so great in fome country places, that it was "I will not have a fcholar in mine houfe But I am inadvertently paffing into what will be the subject of another chapter. The prefent one is not intended to dwell upon Education, but upon "IGNORANCE CORRECTED," and that rather in onefelf than in others. And who is there that cannot say, "Such profitable knowledge oft doth come, When we the narrow confines pafs of home?" The Elder Brother, A& ii. Sc. iii. The Queen of And the first thing I would advise any one p. 174. who would wish to be acquainted with the "SEA-BOARD AND THE Down," is to be on the look out for the kindlier feelings of rough Thanks to my old Parishioner at Hecne,Mr. Green. natures. The old cuftom of fmuggling has rendered them fufpicious, and if they find that you are fufpicious alfo, they fhut themselves up like hedgehogs, or roll themfelves into a ball like the woodloufe. But deal openly with them, and after a while, when you have gained their confidence, they will deal openly with you. Poor Uther Woodville had been himfelf originally a feafaring man,-but when he was fomewhere about fifty-five, having fcraped together a fmall competency, he retired from the ship in which he had acted for years in the capacity of mate. It belonged to one of those large firms in the city, who will often (as I know by experience) endeavour to do much for those who will help themselves, faithfully to the looking at the fame time This had always For years he had failed between the Port of London and Madras, and latterly he was allowed fome little small ventures of his own. There wafn't an Indian Captain but knew and refpected him on the ftation. The refult was, that when he retired, his fon, whom he had well educated, was preferred to his place. Befides this fon he had another in one of the city warehouses, and a daughter, married to a Clerk in the Bank of England. On the whole, in his pofition of life, up to this time, he had been a profperous man. But he was to be tried by adverfity, and to come out as fine gold. The fon and daughter in London both died, one shortly after the other,—and not more than three years after the eldest was loft in the well-known tremendous furf of Madras. It was upon the receipt of this laft fad news that I came to know how much good there was in old Uther Woodville. The fad news was communicated to me through the house in London, and I had to break it to him. Suppled and intenerated by his former life, he feemed almoft prepared for this, and all he faid was, with the deep fincerity of a Chriftian Spirit, "The Lord gave, and the Job i. 21. Lord hath taken away: bleffed be the name of the Lord." After this heavy blow I faw him frequently, but it was a Sunday or before he could fummon courage to face the congregation. At last he came. It was Sacrament Sunday, and he would not mifs, but faid, "It is fitting that I fhould follow David's example, and thank the Lord for Ps. xvi. 8. Rom. xii. 15. giving me warning!" Never, indeed, did he cease to blefs the Lord for giving him counsel, -but on this occafion one felt at once the strength of true religion and piety, and acknowledged one's own "IGNORANCE CORRECTED." And thofe hard-featured men, who are they? Who are those that give way as Uther paffes, and bow to him awkwardly with a fort of reverence for the forrow-ftricken one? Who are they whofe fympathy is unmistakeable, and in whofe eyes were tears? They were a rough people in the every-day beaten track of life, but a people of fome delicacy neverthelefs, and as I looked upon the mourner on his way to the church, and on those who mourned for him, I learned no every-day leffon, and realized how foftening an influence it was to "weep with them that weep." It was long after that the Golden Legend was published, but the lines are pretty ones. "Upward fteals the life of man, As the funshine from the wall, Ah! the fouls of thofe that die, Maflinger, The Pifander fays in the play, "Duty must not Bondfman, Act iii. Sc. ii. take the name of merit,"-a very common fault indeed, and compatible with great profeffion. But Uther Woodville had no fuch thoughts,—and till the day of his death we were greatly attached,-bound in the bonds of the Gospel, if I may be allowed to use the expreffion'. None admitted fo freely as he that 66 Every man with his affects is born, Not by might mastered, but by special grace." Of this I had a ftriking proof in the "fimple annals" of another man's hiftory, by which I was again humbled, and, I hope, faithfully acknowledged my own "IGNORANCE CORRECTED." Externally Edgar Fullerton was a most rough-hewn fpecimen of humanity,—his leathern apron even more hard fet than those I used to meet with in Sweden, where, thirty years ago, all the common people used to wear them, and yet Edgar had fucked in mother's milk of no common fort. Every one here thought him as hard as a bit of flint picked at hazard out of a chalk-pit. Such, 1 Nothing diftreffes fo much as the thoughtless and irreverent application of Scripture. This is admirably put in Adam Bede, before quoted. "It turns a man's ftomach t' hear Scripture mifufed o' that way. I know as much o' the words of the Bible as he does, an' could fay the Pfalms right though i' my fleep, if you was to pinch me; but I know better nor to take 'em to fay my own fay wi'. I might as well take the Sacrament Cup home, and ufe it at meals." Vol. i. 107. Love's Labour Loft, Act ii. |