sons of this description that the taunt of ridicule is to be expected. And on this occasion, some of the newspapers amused the public with a number of singular anecdotes, ill adapted to promote his tranquility.

Except with one or two intimate friends, and that only at distant intervals, Mr. Hall was unable to bear any allusion to a subject which had occasioned him so much uneasiness, and involved him in such perplexity; and though a certain degree of self-estrangement is no unusual feature in men of extraordinary genius, yet the restlessness and mental absence which became so visible for some time afterwards, may very properly be regarded as the effect in great measure of this unfortunate attachment. His literary progression, though not wholly suspended, was frequently interrupted, and even his religious reputation was in some degree affected; for there are persons who inconsiderately believe that it is in the power of religion to subvert the order of nature, to eradicate its constituent principles, forgetting that its office is rather to restrain and purify the passions, and to yield support under the distress which their irregularity may

have occasioned.

It unfortunately happened too, in the present instance, that, whether mistakenly or not, the aggrieved party entertained strong suspicions that the same agency which had been employed in effecting his removal from Bristol had likewise been exerted in endeavouring to alienate the object of

his affections, and had contributed in procuring to him the severest of all human disappointments. A combination of circumstances so painful and unexpected could not fail to produce, on a mind fraught with sentiments of honourable confidence, the most unhappy effects. A burst of indignation followed, which some may be disposed to blame, but at which none can be surprised. Arrangements were immediately made for retiring from a scene of so much vexation and calamity.

Before he had time to recover from his lacerations he had the misfortune to fall in company with one, who, unmindful of his situation and of the delicacies due to friendship, touched a chord that thrilled through every nerve, and in a moment threw him off his guard. Passing through Hertfordshire he called upon a lady of his acquaintance, who had the temerity to ignite his feelings by an allusion he was unable to bear, and which prompted a retort altogether at variance with his accustomed courtesy towards the other sex. During the interview he appeared so absent and involved in thought, that the lady, a sort of religious ultra, who “retained her vanity after she had lost her charms," endeavoured in vain to command his attention, or engage him in any sort of conversation. At length, quite impatient with the reveries of her visitor, she ventured to display a little of her wit, by saying in a flippant tone, "I suppose sir, if I had been polished Steel' I might have expected some of your attention: but"....Madam,

replied the satirist, you may make yourself quite easy: if you are not polished Steel, you are polished Brass!

What his feelings were long afterwards, when reviewing from a distance the misfortunes which had attended him, may be seen in the letters he wrote to some of his confidential friends, of whose sympathy he was fully assured, and who knew well enough how to understand his touching allusions. To one in a state of affliction he plaintively remarks, This world is indeed a state of suffering, and it ought in some measure to reconcile us to our lot, that in feeling distress we strike chords in unison with the whole universe. Adversity is capricious in its times and seasons, but its visitations, sooner or later, never fail. "In some it overwhelms the first hopes of life, so that they no sooner begin to taste felicity in prospect, than they are crossed with hopeless disappointment." Others it permits to advance farther, waits till they spread the foundations of happiness deep and wide, that just when they have nearly finished the superstructure, it may overwhelm them with a more extensive desolation. Some are racked with pains and agonies of body, "others are a prey to disappointed passions and blasted hopes, wasted with devouring regrets, and sick at heart with melancholy retrospects, wishing in vain they could arrest the wings of time, and put back the current of life."

Recollecting also his recent separation from all his early associates, and finding himself the lonely

occupant of a solitary room in a distant part of the country, there immediately occurs a thrilling passage, whose direct allusion cannot be mistaken. Every individual, he says, thinks his own misfortunes the greatest. For the same reason we are never at a loss to hear our own voice, be it ever so slender; "the cry of a pierced heart sounds shrill in the solitary ear of the sufferer." Since we cannot essentially meliorate, let us endeavour to allay our anguish by moderating our expectations. All we can reasonably hope for on this side the grave is tranquility, not the insensibility of a statue, but the placidity of a well-informed mind, relying on the promises and the cheering prospects of immortality.

Pointed allusions to this painful circumstance may be found in his correspondence for upwards of twelve years afterwards, evincing the bitterness of his grief and chagrin, and the truth of the adage, Love may forgive all things but disappointment.' In one of his letters he says, Tranquility is not my lot. "The prey in early life of passion and calamity, I am now perfectly devoured with an impatience to redeem time, and to be of some lasting benefit to the church." A malignant writer in the Quarterly Review, totally unacquainted with Mr. Hall's history and character, and a stranger to all human sympathies, has quoted this passage to show that he was a man of great "turbulence," given to wrath and fury! The hypercritic must have known that he had perverted a term, to

convey the venom he was unable to suppress, and that he was writing a foul calumny on departed excellence.

The effects of the late unhappy altercation were not less severely felt by the opponent party, than by Mr. Hall himself. Dr. Evans did not long enjoy the undivided honours of the presidency. His constitution had been impaired by great exertions in the various duties of his office, and the grief which now afflicted him, soon sunk him to the grave. On the 9th of the following August he died, in the 54th year of his age, a loss to the christian world, by whom he was generally admired for learning and piety, for the courtesy of his manners, and the benevolence of his disposition. Mr. Hall viewed these events ever after with unfeigned sorrow and regret, and was often heard to say that Dr. Caleb Evans was one of the best of men, though unhappily misguided in the late transactions. After his decease he took pleasure in making honourable mention of his character, and hushed into silence the misunderstanding which had divided their friendship. The hand of providence was afterwards seen, though not immediately, in overruling all these painful circumstances for the furtherance of truth, and the reviving of a distant congregation which had long suffered from a sceptical ministry.