famous scholar and prelate. He used to console his friends, when amid disappointments they complained, by saying, "If I had been parish clerk of Ugborough, I should never have been Bishop of Worcester."

George Moore was the son of a small farmer, and at fourteen was apprenticed to a draper. When he first entered London he was about eighteen years of age, and without a friend. But he persevered until he obtained a situation, and rose to be a warehouseman at £40 per year. Then he became a traveller. His zeal and ability made him a reputation. This led to success, and paved the way to a partnership, which resulted in his becoming one of the most wealthy merchants in London. Thomas Kelly was the son of a farmer. Before he was twelve years of age he had to be put to work on the farm. He decided to go to London to seek his fortune, and at fourteen obtained a situation in a counting-house. Fifty years from the day he left home he was Lord Mayor of London. Lord Chief Justice Abbott (Lord Tenterden) was the son of a barber. As a boy he was considered dull, but by hard study became a good classical scholar, and afterwards one of the best lawyers in England.

Adam Clarke was in his childhood considered a great dunce, but on his master threatening to pull his ears as long as Jowler's (a great dog), and that he would be a beggar till the day of his death, he was aroused to give his mind to study, and from that day burning desire for learning took possession of him, which led ultimately to his becoming an eminent preacher, a distinguished Bible Commentator, and a great Biblical and Oriental scholar. John Rennie was the son of a farmer. At nineteen he left home for London, and by the diligent use of his time attained a foremost.

position as an engineer. Josiah Wedgwood was born of humble parents, and received a limited education. At an early age he was apprenticed to a potter. In his leisure time he studied to improve his mind, and became noted as the maker of "Wedgwood" ware, and when urged to obtain patents for his inventions was so generous that he refused, saying, "The world is wide enough for us all.”

Sir William Harper was originally a poor tailor boy, but by industry and perseverance became Lord Mayor of London; and left land to the inhabitants of Bedford, by which children should be educated free. When it was first let on lease, it yielded 12 per year, but it has increased to nearly twenty thousand pounds a year. Upwards of 1,500 scholars are now taught in the Harper Schools.

James Brindley was born in a miserable home; his father was a drunkard. As soon as he could work he followed the plough or drove a cart. He then apprenticed himself to a millwright. He worked away, and picked up a knowledge of his business, far more by being determined to learn than by being taught. At length his name as a self-taught skilful engineer was mentioned to the Duke of Bridgewater. From that time he developed wonderful powers in the construction of canals, by which his lordship and himself realised fortunes.

Inigo Jones, the celebrated architect, commenced life as a carpenter, but achieved such a position as to be patronised by crowned heads and the nobility. Joseph Bramah was the son of a farmer, but by an accident, resulting in lameness, was obliged to leave the fields and become a cabinet-maker; gradually he became distinguished for the ingenuity of his mechanical inven

He conferred upon

tions, such as safety locks, &c. the world a great boon by his invention of the Hydraulic Press, by which he is best known, although he took out about twenty other patents. John Harrison, the inventor of the compound pendulum and timekeeper for ascertaining the longitude, for which he received from the Government £20,000, was the son of a working carpenter. Haydn, the celebrated musical composer, was the son of a wheelwright. Tredgold, the able engineer and the author of the popular work on the steam engine, was apprenticed to a carpenter, and worked for five years as a journeyman in Scotland. He rose because “during his leisure hours he diligently studied chemistry, geology, mathematics, which was the secret of his extraordinary success in after-life."

Robert Bloomfield, the celebrated poet, was apprenticed to a shoemaker. With no advantages of

education, and no assistance beyond the reading of a newspaper and a few borrowed books, he wrote his beautiful poem, "The Farmer's Boy," in a poor garret. In three years over 26,000 copies were sold, and before he died he attained a world-wide fame as one of England's best poets. Winckelmann, one of the most celebrated writers on classics, antiquities, and the fine arts ever known, was the son of a shoemaker. Dr. Morrison was originally a clogger, or maker of men's wooden shoes, but he became an eminent missionary, and translated the Bible into Chinese. Dr. John Kitto, the well-known Biblical author, was born of such poor parents that they had to apply to the workhouse for relief. When twelve years of age he lost his hearing through a fall. He first learnt to mend shoes in the workhouse, then by industry and perseverance, amid

many difficulties, became a successful writer. Ben Jonson, the well-known dramatist, was originally a bricklayer. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. John Rae, one of the most learned naturalists of the seventeenth century, was the son of a blacksmith. He, too, was led by failing health to relinquish his study of books, and while walking in the fields conceived the idea of studying plants, by which he ultimately made his reputation. Dr. Lyman Beecher, the father of Mrs. Beecher Stowe, the authoress of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," was a blacksmith. John Abercrombie, a horticultural writer, was originally a working gardener.

Sir Joseph Paxton was the son of humble parents and obtained his living as a working gardener; from this he rose to be landscape gardener to the Duke of Devonshire, and it was in the construction of the glass buildings for the reception of the magnificent plant called the Victoria Regia that he began to develop the idea which ultimately was embodied in the Crystal Palace, which to this day stands a model to his fame. Linnæus, the most celebrated of modern naturalists, began life in straitened circumstances, and was glad to accept a position as kitchen gardener to start in life. He became Sir Charles Linnæus, and acquired sufficient wealth to purchase a princely estate.

James Ferguson's father was a day labourer. An accident to the roof of the cottage, when James was about seven years of age, led him to think, as he watched his father apply a beam, as a lever, to raise it up. Some of his early days were spent as a shepherd. While watching the sheep he made wheels, and studied the stars-his first astronomical instruments being made of horses' bones which he found on the common. He began to clean clocks for a living,

then to copy pictures with pen and ink, and by degrees rose until he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

The Rev. John Brown, author of the Self-interpreting Bible and Dictionary of the Bible, was a poor herd-boy. When a lad he went one Sunday to church, and said, "I want to get in;" the doorkeeper, seeing his ragged condition, refused. "But you must let me in," he replied, with tears. He obtained

admittance, and the event led to his conversion. This gave him a desire to improve himself, and ultimately he became acquainted with several languages.

4. IT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO BE POSSESSED WITH THE IDEA OF GETTING GOOD, AND DOING GOOD. Such was the case with John Cassell from the day he signed the temperance pledge. He was not content with securing the blessings of temperance for himself, but became anxious to induce others to share them with him. So he attended meetings, and became known as "the boy lecturer." Many stories are told of him in and around Manchester; and although he did not speak the best English, yet his earnestness often told with the audience better than more polished and educated speakers. Mr. Joseph Livesey, the father of the temperance movement in England, tells us of the time when he first met the "Manchester carpenter," as John Cassell used then to be called. .He says, “While visiting Oak Street Society I remember quite well his standing on the right just below, or on the steps of the platform, in his working attire, with his fustian jacket and a white apron on." Going thus from meeting to meeting, he picked up much information, which he was able subsequently to turn to account when he was himself called upon to speak to his fellow working people. Indeed, it may be added