o
the habit which he had contracted of viewing every adverse circumstance
on its bright side, to a course of self discipline, which he did not
avow to others, or to the joint operation of all these, it is not
possible to say; but certain it is that it was one of his most striking
peculiarities.

"In all these respects there can be no doubt that the character of
Hayley was worthy of imitation; and the Editor feels that he should be
deficient in a becoming attention to the expressed wish of the author,
in the close of his Memoir, if he did not briefly advert to the
importance, both to individual and social happiness, of endeavouring to
cultivate to the utmost those eminent ingredients of a beneficial life,
cheerfulness, sympathy, and good temper.

"Closely connected with these was a rich assemblage of amiable
qualities, which the Editor cannot do better than display in the
following extract, from the before-mentioned sketch, by the Rev. Samuel
Greatheed. 'Hayley retained, I believe, throughout his life, a high
sense of honour, inflexible integrity, a warmth of friendship, and
overflowing benevolence. The last was especially exerted for the
introduction of meritorious young persons into useful and respectable
situations; and it was usually efficient, as it never relaxed while they
justified his patronage. He did not, indeed, scruple, while it was in
his power, to entrust them with large sums, when there appeared a
prospect of their future ability for repayment; but as this prospect not
seldom failed, either through death or unavoidable impediments, his
property was greatly reduced by such beneficence.

"Another distinctive mark of the character of Hayley, which few possess
by nature, and still fewer attain to by art, was an eminently great
conversational ability. It was scarcely possible for any one to be in
his company an hour, how distinguished soever his own gifts or
acquirements might be in the possession and exercise of colloquial
powers, without being conscious of his superiority in this respect. It
has been a subject of repeated astonishment to the Editor, that in a
soil so unfavourable to the growth of this faculty, as seclusion must
necessarily be, it should yet have arrived at such a pitch of
exuberance, in the case of the retired subject of this Memoir, as only
an interchange of the best informed minds, and that continually
exercised, could be supposed capable of producing. He can only attempt
to account for