India as the surgeon of the Walmer Castle and the Owen Glendower; and Richard, too, must needs be a surgeon. In his medical mania it is likely that he was haunted by the brilliant precedent of the Hunters, and, with youthful enthusiasm, he would recall the example of the young journeyman who quitted the carpenter's bench to become the prince of anatomists, and the collector of a world-famed museum. But Rheece and Richard Williams were not destined to repeat the romance of William Hunter and his brother John. Rheece died at Madras, a generous and noble-hearted young man ; and for Richard, God had provided some better thing than scientific reputation.

This professional bias was aided by a strong turn for letters. Our friend delighted in books: he was constantly reading them, and sometimes dreamed of making them. And in a learned pursuit he doubtless reckoned on a large amount of literary leisure. This is frequently a mistake. A clergyman without a congregation, a barrister without briefs, and a physician without patients, have abundance of leisure; but, in that case, there is great danger of their ceasing to be literary. On the other hand, a minister who enters heartily into his work, a lawyer or a doctor who prospers in his practice, has as little time to spare for his own special likings as a manufacturer or a merchant; and, when the daily demand on his energies is answered, we question if he will retain an equal amount of zest and spirit. In other

words, should any of our readers be employed in making planes, or in selling or using them, and should they at the same time be sighing after better opportunity to read great authors, we know not any road more royal than their present calling. Most likely, even now that calling allows them an hour or two for mental improvement or intellectual relaxation; and, if they are diligent in their business, there is no more legitimate way of employing their savings than in purchasing instalments of leisure for their favourite pursuits.

By great exertions, Mr Williams accomplished a medical curriculum. He studied at University College, London, and at the London Hospital; and having been initiated in the practical details of his profession by a cousin in Oxfordshire, he was able to pass his examination in May 1841, when twentysix years of age. For some time he acted as assistant to various medical gentlemen at Norwich and elsewhere; and, eventually, his brother-in-law and sister, Mr and Mrs Hill, being resident in Burslem, Staffordshire, sent him an invitation to come and settle beside them. That invitation he accepted; and, by the success with which his first cases were treated, he soon attracted notice, and became a popular practitioner, with extensive employment. For, with an irreproachable character, passionately addicted to the noble science which was now his vocation, carrying a prepossession in his pleasant countenance and gentle manners, prompt, punctual,

and affectionately interested in his patients, and, in a profession humane and generous beyond all others, distinguished by his liberality and disinterestedness, -it is not wonderful that he soon became a favourite, and saw opening before him a field of abundant occupation.

During all this interval, however, there was no religion in his virtue. Warm-hearted and manly, he was not devout; and, amidst all his solicitude for the bodily health of his neighbours, the salvation of their souls or of his own had never cost him a thought. With an ardent and enthusiastic temperament, he had no love for his heavenly Friend, and no sympathy with that philanthropy which seeks the eternal welfare of its objects.

One Lord's day, a friend returning from public worship called on him, and found him in his surgery reading a newspaper. His friend asked him if this were a right employment of God's day. There was something of rebuke in the reply: "Were my mind, like yours, satisfied that Christianity is true, I would embrace it with all my soul, and I would live accordingly." His visitor felt that he was sincere, and could only regret that, to a nature so energetic, and, in many respects, so ingenuous, the gospel was nothing more than a cunning fable or a cabalistic formula.

CHAPTER II.

The Beginning of Better Days.

HAVE mercy, Lord, on me,
As thou wert ever kind;
Let me, oppress'd with loads of guilt,
Thy wonted merey find.

Wash off my foul offence,

And cleanse me from my sin;
For I confess my crime, and see
How great my guilt has been.
Psalm li. 1, 2, 3.—Brady and Tate.

When the Lord Jesus first revealed himself to me, he did not reason with me about truth and error; but he attacked me like a warrior, and felled me to the ground by the power of his arm.-Van der Kemp.