the London Missionary Society, and he himself, we believe, accompanied by the present Lord Congleton, actually once conveyed in it the late Richard Knill to St. Petersburgh.

About this time Mr. Puget appears to have fixed his residence at Brighton. Here, in connection with the late Mr. Sortain, one of his most attached friends, he devoted his time and energies to every work of benevolence and evangelization. The Countess of Huntingdon's chapel, in North-street, owes much of its present enlarged and improved form to him. But his principal work in connection with this chapel was to purchase the site and erect the spacious rooms, at a cost to himself of more than £3,000, of what has since been known as the Puget-schools, which were included in the chapel trust, with the single reservation that he should be sole manager of the schools during his life. Here, for many years, sustained entirely, making due allowance for the weekly pence, by the liberality of the founder, some three or four hundred children of the lowest class received a sound education, secular and religious, under competent masters, and were, besides, clothed once a year. Subsequently, on Mr. Puget's removal to Totteridge, in 1841, after the death of his mother, the school was adapted to the wants of a somewhat higher class of scholars, and made, nominally at least, selfsupporting.

At Totteridge, from this time until his death, he pursued the same unwearied course of practical benevolence, and in the same association as before, with the education of the children of the poor. It will not be expected in a brief notice of this kind, that we should give anything like a detailed account of all Mr. Puget's plans and labours of love. It may suffice to say that in all the forms in which Christian philanthropy can express itself he was incessantly active, and expended in his own immediate neighbourhood not less than £1,000 annually. Here he sustained regularly two schools, one or two missionaries, and in connection both with them and others, who voluntarily gave their services, he carried out a thorough system of district visitation week by week. His infant-school was considered a model of what such schools should be, and on one occasion the Directors of the Infant-school Training Institution, in Gray's Inn-lane, sent down all their pupil-teachers, in order to witness one of its half-yearly examinations. Much of his own time was spent in these schools, as well as in visiting the poor, and watching by the beds of the sick and dying. To help forward promising youths, by sending them to higher schools, or apprenticing them to useful trades, or in some cases even setting them up in business; to send sick men to hospitals in London or Brighton, and to support their families for months during their absence, or to bring to their own humble abodes the most eminent physicians or surgeons of the metropolis-these were common things with him. What he was, as a supporter of religious institutions, particularly the Bible Society, the London City Mission, and the Herts Union, we must pass over, in order to have space for a brief account of one of his most characteristic efforts.

Shortly after taking up his permanent residence at Totteridge he resolved upon the construction of a substantial bridge over the stream which here divides the counties of Middlesex and Hertford, and the improvement of the public road on each side. The work was one of immense public utility; but Mr. Puget's principal object in undertaking it, at a cost of more than £3,000, was to employ the working men of the immediate neighbourhood, to subject them for the time to the influences of Christian truth and kindness, with the view of bringing about, under the Divine blessing, a decided spiritual change. The work proceeded for about two years, and during this time he met the assembled labourers regularly every morning at seven, read and explained the Scriptures and prayed with them,

and afterwards left them comfortably seated at a breakfast, which he had gratuitously provided. The men were also placed under strict regulations during the progress of the work, particularly in reference to temperance and attendance at some place of worship. Their wages, moreover, were high, and they received in every way the kindest possible treatment. What the ultimate results of this effort have been, or may yet be, we are unable to say; but it presents just that union of the ordinary means of grace with a system of continuous practical benevolence, on which Mr. Puget ever seemed to place most reliance as an instrumentality for spiritual usefulness.

He now, however, rests from all such earthly labours, though, unhappily for us, he was called to his rest suddenly, and many years before old age could have overtaken the flow of his natural energies. He had indeed been suffering for some time from a heart disease, but had also been assured by his medical adviser that no danger was to be apprehended. He spent the few last days of his life in London, and attended on Sunday, the 14th of April, at Craven Hill Chapel. The ministry of the Rev. A. McMillan was peculiarly acceptable and useful to some members of his family, and no doubt to himself; and besides he had some interesting ties of association with the chapel, having contributed largely to its erection in its connection with his friend, the late Mr. Birch, its first pastor. Going into the vestry after each service, as his manner was, Mr. McMillan was enabled to observe the state of his mind, and was deeply impressed with his devoutness and spirituality. At the close of the evening service he proposed to double the special collections which had been made on that Sunday, a thing by no means unusual with him on such occasions. On the following morning his household assembled at the regular hour for family worship, but he was not there to conduct it. After waiting some minutes a servant was sent to his bed-room, when it was found that his spirit had departed some hours earlier to a higher worship.

We cannot presume to analyze Mr. Puget's order of mind, or to present anything like a sketch of his Christian character. But a few facts may be stated, which all who knew him will readily accept as such. He was endowed with an extraordinary measure of sound sense, and had a deep insight into human nature. Few men could detect more quickly the weak side of an argument. He was habitually playful, and had inexhaustible resources of humour. He was a man rather of things than of books. His personal recollections of Peel, Wilberforce, Irving, Chalmers, and others, contributed greatly to the general interest of his society. He was a gentleman, which means that he was so at all times, and, like Sir Walter Scott, down even to his dogs.

His views of Divine truth were decidedly those which are generally known as Calvinistic. His spirit was most catholic. In Church government he would have preferred a modified episcopacy. If, in some particulars, his opinions were lax, a compensation appeared in an extra strictness of practice. He reminded one sometimes of Cranmer, of whom it was said that the way to make him a friend was to do him an injury. He was certainly, though perhaps not without prejudices, far raised above all petty resentments.

His most conspicuous Christian excellences grew, as it were, from the ashes of consumed natural dispositions. Thus, naturally proud, he became habitually humble; aristocratic in his tastes and sympathies, he mingled freely with the poor and the mean; hasty in temper, his words and actions were expressive only of gentleness and patience.

He lived and breathed in the element of self-renunciation. Considering his station in society, his possessions were decidedly below rather than above the

average; but his works of benevolence were carried on at the expense of daily abstinence from, at least, the luxuries of his position. He daily denied himself in order to do good. Our unfeigned sorrow for the premature loss of such a man is greatly relieved by the knowledge that his children have imbibed his spirit, and that especially his two sons will rejoice to carry on the works which his decease commits to their hands.

HERBERT MENDS GIBSON, ESQ., PLYMOUTH.

HERBERT MENDS GIBSON was born in Plymouth, August 11th, 1794, and died April 17th, 1867. He was the son of pious parents, and on both sides could claim a godly ancestry. His maternal grandfather was the Rev. Christopher Mends, an able and successful servant of Christ, who ministered for nearly forty years in Batter Street Chapel, Plymouth. Mr. Gibson was named after his son, the Rev. Herbert Mends, who succeeded his father in the pastorate, and for many years maintained a high reputation throughout the West of England. The Mends were a good Welsh family, and some members of it obtained considerable distinction through valiant service rendered to their country. When seventeen years of age Christopher Mends listened to the preaching of Whitfield, and was so deeply impressed by the truth he heard, that he subsequently consecrated himself to the work of the ministry.

Mr. Gibson was educated for the profession of the Law, and throughout a long and successful career, in which he was entirely dependent upon his own ability and energy, he maintained a reputation unsullied. Recognising to the fullest extent the duties of citizenship, at the outset he identified himself with political and municipal affairs, and his fellow-townsmen were not slow to recognise those qualifications for public life which he possessed in an eminent degree. With increasing years, his sound judgment, large experience, and unquestioned integrity, gave great weight to his counsels, and he devoted himself to the welfare of his native town with the most unwearied and self-sacrificing zeal. In 1835 he became a member of the Town Council, and three years after was chosen an alderman of the borough, which office he held without interruption until the time of his death. In 1852 he discharged the duties of the mayoralty with great honour, and the several public trusts which were reposed in him indicated how largely he had secured general confidence and esteem. For nearly thirty years he was the professional agent of the Liberal party in the Borough, and all parties unite in testifying to the zeal, fairness, and scrupulous integrity with which he conducted its affairs.

The religious convictions which resulted from the training and associations of his early life obtained open and decided expression when he was about twentytwo years of age. He was in London at the time for the purpose of completing his legal studies, and while beset with the peculiar temptations incident to his position, he affirmed his own faith in truth and righteousness, and exhibited his devotion to his Saviour by uniting himself with the Church under the pastoral care of the Rev. George Burder. He returned to Plymouth the following year, and became associated with the Church, then meeting in Norley Chapel, and since removed to Sherwell Chapel, and, throughout a period of nearly half a century, he remained steadfast and unwearied in his devotion to its welfare. With his friend, the late David Derry, Esq., between whom there existed an attachment which originated in boyhood, became closer and more sacred with increasing years, and was only interrupted a few short months by death, he assisted in forming the first Sunday-schools in the town; the Missionary Enterprise secured his warmest sympathy; and the various religious and benevolent

societies which have been originated during the present century had in him a consistent and earnest supporter. At the time of his death he was President of the Town Mission and Chairman of the Western College, and from other committees, where his counsels were always valued, his presence will be greatly missed.

Death came upon him suddenly. Although he had reached the threescore years and ten, he possessed an energy which seemed to promise a lengthened life; but God had willed it otherwise. A journey to London to promote a bill of local interest, which was passing through a Committee of the House of Commons, hastened the crisis. He had scarcely reached town before he was seized with inflammation of the lungs, and returned home to die. Conscious that his condition was critical, he awaited the result with calmness and composure. A few Sundays before he had heard a sermon from the words, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon earth I desire beside Thee?" It seemed to have fastened itself upon his mind, and was the thought that sustained him through the dark valley of the shadow of death. His faithful wife survived him only a few days. Her own strength failed her through the weariness of anxious watching, and the sorrow of bereavement utterly quenched all desire for life. She lingered until the morning of his funeral, and then, with the words of prayer upon her lips, her spirit passed away.

CHARLES ROBERTSON, ESQ., LIVERPOOL.

CHARLES ROBERTSON belonged to a respectable family in the north of Scotland, where he spent his youth. He received his early education at the Inverness Royal Academy. "My recollection of him," says one of his schoolfellows,* "is that of a quiet, gentle, retiring boy, who mixed but little with the other boys, and took no part in the games of the Academy Park. My impression of his gentle, quiet manners, has always been so clear and deep that I have sometimes wondered at the strong, bold position which he took in after life in relation to public questions." His parents were attached to the Established Church of Scotland, and seem to have been anxious to give him a competent knowledge of the truths of the Bible, and to accustom him to a regular attendance on the ordinances of the Church. On the completion of his studies he devoted himself to commercial pursuits, and was, when quite a youth, sent abroad. There, unfortunately, everything was unfavourable to his moral and religious character. The form of worship to which he had been accustomed had no existence in his new residence. The condition of the society into which he was necessarily thrown was immoral, profligate, and sceptical in a high degree. It is not, therefore, surprising that destitute as he was of religious principle, he did not escape the contagion of the place. Morally and religiously he suffered serious injury. During his residence abroad he was twice visited with an alarming illness, and brought to the brink of the grave. But these visitations left no decided impression. He continued as careless and irreligious as ever. His health, however, at the close of eight years, became so greatly shaken as to compel his return home. At this stage his own acknowledgment is, "I was a confirmed Deist. I believed all religions to be alike; that a conscientious Jew or Mahommedan would certainly be saved." Though in a worldly point of view he had everything that he could desire, he was far from happy. Having cast off the restraints of religion, his mind was vacant

*The editor of the Christian Witness had much pleasure in writing these words to the Rev. John Kelly, in answer to his inquiries. This account of Mr. Robertson is abridged from Mr. Kelly's funeral sermon.

and restless. The circumstances which led to his conversion are very instructive, and show how wisely God deals with men-very much in adaptation to their peculiar character.

His spiritual awakening was a silent, gradual, but decisive work. With his cultivated mind reading was a necessity and a delight to him; and he had the opportunity to enjoy it without restraint. He was no mere devourer of books; he brought thought and consideration to everything which engaged his attention. This habit was overruled for his good. His own account is: A casual remark in the course of reading led me to reflect whether there might not after all be truth in religion; and the result of my reflections was a resolution to examine the Bible. I took it up, but before opening it, it struck me as but right to present a petition to that Invisible Being of whom the book professed to treat." The particulars of the prayer he mentions. It was dark enough, but it was at least earnest and honest. He felt that he was wrong, but had no definite conception of his case. In this state of mind he began the study. He prosecuted it for some time without much interest or satisfaction; still he persevered. He was gradually led to unite with the perusal of the Bible other works of a serious, practical nature. At length there was sufficient light breaking in to reveal the darkness, but none to show the way of escape. Things came before him which he knew to be true; and, if true, of infinite importance to him personally. His conscience was alarmed. It was not particular sins, though exceedingly heinous, that distressed him. The burden under which he chiefly groaned was that of a sinful nature--a heart wholly perverted; the pollution of the stream was nothing compared to that of the fountain. At length, on this mental chaos God commanded the light to shine, and that light was the glorious declaration, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." It came home with power to his heart, and before its brightness the darkness vanished. It appeared as if the key of salvation had been put into his hands. He at first feared lest he had misapprehended its meaning; so full of mercy did it seem, and yet so simple in its nature, that he could not help being surprised at never having discovered it before. Yet it gave him peace; and from that time he entered on a new life-a life of unreserved consecration to God. Doubts he subsequently had, temptations assailed him, but these things only issued in giving him more settled peace. He knew in whom he believed, and found rest to his soul.

When this change had passed upon him, he soon found that the teaching of the Established Church, on which he then attended, did not suit his case. It was greatly wanting in that thorough evangelical strain which he craved, and indeed felt to be a necessity. After seeking for some time elsewhere what he required, he finally attached himself to the Independent Chapel in the town where he then dwelt. The pastor was a plain man, but intelligent, earnest, and devout. The Church principles of our friend, so far as he had thought on the question, were Presbyterian; but, with his usual caution and determination, he resolved to undertake a careful examination of the subject for himself, before he sought membership with the Church with which he was associated in worship. The result is thus stated in his own language: "I saw that the Church of Christ must be governed solely by the instructions laid down in the Apostolic writings; that every interference of the secular power tended to deteriorate its purity." And he adds, "Ever since these convictions have been gaining strength; and they are, so far as I am aware, the result of a dispassionate and unbiassed judgment." Just when this conclusion was reached, he was, in the providence of God, removed to Liverpool. After a brief space he resolved to seek fellowship with the Church, under the pastoral care of the Rev. John Kelly--the first and