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much reverence was paid to all the brethren of the gown, and an ambition forthwith seized him to become a clergyman.

And, tho' scarce yet eighteen, my mind
Was then so piously inclined,
That I preferred these sacred things
To ev'n the wealth and pomp of kings;
And every wish and prayer of mine
Was to become a great divine;

To make the Church of Christ my care;
And have, besides, a handsome share
Of those fair gifts so amply given
For cleric use by gracious heaven!
My father, tho' a publican,

Was always deemed an honest man;
And, like most landlords, was expert,
Nay, happy, in the pleasing art;
Possessed a fund of hum'rous jests
To entertain his jovial guests.

With these, and matchless powers of song,
He oft was wonted to prolong

Their festive mirth for many an hour

A scheme to swell the drinking score.
But all professions, from the clown
Ascending upwards to the crown,
Not ev'n excepting that of preaching,
Have such like arts of over-reaching,
And claim as lawful perquisites
Whate'er they pilfer by these slights!
I, therefore, did not mean to blame
My sire, because he practised them,
Who, to his honour be it said,
Acquired a fortune by his trade!
Howe'er, his cares were such that he
Ne'er gave his mind to piety;
Nor would he sanction the design
I'd formed of being a divine;
But when I such a wish expressed,
He treated it as but a jest-
Was wont to say, with serious air,
He thought his own a better far
Than ev'n the clerical vocation,
Deducting costs for graduation.
But this was all a mere pretence,
Which he contrived to save expense;
For never mortal man was more
Intent on hoarding up his store.

Thus, by my sire's severe behest,
My pious project was suppressed,

And all my views-O, sad to tell !—
Confined within a curst hotel!

But after all, 'twould be uncivil

To blame my sire-I blame the Devil!
Who doubtless tempted him, good man,
To thwart and counteract my plan,
By plying all his artifice

To fill his mind with avarice,

Lest he, perchance, should give his coin
To aid me in my good design.
For if we scan the sacred pages,
We find, iu apostolic ages,

That, often with too much success,
This prince of crime and craftiness
Has fettered with impediments
The good designs of ev'n the saints!
And hence I wonder not that he
Presumed t' enthral a youth like me,
Deeming he'd gain his wicked end
By fettering me-malicious fiend!
In an hotel to be the slave
Of every coxcomb, sot, or knave,
That in so vile a place might choose
To banquet, revel, and carouse,
On whose commands I had to wait,
From morning soon to evening late,
And for their jeers and insolence
Return the smile of complaisance.
While harassed thus from day to day,
With bustle, noise, and drunken fray,

I scarce could stifle my chagrin,

And cursed, (may heaven forgive my sin!)
Tho' secretly, the clamorous sots,

As well as bottles, pipes, and pots,

Which oft, I broke, too, in my wrath,

For standing in preferment's path.-pp. 4-6.

A stranger at the Inn, who ultimately patronized him and sent him to College, where he appears to have laid down the plan of his future proceedings.

In Isis' bowers I now had spent

Four tedious twelvemonths of restraint,
Had duly run the circle o'er

Of Alma Mater's holy lore,
As well as taken my degree
The needful requisite A.B.;
And tho' I'd got a stock of knowledge
Adapted to a life at College,
I was determined not t' engage
In stickling for its patronage,

Nor in a fellowship to loiter

In monkish mode, nor be a tutor
To train those duncés, fops, and asses,
That constitute our college classes,
Nor nightly join in the carouses

Of doctors, deans, and heads of houses,
A tribe of stupid formalists,

Of noisy pedants, egotists,
Of rhymsters, rigid devotees,

As well as drones and debauchees,

That merely wear the hallow'd cloth

To shield their follies, vice, and sloth.
Such the discordant elements

That constitute our Oxon saints!
And tho', much like my own, their zeal
Is ardent for the church's weal,
Doubtless the only thing in which
They may be equal to my pitch;
Yet characters of such a cast
Were ne'er adapted to my taste,
For such is the stupidity
Of academic pedantry!

That one, like me, of buoyant spirit
Could ne'er be reconciled to bear it.
And now quite sick of the delights
Of such like reverend bedlamites,
And trusting that my bland behaviour
And talents had secured the favour
Of many friends quite competent
To free me from this vile restraint,
I now began to fix my eye

On vicarage and rectory.

From whence I could extend my view
To wealthy stalls and mitres too,
And all the pomp and consequence

Attending cleric affluence.-pp. 11-13.

By great exertion, and some good luck, the candidate for preferment contrived to effect a marriage with a lady who happened to be the existing Lord Chancellor's niece, a circumstance, which more than all others was calculated to realize the dreams of happiness to which he had directed his mind. He soon succeeded in advancing on the heaven-ward road of preferment, and the more rapidly, as he had the opportunity at the same period of making a reputation for himself by controversy, being well armed with quibblery and cant, and with all befitting sophistries for so pious an enterprise. But in the midst of all these high hopes, Canning came into power, and so darkly did the future present itself to the aspirant for spiritual promotion, that he rallied all the friends of the church, and with desperate energy raised the cry of "no po

pery." But the end of it was, that by a fresh resolution in the ministerial constitution, the candidate for preferment saw his friendsrestored to influence, and the result, as he expected, was the great consummation of all his hopes, the possession of a mitre.

ART. XIX.-The Young Enthusiast in Humble Life-a Simple Story. With a Biographical Introduction. London. Fraser.

1833.

THIS is a highly instructive tale, the value of which consists altogether in the curious course of the fortunes of the hero. The particulars on which the whole is founded are as follows:

"James Jolly was born at a small village about thirty-four miles from Liverpool, in which town his father subsequently commenced business as a butcher, having been unfortunate and unsuccessful as an extensive farmer and grazier. At this period James Jolly was about six years old; and after being at school about two months, during which time he acquired a little knowledge of reading and writing, his father took him from the school and employed him to carry meat to the various customers. He was afterwards apprenticed to a Mr. Taylor, pianoforte-maker, of Liverpool, and remained with him three years, when, in consequence of the premises having taken fire, his master gave up business.

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"It was while in Mr. Taylor's employ that James Jolly began to feel a desire to improve his mind. He had, however, to acquire the very commonest branches of an ordinary education. I felt ashamed,' he says, in one of his letters, of my ignorance-I knew nothing of arithmetic, and I procured a book on the subject.' From this period his avidity for knowledge was intense.

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Disliking to engage with a new master in Liverpool, James Jolly was desirous of going to London; and Mr. Taylor, in consequence, very kindly gave him his indentures. He came to London in 1829, and procured employment in Messrs. Broadwoods' manufactory in Horseferry Road; but remained with them only a few days; and soon after left London. The motives by which he was actuated, his feelings from this period till he became a soldier, are detailed in the 'Simple Story.'

"I wrote the Story,' says the young enthusiast himself, 'in the Military Hospital at Enniskillen. Two, to me most powerful motives, induced me to write it, the hope of realising by its sale a sum sufficient to procure my discharge, and a desire to present a copy to one who has pledged herself to become my wife. With these objects I obtained a furlough, and left Londonderry with 17. 9s. 4d. in my pocket. I spent two days with my brother in Liverpool; he is a stonemason, has a wife and two children, and he lives in Chisenhall Street, Liverpool.

VOL. II. (1833) No. III,

2 a

"I walked to London-a distance of two hundred miles-and lived by the way, in a great measure, on turnips, to save what money I could. I reached London, after six days' march, with about thirteen shillings. I have paid five shillings for lodgings, and I have now two.

"In conclusion, I hope I may be allowed to speak it with modesty, yet with a justifiable pride, that since I have been in the service I have conducted myself as a soldier ought to do. In proof of this I can refer you to no higher authority than the colonel and the adjutant of the regiment to which I belong.'

"Notwithstanding what James Jolly has said of himself in the above extract as to his soldierly character, it seems that he has conceived sentiments on the subject of war which make the service peculiarly distressing to him. How he came to enter it does not exactly transpire, but his situation there is clearly enough uncongenial with the tone of his mind and feelings. Love, also, appears to have not a little to do in the matter. The pay of a private soldier is no very splendid income to support a wife withal; and, to judge from some of her letters, the lady-or lady's maid-of his affections has too much merit to be sacrificed in marriage to a destitute lover. With a laudable repugnance to take advantage of her preference for himself, and to reduce her to circumstances so disadvantageous as his own, he seems to have determined on some measures c emancipation from difficulties so distressing. All his hopes of this kind depend on the success of the little work now submitted to the public approbation.

"Having been recommended to Mr. Fraser as a bookseller likely to forward his views, James Jolly ventured to address to him his manuscript, accompanied with a letter stating his circumstances and wishes. With many, perhaps, such an application would have been totally disregarded; but it is Mr. Fraser's policy, (and it is a wise one) to give every man's manuscript a fair chance, and accordingly he brought the story and letter before the proper critical tribunal. The judgment was favourable, and some design was conceived of inserting the simple story in Regina, as the readiest means of serving the story-teller. But as will subsequently appear, an objection was raised to this mode of proceeding, by the young enthusiast

himself.

"The feelings of James Jolly on this first step in his progress were not without expression. From my heart,' he writes, "I thank you sincerely for your kindness, for even a single word of encouragement. To one who, like myself, has met with little pity from men, or seldom heard a voice in the tone of sympathy-to one whose motives of action have been misunderstood and misrepresented, kindness has in it something peculiarly attractive and impressive. If I were allowed to speak of the simple unpretending production that has brought me hither, I would say, that I depend not on its success with the affluent or fashionable. There is in my little work

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