foot-far from it. I think as far as you have gone you have done perfectly correct, but the other part must not be neglected.

Nothing could illustrate more clearly than this passage the nature of the training which gave a lasting bent to the character of young Smith. His father, though a peculiarly shrewd man of business, with a quick eye to the main chance, and constantly on the look-out for good investments for his savings, was also scrupulously righteous, and conscientious as to the sources whence he should draw his profits.

It must not be supposed, however, that old Mr Smith was close-fisted or ungenerous. Persons still living testify to his liberality and consideration for others. On one occasion, when extensive additions were being made to the offices in the Strand, and were on the point of completion, he happened to meet on a Saturday the contractor for the work, who wore an air of depression and anxiety. Smith asked him why he was so downcast. "Perhaps you would be downcast, Mr Smith," was the reply, "if you had come to Saturday night, and had no money to pay your men. The architect is out of London, and I can't get a certificate for my work." "Oh, is that all?" replied Smith; come into my office and I'll write you a cheque for £1000.” did so, and the contractor, then in a comparatively small way of business, now a partner in one of the most powerful firms in England, still speaks gratefully of this mark of confidence.

He

Neither at this time nor at any later period of his life did young Smith possess the gift of poignant expression in his letters. He wrote fluently, indeed, and, making allowance. for the greater brevity which multiplied posts have brought about in later times, his early letters are certainly of more liberal measure than most modern sons and brothers address to their parents and sisters. Full of common-sense, they are not always free from a tendency to commonplace, and

THE QUESTION OF A PROFESSION.

1

15

the homely language is often an indifferent vehicle for really dignified thought. It is not, for instance, every brother who, at the age of nineteen, takes the trouble to impart such true philosophy as is contained in the following sentence from a letter written by Smith in 1844 to his elder sister Augusta on her birthday :—

Although in a very humble and apparently confined sphere of action, who can tell the effect which our influence or that of our conduct may have upon others, and its reaction throughout future ages?

Written by the heir to influence and possession, such words might have come to be remembered as pregnant with conscious meaning; penned as they were by the son of a London tradesman, to whom the University training which he had craved for had been refused, they signify a thoughtful sense of responsibility beyond what might have been reasonably expected.

In the previous year, 1843, William had already, on the invitation of Mr Reece of Furnival's Inn, accepted the office. of one of the secretaries of the Great Queen Street Branch of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, an institution of which the importance was certainly not underrated by its members, for Mr Reece, in making his proposal to William, modestly describes it as "the noblest and most deeply interesting enterprise that either the Church or the World—in this or any former age-ever witnessed!"

There was a time when the opposition to his strong desire for ordination seemed about to be removed. His father, weary of incessant work, contemplated the sale of his business and retiring upon the substantial means which he had gained in trade.

1 In spite of the profusion of his correspondence at all times of his life, Smith possessed two virtues of a letter-writer-he wrote a distinct hand, almost ladylike in neatness, and he hardly ever, even at his busiest, used contractions.

I am most sincerely delighted [wrote Mrs Beal to her brother in 1844] at the encouraging prospect of affairs. You have now certainly far greater likelihood of realising your long-cherished hopes and wishes. All I can say is, may it please God to grant your desire, and that you may live to be the useful minister of a nice little parish of your own. I am very, very thankful dear Father has determined to relieve himself, but shall not be able fully to believe he will sell the business he has so long cherished, until I hear of some very decided move in that direction. . Some occupation that will be interesting and not burdensome must be provided. I am quite sure he cannot live inactive after the life of work and bustle he has passed.

Mrs Beal's incredulity was justified by the result. Mr Smith overcame his sense of weariness, pushed his business with redoubled energy, and became more resolved than ever to make his son an active partner in the concern.

Don't be afraid [wrote young Smith to Mrs Beal in 1845] that I am becoming a Puseyite, a Newmanite, or Roman Catholic. If you think me really higher than I was, I have given you a wrong impression. I am only confirmed in my dislike for Wesleyanism as now carried out by preachers and people, and in my decided preference for the Church, and to a certain extent I judge of systems and principles by their results in the lives and ideas of those who hold them. I think the extremes of parties are decidedly wrong; and, besides, I should be careful how I held views which would give just occasion to certain parties to exclaim against what they would state was the inevitable result of a departure from Wesleyanism, for the sake of the Church itself. I am sometimes so much annoyed by these people that I should really say some unpleasant things to them, if I did not remember that they would be carefully treasured up and used at another time against the Church as an illustration of its principles, the aggravating cause being of course forgotten, or never mentioned.

Sisters are a little strong in their views now and then, and if I become a Roman Catholic they will go first; but there is no fear. We are all quiet enough and low enough to please even you, when we get amongst Church people, but now the very reverse is forced down our throats. . . Nothing has transpired respecting the business or the change that appears to wait me. The increase of clerks promises a little ease, and, accordingly, Father does not say much of selling now. His idea was that after selling the business he would find sufficient employment for his time in attending to the business of the public companies with which he is connected, and in looking after his other property. I don't think, however, that even if I go out of it he will really sell the business; he may probably do less-perhaps take some one in, as Cyrus, whom he could manage completely; but he would never give up the position of master in the concern, nor when the time for action came would he like to give up altogether the influence and income which the business gives.

A.D. 1846.]

CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION.

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I shall endeavour to be perfectly content whatever may be the result of all these things, for I feel I should not be justified in doing that which would seem to anticipate the ordering of events. The position which I desire to occupy is of far too responsible a character to be regarded merely as an occupation. I shall not therefore be satisfied unless a clear opening presents itself, and if it does, hope I shall be enabled to fulfil conscientiously the duties to which I shall then feel I am called.1

It

You need not fear I have any desire to tie 2 myself up for life. is the opposite tendency that induces Father to suggest the subject so frequently, to our great amusement. He thinks that if I entertain such thoughts now, I shall then be settled to something like business for life. But whether I take orders or not, I shall certainly not think of anything like matrimony for some years to come. It would destroy all hope of mental improvement, and make me undoubtedly "soft."

How great was the sacrifice which young Smith was called on to make to his father's will, in resisting the strong vocation he felt for the Church, may be gathered from passages in a journal kept through part of these years. In 1846, the year he came of age, he wrote :

August 6.-The past twelvemonth has been one of great importance to me, and as far as man may be permitted to judge, determined the particular course of life I shall lead, and the object to which my best energies shall be devoted.

The decision on these most serious matters was not, perhaps, in accordance with the hopes and desires I had long cherished.

Those who have a natural claim upon my respect and obedience so strongly opposed the schemes I entertained, and in such a feeling, as to render it impossible for me to carry them into effect.

It is true that many friends (whose opinions were freely and impartially given, and who, by their position, their knowledge of the world, and the soundness of their motives, were well qualified to give them) said that they thought I was fitted for, as I was inclined to, the high and exalted position of a Minister, and they judged my strong wishes in the matter to be an indication of the will of Providence. But it is not so, at least apparently, for he whose power is absolute

one

1 This lofty tone of Christian fatalism remained with Smith throughout his life. It is the note on which Samuel Johnson continually dwelt. "To prefer," he wrote to Boswell in 1776, future mode of life to another, upon just reasons, requires faculties which it has not pleased our Creator to give us. Again, in Rasselas': "Very few,' said the poet, 'live by choice: every man is placed in his present condition by causes which acted without his foresight, and with which he did not always willingly co-operate.'” 2 By marriage.

B

in the matter-under Providence itself-by the strong expression of his wishes and intentions obliged me to yield my own desires and views, and adopt his instead.

By this I do not mean that he acted otherwise than from the kindest wishes, as he no doubt considered the course of life he contemplated for me the best and most useful, and that, in fact, for which I am designed.

However it may be, I now, as a man, am called upon to fulfil obligations imposed upon all men to their Maker and to each other. I may not idly regret the disappointment of long-cherished hopes which, it may be, I have not been justified in entertaining, but it is my duty to acknowledge an overruling and directing Providence in all the very minutest things, by being, in whatsoever state I am, therewith content.

My conclusion is, then, that I am at present pursuing the path of duty, however imperfectly; wherever it may lead, or what it may become, I know not.

Bitterly as the young man felt the disappointment, he did not allow it to destroy the attraction which ecclesiastical matters possessed for him, and the tenor of his after-life was accurately forecast in one of Mrs Beal's letters expressing sympathy for him in the turn affairs had taken :

In your present situation there is nothing to prevent your being very useful. I know more than I once did the difficulty ministers find to get willing, intelligent, and suitable persons to co-operate with them in carrying out many benevolent designs: in this you may render many important services. You know that you used to agree with me that if a man had but the inclination he might be as useful out of office as in it. I trust in future years you will find this to be your experience.

There is no trace in the letters or journals of this period of his abrupt severance from the sect in which William had been brought up. On the contrary, for some time after he had become a member of the Church of England, he continued to attend Wesleyan services, though with a growing distaste for that form of worship. Thus, during a tour which he took in the autumn of 1846, after he was of age, with his mother and four sisters, in the English Lake district, he wrote from Kendal :

Sunday, 2nd August.—Attended St Thomas's Church in the morning,-Mr Latrobe, an excellent man, duly valued; Trinity Church in