our marriage, my income was but small. The lectureship of St. Peter's, Cornhill did not raise £40. per annum: my office as morning preacher and joint minister of Bentinck Chapel, little more than that sum; and my personal fortune had been materially injured by the villainy of an agent, to whom I had improvidently trusted the chief of my property, when intending a voyage to Madeira for the benefit of the health of my first wife.'

But after the lapse of a few years, a large legacy was unexpectedly bequeathed to him by a member of his congregation, the late John Way, Esq. of Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, a gentleman with whom,' as he observes, he had had no acquaintance, independently of his attending his ministry at Bentinck Chapel.' The following extract from his journal, with reference to this munificent bequest, will be deemed highly interesting, on account of the pious determination immediately formed in regard to its disposal, a determination peculiarly characteristic of the man.

It has pleased God in his providence this year, (1804) to increase my property, by a legacy from John Way, Esq. to the amount of £10,000. four per cent, Bank Annuities. Of this I desire to devote £1000. to his blessed service, as a poor acknowledgment of my infinite obligations to his providence and grace, imploring his condescending acceptance of the offering.'

This sum was accordingly forthwith distributed in large donations to several religious institutions, and in relief of some peculiarly urgent cases of temporal distress.

It may not be amiss here to observe in passing, that a tenth part was the proportion of a person's annual income, on which he was disposed much to insist, as proper to be devoted to religious and charitable purposes, as far as could be rendered practicable; a rule of distribution to which he himself strictly adhered almost to the last, even when unable to do it without infringing on his little capital.

In the month of January 1808, a much attached member of his flock, the late Lady Robert Manners, presented him to the living of Drayton Beauchamp in Buckinghamshire; memorable as having been once held by the celebrated Richard Hooker. He found the parish in a most deplorable state; the church almost deserted, rarely more than from half a dozen to twenty individuals assembling on the Sabbath; and scarcely a child in the parish capable of reading or writing. By the blessing of God on his pious exertions, his auditory rapidly increased, soon amounting to from four to five hundred. Numbers flocked to him from the neighbouring town of Tring, and other surrounding villages, delighted to listen to the glad tidings of salvation, from the lips of one whose spirit and conduct so richly adorned the doctrines he inculcated.

In this secluded spot he was wont, for many years, to spend a portion of the summer and autumn, happy in discharging the meek duties of a village pastor, and introducing amongst his rustic flock those little treatises of piety which he had been accustomed to circulate on a more extended scale when in the metropolis. While thus refreshing the souls of men, in this his more retired sphere of labour, he found his own spirit reinvigorated, and his strength from time to time renewed, for the resumption of his more laborious services in town.

In this delightful course of unremitted and useful labour he was proceeding from year to year— "blessed and a blessing"-when that atmosphere of joy, in which he had appeared hitherto to breathe in undisturbed tranquillity, began to assume a lowering aspect, and to indicate a threatening storm; as though to prove that uninterrupted happiness is not to be expected in this world of sin and suffering, even by the most devoted and highly-favoured servant of God. His own words will best describe the painful reverse of experience now referred to. Alluding to Mr. Way's large legacy, he says, 'Alas! how little capable we are of appreciating what is really beneficial. My dear son, a lovely, amiable youth of seventeen, was so dazzled by this increase of property, that it relaxed all the sinews of exertion, ensnared him with gay, dissipated society, and eventually brought him to the silent grave. His

uncle, General Wood, had most kindly appointed him a cornet in his regiment in Bengal. His name had appeared in the gazette, and he was desirous of entering the service. I had seen, in my youth, sufficient in the army to make me dread military life, especially with a pliable disposition like his; and I entreated him, as a special regard to my feelings, not to proceed. With great affection he yielded to my importunity, and resigned the commission. In 1805 he directed his studies to surgery; and, alas, how little can human foresight determine what is best. The gaiety of his animal spirits, and the profligate society to which his profession exposed him, led him to those habits of dissipation which made havock with his constitution, and he died of pulmonary consumption on the 19th of March, 1811, at the early age of twenty-three.'

This proved a heavy stroke. The following memoir of this most engaging and interesting, though sadly-erring youth, penned by his amiable and then mourning parent, will present the most correct picture, both of the character of the one and the feelings of the other.

MR. BASIL OWEN WOODD.

BASIL OWEN WOODD was born in the parish of St. Marylebone, July 14, 1787. He was a child of a remarkably amiable, affectionate, and generous disposition. He was also very tractable, and easily managed; had a great taste for little mechanical contrivances, and domestic amusements. His faculties of mind, however, I then considered as but moderate he was slow in comprehension, and extremely inattentive. But as he grew up, his mind expanded, his talents became respectable, and his comprehension, especially in the studies of his profession, unusually quick and retentive.

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The great affection which I experienced from my children, the delight which I derived from their society, the dread which I had of the difficulties they might encounter if separated from a parent's attention, and an opinion that a domestic education was attended with the least danger, determined me, with the advice of friends whose judgment I highly respected, to bring them up at home-a determina