"Mr. Drew, more than once I have heard you quote that expression— 'Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.' You quote it as being true; but how are we to understand it?" "I can give you," he replied, "an instance from my own experience. When I began business, I was a great politician. My master's shop had been a chosen place for political discussion, and there, I suppose, I acquired my fondness for such debates. For the first year I had too much to do and to think about to indulge my propensity for politics: but after getting a little ahead in the world, I began to dip into these matters again. Very soon I entered as deeply into newspaper argument as if my livelihood depended on it. My shop was often filled with loungers, who came to canvass public measures; and now and then I went into my neighbours' houses on a similar errand. This encroached on my time; and I found it necessary sometimes to work till midnight, to make up for the hours I had lost. One night, after my shutters were closed, and I was busily employed, some little urchin who was passing the street put his mouth to the key-hole of the door, and, with a shrill pipe, cried out, Shoemaker! shoemaker! work by night and run about by day!"" "And did you," inquired his friend, pursue the boy with your stirrup, to chastise him for his insolence?" "No, no. Had a pistol been fired off at my ear, I could not have been more dismayed or confounded. I dropped my work, saying to myself, "True, true! but you shall never have that to say of me again.' I have never forgotten it; and while I recollect anything, I never shall. To me it was the voice of God; and it has been a word in season throughout my life. I learned from it not to leave till tomorrow the work of to-day, or to idle when I ought to be working. From that time I turned over a new leaf. I ceased to venture on the restless sea of politics, or trouble myself about matters which did not concern me. The bliss of ignorance on political topics I often experienced in after life;—the folly of being wise my early history shows." It is not often that a boyish freak confers such a blessing upon man and the world. It was sport to him, but a life's blessing to his intended victim. It checked and cured a bad habit, and gave a fresh impetus to the struggle to ascend the hill of knowledge. Thanks, a thousand times, for that piece of midnight mischief! "Ah! who can tell how hard it is to climb The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar?" This is the utterance extorted by the pangs of intellectual labour. How exquisitely must it have been felt at each stage of his course, every step of his ascent, by Mr. Drew. Between the point on which he stood, and the foot of the hill, what vast fields stretched their broad and interminable lengths before him. Each was fresh with flowers, alluring to taste, attractive to the eye, fair to the vision, and flattering the mother of the human race. to hope as "the tree of knowledge" to But when he essayed to enter, "Chill penury repressed his noble rage, And froze the genial current of his soul." Industry and economy had "broken the neck of his difficulties," and left him with some degree of leisure to pursue his ruling passion,--the acquisition of knowledge. Possessed of the opportunity for improvement, he increased his efforts, and enlarged his plans of acquiring information. Fugitive thoughts-those first and best teachings of truth-were preserved with an avaricious care. Even while at work he kept writing materials at his side, to note the processes of his mind, and fix, beyond the possibility of forgetfulness, the outlines of arguments on such subjects as engaged his attention for the time. But he had not yet fixed upon any plan of study, any one subject or science that was to engross his efforts or absorb his powers. His one desire was to know, to grow in wisdom and knowledge. He was on the shore. The broad sea of truth was before him. He wished to sound its depths, not to skim its crested waves. We shall see what determined his choice. "The sciences lay before me. I discovered charms in each, but was unable to embrace them all, and hesitated in making a selection. I had learned that One science only will one genius fit, So vast is art, so narrow human wit.' At first I felt such an attachment to astronomy, that I resolved to confine my views to the study of that science; but I soon found myself too defective in arithmetic to make any proficiency: Modern history was my next object; but I quickly discovered that more books and time were necessary than I could either purchase or spare, and on this account history was abandoned. In the region of metaphysics I saw neither of the above impediments. It nevertheless appeared to be a thorny path, but I determined to enter, and accordingly began to tread it." Poverty selected the field on which he was to win his triumphs, and carve his way to usefulness and honour. It was indeed a thorny path, hedged with difficulties. He entered it with a giant's energy. The immaterial world, given his name to fame, and will waft it to immortality, were written, not in the hammering of heel-taps and the the solitude of the study, but amidst cries of children. He had no studyno retirement. "I write," he said, children, and frequently when I review "amid the cries and cradles of my what I have written, endeavour to cultivate the art to blot.'" During the day, he wrote down "the shreds and At night, he elaborated them into form patches of thought and argument. and unity. "His usual scat, after closing the business of the day, was a low nursing chair beside the kitchen fire. Here, with the bellows on his knees for a desk, and the usual culinary and domestic matters in progress around him, his works, prior to 1805, were chiefly written." The first production of Mr. Drew's pen was a defence of Christianity, in barrister has called "that most abomianswer to what a celebrated Irish nable abomination of all abominable abominations, Tom Paine's Age of Reason." It was elicited by circumstances no less attractive in their nature than they proved to be beneficial to the spiritual interests of one of the parties. Amongst the friends drawn to Mr. Drew by his literary pursuits and the attractions of his expanding intellect, was a young gentle"Millions-walk the earth unseen, man, a surgeon, schooled in the writings Whether we wake or sleep." of Voltaire, Rousseau, Gibbon, and In such a study, the heaviest draft Hume. Confirmed in infidelity himwould be on his own mental organ- self, he sought to shake the religious ism. Reading was the smallest part of convictions of the pious and strongits labour. Reflection-deep, earnest, minded, but humble shoemaker. They protracted reflection,-in which the had frequently discussed abstruse soul turned inward upon itself, sur- questions of ethics; especially the veyed, as in a mirror, the unseen world nature of evidence, and the primary of life, activity, and immortality, was source of moral principles. When the first and ceaseless demand of the Paine's " Age of Reason" appeared, he subject. The difficulties of his start procured it, and fortified himself with in the pursuit of knowledge, and the its objections against Revelation; and, energy that triumphed over them, had assuming a bolder tone, commenced an eminently qualified him for the toils of undisguised attack on the Bible. Findcareer. Reading filled his ing his own arguments ineffectual, he leisure: reflection occupied him while proffered the loan of the book, stipuat work. He possessed, in a remark-lating that he should read it attentively, able degree, the power of abstracting his mind from surrounding objects, and fixing it, like a leech, upon whatever subject occupied his attention. He could read, and rock the cradle; and his profoundest mental investigations were often carried on amidst the din of domestic affairs. His works, which have his new and give his opinions with candour after a careful inspection. During its perusal the various points of its attack on Christianity were brought under discussion. Mr. Drew made notes of these conversations. Ere they closed, the surgeon began to waver in his con fidence in the Age of Reason;" and the ultimate result was that he transferred his doubts from the Bible to Paine, and died an humble believer in the truth of Christianity, and in cheerful hope of the glory, honour, and immortality it brings to light. The notes of Mr. Drew were subsequently remodelled and offered to the public. Its appearance produced a powerful impression in behalf of religion, then most virulently assailed by the combined forces of French Atheism and English Deism. It placed its author upon commanding ground as a profound thinker and a skilful debater; and attracted to him a larger class of more distinguished and powerful friends. This first-born of his brain was published in 1799. It was followed in rapid succession by several other pamphlets; one a poem of six hundred lines, rich in thought, but too local in subject, and less fanciful than popular taste in "the art of poetry" required; the other was a defence of his church against the attack of one in whom the qualities of author, magistrate, and clergyman were blended. His defence was as successful in refuting the assault, as it was, in the mildness and manliness of its spirit, in converting the assailant into a personal friend. In 1802, Mr. Drew issued a larger work, a volume alone sufficient to stamp his name with immortality. It was on the "Immortality and Immateriality of the Human Soul." It is a masterpiece of profound thinking, acute reasoning, and logical accuracy. The English language boasts no superior work on the subject. It made a strong impression on the public mind, and attracted a large number of learned men to the obscure, but profound, metaphysician of St. Austell. | The history of the volume furnishes an interesting page in the life of authorship. When finished, it was offered to a Cornish publisher for the sum of ten pounds. But he could not risk such an amount on the work of one "unknown to fame." It was then published by subscription, and the edition was exhausted long before the demand for it was supplied. Many years after this, Dr. Clarke said Mr. Drew was "a child in money matters." The occasion before us justifies the remark. Afraid of the risk of a second edition, he sold the copyright to a British bookseller for twenty pounds and thirty copies of the work. Before the expiration of the copyright, it had passed through four editions in England, two in America; and had been translated and published in France. The author survived the twenty-eight years of the copyright, and it became his property. He then gave it a final revision, and sold it for two hundred and fifty pounds. A fact that proves its sterling value. His Essay on the Soul was followed, in the course of a few years, by another work, not less abstruse, and certainly not less important to the future destiny of the human race: "The Identity and General Resurrection of the Human Body." His former work had surprised the critics of the day. This confounded them. They knew not what to think of the man; and they were afraid to adventure in a review, upon the vast and profound ocean of metaphysics, over which he sailed with the freedom of a rover, bearing a flag that held out a challenge to the world. The editors of several Reviews, as did also the publisher, courted a criticism of the work. But they could find no one able and willing to attempt it. At length one of them ventured to ask the author for a criticism on his own work, as the only person competent to do it justice. The request stirred his indignation. "Such things," was his reply, may be among the tricks of trade; but I will never soil my fingers with them." But it went not without a notice. It was reviewed in two weeks. But the verdict of the public is recorded in the fact of the rapid sale of nearly fifteen hundred copies. The improvement of Mr. Drew's circumstances has been spoken of. He had not grown rich. The gain of a little time for mental pursuits, was all the wealth his literary labours had secured. His publications gave him fame as an author, and attracted friends ardent and anxious to assist him; but they contributed very little to his release from the daily avocations of his shop. He was still poor; and, to gain daily bread for himself and his family, he was compelled to “stick to his last." Even at this period of his life, he concluded a letter to a distinguished antiquarian of London, with the remark: “I am now writing on a piece of leather, and have no time to copy or correct." Yet, in reading his pages, while the mind is stretched to its utmost tension to compass the depth and elevation of his thoughts, it is almost impossible to realize that they were written on a piece of leather in the midst of his workmen, or in the chimney corner, with a bellows on his knee, and with one foot rocking a brawling child to sleep. It is, nevertheless, a reality; and adds new confirmation to the hackneyed remark that "truth is stranger than fiction." As late as 1809, Professor Kidd, of Aberdeen, wrote to him as follows: "When I read your address, I admired your mind, and felt for your family; and from that moment began to revolve how I might assist merit emerging from hardships. I have at length conceived a way which will in all likelihood, put you and your dear infants in independence." The plan of the Professor was to induce Mr. Drew to enter the lists for a prize of twelve hundred pounds for an essay on The Being and Attributes of God." He entered, but did not win, much to the sorrow of his kind-hearted adviser. But the work, in two volumes, was subsequently published, and augmented the fame of "The Metaphysical Shoemaker." 66 By the agency of his friend, Dr. Clarke, he was engaged to write for several Reviews, "receiving - guineas for every printed sheet." He also commenced lecturing to classes on grammar, history, geography, and astronomy. Several years were spent in these employments. They paved his way, and prepared him to enter a larger field of labour, on a more elevated platform of life. In 1819 he was invited to Liverpool, to take the management of the "Imperial Magazine," published by the Caxtons. He accepted it, and parted with his awl and ends. This was a new enterprise, both to the editor and the proprietor. But it succeeded to admiration. His own reputation attracted seven thousand patrons at the start. Whatever may have been the tastes of Mr. Drew as to dress, he had never been in circumstances that allowed of much attention to his personal appearance. The family of Dr. Clarke, who now resided near Liverpool, and who were warmly attached to him, set themselves to reform his costume, and polish his manners. An epigram of the Doctor's comprises a full-length likeness of the figure he presented. "Long was the man, and long was his hair, And long was the coat which this long man did wear." He ac He was passive under the management of his young friends; and they did not pause until a manifest change in the outside man was effected. When he next visited St. Austell, he was congratulated upon his juvenile appearance. "These girls of the Doctor's," he said, “and their acquaintances, have thus metamorphosed me." His residence at Liverpool was abridged by the burning of the Caxton establishment. The proprietors_resolved to transfer their business to London; and they could not leave their able and popular editor behind them. cordingly repaired to the metropolis. Here all the works issued from the Caxton press passed under his supervision. He augmented his own fame, and multiplied the number of his learned friends. Of his labours he says: "Besides the magazine, I have at this time six different works in hand, either as author, compiler, or corrector. 'Tis plain, therefore, I do not want work; and while I have strength and health, I have no desire to lead a life of idleness; yet I am sometimes oppressed with unremitting exertion, and occasionally sigh for leisure which I cannot command." But leisure came not till the weary wheels of life stood still in 1833. A Chinese proverb says, "Time and patience will change a mulberry leaf into a silk dress." They have wrought greater wonders than this in the intellectual and moral world. As illustrative of their power in any pursuit of life, how attractive and impressive are the incidents in the history of the poor Shoemaker of St. Austell. Through their agency, vice, ignorance, and poverty were transmuted into virtue, knowledge, and independence; a youth of idleness was followed by a manhood of industrious diligence, and an age dignified by success in the noblest aspirations that can swell the human breast. To the student, the lover of knowledge, the aspirant for literary distinction and usefulness, such histories have a voice whose utterance is a melody of encouragement. Drew's life is a beacon blazing on the coast of time; himself a star of the first magnitude, brilliant in the firmament of truth, serene in its orbit, endless in the sweep of its influence. ROGER WILLIAMS. ROGER WILLIAMS was the founder and lawgiver of the State of Rhode Island in America. He was born at Conwyl Cayo, near Lampeter, in the County of Carmarthen, South Wales, in 1606. His father was a small landed proprietor, and lived upon his ancestral estate, called Macstroiddyn, in the hamlet of Maestroiddyn. There are no records however of his early life, and we are left entirely in the dark respecting the character of his parents. It is nevertheless, more than probable that they were God-fearing people, and that Roger was nurtured and brought up in the fear of the Lord. For, towards the close of his long life he says, "From my childhood, now about threescore years, the Father of lights and mercies touched my soul with a love to himself, to his only begotten the true Lord Jesus, and to his holy scriptures." It is at all events certain, that love to God was the governing influence of his life, and the rule of all his actions and enterprizes. We shall have ample opportunity hereafter to prove the truth of this assertion, and to set forth the practical results of the religion which he professed. For no one was ever more faithful to his convictions, more devoted to his Master's work, or more unceasing in his efforts to promote the temporal as well as the spiritual happiness of his fellow men. With him, religion was a vital and allabsorbing principle; not a theory, but a divine reality, expanding the living spirit within him, and filling him with a boundless and immeasurable love. Hence his life was full of beauty, and adorned with all the virtues and graces which mark the highest Christian character. It is at once cheering and ennobling to behold how bravely he bears himself under the burden of his great difficulties; with what forgiveness and compassion he regards his persecutors; how readily he helps them in their necessities; and how firmly, and yet meekly and lovingly, he insists upon the truth which separates him from his brethren. This truth, viz., that the civil magistrate has no right to interfere in any matters of conscience, he carried with him into the wilderness, after his banishment from New England for maintaining it, and finally incorporated it in the constitution of the Colony which he founded in Rhode Island. Williams was the first man that made the grand principle of toleration the foundation of government. Up to his time, and indeed long afterwards, there was a very imperfect apprehension of religious freedom. Protestantism had certainly announced the right of private judgment, the right of every man to think and act according to the dictates of his own conscience, but such was the power and influence of human tradition and authority, that no man could exercise this right with impunity, if he violated either the one or the other. From the reign of Henry the Eighth downwards, the state had always been invested with the power of punishing refractory confessors -persons, that is, who could not sanetion the established doctrines and the established modes of worship. Ecclesiastical synods arrogated to themselves the right of giving their own interpretation to the sacred scriptures; they abjured the Pope of Rome, to set themselves up in his place; and private consciences were made amenable to these priestly tribunals. Even the Puritans, to whom we owe so much, and who claimed so much for themselves, would recognize no man as a Christian who differed from them in what they held-and what essentially were, perhaps-points of scriptural doctrine: and many of their great leaders denounced unlimited toleration, as subversive of Christianity, of public morals, and of social law and order. The great distinguishing principle, therefore, which lies at the base of Roger Williams's character as a minister, a public teacher and a lawgiver, is, as before stated, this: that he denied the right of councils to declare what men should believe in relation to the scriptures, and of the state to punish them for disbelief. A man's belief, he said, rested between him and God: abandon this truth, and we open the door to endless persecutions and all manner of evil feelings and unchristian ways. For himself he adopted this truth with the fervour of an apostle, and practised it in all his dealings with men. Intimidation, suffering, scorn, contumely, and wrong, could not make him swerve one step from his purpose, or move him from the high vantage ground which he assumed and occupied. The history |