through every house, at least, through every
village and parish throughout the kingdom. A volume of thought and of
moral feelings, the offspring of thought, crowd upon me, as I review the
different parts of this admirable man's life and creed. Only compare his
conduct to James Wadsworth (probably some ancestral relative of my
honoured friend, William Wordsworth: for the same name in Yorkshire,
from whence his father came, is pronounced Wadsworth) with that of the
far, far too highly rated, Bishop Hall; his letter to Hall tenderly
blaming his (Hall's) bitterness to an old friend mistaken, and then his
letter to that friend defending Hall! What a picture of goodness! I
confess, in all Ecclesiastical History I have read of no man so
spotless, though of hundreds in which the biographers have painted them
as masters of perfection: but the moral tact soon feels the truth.

[Footnote 1: In one of the volumes of this work used by the Editor for
ascertaining the references, the following note is written by a former
owner.

"October 12, 1788. Begged of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary to take my
salvation on herself, and obtain it for Saint Hyacinthe's sake; to
whom she has promised to grant any thing, or never to refuse any thing
begged for his sake."

It would be very interesting to know how far the feeling expressed in
this artless effusion coexisted with a faith in the atonement and
mediation of the one Lord Jesus Christ.--Ed.]

* * * * *

NOTES ON BAXTER'S LIFE OF HIMSELF.

1820. [1]

Among the grounds for recommending the perusal of our elder writers,
Hooker--Taylor--Baxter--in short almost any of the folios composed from
Edward VI. to Charles II. I note:

1. The overcoming the habit of deriving your whole pleasure passively
from the book itself, which can only be effected by excitement of
curiosity or of some passion. Force yourself to reflect on what you read
paragraph by paragraph, and in a short time you will derive your
pleasure, an ample portion of it, at least, from the activity of your
own mind. All else is picture sunshine.

2. The conquest of party and sectarian prejudices, when you have on the
same table before you the works of a Hammond and a Baxter, and reflect
how many and momentous their points of agreement, how few and almost
childish the differences, which estranged and irritated these good men.
Let us but imagine what their blessed spirits n