and 
 difficulties of life, or for comfort at its close. Grreat in 
 literature, — not like Timothy of old, great in his know- 
 ledge of the Scriptures, — aged men who sat under his 
 ministry have assured me, that in hurrying over the New 
 Testament, he had missed the doctrine of the atonement. 
 Grreat as an author and a man of genius — great in his 
 enduring labours as a historian — great in the sense in 
 which Hume, and Gribbon, and V oltaire were great. But 
 who can regard the greatness of such men as a sufficient 
 guarantee for the soundness of the opinions which they 
 have held, or the justice or wisdom of the measures 
 which they have recommended ? The law of patronage 
 is in no degree the less cruel or absurd, from its having 
 owed its re-enactment to so great a statesman, and so 
 ingenious a writer, as Bolingbroke ; — ^nor yet from its 
 having received its full and practical efficiency from so 
 masterly a historian, and so thorough a judge of human 
 affairs, as Bobertson ; — nor yet, my lord, from the • new 
 vigour which it has received from the decision of so 
 profound a philosopher, and so accomplished an orator, 
 as Brougham.” 
 
 Lord Melbourne supposed it to be the composition of 
 some of the leading non-intrusionists of Edinburgh, and 
 Daniel O’Connell enjoyed its racy English. It was 
 favourably noticed, too, by Mr. Gladstone in his elabo- 
 rate work on ‘^Church Principles;” and, in short, it 
 raised its author to the editorial chair of the Witness. 
 
 While unaware of the success of his first pamphlet, 
 Mr. Miller visited a neighbouring parish, where a re- 
 markable case of intrusion had occurred, and was busy 
 with a second. We shall transcribe his truthful and 
 graphic description: — 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 199 
 
 “ There were associations of a high and peculiar cha- 
 racter connected with this northern parish. For many a 
 thousand years it had formed part of the patrimony of a 
 truly noble family, celebrated by Philip Doddridge for its 
 great moral worth, and by Sir Walter Scott for its military 
 genius, and through whose influence the light of Eefor- 
 mation had been introduced into this remote corner at 
 a period when the neighbouring districts were enve- 
 loped in the original darkness. In a later age it had been 
 honoured by the fines and prescriptions of Charles II. ; 
 and its minister — one of those men of Grod whose names 
 still live in the memory of the country, and whose bio- 
 graphy occupies no small space in the recorded history 
 of her ‘worthies,’ had rendered himself so obnoxious 
 to the tyranny and irreligion of the time, that he was 
 ejected from his charge more than a year before any of 
 the other non- conforming clergymen of the church. I 
 approached the parish from the east. The day was 
 warm and pleasant; the scenery through which I passed, 
 some of the finest in Scotland. The mountains rose on 
 the right in huge Titanic masses, that seemed to soften 
 their purple and blue, in the clear sunshine, to the 
 delicate tone of the deep sky beyond ; and I could see 
 the yet unwasted snows of winter, glittering in little 
 detached masses along their summits. The hills of the 
 middle region were feathered with wood; a forest of 
 mingled oaks and larches, which still blended the tender 
 softness of spring with the full foliage of summer, swept 
 down to the path ; the wide, undulating plain below was 
 laid out into fields, mottled with cottages, and waving 
 with the yet unshot corn ; and a noble arm of the sea 
 winded along the lower edge for nearly twenty miles, 
 losing itself to the west among blue hills and jutting 
 headlands, and opening in the east to the main ocean, 
 through a magnificent gateway of rock. But the little 
 
200 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEX. 
 
 groups which I encountered at every turning of the path, 
 as they journeyed, with all the sober, well-marked decency 
 of a Scottish Sabbath morning, towards the church of a 
 neighbouring parish, interested me more than even the 
 scenery. The clan which inhabited this part of the 
 country had borne a well-marked character in Scottish 
 story. Buchanan has described it as one of the most 
 fearless and warlike in the north. It served under the 
 Bruce at Bannockburn. It was the first to rise in arms 
 to protect Queen Mary, on her visit to Inverness, from 
 the intended violence of Huntly. It fought the battles 
 of Protestantism in Germany, under Gustavus Adolphus. 
 It covered the retreat of the English at Eontenoy ; and 
 presented an unbroken front to the enemy, after all 
 the other troops had quitted the field. And it was the 
 descendants of these very men who were now passing me 
 on the road. The rugged, robust form, half bone, half 
 muscle, — the springy firmness of the tread, — the grave, 
 manly countenance, — all gave indication that the ori- 
 ginal characteristics survived in their full strength ; and 
 it was a strength that inspired confidence, not fear. 
 There were grey-haired, patriarchal-looking men among 
 the groups, whose very air seemed impressed by a sense 
 of the duties of the day ; nor was there aught that did 
 not agree with the object of the journey, in the appearance 
 of even the youngest and least thoughtful. 
 
 “As I proceeded, I came up with a few people who 
 were travelling in a contrary direction. A secession 
 meeting-house has lately sprung up in the parish, and 
 these formed part of the congregation. A path, nearly 
 obscured by grass and weeds, leads from the main road 
 to the parish church. It was with difficulty I could 
 trace it, and there were none to direct me, for I was 
 now walking alone. The parish burying-ground, thickly 
 sprinkled with graves and tombstones, surrounds the 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEIS". 
 
 201 
 
 churcli. It is a quiet, solitary spot, of great beauty^ 
 lying beside the sea-shore ; and, as service had not yet 
 commenced, I whiled away half an hour in sauntering 
 among the stones, and deciphering the inscriptions. I 
 could trace, in the rude monuments of this retired little 
 spot, a brief but interesting history of the district. The 
 older tablets, grey and shaggy with the mosses and 
 lichens of three centuries, bear, in their uncouth sem- 
 blances of the unwieldy battle-axe and double-handed 
 sword of ancient warfare, the meet and appropriate 
 symbols of the earlier time. But the more modern 
 testify to the introduction of a humanizing influence. 
 They speak of a life after death, in the ‘holy texts’ 
 described by the poet ; or certify, in a quiet humility of 
 style which almost vouches for their truth, that the 
 sleepers below were ‘ honest men, of blameless character, 
 and who feared Grod.’ There is one tombstone, however, 
 more remarkable than all the others. It lies beside the 
 church door, and testifies, in an antique inscription, that 
 it covers the remains of the ‘ GtEEAt . Ma^^ . oe . Gron . 
 Axd . Baitheul . Mii^istek . OE . Jesys . Cheist,’ who 
 had endured persecution for the truth in the dark days 
 of Charles and his brother. He had outlived the tyranny 
 of the Stuarts, and, though worn by years and sufferings, 
 had returned to his parish on the Bevolution, to end his 
 course as it had begun. He saw, ere his death, the law 
 of patronage abolished, and the popular right virtually 
 secured; and, fearing lest his people might be led to 
 abuse the important privilege conferred on them, and 
 calculating aright on the abiding influence of his own 
 character among them, he gave charge on his death-bed 
 to dig his grave in the threshold of the church, that they 
 might regard him as a sentinel placed at the door, and 
 that his tombstone might speak to them as they passed 
 out and in. The inscription, which, after the lapse of 
 
202 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEIT. 
 
 nearly a century and a half, is still perfectly legible, 
 concludes with the following remarkable words : — 
 ‘ This . Stohe . Shall . Beau . Witness . Against . 
 The . Paeishioners . Oe . Kilteaen . Ie . They . 
 Being . Ane . Ungodly . Minister . In . Here.’ 
 Could tbe imagination of a poet bave originated a more 
 striking conception in connection with a cburcb deserted 
 by all its better people, and whose minister fattens on bis 
 hire, useless and contented ? 
 
 “ I entered tbe cburcb, for tbe clergyman bad just 
 gone in. There were from eight to ten persons scattered 
 over tbe pews below, and seven in tbe galleries above ; 
 and these, as there were no more ‘ Peter Clarks’ and 
 ‘ Michael Tods’ in tbe parish, composed tbe entire con- 
 gregation. I wrapped myself up in my plaid, and sat 
 down ; and tbe service went on in tbe usual course ; but 
 it sounded in my ears like a miserable mockery. Tbe 
 precentor sung almost alone ; and ere tbe clergyman bad 
 reached the middle of bis discourse, which be read in an 
 unimpassioned, monotonous tone, nearly one-half bis 
 skeleton congregation had fallen asleep ; and tbe drowsy, 
 listless expression of the others showed that, for every 
 good purpose, they might bave been asleep too. And 
 Sabbath after Sabbath has this unfortunate man gone 
 tbe same tiresome round, and with exactly the same 
 effects, for tbe last twenty-three years ; — at no time 
 regarded by tbe better clergymen of tbe district as 
 really their brother ; — on no occasion recognized by tbe 
 parish as virtually its minister; — and with a dreary 
 vacancy and a few indifferent hearts inside bis cburcb, 
 and tbe stone of tbe Covenanter at tbe door. Against 
 whom does tbe inscription testify ? for tbe people have 
 escaped. Against tbe patron, tbe intruder, and tbe law 
 of Bolingbroke— tbe Dr. Bobertsons of tbe last age, and 
 tbe Dr. Cooks of tbe present. It is well to learn from 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEK. 
 
 203 
 
 this hapless parish the exact sense in which, in a different 
 state of matters, the Eev. Mr. Tonng would have been 
 constituted minister of Auchterarder. It is well, too, to 
 learn, that there may be vacancies in the church when no 
 blank appears in the almanack.” 
 
 In early life he felt no call to enter the ministry ; but 
 in the maturity of his powers he voluntarily assumed the 
 onerous work of defender of the church’s most sacred 
 spiritual privileges : and, although certain historians of 
 the ten years’ conflict are strangely forgetful of the ser- 
 vices rendered by the stalwart editor of the Witness, he 
 was amply qualified for the work he was called to perform, 
 and promoted as much as any man, lay or clerical, the best 
 interests of the Pree Church. Previous to the establish- 
 ment of the Witness, the people were wofully indifferent 
 towards the non-intrusion controversy. The zeal of the 
 evangelical ministers, it was feared, only veiled the in- 
 trigues of priestly ambition ; and the nation seemed quite 
 prepared to accept as accurate Milton’s aphorism, “ New 
 presbyter is old priest writ large.” Even in Edinburgh, 
 the chosen home of the non-intrusion leaders, where 
 Chalmers, Candlish, Gruthrie, Begg, Welsh, Grordon, and 
 Cunningham dwelt, not more than from four to five 
 thousand signatures were obtained, on an average, for 
 petitions in favour of the independence of the church. 
 The eloquence of these men fell dead ; till very recently 
 they had been obstacles to the advancement of civil 
 freedom, and the people could not believe that they 
 were the sincere friends of sacred liberty. The ante- 
 cedents of Hugh Miller placed him above all suspicion ; 
 and the result was, that in the year 1810, the year the 
 Witness was established, the petition sent from the 
 metropolis contained some thirteen thousand signatures, 
 double the number obtained the year before. He loved 
 
204 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MABE MEIS". 
 
 his church with the double affection of patriotism and 
 pride, for he knew she was throbbing with spiritual life. 
 Never did he conceive the idea that it was State support 
 which gave existence or power to a church. It was, 
 therefore, with amazement and dismay that he beheld 
 the Government endeavouring to make the church a 
 mere machine, which the State might regulate and work 
 at pleasure. An able and an honest man, at the call of 
 duty he did not hesitate to revive his fathers’ testimony, 
 and shake the dust of two centuries from their time-worn 
 banner. Doubtless, during that fierce controversy, which 
 resulted in nearly five hundred ministers severing the 
 connection which bound them to the State, — ^relinquishing 
 every claim on its immunities, and reconstituting the 
 church in a state of freedom, — he sometimes allowed 
 human passions to mingle “strange fire” with his service; 
 nevertheless, we think that, upon the whole, he bore him- 
 self nobly, and as a man of honour, throughout the great 
 church struggle ; and by his words, his writings, and, 
 most of all, his example, acted a part therein which 
 entitles him to the lasting gratitude of every lover of 
 religious liberty. The Scottish disruption needs no 
 trumpeting, and none shall be attempted here. Suffice 
 it to say, that the march from St. Andrew’s to Tanfield 
 did prove that Christianity had a powerful hold both of 
 the pastors and the people of Scotland. Truthful are the 
 words of Mr. P. Bayne: — “In an age of respectability 
 and common-place, — in an age when the decorous, the 
 established, the aristocratic, is still so revered and clung 
 to by at least our middle classes, — a large body of men, 
 well advanced in life, and many of them tottering under 
 grey hairs, deliberately stepped from under the smile of 
 power, deliberately risked their continuance, as a church, 
 on the Christianity of the people and the blessing of 
 God. Such events do not occur in the history of dead 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE ME^f. 
 
 205 
 
 religions ; such phenomena cannot appear where religion 
 is a doubt.” The disruption ministers w'ere martyrs 
 neither by desire nor by mistake. We are proud of the 
 men who, rather than sacrifice principle, gave up their 
 livings, and, Luther-like, sang, — 
 
 “ God is our refuge and our strength, 
 
 In straits a present aid ; 
 
 Therefore, although the earth remove, 
 
 ^ We will not be afraid.” 
 
 Let US now, thirdly, notice his literary and scientific 
 attainments. Lrom the stormy arena of ecclesiastical 
 controversy, Mr. Miller turned at will into the quiet 
 fields of general literature, and the mines of geological 
 science. Many have strongly regretted that he neglected 
 his only opportunity of becoming a thorough classical 
 scholar, as a knowledge of learned tongues would have 
 added to the stateliness, range, and rhythmic cadence of 
 his style. To these we reply, that the best English, in 
 our estimation, has been written by a player, a tinker, a 
 ploughman, and a mason; neither of whom were ac- 
 quainted with the writings of Cicero and Caesar, of Plato 
 and Thucydides. It is well known that Dr. Buckland 
 envied Mr. Miller’s style, and said that he would give 
 his left hand to possess such powers of description. His 
 boyhood, to a great degree, was wasted; but in after 
 years, through genius and talent, united to incredible 
 industry, he gave himself an excellent education, made 
 for himself a position in the scientific world, which any 
 man might well envy, devoted himself to the study of 
 good books, and thus acquired a perfect command of the 
 finest language. Notwithstanding the antecedents of 
 sadly misspent school days, he had dared to believe that 
 literature, and perhaps natural science, were, after all, 
 his proper vocation, and accordingly selected the trade 
 of a mason, because of its winter leisure: and by the 
 
206 
 
 EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEX. 
 
 glimmering light of bothy fires did he strain his eyes • 
 over the pages of the great classic writers of English 
 literature. Passing from the illustrious men 
 
 “ that fill 
 
 The spacious times of great Elizabeth, 
 
 With sounds that echo still,” 
 
 he became acquainted with the poets and novelists 
 of a later age, — with Pope and Dryden, with Swift and 
 Pichardson, with Grray and Cowper, with Addison and 
 Goldsmith. Gifted with an intensely acute, yet com- 
 prehensive and concentrating faculty of observation, he 
 no sooner entered the quarry, than his quiet though 
 piercing eye was at once illuminated with inquisitive 
 wonder ; and, in the course of his labours, made certain 
 discoveries, which led to his becoming a geologist. He 
 thus describes the second day of his life as a mason : — 
 “Ail the workmen rested at mid-day, and I went 
 to enjoy my half-hour alone on a mossy knoll in the 
 neighbouring wood, which commands through the trees 
 a wide prospect of the bay and the opposite shore. 
 There was not a wrinkle on the water, nor a cloud in 
 the sky, and the branches were as moveless in the calm 
 as if they had been stretched on canvas. Ben Wyvis 
 rose to the west, white with the yet unwasted snows of 
 winter, and as sharply defined in the clear atmosphere as 
 if all its sunny slopes and blue-retiring hollows had been 
 chiselled in marble. A line of snow ran along the oppo- 
 site hills ; all above was white, and all below was purple. 
 
 . .... I returned to the quarry, convinced that 
 
 a very exquisite pleasure may be a very cheap one, 
 and that the busiest employments may afford leisure 
 enough to enjoy it. The gunpowder had loosened 
 a large mass in one of the inferior strata, and our first 
 employment, on resuming our labours, was to raise it 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEX. 
 
 207 
 
 from its bed. I assisted the other workmen in placing it 
 on edge, and was much struck by the appearance of the 
 platform on which it had rested. The entire surface was 
 ridged and furrowed like a bank of sand that had been 
 left by the tide an hour before. I could trace every 
 bend and curvature, every cross hollow and counter ridge 
 of the corresponding phenomenon ; for the resemblance 
 was no half resemblance — it was the thing itself, and 
 I had observed it a hundred and a hundred times when 
 sailing my little schooner in the shallows left by the ebb. 
 But what had become of the waves that had thus fretted 
 the solid rock, or of what element had they been com- 
 posed ? I felt as completely at fault as Bobinson Crusoe 
 did on his discovering the print of a man’s foot on the 
 sand. The evening furnished me with still further cause 
 of wonder. We raised another block in a different part 
 of the quarry, and found that the area of a circular 
 depression in the stratum below was broken and flawed 
 in every direction, as if it had been the bottom of a pool 
 recently dried up, which had shrunk and split in the 
 hardening. Several large stones came rolling down from 
 the diluvium in the course of the afternoon. They were 
 of different qualities from the sandstone below, and from 
 one another, and, what was more wonderful still, they 
 were all rounded and water- worn, as if they had been 
 tossed about in the sea, or the bed of a river, for hundreds 
 of years. There could not, surely, be a more conclusive 
 proof that the bank which had enclosed them so long, 
 could not have been created on the rock on which it 
 rested. No workman ever manufactures a half- worn 
 article, and the stones were all half- worn ! And, if not 
 the bank, why, then, the sandstone underneath ? I was 
 lost in conjecture, and found that I had food enough for 
 thought that evening, without once thinking of the un- 
 happiness of a life of labour.” 
 
208 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE MEIf. 
 
 Here was precisely the same curiosity which afterwards 
 impelled him to search for the pterichthys and coc- 
 costeus in their stony tombs. Had we seen this big- 
 headed, warm-hearted, quiet-looking lad, in the intervals 
 of hard labour, while others went to lounge, or smoke, 
 or doze, or drink, gazing with intense interest and 
 trembling admiration upon the sublime scenery around 
 the glassy frith ; and had we followed him to the quarry, 
 and noted that, as he turned up stone after stone, he 
 found sermons in them, and could not — no, could not — 
 resist the impulse to question, and examine, and infer, — 
 we might have felt sure that there was something in him, 
 and that he would not die a mason. JSTor did he. His 
 name is one of the brightest on the roll of fame. We can 
 only glance at those exceeding valuable works which he 
 gave to the world, fired with, the radiancy of his own 
 genius, and stamped with his own rich, clear, and pic- 
 torial style. “ Poems, by a Journeyman Stonemason,” 
 we pass by ; they did little for his fame. “ Scenes and 
 Legends of the North of Scotland” appeared during the 
 first year of his accountantship, and was characterized 
 bv Leigh Hunt’s Journal as a highly amusing and 
 interesting book, written by a remarkable man, who 
 would infallibly be well known. “ The Old Eed 
 Sandstone” was written during the course of the first 
 year of the Witness. Organs of critical uprightness, 
 and reviewers who could not be affected by par- 
 tialities, expressed their opinions regarding it in terms 
 of the highest eulogy; and Sir E. Murchison, in an 
 address to the Geological Society, in the year 1842, said, 
 — “ In Mr. Miller we have to hail the accession to geo- 
 logical Avriters of a man highly qualified to advance the 
 science. His work to a beginner is worth a thousand 
 didactic treatises.” Jones, of Mayland, says : — “ Let a 
 man have all the world can give him, he is still miserable, 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE MEIS". 
 
 209 
 
 if lie has a grovelling, unlettered, undevout mind. Let 
 him have his gardens, his fields, his woods, his lawns for 
 grandeur, plenty, ornament, and gratification, while at 
 the same time God is not in all his thoughts. And let 
 another man have neither field nor garden ; let him look 
 only at nature with an enlightened mind — a mind which 
 can see and adore the Creator in His works, can consider 
 them demonstrations of His power. His wisdom. His 
 goodness, and His truth ; — this man is greater, as well as 
 happier in his poverty, than the other in his riches. The 
 one is but a little higher than a beast, the other but a 
 little lower than an angel.” Hugh Miller always kept 
 his eyes wide open, and his brains reflecting behind them ; 
 hence, after his wanderings in the south, he published — 
 ‘‘ First Impressions of England and its People.” It had, 
 according to the British Quarterly Beviev^^ equal re- 
 ference to the land and the people, to the geology of the 
 region, and the humanity of it ; and added another laurel 
 to the wreath he had already won for himself. Probably 
 you are aware that there are men — or, rather, animals — 
 who trace their genealogy from mud, and reptiles, and 
 brutes ; our infidel friends boast that their grandfathers 
 were monkeys ! This ought to moderate our astonish- 
 ment at their follies. To expound this doctrine — viz., 
 that the lowest animal was made first ; that gradually it 
 developed itself into a higher, till, at last, it developed 
 itself into a man — ‘^Vestiges of the Hatural History of 
 Creation” was written. Possibly, Professor Mchol, 
 George Combe, and others, contributed to the work ; but 
 it is now pretty well known that Eobert Chambers, of 
 Edinburgh, was the real author. To expose the sophis- 
 tries of that popular but unsound book, Mr. Miller 
 issued ‘‘Footprints of the Creator,” in which he proved 
 from the facts of science, and the soundest principles of 
 the inductive philosophy, that each creature was made 
 
210 
 
 EXAMPLES OP SELP-MADE MEX. 
 
 in its highest perfection first, and then there was a dete- 
 rioration. The Eootprints ” completely demolished 
 the development theory, and taught the author of the 
 Vestiges the truth of Campbell’s well-known lines, — 
 
 “ When science from creation’s face 
 Enchantment’s veil withdraws, 
 
 What lovely visions yield their place 
 To cold material laws.” 
 
 Nevertheless, the development hypothesis has still its 
 disciples. The following recently appeared in a news- 
 paper : — • 
 
 SiE, — "With great deference to Dr. Longmuir, whom 
 I only know from his letter in your paper, I think it 
 imprudent to speak as he does of the development hypo- 
 thesis ; that is to say, to set forth, in the words of Hugh 
 Miller, that, if that hypothesis be true, ‘ Christianity is 
 an idle and unsightly excrescence on a code of morals 
 that would he perfect were it away.’ The hypothesis is 
 not proved — perhaps, cannot be proved — but neither is it 
 disproved. The opposition it has met with, during the 
 last dozen years or so, has consisted chiefly in efibrts 
 to show an inconsistency between the facts of palaeon- 
 tology and a genetic succession of organisms, and these 
 efibrts have all been sad failures. The principal facts 
 assumed as adverse in Hugh Miller’s book are found to 
 have been fallacious, insomuch that the book cannot be 
 reprinted, and is withdrawn from the list of the author’s 
 publications. Professor Agassiz, while still disclaiming 
 the hypothesis, has been constantly bringing his view of 
 the animal creation more and more into harmony with it. 
 Mr. Charles Darwin is about to issue a book, presenting 
 views as to the origin of species, which must give it much 
 support. Por some years there has been a significant 
 silence on the subject among geologists of reputation ; 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEjST. 
 
 211 
 
 and I am assured that they now speak of it in private as 
 the views of creation ‘looming in the future.’ One 
 learned and reverend Oxford professor gives it an un- 
 hesitating approbation in more than one work. JSTor is 
 all this to he wondered at, when we reflect that the only 
 other view of the origin of the organic world is one 
 assuming a series of miracles, most of them ridiculous 
 from their smallness, and that, after all, the development 
 hypothesis does no more towards the Creator than has 
 been done by science in every other department of the 
 great system of things — namely, represent Him as acting 
 according to ^TLWder or law^ presumably flowing from 
 himself. 
 
 “ Such being the case, to make our religion wholly 
 depend on the event of this question, is surely injudi- 
 cious. Suppose that the further progress of opinion is 
 in favour of the hypothesis, and that it thus gains a 
 decided ascendency, what will be said by the enemies of 
 Christianity to the Millers and the Longmuirs ? What 
 but this — ‘ You staked your religion on the issue of this 
 question ; it has been decided against you ; ergo, your 
 religion is at an end ! ’ Imagine the effect of this with 
 a certain class of minds ! Imagine what will then be the 
 estimate formed of the Millers and the Longmuirs among 
 the more judicious friends of Christianity ! 
 
 “ I am, Sir, 
 
 “ Tour obedient servant, 
 
 “Eespice Eii^em.” 
 
 Soon after, the Eev. J. Longmuir, LL.D., thus 
 replied : — 
 
 “ ‘ There are some who would shut out, by easily comprehended 
 but quite gratuitous systems of progressive transmutation and self- 
 creative forces,’ &c. — K ichaed Owen. 
 
 “ SiE, — I should not probably have considered it ne- 
 
212 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEIX. 
 
 cessary to notice the letter of ‘ Eespice Finem/ ia as far 
 as this hypothesis or mere dream is concerned, as he ad- 
 mits that it ‘ is not proved — perhaps, cannot be proved,’ 
 had it not been for his extraordinary statement, that 
 Mr. Miller’s work, which furnished so complete a demo- 
 lition of the ‘Vestiges,’ had been withdrawn from the 
 list of his publications, because its principal facts were 
 found to be fallacious ! JSTow, Sir, I could have at once 
 replied to this gratuitous assertion ; but although my 
 caution has delayed my answer, I can now, on Mrs. 
 Miller’s authority, assure your correspondent, and your 
 readers, who were in danger of being-^^ misled by him, 
 that as soon as the new edition of the ‘ Old Eed Sand- 
 stone,’ which is now in preparation, has been published, 
 another edition of ‘ Footprints of the Creator, or the 
 Asterolepis of Stromness,’ will speedily appear. 
 
 “ I am. Sir, 
 
 “ Tours respectfully, 
 
 “ J. Lokumuir.” 
 
 That very fascinating work, “ My Schools and School- 
 masters,” which all who need to learn, and yet have no 
 one to teach them, ought to read, we owe to the sugges- 
 tion of the Fev. Principal Baird. “ The distinction,” 
 said the Principal, “between the educated and unedu- 
 cated literary man is absurd ; all are educated in some 
 way, and the more unusual the way, the more interesting 
 its record. Write the history of yours.” Of “ The 
 Testimony of the Bocks,” we deem it impossible to speak 
 in too strong terms of commendation. Every page glows 
 with sanctified genius. Alas! as has been beautifully 
 said, he “just strained the finely-strung fibres of his 
 mind a little too far, and they burst in insanity.” The 
 “ Cruise of the Betsey,” with “ Eambles of a Geologist,” 
 and “ Sketch-book of Popular Geology,” — these valuable 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEX. 
 
 213 
 
 treatises are all that remains of what he intended to be 
 his maximum opus. To Hugh Miller belonged the high 
 honour of uniting the theologian and the man of science. 
 He took his hammer in his hand, and went down into the 
 bowels of the earth, and made the storied mines of the 
 early world illustrate and confirm the declarations of the 
 Bible. And not only did he, by means of his beautiful 
 and poetical pages, awaken an almost universal interest 
 in geology ; he also added many independent contribu- 
 tions to its ascertained facts. As a premium to his high 
 literary and scientific attainments, he was offered, through 
 the Marquis of Breadalbane, a Grovernment situation, 
 which yielded a salary of some £800 per annum, the 
 duties of which were merely nominal. Drs. Guthrie 
 and Hanna accompanied him to the ofiS.ce of the legal 
 agent who would have ratified the appointment. Before 
 entering, Mr. Miller suddenly stopped, and addressing 
 Dr. Hanna, said, “ Doctor, I have made up my mind to 
 refuse. I find my memory not now so good as it was 
 formerly. I forget things I was wont to remember with 
 ease. I am not clear in such circumstances about taking 
 upon me any money responsibility.” His purpose was 
 fixed. Ho persuasion could induce him to alter his 
 resolution. 
 
 We have left ourselves but little room to dilate on the 
 great qualities that combined to form the character of this 
 wondrous man. His acuteness and depth of intellect 
 were such, that he earned for himself no second place 
 amongst the great names of a country renowned for 
 subtlety of genius. His capacious memory faithfully 
 retained the stores of science which he had acquired in 
 caves and ravines, along sea-shores, among rocks, and in 
 quarries ; he had also an imagination of rare force and 
 freshness, which enabled him to illustrate abstract truths 
 
214 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MElf. 
 
 in a familiar and beautiful manner ; and bis power of 
 bringing them borne to tbe business and bosom of man, 
 all know wbo bave read bis writings. His moral charac- 
 ter was of equal excellence. Like Paul and Lutber, be 
 ■was a combination of energy and strength of mind, with 
 simplicity and affection of heart. In undertaking tbe 
 editorship of tbe Witness, be knew be would bave to 
 stand in Ishmael’s position, against almost all tbe news- 
 paper press of the kingdom ; but tbe path of duty was 
 clear, so be took the step, and never faltered in a career 
 fraught with peril and discomfort. He bad a moral 
 energy equal to anything with which man can be called 
 upon to grapple. In supporting bis views, be employed 
 not only calm historical narrative, and powerful ratioci- 
 nation, but tbe liveKest wit, tbe broadest humour, tbe 
 gayest satire, and tbe most exquisite banter ; but when 
 in after years be met with those on whom, during tbe 
 great church struggle, be bad poured tbe vials of bis 
 sevenfold wrath, and found that they bad forgotten tbe 
 past, and bad nothing but love and friendship for him, be 
 felt tbe bitterest regret. His manly self-consciousness 
 deserves special prominence. He has been broadly 
 charged with egotism. "We do not think be was guilty. 
 But, certainly, be knew that bis name was Hugh Miller, 
 and perhaps bis self-assertion was, sometimes, rather too 
 fierce and defiant. Take, for example, these sentences : — 
 “ It has been insinuated to us, that tbe Witness news- 
 paper is pursuing on tbe educational question a course 
 perilous to itself. We are not careful, we at once say, 
 to answer for ourselves in this matter. Tbe editor of 
 tbe Witness is a bumble man, but he stands on other 
 ground than mere salaried functionaries, of whom with 
 all deference it may be affirmed, that ‘ a breath can make 
 them, as a breath has made.’ It is to God, and not to 
 patronage clerical or lay, that be owes that voice with 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 215 
 
 wMcli lie addresses himself to a large circle of certainty 
 not the least intelligent of his countrymen, nor does he 
 fear that circle will be ultimately much contracted, 
 should he be compelled to read on behalf of his country, 
 and of a meritorious though neglected class of men, an 
 occasional sermon to a committee, or even to call a 
 church leader to account.” The stonemason of Cromarty 
 never bent himself before the worthless wealthy, or the 
 little great, but stood firmly on the pedestal of his own 
 individuality. He neither cowered nor cringed in the 
 presence of a lord. Often was he pressed to accept the 
 hospitality of the most accomplished Scottish noblemen, 
 yet their solicitations were invariably and peremptorily 
 declined. 
 
 “ Love had he found in huts where poor men lie ; 
 
 His daily teachers had been woods and rills, — 
 
 The silence that is in the starry sky, — 
 
 The sleep that is among the lonely hills.” 
 
 He knew that, however lowly a man’s origin, he could 
 glorify it by his own excellence. That — 
 
 “ The coarsest reed that trembles in the marsh, 
 
 If heaven select it for its instrument, 
 
 May shed celestial music on the breeze, 
 
 As clearly as the pipe whose virgin gold 
 Befits the lips of Phoebus,” 
 
 Napoleon, in the company of kings, used to commence 
 an anecdote with, “ "When I was a lieutenant in the regi- 
 ment of ‘La Here!’ Eobert Burns, when carrying 
 duchesses ofi* their feet, was not ashamed to say, “ I was 
 bred to the plough, and am independent!” So Hugh, 
 even when he had reached the top of the tree, did not 
 forget that he once worked in the quarry. Miller 
 possessed another quality on which we propose to offer a 
 few remarks. He was very little of the man-milliner. 
 
216 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE MEN". 
 
 Many would have done better for portraits on brooches. 
 His hair was not elaborately arranged, nor did he 
 patronize Eowland’s Macassar. To him lawn pocket- 
 kerchiefs never were a desideratum. He had not been 
 trained in the arts of foppery, nor drilled into the pro- 
 prieties of couleuT -de-rose. True, he had a noble fore- 
 head, but his countenance was austere, and evidently 
 enough furrowed with some sorrow and care. ‘‘ A 
 stranger, of grave eyes and aspect, red beard, of stately 
 robust figure.” He has been compared to a rough-hewn 
 statue of “ old red sandstone yet he was a gentleman, 
 truly and strictly polite. A writer in “ Hogg’s Instructor” 
 thus defines this noble attribute, and claims the subject 
 of our sketch as an example. Politeness is natural, 
 genial, manly deference, without hypocrisy, sycophancy, 
 or obtrusion. This, we think, is at once sufdciently 
 inclusive and exclusive. It excludes a great many. 
 We cannot agree that Johnson was polite; that is, if 
 politeness is to be distinguished from nobleness, and 
 courage, and even kindness of heart; in a word, from 
 everything but itself Burns was polite, when jewelled 
 duchesses were charmed with his ways. Arnold was 
 polite, when the poor woman felt that he treated her as 
 if she were a lady. Chalmers was polite, when every old 
 woman in Morningside was elated and delighted with his 
 courteous salute. But Johnson, who shut a civil man’s 
 mouth with, ‘ Sir, I perceive you are a vile Whig;’ who eat 
 like an Esquimaux ; who deferred so far to his friends, 
 that they could differ from him only in a round-robin, 
 was not polite. Politeness is the last touch, the finishing 
 perfection of a noble character ; it is the gold on the 
 spire, the sunlight on the corn-field, the smile on the lip 
 of the noble knight lowering his sword-point to his 
 ladye-love ; it results only from the truest balance and 
 harmony of soul. AV^e assert Hugh Miller to possess it.” 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEX. 
 
 217 
 
 His head now rests upon the cold clay, but, in the pro- 
 foundest sense of the words, he still lives, — in literature 
 and science, in the impression of splendid abilities and 
 true patriotism, — he lives, and shall for ever live, in the 
 memory, gratitude, and respect of his country, and, we 
 may add, of other nations. Bred as well as horn among 
 the lower orders of the people, the sons of poverty may 
 well sing, — 
 
 “ Miller! tliou'':^st given us a name, 
 
 To shield us from the taunts of scorn ; 
 
 The plant that crept amid the soil 
 A glorious flower hath borne. 
 
 “ Before the proudest of the earth 
 We stand with an uplifted brow : 
 
 Like us, thou wast a toil-worn man, 
 
 And we are noble now ! ” 
 
218 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 [continued.] 
 
 EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEX. 
 
 SECTION lY.— JOHN KITTO. 
 
 “ We do not mean to place him among those men, of whom the 
 Italian poet sings, — 
 
 ‘ Natura il fece, e poi ruppe la stampa j’ 
 
 ‘ Nature made him, and then broke the die but, take him all in 
 all, he was a rare phenomenon — an honour also to his age and 
 country. He struggled manfully, and gained the victory ; nay, out 
 of his misfortune he constructed the steps of his advancement. 
 Neither poverty, nor deafness, nor hard usage, nor ominous warnings, 
 nor sudden checks, nor unpropitious commencements, nor abandoned 
 schemes, chilled the ardour of his sacred ambition.” 
 
 J OHN Eadie, DD., LL.D. 
 
 Peecious jewels have sometimes been found in dust- 
 heaps. Hid in the bowels of the earth, you discover what 
 seems a hard, rough, uncouth, and offensive substance ; 
 but let the mineralogist get hold of it, — let the lapidary 
 set to work upon it, and peel off the incrustations, — and 
 forthwith it becomes a brilliant diamond, fit to blaze 
 amidst the gems which adorn the crown of the Queen of 
 England. Erom the darkest and deepest caves of ocean, 
 down amid the cold sea-weed, the diver brings up the 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEX. 
 
 219 
 
 purest and costliest pearls. In like manner, many of the 
 greatest and best men have sprung from the lower ranks 
 of society, been cradled in abject poverty, and nursed 
 upon the rough lap of want. It were easy to adduce a 
 long catalogue of names illustrative of this fact. The 
 sweat- drops of labour stand on weather-beaten brows, 
 worthy of wearing a mitre, a coronet, or a crown. He 
 holds the plough, whose hands 
 
 “ The rod of empire might have sway’d, 
 
 Or waked to ecstacy the living lyre.” 
 
 Men sit by cottage fires, who have talents, genius, and 
 piety to adorn the bar, the senate, or the pulpit. We do 
 not always find, as the world expresses it, “the right 
 man in the right place.” Sometimes we see “ the cruel 
 sunshine thrown by fortune on a fool.” 
 
 Again, there is often a great discrepancy between the 
 mind and the body. An ample intellect and a large 
 heart have been united to a puny frame. Little men 
 have done wondrous things. 'Not a few of the great 
 rulers of the world, instead of being big and bulky, have 
 illustrated the words of the poet, — 
 
 “ The mighty soul how small a body holds.” 
 
 Saul of Tarsus, the Apostle of the Grentiles, surpassed all 
 his contemporaries in point of intellectual stature and 
 moral greatness, yet he had a poor, mean-looking figure. 
 His presence was weak, and his speech contemptible. 
 Dr. Isaac Watts, whose strains still glide so sweetly in 
 our Israel, was of insignificant corporeal development. 
 Pope, the bard of Twickenham, was a mannikin. Thomas 
 De Quincey, great in literature, was small in person. 
 Lord John Pussell, who sways the House of Commons 
 with his magical influence, is but a diminutive model of 
 a man. Mr. John B. Gough, at whose bidding stern, 
 
220 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEX. 
 
 strong men, as well as sensitive women, weep or langh — 
 burn with indignation or desire — is slight, pale-faced, 
 and wo-begone. Your first feeling, as he stands upon the 
 platform, is. Can this be he ? Is this the impassioned 
 orator? Our great pulpit celebrities — Eev. W. M. 
 Punshon, and Eev. C. H. Spurgeon — do not command 
 attention by their stature. They owe as little to personal 
 appearance for success as to “ ancestral fame.” . 
 
 “ ’Tis the mind that males the body rich ; 
 
 And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds, 
 
 So honour peereth in the meanest habit. 
 
 What ! is the jay more precious than the lark, 
 
 Because his feathers are more beautiful ? 
 
 Or is the adder better than the eel. 
 
 Because his painted skin contents the eye ?” 
 
 It were dif&cult to find a better example of the truth 
 of the above remarks, than John Kitto. At fifteen years 
 of age he was a parish pauper, and throughout life his 
 body was feeble and deformed. On the completion of 
 his sixteenth year, he thus describes his person : — “ I am 
 four feet eight inches high ; and, to begin with my head, 
 my hair is stiff and coarse, of a dark brown colour, almost 
 black ; my head is very large, and, I believe, has a tole- 
 rable good lining of brain within. My eyes are brown 
 and large, and are the least exceptionable part of my 
 person; my forehead is high, my eyebrows bushy; my 
 nose is large, mouth very big, teeth well enough, skin of 
 my face coarse ; my limbs are not ill-shaped ; my legs are 
 «^;eZZ-shaped, except at their ends they have rather too 
 long a foot ; when clean, my hands are very good ; my 
 upper lip is graced^ or rather disgraced, with a beard.” 
 Nevertheless, in spite of his mean origin and physical 
 infirmity, by virtue and talent, he rose to greatness and 
 renown, and is an immortal example of a self-made man. 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MBX. 
 
 221 
 
 W e shall first chronicle the leading events of his life ; 
 secondly, detail his labours ; and, thirdly, enumerate his 
 triumphs. 
 
 John Kitto, the eldest son of John Kitto, and Eliza- 
 beth Pecken, was born at Plymouth, in Devonshire, on 
 the 4th December, 1804. So delicate was the infant, 
 that it was only expected to live a few hours. This 
 original feebleness was never surmounted. It was long 
 before the child could walk, and he never had any taste 
 for those boyish frolics, in which the tinker of Elstow, 
 the Leeds Eranklin, and the stonemason of Cromarty, so 
 delighted. Evil influences were brought to bear on 
 Kitto from his childhood. Drunkenness was the bane 
 of the family. It turned his father into a miserable, 
 bloated wretch. Erom being a master, he sank into a 
 servant. It lodged him in durance vile, and at an after 
 period of his downward career, branded him with the 
 name of felon. This foul and odious vice made Mrs. 
 Kitto a posthumous child, an unhappy wife, and a 
 broken-hearted mother — glad to perform the most menial 
 offices, that she might have something to put into the 
 mouths of her hungry babes. It is not for us to judge 
 either our abstinent or non-abstinent brother, as we 
 believe the Bible has left the question an open one ; but 
 if, like that resolute man. Dr. Johnson, we find it easier 
 to abstain than to be temperate, then we say abstinence 
 is our bounden duty. "When four years old, Kitto was 
 entrusted to his grandmother, who lived in a poor garret. 
 She, “ dear old woman, ” strolled with him through 
 the summer fields and fiowery dales, deftly using her 
 staff to break down the fruits and flowers that were 
 beyond his reach. At other times they took a walk by 
 the sea-side, and admired that grandest of Grod’s works. 
 As they returned from these happy and healthy excur- 
 
222 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEN. 
 
 sions, the aged pilgrim generally supplied her youthful 
 charge with apples, plums, gingerbread, or sugar-stick ; 
 and her indifference to the sweetness of the last-named 
 article filled Master Kitto with great astonishment. From 
 her lips he also learned the cuiTent lore about ghosts, hob- 
 goblins, fairies, and witches ; moreover, she taught him 
 to sew, and he is said to have finished ‘^quilts and 
 kettle-holders enough for two generations;” besides 
 doing the greater portion of a “ gay patchwork ” for her 
 bed. At the age of eight he was sent to school, but his 
 grandmother was too poor to pay the necessary fees, and 
 his father too drunken to spare the pence from the ale- 
 house. This may account for the fact that he was 
 placed, for short and interrupted periods, at four different 
 schools. As might be expected, he did not gain much by 
 this desultory schooling, his early attainments not ex- 
 tending further “ than reading, writing, and an imperfect 
 use of figures.” It was not professional schoolmasters, 
 but a shoemaker, that taught Kitto to love literature. 
 The cordwainer, while he worked with his awl, recited 
 to the child the marvellous tales of ‘‘Bluebeard, and 
 Cinderella, Jack the Griant-killer, and Beauty and the 
 Beast.” “Assuredly,” says Kitto, in 1832, “ never have 
 I since felt so much respect and admiration of any man’s 
 talents and extent of information as those of poorKoberts.” 
 Delighted with these stories, he spent the pence that 
 came in his way on their purchase, and thus laid the 
 foundation of a library, to which he in time added a 
 family Bible with numerous engravings, a Prayer-book, 
 Bunyan’s “ Pilgrim’s Progress,” “ Grulliver’s Travels,” 
 and the poems of Young and Spenser. Books became a 
 passion with the boy, and those he was unable to buy he 
 endeavoured to borrow. To increase the attractions of 
 his particular favourites, he turned artist, and decorated 
 their engravings with the blue used by his grandmother 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 223 
 
 in washing, making a feather do the work of a brush. 
 But the sky was gradually darkening around him. In 
 the year 1814, his grandmother’s necessities compelled 
 her to go and live with her daughter, and under his 
 father’s roof, Kitto soon felt the saddening change. The 
 hoy must do something for his bread, and, in the spring 
 of 1815, he was apprenticed to a barber. ‘‘ Old Wig- 
 more” had shaved many an acre of beards on board a 
 ship-of-war ; and, according to his facetious underling, 
 had a face so sour, that it sickened one to look at it, 
 and was, besides, all over red with drinking spirituous 
 liquors. We do not wonder that he learned to shave, 
 for he brought the razor to bear so frequently upon his 
 upper lip, that before he was sixteen, he sported a growth 
 of no ordinary thickness. He also exercised the scis- 
 sors so assiduously on his eye-brows, that they, too, 
 acquired a peculiar bushiness. But his shaving and hair- 
 dressing career was brief. One morning, when on his 
 way to the shop loaded with the best razors, a woman 
 met him, who pretended to be anxious to see his master, 
 and, in order that he might run the faster for Wigmore, 
 she persuaded him to leave his stock-in-trade with her ; 
 when he came back, she was not to be found, and the old 
 barber branded him with knavery, and discharged him 
 on suspicion. The boy then put on a smock-frock, 
 and occasionally assisted his father. During his leisure 
 hours he indulged himself in wandering through the 
 fields with a book in his hands, or sitting on the clefts of 
 the rocks, till forced, by the incoming tide, to make his 
 escape. 
 
 “ To sit on rocks, to muse o’er flood and fell, 
 
 To slowly trace the forest’s shady scene. 
 
 Where things that own not man’s dominion dwell, 
 
 And mortal foot hath ne’er or rarely been ; — » 
 
 To climb the trackless mountain, all unseen, 
 
224 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEN. 
 
 With the wild flock that never needs a fold ; — 
 
 Alone o’er steeps and pouring falls to lean : 
 
 This is not solitude ; ’tis but to hold 
 
 Converse with nature’s charms, and view her stores unroll’d.” 
 
 When just turned twelve years of age, he was engaged 
 with his father in repairing a house in Batter Street, 
 Plymouth. He had just reached the highest round of 
 the ladder, with a load of slates, and was in the act of 
 stepping on the roof, when his foot slipped, and he fell 
 thirty-five feet, on a stone pavement, in the court below. 
 He was taken up for dead. Pive minutes after, con- 
 sciousness returned ; but eight months elapsed before he 
 entirely recovered his strength. The accident had de- 
 prived him of the faculty of hearing. The sense was not 
 simply deadened — it was extinguished. Never more was 
 he to hear a sound ! The warbling throng might make 
 the wood vocal, and loud hosannas might make the 
 w^elkin riug ; he could not listen ! He was deaf as the 
 granite rock, that never hears the music of the sea- wave 
 that breaks upon its breast ! It is easier to imagine than 
 describe the feelings of the poor boy, as he read upon the 
 slate the three awful words — You are deaf!” Hear his 
 own pathetic lament, — ‘‘ 0, ye millions, wPo enjoy the 
 blessing of which I am deprived, how little do ye know 
 how to appreciate its enjoyment! . . . . Ye men of 
 
 genius and of wit ! ye patriots and statesmen ! ye men 
 of worth and wisdom ! ye chaste maids and engaging 
 matrons ! and ye men of social minds ! should you like 
 to be 
 
 ‘ From cheerful speech 
 Of men cut ofi*, and intercourse of thought 
 And wisdom ?’ ” 
 
 In order to procure a few pence to lay out in books, 
 lie resorted to what he has graphically called a “ Poor 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN". 
 
 225 
 
 Student’s Ways and Means.” He picked bits of rope, yam, 
 and old iron out of the mud of a fetid pool. Some of bis 
 companions could gather as much in a week as amounted, 
 when sold, to eighteenpence ; but Kitto possessed not the 
 necessary physical qualifications; consequently, his weekly 
 profits never exceeded fourpence. With the view of 
 making more money, he turned to drawing human heads, 
 houses, flowers, birds, and trees. These he arranged in 
 his mother’s window, but few came in to buy, for his 
 average weekly income only amounted to about two- 
 pence-halfpenny. He afterwards hawked his pictures at 
 Plymouth fair, and realized more money than he ever 
 possessed before. About this time, certain ill-spelled 
 and ill- written labels in the shop-windows attracted his 
 attention, and he set himself to prepare neat and accurate 
 substitutes, and took many long and weary journeys to 
 dispose of his improved productions ; but, despite his 
 praiseworthy exertions, he was unable to provide for his 
 own sustenance ; and, to screen him from cold, hunger, 
 and nakedness, he was taken into Plymouth Workhouse, 
 on the 15th November, 1819. 
 
 There he was put to the employment of shoe-making. 
 Luke Watson, who was apprenticed to a saddler, could 
 never make a saddle that any decent horse would wear ; 
 and some have said that John Kitto could never make a 
 shoe any respectable person would put on. This, how- 
 ever, is a great mistake ; he soon became a proficient in 
 the business. The savage John Bowden, to whom he 
 was indentured as a parish apprentice, selected him, in 
 spite of his deafness, because he was the best workman 
 in the hospital. And Anderson, the beadle, who taught 
 him shoe-making, objected to his leaving the workhouse, 
 because they could not afibrd to dispense with his services, 
 as he was the only boy perfect in the making of list shoes. 
 Por the same reason, Anderson afterwards wished to get 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEK. 
 
 him back; but his cruel master was too shrewd and 
 selfish to part with him. Let no young man imagine 
 that, because he is a blundering blockhead at his trade, 
 therefore he is destined to be great in science, literature, 
 or the arts. The opposite conclusion is more likely to be 
 true. On the 12th of August, 1820, he began to keep a 
 journal ; and as this document is the most trustworthy 
 record of this part of his life, we intend to make free use 
 of it. The motto on the title-page inclines us to the 
 opinion that John Kitto, like most other people, was 
 sufidciently complacent towards himself. 
 
 “ Full many a gem, of purest ray serene, 
 
 The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear ; 
 
 Full many a flower is born to blush unseen. 
 
 And waste its sweetness on the desert air.” 
 
 His manners were awkward and clownish, his stature 
 exceedingly short, and, when going anywhere, he hob- 
 bled away, as if on the point of falling, with his hands in 
 the pockets of his trousers. He was mocked by some, 
 and gazed at by all. Kitto soon learned that impudence 
 would answer his purpose better than bashfulness, so he 
 stared in return ; and, although evidently never intended 
 for the prize-ring, the foolery of the youths so provoked 
 him, that on two or three occasions he was obliged to 
 study the science of self-defence. We find the following 
 entry in his journal: — “At eight o’clock, as we were 
 going to prayers, Rowe gave me an unprovoked blow on 
 the back, and ran away. I pursued him, and hemmed 
 him into a corner, when, finding he could not escape, he 
 placed himself in a pugilistic attitude, but a few blows 
 made him stoop to defend his ears, and, at the same time, 
 to pick up a bone and a large cinder to throw at me. 
 While I was disarming him of those missile weapons, I 
 was attacked in the rear by ten or twelve boys, who 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 227 
 
 delight in mischief. Having disarmed Eowe, I turned 
 against my new opponents, and, discharging a bone at 
 one, and a cinder at another, and some blows among the 
 rest, put them all to flight.’’ The next excerpt is in a 
 difierent strain ; it records his impressions upon receiving 
 the tidings that his grandam was no more. The death of 
 his good grandmother constituted his flrst great sorrow, 
 and taught him how soon “ shades of the prison-house 
 begin to close around the growing boy.” The following 
 dirge-like plaint will bear comparison with De Quincey’s 
 wail by his sister’s bier: — “On "Wednesday evening, 
 when I came out from the workhouse, I trod softly up- 
 stairs, lest I should disturb her repose ! Useless precau- 
 tion ! Aunt met me at the head of the stairs, in tears. 
 I entered; a white sheet over the bed met my view. 
 She was dead ! Think you I wept ? I did not weep ! 
 Tears are for lesser sorrows; my sensations were too 
 powerful for tears to relieve mie. The sluices of my 
 eyes were dried ! My brain was on Are ! Yet I did not 
 weep. Call me not a monster because I did not weep. 
 I have not wept these four years; but I remember I 
 have, when a boy, wept for childish sorrows. Then why 
 do I not weep for this great affliction ? Is not this a 
 contradiction ? Am I hard of heart ? Grod forbid that 
 tears should be the test ; for I felt — I felt insupportable 
 agony. Even to an indilferent person the sight of a 
 dead person awakens melancholy reflections ; but when 
 that person is connected by the nearest ties — oh ! then — 
 when I saw the corpse — ^when I saw that those eyes, that 
 had often watched my slumbers, and cast on me looks of 
 affection and love, were closed in sleep eternal ! — ^those 
 lips, which often had prest mine, which often had opened 
 to soothe me, tell me tales, and form my infant mind, 
 were pale and motionless for’ ever ! — when I saw that 
 those hands, which had led, caressed, and fed me, were for 
 
228 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEI^. 
 
 ever stiff and motionless, — vs^lien I saw all this, and felt 
 that it was for ever^ guess my feelings, for I cannot 
 describe them. Born to he the sport of fortune, to find 
 sorrow where I hoped for bliss, and to be a mark for 
 the giddy and the gay to shoot at : what I felt, at the 
 deprivation of my almost only friend, the reader can 
 better conceive than I can describe. Yet that moment 
 will ever be present to my recollection, to the latest period 
 of my existence. Gione for ever! that is the word of 
 agonizing poignancy. Yet, not for ever ; a few short 
 years at most, and I may hope to meet her again, — there 
 is my consolation. Joyful meeting 1 yet a little while to 
 bear this 
 
 * Fond, restless dream, which idiots hug ; 
 
 Nay, wise men flatter with the name of life,’ 
 
 and we may meet again. Already I anticipate the 
 moment when, putting off this frail garb of mortality, 
 and putting on the robe of immortality, of celestial 
 brightness and splendour, in the presence of our Grod, 
 we may meet again, — meet again, never to part, never 
 again to be subject to the frail laws of mortality ; to be 
 above the reach of sorrow, temptation, or sickness ; to 
 know nought but happiness — celestial happiness and 
 heaven 1 Accursed be the atheist, who seeks to deprive 
 man of his noblest privilege — of his hopes of immortality 
 — of a motive to do good, and degrades him to a level 
 with the beast which browses on the grass of the fields. 
 What were man without this hope ?” Infidelity would 
 cover Grod’s throne and man’s grave with the funeral 
 pall of eternal death ; but Christianity can stand by the 
 cold clay, and hear the music of the blest ; and when 
 the cof&n is deposited in the earth, she can see the 
 glories of another world. John Kitto honoured his 
 parents ; he loved his mother almost as much as he 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MAEE MEK. 
 
 229 
 
 loved his grandmother ; and in his mother’s old and 
 infirm days he verified his gratitude. He never dis- 
 obeyed his father but when his commandments disagreed 
 with those of Grod. In his journal we find this entry: 
 — The week before last, father wrote on the table with 
 chalk, ‘ You never gave me anything to drink yet.’ I 
 went gravely, and emptied out a cup of water, and gave 
 it to him, and said — ‘ There — drink.’ He blushed deep 
 at this pun, and said no more about it.” It is melan- 
 choly to think that a son should have occasion to write 
 thus : — ‘‘ Father wrote a paper, as follows, and wanted 
 me to give it to Mr. Burnard : — ‘ Sir, I should be much 
 obliged to you if you would be so good as to give me a 
 ticket for a shirt, as I am out of work. — John Kitto.’ 
 ^Father, thou sayest the thing that is not — ^you are 
 not out of work.’ ‘ You must give this paper to Mr. 
 Burnard.’ ‘ Are you out of work, father ? ’ ‘ No ! ’ 
 
 ‘ Then, do you think that I will deceive my benefactor, 
 and permit you to say, through me, that you are ? I 
 will not give it to him.’ So I said, and so I did. 
 
 . . . . I am inclined to think that I was right. My 
 
 duty to my parents shall never interfere with that to 
 Grod.” Well said, and well done, thou poor one ; the 
 governor of the workhouse may well be kind to thee, for 
 thou art honoured by the Grovernor of the universe. 
 
 Them that honour me, I will honour.” When, on the 
 8th November, 1821, he laid aside the badge of serfdom, 
 and went to Mr. Bowden’s house to be perfected in his 
 trade, he felt that he had risen a step in the world, and 
 with a flourish of his pen he writes, — 
 
 «E P O C H A. 
 
 I am no longer a workhouse boy, I am an apprentice.” 
 Alas ! his hopes were soon blasted ; his six months with 
 Bowden were the most miserable period of his life — ‘‘ 0, 
 
230 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE MEK. 
 
 misery, art thou to be my only portion. Father of 
 Mercy, forgive me, if I wish I had never been born. 
 
 0 that I were dead, if death were an annihilation of 
 being ; but as it is not, teach me to endure life ; enjoy it 
 
 1 never can. In short, mine is a severe master, rather 
 cruel.” Again — ‘‘ I did all in my power to suppress my 
 inclination to weep, till I was almost suffocated ; tears 
 of bitter anguish and futile indignation fell upon my 
 work, and blinded my eyes. I sobbed convulsingly. I 
 was half mad with myself for suffering him to see how 
 much I was affected. Fool that I was ! O that I were 
 again in the workhouse ! ” Again — “ My head ached, 
 and yet they kept me to work till six o’clock, when they 
 let me come away. I could eat nothing.” Again — ‘‘ He 
 threw the pipe in my face, w^hich I had accidentally broken; 
 it hit me on the temple, and narrowly missed my eye.” 
 Finally — “ I held the thread too short ; instead of telling 
 me to hold it longer, he struck me on the hand with the 
 hammer (the iron part). Mother can bear witness that 
 it is much swelled; not to mention many more indignities, 
 I have received many, many more ; again, this morning, 
 I have wept. What’s the matter with my eyes ! ” This 
 — perhaps only — certainly most remarkable journal, ever 
 kept by a deaf, disabled, and almost uneducated pauper 
 boy, closes thus : — I here leave off this journal, till 
 some other change or extraordinary misfortune takes 
 place ! ” In former days he had felt the pangs of cutting 
 hunger, and the piercing cold of nakedness, and now he 
 was worked sixteen or eighteen hours a day, and buffeted 
 without mercy by a brutal master. This tyranny preyed 
 upon the sensitive and affectionate youth, and in the 
 frenzy of despair he would have been glad to have been 
 hurled “ anywhere, anywhere out of the world.” ‘‘There’s 
 a silver lining to every cloud.” The crisis came ; and, as 
 in the case of a mighty poet, who, like Kitto, had formed 
 
EXAMPLES or SELE-MADE MEIT. 
 
 231 
 
 the purpose of self-destruction, and resolved to carry it 
 out, a watchful Providence interposed, and turned his 
 sorrow into joy. 
 
 “ Commit thou all thy griefs 
 And ways into His hands ; 
 
 To His sure truth and tender care, 
 
 Who earth and heaven commands. 
 
 ‘ “ Through waves, and clouds, and storms, 
 
 He gently clears thy way ; 
 
 Wait thou His time, so shall this night 
 Soon end in joyous day.” 
 
 By some compositions, given under an assumed name, 
 Kitto managed to attract public notice, and his com- 
 plaints became at length the subject of judicial investi- 
 gation. In his appeal to the magistrates, he acquitted 
 himself to admiration. He wrote so fluently, correctly, 
 and conclusively, as to elicit the eulogy of the bench. 
 He obtained redress. The instrument of his slavery, 
 “ with its formidable appendage of seals and signatures,” 
 was cancelled, after the case had been fully heard. He 
 returned to the workhouse, and was set down once more 
 to his former occupation. Bright visions, however, now 
 bsgan to loom in the future. He possessed the con- 
 sciousness of power in his own mind, and determined to 
 work it out. The guardians thought of him as a shoe- 
 maker ; he pictured himself as an author. But though 
 conscious of talent, there was no overweening pride ; 
 he was resolved to accept the smallest services, for he 
 knew that the summit could only be reached step by 
 step ; nor was he in too great haste for elevation. He 
 could bide his time ; not in listless idleness, not in 
 useless pastime, not in querulous dejection, but in con- 
 stant study, cheerful endeavours, always willing and 
 fulfilling, and accomplishing his task, that, when the 
 
232 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEIST. 
 
 opportunity came, lie might be equal to the occasion. 
 At length Mr. Harvey, the celebrated mathematician and 
 man of science, stepped forward, and held out a helping 
 hand to the deaf and friendless aspirant. By-and-by, a 
 few gentlemen issued a joint circular on his behalf, the 
 language of which shows the favourable impression which 
 his character and talents had created : — 
 
 “ The attention of the public has lately been drawn, by 
 some essays published in the ^Plymouth WeeTdy Journal, 
 to the very extraordinary talents of John Kitto, who is 
 now a pauper in the Plymouth Workhouse. He is about 
 eighteen years of age, and has been nearly four years in 
 the workhouse, to which he was reduced by the inability 
 of his parents to maintain him, after his having lost his 
 hearing by a fall from a house in Batter Street, where he 
 was employed as an attendant on the masons. This loss 
 of his hearing has been accompanied with other bodily 
 infirmities ; but he has been so entirely thrown on the 
 resources of his mind, that he has cultivated his intel- 
 lectual faculties with singular success, and gives promise 
 of making very considerable attainments. An inquiry 
 into his conduct and general character has proved most; 
 satisfactory to the undersigned, who are thus led to 
 believe that he must greatly interest those who feel for 
 the difiiculties under which virtue and talents labour, 
 when they have to struggle with poverty and misfortune. 
 He has of late been employed as a shoemaker in the 
 workhouse, and in that capacity he has given proofs of 
 gTeat skill and industry ; but it seems desirable that he 
 should be placed in a situation more consistent with his 
 feelings and abilities, and to which his deafness might 
 not render him incompetent. It has been suggested 
 that, as a temporary measure, application should be made 
 to the committee of the Plymouth Public Library, to 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE ME^-. 
 
 233 
 
 employ him as sub-librarian ; and that a sum might be 
 raised, by small subscriptions, to enable him to obtain 
 board and lodging in some decent family, until some- 
 thing permanently advantageous should be suggested. 
 In the meantime, although he could not be in receipt of 
 a salary, he would have opportunities of improving him- 
 self, and would be enabled to direct the powers of his 
 mind to those pursuits in which he is so well qualified to 
 excel, and in which, perhaps, the world may find his 
 usefulness, and he himself a merciful and abundant com- 
 pensation for all his deprivations. Grreat reliance may 
 be placed on his industrious habits, and it is confidently 
 believed that small contributions from several individuals 
 would enable him to get over the chief impediments to 
 success in a way for which he seems so peculiarly well 
 qualified. The undersigned, who have carefully examined 
 into his character and acquirements, are anxious to give 
 the strongest testimony in his behalf ; and will receive, 
 with great pleasure, any contributions, pledging them- 
 selves to use the utmost discretion in their power in the 
 application of any money that may be thus intrusted to 
 their management. 
 
 “JoHX Hawker. 
 
 ‘‘Hexrt Woolcombe. 
 
 “William Eastlake. 
 
 “Thomas Stewart. 
 
 “ John Tixocombe. 
 
 “ Gteoroe Haryet. 
 
 “Egbert Lampeh. 
 
 “ Flymouth^ 2Qth Jvme^ 1823.” 
 
 The appeal was successful, and the governor and 
 guardians of the hospital subscribed five pounds to the 
 fund. On the 17th July the following entry was made 
 in the workhouse minutes : — “ John Kitto discharged? 
 
234 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEIT. 
 
 1823, July 17. Taken out under tke patronage of tke 
 literati of the town.” A great point was now gained. 
 Kitto had his time at his own disposal, with the privilege 
 of using the public library of Plymouth : and most 
 diligently and successfully did he prosecute the work of 
 self-culture, aided by the suggestions of wise and well- 
 instructed friends. The following dream refers to this 
 happy time — 
 
 “ Methought I was in exactly the same situation in 
 which I really was before I slept, and indulging the same 
 reflections, when there suddenly appeared before me a 
 being of more than mortal beauty. He was taller than 
 the sons of men, and his eye beamed with celestial Are. 
 A robe of azure Hue, and far richer than the flnest silk, 
 enfolded his form ; a starry zone of glittering gems 
 encircled his waist ; and in his hand he bore a rod of 
 silver. He touched me with his rod, and gently bending 
 over me, he said, — ^ Child of mortality, I am the Angel 
 Zared, and am sent to teach thee wisdom. Every man, 
 on his outset in life, proposes to himself something as the 
 end and reward of his labours, his wishes, and his hopes ; 
 some are ambitious of honour, some of glory, and some 
 of riches. Of what art thou ambitious, and what are the 
 highest objects of thy earthly hopes ?’ I was astonished 
 at the visit and the words of the angel, and replied not 
 to his demand. ‘ Thou canst not readily find, 0 child of 
 the earth, words to express the scenes which thy fancy 
 has drawn. It matters not ; I know thy wishes, and will 
 give thee possession of the state that is the highest of 
 which thou art ambitious.’ He touched me with his rod, 
 and my form expanded into manhood ; again he touched, 
 and then left me. On looking around me, I found myself 
 seated in a room, two of the walls of which were entirely 
 concealed by books, of which I felt myself conscious of 
 being the owner. On the table lay letters addressed 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEJT. 
 
 235 ^ 
 
 to me from distant parts of the island, from the Con- 
 tinent, and from the New World; and conspicuously 
 on the chimney-piece were placed several volumes, 
 of which I was conscious that I was the author, 
 and was also sensible that the house, wherein I was, was 
 mine, and all that was in it. I went forth into the 
 street. Eidicule no longer pointed her finger at me ; 
 many whom I met appeared to know and esteem me ; 
 and I felt conscious that I possessed many sincere and 
 disinterested friends. I met a blind fiddler, and placing 
 my hand instinctively in my pocket, I found that it 
 lacked not money. I returned, and exclaimed, as I took 
 “ Caosar’s Commentaries,” in their original language, from 
 the shelf, ‘ Now, at last, I am happy ! ’ — but, before I had 
 concluded the word, the Angel Zared again appeared 
 before me, and, touching me with his silver rod, restored 
 me to the state in which he found me. I felt a momentary 
 sensation of disappointment and regret at the transition, 
 till the angel spake to me, and said, — ‘ Listen to my 
 words, O child of mortality, while I withdraw, as far as 
 I am permitted, the veil of thy future destiny. Thou 
 hast been afflicted with misfortune, and taught in the 
 school of adversity. Think not that He who made thee, 
 and me also, regards with displeasure those whom He 
 purifies by sorrows, or that those are His peculiar 
 favourites who are permitted by him to enjoy the good 
 things of this world. Whenever thou findest thyself 
 inclined to murmur at the dispensations of Providence, 
 recollect that others, greater, better, and wiser than thou 
 art, have suffered also — have suffered more than thou 
 hast, or ever wilt suffer. The time approaches when 
 thou shalt attract the notice of thy superiors, who shall 
 place within thy reach the means of acquiring that know- 
 ledge for which thou thirstest. They will transplant 
 thee into a soil fit for thee ; and, if thou attendest well 
 
236 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEIT. 
 
 to the cultivation of thy intellectual and moral faculties, 
 thou mayest perhaps become a permanent occupant of a 
 station like that which I have permitted thee to enjoy for 
 a moment. I perhaps, for only He knows in whose 
 breast is hid the fate of worlds, whether thou art to live 
 beyond the day on which I visit thee ; but of this I am 
 permitted to assure thee, that the period of thy sojourn 
 on earth will not be, at the furthest, very many years. 
 Be not, 0 son of earth, dejected if thou meetest with 
 disappointments and misfortunes ; neither suffer pros- 
 perity too highly to elate thee ; and in every situation 
 and in every moment of thy life, remember that thou art 
 mortal, and that there is a Gron and a hereafter. So live, 
 that thou mayest not fear death, at whatever moment he 
 may approach thee ; and if thus thou livest, thou wilt 
 
 have lived indeed.’ Zared perhaps would have spoken 
 
 longer ; but a book falling from the shelf upon my head, 
 I awoke, and, as honest John Bunyan says, behold, it was 
 a dream ! ” 
 
 The boy is not always the father of the man. Hence 
 the most experienced observer cannot certainly, or even 
 probably, predict beforehand what direction the youth 
 will take, but it is easy afterwards to mark what has 
 pointed to a future. Dr. Kitto’s future has in principle 
 been described. Henceforth his path was upward and 
 onward. He never seemed to waste an hour. 
 
 In the year 1824, he formed an engagement with Mr. 
 Grroves, a dentist, residing at Exeter, who offered to 
 instruct him in his profession, to board him, and give 
 him, for his services, fifteen pounds the first, and twenty 
 pounds the second year, with a prospect of higher 
 remuneration. Kitto accepted the offer, and it was 
 well he did so, for it proved the turning-point in 
 his career. In the service of Mr. Grroves, Kitto 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 237 
 
 learned sometliing more than the extracting of teeth. 
 His mind had always been susceptible of religious 
 impressions, and the godly example of Mr. Grroves 
 quickened it into life. After he had been a short time 
 in his employment, he writes to Mr. Burnard, — “ Mr. 
 G-roves is not a Methodist, a Calvinist, a Lutheran, 
 or a Papist. What, then, is he ? A Deist, a Unitarian, 
 an Antinomian ? Ho. He is one of those rather singu- 
 lar characters — a Bible Christian, and a disciple of the 
 meek and lowly Jesus ; not nominally, but practically and 
 really such. A man so devotedly, so fervently attached 
 to the Scriptures, I never knew before.” Again — “ You 
 must be sensible, from the tone of my letters to yourself, 
 and those which you have seen of mine to other persons, 
 that the John Kitto you will see is rather a different 
 person from the John Kitto you have seen; and I am 
 sure you will rejoice with me, when you understand that 
 this is not a mere alteration of the external manners or 
 appearance, but an alteration most deeply felt in the 
 heart, and entering into every feeling, every passion of 
 the mind, insomuch that I should now be disgusted with 
 much in which I once delighted, and many things are 
 now pleasant and delightful, which once were indifferent 
 to me.” His diary shows that he got on well in this pious 
 family. As Mr. Groves had determined to go abroad 
 as a missionary, he proposed several plans, to enable his 
 assistant to practise as a dentist, either in Plymouth or 
 the metropolis. But the God of the universe intended 
 him for something else. Mr. Groves, having discovered 
 that the Church Missionary Society was in want of 
 printers in Calcutta, Malta, and several other places, and 
 knowing Kitto’s strong desire to engage in the vast field 
 of missionary exertion, wrote to Mr. Bickersteth, the 
 secretary, offering his services to the Society. He was 
 accepted by the Committee in London, and JHr. Groves 
 
238 
 
 -EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 illustrated liis own character, and paid a tribute of 
 respect to his pupil, by making a liberal offer of fifty 
 pounds a year, for two years, towards the defraying of 
 his expenses. He had already been a barber, a shoe- 
 maker, a dentist, and now he takes up his abode at the 
 Missionary College, in Islington, to learn that art which, 
 M^Creery says, — 
 
 “ Was hailed from kingdoms far abroad, 
 
 And cherished in the hallowed house of God ; 
 
 From which we learn the homage it received, 
 
 And how our sires its heavenly birth believed.” 
 
 Kitto entered Mr. Watts’s printing office, determined, 
 not only to learn to print, but to write something that 
 might be printed. Hence, when, owing to a scarcity of 
 Persic types, there was insufficient work in the office, he 
 remained at home, or left before the appointed time, and 
 carefully spent these leisure hours in reading. The gentle- 
 men connected with the Institution, on the other hand, had 
 no idea that he could rise higher than to be a mere setter- 
 up of types, and considered his irregular attendance a 
 breach of contract. Kitto, who would rather have re- 
 mained at Exeter, manufacturing human teeth, than have 
 given up literary pursuits, hastened to explain. It was 
 of no use. He was distinctly told what was expected from 
 him, and that he could not be sent abroad “till his 
 altered conduct should show his cordial compliance with 
 such regulations.” Kitto considered himself aggrieved, 
 and relinquished his situation. His friends were very 
 much offended, and some of his Plymouth patrons were 
 prepared to abandon him. But Mr. Groves, the Rev. 
 Mr. Hatchard, of Plymouth, and a few others, continued 
 his unflinching friends, and, through their intercession, 
 the Society restored him to his place. He praises Mr. 
 Groves very highly, and contrasts his conduct with that 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 239 
 
 of other friends, who told him to lie in the bed of his 
 own making. 
 
 It was deemed advisable that Kitto should be sent 
 forthwith to a foreign station, and Malta was the place 
 selected. Accordingly, he took his passage on board 
 the Wilberforce which sailed on the 20th June, 1827, 
 with a gilt effigy of the great senator at her prow. The 
 ship dropped her anchors at Torbay, and he had the 
 pleasure of feeling that the last land he set his foot on 
 was that of his native county, Devon. Kitto felt that 
 the Master had said to him, “ Son, go work to-day in 
 my vineyard,” and he could sing, as the vessel glided 
 away, — ^ 
 
 “ Home ! tliy joys are passing lovely, — 
 
 Joys no stranger heart can tell ; — 
 
 Happy home ! ’tis sure I love thee ! 
 
 Can I — can I say — Farewell ? 
 
 Can I leave thee, 
 
 Far in heathen lands to dwell ? 
 
 ‘‘ Yes, I hasten from you gladly. 
 
 From the scenes I love so well; 
 
 Far away, ye billows, bear me, — 
 
 Lovely native land, farewell ! 
 
 Pleased, I leave thee, 
 
 Far in heathen lands to dwell. 
 
 “ Bear me on, thou restless ocean, 
 
 Let the winds my canvas swell ; 
 
 Heaves my heart with warm emotion. 
 
 While I go far hence to dwell. 
 
 Glad, I bid thee, 
 
 Native land! farewell — farewell!” 
 
 The voyage to the Mediterranean was a great benefit to 
 him. Through his indisposition to use his vocal organs, 
 he had almost lost the power of speech. In that in- 
 teresting work, “ Lost Senses,” he informs us that his 
 
240 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELP-MADE MEN. 
 
 companions soon perceived how the matter stood, and 
 entered into a conspiracy, in which the captain of the 
 ship joined, not to understand a single word unless 
 spoken ; and, as Kitto had much to ask, he made great 
 progress with his tongue during the voyage, and before 
 reaching his destination, had almost overcome the perni- 
 cious habit of seizing a pen or pencil to answer any 
 question put to him. The instability of the furniture 
 and crockery alarmed him now and then, but he ex- 
 perienced no sea-sickness, and was, upon the whole, 
 very happy. Eut disappointment, like the air of an ice- 
 berg, met him at Malta, and chilled, once more, his 
 expectations. He could not or would not refrain from 
 his studies when out of the ofB.ce, and the Committee 
 were of opinion, that reading and meditation unfitted 
 him for the efB.cient discharge of its duties. So he was 
 warned, rebuked, and virtually discharged. There seemed 
 to be a curse either on him or his employers. He 
 had tried to give them satisfaction, and had failed. 
 He had hoped to rise to a position of honour in the 
 highest work of redeemed humanity, but he had been 
 left in despair. Was he always to be a forlorn adven- 
 turer? Was the sun of prosperity always to be thus 
 suddenly eclipsed? Was Providence always to frown 
 upon him ? Was man, in addition, always to thwart 
 him ? In this forlorn and unhappy condition, with no 
 prognostication of future success, and scarce a gleam of 
 hope, he embarked for England, on the 12th of January, 
 1829, in the Maria. When the cast-ofi* printer, after 
 an absence of eighteen months, arrived in London, the 
 excellent Mr. Groves manifested his unabated confidence 
 in him by proposing that he should accompany him to 
 the East. Before coming to a decision, Kitto went down 
 to Plymouth, and there declined the offer of his bene- 
 factor, and pledged himself to enter into the employment 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEIST. 
 
 241 
 
 of Jolin Synge, Esq., who was busy printing some little 
 Greek and Hebrew works at his own private press. “ A 
 man’s heart deviseth his way; but the Lord direct eth 
 his steps.” Providence changed the whole tenour of his 
 thoughts, and put things into a new track. 
 
 Grod moves in a mysterious way 
 His wonders to perform ; 
 
 He plants His footsteps in the sea, 
 
 And rides upon the storm.” 
 
 Kitto was a very impressible young man, and before he 
 left Plymouth we find him entangled in the toils of love, 
 which afterwards cost him much pain and many a terrible 
 struggle. But the pang Kitto felt in reliquishing this 
 little flame did not prevent him from falling in love with 
 another. Three months after coming to Islington, a 
 smiling young lady, at church, had invited him to the joint 
 use of her hymn-book, and he had been constrained to 
 love her. During one of his periodical illnesses, he went 
 out to take a walk in Barnsbury Park, and on his return to 
 the college, happened to step into a shop kept by a lady. 
 After some conversation, he was invited into the parlour, 
 which was decorated with portraits of eminent ministers. 
 Here, to his surprise, he was confronted by the very 
 object of his previous admiration. In due course a 
 marriage was agreed on. Mr. Groves approved of the 
 project, and Mr. Bickersteth gave his consent. John 
 Kitto was transported into a poet, and sent new-born 
 verses to Mr. Burnard and the object of his devoted 
 attachment, evidencing an imagination of which he had 
 been unconscious before. The banns were proclaimed 
 prior to his departure for Malta, and he expected to be 
 followed by his betrothed in a few weeks. Alas ! he was 
 doomed to disappointment. ‘‘ I have now,” he says, 
 “been absent from England for something more than 
 
242 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 eight months, and I have not, in all that time, had one 
 letter from Miss A. ; and therefore I feel assured that 
 several successive letters have been left with the Society, 
 on the understanding that they would be sent out. If 
 the separation for a short time between us, to which I 
 was unwillingly induced to assent, was at all necessary, 
 this surely is not also necessary. This surely might have 
 been spared.” Tidings came at last, but came to tell him 
 that she w^as married to another. He went at once into 
 his room, and locked himself up for more than two days. 
 A ladder was got, and on his friends looking in above 
 the door, he was seen sitting with his head on his knee, 
 the very picture of grief. “ I often find myself,” he 
 says to a friend, “ engaged in the repetition of two 
 lines, — 
 
 ‘ No more, no more — oh, never more on me 
 The freshness of the heart shall fall, like dew.’ 
 
 Kitto’s letters had been vilely intercepted, and the lady 
 was taught to believe that he had forgotten her. Pos- 
 sibly the mother thought that, by marrying John Kitto 
 on a small and uncertain salary, her daughter would lose 
 caste. If we dare venture to speak on such a difficult 
 subject, we would say, despite the theories of the pro- 
 digiously wise, that objections to marriage are generally 
 the offspring of cowardice ; and that the best thing most 
 men could do would be to marry at once the girl they 
 love, and that she, if a sensible young lady, would be 
 “nothing loth.” We cannot blame Kitto’s affianced. 
 True, she made him desolate indeed ; but she was the 
 victim of intrigue, and deserves sympathy, not indig- 
 nation. When she came to a knowledge of the truth, 
 she repented bitterly, and died, as he affirms, “ under 
 mysterious circumstances, which seemed in a striking 
 manner to connect her demise with her ct)nduct towards 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MALE MEN. 
 
 243 
 
 me, and my return to England.” As lie gazed Upon the 
 corpse of her who had been, in his eyes, 
 
 “ Fair as a star, when only one 
 Is shining in the sky,” 
 
 he experienced exquisite pain. Love is only an idea — so 
 it has been said : but Kitto’s love was as real as life or 
 death. Mr. Groves asked him again to accompany him 
 to the East, as a tutor for his children, and Kitto this 
 time returned an affirmative answer. Here was another 
 advance. Lately a printer, now an educator. 
 
 Kitto’s journey to the Orientals claims a brief notice. 
 On Friday, June 12, 1829, he left Gravesend, and, after 
 a rough voyage, the yacht cast anchor in the vicinity of 
 Copenhagen, on the 20th of the same month. He then 
 sailed for St. Petersburgh, light winds making the voyage 
 tedious. We see him next at Cronstadt, musing on Peter 
 the Great, forming a friendship with Miss Elilburn, and 
 pitying the poor fellows who are paying homage to pic- 
 tures, statues, and to figures in alto and basso-relievo. 
 We follow him to Sarepta, no longer a missionary station, 
 but a peaceful colony of industrious German Moravians. 
 Next he visits Astrakhan, and is welcomed with much 
 kindness by Dr. Glen, of the United Presbyterian Church. 
 Then we see the kind-hearted, affable, and humourous 
 little man, amusing himself and the Tartars by an exhi- 
 bition of the articles he had about him, seating one man 
 on the axle of a cart, and displaying his skill in the first 
 trade he had learned. We mark him gazing with solemn 
 awe on the rugged heights of Elburz, and the dashing, 
 foaming waters of the Terek. We watch him on the 
 road to Shusha, gathering the blackberries and the 
 brambles, and remembering in a moment his excursions 
 with his grandmother, when a little child, in search of 
 this humble but pleasant fruit. We pursue him to 
 
244 
 
 EXAMPLES or SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 Tabreez, and see him falling from his horse, on the last 
 stage of the journey ; hut having lost his cap the day 
 before, the thick folds of the turban saved his head. And 
 we cannot but behold with deep interest his meeting 
 with Mr. (now Sir John) McNeill, whose conversations 
 awoke in his mind , a latent power, which, after years of 
 development, qualified him to write those volumes which 
 have influenced the theological thought of Europe, and 
 raised their author to a first-class niche in the Temple of 
 Eame. 
 
 About twelve months after Kitto’s arrival in Bagdad^ 
 the destroying pestilence, named by distinction “the 
 plague,” was of&cially declared to be in the city. Every 
 ten years this grim and ghastly traveller visits this once 
 famous capital, and the cry of lamentation is heard on 
 the banks of the Tigris, and men are seen burying, with 
 little ceremony, the scarce cold dead. In 1831, the 
 ravages of this avenger were dreadful. In two short 
 months, fifty thousand were supposed to be cut down. 
 Like an arrow, it entered the English Residency, and 
 good Mrs. Grroves was pierced and slain. No one fol- 
 lowed her to the grave ; no prayers were said, no monu- 
 ment was erected, — indeed, the place of her sepulchre is 
 not known to this day, — but yonder her spirit shines 
 among the jewels of the heavenly King, a gem of no 
 common brilliancy. After this sore bereavement, Mr. 
 Groves writes in his journal : — “ Poor dear Kitto and 
 the little boys are now become the sole nurses of the 
 dear baby, by day and by night.” Mr. Groves had an 
 attack of the plague on the Monday following Mrs. 
 Groves’s death, but next day he was much better, and 
 soon quite well. Kitto, feeling the Infinite Invisible to 
 be everywhere about him, and very near, addressed a 
 farewell letter to his mother, full of tenderness and 
 singular afiectionateness. His reference to his little 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEK. 
 
 245 
 
 nephew puts one in mind of Luther’s ponies with the 
 golden saddles and silver bridles. “ Tell him that his uncle 
 John prays the great King in heaven to bless him, and 
 that Uncle John wants him to learn the way to come and 
 gather flowers with him in the gardens of Paradise.” 
 But misfortunes do not come singly. While the angel 
 of death spread his wings over the city, the Tigris col- 
 lected its furious torrent among the mountains, and over- 
 flowed its banks to an extent beyond example, causing 
 the destruction, in one night, of seven thousand houses, 
 which, falling almost simultaneously, destroyed fifteen 
 thousand persons. The house in which Kitto dwelt was 
 shaken, and a great portion of the floor and roof gave 
 way. Kor was this all ; the Arabs were at war with the 
 Pasha. Night after night the report of the musket, and 
 the boom of the cannon, were hieard, while the watchfires 
 were seen gleaming in the distance. During these event- 
 ful months, the weak, deaf pauper boy, who had struggled 
 his life long with sickness, was again and again brought 
 face to face with death. But although many strong ones 
 fell, he was spared, for he had much work to do, and a 
 good deal to suffer. Towards the beginning of 1832, 
 Kitto had the pleasure of an unexpected trip down the 
 Tigris, in company with his excellent friend, Sir John 
 McNeill, and availed himself of this opportunity of in- 
 creasing his knowledge of Oriental manners and legisla- 
 tion. The party sailed down the river in a barge, and 
 Kitto, never very surefooted, fell into the water, and, 
 having his pockets loaded with books, he sank like lead 
 to the bottom. But, in his own jocund way, he adds : — 
 “ I fortunately pulled a Persian groom of Mr. McNeill’s 
 in with me ; in return for which he had the good nature 
 to pull me out. This was a transaction which the light- 
 hearted Iranee always thought of afterwards when he 
 saw me, and never thought of without 7 ^oars of laughter, 
 
246 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEX. 
 
 By Midsummer, Kitto’s thougbts were turned towards 
 England. The great end of his journey to the East had 
 been accomplished, though he knew it not. Mr. Carey 
 said of his son, when he left the missionary work to 
 become an ambassador — ‘‘ Eelix has drivelled into an 
 ambassador.” Kitto was bent on literature and journal- 
 ism, and pious Mr. G-roves feared that he was becoming 
 low in his aims. The subjoined quotation, from a letter 
 to Mr. Lampen, shows that Kitto was not much troubled 
 as to his own fitness for such work : — If I were asked 
 whether, in my secret mind, I think myself equal to such 
 employment, I, who never pretend to more humility than 
 sixpence would cover, would answer, instantly, I do. 
 And now, at this period, I think I may venture to men- 
 tion a bit of a secret. My simple love of knowledge, 
 and habits of attachment j^o pursuits, which I venture to 
 call literary., would, I think, have failed under such dis- 
 couragements as I have met with, but the admixture of 
 another feeling urged me on. Then, I know perfectly 
 well, that many thought you and my other earliest 
 friends not justified in their original kindness to me by 
 any actual possession or future promise I held out. What 
 is more, I soon began to think so, too, myself. But I 
 thought then, and think to this day, that all the fine 
 stories we hear about natural ohilify, &c., &c., are mere 
 rigmarole, and that every man may, according to his 
 opportu/nities and industry., render himself almost any- 
 thing he Vrdshes to become.” On the 19th September, 
 this same year, Kitto, in company with Mr. JSTewman, 
 left Bagdad for England. 
 
 The journey was on horseback, in eastern style. Kitto 
 did not ride at all comfortably, and passed the night as 
 disagreeably as the day. One man would be poking him 
 in the ribs with his feet, and another claiming more than 
 half his pillows. Occasionally the route was diversified 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MALE MEX. 
 
 247 
 
 by a miniature battle. At Teheran, the modern capital 
 of Persia, Kitto had another interview with Sir John 
 M'Neill. “ I have given him,” says the little deaf querist^ 
 ‘‘ a paper of queries, which he has promised to answer 
 me, and which will much extend my little stock of infor- 
 mation.” And he afterwards gratefully acknowledges : — 
 Mr. McNeill has given me satisfactory answers to my 
 twenty queries, and has promised to do the same to seven 
 more I have proposed to him.” At Tabreez, Mr. New- 
 man left Kitto, and proceeded overland to Constanti- 
 nople ; but his place was supplied by Mr. Shepherd, with 
 whom his own after history was strangely connected. 
 On the 1st of March, 1833, Kitto sailed from Trebizond. 
 After a quick voyage, the vessel entered the Bosphorus 
 on the evening of the seventh, and next morning he 
 was entranced with the scene. Europe seemed to have 
 arrayed herself in her most beautiful robes, and Asia to 
 have put on her most dazzling garments. Here two 
 serio-comic incidents befell him. Not knowing that it 
 was incumbent on every one to take down his umbrella 
 in the vicinity of the mansion of the Sultan, Kitto ap- 
 proached one of his favourite palaces, with his umbrella 
 over his head, and narrowly escaped the bayonet of the 
 sentinel. Passing along the principal street of Pera, 
 on the night devoted by the Armenians to the expurga- 
 tion of their houses from evil spirits, he was assailed by 
 a shower of earthen vessels, and escaped, as by miracle, 
 from having his brains dashed out. On April 14th, 
 Kitto embarked for England. Mr. Shepherd was so 
 poorly, that he had to be carried to the ship. The Cap- 
 tain jauntily complimented Kitto on his improved appear- 
 ance, and told Mr. Shepherd if he did not get better, he 
 would take his sweetheart. Kitto replied that his heart 
 was too sour to be sweetened, even by a sweetheart, and 
 that the lady would prefer Shepherd sick, to Kitto well. 
 
248 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEN. 
 
 We shall not dilate on the voyage, the sayings and criti- 
 cisms of Mr. Newman, the capturing of three turtles, 
 Kitto’s feelings as the vessel skirted Malta, and the 
 literary taste of the crew, evinced by their anxiety to 
 read Shakespeare and Spenser. On the 2nd of June, 
 the clilfs of England were hailed, but only afar off : by 
 and by, the coasts of Sussex and Kent lay smiling before 
 him. And although his heart had gathered sterner stuff 
 around it than it once had, he inserts in his journal — 
 “ Oh, when I look thus intently on the verdant fields, 
 velvet greens, fine trees, and pleasant villages of my own 
 land, the beauties and excellencies of all others fade 
 before me, and I say to myself, what I have often said, 
 
 ‘ Who, that can live in England, would live out of it ” 
 As the sight of Jerusalem gladdened the hearts of the 
 tribes of God ; as the sight of Eome cheered the weary 
 pilgrim ; as the sight of Mecca exhilarates the Mahomr 
 medan : — so is the Briton thrilled, when from the deck of 
 the vessel he descries his fatherland. 
 
 ‘‘ The common sun, the air, the skies, 
 
 To him are opening paradise.” 
 
 The ship was obliged to quarantine in Stangate Creek. 
 Mr. Shepherd, who had been gradually sinking during 
 the voyage, died here, and was buried on the 11th June, 
 1833, close to the water’s edge. The piece of ground 
 selected for interment had its uses indicated by what the 
 Captain called “Wooden Tombstones.” 
 
 When Kitto set off for the East, he had resolved to 
 live and die a bachelor ; but as he lay at anchor in Stan- 
 gate Creek, he wrote in his journal : — “ Give me a little 
 house, a little wife, a little child, and a little money in 
 England, and I will seek no more, and wander no more.” 
 Mr. Shepherd had charged Kitto with several messages 
 and memorials for Miss Eenwick, the lady whom he was 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEN*. 
 
 249 
 
 coming home to marry. Mr. Newman and Kitto made 
 their first visit together, to express their condolence ; the 
 former narrated to the lady all the painful circumstances, 
 while the latter sat all the time mute, the very picture of 
 sympathy. One interview did not suffice for Kitto, for 
 he had private matters, both of Mr. Shepherd’s and his 
 own, to talk about. Of course, the lady resolved to 
 “ wither on the virgin thorn for ever.” But Kitto knew 
 from experience that she would soon change her mind ; 
 so, although her heart seemed in the grave of her former 
 lover, he began to pay his addresses to her ; was accepted, 
 and the marriage of John Kitto and Annabella Eenwick 
 was solemnized at Christ’s Church, Newgate Street,Non 
 the 21st September, 1833. “ The church,” says Dr. 
 
 Eadie, “was under repairs at the time; the workmen, 
 being obliged to suspend their noisy operations during 
 the ceremony, became its amused spectators. The bride- 
 groom offered them some merriment, which they were 
 scarcely able to conceal ; for more than once, from his 
 deafness, he got before the officiating clergyman, and had 
 to be recalled to the actual duty which the course of the 
 service devolved upon him. The day of his marriage 
 was the famous St. Matthew’s day; and as the civic 
 dignitaries of London were on their annual visit of cere- 
 mony to Christ’s Hospital, next door, there was no small 
 stir in the neighbourhood. The bridegroom wondered 
 much at the bustle, especially at the Lord Mayor’s fine 
 coach waiting without, but could not at the time divine 
 the reason. Yet the lively scene was not forgotten, and 
 many years afterwards he referred to it, on occasion of 
 the admission of one of his boys to the great educational 
 institution, jocularly remarking, that the time, place, and 
 circumstances of their father’s marriage seemed to give 
 them some claim upon it.” He had now got what he had 
 80 intensely longed for — a hearth and home of his own. 
 
250 
 
 EXAMPLES OP BELP-MADE HEX. 
 
 and both bis happiness and usefulness were materially 
 increased. At the end of the honeymoon, he thus re- 
 cords She now thinks she has found happiness, and 
 I hope to give her no cause to think otherwise. I have 
 now a fireside of my own to sit down by, and on the 
 other side is my wife, darning stockings.” Thus the 
 captain’s prediction, made when his ship was weighing 
 anchor at Constantinople, was literally fulfilled. 
 
 We do not deem it necessary to advert, at present, to 
 the literary works of this illustrious man, as we shall 
 have occasion to do so at some length in the sequel. In 
 the year 1844, the University of Giessen sent him the 
 honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. In Germany 
 this title is sometimes conferred on scholars who are not 
 in orders, and in such a case, if one desires to undertake 
 the pastoral office, he is ordained without being subjected 
 to examinations. But John Kitto was the first, and the 
 only English layman, who ever received such an honour. 
 In 1845, Dr. Kitto became a fellow of the Eoyal Society 
 of Antiquaries, and that body received more lustre from 
 him than it imparted. On the 17th of December, in 
 the year 1850, Lord John Eussell conveyed to him the 
 gratifying intelligence, “ The Queen has directed that a 
 grant of £100 a year should be made to you from her 
 Majesty’s Civil List, on account of your useful and 
 meritorious literary works.” Dr. Kitto was too feeble 
 and too laborious to live to old age. At the beginning 
 of 1851, there were unmistakable indications of ap- 
 proaching cerebral debility. These warnings were to a 
 great extent slighted, for he did not adopt decided 
 measures to maintain his health and prolong his life. 
 In the autumn of 1852, he was dangerously ill, and was 
 enjoined to shorten his hours of labour, and lengthen 
 his hours of exercise. In the course of a few weeks he 
 was almost well ; but soon the malady returned, with still 
 
EXAMPLES OF SELF-MADE MEX. 
 
 251 
 
 more awful violence. Meanwhile, his youngest child 
 died, and he experienced the pang of a first bereavement. 
 The Eev. Dr. Brown, of Edinburgh, sent him his precious 
 little book — “ Comfortable "Words for Christian Parents 
 Bereaved of Little Children.” Both parents more than 
 once exclaimed, with Mr. Sherman, “ Grod bless John 
 Brown for writing this book.” He became worse him- 
 self; still the warnings of his medical advisers were 
 unheeded. “ I must finish the work for which I have 
 had the money, and if I knew I should die with the pen 
 in my hand, I will go on as long as the Lord permits.” 
 He carried out his resolution as to the eighth volume of 
 the Daily Bible Illustrations, and next morning, said to 
 his wife, in hurried and mournful tones, as he attempted 
 to rise from his bed, “ O Bell ! I am numb all down my 
 side.” The seeds of death were planted in him, and he 
 was about to sink into a premature grave. Still, Dr. 
 Bird thought a year’s rest might restore him. The sum 
 of £1,800 was raised by admirers, both at home and 
 abroad, and on the 9th of August, 1854, with his wife 
 and seven children, he left England for Germany. At 
 Cannstatt he buried his infant son and eldest daughter, 
 and there he himself “ must die.” In the earlier years 
 of his manhood he had passed through unnumbered 
 tribulations ; but the later portion of his career had been 
 signally successful. And now his work was over, and in 
 November, in the fiftieth year of his age, he entered into 
 the rest prepared for the people of God. 
 
 “ Put thou thy trust in God, 
 
 ^ In duty’s path go on : 
 
 Fix on His word thy steadfast eye, 
 
 So shall thy work be done. 
 
 “ Give to the winds thy fear : 
 
 Hope, and be undismayed ; 
 
 God hears thy sighs, and counts thy tears ; 
 
 God shall lift up thy head,” 
 
252 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEIS-. 
 
 He had stipulated in his boyhood to be buried at Ply- 
 mouth, in the new churchyard, and beside granny, but 
 he sleeps with his two children in the cemetery of Cann- 
 statt ; and a handsome monument, erected by Mr. Oli- 
 phant, the publisher of his last work, tells the passer-by 
 that there is to be found, — 
 
 “JoAKNis Kitto, D.D., Angli, 
 
 Ingenio, Doctrina, Pietate clarissimi, 
 
 Qui Etsi Multis Fortunse Impedimentis Obstrictus, 
 
 Atque Jam Puer Casu Captus Fuit Auribus, 
 
 Tamen Legendo Ft Peregrinando 
 Magnam Yariamque Sibi Cumulavit Fruditionem, 
 
 Quam Permultis Libris, 
 
 Imprimis Scrip turas Sacras Illustrantibus, 
 
 Fxposuit. 
 
 Studiis Confectus In Grermaniam Se Contulit. 
 
 Ut Valetudinem Debilitatam Kestauraret, 
 
 Ibique Yitam Sempiternam In Christo Invenit. 
 
 Natus Plymouthise Die iv. Mens. Decemb. An. mdccciv. 
 Mortuus Ft Cannstadise Die xxy. Mens. Novemb. An. mdcccliv. 
 
 Annabella Shireen, Filia Fj us Primogenita, Mortem Obiit xiii. Octob. 
 
 MDCCCLIV., Anno iEtatis Yicesimo Primo j 
 
 Henricus Harlowe, Filius Natu Minimus, xxi. Septemb. 
 
 Fjusdem Anni, Yix Decern Menses Natus.” 
 
 Let US now glance at Kitto’s literary labours. It 
 is not our intention to review each volume separately, 
 nor to enter into an analysis as to the comparative 
 merit of his various works: such a process would be 
 too tedious, and would subject us to an unwarrantable 
 amount of space. We must, therefore, stay our hand, 
 and present our readers with a brief description, rather 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEN'. 
 
 253 
 
 than critical notice, of the fruits of his mental toil. 
 His first literary effort was the writing of a book, 
 and embellishing it with a painting, for the small 
 sum of a penny. In the workhouse, the unlearned 
 but intelligent beggar-hoy kept his Journal — a most 
 extraordinary production. Its felicitous descriptions, 
 burning words, and eloquent declamation, would lead 
 one to conclude that it had been written by a literary 
 man, who had nothing to do but bend over his pen in a 
 well-furnished library. Early in the spring of 1825, his 
 volume of Essays was published. Then was realized, to 
 some extent, a dream which he had graphically bodied 
 forth in his journal. He thought he was in a booksel- 
 ler’s shop, surveying his own volume on the counter, 
 Avhen a sage father, an elderly lady, fluttering in brocade, 
 with their son and daughter, both fantastical and trim, 
 entered. The young exquisite laughed outright as he 
 took up the book. When asked what excited him, he 
 read the title-page — Journal and Memoranda of a Man 
 with Eour Senses, by John Kitto, shoemaker, pauper, 
 &c.” “ Was there ever such a thing heard,” continued 
 
 he, “as for a pauper! a shoemaker! to write anything 
 proper for the perusal of a man of sense ? ” adjusting the 
 riband of his quizzing-glass, with the air of a person 
 well satisfied with his own sense. “Ho, certainly,” said 
 his mother, “ and I would wager a guinea that it may 
 be classed among the Methodistical jargon, which the 
 authors are pleased to call journals, and of which so much 
 has been obtruded on the public.” “I, too, would wager 
 a guinea,” said the young lady, “ that in this bantling of 
 wax there are no tender embarrassments — ^no ghosts — no 
 tears of sensibility, nor duels ; for nothing but the most 
 gross vulgarity can be expected from this son of the 
 awl !” “ Tes, indeed ! was ever such extravagance heard 
 
 of, as for a shoemaker — an occupation found only among 
 
 
254 
 
 EXAMPLES or SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 the very dregs of the vulgar, to pretend to write a book ? 
 I should not \t^onder, ’pon my honour, if the barber 
 should favour us with a treatise on beards, the sign- 
 dauber with a history of painting, or even the catgut- 
 scraper with a history of music,” concluded the young 
 gentleman, with a loud and long “ He ! he ! he !” at his 
 own wit ; ‘Hor,” added he, “ they may as readily do it as a 
 pauper write a journal.” The grave-looking old gentle- 
 man, who had attentively listened to all that had been 
 said, advanced towards the rest, and said, “ Ladies, and 
 young man, I must dissent from what all of you have 
 said” (an angry and satirical “ Indeed! ” proceeded from all 
 three at the same time) j the old gentleman, not noticing 
 this interruption, proceeded, — “ Particularly with regard 
 to what has been said about the incapability of mechanics ; 
 for, from my own experience, I can assure you that I 
 have met with genius, probity, and honour, in many in- 
 stances, among what you are pleased to call the dregs of 
 the people. I have always looked upon an honest me- 
 chanic, though even a shoemaker, as a much more useful 
 member of society than he who, blessed with affluence, 
 holds time a burden ; who lives merely to circulate that 
 which would make himdreds happy, and who spends 
 every hour, every day, in what is falsely called pleasure, 
 and who lives for not one of the ends of his creation ; 
 who, so far from improving that time which every hour 
 shortens, thinks himself happy when he has hit upon an 
 idea to kill that time, of which he is not certain of a 
 moment’s continuance. But the best way to convince 
 you of your error is to give you examples of genius 
 amongst the lower classes. I will mention but a few 
 names of the many that occur; as, for instance, E. 
 Bloomfield, Bums, Chatterton, G-. Morland, Savage, 
 Lloyd, Otway, and Shakespeare. I scarce need have 
 told any one but you that most of these are poets — very 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEJT. 
 
 255 
 
 celebrated poets; and, more particularly, that Bloomfield 
 was a shoemaker; the fourth was one of tur best English 
 painters ; and yet none of these were bred in afiluence, 
 nor were their talents cultivated by education. But 
 with regard to the book, the merits of which you have 
 decided without opening its pages, I have read it, and, 
 though written by a pauper, it does not sink much below 
 mediocrity ; the misfortune of the author renders it in 
 some measure interesting ; the language is simple, the 
 orthography not very correct; it has some humour — 
 learning cannot be expected; yet the author is not 
 ignorant, and he seems an honest youth, with sentiments 
 much above his (K)ndition. Upon the whole, it is better 
 than could be expected from one of his years and situa- 
 tion ; and, if it does no good, it will have the negative 
 merit of doing no harm, and it shall be placed in my 
 Kbrary.” There are women clothed in cotton, performing 
 the menial offices of the household; and men clad in 
 fustian, with hob-nails on their feet, who, for solid worth, 
 would weigh down any day scores of such ladies and 
 gentlemen. 
 
 About this time Kitto, like many other giants, was 
 accused by pigmies of imitation, or even plagiarism. 
 And there can be little doubt, that, owing to the deep 
 impression his multifarious reading made upon his mind, 
 he did fall unconsciously into such imitations. However, 
 we are not careful to answer in this matter, except by 
 saying that he marvellously improved upon what he 
 borrowed. That he read and admired to excess certain 
 authors is evident ; but it is also evident that the know- 
 ledge he derived from these was transmuted into his 
 nature, and came forth from his own brain mellowed by 
 his own genius. His joumeyings and residence in the 
 East had enlarged his mind, and greatly increased his 
 stock of information. In Bagdad he had written on a 
 
256 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEN. 
 
 great variety of subjects, so that by the time he returned 
 to England he» wielded a ready pen, and had little 
 doubt of being able to secure a livelihood, if employ- 
 ment turned up. It mattered not to him although the 
 situation should involve incessant toil, for he had 
 resolved 
 
 “ To scorn delight, and live laborious days.” 
 
 The man who has the will and the ability to work, is not 
 likely to be long abandoned to total idleness. Through 
 the influence of his friends, Kitto was brought under the 
 notice of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Know- 
 ledge, of which Lord Brougham, then Lord Chancellor, 
 was president ; Sir Henry Parnell, and, afterwards. Lord 
 J ohn Bussell, vice-president ; with a large committee, of 
 high and honoured names, in London and throughout the 
 provinces. On the 19th of July, 1833, he wrote to Mr. 
 Knight, ofiering to prepare papers from his journals for 
 the Penny Magazine^ and on the 20th he had a personal 
 interview. The result was, that he became a regular 
 contributor ; and thus the man, who seldom uttered five 
 words in the course of a week for several years, addressed 
 a million of people in England, besides many in America, 
 Erance, G-ermany, and Holland, about himself, under the 
 title of “ The Deaf Traveller.” His contributions were 
 received with great approbation, and Mr. Knight ofiered 
 him a general engagement, at a salary which Kitto deemed 
 not only sufficient for his present, but for his prospective 
 wants. He had now plenty of work, and he did it well. 
 The Penny Magazine was a debtor to his pen, and the 
 Penny Cyclojgcedia to his care. But he had not yet found 
 his appropriate sphere. He was simply a common 
 litteratem ; and, had he been content to spend his 
 strength in the “ continued dropping” of periodical 
 work, he had lived unknown, beyond the immediate 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEI^". 
 
 257 
 
 circle in whicli lie moved: had died, been buried, and 
 straightway forgotten. 
 
 “ The cygnet finds the water, but the man 
 Is born in ignorance of his element, 
 
 And feels out, blind at first.” 
 
 At length the hour came, and the man was ready. The 
 famously enterprising Mr. Knight suggested the idea of 
 an annotated Bible, and, at Kitto’s earnest request, 
 committed to his untried hands a great and noble work, 
 which a man less qualified to judge of individual fitness 
 would have associated with some name great in literature. 
 He now felt, for the first time, that he was in his true 
 element. The “ Pictorial Bible” evoked a full display of 
 all his powers, afforded him an opportunity of laying his 
 Oriental observations and miscellaneous reading under 
 contribution, and paved the way for his subsequent 
 labours. The work was commenced in 1835, and finished 
 in 1838 ; during which time Kitto was paid at the rate 
 of £250 a year, and when the work was completed, a 
 handsome sum was tendered him as something of a hono- 
 rarium. Justice was done to a hitherto neglected field 
 of illustration ; Eastern scenes and customs were placed 
 under the public eye, in pictures of startling life-likeness, 
 and the voice of praise was unanimous. What that great 
 common sense theologian. Dr. Chalmers, called his “ Bib- 
 lical Library,” consisted of the “ Pictorial Bible,” a 
 
 Concordance,” “ Poole’s Synopsis,” “ Henry’s Com- 
 mentary,” and Bobinson’s Eesearches in Palestine.” 
 In his Daily Scripture Headings,” he says : — Perhaps 
 when I am mouldering in my coffin, the eye of my dear 
 Tommy may light upon this paper ; and it is possible 
 that his recollection may accord with my fervent antici- 
 pations of the effect that his delight in the ‘ Pictorial 
 Bible ’ may have, in endearing still more to him the holy 
 
258 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEK. 
 
 Word of Grod.” In 1849, a standard edi^jon of the 
 Pictorial Bible ” was published in four volumes impe- 
 rial octavo. Upon this copy Kitto bestowed special 
 pains, and received upwards of £600 for his labour. 
 Among the lists of his projected compositions, books for 
 children held a prominent place ; of this, “ Uncle Oliver,’’ 
 an old gentleman who had travelled in Persia, and who, 
 night after night, told stories to two nephews and a 
 niece, is a fair specimen. The work is in two volumes 
 18mo., and is enriched with twenty-four woodcuts. The 
 topics embraced are. Eastern manners, customs, arts, 
 sciences, and history — all expressed in beautiful, clear, 
 and simple language. After nine months spent in col- 
 lecting books, examining authorities, and digesting mate- 
 rials, Kitto commenced the “ Pictorial History of Pales- 
 tine and the Holy Land.” His pay was according to the 
 highest scale of literary remuneration, but the sale was 
 much below the publisher’s expectations. Although in- 
 ferior to the “Pictorial Bible,” the author judged it 
 superior, and intimated to Mr. Knight that it was quite 
 possible to make books too good for the great world. The 
 “ Christian Traveller,” a periodical devoted to the mis- 
 sionary enterprise, he expected to occupy a first place 
 among its competitors. But only three parts were pub- 
 lished, when it was stopped by the pecuniary difficulties 
 of Mr. Knight’s publishing house. The industrious 
 author had now nothing to do, and many prospectuses 
 were drawn out by him, and sent to various publishers. 
 He proposed to write a Biblical Cyclopaedia, or a Life of 
 Christ, for the Beligious Tract Society ; but the offer 
 was not entertained. The plan of a new Cyclopaedia of 
 Biblical Literature, sent to Messrs. Black, of Edinburgh, 
 engaged their attention, and led to a correspondence, the 
 issue of which was the publication, in the first place, of 
 a “ History of Palestine, from the Patriarchal Age to 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE MEIT. 
 
 259 
 
 tlie Present Time” (12mo., pp. 378). This treatise did 
 not create much interest, but it put a little money into 
 the author’s pocket. Between 1841 and 1843, he ex- 
 plained for Mr. Pisher the pictures of the Gallery of 
 Scripture Engravings,” in three volumes quarto. In 1843, 
 the Keligious Tract Society published his “ Thoughts 
 among Flowers” (32mo., pp. 156). The little work shows 
 that the writer could moralize and open his heart to the 
 influences of the flowers expanding their petals and dis- 
 tilling their fragrance. In 1845, he prepared for Mr. 
 Knight the “ Pictorial Sunday Book,” with 1,300 en- 
 gravings, and an appendix on the Geography of the 
 Holy Land. The only remarkable thing in this folio is 
 the number and variety of the engravings, both from 
 nature, the Egyptian monuments, and the masters 
 of all schools and countries. The Biblical Cyclo- 
 paedia ” was brought to a close this year ; it met a desi- 
 deratum of the age, and was, therefore, admired and 
 extolled. It is, indeed, a very multifarious performance 
 — a hook for all, for the private Christian, the Sunday 
 school teacher, the deacon, the student, the preacher, 
 the pastor, and the professor — all may repair to it at any 
 time for sound information on Biblical criticism. Biblical 
 interpretation, history, geography, archaeology, and phy- 
 sical science. Dr. Kitto received £1,000 as editor, and 
 more than double that sum was expended on illustrations 
 and contributions from learned men of both hemispheres. 
 This same year he found leisure to make two contribu- 
 tions to Mr. Knight’s Weekly Volume. Both are named 
 the ‘‘Lost Senses;” the first is on deafness, and is, in 
 fact, an autobiography, or analysis of his own life and 
 experience. The second is on blindness, and shows what 
 high excellence, in various departments of art, science, 
 and literature, the blind have attained. The volume, 
 however, notwithstanding that the roll of the blind is far 
 
260 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MAEE MEX. 
 
 more illustrious than that of the deaf mutes, never ob- 
 tained the popularity of its predecessor. Between the 
 years 1846 and 1849, Dr. Kitto wrote for the Eeligious 
 Tract Society’s monthly volume, “Ancient Jerusalem,” 
 “ Modern Jerusalem,” “ The Court of Persia,” “ The 
 People of Persia,” and “ The Tartar Tribes.” “ Ancient 
 and Modern Jerusalem,” and “ The Court and People of 
 Persia,” may he had in double volumes with frontispiece. 
 Much may be learned about one of the most interesting 
 cities in the world from these tiny volumes. “ The Ta- 
 bernacle and its Purniture ” was published by Mr. B. L. 
 G-reen, in a thin quarto, in 1849, and will amply reward 
 perusal. To promote Biblical scholarship, he projected 
 the “ Journal of Sacred Literature.” The prospectus 
 embraced a wide range of subjects, and he expected a 
 large number of subscribers. Messrs. Simpkin and Co. 
 were the publishers of the first series, and Mr. Blackader 
 of the second : neither came up to his own ideal, and the 
 Journal was reluctantly handed over, in 1853, to Dr. 
 Burgess, its present able and astute editor. Out of a 
 long letter sent to the Messrs. Oliphant, of Edinburgh, 
 sprang, in a brief period, his last work — the “ Daily Bible 
 Illustrations.” The first volume of the Morning series is 
 dated December, 1849. The fourth volume, which com- 
 pletes the year, was delayed a few months, on account of 
 other engagements. A work for Mr. Bohn, named 
 “ Scripture Lands, Described in a Series of Historical^ 
 Greographical, and Topographical Sketches,” occupied a 
 portion of his time. The other production was a book 
 he had written two years before, for the Eeligious Tract 
 Society, but which had not been printed for want of 
 requisite illustrations, entitled, “ The Land of Paradise.” 
 The first volume of the Evening series of “ Daily Bible 
 Illustrations,” was published in December, 1851, and 
 the last in January, 1854. This work, comprising eight 
 
EXAMPLES or SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 261 
 
 volumes, has obtained, as it deserved, a very wide cir- 
 culation. And, besides these works of permanent merit 
 and ability, he was the author of many articles printed 
 anonymously, and of two lectures on Scripture Illustra- 
 tion, published by the Working Men’s Educational 
 Union. Truly, the graduate of Plymouth workhouse 
 made a great and valuable addition to our theological 
 literature — his services were extraordinary ! Most cer- 
 tainly, as his life and labours pass before us, we feel that 
 he might well say: — “ I, perhaps, have as much right as 
 any man that lives, to bear witness that there is no one 
 so low but that he might rise ; no condition so cast 
 down as to be really hopeless ; and no privation which 
 need, of itself, shut out any man from the paths of 
 honourable exertion, or from the hope of usefulness in life. 
 I have sometimes thought that it was possibly my mis- 
 sion to affirm and establish these great truths.” Noble 
 child of self-denying labour, thou didst farm well all 
 thine hours, and didst make every moment and every 
 thing to bear thee vintage and interest. We feel that the 
 world becomes altogether poorer, when such as thee pass 
 from it, unless thy example stirs others up to emulate 
 thy talent, industry, and fidelity, to reality and truth. 
 
 But .this brings us, finally, to consider Dr. Kitto’s 
 triumphs. He was a great conqueror, only his battles 
 were peaceful and bloodless. He triumphed over the 
 wretchedness and privation of his birth and early life. 
 Cradled in meanness and penury, he passed his youth in 
 the merest drudgery of labour. When the deaf and de- 
 formed boy was lodged in the old workhouse, what more 
 likely than that society must either be burdened with an 
 imbecile, or afflicted with a viper? Not so; the very 
 walls of that hospital have been glorified by this mendi- 
 cant! The calculation of likelihoods goes but a short 
 
262 
 
 EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEIf. 
 
 way in the history of some men. While others are 
 wishing, they are acting. A French writer has remarked, 
 that while the Portuguese sailors, before engaging in 
 battle, are prostrate upon the deck, imploring their saints 
 to perform miracles in their favour, the British tars are 
 manning their guns, and working miracles for themselves. 
 So Kitto, instead of railing at fate, profited by oppor- 
 tunity — out of the smallest opportunity extracted the 
 greatest good, and thus proclaimed the superiority of 
 mind to circumstance. ; 
 
 He triumphed over the tyranny of Bowden. That 
 savage seemed to imagine that his apprentice was a help- 
 less victim, whom he might work beyond right, and 
 punish without limit. Workhouse boys have few to 
 look after them, and fewer still to interfere for them. 
 And the rude and ignorant man never dreamed that “the 
 boy could rise above shoemaking; so he buffeted him 
 without mercy. Ah! little did he know what powers 
 were slumbering within that tiny form. Shame on thee, 
 Bowden, for such a limitation of the beggar-boy’s des- 
 tiny ! That smart youngster is even now recording the 
 whole of thy brutal procedure ; and when, thirty years 
 hence, he shall display himself to the admiration of the 
 world, your conduct will receive merited reprobation. 
 Let us beware how we treat boys ; the dullest and the 
 silliest of them may soon exhibit powers which will 
 rank them among nature’s nobility. After the Pictorial 
 Bible was completed, Kitto and his family paid a friendly 
 visit to Plymouth. We wonder if the shoemaker was 
 alive, when the editor of the Pictorial Bible visited his 
 birth-place. 
 
 He triumphed over the Missionary Committee. They 
 demanded the abandonment of literary pursuits — lolling 
 on the sofa, smoking a pipe, and gossiping, might have 
 been looked over ; but self-culture, it was surmised, must 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MADE MEN. 
 
 263 
 
 unfit for manual labour, and could not be put up with 
 on the part of such a servant. The committee, not 
 knowing what principles and energies were in him, 
 resolved that he should be simply a printer ; he, on the 
 other hand, desired to rise by the just and honourable 
 use of his talents. There was little in common between 
 Kitto and the committee. They owed their position 
 not to themselves, but to the favour of influential con- 
 nections; he owed his position not to birth or fortune, 
 but to himself, and at that time was still on the bleak 
 side of the hill of life, and perhaps the committee 
 thought that rigour might be exercised with impunity. 
 But, behold the noble revenge of genius upon the little 
 fantastic tricks which the insolence of office, or the 
 accidents of position, may play upon it. The committee, 
 who lectured the poor feeble boy on the sacrifice of self- 
 will and self-gratification, have disappeared along with 
 the multitudes who 
 
 “ Grow up and perish, as the summer fly ; 
 
 Herds without name — no more remembered 
 
 while the trumpet of perpetual fame is filled with one 
 long, long echo, to the memory of that humble lad over 
 whom they exercised so watchful a surveillance. 
 
 He triumphed over difficulties which would have over- 
 mastered mere ordinary men. Untrained even by the 
 common elementary schooling, he battled manfully with 
 his fate, and, step by step, emerged from the slough of 
 ignorance to a place among the ripest scholars of the 
 age. This desire for knowledge was almost an infant 
 passion, and, no matter how often baffied, it was never 
 quenched. He begged or borrowed books wherever he 
 could find them. In his twentieth year, he writes : — 
 “What earthly pleasure can equal that of reading a 
 good book ? O dearest tomes ! prince and august folio ! 
 
264 EXAMPLES OE SELF-MADE MEX*. 
 
 sublime quarto ! elegant octavo ! charming duodecimo ! 
 most ardently do I admire your beauties ! To obtain, 
 and to call ye mine, I would work day and night ; and 
 to possess ye, I would forbid myself all sensual joys!” 
 “ What a wistful eye,” says Dr. Eadie, to whom we are 
 indebted for many of the facts and sentiments in the 
 present sketch, “ he cast on some favourite lying on a 
 book-stall, when he painfully knew the purchase to be 
 beyond his means?” And truly he turned his vast 
 stores of knowledge to good account. As an author, he 
 had the most cultivated men and women on earth for his 
 readers. Doubtless his heart exulted, as he wrote the 
 following characteristic paragraph: — ‘‘Newman writes 
 me, — ‘ I have taken in the Pictorial Bible. Parnell tells 
 me that you were the editor. I said. Perhaps of the 
 later portions. Is it true that you were the editor of 
 the Pentateuch part ? ’ Bah 1 I answered, rather sharply, 
 ‘ Yes and I did not altogether omit the opportunity of 
 slightly girding at the discouragements I had received, 
 and the calamities which were foretold me from my 
 adherence to my literary predilections ; to which adhe- 
 rence I owe all the benefits I now enjoy. I said just 
 enough to let him see that I did feel something of 
 triumph, to have it thus established that I was right in 
 my obstinacy. These old college folks, I fancy, cannot 
 like the successes of 'parvenus — self-educated men, like 
 myself.” 
 
 ’ What a now and a then do we observe in the life of 
 this man! Now, he treads the streets of Plymouth, a 
 deaf, unlettered boy, familiar with bereavement and 
 poverty ; lodged in the hospital of the poor man’s 
 portion, to keep him from utter starvation; — then, a 
 learned theologian, rich in literary treasures, and sur- 
 rounded with the best books in the world. Now, he 
 
EXAMPLES OE SELE-MALE MEX. 
 
 265 
 
 writes a book, and paints a picture, to bis cousin, for a 
 penny ; — then, receives literary remuneration at the 
 rate of a guinea and a half per page. Now, he is a 
 parish apprentice ; — ^then, editor of the Pictorial Bible. 
 Now, John Kitto, shoemaker, pauper ; — then, John 
 Kitto, D.D., P.S.A. Now, he goes to Sutton-pool, at 
 low water, to pick up pieces of rope, or scraps of iron ; — 
 then, receives £100 a year from the Civil List, in con- 
 sideration of his eminent literary services. Now, he 
 dedicates his workhouse journal to Cecilia Picken, 
 his grandmother ; — ^then, he inscribes his “ Daily Bible 
 Illustrations” to Queen Victoria. The course of such a 
 man is an incentive to all. The good that men do, 
 not only lives after them, but it grows and multiplies.” 
 Noble deeds are an imperishable monument. ‘‘ Madam,” 
 said the late Bev. Dr. Beattie, of Glasgow, to Mrs. 
 Kitto, I am disappointed in your husband’s appearance 
 exceedingly. I had thought, from the amount of infor- 
 mation he possesses, that he must be double the age he 
 is ; and, from the quantity of labour he has gone through, 
 that he must possess twice the physical vigour.” Prom 
 his distant grave we hear the admonition, ‘‘ Work while 
 it is day ; for the night cometh, when no man can work.” 
 At the close of life, Kitto might have adopted the words 
 uttered by Tycho Brahe, in his last moments : — “ Ne 
 quidem frustra vixisse videar.” 
 
266 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 HOW MEH AEE MADE. 
 
 “ You are endowed with the possibilities, the undeveloped germs 
 of manhood. You are — if we may use a homely phrase — the raw 
 material, out of which men are made ; and are yet, many of you, in 
 that ductile state in which you are capable of being moulded into 
 the noblest types of men : not hard and set, incased in crusty shell, 
 so that you cannot be changed without being fractured, and will 
 break ere you will bend ; but pliant and impressible, if subjected to 
 plastic influences ; full of buoyancy, and elasticity, and energy, and 
 the lofty ambition of youth.” 
 
 Eev. William Landels. 
 
 We shall now, in so far as our limits will admit, trace 
 the process by which men — somewhat conformed to the 
 Creator’s ideal — are made. We do not believe that “the 
 noblest study of mankind is man but certainly such a 
 subject is fraught with interest, and conducive to profit. 
 “ I ’specs I growed,” said poor Topsy to Miss Ophelia. 
 V hile laughing at the simplicity of the ignorant black, 
 let us remember that the combination of theoretical 
 soundness with practical unsoundness is widely prevalent 
 among ourselves in its application to this very point. 
 Many act as if men were made in the same way that 
 cattle are reared. Bipeds may grow in that way, but not 
 men. Giants seven feet high, and stout in proportion, 
 may be dismissed by us, as far beneath our standard ; 
 and dwarfish mortals may be accepted as real men. 
 
 Youths, of whom better things might be expected, 
 
HOW MEH ABE MADE. 
 
 267 
 
 hope to become men hj employing a fashionable tailor. 
 If so, then we have done him vast injustice. He is “ not 
 only a man,” as Carlyle says, “ but something of a creator 
 or divinity. Franklin is said to have snatched the thunder 
 from heaven, and the sceptre from kings ; but he surpasses 
 Franklin, as much as he that lends is greater than he that 
 snatches.” But the tailor cannot make men; he can only 
 make gents, or dandies. 
 
 Others have more faith in the jeweller, and apply to 
 him, under the impression that richly ornamented quiz- 
 zing glasses, rings, studs, &c., are the things which com- 
 bine to make men. A member of this class, desirous 
 of becoming an engineer, called one day on Greorge 
 Stephenson, flourishing a gold-headed cane. Put down 
 that stick, my man,” said the great mechanic, ‘^andl 
 will speak to you.” To another exquisitely decorated 
 
 animal he said, “You will, I hope, Mr. , excuse me ; 
 
 I am a plain-spoken person, and am sorry to see a nice- 
 looking and rather clever young man like you disflgured 
 with that flne-patterned waistcoat, and all these chains 
 and fang-dangs. If I, sir, had bothered my head with 
 such things when at your age, I would not have been 
 where I am now.” 
 
 Multitudes seem to think that the love of amusement 
 is the sure precursor of manhood. JSTow, we do not side 
 with the Stoic, who affects indifference towards all enjoy- 
 ments ; nor the Ascetic, who censures or sneers at them. 
 We confess an admiration for the famous games of 
 ancient Grreece. Increased health, happiness, working 
 power, and, consequently, usefulness, followed such 
 exercises. When Cicero became the victim of the train 
 of maladies known by the title of dyspepsia, he hastened, 
 not to the physicians, but to the Grymnasium ; submitted 
 to its rules of temperance and exercise for two whole 
 years ; then returned to the intellectual struggles of the 
 
268 
 
 HOW MEH ABE MADE. 
 
 !Fomm, strong and vigorous as the peasants who culti- 
 vated his farm. Without recreation no man. will long 
 enjoy the mens sana in corpore sano.” Let us, there- 
 fore, have our public gymnasiums and our public parks, 
 in which our young men may have rational pastimes — 
 manly sports and splendid games. Still many — we 
 fear the most popular of our amusements — are frivolous, 
 brutal, sinful. Think of persons — we cannot call them 
 men — devoting half a lifetime to acquire the art of 
 balancing themselves on ropes, or standing on their 
 heads on the top of a pole ! Think of the nobles of the 
 land eagerly taking their places upon the grand stand, to 
 witness really noble animals abused on the race-course ! 
 Think of statesmen, literary men, &c., &c., leaving 
 their beds at early dawn, to witness a prize-fight ! But 
 amusement, even when sought as a means to an end 
 higher than itself, cannot produce men. One may be a 
 skilful wrestler, a swift racer, a capital shot — able to 
 drink champagne, and ride on horses — and yet be no 
 man, but a barbarian ! 
 
 Let us make another observation, before we come to 
 those opinions which we consider worthy of more earnest 
 and lengthened discussion, that the way to be men is to 
 live in a certain style, and keep up a certain appearance. 
 We heard of a family, who every day, about dinner-time, 
 had a table set in their parlour, with clean damask cloth 
 and napkins, pieces of bread, silver forks, spoons, castors, 
 &c., handsome wine-glasses and goblets, and all the 
 paraphernalia of a very genteel equipage. The table stood 
 thus during an hour or more ; so that, if visitors called, 
 they might conclude that the family were about to sit 
 down in style. But to this table they never did sit down ; 
 for when the time for exhibition had elapsed, the fine 
 things were all removed, for a similar show the next day, 
 and the next, and the next. And the genteel family 
 
HOW MEN AEE MADE. 
 
 269 
 
 seated themselves on the kitchen floor, round an earthen 
 pan, filled with some sort of stew, and each dipped in a 
 pewter spoon, and fed out of the same pan ! To palm 
 oneself on the world, under false pretences, is decidedly 
 unmanly. He rather is a man who despises such cheat- 
 ery, admits the extent of his means, and boldly faces the 
 whole world. 
 
 The following theories deserve serious consideration: — 
 Tirst, that men are made by the constitution which they 
 inherit : second, that men are made under the influence 
 of circumstances : third, that the coalescence of natural 
 constitution with surrounding circumstances makes 
 men : fourth, that men are made by their own voluntary 
 determination. 
 
 Our first theory is, that men are made by the consti- 
 tution which they inherit. This opinion you may meet 
 with not unfrequently among those who push their 
 phrenology into materialism, and pervert that system of 
 mental philosophy to ends which its more intelligent 
 advocates carefully repudiate. That there are great 
 difierences among men, arising from original tempera- 
 ment and organization, is evident enough. The Cau- 
 casian, the Mongolian, the Eed Indian of the 'New 
 World, and the J^egro ; — these all differ from each 
 other in the colour of their skin, in the contour of the 
 body, and in the cast and character of their minds. The 
 European variety is the highest. Wherever this race 
 plants its foot, it makes itself master, and civilization 
 springs up, as the fountain of living water burst at the 
 stroke of the hoof of the Grecian horse. Next in order 
 is the Mongolian. This specimen has formed great 
 states, and made some progress in the arts and in 
 science. Then come the aborigines of North America, 
 who have many remarkable traits of character, and mani- 
 
270 
 
 HOW MEH AEE MADE. 
 
 fest a kindness and courtesy approaching to our own 
 ideas of the chivalric. The JN'egro stands at the bottom 
 of the scale. 
 
 As with the races, so with the individual units that 
 compose the species. One man is prompt to act, and to 
 seize opportunities — power, energy, courage, and decision 
 are his characteristics. Whatever he does, he does with 
 all his might. Another man finds it difficult to come 
 to a decision — ease, slothfulness, and indifierence, lord it 
 over his mind. Make haste slowly, is his motto. This 
 man is of a quick, buoyant, nimble frame, alike of body 
 and mind ; he lives on the incense that lies strewn 
 around him, as the butterfly gathers farina from the 
 flowers. That man is of a staid and unimpulsive tem- 
 perament, the alliance of rest and motion; he loathes 
 the pleasures of the world, and seeks the cell of the 
 hermit, or the cloister of the monk. This is a man in 
 whose head the organs of the animal propensities de- 
 cidedly preponderate over the moral sentiments and 
 intellectual powers : and there a man with the moral and 
 intellectual regions predominating greatly over the 
 animal portion of his nature. Some are so acute, that 
 they can thread their way through all the turns and 
 ingenuities of argument ; others are so obtuse, that they 
 can hardly acquire the plainest elements of knowledge ! 
 Man is what nature makes him. Thus certain phrenolo- 
 gists, knowing it to he a fundamental principle of their 
 science, that each part of the brain acts, cceteris paribus, 
 with a degree of energy corresponding to its size, come 
 forward and tell us that man is more the victim than the 
 criminal ; that his character is made for him, not by him. 
 Now this we altogether deny. Grranting the premises 
 which the advocates of craniology demand, it does not 
 follow that we are what we are by any necessity of 
 nature ; hut that it is more difficult for some men to be 
 
HOW MEN AEE MADE. 
 
 271 
 
 virtuous than it is for others, and that Grod does not 
 give to all like gifts. We find our views on this point 
 so well expressed by the recognized head of the phreno- 
 logical school, Mr. Greorge Combe, of Edinburgh, in his 
 introduction to The Constitution of Man,” that we will 
 do ourselves the pleasure of quoting the brief sentences. 
 ‘‘ But to the animal nature of man have been added, by 
 a bountiful Creator, moral sentiments and reflecting 
 faculties, which not only place him above all other crea- 
 tures on earth, but constitute him a different being from 
 any of them, a rational and accountable creature. These 
 faculties are his best and highest gifts, and the sources 
 of his purest and intensest pleasures. They lead him 
 directly to the great objects of his existence — obedience 
 to Grod, and love towards his fellow-men. But this 
 peculiarity attends them, that while his animal faculties 
 act powerfully of themselves, his rational faculties re- 
 quire to be cultivated, exercised, and instructed, before 
 they will yield their full harvest of enjoyment.” 
 
 If men are made by the peculiar conformation of the 
 brain and the development of its organs, then responsi- 
 bility is a mere fiction, and Bailey was a true philoso- 
 pher and a good theologian, when he made the hero of 
 his poem sing : — 
 
 ‘‘ Yet merit or demerit none I see 
 In nature, human or material — 
 
 In passions or affections, good or bad : 
 
 We only know that Grod’s best purposes 
 Are oftenest brought about by deadliest sins. 
 
 Is thunder evil, or is dew divine ? 
 
 Does virtue lie in sunshine, sin in storm ? 
 
 Is not each natural, each needful, best ? ” 
 
 Strange that this drivelling, which exalts vice to an 
 equality with virtue, — nay, which makes vice virtue, and 
 
272 
 
 HOW MEH AEE MADE. 
 
 virtue vice,— should be called science ! Only imagine 
 the liar coming forward, and pleading, as an excuse for 
 his sin, his small conscientiousness ! the thief, his large 
 acquisitiveness ! the murderer, his huge bump of destruc- 
 tiveness ! and the atheist vindicating his insane conduct 
 on the ground that he has got no organ of veneration ! 
 Responsibility is not only attested by the history of 
 Providence, and the testimony of Inspiration, but it is 
 written on every page of nature and experience. 
 
 On the subject of man’s responsibility, we should as 
 soon expect assistance from the telescope of the astro- 
 nomer, or the microscope of the physiologist, as from the 
 instrument of the phrenologist. The mind is conscious 
 of all its internal operations ; and our ultimate appeal, in 
 all controversies bearing on its phenomena, must ever be, 
 not to the testimony of sense, but to the testimony of 
 consciousness. Our belief in the deliverance of con- 
 sciousness is so irresistible, that its being seriously 
 questioned is almost inconceivable. Our consciousness 
 is the first and most important of those principles, which 
 have been variously designated first truths,” “ ultimate 
 facts” of our moral and mental constitution, “primary 
 laws of human belief.” Like our belief in our own 
 existence, or in that of a material world, or in the 
 uniformity of the course of nature, it is not to be 
 arraigned at the bar of reason, but it is a simple matter 
 of fact, to be received upon trust by every man of 
 common sense. Now, we affirm that men are respon- 
 sible, and that this is a matter of consciousness. Look 
 at that man carousing in the gay circle of his acquaint- 
 ance ; when his blood is warm, and his spirits high, he 
 will go all lengths with his fellow- debauchees, and give 
 way to every wanton and every wicked desire. But 
 when the fumes of intoxication have forsaken his aching 
 head; when the calm forenoon of reflection comes, he 
 
HOW MElSr ARE MADE. 
 
 273 
 
 blames himself, and suffers keenly in his own bosom. 
 He knows that he ought to have acted differently, and 
 he feels that he might have acted differently. A lion is 
 never sorry because he has devoured a lamb ; neither 
 is a bear made miserable because of the men he has 
 murdered! No, indeed! But God, by giving man a 
 brain, a heart, and conscience, has armed him with 
 complete power to regulate and control his conduct ; 
 and when he does wrong, he is visited with remorse. 
 Sin may seem a necessity in our logic, but not in our 
 consciousness. Bemorse,” says Isaac Taylor, in his 
 work on the responsibility of man, “ is man’s dread pre- 
 rogative, and is the natural accompaniment of his consti- 
 tution as a knowing, voluntary agent, left in trust with 
 his own welfare and that of others. Bemorse, if we 
 exclude the notion of responsibility, is an enigma in 
 human nature, never to be explained.” But the sceptic 
 steps forward, and informs us that, though man be 
 responsible for his actions, he is not responsible for his 
 belief. Why, then, does he fulminate against us for our 
 belief ? and why were the ideas of right and wrong planted 
 in our breasts ? Moreover, mark this ! The Bible takes 
 no notice of speculative belief. Beligious belief can no 
 more exist without influencing the life, than the sun can 
 shine without giving light. Disbelief is really belief, and 
 belief and action are inseparable. Look, then, at the 
 proposition, that man is not responsible for his belief, 
 but is responsible for his actions : the latter member 
 destroys the former. The accused is acquitted on one 
 indictment, only to be condemned on another. 
 
 Psychological, or mental science, proclaims the doctrine 
 of human responsibility. Philosophers may arise now 
 and then, and endeavour to persuade themselves and 
 others that the will is bound in the adamantine chain 
 of a physical necessity, and that men are driven on to 
 T 
 
274 
 
 HOW MEN' AEE MADE. 
 
 their destiny by irresistible causes ; but the subtleties of 
 philosophy never can annihilate the dictates of common 
 sense. The perfect freedom of the will rests on the 
 surest ground of certitude which the human mind can 
 possess — the evidence of consciousness. On bended 
 knee, and with his hand on the Holy Grospels, Gralileo 
 recanted those sublime and eternal truths he himself had 
 evolved and established; but his memorable whisper, “ It 
 moves, for all that !” is proof that he still acknowledged 
 the laws of nature. Man’s free agency is felt by uni- 
 versal consciousness, assumed in universal law, declared 
 in universal language, and echoed by universal conscience. 
 It is man’s glory that he has a free will. According to 
 Dr. Tulloch, of St. Andrew’s, Mr. Thomson, of Lincoln- 
 shire, and the late Professor Nichol, of Glasgow, we 
 cannot rise to the idea of the Great Pirst Cause, without 
 us and above us, except by the consciousness of free 
 will wherewith He has endowed us. Whilst, therefore, 
 we are devoutly thankful for the power to will, let us 
 humbly acknowledge the burden of responsibility. Ye 
 millionaires ! remember that gold has its duties as well as 
 its rights ! Te men of genius ! remember that to whom 
 much is given, of them much shall be required ! Te men 
 of rank ! remember you are responsible for your influence 
 to God ! Te feeble ones ! — men who dwell in the vales! 
 — remember that your few talents must be brought to 
 account 1 
 
 It is plain enough that men are not made by their 
 peculiar original organization; and the sooner the theory 
 is torn up, root and fibre, and cast to the winds, the 
 better. Prom the one block the sculptor can carve “ an 
 angel of light, or a goblin damned ;” and so, from this 
 natural constitution, it is possible for a man, “ by the 
 good hand of his God upon him,” to make himself a 
 ‘‘vessel of mercy, prepared unto glory;” and, on the 
 
HOW MEN AHE MADE. 
 
 275 
 
 other hand, by the simple working of his own free will, 
 in spite of checks, and warnings, and inducements to the 
 contrary, he can make himself a “ vessel of wrath, fitted 
 to destruction.” 
 
 Our second theory is, that men are made under the 
 influence of circumstances. There are a class of thinkers, 
 who tell us that moral freedom is an absurdity — a funda- 
 mental error — the root of all evil to man. The formation 
 of man’s character, say they, is most essentially deter- 
 mined by external circumstances. Good and superior 
 circumstances will produce good and superior men, while 
 evil and inferior circumstances will produce evil and 
 inferior men. Taith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, 
 patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity, murders, 
 adulteries, dishonesties, robberies, deceits, drunkenness, 
 slaveries, horrid cruelties, these no man can help or 
 hinder. Praise and blame, merit and demerit, right and 
 wrong, duty, &c., are the mere inventions of priestcraft, 
 the hallucinations of insanity. Man, as an individual, 
 has no power within him, realized or latent, to control 
 external nature ; but society may become a social 
 machine, on scientific principles, and, with the certainty 
 of a natural law, make all men variedly good, according 
 to the diversities of innate physical and mental con- 
 stitution. 
 
 It will not do to call this class of humanity fools, 
 and to cast them into the Balaam box of the world. 
 We must give them credit for nobleness of aim 
 and purpose, and endeavour to refute their opinion 
 by facts. 
 
 National, common- sense people, will admit that children 
 of the same family, subjected to the same training, often 
 turn out very differently. Parents know this, to their 
 joy and to their sorrow. Two babes are suckled by the 
 
276 
 
 HOW MEH AEE MADE. 
 
 same mother, and rocked in the same cradle. The same 
 father presents them in the house of Grod ; and the 
 minister, dipping his hand in water, sprinkles some drops 
 on their faces, and pronounces the names of Tather, Son, 
 and Holy Ghost. Tears roll on, and the infants become 
 children, and the children shoot up into youths. Alas ! 
 the early impressions of the one are lost, like the shifting 
 sand ; he becomes a monster of iniquity ; not only a dis- 
 grace to the parents that begat him, but a scourge of the 
 earth, and at last dies, a broken-down, haggard yictim of 
 dissipation, and his shrieking spirit is borne away through 
 dark night, to deepen the blasphemy of the abodes of 
 despair! Look at the other. He listens to the counsels 
 of pious friends, avoids the tavern, and takes his place at 
 the table spread in the house of God. His life is a 
 success. He does good — real, solid, substantial good — ^ 
 clothes the naked, feeds the hungry, instructs the 
 ignorant, and raises the drooping head of merit. He 
 dies, and his sanctified spirit ascends to Heaven, to 
 excite to rapture the anthems of eternity ! It were easy 
 to multiply illustrations. Dr. Newman and Mr. Newman 
 are brothers, and were brought up in the same faith. 
 The one lectures to the “ Brothers of the Oratory,” and 
 the other writes the “ Phases of Paith.” The one goes 
 over to superstition, and the other goes over to scepticism. 
 The one believes all the legends of Borne, and the other 
 believes nothing. Pacts innumerable prove that the 
 assertion, “ As are the circumstances, so must be the cha- 
 racters of those trained within them,” is a huge mistake, 
 and a gigantic blunder. 
 
 Again, it is a felt and established fact, that temptations 
 can be successfully resisted. To speak of irresistible 
 temptation is to utter a solecism, for the moment 
 temptation becomes irresistible, man’s responsibility. ter- 
 minates. Cowper, in the lines — 
 
HOW MEIT ABE MADE. 
 
 277 
 
 ** Happy the man who sees a Grod employed 
 In all the good and ill that chequer life ! 
 
 Resolving all events, with their effects^ 
 
 And manifold results, into the will 
 And arbitration wise of the Supreme,” — 
 
 recognizes the hand of Grod in human affairs ; whilst 
 Pope,^in the couplet — 
 
 “ Binding nature fast in fate. 
 
 Left free the human will,” — 
 
 expresses the accountability of man. 
 
 The drunkard has withstood the powerful influence of 
 drink — not only scotched, but killed the tyrant that led 
 him captive at his will. Things that drank and smoked 
 have become men that willed and acted. One hot day 
 a young man was seen lying in a ditch, a poor, stupified, 
 despised drunkard. After a while, he came to himself, 
 and staggered into a dram-shop near at hand. He said? 
 “ Give me some brandy !” and the brandy was set before 
 him. There and then, in the face of the temptation, he 
 came to the determination that he would drink no more. 
 The resolution was formed, and he immediately began 
 to put it in execution, and succeeded. “There’s your 
 brandy, sir,” said the waiter. “Brandy ! no more of it ! 
 not a drop ! 0 my God ! not another drop ! never ! never ! 
 never !” He afterwards rose to eminence, and made 
 himself famous as a historian and statesman. Prom 
 some cause or other a young man, apprenticed in Bir- 
 mingham, determined to abscond. On the morning of 
 his departure, he passed through a room, on the table of 
 which was a heap of mixed, and evidently uncounted 
 money. Here was a strong temptation : the youth 
 paused ; he was in pressing need of money, and he gazed 
 for a few moments upon the gold. If taken for his own 
 use, it might never be known j and if it was, he could, at 
 
278 
 
 HOW MEH AEE MAHE. 
 
 some future time, replace it. Many such thoughts 
 would occur to his mind ; hut in spite of them all, he 
 exclaimed, “No, I will not touch a farthing. I am 
 determined not to go out a thief.” Had he yielded to 
 the temptation, he might have ended life a swindler, 
 instead of becoming an eminent minister of the Gospel. 
 By God’s grace, and habitual efforts of their own will, 
 men can conquer the tempting elements within, and 
 control the enemies without, amazingly. 
 
 Einally, we can place unfaltering confidence in some 
 men, though surrounded with the most unfavourable cir- 
 cumstances. There are tried men who have come un- 
 scathed from scenes where many have fallen. We can 
 trust them with our keys, make them cashiers in our 
 banks, take them as partners into our business, exalt them 
 to positions of the highest responsibility. They are men 
 of principle, whom neither wine, nor lust, nor profit, nor 
 anger, nor malice, nor envy, can detach from the path of 
 rectitude. All that other men have felt strong as fetters 
 of brass, have been to them as the green withs where- 
 with Samson was bound. Of the future only one thing 
 Paul knew. “ The Holy Ghost witnesseth that in every 
 city bands and afflictions await me.” Was he in danger 
 of proving recreant to the faith ? “ None of these things 
 move me.” John Adams, second president of the United 
 States, in full view of the possibility of perishing on the 
 scaffold, expressed his sentiments in the following elo- 
 quent language : — “ If it be the pleasure of Heaven that 
 my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the 
 victim shall be ready at the appointed hour of sacrifice, 
 come when that hour may. But, whatever may be our 
 fate, be assured that this Declaration will stand. It may 
 cost treasure, and it may cost blood ; but it will stand, 
 and it will richly compensate us for both. Through the 
 thick gloom of the present, I see the brightness of the 
 
HOW MEH ARE MADE. 
 
 279 
 
 future, as the sun in heaven. My judgment approves of 
 this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I 
 have, and all that I am, and all that I hope in this life, 
 I am now ready here to stake on it ; and, live or die, 
 survive or perish, I am for the Declaration.” Louis 
 Kossuth, exiled from Hungary, sought the protection of 
 the Sultan of Turkey ; he was offered safety, wealth, and 
 military command, on condition that he would renounce 
 Christianity, and embrace Mahomedanism ; although well 
 aware that to refuse might be to ensure his death at the 
 hands of the tyrant of Kussia, he exclaimed, “ Welcome, 
 if need be, the axe and the gibbet ; but curses on the 
 tongue that dares to make to me so infamous a proposal.” 
 He who knows how to die cannot be compelled. Sham 
 men only are the creatures of circumstances. Substan- 
 tial men make circumstances their creatures ; trample 
 those that are unfavourable underneath their feet ; render 
 them powerless ; and then create new circumstances, that 
 shall, that must be favourable. 
 
 Our third theory is, that the coalescence of natural 
 constitution with surrounding circumstances mahes men. 
 The two opinions already described had each an element 
 of truth. A mixture of truth seems necessary, as the 
 nucleus around which the falsehood may cluster. Abso- 
 lute error is never seen making its way among the masses. 
 The grossest form of materialism, that which identifies 
 mind with matter, and accounts mechanically for our 
 ideas — our soul has occasion for ideas, the same as our 
 stomach has occasion for aliments,” — may be received by 
 many, because there is the fact on which to work, that 
 men have bodies which powerfully affect their minds. 
 The rankest idealism, that which converts an external 
 world into a mere phantasmagoria — a series of pheno- 
 mena — a succession of thoughts, may be embraced by 
 
280 
 
 HOW MEH ARE MADE. 
 
 nianj, because it bas this tmtb to work upon, that there 
 is mind distinct from matter. But let any one gravely 
 deny the existence of both, and the world will set him 
 down at once as fairly bereft of reason. The theory we 
 are now to consider contains more truth than either of 
 the former, and has been more extensively entertained. 
 Nevertheless it is false, and can be proven to be so. 
 
 It contradicts the repeated declarations of Scripture. 
 Texts implying that man is lifted above all terrestrial 
 creatures, endowed with capacity to distinguish right 
 from vn'ong, and power to choose the good and refuse 
 the evil, stud the Bible as stars the sky. Divine Bevela- 
 tion has come to us mainly through Moses and Christ, 
 and from each of these we shall quote a sentence, as 
 indicative of the general tenour of Scripture on this im- 
 portant subject. The great lawgiver is about to ascend 
 to his reward and rest ; but before doing so, the old man 
 delivers his dying testimony to the children of Israel. 
 “ I take heaven and earth to record this day against you, 
 that I have set before you life and death, blessing and 
 cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy 
 seed may live.” Surely this evidence is sufficiently ex- 
 plicit to convince all who tremble at God’s word, that 
 men are not compelled, by the combination of internal 
 organization and external circumstances, to adopt either 
 side of the alternative. How impressively was the ap- 
 peal of Moses confirmed by Jesus, when he wept over 
 Jerusalem, and cried — “ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou 
 that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent 
 unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children 
 together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her 
 wings, and ye would not ! ” Tender-hearted and feeble 
 women often cry “ O ! ” Men of strong nerve and 
 masculine mind seldom cry 0 ! ” But here we have 
 the Almighty maker of all things — who “ weigheth the 
 
HOW MEN ARE MADE. 
 
 281 
 
 mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance,” crying 
 out, “ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem.” Gro to the brow of 
 that hill, from which a full view of the guilty city is 
 obtained ; behold the big, rolling tears pouring down the 
 cheeks of the Grod-man, Mediator, and talk no more 
 about men being constrained, by the twofold power of 
 constitution and circumstance, to pursue a criminal 
 career. 
 
 It subverts the principles of moral government. In 
 all cases a want of ability discharges obligation. By no 
 method of reasoning can you convince a man that he 
 ought to do what he has not the natural faculties to 
 perform. The subject of moral government must have 
 full liberty of choice, and the power of pursuing either 
 a right or a wrong course. Here we are sustained by 
 that prince of logicians, Jonathan Edwards, who says 
 that “ natural impossibility wholly excuses and excludes 
 all blame.” Inquiry,” part iii. sec. 3.) Again, natural 
 inability, arising from the want of natural capacity, or 
 external hindrance, without doubt wholly excuses, or 
 makes a thing improperly the matter of command.” 
 (“ Inquiry,” part iii. sec. 4.) The tenet we are considering 
 excludes the possibility of man’s being or doing other 
 than he is or does ; and is, therefore, utterly at variance 
 with the principles of moral government. Overt acts, 
 however, prove that man is not a puppet, but the origi- 
 nator and real author of his own deeds. 
 
 It makes man a mere machine, as it were, moving 
 about and doing his part of the work in the great factory 
 of the world on the same principle as the rest ; — a 
 curiously wrought, a complicated, a living machine, 
 arranged on the nicest principles of mechanics, and pro- 
 pelled by internal powers and external forces. But we 
 reject this theory with disdain. Man is the highest pro- 
 duction in this world. Biy the accident of intelligence, 
 
282 
 
 HOW MEN ABE MADE. 
 
 he has pierced into the world’s depths, soared into its 
 heights, and explored its surface. This strange bundle 
 of machinery, called man, can control and regulate all 
 the dead machinery in the world, and harness the very 
 elements to his car. The accomplishments of the scholar, 
 the works of the sculptor, the canvas of the painter, 
 the imaginings of the poet, the researches of the geolo- 
 gist, the discoveries of the astronomer, the designs of the 
 architect, all proclaim his greatness. Not more eloquent 
 than truthful are the words of Emerson, in his Essay on 
 the Method of Nature. “ The great Pan of old, who 
 was clothed in a leopard skin, to signify the beautiful 
 variety of things, and the firmament his coat of stars, 
 was but the representation of thee, O rich and various 
 man! thou palace of sight and sound, carrying in thy 
 senses the morning and the night, and the unfathomable 
 galaxy ; in thy brain the geometry of the city of Grod ; 
 in thy heart, the bower of love, and the realms of right 
 and wrong.” Our great English dramatist had no sym- 
 pathy with the philosophy which thus degrades man 
 in the attempt to set him free from the Divine moral 
 government. “ What a piece of workmanship is man ! 
 how noble in reason 1 how infinite in faculties ! in form 
 and moving, how express and admirable 1 in action, how' 
 like an angel 1 in apprehension, how like a Grod 1 the 
 beauty of the world!” He is not a machine, made to 
 perform a certain amount of work, and then to fall to 
 pieces, but a being of free spiritual powers ; and what- 
 ever system leaves out of view his self-determining 
 power, the personal will, is radically false. 
 
 Our fourth theory is, that men are made hy their own 
 voluntary determination. The error that men are made 
 by the constitution which they inherit, by external cir- 
 cumstances, or by the combination of these two, having 
 
HOW MEH ARE MADE. 
 
 283 
 
 been refuted, we shall now endeavour to establish the 
 truth, that men are self-made. In thus strongly as- 
 serting that man is a free agent — the sovereign of his 
 own activities, we are quite aware of the array of objec- 
 tions that can be brought against our position — objections 
 which we cannot satisfactorily answer. Nevertheless, 
 as far as arguments go, the verdict is decisively in our 
 favour. All must admit that it is possible for Grod to 
 create a self-acting agent; and, judging a jpriori, that is, 
 from what might have been expected, rather than from 
 what we have actually observed, we would certainly have 
 concluded that He would create such a being. “ How 
 would it now look to you,” says the philosophic King 
 Alfred, “if there were any powerful king, and he had 
 no freemen in his kingdom, but that all were slaves.” 
 “ Then,” said I, “it would be thought by me neither 
 right nor reasonable if men, that were in a servile con- 
 dition only, should attend upon him.” “ Then,” quoth 
 he, “it would be more unnatural if Grod, in all His 
 kingdom, had no free creatures under His power. 
 Therefore, He made two rational creatures, free angels 
 and men, and gave them the great gift of freedom. Hence 
 they could do evil as well as good, whichever they would. 
 He gave this very free gift, and a very fixed law to every 
 man unto his end.” Experience teaches the declaration 
 of Coleridge, “It is the man that makes the motive, and 
 not the motive the man.” The secret of man’s destiny 
 resides in himself Sir Kobert Peel, when Lord Hector 
 of Grlasgow University, averred before the students what 
 may be addressed to you, that “ there is a presumption, 
 amounting almost to certainty, that if any one of you 
 will determine to be eminent, in whatever profession you 
 may choose, and will act with unvarying steadiness in 
 pursuance of that determination, you will, if health and 
 strength be given to you, infallibly succeed.” Are you 
 
284 
 
 HOW MEH AEE MADE. 
 
 really conscious that you possess superior abilities ? 
 Well, then, do not make yourself miserable, and spend 
 your life in the employment of ‘‘ gnawing a file,” because 
 men without half your mental capacity are successful. 
 Calmly bide your time, and diligently ply your task; 
 by-and-by you will emerge from the conflict in the con- 
 sciousness that your efforts have been crowned with 
 victory, and that you yourself are better, stronger, hap- 
 pier, and nobler, for the fierce battle you have fought, 
 the obstacles you have overcome, and the temptations 
 you have resisted. Disappointment, says one, is a 
 bitter root, and sorrow is a bitter flower, and suffering is 
 a bitter fruit ; but the religious soul makes medicine 
 thereof, and is strengthened even by the poisons of life. 
 So, out of a brewer’s dregs, and a distiller’s waste, in a 
 city, have I seen the bee suck sweetest honey for present 
 joy, and lay it up for winter’s use. Tea, the strong man 
 while hungering found honey in the lion’s bones he once 
 had slain ; got delight from the destroyer, and meat out 
 of the eater’s mouth.” The men who enter into that 
 class, of which each member while he lives is envied or 
 admired, — 
 
 “And when he dies bears a lofty name, 
 
 A light, a landmark, on the cliffs of fame,” — 
 
 have felt themselves lonely amidst the crowd, been con- 
 scious of the pinch of poverty, and disheartened by that 
 difficulty which is the rude rocking-cradle of every kind 
 of excellence. Sublimer in this world know I nothing 
 than a peasant saint,” says Mr. Carlyle, could such 
 now anywhere be met with. Such a one will take thee 
 back to Nazareth itself; thou wilt see the splendour of 
 heaven spring forth from the humblest depths of earth, 
 like a light shining in great darkness.” 
 
 In the principles of imitation, of association of ideas. 
 
HOW MEJT AEE MADE. 
 
 285 
 
 and of habit, overruled by the personal will, we find the 
 sources of true manliness. 
 
 Be conversant with the best models, whether living or 
 dead. Precept may lead, but example is the plastic 
 power that draws. Imitation is one of the great charac- 
 teristics of the human species. It is seen in children, 
 even in the infant state, and is doubtless intended for 
 great and important purposes. This principle enables us 
 to learn from the more advanced. The imitative arts 
 depend on it. Celebrated actors possess this faculty 
 largely, and by it delineate the manner, and even feel the 
 sentiments, of their characters. Painters, sculptors, and 
 architects, who would rise to eminence, study the best 
 masters, and think nothing of a journey to Pome, 
 Plorence, or Athens, where painting has reached the 
 highest pitch of excellence, the marble been chiselled 
 into the most exqui^te forms, and architecture wrought 
 out its brightest designs. The man athirst for literature 
 is found, day and night, admiring the beauties of human 
 composition, and paying a willing homage to such intel- 
 lectual companions as Milton, Shakespeare, Sir Walter 
 Scott, and Macaulay. The devotee of science takes as 
 his model the greatest astronomer that ever lifted a 
 telescope to the stars — the greatest geologist that ever 
 took a hammer in his hand, or the greatest botanist that 
 ever applied a microscope to the particles of matter — he 
 is none the worse, but all the better, for his lofty ideal. 
 So in every line of duty and in every walk of life. 
 Heroism is imbibed at the statues of Helson and Wel- 
 lington. Philanthropy, at the monuments of Wilber- 
 force and Howard. Pity and virtue, at the tombs of 
 those lonely yet immortal ones, whose fame is written in 
 heaven. “ Oh ! to be with Eichie ! ” exclaimed Alexander 
 Peden, as he sat on the grave of the noble covenanter. 
 Pix, then, upon what you ought to be. Settle this well, 
 
286 
 
 HOW MEN ARE MADE. 
 
 wisely, and firmly. The model must vary witli tlie indi- 
 vidual. Your aim must be to perfect your own variety, 
 not ape another’s. Select, then, not an unnatural amal- 
 gam, but a proper standard: one that will keep your 
 powers upon the stretch, and stimulate you to do your 
 best. Our own activity is essential to our progress, but 
 we were not made to advance alone. Bacon and ISTewton 
 would have been intellectual pigmies, if they had never 
 been brought into contact with society. Intercourse with 
 superior minds is an important means of self-culture ; 
 but it is sometimes difficult to find suitable acquain- 
 tances. Biographies of men, who have honoured their 
 country by their virtues and their talents, are within the 
 reach of all. In these books we see noble and encour- 
 aging specimens of men, self-raised, self-advanced, and 
 self- distinguished ; who have triumphed, not with the 
 help of fortune’s wings, or even any flight of what is 
 commonly called genius, but by industry, perseverance, 
 fidelity to duty, and the wise use of the times and oppor- 
 tunities that come to all, but which only the few grapple 
 by the forelock. Coming in contact with such examples, 
 you are subjected to a bracing influence, inspired by 
 the same spirit, constrained to tread in their foot- 
 steps, and to attempt the performance of even nobler 
 deeds. 
 
 Of all the different parts of the human constitution, 
 there is none more interesting to the philosophic mind 
 than the laws which regulate the association of ideas. 
 As the handmaid of volition, directed to practical ends, 
 this portion of the mind may be rendered highly sub- 
 servient to intellectual progress and moral improvement. 
 That spontaneity of which every man is conscious, by 
 day in his musings, and by night in his dreams, may, 
 through the influence of circumstances, which he can 
 modify, control, and regulate, evolve those splendid 
 
HOW MEH ARE MADE. 
 
 287 
 
 powers which commonly go under the name of genius. 
 Chatterton, 
 
 “ The marvellous boy, 
 
 The sleepless soul, that perished in his pride,” 
 
 was, in early youth, reckoned dull of intellect, till he 
 fell in love with the illuminated capitals of an old 
 musical manuscript in French, from which his mother 
 taught him his letters. But for that seemingly trivial 
 accident, the prodigious powers which partially succeeded 
 in deceiving the brightest of England’s intellectual eyes 
 might have remained dormant. Adamson, the French 
 naturalist, was in early life distinguished for his high 
 classical attainments, and presented with the works of 
 Pliny and Aristotle, as the first prizes in Greek and 
 Latin poetry. This circumstance led him to turn his 
 attention to the subjects of which they treated, and he 
 soon became eminent in studies of a different kind. A 
 boy used to be frequently shut up in a room, with a 
 clock for his only companion. As he had nothing better 
 to amuse himself with, he began to examine it ; at 
 last he discovered the connection and uses of its parts, 
 and ultimately became a celebrated mechanician. In 
 regard to everything else, Vaucauson is said to have 
 been as stupid as the machines which he made. These 
 examples may sufiice to show how circumstances, appa- 
 rently of no moment, may, by the new suggestions to 
 which they give birth, and the elements which they 
 cannot fail to mingle in our complex conceptions and 
 desires, change for ever after, the mental character. 
 
 The infiuence of the suggesting principle on the 
 moral character of man is attested by the whole history 
 of the race. Our minds are framed by our Maker to 
 accord with each other, like the strings of a musical 
 instrument in unison ; when one is struck, the rest cor- 
 
288 
 
 HOW MEH ARE MADE. 
 
 respond to tlie impression, vibrate in the same key, 
 and sound the same note. Hence there is a national 
 spirit, and a national character, down the current of 
 which we are in danger of being carried. The intimate 
 and almost indissoluble associations which we are led to 
 form in childhood, and in early youth, have a strong 
 tendency to pervert our moral judgment, and lead us to 
 act according to the fashion. To oppose this inclination. 
 Almighty Grod has endued us with power to form asso- 
 ciations of a nobler kind. We may not always be able to 
 avoid the company of the profane, but we never need to 
 make such our confidants and companions. It is the 
 grand secret of life, both with respect to virtue and 
 happiness, to select as our companions those who hold 
 fast their integrity, and are patterns of every excellence. 
 Such associations are of immense value. Neighbouring 
 fires brighten each other’s flame ; trees in the same forest 
 aid each other’s growth ; and virtue gathers strength and 
 courage from companionship. We can increase our 
 patriotism ; and warm our piety, by frequently dwelling 
 upon the lives of those who have been tried with our 
 trials, assailed by our temptations, and yet were found 
 faithful in the midst of the faithless, and are now sitting 
 on thrones, and singing hosannah in the heavens. The 
 power of this principle is truly wonderful. Thousands 
 of Christian hearts have glowed with emotion, while 
 they sang, — 
 
 “ When to the cross I turn mine eyes, 
 
 And rest on Calvary, 
 
 O Lamb of Grod ! my sacrifice, 
 
 I must remember Thee !” 
 
 The accent caught upon the mountains of Caledonia, the 
 green slopes of Erin, or level England, breaks upon the 
 ear of the exile, and on the wings of fancy he is borne 
 
HOW MEN ARE MADE. 
 
 289 
 
 over intervening seas and continents, to that sacred 
 spot, where he lay cradled as an unconscious infant, 
 and passed the dream-like period of childhood. The 
 Highland soldiers are sick with hope deferred, and 
 fainting with fatigue ; but, hark ! the blessed war-pipe 
 sounds, — 
 
 ** Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 
 
 And never brought to min’ ? 
 
 Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 
 
 And days o’ lang syne ? ” 
 
 The effect is electric ; they are called back to conscious- 
 ness ; they are themselves again. Many a young man, 
 amidst discouragements of every kind, has been nerved 
 for the battle of life by the stirring lines of Long- 
 fellow : — 
 
 “ In the world’s broad field of battle, 
 
 In the bivouac of life, 
 
 Be not hke dumb, driven cattle. 
 
 Be a hero in the strife!” 
 
 Or the following Yankee rhyme : — 
 
 ** Though before you mountains rise. 
 
 Go ahead ! 
 
 Scale them certainly you can ; 
 
 Let them proudly dare tlie skies ; 
 
 What are mountains to a man ? 
 
 Go ahead!” 
 
 There is yet another principle which may render 
 effective service in the formation of real manhood. This 
 principle is habit, one of the most powerful in the human 
 constitution. Hence man has been, not inaptly, termed 
 “a bundle of habits.” Separate acts, frequently re- 
 peated, form character ; character yields consequences ; 
 consequences are often irreparable. Habit is a second 
 
290 
 
 HOW MEH ABE MADE. 
 
 nature, and is stronger tlian the first. A correspondent 
 oi Notes and Queries gives a story related by Mr. Simcox, 
 of Harbourne, near Birmingham. He accidentally enjoys 
 the hospitality of a gentleman residing in a large house, 
 and in good style, in one of the respectable streets of 
 London, and his host gives the following story, pledging 
 his hearer to secrecy: — “In St. James’s Park, near 
 Spring Gardens, you may pass, every day, an old man who 
 sweeps a crossing there, and whose begging is attended 
 with this strange peculiarity, that, whatever be the 
 amount of the alms bestowed upon him, he will retain 
 only a halfpenny, and will scrupulously return to the 
 donor all the rest. Such an unusual proceeding naturally 
 excites the curiosity of those who hear of it ; and any one 
 who has himself made the experiment, when he happens 
 to be walking by with a friend, is almost sure to say 
 to him, ‘Do you see that old fellow there? He is 
 the strangest beggar you ever saw in your life. If you 
 give him sixpence, he will be sure to give you fivepence- 
 halfpenny back again.’ Of course, his friend makes the 
 experiment, which turns out as predicted ; and as crowds 
 of people are continually passing, there are numbers of 
 persons every day who make the same trial; and thus 
 the old man gets many a halfpenny from the curiosity of 
 the passer-by, in addition to what he obtains from their 
 compassion. I, sir,” continued the old gentlemen, “ am 
 that beggar. Many years ago I first hit upon this 
 expedient, for the relief of my then pressing necessities ; 
 for I was at that time utterly destitute ; but finding the 
 scheme answer beyond my expectations, I was induced 
 to carry it on, until I had at last, with the aid of pro- 
 fitable investments, realized a handsome fortune, enabling 
 me to live in the comfort in which you find me this day. 
 And now, sir, such is the force of habit, that, though I 
 am no longer under any necessity for continuing this 
 
HOW MEH ARE MADE. 
 
 291 
 
 plan, I find myself quite unable to give it up; and 
 accordingly, every morning I leave home, apparently for 
 business purposes, and go to a room, where I put on 
 my old beggar’s clothes, and continue sweeping my 
 crossing in the park till a certain hour in the afternoon, 
 when I go back to my room, resume my usual dress, and 
 return home in time for dinner, as you see me this day.” 
 Be careful to form good habits. A minister once said, 
 “ If every young man would write over his office door, or 
 any place where he would be sure to see it, just this 
 simple line, ‘ JSTo man was ever yet lost on a straight 
 road,’ there would be less going astray.” Grood habits 
 are a straight road ; all other paths lead to destruction. 
 The great encouragement to virtue which Pythagoras 
 gave to his scholars was this : Choose always the best 
 course of life, and custom will soon make it the most 
 pleasant. By habits of self-denial, of firm principle, 
 purity of thought, feeling, speech, and conduct, you 
 may build up a character which shall not only be a 
 model for imitation to the present, but to the gene- 
 rations to come. 
 
 Brothers, realize your individuality ; listen not to the 
 babblings and ravings of those who tell you that consti- 
 tution is your guide, that circumstances are your excuse, 
 and that death is an eternal sleep. Under Grod, you are 
 the architects of your own character, as well as of your 
 own fortune. This great doctrine of responsibility,” 
 says Isaac Taylor, “ can rest on no fulcrum short of the 
 centre of the universe — the throne of Grod ! Best it at 
 any intermediate point, and, though it may bear some 
 stress, it will not bear every stress ; and it fails where 
 most it will be needed.” Man is not a vegetable ! man 
 is not a worm ! man is not a brute ! The present life is 
 not the end of Milton, and Newton, and Von Hum- 
 boldt, who had the full possession of his faculties till 
 
292 
 
 HOW MEIf ABE MADE. 
 
 his death ! No : there is upon every man the stamp of 
 immortality. 
 
 “ The stars shall fade, the sun himself 
 Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, 
 
 But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth. 
 
 Unhurt, amidst the war of elements. 
 
 The wreck of matter, and the crash of worlds.” 
 
 Every man is now upon the wheel of the great Moral 
 Potter, and, according to his faith or his unbelief, 
 will he form him into a vessel of glory, or a vessel 
 of wrath. 
 
293 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 APPEALS POUNDED ON THE PEECEDINO CHAPTEES. 
 
 “ Nature is no aristocrat. To the ploughboy following his team 
 a-field — to the shepherd tending his flocks in the wilderness — or to 
 the rude cutter of stone, cramped over his rough occupation in the 
 wooden shed, — she sometimes dispenses her richest and rarest gifts 
 as liberally as to the proud patrician, or the titled representative of 
 a long line of illustrious ancestry. She is no respecter of persons ; 
 and all other distinctions yield to the title her favours confer. The 
 names, be they ever so humble, which she illustrates, need no other 
 decoration to recommend them.’* 
 
 Dr. James Beowne. 
 
 Peemit us, now, to found on the preceding chapters a 
 few appeals to your judgment and conscience. AErench 
 wit once said, “ English society is like a barrel of its own 
 beer ; the top is froth, the bottom dregs, the middle 
 excellent.’’ We see much merit in every division of the 
 people, and are proud of all the three classes, for they 
 combine to make England great and glorious. Variety 
 is heaven’s second law, therefore equality is a madman’s 
 dream ; but neighbourship and brotherhood are Christian 
 virtues and duties. What we would like to see is, 
 the duke in his robes, and the workman in blouse, 
 disenthralled from narrow notions and prejudices in 
 reference to each other, and made to feel that they 
 
294 
 
 APPEALS EOUraED OIS" 
 
 have points of identification lasting as the throne of 
 God, hut points of distinction evanescent as the summer 
 shower. 
 
 “ What can ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards ? 
 
 Alas ! not all the blood of all the Howards.” 
 
 We have been using the telescope of humanity too little, 
 and the microscope of class too much. On this subject, 
 hear the words so mournfully bequeathed to everlasting 
 remembrance by the dying lips of Mr. Justice Talfourd : — 
 
 I cannot help thinking that the peculiar aspect 
 of crime in the cases before us is, in no small degree, 
 attributable to that separation between class and class, 
 which is the great curse of British society, and for which 
 we are all, more or less, in our respective spheres, in 
 some degree responsible. We keep too much aloof from 
 those beneath us ; hence their somewhat natural preju- 
 dices are left unmitigated, and we become objects only 
 of their suspicion and dislike. Even towards our do- 
 mestic servants we are apt to think our whole duty 
 fulfilled when the contract between us is performed — 
 when we have paid them their wages, and especially if, 
 further, we have curbed our temper and used no violent 
 expressions towards them, but ever treated them with 
 the civility consistent with our habits and feelings. How 
 painful is the thought, that there are men and women 
 growing up around us, ministering to comforts and ne- 
 cessities — continually inmates of our dwellings, with 
 whose affections and nature we are as much unacquainted 
 as if they were inhabitants of seme other sphere ! This 
 reserve, peculiar to the English character, greatly tends 
 to prevent that reciprocation of kind words, gracious 
 admonitions, friendly inquiries, and gentle affections, 
 which, more than any book education, culture the heart, 
 
THE PEECEHIHG CHAPTEES. 
 
 295 
 
 while they refine and elevate the character of those 
 to whom they are addressed. If I were to be asked, 
 What is the great want of English society to mingle 
 class with class ? — I should reply in one word- 
 sympathy ! 
 
 We are glad that all classes are beginning to feel that 
 their interests are identical — that there is a closer and 
 better connection than that which arises from the pay- 
 ment and receipt of wages. Many masters are really 
 and honestly anxious that the people should be helped to 
 rise in the world. Men of rank and good position are 
 putting themselves in frequent and genial contact with 
 the humbler classes of their countrymen ; and are ascer- 
 taining that many noble sentiments, worthy aspirations, 
 and real virtues, beat underneath fustian jackets. May 
 the noble examples of such illustrious men as the Earl 
 of Shaftesbury, the Earl of Carlisle, Lord Brougham, 
 and Lord Stanley, for the intellectual entertainment and 
 moral improvement of the masses, induce many others of 
 eminent station and high attainments, to lend their aid 
 to the multitudes who are seeking the means of self- 
 elevation ; and thus may the different classes of society 
 be bound together in mutual good will, and the whole 
 community be leavened with comfort, knowledge, sound 
 principles, and pure religion ! 
 
 We do not believe in the transmitted inferiority and 
 superiority of classes. “ Grenius spurns the social tarifis, 
 the castes and distinctions, which the guilds and corpo- 
 rations of traditionary and mechanical scholarship seek 
 to impose ; . . . . lives in its own world, wings its 
 
 way through its own heavens, sails over its own seas, nor 
 ever asks permission to indulge in its dreams, or to enjoy 
 its domain and territory.” To check their arrogance 
 who demand our deference in consideration of their 
 
296 
 
 APPEALS POUNDED ON 
 
 noble ancestry — to vindicate tbe dignity of humble 
 industry, and to stir emulation in the breast of the 
 lowly labourer, we shall unrol the pages of story. Un- 
 fallen Adam cultivated the garden of Paradise. Abel 
 was a keeper of sheep. Noah wrought during many 
 years in building the ark. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
 personally watched their flocks. Joseph, prime minister 
 of Egypt, was a slave. Moses, the prophet of Horeb, 
 was a foundling. Gideon was threshing, when sum- 
 moned to deliver Israel from the Midianites. David 
 left his pipe, and harp, and playful lambs on the hills of 
 Bethlehem, for the honours of a throne. Elisha’s plough 
 was in mid- furrow, when Elijah called him to the pro- 
 phetic office. Amos, the seer, was among the herdmen 
 of Tekoa. John the Baptist had his raiment of camel’s 
 hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins ; and his meat 
 was locusts and wild honey. Jesus himself was born in 
 a stable, cradled in a manger, and passed the greater 
 portion of his life in yon carpenter’s shed at Nazareth. 
 Peter and Andrew were Ashing on the sea, James and 
 John were mending their nets on the shore, when called 
 to the body-guard of the King of Glory. And Paul, 
 who hath redeemed our nature from the reproach of 
 unalloyed selfishness, could hold up his hands and say, 
 “ These hands have ministered to my necessities,” for by 
 trade he was a tent-maker ! 
 
 Leaving sacred, turn we to profane history. The 
 men who have risen from the ranks of toil, and gained 
 immortal renown, crowd upon us. Cincinnatus ex- 
 changed his plough for the dictatorship of Kome, and 
 having delivered his country in sixteen days, returned 
 again to his agricultural toils. JEsop, the fabulist, was 
 a slave. Cleanthes, the Stoic philosopher, who “took 
 to philosophy bravely,” was engaged in the lowest 
 drudgery. Terence, who wrote, “Homo sum, human! nil 
 
THE PRECEDIHa CHAPTEES. 
 
 297 
 
 a me alienum puto,” was a slave. Epictetus, also, was 
 a slave. Protagoras, tlie geometrician, was a common 
 porter. Arnigio, the poet, was a blacksmith. Gray, the 
 poet, was apprenticed to a draper. Hunter, the anato- 
 mist, was a cabinet-maker. Prior, the poet, was a tavern 
 boy. Henry Kirke White, the poet, was a butcher’s boy. 
 Hogarth, the great painter, was an engraver. Inigo 
 Jones, the great architect, was a joiner. Ealconer, the 
 poet, was a sailor boy. Griotto, one of the most eminent 
 revivers of painting, was brought up in hardship. Dr. 
 Isaac Milner, Dean of Carlisle, and Master of Queen’s 
 College, Cambridge, was a weaver. Hogg, the poet, was 
 a shepherd. John Foster, the author of the essay on 
 “ Decision of Character,” was a weaver. Allan Eamsay, 
 the author of the “ Grentle Shepherd,” was a hairdresser. 
 Sir F. Drake began life as a sailor boy. Hood, the 
 author of the “ Song of a Shirt,” the “ Lady’s Dream,” 
 &c., was an engraver. Sir Francis Chantrey was a 
 milk-boy, and first discovered his genius in moulding 
 butter. De Foe, the celebrated writer, was a hosier. 
 Buchanan, the great scholar, was a private soldier. 
 William Cobbett, a writer of extraordinary political 
 influence, worked on his father’s farm. William Caxton, 
 who introduced the art of printing into England, was a 
 draper’s apprentice. Sir Isaac Newton, who revealed 
 and applied the law of gravitation, as a boy, attended 
 the Grrantham market to sell the produce of his mother’s 
 garden. Columbus, the man who descried another hemi- 
 sphere, was of humble descent. Sir W. Herschell, the 
 constructor of reflecting telescopes, and the discoverer 
 of a new planet, belonged to a military band. Franklin, 
 ‘‘the philosopher, for whom two worlds contended,” was 
 first a tallow-chandler, and then a printer. From the 
 deck of a slave-ship, John Newton was summoned to the 
 pulpit. Dr. John Pye Smith, a learned theologian, an 
 
298 
 
 APPEALS POUNDED ON 
 
 eminent college professor, a distinguislied Christian and 
 philanthropist, and a truly liberal and noble spirited 
 man, at sixteen years of age was bound apprentice to his 
 father, a bookseller, at Sheffield. Jeremy Taylor, who 
 brought the richest and quaintest fancy to the illustra- 
 tion of Scripture truth, was of humble origin. Lamo- 
 nosoff, the father of Russian literature, was the son of 
 a fisherman, whom he assisted in his labours for the sup- 
 port of his family. Captain James Cook, the discoverer 
 of the South Sea Islands, was thirteen years of age before 
 he went to school. Alexander Wilson, the ornitholo- 
 gist, was first a weaver, and then a pedlar, and, with a 
 pack on his back, wandered among the beautiful valleys 
 and over the mountains of Scotland. John Opie, who 
 liked painting better than bread and meat, was a sawyer. 
 Shakespeare, who rules over the intellectual universe, 
 was at one time glad to earn an honest penny by 
 holding gentlemen’s horses at the theatre door. Joseph 
 Brotherton, M.P. for Salford from 1832 till the period 
 of his death, in 1857, was a factory boy. When the 
 Ten Hours’ Bill was before the House of Commons, he 
 alluded to this period of his life, and detailed, with true 
 natural pathos, the hardships and fatigues to which he 
 had been subjected, and the resolution he had made that, 
 if ever it was in his power, he would endeavour to im- 
 prove the condition of factory hands. At the conclusion 
 of that speech. Sir James Graham rose up and declared, 
 amidst the plaudits of the assembly, that he did not 
 know before, that Mr. Brotherton had sprung from so 
 humble an origin, but that it made him more proud than 
 ever of the House of Commons, to think that a person, 
 rising from that condition, should be able to sit side by 
 side, and on equal terms, with the hereditary gentry of 
 the land, dames Montgomery, poet and editor, was for 
 nearly two years employed in a small retail concern. 
 
THE PRECEDIHa CHAPTERS. 
 
 299 
 
 Dr. Adam Clarke, tke most learned man ever connected 
 with the Methodist church, was placed under the care of 
 a linen manufacturer. William Jay, a name of which 
 the Independents are justly proud, was originally a 
 bricklayer. Andrew Duller, the acute and clear-headed 
 divine, was engaged in husbandry until twenty years of 
 age. John Williams, the martyred missionary of Erro- 
 manga, whose life the Archbishop of Canterbury said he 
 would call the 29th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, 
 was an ironmonger. Mr. Herbert Ingram, M.P. for 
 Boston, and proprietor of the Illustrated JVews, blacked 
 the shoes of one of his constituents. Mr. Anderson, of 
 the Oriental Steam Navigation Company, and formerly 
 M.P. for the Orkneys, rose in a similar manner. Mr. 
 Chaplin, the late M.P. for Salisbury, and who, before 
 the opening of the London and North-Western line, was 
 the proprietor of sixty-four stage coaches, worked by 
 fifteen hundred horses, rose from the lowest rank. 
 Admiral Hobson, one of the most gallant of British sea- 
 men, who broke the boom of Vigo in 1702, was a tailor 
 by trade. Pope Sixtus Y. was a wretched lad, keeping 
 hogs. Michael Earaday, LL.D., England’s most eminent 
 chemist, worked at the craft of a bookbinder until he 
 was twenty-two years of age. Sir Samuel Morton Peto, 
 one of the most extensive engineering contractors in 
 the world, worked for seven years as a carpenter, brick- 
 layer, and mason, under his uncle, Mr. Henry Peto. 
 Mr. Bichard Cobden, M.P. for Bochdale, began his 
 career in a London warehouse. Mr. Lindsay, M.P. 
 for Sunderland, was a cabin boy. Mr. W. J. Eox, 
 senior, M.P. for Oldham, was a weaver boy in Norwich. 
 Alexander Bain was a weaver boy in Aberdeen. By 
 his own merits he raised himself to a commanding posi- 
 tion in the scientific world. His two elaborate works — 
 viz., “ The Senses and the Intellect,” published in 1855, 
 
800 
 
 APPEALS EOriS'DED O'^ 
 
 and Tlie Emotions and tlie Will,” published in 1859 — 
 have been pronounced, on the highest authority, to be 
 among the most important contributions which have 
 been furnished to mental science during the present 
 generation.” He is now appointed to the new chair of 
 logic in the university of his native city. The late 
 Eight Honourable James Wilson, whose capabilities far 
 exceeded his pretensions,* was a self-made man. By 
 sound ability and industry, well and perseveringly ap- 
 plied, he found his way into the House of Commons ; and 
 on his rising to speak, the ‘‘ Messenger” was heard to ex- 
 claim, “Why ! that is the man I turned out of the gallery.” 
 Dr. Campbell, of the British Standard^ who, according 
 to Mr. Spurgeon, wields the most thundering pen in the 
 universe, may adopt the words of Sir Humphrey Davy, 
 and say, “ What I am I have made myself.” Andrew 
 Anderson, the son of Marjory Gillan, was brought up in 
 the sacristy of Elgin Cathedral, and cradled in an 
 ancient sculptured font. The mother died, and her 
 ragged boy was forced by an unkind uncle to cast him- 
 self upon “ the wide, wide world.” He made his way to 
 Leith, and thence to London, was taken into the shop of 
 a tailor, and some time after was employed as a clerk. 
 “ He was one day commissioned to take home a suit of 
 clothes to a military gentleman, and to grant a discharge 
 for the account. The gentleman was himself a Scotch- 
 man, and bore a commission in a regiment about to 
 proceed to the East Indies. He was, like all Scotchmen 
 at a distafice from home, interested in hearing his native 
 tongue spoken, by however humble a person. When, in 
 addition to this, he observed the pleasing countenance 
 and manners of the youth, and found that the discharge 
 appended by him to the account was in a good regular 
 hand, he entered into conversation, asked whence he 
 came, what were his prospects, and other such questions, 
 
THE PEECEHIKH CHAPTEES. 
 
 301 
 
 and finally inquired if lie would like to go abroad as a 
 soldier and officer’s servant. Anderson required but little 
 persuasion to induce bim to enter into the stranger’s 
 views. He enlisted as a private, and immediately after 
 set sail with the regiment, in the capacity of drummer, 
 acting at the same time, according to previous agreement, 
 as the valet or servant of his patron.” Providence smiled 
 upon the child of the maniac mother ; and, after an 
 absence of sixty years, he returned to his heather land, 
 the renowned and wealthy Lieutenant-General Anderson, 
 of the East India Company’s service. Well might the 
 outcast mother dream, — 
 
 “ I saw the war!’ gang rowin’ by, 
 
 And you beneath its kindest sky ; 
 
 I marked the hue o’ crimson weir 
 Bedeck the breast o’ my barnie dear ; 
 
 Till the highest head in yon jewelled land 
 Bent to the beck o’ my Andrew’s hand.” 
 
 These names, and many more might be adduced, 
 are sufficient to prove that husbandry and trade, as 
 well as noble and royal blood, can produce and nourish 
 heroes ! 
 
 Hear how Eobert ISTicoE chants the intellectual and 
 moral feelings of the class to which he belonged : — 
 
 “ Some grow fu’ proud on bags o’ gowd, 
 
 And some are proud o’ learning ; 
 
 An honest poor man’s worthy name 
 I take delight in earning. 
 
 Slaves needna try to rin us down, 
 
 To knaves we’re unco dour folk ; 
 
 We’re often wranged, but de’il may care, 
 
 We’re honest folk, though puir folk. 
 
 it Wallace wight we focht fu’ well. 
 
 When lairds and lords were jinking ; 
 
 They knelt before the tyrant loon— - 
 We brak his croon, I’m thinking. 
 
302 
 
 APPEALS EOENDED OUT 
 
 The muckle men he bought with gowd, 
 
 Syne he began to jeer folk ; 
 
 But neither swords, nor gowd, nor guile, 
 Could turn the honest puir folk. 
 
 “ When auld King Charlie tried to bind, 
 
 Wi’ aim, saul and conscience. 
 
 In virtue o’ his right divine. 
 
 And ither daft-like nonsense ; 
 
 Wha raised at Marston such a stour. 
 
 And made the tyrants fear folk ? 
 
 Who prayed and fought, wi’ Pym and Noll? 
 The trusty, truthful puir folk. 
 
 ‘‘ Wha ance, upon auld Scotland’s hills. 
 
 Were hunted, like a paitrick. 
 
 And hacked wi’ swords, and shot wi’ guns, 
 Frae Tummel’s banks to Ettrick ; 
 
 Because they wouldna let the priests 
 About their conscience steer folk ? 
 
 The lads were bloodhounds to the clans. 
 
 The martyrs were the puir folk ? 
 
 “ We sow the corn, we hold the plough. 
 
 We a’ work for our living ; 
 
 We gather nocht but what we’ve sown — 
 
 All else we reckon thieving. 
 
 And for the loon wha fears to say 
 He comes o’ lowly small folk, 
 
 A wizened soul the creature has — 
 
 Disown him will the puir folk. 
 
 “ G-reat sirs, and mighty men of earth. 
 
 Ye aften sair misca’ us ; 
 
 And hunger, cauld, and poverty. 
 
 Come after ye to thraw us ; 
 
 Yet up our hearts we strive to heave. 
 
 In spite of you and your folk ; 
 
 But mind, enough’s as guid’s a feast. 
 Although we be but puir folk. 
 
THE PEECEDIlS'a CHAPTERS. 
 
 303 
 
 “ We thank the powers for good and ill, 
 
 As grateful folk should do, man ; 
 
 But maist o’ a’, because our sires 
 
 Were tailors, smiths, and ploughmen. 
 
 Good men they were, as stanch as steel, 
 
 They didna wrack and screw folk j 
 Wi’ empty pouches, honest hearts. 
 
 Thank God, we come o’ puir folk !” 
 
 It is no disgrace to be born in the deepest obscurity ; 
 but to remain there, after so many brilliant examples, is, 
 indeed, degradation. After so many rising from the 
 lowest rounds of the ladder to the highest, every authori- 
 tative judgment in the world will condemn yon, if you 
 remain in your present position. Why should not you 
 rise to bless the world as these have done ? Only do 
 the best you can — ^make the most of the material Grod 
 has given you — be willing to take any halfway prelimi- 
 nary steps — be ready to take any slice you can get ; and, 
 depend upon it, you will have no occasion to ask any 
 one to do for you, what it is related a stupid and 
 idle brother asked Grrosteste, an old Bishop of Lincoln, 
 to do for him — viz., to make a great man of him. 
 “ Brother,” replied the Bishop, “ if your plough is 
 broken. I’ll pay for the mending of it ; or if your ox 
 should die. I’ll buy you another ; but I cannot make 
 a great man of you ; a ploughman I found you, and, I 
 fear, a ploughman I must leave you.” The aspiring 
 mind will rise in the scale of honour and usefulness, 
 in proportion to the impediments that stand in its 
 way. Prisons cannot chain it. Opposition increases its 
 power, — 
 
 “ The hills have been made for man’s mounting, 
 
 The woods have been dense for his axe, 
 
 The stars have been thick for his counting, 
 
 The sands have been wide for his tracks. 
 
304 
 
 APPEALS POUKDED OK 
 
 The sea has been deep for his diving, 
 
 The poles have been broad for his sway ; 
 
 But bravely he’s proved, by his thriving. 
 
 That where there’s a will there’s a way. 
 
 “ Should you see, afar off, that worth winning. 
 
 Set out on the journey with trust, 
 
 And never heed if your path, at beginning, 
 
 Should be among brambles and dust ; 
 
 Though it is but by footsteps ye do it, 
 
 And hardships may hinder and stay, 
 
 Keep a heart, and be sure you’ll get through it, 
 
 For where there’s a will there’s a way.” 
 
 Perhaps you have wasted the early part of life, 
 and are now compelled to commence a course of educa- 
 tion in middle age. Let not this circumstance in the 
 least discourage you. You are not too old to need 
 wisdom, and it is never too late to learn. It is a great 
 mistake to suppose that little can he accomplished if a 
 man has reached the age of thirty or forty years. Nine- 
 tenths of clever men have actually exhibited more vigour 
 of intellect at fifty years of age than at forty. Pranklin 
 was fifty before he began, in real earnest, the study of 
 natural philosophy. The principal of one of the most 
 flourishing colleges in America was a farm servant till he 
 was past the age when most students have completed 
 their collegiate education. Van den Yondel, a Dutch 
 poet, and the author of works which fill nine quarto 
 volumes, did not enter upon the study of Latin till his 
 twenty- sixth year, and Greek not till a more advanced 
 period. Sir Henry Spelman did not begin the study of 
 science until he was between fifty and sixty years of age. 
 Greek was the first foreign language which Cato, the 
 celebrated Homan censor, acquired, and he did so in his 
 old age. Vittorio Alfieri, whose writings have wrought 
 a revolution in the dramatic literature of Italy, was left 
 without a father in his infancy, and wasted early years. 
 
THE PItECEDIHa CHAPTEBS. 
 
 305 
 
 John Ogilbj, the author of poetical translations of Virgil 
 and Homer, began to study Latin when considerably 
 above forty years of age, and Grreek when in his fifty- 
 fourth. Griovanni Boccaccio, one of the most illustrious 
 writers that ever appeared in Italy, sufiered nearly the 
 half of his life to pass without improvement. Handel 
 was forty-eight before he published any of his great 
 works. Dr. Thomas Arnold, of Eugby, learned Grerman 
 at forty, in order that he might read Mebuhr in the 
 original. Let these examples tell upon your character, 
 invigorate and cheer you in your undertakings. Most 
 forcibly do they prove the truth of the common saying, 
 
 ‘‘ It is never too late to learn. 
 
 Once more — are you called upon to struggle with the 
 dfficulties arising from a weak body? Such obstacles 
 have again and again been overcome. Eobert Hall, who 
 adorned every subject he touched with the mild glory of 
 his immortal eloquence, was ever and anon visited with 
 one of the most terrible diseases which fiesh and blood 
 are heir to. Pascal, that sublime and gigantic genius, 
 equally happy in the closest analysis and in the widest 
 generalization, was the victim of an inexorable malady. 
 Eichard Baxter, of whom Barrow said that “ his practical 
 writings were never mended, and his controversial ones 
 seldom refuted,” was as remarkable for weakness of body 
 as for strength of mind. 
 
 Or, again, have you been deprived of one of your 
 senses? Even this impediment has been conquered. 
 Professor Vicar relates the story of a Mr. Nelson, 
 who became totally blind about his twentieth year. Of 
 a proud and resolute spirit, he determined to be indebted 
 to no hand for support but his own. By what would 
 seem a series of miracles, he became accurately ac- 
 quainted with the classics, usually taught in the schools. 
 During a dispute between him and a classical professor, 
 
 X 
 
306 
 
 APPEALS POTOPED OK 
 
 the latter appealed to the circumstance of a comma in 
 the sentence, as conclusive of the question. “ True,” 
 said Mr. Nelson, colouring with emotion ; hut per- 
 mit me to observe,” added he, turning his sightless eye- 
 balls towards the book which he held in his hand, “ that 
 in my Heyne edition it is a colon, and not a comma.” 
 He soon succeeded in establishing his reputation as a 
 teacher ; crowds of scholars flocked to him, and in a few 
 years he found himself in the enjoyment of an income 
 superior to that of any college patronage in the United 
 States. Uernandez Navarete, a distinguished Spanish 
 painter, when an infant, was seized with an illness, which 
 left him deaf and dumb for life ; yet he became one 
 of the greatest artists of his age. Euler, the famous 
 mathematician, was struck with blindness in his flfty- 
 ninth year ; yet, after this misfortune, continued to calcu- 
 late and to dictate books as actively as ever. Nicholas 
 Saunderson, when a mere child, lost his eyes by abscess, 
 yet distinguished himself by his proficiency in Gireek and 
 Latin. In 1728, Greorge II. paid a visit to Cambridge 
 University, on which occasion he delivered a Latin oration 
 of great eloquence, and was created LL.I). Well might 
 John Hunter say, “Is there one whom difficulties dis- 
 hearten, who bends to the storm ? He will do little. Is 
 there one who will conquer? That kind of man never fails.” 
 
 The Giod of nature has fitted you for some particular 
 calling in life ; and your duty is to discover your peculiar 
 forte, and never faint, halt, or despair, but pursue it with 
 all diligence. Success in any calling depends, in a large 
 measure, on stability of purpose and settled intention. 
 But you may select a calling for which you have no 
 qualification, and then life will be a sad and unsuccessful 
 struggle. Men’s minds are not constituted alike; their 
 understandings are as various as their faces. The 
 original structure and temperament of Luther’s mind 
 
THE PEECEEING CHAPTEES. 
 
 307 
 
 put it beyond tbe compass of possibility for bim to 
 become a Melancthon. By no process could a Demos- 
 tbenes be made into a Virgil. Education cannot trans- 
 form a Howard into a Shakespeare. Nor could Homer 
 have become an Aristotle. You cannot give a Pope 
 the breadth and massiveness of a Milton : nor an 
 Addison the stormy grandeur of a Chalmers. We are 
 inclined to think that there are no universal geniuses. 
 Sir Isaac Hewton was far from being a model farmer. 
 Mozart was little better than an idiot, except at the 
 harpsichord. Lord John Bussell would, doubtless, soon 
 damage his reputation, if he had the command of the 
 Channel fleet. Non omnes omnia possumus. 
 
 But many men are equally fltted for any one of 
 two or more different departments, and ought to select 
 that in which they can most permanently and widely 
 benefit their fellow-men ; and every man we do honestly 
 believe is capable of excelling in some occupation, if only 
 true to his ovm self. You may have heard of the stupid 
 boy who was put under the care of the Jesuits. These 
 learned men tried him with many things, and could make 
 nothing of him. At last, one of them tried him in 
 geometry, which so suited his genius, that he became one 
 of the greatest mathematicians of the age. The Al- 
 mighty has supplied us with subjects of thought, as 
 diverse as the phases of the understanding. Select the 
 path in which life can be best turned to account. So 
 shine as lights in the world.” Plant your every step 
 firm and deliberate as that of men treading upon 
 adamant. Aspire to be men — genuine men — who feel, 
 in the language of the poet, — 
 
 ‘‘ Life is real! life is earnest ! 
 
 And the grave is not its goal ! 
 
 Dust thou art, to dust returnest, 
 
 Was not spoken of the soul. 
 
308 
 
 APPEALS EOUraED, ETC. 
 
 “ Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, 
 
 Is our destined end or way ; 
 
 But to act, that each to-morrow 
 Binds us farther than to-day. 
 
 “ Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant ; 
 Let the dead Past bury its dead ; 
 Act — act in the living Present : 
 Heart within, and God o’erhead ! 
 
 “ Lives of great men all remind us 
 We can make our lives sublime; 
 And, departing, leave behind us 
 Footprints on the sands of time ; 
 
 “Footprints, that perhaps another, 
 Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, 
 
 A forlorn and shipwrecked brother. 
 Seeing, may take heart again. 
 
 “ Let usj then, be up and doing, 
 With a heart for any fate; 
 
 Still achieving, still pursuing, 
 
 Learn to labour and to wait.” 
 
 THE END. 
 
309 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 <► 
 
 Adam, Dr. Alexander, 44. 
 
 Adams, John, 278, 
 
 Adamson, the French naturalist, 287 
 
 Advertisement, strange, 37. 
 
 Alfred, King, 283. 
 
 Alison, Sir Archibald, Bart., 24. 
 
 American statesman, 14. 
 
 Amusement, 267. 
 
 Anderson, Rev. Dr. WiUiam, 89. 
 
 Apelles, 44. 
 
 Aristides, 22. 
 
 Arthur, Rev. William, 86, 93. 
 
 Ass, An, fable of, 47. 
 
 Association of ideas, 286. 
 
 Bacon, 10. 
 
 Bain, Alexander, 299. 
 
 Baines, Edward, 115 — birthplace, 120— 
 boyish pranks, 120 — school education, 
 120 — apprenticed, 121 — Leeds, 121 — 
 Frankhn of Leeds, 122 — partnership, 
 122 — marriage, 122 — editor, proprie- 
 tor, and pubhsher, 123 — house on fire, 
 124 — family bereavements, 125 — re- 
 form, 125 — spy system, 126 — a house 
 of his own, 126 — efforts on behalf of 
 the working classes, 126 — M.P. for 
 Leeds, 129 — constitution giving way, 
 130 — a great inward change, 130 — 
 takes leave of his constituency, 131 — 
 presentation, 131 — doing good, 132 — 
 closing scene, 133 — general character 
 as a man, 135 — physical, 135 — mental, 
 136 — moral, 137 — as a journahst, 139 
 — a step in advance, 140 — a successful 
 editor, 141 — character of iheMercury, 
 
 142 — hterary works, 142 — as a states- 
 man, 143 — substantiated in parlia- 
 ment what he had promised out of it, 
 
 143 — measures proposed or sup- 
 ported by him, 144— funeral, 145 — 
 portrait, 145 — statue, 145. 
 
 Baker, Dr., 39. 
 
 Baptism, not the gate of glory, 85. 
 
 Barnes, Rev. Albert, 36, 45. 
 
 Beard, Dr. John R., 107. 
 
 Beattie, Rev. Dr., 265. 
 
 Beggar, A strange, 290, 
 
 BeU, Peter, 13. 
 
 Bethune, John, 11. 
 
 Bonar, Dr. Horatius, 61. 
 
 Book, circulation of a, not always an 
 index of its merit, 107. 
 
 Bowden, John, 225. 
 
 Bright, John, 10. 
 
 Brindley, engineer, 3. 
 
 Brown, Dr. James, 293. 
 
 Bruce, King Robert, 47. 
 
 Budgett, Samuel, 8. 
 
 Bunyan, John, 64 — birthplace, 67 — 
 pedigree, 67 — education, 67 — charac- 
 
 ter by Dr. Southey, 68 — Elstow in 
 1643, 68 — character by himself, 69 — a 
 soldier, 69 — hair-breadth escapes, 70 
 — marries, 71 — wife’s fortune, 71 — 
 conversion, 72 — joins the Baptist 
 church at Bedford, 73 — preaches, 73 
 — apprehended, 74 — happy in jail, 75 
 — singular incident, 76 — set at liberty, 
 76 — death, 77 — merits as a theologian, 
 78 — genuine Calvinist, 81 — on Bap- 
 tism, 83 — popularity as a preacher, 
 86 — qualifications for the ministry, 91 
 — earnestness, 92 — piety, 93 — plain 
 speech, 94 — evangelical preacher, 95 
 — totality of his preaching, 96 — not 
 a sermon reader, 99 — claims as a 
 writer, 100 — minor allegories, 100 — 
 “Pilgrim’s Progress,” 100 — its me- 
 rits, 102 — said to be stolen, 103 — his 
 own declaration, 105 — “ Holy War,” 
 105 — inferior, 106— first of English 
 writers, 108 — a bold confessor, 108 — 
 true heroism, 110 — closing remarks, 
 110 — no sectarianism, 110 — a real 
 Protestant, 111 — brief character, 
 113. 
 
 Bunyan, Mrs., 109. 
 
 Burke, 10, 42. 
 
 Burns, Robert, 24. 
 
 Business consistent with literature, 11. 
 
 Butler, 28. 
 
 Buxton, Sir T. Fowell, 52. 
 
 Byron, 43. 
 
 Calvin, 54, 80. 
 
 Cambridge professor, 15. 
 
 Campbell, John, Lord Chancellor of 
 England, 151. 
 
 Campbell, John, 13. 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas, 18, 23. 
 
 Caesar, 53. 
 
 Chalmers, Rev. Dr., 10. 
 
 Character, power of forming your own, 
 
 2 . 
 
 Children subjected to the same training 
 turn out differently, 275. 
 
 Christianity, its external and internal 
 evidences, 28. 
 
 Cicero, 267. 
 
 Circumstances, 275. 
 
 Clarke, Dr. Adam, 80, 94. 
 
 Cockburn, Lord, 44. 
 
 Coleridge, 283. 
 
 Columbus, 54. 
 
 Combe, Mr. George, 271. 
 
 Communism, or socialism, 7. 
 Constitution and circumstance, 279. 
 
 Conscience, 22. 
 
 Co-operative system, 7, 
 
 Country, love of, 147. 
 
 Covenanters, 193. 
 
810 
 
 IliTDEX. 
 
 Cowper, 277. 
 
 Cromarty minister, 174. 
 
 Cromwell, 54. 
 
 Crossley, Frank, Esq., M.P., 45. 
 
 Davy, Sir Humphrey, 59. 
 
 Dean of Edinburgh, 192. 
 
 Decision of character, 51. 
 Degradation, real, 301. 
 
 Demosthenes, 48, 33. 
 Denominationalism, 85. 
 
 Descent, high, 64. 
 
 Development hypothesis, 210. 
 
 Dick, Kobert, 11. 
 
 Difficulties, 52, 304, 305, 308. 
 Disraeli, Eight Hon. B., 118. 
 Doddridge, Dr., 35. 
 
 Doubters, sincere, 27. 
 
 Dream, A, 253. 
 
 Drunkard, A, 277. 
 
 Eadie, Eev. Dr. John, 218. 
 
 Early rising, 36. 
 
 Ellesmere, Lord, 167. 
 
 Ely, Eev. John, 131. 
 
 Emerson, 17, 282. 
 
 Epitaphs, 170. 
 
 Erskiue, E'benezer, 193. 
 
 Evangelical leaders, 195. 
 
 Examples, noble, 295. 
 
 Excelling, aU capable of, 307. 
 Eyesight, 59. 
 
 Family, genteel, 268. 
 
 Faults, our, 115. 
 
 Ferguson, James, 151. 
 
 Finney, Professor, 80. 
 
 Foster, John, 89. 
 
 Franchise, 14. 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin, 21. 
 
 Fraser, Lydia Mackenzie, 176. 
 Frasier’s Magazine, 147. 
 
 EuEer, Thomas, 105. 
 
 Garrick and the bishop, 100. 
 Geddes, Jenny, 192. 
 
 Genius, 295. 
 
 Genius and madness, 189. 
 
 Gibson, Professor, 80. 
 
 Gilfillan and Bunyan’s theology, 83. 
 Grant, Jack, the mate, 153. 
 
 Grant, Mr. Eobert, 151. 
 
 Gray, Billy, 61. 
 
 Great, Peter the, 4. 
 
 Greatness, true, 16. 
 
 Grosteste, 303. 
 
 Groves, Mr., 236. 
 
 Guthrie, Eev. Dr., 43. 
 
 Habits, moral, 19. 
 
 Hale, Sir Matthew, 109. 
 
 Hall, Eev. Eobert, 43. 
 
 Hamilton, Eev. Dr. James, 73. 
 Hanna, Eev. Dr. William, 182. 
 Happiness, means of, 13. 
 
 Hare and tortoise, 46. 
 
 Headship of Christ, 192, 
 
 Henderson, Eev, Alexander, 193. 
 
 Hood, Eev. E. P., 30. 
 
 Hope, 33. 
 
 Hutton, Eev. Dr., 115. 
 
 Hutton, William, 8. 
 
 Ideal, lofty, 34. 
 
 Idiot, shrewd, 87. 
 
 Illustrious men in Lancashire, 119. 
 
 Imitation, 285. 
 
 Industry, importance of, 42. 
 
 Infidel proposition, 273. 
 
 Infidelity, 228. 
 
 Infidels, their opinion of religion, 26. 
 
 Intemperance, 221. 
 
 Interpreters of Scripture, 81. 
 
 Inverness minister, 172. 
 
 Jeweller, The, 267. 
 
 Jewels in dust-heaps, 218. 
 
 Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 45. 
 
 Jonson, Ben, 11. 
 
 Kitto, John, 218 — his person, 220— 
 when and where born, 221 — his 
 father, 221 — grandmother, 221 — sent 
 to school, 222 — Eoberts, the shoe- 
 maker, 222 — love of books, 222 — 
 “ Old Wigmore,” 223 — sad accident, 
 224 — “ poor student’s ways and 
 means,” 225 — Plymouth workhouse, 
 225 — journal, 226 — awkward man- 
 ners, 226 — self-defence, 226 — death 
 of grandmother, 227 — cannot obey 
 his father, 229 —a brutal master,230 — 
 bright visions, 231 — kind friends, 232 
 — a dream, 234 — Exeter, 236 — new 
 birth, 237 — Islington, 238— a misun- 
 derstanding, 238 — Malta, 239 — disap- 
 pointment, 240 — toils of love, 241 — 
 journey to the East, 243 — Bagdad, 244 
 — farewell letter to his mother, 244 — 
 the Tigris, 245 — self-estimate, 246 — 
 departure for England, 246— discom- 
 forts of travel, 246 — serio-comic inci- 
 dents, 247 — shores of England, 248 — 
 decease of Mr. Shepherd, 248 — di- 
 ploma of D.D. conferred, 250 — death, 
 251 — inscription on tombstone, 252 — 
 labours, 252 — accused of plagiarism, 
 
 255— engagement with Mr. Knight, 
 
 256 — brief description of the books 
 he wrote, 257, 258, 259, 260, and 261 
 triumphs, 261— over the wretched- 
 ness and privation of his youth, 261 
 • — over the tyranny of Bowden, 262 — 
 over the missionary committee, 262 — 
 over difficulties which would have 
 overmastered mere ordinary men, 
 263 — concluding remarks, 264. 
 
 Knowledge better than wealth, 8. 
 
 Knowledge, great facilities for ac* 
 quiring, 9. 
 
 Knowledge is power, 15. 
 
 Knowledge, sources of, 12. 
 
 Knox, John, 54, 192. 
 
 Kossuth, Louis, 279. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 311 
 
 Labour, dignity of, 3. 
 
 Labour the condition of success, 42. 
 
 Labour, methods of keeping up the 
 price of, 6. 
 
 Labourer worthy of his hire, 182. 
 
 Laffitte, Jacques, 41. 
 
 Landels, Kev. William, 266. 
 
 Legge, Eev. Dr. George, 111. 
 
 Leyden, John, 150. 
 
 Life, real purpose of, 17. 
 
 Life, Thy, 5. 
 
 Literature consistent with business, 11. 
 
 Little men have often done wondrous 
 things, 219. 
 
 Littles, power of, 39. 
 
 Livingstone, Dr. David, 38. 
 
 Longfellow, lines by, 307. 
 
 Longinus, 107. 
 
 Longmuir, Rev. Dr. John, 210. 
 
 Luther, Martin, 35, 54. 
 
 Lytton, Sir Edward Bulwer, 40. 
 
 Macaulay, late Lord, 10. 
 
 Man, A, of the right stamp, 6. 
 
 Man, capability of improvement, 32. 
 
 Man, highest style of, 25. 
 
 Man made a machine, 281. 
 
 Man, native dignity and grandeur 
 of, 31. 
 
 Marvel, Andrew, M.P. for HuU, 22. 
 
 MelviUe, Andrew, 192. 
 
 Melvill, Rev. Henry, 43. 
 
 Men of letters, illiterate, 9. 
 
 Men, three kinds of, 47. 
 
 Men who have risen from the ranks, 
 296. 
 
 Methods, short and easy, 51. 
 
 Mexico and Scotland, 16. 
 
 Middlesbro’ a paradise regained, 119. 
 
 Miller, Hugh, 147 — place of birth, 
 152 — ancestry, 152 — ^his father, 152 — 
 strange phenomena, 155 — first great 
 sorrow, 156 — dame’s school, 156 — 
 Uncles James and Alexander, 157 — 
 grammar school of Cromarty, 158 
 — conclusion of his school career, 160 
 — the quarry, 161 — David his master, 
 162 — noble apostrophe to labour, 
 162— Edinburgh, 163 — individuality, 
 164 — a strike, 164 — Cromarty, 167 
 — Christianity, 168 — sculptured ta- 
 blets, 170 — poetry and a patron, 172 
 — rejected poem, 173 — remarkable 
 visitors in the churchyard, 174 — 
 Commercial Bank, 176 — “The In- 
 competent,” 177 — name and notice, 
 178 — editor of the Witness, 179 — 
 presentation and public dinner, 179 
 — testimonials declined, 180 — cha- 
 racter as a public lecturer, 181 — 
 account of his lamentable end, by 
 Dr. Hanna, 182 — last letter, 188 — 
 post mortem examination, 189 — 
 poetry, 190 — buried, 191— career as 
 an ecclesiastical polemic, 192 — cele- 
 brated letter to Lord Brougham, 195 
 — opinions of eminent men upon its 
 
 merits, 198 — second pamphlet, 198 — 
 effective service, 203 — Scottish dis- 
 ruption, 204 — literary and scientific 
 attainments, 205 — how he became ac- 
 quainted with the great English clas- 
 sics, 206 — how he learned geology, 
 206 — strong curiosity, 208 — a glance 
 at his very valuable works, 208, 209, 
 210, 211, and 212 — offered a govern- 
 ment situation, 213 — the more strik- 
 ing qualities of this marvellous man, 
 213 — intellectual and moral powers, 
 214 — self - consciousness, 214 — not 
 ashamed of his origin, 215— httle of 
 the man-milliner, 216 — poHte, 216 — 
 conclusion, 217. 
 
 Milne, William, 151. 
 
 Milton, John, 10. 
 
 Minister, Buteshire, 194. 
 
 Ministers, ecclesiastical authority can- 
 not make them, 86. 
 
 Ministers, their qualifications, 86. 
 Ministers, too many demands made 
 upon, 89. 
 
 Minds, men’s, not naturally equal, 306. 
 Minute, The, and the great, 38. 
 
 M‘NeiU, Sir John, 244, 245, and 247. 
 Moore, Mr. George, 40. 
 
 Moral disposition superior to mental 
 endowments, 17. 
 
 Moral government subverted, 281. 
 Morality and religion, 23. 
 
 Moral principle, value of, 58. 
 
 Moral system. The, and the material 
 world, 22. 
 
 Murray, Alexander, 150. 
 
 Napoleon, 55. 
 
 Nature’s failures, 53. 
 
 Nelson, 54. 
 
 Newman, Dr., and Mr. Newman, 276. 
 Newton, 43, 297. 
 
 Nicoll, Robert, 56, 301. 
 
 Nil desperandum, 56. 
 
 Now, A, and a then, 264. 
 
 Observation, 60. 
 
 O’Connell, Daniel, 165. 
 
 Offbr, George, Esq., 64. 
 
 Organization, 269. 
 
 Opinion, A false, 115. 
 
 Owen, Rev. Dr. John, 91. 
 
 Owen, Robert, system of, 275. 
 
 Paley, Dr. William, 44. 
 
 Pascal, 28. 
 
 Pastoral visitation, 89. 
 
 Patronage, The act of, passed, 193. 
 Paul, 278. 
 
 Peel, Sir Robert, 283. 
 
 Pence, odd, value of, 38. 
 
 Perseverance, 46. 
 
 Philip, John, 151. 
 
 Picture, A, and a syllogism, 98. 
 Plagiarisms, 104. 
 
 Plymouth workhouse, graduate of, 261. 
 Pompey, 54. 
 
312 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Pope, the poet, 277. 
 
 Popery and Protestantism, 79, 
 
 Power of becoming self-made men, 29. 
 Power of the mind, transformative, 20. 
 Preachers, French, Scotch, and Irish, 
 96. 
 
 Preachers, unreasonableness of people 
 in regard to, 88. 
 
 Press, The newspaper, 139. 
 
 Process by which men are made, 266. 
 Professor, Cambridge, 15. 
 
 Pimshon, Kev. W. M., 101. 
 
 Pulpit, different theories as to what it 
 should be, 90. 
 
 Pulpit, its inefficiency, 86. 
 
 Pulpit, modern, state of, 87* 
 
 Quack, The reverend, 99. 
 
 Queen, A poor, 38. 
 
 Paces, different, 269. 
 
 Ealeigh, Eev. Alexander, 25, 
 
 Eeforms, source of, 2. 
 
 Eeligion and morality, 23. 
 
 Eeligion requires self effort, 26. 
 Eehgion, scoffing at, 161. 
 Eesponsibility, 271, 272, 273. 
 
 Eoebuck, J. A., Esq., M.P., 118. 
 Eogers, the poet, 43. 
 
 Eoss, Mr., 176. 
 
 Eothschild, 23. 
 
 Eoyal commissioner, 192. 
 
 Scotland and Christ’s headship, 192. 
 Scotland and Mexico, 16. 
 
 Scotchmen all patrots, 147. 
 
 Scotchmen, illustrious, 148. 
 
 Scott, Thomas, commentator, 105. 
 Scott, Sir Walter, 4, 64. 
 
 Sculptor, A famous, 61. 
 
 Scripture contradicted, 280. 
 
 Scriptures, interpreters of the, 81. 
 Self-made men, power of becoming, 29. 
 Self-manufacture, 2. 
 
 Sermons, on the reading of, 99. 
 Shakespeare, 10, 282. 
 
 Sheridan, 42. 
 
 Shoemakers, illustrious, 10. 
 
 Sincere doubters, 27. 
 
 Smith, Sidney, 7. 
 
 Socialism, or communism, 7. 
 
 Society, Bible, 41. 
 
 Society, English, 293. 
 
 Society, how to reform, 1. 
 
 Somerville, Alexander, 57. 
 
 Sources of true manliness, 285. 
 
 Southey, Dr., 35. 
 
 Statesman, An American, 14. 
 
 Stanley, Lord, 119. 
 
 Stephenson, George, 49. 
 
 Stewart, Dugald, 107. 
 
 Stowell, Eev. Hugh, 1. 
 
 Students, Scottish, 150. 
 
 Sunrise and sunset, 36. 
 
 Syllogism, A, and a picture, 93. 
 
 Tailor, The, 267. 
 
 Talfourd, Mr. Justice, 294, 
 
 Taylor, Isaac, 273, 291. 
 
 Temptations resistible, 270, 
 
 Text, The corrupted, 171. 
 
 Themistocles, 22. 
 
 Then, A, and a now, 264. 
 
 Theologian, A God-made, 78. 
 Theological Tuition, pamphlet on, 90. 
 Theories, four, 269. 
 
 Thoroughly, the importance of doing, 
 60. 
 
 “ Timber to timber,” 161. 
 
 Time, value of, 35. 
 
 Todd, Eev. John, 22. 
 
 Tortoise, The, and the hare, 46. 
 Trebonius, John, 30. 
 
 Triumph, The chief element of, 51. 
 Triumphs, 264. 
 
 Truth and error, 279. 
 
 Unions, trades’, 6, and 165. 
 Universities, two, 9. 
 
 Vaucauson, 287. 
 
 Vice and virtue confounded, 271. 
 Voluntary determination, 282. 
 
 Wages, how ruled, 6. 
 
 Watt, James, 10. 
 
 Wealth, inheriting of, a questionable 
 benefit, 2. 
 
 Wealth, power of, limited, 5. 
 
 Webster, late Daniel, 96. 
 
 Wellington, 55. 
 
 West, Benjamin, 34. 
 
 Wilkie, David, 151. 
 
 Will, free, 274. 
 
 Wilson, Eight Hon. James, 300. 
 Writers, The four best, 205. 
 
 Youth, A brave, 48. 
 
 Youth, The sapient, 9. 
 
 Youth, A stupid, 307. 
 
 Youth, The, and the uncounted gold, 
 277. 
 
 London j J. & W. Eidee, Printers, 14, Bartholomew Close, E.C. 
 
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