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1841.

Ten Thousand a-Year. study, and it was pursued by Mr Aubrey with unflagging energy, yet he found time (those who choose may find time enough for every thing) to contribute sensibly to the support of himself and his family by literary labours, expended principally upon compositions of an historical and political character, and which were forwarded from time to time to the distinguished Review which has been already mentioned. To produce, as he produced, articles of this description-of considerable length and frequency-requiring ready, extensive, and accurate knowledge, and careful composition; original and vigorous in their conception and their execution, and by their intrinsic merit arresting, immediately on their appearance, the attention of the public; I say, to do all this, and only in those precious intervals which ought to have been given to the relaxation of his strained faculties and physical powers-and under the pressure too of such overpowering anxieties as were his-argued surely the possession of first-rate energies-of a perfectly indomitable resolution. All this while, moreover, he contrived to preserve an unruffled temper-which, with a man of such sensibilities as his, afforded indeed a signal instance of self-control; and, in short, on all these grounds, Mr Aubrey appears entitled to the sympathy and respect of all reflecting persons. I spoke of his anxieties. Suppose, thought he, health should fail him, what was to become of him, and of those absolutely dependent upon him? Suppose illness should invade the dear members of his family, what was in prospect but destitution or surrendering them up -bitter and heart-breaking contingency!-to the precarious charity of others? What would avail all his exhausting labours in the acquisition of professional knowledge, while his liberty was entirely at the command of Mr Titmouse, and Messrs Quirk, Gammon, and Snap, who might, at any moment, actuated by mercenary motives or impelled by caprice, blight all his prospects, and incarcerYet, under this ate him in a prison ! burden-to adopt the language of Sir Henry Spelman on an analogous occasion, "non ingentem solum, sed perpetuis humeris sustinendum"-Mr Aubrey stood firmly. He felt that he was called upon to endure it; a bless

Part XIV.

7

ed spirit ever, as it were, beside
him, whispering the consolatory as-
surance, that all this was ordered and
designed by the Supreme Disposer
of events, as a trial of his constancy
and of his faith, and that the issue was
with him. It is mercifully ordained,
that "hope springs eternal in the hu-
man breast," and that, too, in every
turn and variety of mortal misery.
It was so with Aubrey. So long as
he felt his health unimpaired, and his
mental energies in full vigour, he
looked on these blessings as a sort of
a successful,
guarantee from Heaven that he should
be able to carry on
though it might be a long and weari-
some struggle with adverse circum-
Still it cost him a very
stances.
painful effort to assume and preserve
that exterior of tranquillity which
should calm and assure the beloved
beings associated with him in this hour
of peril and suffering; and oftener
than they chose to let him know of it,
did the keen eyes of a wife's and sis-
ter's love detect the gloom and oppres-
sion which darkened his countenance
and saddened his manner. Theirs was,
after all, with all that I have said, a
happy little home. He was almost
always punctual to his dinner-hour,
to a minute, knowing how a thousand
fears on his account would otherwise
assail the fond beings who were count-
ing the minutes till his arrival. When
they had once thus met, they never se-
parated till bed-time. Sometimes Miss
Aubrey would sit down to her piano,
and accompany herself in some song
or air, which equally, whether merry or
mournful, revived innumerable touch-
ing and tender recollections of former
days, and she often ceased, tremulously
and in tears, in which she was not infre-
quently joined by both of those who had
been listening to her. Then he would
betake himself to his labours for the rest
of the evening, (not quitting the room)
or themselves
they either assisting him-fair and
eager amanuenses!
reading, or engaged at needle-work.
Oh! it was ecstacy, too, to that poor op-
pressed father to enter into the wild
sports and gambols of his light-hearted
little ones, Charles and Agnes, who al-
ways made their appearance for about a
couple of hours after dinner, to tell
them "stories," to listen to theirs, to
show them pictures, to hear Charles
read, and to join heartily in their fro-
lics, rolling about even on the floor with

them. But when he paused for a moment, and his wife and Kate succeeded him as their playmates, for a short interval, when his eye followed their movements, what sudden and sharp pangs would pass through his heart, as he thought of the future and what was to become of them!And when their maid arrived at the appointed hour, causing all fun instantly to cease, and longing looks to be directed to papa and mamma, saying as plainly as could be said, "only a few minutes more," how fondly would he fold them in his arms! and when he felt their little arms clasping his neck and caressing him, and their kisses "all over" his face, feelings were excited within him, which were too deep for utterance-which defy description. 'Tis said, I believe, of Robespierre, or some other tyrant, as an instance of his fearful refinement in cruelty, that a person of distinction who had became obnoxious to him he formally condemned to death, but allowed to remain in the torturing, the excruciating presence of his lovely family; he and they aware, all the while, that his doom was irrevocable, inevi table; and he momentarily liable to the summons to the guillotine, and which in fact came at length, when they were all seated together one day, at the breakfast table! Oh, the feelings with which that unfortunate person must have daily regarded the countenances of those around him! How applicable to his condition the heart-breaking strains of Medea

Φεῦ, φεῦ, τί προσδέρκεσθέ μ' όμμασιν,

τέκνα ;

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Oh, happy ye, now reading these pages, penned by one who has seen much trouble in his time,-oh,happy ye, "unto whom the lines are fallen in pleasant places, yea,who have a goodly heritage," who live, as it were, in a "land flowing with milk and honey;" with whom life glides away like a tranquil and pleasant dream; who are not sternly bidden "to eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and with carefulness,"† nor "in vain to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows;" who have, indeed, "no thought for the morrow ;'

oh, ye who have leisure and ample means to pursue the objects of an honourable ambition, undisturbed by daily fears for daily bread by terror, lest implacable creditors should at length frustrate all your efforts, drive you from your position in society, and precipitate you and yours into ruin ; -I say, oh ye! do I appeal to you in vain? Do you turn from this painful portion of my narrative with indifference, or contempt, or wearisomeness? If the mere description, brief though it may be, of the sufferings of the Aubreys be trying and disagreeable to you, what must have been to them the actual endurance? Poor Aubrey as he walked along the crowded thoroughfares, morning and evening, between the Temple and Vivian Street, what a disheartening consciousness he felt of his personal insignificance! Which of the passengers, patrician or plebeian, that met or passed him, cared one straw for him, or would have cared a straw for him, had they even known the load of misery and misfortune under which he staggered past them. Every time that he thus passed between the scene of his absorbing labours at the Temple, and that green spot-his house in Vivian Street-in the world's wide desert, where only his heart was refreshed by the never-failing spring of domestic love and tenderness, he felt, as it were, but a prisoner out upon parole! It is easy to understand that when a man walks alone the streets of London, depressed in spirit, and alarmed by the consciousness of increasing pecuniary embarrassment, his temper is likely to become irritable, his deportment forbidding, his spirit

Ezek. xii. 18.

founded and affrighted Nebuchadnezzar, but, accompanied by whom, his intended victims walked unhurt and undismayed amidst the furnace heated one seven times more than it was wont to be heated? Though a spectacle so terrible and sublime is not now vouchsafed to mankind, the memorial of it is designed to have the like effect. The endearing and inspiriting lessons of Christianity may be learned by all who will. One who has this faith, hears, amidst perplexity and danger, a voice before him, bidding him to run with patience the race that is set before him, and he knows that in due time he will reach the goal. Auimated by thoughts such as these, he needs not have resort to such secondary sources of consolation, as the comparison of his own with the greater sufferings of others; it is enough for him that his Master wills him to endureand unto the end-and, while thinking thus, he feels fresh vigour infused into his fainting frame.

stern and soured, particularly against those who appeal to his charity, which then, indeed, he feels bitterly-to begin at home. It was not so, however, with Aubrey, whose constant feeling was-Haud ignarus mali, miseris succurrere disco; and though it may appear a small thing to mention, I feel gratification in recording of him, that, desperate as were his circumstances, infinitely enhanced to him as was the value of money, he went seldom unprovided with the means of relieving the humbler applicants for charity whom he passed in the streets--of dropping some small token of his love and pity into the trembling and feeble hand of want of those whose necessities he felt to be greater even than his own. Never, indeed, did the timid eye of the most tattered, starved, and emaciated object that is suffered to crawl along the streets catch that of Mr Aubrey, without making his heart acknowledge the secret boud of misery which bound them together-that he beheld a brother in bondage, and on whom he cheerfully bestowed the humble pittance which he believed that Providence had yet left at his disposal. Prosperity and adversity have equally the effect upon an inferior mind and heart, of generating selfishness. The one encourages, the other forces it. Misery is apt to think its own sufferings greater than those of any one else and naturally. The eye, as it were, is filled with the object; distress and danger-that is nearest -that is in such fearful contiguity, obscuring from view all remoter objeets, at once scaring away presence of mind, and centring its hopes and fears upon self. Not so, however, is it when a noble nature is the sufferer -and more especially when that nature is strengthened and brightened by the support and consolation derived from philosophy-and, above all, religion. To many a strong spirit, destitate of such assistance, alas! how often, under similar circumstances, have come-ghastly visitants!-Despair and Madness, with their hideous attendant SUICIDE, to do their bidding? But a Christian will pass through the most fearful storms, with an unexpect. ed calmness and sense of security. What would have become of the three youths cast into the burning fiery furnace, but for the presence of that fourth awful Being, the sight of whom con

To Mr Aubrey the Sabbath was indeed not only a day for performing the public services of religion, but also a day of real rest from the labours of life. It was not one to him of puritanical gloom or excitement, but of sincere, cheerful, fervent, enlightened devotion. It would have been to the reader, I think, not an uninteresting sight to behold this unfortunate and harassed family at church. They took almost the only pow that was vacant in the gallery-in a church not far distant from Vivian Street-a pew just holding themselves and little Charles, who, since their arrival in town, had begun to accompany them to the morning service. There was something in their appearance-punctual as they were to morning and evening service

that could hardly fail to interest any one who observed them. Two very elegant and lovely women,dressed in simple half-mourning, he of calm, gentle.. manly manners, an intellectual countenance, but overshadowed with deep seriousness, if not melancholy-as, indeed, was the case with the whole of the little group, except the beautiful child, Charles. If their mere appearance was thus calculated to interest those around, who beheld them so punctual in their attendance, how much would that interest have been increased had the beholder possessed an inkling of their singular and me

lancholy history? Here were individuals, whose condition was testing the reality of the consolations of religion, exhibiting humility, resignation, faith, a deep delight in attending the house of HIM who had permitted such dreadful disasters to befall them, and whose will it yet seemed to be that they should pass through deeper sufferings than they had yet experienced. His temple seemed, indeed, to them a refuge and shelter from the storm. To Mr Aubrey every portion of the church service was precious, for its purity, its simplicity, its solemnity, its fervour, its truly scriptural character, its adaptation to every imaginable condition of feeling and of circumstance, indeed " to all sorts and conditions of men." There was a little circumstance, fraught with much interest, which occurred to them shortly after they had commenced their attendance at the church. An occasional sermon was preached one evening by a stranger, from the words, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him," on behalf of a neighbouring dispensary. Mr Aubrey was soon struck by the unusual strength and beauty of the sermon in point of composition. Its language was at once chaste, pointed, and forcible; its reasoning clear and cogent; its illustration apt and vivid; its pathos genuine. As he went on, Mr Aubrey became more and more convinced that he had seen or heard the preacher before; and on enquiring afterwards his name, his impressions proved to be correct;-the preacher had been at Oxford, at the very same college with him, and this was the first time that they had since come within sight of each other. Mr Aubrey at once introduced himself, and was recognised, and they renewed their early friendship. Mr Neville, poor soul, had nothing upon earth to support himself with but an afternoon lectureship in one of the city churches, from which he derived about L.75 a-year; and on this sum alone he had contrived, for the last six or eight years, to support both himself and his wife, a very amiable and fond woman. Fortunately they had no children; but they had seen much affliction, each of them being in but middling health, and a great part of his little income was, consequently, devoted to doc tors' bills. He was an admirable

scholar; a man of very powerful understanding, and deeply read in metaphysics and divinity. Yet this was all he could procure for his support; and very pinching work for them, poor souls, it was to "make ends meet.' They lived in very small but creditable lodgings; and amid all their privations, and with all the gloom of the future before them, they were as cheerful a little couple as the world ever saw. They dearly loved, and would have sacrificed every thing for each other; and so long as they could but keep their chins above water, they cared not for their exclusion from most of the comforts of life. They were, both of them, entirely resigned to the will of Heaven as to their position-nay, in all things. She generally accompanied him whithersoever he went; but on the present occasion the little creature was lying at home in bed, enduring great suffering and the thought of it made the preacher's heart very heavy, and his voice to falter a little, several times, during his sermon. He was perfectly delighted when Mr Aubrey introduced himself; and when the latter had heard all his friend's little historyfor he had indeed a child-like simplicity and frankness, and told Aubrey every thing he knew about himself-he wrung his hand with great emotion-almost too great for expression. It seemed that a bishop, before whom poor Neville had acci. dentally preached seven years before, had sent for him, and expressed such a very high opinion of his sermon, as led him reasonably to look for some little preferment at his lordship's hands, but in vain. Poor Neville had no powerful friends, and the bishop was overwhelmed with applicants for every thing he had to give away; so it is not much to be wondered at that in time he totally lost sight of Mr Neville, and of the hopes which had blossomed but to be blighted. What touched Mr Aubrey to the soul, was the unaffected cheerfulness with which poor Mr Neville-now in his fortieth year-reconciled himself to his unpromising circumstances, the calmness with which he witnessed the door of preferment evidently shut upon him for ever. Mr Aubrey obtained from him his address; and resolved that, though for reasons long ago mentioned he had withdrawn from almost

Mr

every one of his former friends and associates, yet with this poor, this neglected but happy clergyman, he would endeavour to renew and cement firmly their early-formed but long-suspended friendship. And when on his return to Vivian Street, (whither Mrs and Miss Aubrey had proceeded alone, at his request, while he walked on with Mr Neville,) he told them the little history which I have above indicated to the reader how the hearts of all of them went forth towards one, who was in many respects a fellowsufferer with themselves, and, practising what he preached, was really a pattern of resignation to the will of God; of humble but hearty faith in His mercy and loving-kindness!

Mr Aubrey was not long in paying his promised visit to Mr Neville, accompanied by Mrs Aubrey. 'Twas a long and not very agreeable walk for them, towards St George's in the East; and on reaching a small row of neat houses, only one story high, and being shown into Mr Neville's very little sitting-room, they found Mrs Neville lying on a sofa near the fire, looking very ill, and Mr Neville sitting before her, with a number of books on the table, and pen, ink, and paper, with which he was occupied preparing his next Sunday's sermon; but there was also a slip of paper on the table of a different description, and which had occasioned both of them great distress; viz. a rather peremptory note from their medical man, touching the payment of his "trifling account" of L.14 odds. Where poor Neville was to obtain such a sum, neither he nor his wife knew they had already almost deprived themselves of necessary food and clothing, to enable them to discharge another account, and this new demand of an old claim had indeed grievously disquieted them. They said nothing about it to Mr and Mrs Aubrey, who soon made themselves at home, and by their unaffected simplicity and cordiality of manner, relieved their humble hosts from all anxiety. They partook of tea, in a sufficiently homely and frugal style; and before they rose to go they exacted a promise, that, as soon as Mrs Neville should have recovered, they would both come and spend a long day in Vivian Street. They soon became very intimate; and, Mrs Neville's health at length being such as to preclude her from at

tending at all to her needle, the reader will probably think none the less of Miss Aubrey and Mrs Aubrey, when he hears that they insisted on taking that task upon themselves, (a matter in which they were becoming somewhat expert,) and many and many an hour did these two charming women spend, both in Vivian Street and at Mrs Neville's, in relieving her from her labours-particularly in preparing their winter clothing. And now that I am on this point, I may as well mention another not less amiable trait in Kate; that, hearing of a girl's school about to be founded in connexion with the church which they attended, and in support of which several ladies had undertaken to prepare various little matters, such as embroidery, lace, pictures, and articles of fancy and ornament, Kate also set to work with her pencil and brushes. She was a very tasteful draughts woman; and produced four or five such delicate and beautiful sketches, in water colour, of scenes in and about Yatton, as made her a very distinguished contributor to the undertaking; each of her sketches producing upwards of two guineas. She also drew a remarkably spirited crayon sketch of the pretty little head of Charles-who accompanied her to the place where her contributions were deposited, and Idelivered it in with his own hand. Thus were this sweet and amiable family rapidly reconciling themselves to their altered circumstances-taking real pleasure in the new scenes which surrounded them, and the novel du.. ties devolving upon them; and as their feelings became calmer, they felt how true it is that happiness in this world depends not upon mere external circumstances, but upon THE MIND-which, contented and well regulated, can turn every thing around it into a source of enjoyment and thankfulness-making indeed the wilderness to bloom and blossom as the rose.

They kept up-especially Kate-a constant correspondence with good old Doctor Tatham; who, judging from the frequency and the length of his letters, which were written with a truly old-fashioned distinctness and uniformity of character, must have found infinite pleasure in his task. So also was it with Kate, who if she had even been writing to her lover,—nay, between ourselves, what would Dela

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