resisting Isaac's persuasions to desert, went to sea with the fleet.

Isaac, farewell! do wipe that doleful eye;
Crying we came, and groaning we may die.
Let us do something 'twixt the groan and cry:
And hear me, brother, whether pay or prize,
One half to thee I give and I devise ;
For thou hast oft occasion for the ad
Of learn'd physicians, and they will be paid :
Their wives and children men support, at sea,
And thou, my lad, art wife and child to me:
Farewell!-I go where hope and honour call,
Nor does it follow that who fights must fall.

By close attention to those greater than himself Isaac began to get on in his town; and, moreover, married a maid with a stocking full of savings. The war lasted some years, during which George's wages and prize-money were sent home to his brother; nor did Isaac shrink from implying in his letters to George that he was still a poor man glad of help.

In time George was invalided with the loss of a leg; and, now a useless hulk, looked forward to that sheltering home which he felt sure his brother would gladly give. But he did not know his brother's nature. It was a sore blow to Isaac and his wife, now people of some little standing, when the pensioner came, with unquestioning confidence, to share their hearth.

The vulgar pipe was to the wife offence,
The frequent grog to Isaac an expense;

Would friends like hers, she question'd, choose to come,
Where clouds of poison'd fume defil'd a room?

This could their lady-friend, and Burgess Steel
(Teased with his worship's asthma), bear to feel?
Could they associate or converse with him—
A loud, rough sailor, with a timber limb ?

Little by little Isaac's protestations of affection cooled, the old seaman's yarns were no longer listened

to with deference, he was slighted and ignored, dismissed to the kitchen and then to the loft. Chafing under this treatment, George at last applied to the parish for aid, which was refused on the grounds that he had a wealthy brother. The only drop of comfort in his bitter cup was the affection of his little nephew. who:

Would listen long, and would contend with sleep,
To hear the woes and wonders of the deep;
Till the fond mother cried—“ that man will teach
The foolish boy his loud and boisterous speech."
So judged the father, and the boy was taught
To shun the uncle, whom his love had sought.

At last the old man fell sick, and lay alone for long hours in his loft, fed only upon castaway scraps of food, except when his little nephew crept up to the loft with dainties bought with his own pocket-money. One day his father found the little fellow at the door,

And cried, "Away! How! Brother, I'm surprised,
That one so old can be so ill advised:
Let him not dare to visit you again,

Your cursed stories will disturb his brain ;

Is it not vile to court a foolish boy,

Your own absurd narrations to enjoy ?

What! sullen !-ha! George Fletcher! you shall see,
Proud as you are, your bread depends on me!

But the boy still persisted, his heart grieved with shame and pity. At last one night, after going to bed, he crept up in the dark again, and again was caught at the door.

The careful father caught him in the fact,
And cried," You serpent! is it thus you act?
Back to your mother !"—and with hasty blow,
He sent th' indignant boy to grieve below;
Then at the door an angry speech began-
"Is this your conduct ?-is it thus you plan ?

Seduce my child, and make my house a scene
Of vile dispute-what is it that you mean ?—
George, are you dumb? do learn to know your friends,
And think awhile on whom your bread depends:
What! not a word? be thankful I am cool-
But, sir, beware, nor longer play the fool;
Come! brother, come! what is it that you seek
By this rebellion ?-Speak, you villain, speak!—
Weeping! I warrant-sorrow makes you dumb:
I'll ope your mouth, impostor! if I come :

Let me approach-I'll shake you from your bed,
You stubborn dog-Oh God! my brother's dead!"

It would be hard to find in all literature a more poignant picture of a broken heart than this sketch of the old seaman, himself so generous and open-hearted, fretting himself to death under ingratitude and avarice. If at first sight the picture seems one of unrelieved gloom, let us remember the genial generosity and openness of the sailor, the loving affection of the little lad, and (we may add) the repentance, though tardy, of the brother who, without realising it, had been led step by step into selfish and heartless conduct.

Crabbe was a writer much admired by his contemporaries; then for three generations after death his lustre waned. But his readers and admirers are again on the increase; and it seems as if ere long he would come to his own again. If he does, let this be the crown of his fame—that more than any writer before or since, he entered with sincere and affectionate sympathy into the lives and hearts of the poor.

WILLIAM WILBERFORCE

I

Childhood and Cambridge-Rapid success as a politician-Conversion-Efforts for reformation of morals and for abolition of Slavetrade-Evils of the trade-Wilberforce an excellent Parliamentary leader against it-Opposition, and prolonged labours -His friendship with Hannah More-His personal piety and austerity-Concern at the state of English religionMarriage and publication of Practical Christianity-Anti-slavery efforts successful at last.

WHILST the Evangelical and Oxford Movements were confessedly complementary of one another, and whilst it would be perhaps invidious to seek to say which movement has had the wider or most lasting effect, there is no doubt that the Evangelical leaders of the eighteenth century loom larger in the English imagination than the Tractarian leaders of the nineteenth. The reason for this seems to be, that whilst the Tractarian teachers were largely divines who worked quietly with the pen in their college circles or their country livings, the Evangelical leaders were more before the minds of their contemporaries as great preachers or hymn writers or philanthropists. If we admit, on the one hand, that Keble is better known through his poetry than Cowper is, it must be acknowledged, on the other hand, that the names of John Newton, William Wilberforce and John Wesley are better known to the man in the street to-day than are those of Pusey and Newman and Froude.

After Wesley, William Wilberforce is probably the most prominent of the Evangelicals in popular imagination, by reason of his connection with the abolition of the Slave Trade.

He was born in 1759, at Hull, the son of a merchant of an ancient Yorkshire family, who bequeathed him a large fortune. As a child William was feeble and undersized, with weak eyesight and a constitution which caused him trouble all his life; but these defects were more than balanced by rich mental endowments.

At seven years of age he went to the local grammar school, attending as a day-boy for two years. Then his father died, and he was sent to live with an uncle at Wimbledon, where he attended a private school for two more years. Gradually he became stronger and more active, though always somewhat frail.

At Wimbledon he came under strong religious influences. No pains had been taken at home over his religious education, his mother being what he once described as "an Archbishop Tillotson Christian!" His aunt, however, associated with some of the early Methodists, and was an admirer of Whitefield's preaching. Alarmed at her influence over the boy, his mother took him back to Hull, when he was twelve years old, and sought to stifle his religious feelings by a life of gaiety and amusements. As a grandson of one of the principal citizens, he was invited everywhere, and the possession of a beautiful singing voice and winning manners added to the boy's popularity. Even at Pocklington School, where he now attended, the masters allowed him to work or not as he liked, and frequently to visit the neighbouring gentry.

At the age of seventeen he was sent to St. John's