both for his temporal and his spiritual welfare. In 1807, he went into the employ of Mr. Simpkins, of Stanton St. Bernard, as nagman, and it was there he heard for the first time, the gospel as preached by the Wesleyan Methodists; and notwithstanding all his efforts to conceal himself in the "crowd," he found that the preacher knew all about him. At this village it was that a kind friend who cared for his soul, the late Mr. John Clarke, invited him to come to the services. On one occasion he went, as he thought, to the preaching, but it proved to be a class meeting. Here his impressions were deepened, and desires quickened and confirmed,—in ' fact, he fell in love with the meeting, and said, “O how my mother would like this!" and he soon ran and told her what a meeting he had had. The next Sabbath his father and mother went, and, as he says, "got their souls blessed."His mother rejoiced to see him so much bent on his best interests, for the Lord had heard her prayers. She soon, invited the preacher to come to Woodborough, expressing her regret that she was not able to entertain him as she wished, when the worthy preacher said, that if she would only provide him some clean straw and a blanket, he would gladly come. From that time she continued to receive them, till, in the kind providence of God, thirteen years afterwards, a chapel was opened in the village. In 1808, our brother returned to Woodborough Mill, where he had lived at a former period. There was regular preaching at his father's house, and a society was formed, but he did not fully unite with.. them; partly from a fear of bringing a reproach on them, and partly from some other of the usual Causes of such indecision.

About this time he had an attack of sickness, which, together with what he was hearing as to the Lord's work on the souls of others upon hear ing a stirring local preacher, Mr. Akerman, who preached an instructive sermon on justification by faith and its concomitant blessings, he resolved to pay more attention to the bible. The next morning he went with it in his hand to the upper loft

in the mill, opened it on the 5th of Romans, and read on to the 8th. He read, and prayed, and wept, and while reading the 16th verse, the Lord spoke peace to his soul, the Spirit of God witnessing with his own spirit that he was a child of God. This was in May, 1809, when he was in his 19th year. Some time afterwards he was appointed leader of a class, and he gives the names of the members, his father and mother, William Powell, Mary Grimes, and Sarah Pinchin. Sometimes he read and exhorted at the

prayer meetings. The preaching room was crowded, and the cause prospered.

The first quarterly meeting he attended was on June 24, 1811, at Milksham, fifteen miles away from Woodborough. He stayed to the watch-night service, and was much blessed. Afterwards he walked home alone in the night, and was very happy. In the spring of 1812, he went into the service of Mr. Wm. Berger, baker, of Pewsey, who was a Calvinist and a worthy man; but Thomas could not get on with him, nor his associates; he lost ground and became unhappy. He came home again, and found the cause lowering, and as he considered it partly attri butable to his unfaithfulness, he feared he had been out of the way of providence at Pewsey, so resolved to try to earn a living at home. This was in 1814. The Lord gave him success in his business of baker, &c., but he complained of his heart being too much in the world. Then came losses, crosses, and disappointments; all of which he construed as the Lord's method of punishing him for his halfheartedness in his cause. At this juncture, the Rev. Mr. Button, Wesleyan, Minister, preached at Stanton, and Thomas attended. After service the itinerant rather closely questioned the local brother, as to how his class was getting on at Woodborough, and having reasons from his brother's replies, for thinking he was negligent, he said, "If the devil will have lazy folks, what would become of him ?"

1

I now give the local brother's own words:"I then began more earnestly to cry to God that he would heal my backslidings; and as I returned

to Him, the Lord returned to me, and I was fully satisfied the cause was of God; and as I began to labour in it as before, my peace was restored, and I felt a fresh manifestation of the pardoning love of God shed abroad in my heart."

In February 1816, He was married to a steady God-fearing woman, but who did not know much about religious experience, as taught and generally realised by members of the Wesleyan Society. She soon became better instructed, however, convinced, pardoned, and made happy, and was for the four years she lived, a zealous and useful member. She died in 1820.

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In 1817, he was cheered and encouraged by the coming of a local preacher, Mr. James Milsom, to reside at Honey-street-wharf. By him the neighbourhood was somewhat aroused to religious matters.A preaching room was procured at Manningford by this zealous man's efforts; and it was by a move of this gentleman, that he was fixed for the first time in a pulpit. He gave a short address on "He who was rich," &c. In the year 1819, Rev. Mr. Ogilvie put him on the plan as an exhorter; and it appears that the Lord condescended to render him an agent for good among the people. Though agitated at first, he became settled down in his subsequent experience. Among the prayers of the local brother and members and friends, one was for a chapel ; and on the 9th August, 1820, a plot of ground was purchased of a liberal Calvinist, George Rudman, and on the 16th September, same year, the chapel was opened with three services, -morning, by Harry Noyes, Esquire, Thruxton; afternoon, by Rev. Mr. Osborne, of Milksham, and evening, by Mr. Sweetapple.

The full particulars of his last sickness and its progress and end, I need not, if I could, detail. It was sudden, and was of a paralytic character, affecting him in body and mind. He was generally quiet, and said but little during his illness, or towards his last moments. This, however, is of little importance, for his life throughout was evidently honest, kind, and industrious; and in his Wesleyan

period I may say it was generally exemplary. That he was safe and happy, every one who knew him feels persuaded; and doubtless, many among us wish for so good an end of his probationary career.

As a local preacher, the subject of this record possessed good common sense. He was remarkable for an easy volubility of speech. His education was a mere a b c. He could always be depended upon as to his appointments. There was nothing in his addresses that could be deemed of a highly edifying character; yet he was never offensive. He would take uncommon texts, and at times, perhaps, say strange things; but every body knew Thomas Shipman, and every body loved him. He read the Bible and hymns much better than many far more educated men often do. His prayers were ever acceptable, and his sermons never appeared mere repetitions. As to his character as a Christian, a Wesleyan, and in his other relations, I never knew anything but consistency marking his conduct. I never heard him utter a hasty, unkind, or censorious word, never saw him in a passion, nor out of temper. He seemed always in the best of elements, Love-to God, to Christ, to man, and Methodism. He had an air of sobriety bordering on sadness; yet he was never sad; a quietness verging on indifference; yet he was not apathetic.

I feel strongly inclined here to show how, through Mr. J. Clarke, Wesleyanism was introduced into this locality, and how greatly Messrs. Clarke and Battins contributed to the funds of Woodborough Chapel, and other matters; but they would be irrelevant; and I shall close by noting that our deceased friend and brother became a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Local Preachers' MutualAid Association, in the year 1850, and that he continued in it to his death; and I am warranted in stating, that this noble institution, and the help he derived from it, saved him from the Union yea, I may add more; that he held for life an interest in the house he occupied; and that if with such interest he had made application for parochial help, he would not have

Is a wonderful monthly "visitor." Talk of a pennyworth of illustrated literature! Why, the illustrations are worth the money thrice told. Look at that large-sized oyster-girl, with barrel in front of her, with one of the crustaceous animals between the fingers and thumb of the left hand, whilst the right hand grasps the knife which she is carefully and dexterously inserting between the two shells, to bring out the living dainty. It is night. There are no gas lamps in the street. But a firmly set tin lantern is on the barrel, and thence comes a flood of light upon the operator, displaying her winter costume, and a countenance expressive of patience and resignation. Then there is a "Forest scene in Rupert's Land, illustrative of missions to the Indians; and below that, a view of the tower, &c., of Keynsham Church. The paper, the typography, and the matter are equal to any of the previous numbers,

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL HYMN BOOK. London: Elliot Stock, Paternoster Row. THE Committee of the Congregational Tract Society issue the ninetieth thousand of this little book. There are 140 hymns and four doxologies. Many of them are established favourites, some of them beautifully simpleadapted for infants-and most of them of sterling excellence. Several of the compositions are intended to inculcate the doctrines of religious liberty and the right and duty of resistance to magisterial authority in religion. Some of the hymns have been altered from the language of experience and confidence to that of hope, as more accurately adapted to the actual feelings of children generally. The paper and typography are good, and more attention has been paid to punctuation than is common in such publications.

STORIES FOR SUNDAY SCHOLARS: THE FIRST FALSE STEP. London: Elliot Stock, Paternoster Row." THIS monthly series of stories merits a wide sphere and large circulation. A village grocer having taken a young orphan as an errand boy, and found him active and useful, a good writer and trusty accountant, placed him in the way of preferment, and gave him opportunity for improvement by attendance at an evening school. The lad became acquainted with an older lad of bad principles and habits, who gained an ascendency over him, and induced him to make free with his employer's goods, then with his money. Dreading detection, and miserable in himself, the seduced boy resolved to abscond, and to make his way to London. He tied the sheets of his bed together, and attempted to descend from the room by them, but fell and hurt one foot so severely, that, after walking awhile in agony, he fainted. Coming to himself, he found himself in an hospital, to which he had been conveyed, where an old seaman became the instrument of his conversion. He then wrote to his master

confessing his crime and asking forgiveness. This led to his restoration to confidence and to the situation he had abandoned; and he never afterwards forgot the lesson of the First False Step. A woodcut illustrates his descent by the tied sheets.

THE GARDENER'S MAGAZINE.

WE have had time for no more than a superficial glance over the July number, issued on the first of August. It has less graphical illustration than some of its predecessors, but appears to be equal to any of them in the variety and value of its articles. Several on the propagation of roses, the cultivation of camellias, fuchsias, heaths, strawberries in pots, lilies, cytisus, geraniums, &c., will attract attention.

Poetry.

THE DYING PEASANT TO HIS WIFE. O'AILY, a cushla! come close to me now, There's a chill in my veins there's a

damp on my brow;

I am going, agra, to the land of the blest, Where the poor and the lowly find comfort and rest. :

I'll be happy, I know, yet 'tis hard thus to part

From the love of my bosom and light of my heart,

The wife that has watched me in sorrow and ill

And, alanna machree, sure you're watching me still.

If I left you, asthore, by your own fireside, You would ne'er feel the cares of a poor peasant's bride;

But I read in your eye that you loved me alone,

And with hopes for the future I made you my own.

And sure we had joy till the famine

PHENOMENA OF THE MONTH.
OCTOBER.'

THE Sun, now sinking below the equator, rises on the 1st at two minutes after six, and sets at twentyfour minutes before six; on the 15th it rises at twenty-six minutes after six and sets at five minutes after five; and on the 31st it rises at six minutes before seven and sets at twenty-sevenminutes before five. We lose, therefore, fifty-two minutes of daylight in the morning, and sixty-three minutes in the evening-together, one hour and fifty-five minutes during the month. The sun is in the zodiacal sign Libra until the 23rd, when it enters Scorpio.

in the

On the 19th of October there will be an annular eclipse of the sun, partly visible in this country as a partial eclipse. At London it at twelve minutes after it will begin afternoon, the opaque body of the moon appearing to touch the S.S.W. part of the sun's disk. Nearly onethird of the sun's diameter will be hidden at eight minutes after five, but this period of greatest eclipse will not be reached until eleven minutes after sunset.

The Moon is full, and at the same time partially eclipsed, on the 4th at half-past ten in the evening, and new on the 19th at twenty-seven minutes after four during the sun's eclipse.