she became wild with delight. She laughed, wept, danced, and clapped her hands-asked every one if it was not too wonderful to be true, and darting off, she seized the hands of her benefactors, and pressed them alternately to her lips, saying over and over again, 'How good! how generous! how magnificent you have been to me!'

Hope had not been long enough on the Continent to relish having his hand kissed: he withdrew it from her grasp, stooped down, and pressed his lips to her forehead. Cross took the hand-kissing more as a matter of course; but he too embraced the little girl as Hope had done, and then gave his hand to her mother, who first kissed her own, as a Highland peasant does, and then pressed alternately the hands of the two Englishmen.

Angela did the same, saying as she did so, 'You are good and generous; but Matilde deserves it.' As for the mother, all her volubility was gone. She only once said'May heaven bless you both.'

A crowd began to gather. It is wonderful how news flies in a small place. Hope hated a public scene, more especially as he felt now half inclined to weep. 'Come away,' he

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said to Cross; 'tell them to get their breakfast, and to make the notary explain anything they may wish to know. Let us be off, at any rate. I should like to go as far as the headland, and see our last night's post from thence.' Hope turned away, and Cross did as he was requested, and followed the moment after. The two friends walked gently on for some little time in silence.

'Well, Cross,' said Hope, breaking this silence, 'my worm-hunting got us into this scrape, and has cost us five pounds a piece. I do not regret it, and I hope you do not either. What a pleasure it is to make others so happy, and so easily! To me the sight of that little girl's delight was worth five times the money.'

'And to me also,' said Cross, 'and yet if one thinks of it, it ought to make us sad and ashamed; for what sums have I wasted in folly that might have made hundreds as happy as she is now!'

'Dont let us think of that,' said Hope; my present pleasure is too great to allow me to look back on so sad a remembrance. Let the lesson be a guide for the future, not a punishment for the past.'

England's vast empire in India had its origin in a single factory at Surat, which was established more

ago. A century later the Indian commerce had greatly extended, and two companies trading with India were consolidated. After the lapse of another century, when Tippoo Saheb had been defeated, British India was extended in the north to Rohilcund and Doab, and in the south to Tanjore and Malabar; within twenty years, Delhi, Agra, and the Mahratta districts were annexed; and in the present century, Scinde, the Punjab, and Oude.

The first British settlement in Africa was formed on the Gambia

Two hundred years ago the whole eastern coast of the American continent, from Canada to Georgia, was annexed to the British dominions, in separate provinces, with free constitutions. Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, New Brunswick, Hudson's Bay Territory, and British Guiana, successively followed; and with the past half dozen years British Columba, in the west, has been erected into a colony.

About the time of the establishment of the English factory at Surat, the Bermudas, in the West Indies, were colonized. The Bahamas, Jamaica, Antigua, Dominica, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Christopher, Barbadoes, St. Vincent, Trinidad, and St. Lucia have since been acquired at various times.

The germ of the Australian empire was formed little more than seventy years ago by a settlement for convicts in the Cove of Sydney. From that date to 1840, as many as 8,000 convicts had been transported to that island. New South Wales (1788), Western Australia (1829), South Australia (1836), Victoria (1837), and Queensland (1860), have been constituted into separate colonies under distinct governments, with an area of European dimensions, and a growth of rapid prosperity.

And what shall be said of the chain of other possessions which girdle the globe ? of Gibraltar, confirmed to the English by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the key of the

with the steadiest climate in Europe, ceded by the treaty of Paris in 1814 to Great Britain; of the seven Ionian islands, Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, Santa Maura, Ithaca, Paxo, and Cerigo, all of which were in the possession of England in 1814 but Corfu, which was given up by France in the same year; of Aden, the celebrated coaling station for the Red Sea steamers on their way to Bombay; of the Mauritius, or Isle de France, well-known for its sugar plantations, won by conquest from the French in 1810; of Ceylon, only 2,000 square miles less than Ireland, ceded to the British by the treaty of Amiens; of Labuan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Tasmania, the Falkland Islands, St. Helena, and Heligoland?

It is impossible, says Mr. Mesac Thomas, to contemplate the growth, the variety, and the extent of this dominion; the diminutive area of the country upon which it has been bestowed; the comparative facility with which it is governed and retained; the various strongholds, harbours, and sources of wealth which these colonies contain, without seeing that God has given to us the lands of the heathen in possession.

In the time of Edward III. the entire English-speaking population did not exceed 2,100,000. Now the number is about sixty-six millions. In the reign of Elizabeth, the revenues of the kingdom were about £500,000. Now they are over £80,000,000. At the close of her reign not a single Englishman was found settled in America. In the last half-century more than six millions have emigrated from the British Isles, and there are now probably seven millions of British settlers in colonial dependences.

With one-fifth of the human family now living under the sway of Great Britain, how great her opportunities for spreading the gospel among Papists, Mahommedans, and heathen.

MRS. BURCHNALL.-The maiden name of the subject of this obituary was Elizabeth Osborne. She was the oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Osborne, of Donnington-le-Heath, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch. She was born in November, 1790, and died in February, 1863, aged 72 years. In her youth she was a pupil of Rev. T. Orton, General Baptist minister, Hugglescote, under whose tuition probably the foundation was laid of that religious character which shone so steadily and brightly in after life. She ever revered the name of Mr. Orton as of one to whom she

was by divine grace indebted for what she was spiritually on earth, and for what she hoped to be eternally in heaven. In the twenty-second year of her age she was married to Mr. Burchnall and removed with her husband to Newton Linford, near Leicester. On removing in 1831 to a farm at Stanford Hills, near Loughborough, Mrs. Burchnall was led to attend the General Baptist chapel at East Leake, and to unite with the church of which she became one of its brightest ornaments.

Mrs. Burchnall was a devotional Christian. She was fond of religious reading, conversation, and prayer, while her attendance on the means of grace was remarkable considering her bodily infirmities. She evidently possessed the principle of devotion which cannot be sustained without secret prayer. Deprive the flower of the secret dews of the night and it pines and fades in the sun's rays. Thus open and outward means fail to preserve and enliven religion in the soul without the refreshing influence of secret prayer.

found in her a most kind and unfailing friend. And so far from thinking she had done too much in her last illness she regretted she had not done more.

Mrs. Burchnall was deeply anxious for the salvation of her kindred. She sought their conversion not only by direct personal intercourse but by epistolary correspondence. Towards the close of her last illness she wished the writer of this obituary to prepare a farewell letter to be sent to her kindred in her name, and her last exercise on earth was to listen to the letter thus prepared read for her approval. Early on the following morning she gently breathed her last. She was buried by the side of her husband in the Stanford churchyard, and her funeral sermon was preached by the writer to a numerous congregation in the General Baptist chapel, East Leake, from Revelation xiv. 13, 14, 15, and 16 verses.

Hear what a voice from heaven proclaims For all the pious dead; Sweet is the savour of their names, And soft their sleeping bed.'

G. S.

PETER MEE, Sutton-in-Ashfield.—The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. On such the memory lingers with a peculiar freshness and power: around such the affections gather. Their lives are fragrant when their mortal part has mingled with the dust.

Baptist Sabbath-school in this place when about ten or eleven years old, and after a few years became one of its active and devoted teachers. It

was under a sermon by the Rev. Joseph Burrows, then pastor of the church, that he decided to become a follower of the meek and lowly Jesus. He was baptized, and united with the church on November 15, 1820.

Such was the affability of his disposition that he soon gained the affections of his brethren, and they discovered in him a fitness to fill various offices in the school and the church. For eleven years he was the school's valued superintendent, and for forty years he sustained the office of deacon, and was for many years a local preacher. During the many years the church has had no pastor the fatherly counsel of our departed friend won the esteem of the young, and to him they looked as a father in Israel;' while his mature thoughts, his sober advice, and even the friendly rebuke was alike acceptable to those of riper years; so that he had gained for himself a name, 'The Old Shepherd.' His doctrinal views were sound and clear, and he held fast those sentiments which distinguish us as a Body. His course was marked with zeal for the honour of God, the salvation of souls, and punctuality in his various engagements and duties.

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To say that our friend had imperfections is only to say that he was human. These imperfections none knew and felt more than himself, and over them he mourned in secret before his God.

His was a lingering affliction, but his mind was calm; his hopes were centred, and his faith immoveably fixed on the Rock of Ages.' He knew in whom he had believed. For some weeks before his departure he would say to his family and friends, I am only waiting for my heavenly Father to take me home.' On February 2, 1863, the messenger came to escort the ready and prepared disciple into the presence of his Lord.

He leaves a widow and six children, who, with the church, mourn their loss, and desire to bow with submission to the Divine Will, assured that his ransomed spirit, freed from the corruptions of earth, has entered into the fellowship of the glorified above.

His death was improved by his old friend and coadjutor, from Revelation xxii. 14, a text which our departed friend had selected for that occasion. The chapel, which has been recently enlarged, was densely crowded. S. T.

BIRCHCLIFFE CENTENARY. To the Editor of the General Baptist Magazine.

DEAR SIR,-Allow me through the medium of the Magazine to inform the friends of the Connexion, and of the Yorkshire district especially, that as the church at Birchcliffe has now existed one hundred years, we are intending to hold Centenary Services on Thursday, July 30, and shall be glad to have the presence of a large number of friends on the occasion.

There will be a sermon in the morning by Rev. R. Hardy; and a public meeting in the afternoon and evening. Yours truly,

W. GRAY.