siderable repute as a student of Egyptian antiquities and a decipherer of papyri, was then vicar of Brading. After he had resided at Brading for two years a book came into his hands which arrested his attention, and if it did not altogether change the direction of the ordinary current of his life deepened the channel in which his religious feelings flowed. That book was an octavo volume bearing on its front the title of A Practical View of the prevailing Religious Systems of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes of the country, contrasted with Real Christianity, written by William Wilberforce, and published in 1797. This book excited a lively interest at its appearance, which lasted long after its publication, proved by the sale of fifty editions within the same number of years. That could be no common production which drew from the greatest of English political writers, Edmund Burke, his grateful acknowledgements for the comfort it had given him when on his dying bed. The book is not one of deep theological thought, nor are its statements always methodical and exact; but the tone of human sympathy which breathes through it makes it an effective monitor to the conscience of the reader. To use the words of a most competent critic: 'Never were the sensuality, the gloom, and the selfishness which fester below the polished surface of society brought into more vivid contrast with the faith, and hope, and charity which in their combination form the Christian character; and never was the contrast drawn with a firmer hand, with a more tender spirit, or with a purer aspiration for the happiness of mankind.' The conversion, or change of character, in the case of Legh Richmond was accompanied with no violent inward conflict. It did not commence with melancholy and, advancing through contrition to faith, close with rapture, to subside at length into an abiding consolation and peace. Legh Richmond's was one of those lives that go on. He was of a calm, placid disposition. His portrait, which is given in Mr. Grimshawe's book, suggests that of a man whose heart has not beat fast with great joy or sorrow, but which has taken in the impressions of years of quiet family life. Wilberforce's book quickened the process by which Legh Richmond's character ripened into that of a devout clergyman. In his own lan guage, Wilberforce was his 'spiritual father.' But though Wilberforce planted, other influences watered, and God gave the increase to a nature which drank deep of the only source of true spiritual growth. September 8, 1888. II. The seven years of Legh Richmond's residence in the Isle of Wight were at a momentous epoch in English history, when the echoes of revolution and war with France had reached an island which, were it cast from its moorings and floated across the Channel, would just fill up the bay of Cherbourg harbour. The Isle of Wight was full of alarms of invasion. Artillery was planted along Sandown Bay and other more exposed parts of the coast; barracks and guardhouses for soldiers were placed at the various points. Tarbarrels stood ready to be fired on the heights; and a chain of signals on the hills of Freshwater, Parkhurst, Wroxall, and Nunwell established a rapid communication with the fleet at Spithead. These things did not move Legh Richmond. The only reference I can find to that troublous time is in his tract of The Negro Servant,' where, on his seeing from one of the downs about Bembridge a large fleet of ships of war, he expresses his thankfulness 'for these vessels and instruments of defence, which in the hands of God preserve our country from the hand of the enemy and the fury of the destroyer.' He was an earnest student of the Bible, and was therefore aware that the lofty expressions of contempt for the littleness of earthly transactions and the vicissitudes of human governments which some divines affect are not taught in God's word nor in the schools of His prophets. It was not apathy but higher considerations which led him to turn aside from public affairs to subjects more akin to his calling. He was a student, as they who speak in the name of Christ should be, bringing forth things new and old. Where there is little or no taking in, the outpourings from the pulpit become very thin and watery. Crafty men,' says Lord Bacon, 'contemn studies, simple men admire them, wise men use them.' By a curious coincidence, shortly after his careful reading of Wilberforce's book a grocer at Newport sent his clerical customer an article from the shop wrapped up in a leaf of Bishop Jewell's Apology. His attention was directed to the wrapper by one of the family, who remarked 'This looks as if it would suit you, Legh.' He read the leaf and instantly set forth to Newport to inquire after the remaining pages. 'Yes,' replied the grocer, 'here they are, and I have a whole hogshead of these worthies; they are much at your service at twopence a pound.' The treasure was speedily and joyfully secured. No Parker Society in those days had made the writings of the Fathers of the Reformed Church of England accessible to students. This led afterwards to the publication of his work Fathers of the English Church, volumes containing selections from the writings of the Reformers and comprising a valuable mass of information illustrative of the doctrine of the Reformation. Nothing of the kind had ever been attempted, and it required extensive reading. The venture was so far unfortunate that it involved Legh Richmond in much pecuniary embarrassment. The subscribers were pledged only to four volumes, and he, judging the mind of the public for the Reformers by his own estimate of their writings, extended the work to eight volumes. Old theology does not command a ready sale. It is so much dead stock on an editor's hands which no one will take, and which he cannot get rid of at any price. Along with these graver studies Legh Richmond did not give up his attempts in verse. Mr. Grimshawe has preserved some lines recording the loss of a young midshipman and nine sailors belonging to H. M. S. Leviathan, who were drowned not far from his house in the Isle of Wight in the year 1804. The following on the death of his own infant child is graceful: This lovely bud, so young, so fair, Call'd hence by early doom, Just came to show how sweet a flower In Paradise would bloom. By the kindness of Mrs. Roach of Upper St. James's-street, Newport, I. W., I have inspected an autograph letter in her possession, written on the death of Mrs. Weeks of Barnsley Farm, October 15, 1804. My dear sir,' so he writes in his clear, legible hand, 'I have selected one hymn from Dr. Watts and composed another myself on the occasion, and herewith send you copies. The same verses from the 90th Psalm which were sung on Friday shall be repeated tomorrow, so that all the singing will be appropriate.—I remain your affectionate friend, LEGH RICHMOND.' The hymn from Dr. Watts is that beginning with 'Hark, from the tombs a doleful sound!' Legh Richmond's hymn is too long for insertion. The laws of metre are observed and the sentiment is all that might be expected from so devout a Christian man, but its merits as a poetical composition are not such as to have won for it a place in Lord Selborne's collection of hymns. This Mrs. Weeks, who died at the early age of twenty-two, was the daughter of John and Martha Buckle, who belonged to a well-known family in the Isle of Wight, with the sobriquet of 'Golden' Buckle, to distinguish them from two other families of the same name called respectively Silver' and 'Copper' Buckles. Legh Richmond, to whom a parish vestry was, to use his own words, a purgatory,' was no recluse and often visited at Barnsley Farm in his parish. The following epitaph on this young wife and mother is from his facile pen: Pilgrims that wander in this vale of tears, Say who shall trust in youth and blooming years, Trust then in Christ for strength; all else beneath Give us an heart to bear affliction's rod, And then Thy will be done, not ours, O God. Sweet is the Christian's hope, to him is given The Christian Observer, The Christian Ladies' Magazine, and The Gospel Magazine, which, obscure as it is, has continued the traditions of the old school of the 'Evangelical Succession' from the days of Toplady, one of its original editors, down to the present day, must be searched to find the fruits of Legh Richmond's easy flowing pen. In The Christian Observer for 1804 appeared Richmond's review of Archdeacon Daubeny's Vindiciae Ecclesiae Anglicanae. That combativeness which more or less lingers in the best of men, and which in the case of Legh Richmond was deprived of its other ordinary outlets by his clerical calling, displayed itself in theological fencing. In his diary he says 'I have looked into the controversy between Daubeny and Overton. Faults on both sides.' But the temptation to write an article in a review was too strong for him. Mr. Trollope's Eleanor, in Barchester Towers, tells an earnest dignitary of the Church, I never saw anything like you clergymen, you are always thinking of fighting each other.' He defends the practice on principle as a good churchman militant. Legh Richmond would do the same. At any rate the article, so it appears, was not acrimonious. His protest against the Archdeacon's teaching appears from Mr. Grimshawe to be summed up much as follows:- You have lost sight of spiritual influences and realities; a dry notion of human merit is at the bottom of all your thoughts and teachings. You expect men to get to heaven by being baptized and by leading good and respectable lives. Restore the doctrines of our articles, preach the gospel in season and out of season; this is the only true way to improve the condition of things among us, to remedy the mischief which the indifference of the age is producing. Richmond was a kindly man, he did not intend to wound, but in his eagerness to do battle for what he held to be the truth he charged good men, who did not see eye to eye with him on certain points, with substituting conduct for faith. Such a departure from sound doctrine they would not have themselves acknowledged. Probably very few remember this controversy, but an accurate portrait of the man cannot be drawn without bringing into a certain prominence this feature of his character. He was, whether it be looked upon as an honour or a reproach, a decided party man, though his largeness of heart counteracted the narrowmindedness which party spirit, whether in the things of time or of eternity, is apt to foster and encourage. Legh Richmond would have done well to remember the words of a devout man after his own heart, the Rev. John Flavel— 'Many controversies grow up about religion as suckers from the root and limbs of a fruit tree, which spend the vital sap that would make it fruitful.' |