She was a phantom of delight
    When first she gleamed upon my sight;
    A lovely apparition, sent
    To be a moment’s ornament. . . .
    I saw her, upon nearer view,
    A Spirit, yet a Woman too!
    Her household motions light and free,
    And steps of virgin-liberty. . .
    A perfect Woman, nobly planned,
    To warn, to comfort, and command;
    And yet a Spirit still, and bright
    With something of an angel-light.

    Wordsworth.

“The gloom, which had for some time been lowering darkly round our house, now burst over our heads with the fury of a thunder-storm.  You must often have observed, sir, that as all the little ailments of a man’s body, which singly are insignificant enough, gradually combine together, and produce death; so the misfortunes of life, long kept at a distance, seem at last to come upon an individual or a family with one united assault, and press it with irresistible force to the very ground.  So it was with us.  My father, habitually silent and reserved, began to talk more, especially to strangers, and to show a greater liveliness of manner than we had ever observed in him before.  He spoke about the value of his land, and the produce of his crops, in a way to make me think that I had a very comfortable prospect of inheritance before me, and I considered myself already as one of the established statesmen of the valley.  Alas! how puzzling is poor human nature!  At the very time when my father seemed most to rejoice in his possessions, he had just come to the conviction that he could no longer retain them.  He had never really felt their value till they were about to pass away from him and his race for ever!  His p. 88father had been a somewhat expensive man in his habits, and had mortgaged his little estate to the father of Tom Hebblethwaite, in the hope, as times were then very good, of quickly redeeming it.  But worse times soon succeeded; and my poor father and mother, with all their care and industry, were not able even to pay the interest of the sum borrowed, so that the debt gradually increased in amount, and the unavoidable issue was clearly foreseen.  This disheartening news my father took a quiet opportunity of communicating to me, my poor mother standing by, and the silent tears rolling down her cheeks—not for herself, but for her children.

“‘My dear lad,’ said he, ‘you must fend for yourself.  I have engaged that you shall become apprentice to an engraver in Manchester, who is a distant relation of your mother’s, and, I am told, in a very thriving condition.  Your mother and I have given you learning, and we hope, good principles; we had wished to have given you more, but God’s will be done.’

“A change now came over the whole course of my thoughts.  It was like telling me that I was to pass my days in another world, so little notion had I of anything that was going on beyond the boundaries of my native mountains; and I speculated, and wondered, till my mind became confused and perplexed, and I was unable to attend to even the commonest concerns of life.  I will hasten over this distressing period, for it is too painful to dwell on, even at this distance of time.  I believe that age magnifies the anxieties that are far off, as much as it deadens the pain of those that are near.  The recollection to me now, is more grievous than was the reality at the time.  Robert Walker took leave of me with much sound advice, but with a cheerfulness that removed much of my horror—for that was what I felt—at leaving, probably for ever, my native hills.

“‘My good lad,’ said he, ‘you are only about to do what thousands have done before you—leave these barren mountains for a scene of usefulness to which you are evidently called by your heavenly Father.  Many of my p. 89flock have gone before you in the same path, and most of them, I thank God, have been highly successful in their labours.  Some of the highest and richest merchants in Manchester drew their first breath in these humble valleys, and were taught at my village school.  Having here been taught the lessons of frugality, industry, and attention to religious duties, they were thus trained for the after-toils of life, and have become an honour to their country and their Church.  But as for you, I would rather see you good than rich.  The one, with God’s grace, you can be; the other may depend on a thousand accidents.  I have prepared a little present for you, which I trust you will always cherish as proof of my good will.  The Bible I know you have, and its fitting companion and interpreter, the Prayer-book: here is ‘Nelson’s Companion to the Fasts and Festivals of the Church of England,’ the best book, next to the Prayer-book, that the uninspired mind of man ever compiled; full of learning, full of piety, full of prayer.  Know this book well, and you will be wiser than your teachers; for to understand and retain in one’s mind the contents of one such book as this, is better than to read whole libraries, and to have but a dim and misty recollection of them all; and here is another good book, which you will find a valuable companion to you in some of your silent and solitary hours—‘The Whole Duty of Man.’  Blessed be the memory of the pious lady who wrote it!  And may the blessing of God rest for ever on the family which sheltered the saintly Hammond in his persecutions, and produced her who left to the world this invaluable legacy! [89]  In these books you have a religious library which will meet all your spiritual wants.  Pray for me, as I shall not cease to pray for you—for this is the way to remember friends that are far off; and now go, and the Lord be with thee!’

“But I had another parting of a very different kind to encounter—with my poor sister Martha.  Since her separation from her lover, she had gone about her daily avocations with her usual, and even more than her usual p. 90cheerfulness and quiet alacrity.  Indeed her eye sparkled with more brilliance, and her spirits rose to a higher pitch of excitement than I had ever before observed.  She grew perceptibly thinner, but no alarm was thereby occasioned, as her colour was even heightened in brightness, and her mind seemed peaceful and happy.  Yet I had watched her with more than common anxiety, and felt much alarmed for her state, though I could hardly assign the grounds of my fears.  A few days before it was proposed that I should take my departure, she called me into her room after the rest of the family had retired to rest, and desired me to sit down by her side, with a seriousness of manner which seemed to show that she had some important communication to make.

“‘Brother,’ said she, ‘we part soon; it may be sooner than you expect.’

“‘How so?’ said I.

“‘You must listen to my tale.  We have never talked about him since we parted at Mr. Walker’s.  I have never repented what I did then.’

“‘Oh, how nobly you acted, dear sister,’ said I, ‘and how little you seem to have fe............