I have remarked were ambitious of a great variety of CHAP. II. arguments.

About the same time that I thus first heard the most perfect of forensic orators I was also present at an exhibition equally admirable, and which had a powerful effect on my mind. It was, I believe, in October, 1790, and not long before his death, that I heard John Wesley in the great round Meeting-house at Colchester. He stood in a wide pulpit, and on each side of him stood a minister, and the two held him up, having their hands under his armpits. His feeble voice was barely audible. But his reverend countenance, especially his long white locks, formed a picture never to be forgotten. There was a vast crowd of lovers and admirers. It was for the most part pantomime, but the pantomime went to the heart. Of the kind I never saw anything comparable to it in after life.*

The following letter enters a little more into particulars respecting this interesting occasion.

Dear Brother,

October 18th, 1790.

I felt a great Satisfaction last Week, on Monday, in hearing (excuse me now) that veteran in the Service of God, the Rev. John Wesley. I was informed in the Afternoon that he was in Town and would preach that Evening. Unfortunately a sick Man had sent to have his Will made directly, and it was

I have heard Mr. R. tell this more than once at his own table, with the interesting addition that so greatly was the preacher revered that the people stood in a double line to see him as he passed through the street on his way to the chapel.-G. S.

1790-1795.

John Wesley.

20

Clerk at

CHAP. II. given to me to write. But Mr. Francis, seeing how 1790-1795 mortified' I appeared, gave it to some one else, and I went to the Chapel. At another time, and not knowing the Man, I should almost have ridiculed his figure. Far from it now. I lookt upon him with a respect bordering upon Enthusiasm. After the people had sung one Verse of a hymn he arose, and said: "It gives me a great pleasure to find that you have not lost your Singing. Neither Men nor Women-you have not forgot a single Note. And I hope that by the assistance of the same God which enables you to sing well, you may do all other things well." A Universal Amen followed. At the End of every Head or Division of his Discourse, he finished by a kind of Prayer, a Momentary Wish as it were, not consisting of more than three or four words, which was always followed by a Universal Buzz. His discourse was short-the Text I could not hear. After the last Prayer, he rose up and addressed the People on Liberality of Sentiment, and spoke much against refusing to join with any Congregation on account of difference in Opinion. He said, "If they do but fear God, work righteousness, and keep his commandments, we have nothing to object to." He preached again on Tuesday Evening, but I was out of Town with Mr. Francis all day, holding a Court Baron.

I remain, &c.,

H. C. R.

1793.

Death of H. C. R.'s

On the 8th of January in this year died my dear Mother. mother, an excellent woman I firmly believe, though without any superiority of mind or attainments. Her

Colchester.

worth lay in the warmth of her domestic affections, and in her unaffected simple piety. After fifty-two years I think of her with unabated esteem and regard.

1794.

Among my Colchester acquaintance there is one man of great ability whom I recollect with pleasure, though I was but slightly acquainted with him. This is Ben Strutt. He was a self-educated man, but having been clerk to a provincial barrister, the Recorder of the town, where he had a great deal of leisure, he had become a hard reader and so acquired a great deal of knowledge. He was a man of literature and art, and without being an attorney knew a great deal of law. He was a sort of agent to country gentlemen, particularly in elections. He published an edition of the poems of Collins, whom he praised and declared to be much superior to Gray. And I think (though I have lost the book) that it contains additional stanzas by himself to the Ode on Superstition. Strutt also painted in oil, and was skilful as a mechanic. I recollect once having a peep into his bedroom, in which were curious figures and objects. which I beheld with some of the awe of ignorance. I looked up to him, and his words made an impression on me. One or two I recollect. When I went to Colchester I was very desirous of studying but I had no one to direct me, and therefore followed the routine practice and advice given to all clerks. I bought a huge folio volume to be filled with precedents, and copied therein my articles of clerkship. One evening I was writing very industriously in this volume when Ben Strutt came in. "I'm sorry to see you so lazy,

21

CHAP. II. 1790-1795.

Benj. Strutt.

CHAP. II. young gentleman!" "Lazy! I think I'm very in1790-1795. dustrious." "You do? Well now, whatever you think, let me tell you that your writing in that book is sheer laziness. You are too lazy to work as you ought with your head, and so you set your fingers at work to give your head a holiday. You know it is your duty to do something, and try to become a lawyer, and just to ease your conscience you do that. Had you been really industrious you would have studied the principles of law and carried the precedents in you head. And then you might make precedents, not follow them." I shut up the book and never wrote another line; it is still in existence, a memorial of Strutt. Yet Mephistopheles might have given the advice, for in my case it did harm, not good. S. was cynical, a free-thinker, I think an unbeliever. Yet one day he said something that implied he was a churchman. "What!" I exclaimed, "you a churchman!" He laughed, "Let me give you a piece of advice, young man. Whatever you be through life, always be of the Act of Parliament faith."

*

I recollect a wise word of Strutt's about law. I had been repeating to him some commonplace saying that governments ought to enounce great principles, and not to interfere with men's actions, or details. "Just the contrary," growled Strutt, "Government has to do with nothing but details; of course it ought to do the right, not the wrong thing, and it makes many blunders.

* Yes. It was found among his books by his executors after his death. It gives evidence of great industry, accuracy, and neatness as well as order and method. On page 76 of the book is the following memorandum at the end of one of the precedents-"Wrote this April 1st, 1791, the first year of my clerkship being then finished." The book is continued to page 120, and finally stops in the middle of a precedent.

Colchester.

There is no use in prating about abstract rights. It is the business of Government to counsel people to do what is right." In the same spirit at another time he said, I having uttered some commonplace saying as if Locke's principles had produced the Revolution, “That's all nonsense, Locke's book was the effect, not the cause of the Revolution. People do not rebel and overset Governments because they have any ideas about liberty and right, but because they are wretched, and cannot bear what they suffer. The new Government employed Locke to justify what they had done, and to remove the scruples of weak, conscientious people." I believe I owe a great deal to Strutt, for he set me thinking, and had he been my regular instructor might have really educated me. But I saw him only now and then. I once saw him by accident in London a few years after I had left Mr. Francis. He was going to the Opera ; I mentioned that I had no ear for music, least of all for Italian music. "Get it as soon as you can. You must one day love Italian music, either in this or another life. It is your business to get as much as you can here—for, as you leave off here you must begin there." This, if seriously said, implied a sort of hope of immortality very much like that of Goethe.

Ben Strutt has been many years dead. He had a son who survived him and became a painter. He made a portrait of me, a disagreeable but a strong likeness.

On my becoming clerk at Colchester, only thirteen miles from Witham, I had frequent opportunities of visiting my relatives, the Isaacs, and through them I became acquainted with others. Among these was Mr.

23

CHAP. II.

1790-1795.

Jacob

Pattisson.