CHAPTER VIII.

Good consequences of that part of the Christian doctrine, which was so power. fully inculcated by the Old Friar on his young auditor, in the Convent cellAnd of that other part, or parts of it, so beautifully illustrated in the parables, &c. of the New Testament.-Reasons for congratulation and satisfaction in the exercise of our duty, although our success, in some respects, comes not up to our desires, and, in others, our exertions end only in disappointment.-Several instances, in my own particular case and experience, briefly noticed. Still one great and comfortable reflection, the having done all in our power to ensure success.—And another, the grave, at last, a rest from our labours; and, after the storms of time are o'er, a peaceful haven ! - The cheering and animating consolations of religion go a step further, and extend our hopes and expectations beyond the concerns of time.-Reasons why, even at my time of life, I should yet be up and be doing. I have still many im. perious calls for exertion in the Winter of Life.-Substantial reasons, notwithstanding all this, why I should not complain.-Home-brought questions, and irresistible arguments against despair Happy resolution in consequence, -Beautiful extract from Dr Cotton. More pleasing prospects, exhilarating views, and delightful anticipations.-Appropriate prayer for the weary traveller as he approaches the goal of Life's Journey. The last sacrifice, how it may be most acceptably performed.—The most suitable employment for a rational being, when the time of the evening oblation is come.-Earthly enjoyments, at such a season, poor comforters.—The best antidote against the afflictions, and crosses, and struggles, and storms of life, and particularly at the hour of death.-Beautiful and appropriate concluding extract from Addison.

If that part of the Christian doctrine, which was inculcated, and so powerfully inculcated, by the reasoning of old Friar Augustine, in his little sermon to the young impatient Englishman, who had been so providentially led to receive instruction in the convent cell, viz., “That the miseries, the calamities, the heart-rendings, and the tears, which are so intimately interwoven, by the GREAT ARTIST, in our natures, as not to be separated in a single instance, are, in the first place, our security of a future state, and, in the next place, serve to slope the way before us, and, by gradual operation, fit our minds for viewing, with some sort of fortitude, that hideous chasm that lies between us and that state-DEATH!" -must go far to convince every one, not only of the reasonableness of endeavouring to bear up under the evils of life,

with patience and resignation, and of submitting to our lot, whatever it may be, with gratitude and thankfulness-so must those other parts of it, which are so beautifully illustrated and set forth, in the highly instructive parables of the talents, and of the good Samaritan, conjoined with that great and important truth, which Christianity teaches, in the New Testament, viz., THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE WILL FOR THE DEED-while they point out our duties, and the perils to which we are exposed, if we are either remiss in the performance of, or totally neglect these duties, at the same time bid us not be too much cast down, when we fail in our endeavours to be useful to our brethren of mankind, or meet, in our efforts, with only a partial success-in the hopes, that what we have only been able to accomplish in part, another will, in full; or, that, in the exercise of that charity, ❝ which envieth not," we may live to see the day, or, that others who shall live after us may see it, when our most sanguine schemes shall be carried into full and efficient effect, by those, whom Providence may be pleased to adopt, as the more suitable instruments of its will, in these respects.

In my own particular case, and humble experience, just to notice in a brief manner, those two incidents and occurrences already glanced at, although, if it were consistent with my present views and limits, to embrace and lay hold of a greater number of them, I might add, considerably, to the aggregate of such instances, I would observe-that, if I gave such early indications of my wishes, to have this part of the coast of the United Kingdom, furnished with an apparatus for saving the lives of shipwrecked seamen, similar to, if not exactly the same with, that now so generally approved of, only to have my hopes blasted in the bud, in the manner formerly noticed and have lived to see that glorious appendage, to a maritime county, THE LIFE BOAT, and its necessary appurtenances, appendages, &c., which I was more fortunate in my endeavours, through the kind assistance of subscribers, in being able to procure, first fall into premature decay, by being allowed to lie by neglected, or not sufficiently attended to; and then, the establishment entirely broken up, and the whole apparatus, with the exception of that small

portion of it, adapted to the purpose of restoring suspended animation, and which was indeed a separate concern, brought to sale, and disposed of, as useless lumber.

Still, have I not the satisfaction to reflect, that I have lived to witness the first of these favourite schemes, brought to maturity by Captain Manby, and generally adopted along the coast, under the auspices of Government, and the very, or almost very, identical apparatus that I had made the attempt to get our shores provided with, at such an early period, brought into action, on the very spot, which first suggested to my juvenile mind, the possibility of the successful application of such an apparatus, in cases of shipwreck, as will be evident, by reading the following extract from memoranda of shipwrecks, in the neighbourhood of Dunbar, under the head 1830, taken from the East Lothian Register for 1831" The sloop Peggy, of Peterhead, from Newcastle, with coals, &c., complete wreck, crew saved by Captain Manby's apparatus-Tyne Sands ;*-and, in regard to the Life Boat, the object, at one time, of so much of my attention and anxious solicitude, if it has been allowed, in my own days, to pass away as a dream, and a tale that is told-so that not a single stone of the house now remains, to point out the spot where it once stood, upon that little triangular piece of ground, formed by the wall of the church-yard on the one side, and the post road on the other, just adjoining the principal gate of entrance into our place of sepulture on the east side-yet, the recollection of that DREAM, must ever conjure up pleasing associations,—and that TALE, gives me reason to hope, were it only from the mournful fate of the reported best swimmer on board the PALLAS, who perished in the attempt to effect a landing by his own powers, on that lamented occasion, while many who were less expert in the art of swimming, were safely brought ashore and landed, by means of the boat-that, more than the blessing of ONE ready to perish, came that day, on the heads of those, who were instrumental,

This is rather a singular coincidence, that the first successful attempt in the use of this apparatus, in our neighbourhood, should be on the very spot, where, I so keenly felt the want of such a thing, thirty eight years before. little for the rapid advance of the age, in matters of humanity!

This says

either by means of their subscriptions, or otherwise, in procuring that useful, but ill-fated vehicle, for this part of the

coast.

But, to turn to those matters, in which, as in some degree connected with the various branches of my profession, I was more directly concerned :-If the multitudinous host of my Cheap Tracts that issued from the Dunbar press-and the Cheap Magazine-and Monthly Monitor-and Affecting History of Tom Bragwell—and Popular Philosophy, or the Book of Nature laid open, upon Christian principles, &c.— that issued, from time to time, from the Haddington press,have not been quite so well supported and encouraged, as I should have expected, from men possessed of property and influence, considering the objects these several productions were calculated to accomplish, in promoting "the interests of religion, virtue, and humanity," as well as the "peace, comfort, and security of society," and in which, the interests of the higher as well as of the lower orders, were consulted— still have I not the satisfaction to reflect, that, since the publication of my Cheap Tracts in 1802-3, the complexion of the contents of the hawker's basket, has undergone a very sensible alteration, or material change to the better—that, since the publication of my Cheap Magazine in 1813–14, and my Monthly Monitor in 1815, a wonderful alteration in men's minds, in respect to early prejudices and absurd opinions, has taken place that, since the appearance of Tom Bragwell, we have had fewer delinquents of his description on our criminal records*—and that, the publication of Popular l'hilosophy, has chimed so well in with, and been appreciated so fully by ONE very competent to judge of what was the prevailing taste of the age, that he considers it, as uniting "with the many and great engines now at work, to draw down learning from cloisters and colleges, and to diffuse it among the people, and make it subservient to their daily and best of interests.”†

* I take no particular merit in this;—it may be perfectly accidental, so far as my writings are concerned; but I mention facts as 1 find them, to whatever cause, or combination of causes, these facts may be imputed.

† See Inverness Courier, for October, 1826, being while Popular Pailosophy was in course of publication, in Parts.

While, over and above all these, I may mention another, very great and lasting source of satisfaction, that I have derived from my literary labours, viz., the getting acquainted, and being brought into terms of correspondence, with many, of the most ILLUSTRIOUS characters of the dayaccounting as such, those who have rendered themselves conspicuous by their labours of love to their species, as manifested in their acts of beneficence, humanity, and compassion, to their brethren of mankind. Not to dwell on the satisfaction I must derive from the consideration that even the Lord Chancellor himself, with his powerful band of coadjutors, are now only beginning to render themselves useful, in the way of dealing out penny-a-week information to the people, something in the way that I did, alone, and unsupported, otherwise than by the public, now twenty years ago, further than by saying, that, I trust, his Lordship will not forget his precursor now, should he, by these pages, be reminded of the circumstance-and on the compliment paid me for being in advance of the age, in that respect, by our unwearied modern journalists, the Messrs Chambers—and the still greater compliment of our more modern, and also industrious, SCHOOLMASTER, who, in one of his late numbers, in allusion to the Cheap Magazine, says, "It appeared about twenty years ago, and was as much, or more, for its day, than Chambers' Journal, or Johnstone's Schoolmaster, are now."

*

And, if, my strenuous endeavours, and persevering efforts, in the way of my profession, have been the means of establishing the Book Trade on any thing like a permanent foundation in my native town-of diffusing, by means of so many irrigating streams as I have formerly mentioned, the waters of knowledge so plentifully over all the adjoining districts of planting the printing press in East Lothian, a county, where never printing press, so far as I know, was ever planted before-and of contributing, to the still more extensive diffusion, of information and useful knowledge, among the middling and humbler classes of society all over the country, from, I may now

It will be observed that the Cheap Magazine, at fourpence a month, with its supplementary number at the end of the year, just amounted to one penny per week.

M