long-lost wanderer, recovered from his slumber of death and sin, may live to be a monument of the pardoning mercy of God, and his last accents be those of gratitude and praise for a pious mother.

It was in the period of Legh Richmond's childhood, that the accident occurred which occasioned the lameness to which he was subject during the remainder of his life. In leaping from a wall, he fell with violence to the ground, and injured the left leg, so as to contract its growth, and impair its strength. It is a remarkable coincidence that somewhat of a similar occurrence befel one of his own sons, and was attended with precisely the same effects. It was in consequence of this accident that Mr. Richmond received the rudiments of his early education under the sole tuition of his father, who was an excellent classical scholar, and well acquainted with literature in general.

In addition to his proficiency in classical and other elementary studies, he made considerable progress, during this period, in the science of music; a predilection for which, he retained to the end of his life.

The activity of his mind soon began to develope itself. Some specimens of the productions of his early years have been preserved by the partiality of his friends; and as youthful talent generally delights to assume a poetic form, his first efforts were devoted to the Muses.

We insert the following, which were written when he was twelve years of age:

Before the earth and sea to man were given,
Or stars were spotted o'er the crystal heaven;
The face of nature was throughout the same-
A rugged heap, and Chaos was its name;
Nor any thing but piled-up heaps were there,
And earth and sea were mixed with fire and air :
No radiant sun by day afforded light,

Nor waning Phoebe shone in midst of night;
Nor earth self-poised in fluid air was placed,
Or sea, with circling arms, the earth embraced.

ON THE MORNING.

Behold, the earth is clad in sober grey,

And twinkling stars foretell the approach of day.
The hare runs timid o'er the bladed grass,
And early shepherds on the meadows pass.
In splendid majesty the morning star
Welcomes Aurora in her rosy car.
The lark, the early herald of the morn,
Whose tender sides soft gentle plumes adorn,
Flies from her nest above all human sight,
And to the skies sublime she bends her flight.
Her pleasing notes the ambient hills repeat,
And day o'er half the world resumes its seat;
The 'splendent sun's ethereal light appears,
And nature wipes away her dewy tears.-

A few lines in imitation of Pope, may be considered as no unsuccessful illustration of the poet's rule :

'Tis not enough, no harshness gives offence,
The sound should seem an echo to the sense.'-

8

MEMOIRS OF THE REV. LEGH RICHMOND.

The line should soften when the bleat of sheep
And gentle zephyrs sooth to placid sleep;
When din of rattling thunderbolts is heard,
The roughest words to softer are preferred.
When purling rivulets translucent glide,
The liquid letters then should form a tide.
Within a labyrinth, the line seems vext,
Mazy, inextricable, and perplext.

But when the rougher storms fierce rage on high,

And heave the angry billows to the sky;

When rattling rain comes hissing down in showers,
And to the whirlpool in a torrent pours ;

The line should rage, and every letter move,
As if great Jove was storming from above.

In the year 1784, when Legh Richmond was in his thirteenth year, he was consigned to the care of Mr. Breach, of Reading, for the purpose of obtaining further assistance on account of his lameness, as well as to pursue the course of his education. He was subsequently removed to Blandford, in Dorsetshire, and placed under the tuition of the Rev. Mr. Jones, vicar of Loders, and curate of Blandford; and having made a very creditable proficiency in his studies, and completed his education at school, he was finally sent, in the year 1789, being then seventeen years of age, to the university of Cambridge.

CHAPTER II.

Comprising the period from his entrance at the University, to his marriage, and acceptance of the curacy of Brading in the Isle of Wight.

MR. RICHMOND was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, in the month of August, 1789. The following particulars have been communicated in a letter from the Reverend A. J. Crespin, vicar of Renhold, Bedfordshire, a contemporary of his in the University, and with whom he formed an intimate friendship, which continued to the period of his death.

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"I perfectly well remember that our dear departed friend came to Cambridge for admission about Midsummer, in the year 1789. I was just one year his senior. It was then the custom at Trinity College, that one of the undergraduates should take the candidate for admission to the dean, and to one or two others, and then to the master, for examination. It fell to my lot to perform this office for Legh Richmond, and thus our friendship commenced. He came into

residence, according to the usual plan, in the following October; we were both among the candidates for foundation scholarships, and after a public examination of two or three days, we were happy on finding our names among the successful candidates; and as we afterwards dined every day at the same table, the bands of our friendship were drawn still closer.

"I can with perfect truth affirm, that during the under-graduateship of Mr. Richmond, he applied himself closely to his studies, and was considered and acknowledged by all, to be a young man of great abilities and correct conduct."

A letter from the Rev. William Tate, chaplain of the Dock-yard, Portsmouth, and tutor of the Naval Academy, contains a further and more detailed account of Mr. Richmond's residence at college.

"Mr. Richmond and myself were of the same year at Cambridge, and had the same college tutor, the late Rev. Thomas Jones. We were not, however, in the same lecture room till within a year of our taking the degree of A. B.; hence our intimacy did not commence till about the beginning of 1793. Mr. Richmond came to college with a high character for his proficiency, both in classics and mathematics. In fact, I often heard him spoken of as likely to be one of the third or fourth highest wranglers. At the annual college examination in May, he was each year in the first class,