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He could bend iron bars with a stroke of his arm; roll up large pewter dishes like a scroll with his fingers; and when travelling through Bovagh wood, a place through which his walks frequently lay, he has been known to pull down the top of an oak-sapling, twist it into a withe by the mere strength of his arms and fingers, and thus working it down in a spiral form to the earth, leave it with its root in the ground, for the astonishment of all that might pass by.

One day dining at an inn with two officers, who, perhaps, unluckily for themselves, wished to be witty at the parson's expense; he said something which had a tendency to lessen their self-confidence. One of them considering his honour touched, said, "Sir, were it not for your cloth, I would oblige you to eat the words you have spoken." Mr. M'Lean rose up in a moment, took off his coat, rolled it up in a bundle and threw it under the table, with these fearful words; "Divinity lie thou there, and M'Lean do for thyself!" So saying, he seized the foremost of the heroes by the cuff of the neck and by the waistband of the breeches, and dashed him through the strong sash-window of the apartment, a considerable way on the opposite pavement of the street! Such was the projectile violence, that the poor officer passed through the sash as if it had been a cobweb.

Both extremes met in this family; a sister of this same gentleman, one of A. C.'s maternal aunts, was only three feet high, and died about her thirtieth year. Thus Nature was as parsimonious in the one case as she was profuse in the other: yet there was another aunt in the family, who had more muscular power than most common men.

That district might be said to be the land of strong and gigantic men. There was born and bred Bob Dunbar, famous for his lawless and brutal strength. In the same barony, if not in the same township, were born of ordinary parents, of the name of Knight, two brothers, each of whom stood seven and a half feet high. It was a curious sight to see these two young men (who generally went in plain scarlet coats) walking through a fair, in Magherafelt, as they generally stood head and shoulders above the thousands there assembled.

In_the_same_township, Moneymore, was the celebrated Charles Burns born. He was a young man, and so were the Knights, when A. C. was a lad at school. Charles Burns was well proportioned, and measured eight feet six inches! In short, all the people in that country are among either the tallest, the hardiest, or the strongest in Europe.

Adam Clarke has been frequently known to thank God for the hardy manner in which he was brought up; and to say, "My heavenly Father saw that I was likely to meet with many rude blasts in journeying through life, and he prepared me in infancy for the lot his providence destined for me; so that

through his mercy I have been enabled to carry a profitable childhood up to hoary hairs." He would add, "He knew that I must walk alone through life, and therefore set me on my feet right early, that I might be prepared by long practice for the work I was appointed to perform."

It has already been observed that his grand parents promised to take him to themselves when he could be safely taken from under a mother's care. This they accordingly did; but little Adam could ill brook confinement in the house by the side of his grandmother. He was accustomed to roam about the walls and hedges; and there being a draw-well into which he was particularly fond of looking, when it was left uncovered; his grandmother, fearing that he might some day fall in and be drowned, sent him home to his parents.

He took the small-pox, when he was about five years old, in the natural way; inoculation was then scarcely known, and the usual treatment was as follows:-the patient was covered up with a load of clothes in a warm bed, the curtains drawn close to keep off every breath of air, and some spirituous liquors carefully given, in order to strike the pock out, as it was termed! It is no wonder that such treatment of an inflammatory disorder carried thousands to an untimely grave. Adam was covered from head to foot with this disease, but no authority or power of parents, or attendants, could confine him to his bed. Whenever he found an opportunity he left his bed, and ran out naked into the open air. This he did frequently, in defiance of all custom and authority; he was led to adopt the cool regimen, had a merciful termination of the disorder, and escaped without a single mark! He has often been heard to say, "He perfectly remembered this time, and still retained a lively impression of the relief he found in this burning disease, by exposure to the open air, though he suffered much in walking, for even the soles of his feet were covered with pustules."

This early recollection need not be wondered at; his memory seems to have been in exercise from his tenderest infancy; for he has been known to relate circumstances to his mother, which he had in recollection, though she knew that they had taken place when probably he was only three years of age!

When he was about six years old, an occurrence took place which deserves to be circumstantially related. At this time his father lived at Maghera, where he kept a public school, both English and classical, and where he was tutor to the son of the Rev. Dr. Barnard, then Dean of Derry, and rector of Maghera, and afterwards successively Bishop of Kilaloe and Limerick. Near to where Mr. Clarke lived was a very decent orderly family, of the name of Brooks, who lived on a small farm. They had eleven children, some of whom went regularly to Mr. Clarke's school: one, called James, was the

tenth child, a lovely lad, between whom and little Adam there subsisted a most intimate friendship, and strong attachment. One day when walking hand in hand in a field near the house, they sat down on a bank and began to enter into very serious conversation:-they both became much affected, and this was deepened to exquisite distress by the following observations made by little Brooks. “O, Addy, Addy," said he, “what a dreadful thing is eternity, and, O, how dreadful to be put into hell fire and to be burnt there for ever and ever!" They both wept bitterly, and, as they could, begged God to forgive their sins; and they made to each other strong promises of amendment. They wept till they were really sick, and departed from each other with full and pensive hearts!

In reviewing this circumstance, Adam has been heard to say: "I was then truly and deeply convinced that I was a sinner, and that I was liable to eternal punishment; and that nothing but the mercy of God could save me from it: though I was not so conscious of any other sin as that of disobedience to my parents, which at that time affected me most forcibly. When I left my little companion, I went home, told the whole to my mother with a full heart, expressing the hope that I should never more say any bad words, or refuse to do what she or my father might command. She was both surprised and affected, and gave me much encouragement, and prayed heartily for me. With a glad heart she communicated the information to my father, on whom I could see it did not make the same impression; for he had little opinion of pious resolutions in childish minds, though he feared God, and was a serious conscientious churchman. I must own that the way in which he treated it was very discouraging to my mind, and served to mingle impressions with my serious feelings, that were not friendly to their permanence: yet the impression, though it grew faint, did not wear away. It was laid deep in the consideration of eternity; and my accountableness to God for my conduct; and the absolute necessity of enjoying his favour, that I might never taste the bitter pains of eternal death. Had I had any person to point out the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world, I believe I should then have been found as capable of repentance and faith, (my youth and circumstances considered,) as I ever was afterwards. But I had no helper, 'no messenger, one among a thousand, who could shew man his righteousness.'"

Though the place was divided between the Church and the Presbyterians, yet there was little even of the form of godliness, and still less of the power. Nor indeed, were the people excited to examine the principles of their own creed, till many years after, when the Methodists came into that country, "preaching repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ."

As to his little companion, James Brooks, there was some

thing singular in his history. It has already been noted that he was the tenth child of his parents, and that the Rector of the parish was the famous Dr. Barnard, deservedly celebrated among the literary friends of Dr. Samuel Johnson.

Mrs. Brooks having gone to the dean's one morning, to pay her tithe, took little James in her hand: when she had laid down her money, she observed:-"Sir, you have annually the tenth of all I possess, except my children; it is but justice you should have the tenth of them also. I have eleven, and this is my tenth son, whom I have brought to you as the tithe of my children, as I have brought the tithe of my grain. I hope, Sir, you will take and provide for him." To this singular address, the dean found it difficult to reply. He could not, at first, suppose the woman to be in earnest: but on her urging her application, and almost insisting on his receiving this tenth of her intellectual live stock, both his benevolence and humanity were affected; he immediately accepted the child, had him clothed, &c., let him lodge with the parents for a time, and sent him to school to Mr. John Clarke. In a short time Mr. C. removed from that part of the country; and what became of the interesting young man is not known. He was always called Tithe by the school-boys.

In some children, as well as grown-up persons, certain unaccountable sympathies and atipathies have been observed. Adam had a singular antipathy to large fat men, or men with big bellies, as he phrased it.

A gentleman of the name of Pearce Quinlin, was his father's nearest neighbour: this man was remarkably corpulent; his eyes stood out with fatness, and his belly was enormously protuberant. With this gentleman Adam was a favorite, yet he ever beheld him with abhorrence; and could hardly be persuaded to receive the little gifts which Mr. Q. brought to obtain his friendship. The following circumstance rendered the dislike more intense.-A dumb man, who pretended to tell fortunes, called there a spac-man, came one day to his father's house. Mrs. Clarke, looked upon such persons with a favourable eye, as it was her opinion, that if God in the course of his providence, deprived a man of one of his senses, he compensated this by either rendering the others more intense and accurate, or by some particular gift: and she thought, to most that were born dumb, a certain degree of foreknowledge was imparted. She was therefore, ready to entertain persons of this caste and the man in question was much noted in that country, as having been remarkably fortunate in some of his guesses. Adam, who was conning the wizard's face with an eye of remarkable curiosity, was presented to him, to learn what was to be his lot in life. The artist, after beholding him for some time, gave signs that he would be very fond of the bottle, grow fat and have an enormous belly! These were pre

cisely two of the things that he held in most abhorrence. He had often seen persons drunk, and he considered them as dangerous madmen, or the most brutish of beasts: and his dislike to the big belly has already been stated. He had even then a high opinion of the power and influence of prayer. He thought, that the spae-man might possibly be correct: but he believed there was no evil awaiting him in futurity which God could not avert. He therefore went immediately out into a field, got into a thicket of furze-bushes, and kneeling down he most fervently uttered the following petition :-"O, Lord God, have mercy upon me, and never suffer me to be like Pearce Quinlin!" This he urged, with little variety of language, till he seemed to have a persuasion that the evil would be averted! Strange as it may appear, this prediction left a deep impression upon his mind: and he has hitherto passed through life's pilgrimage, equally dreading the character of the brutal drunkard, and the appearance of the human porpoise. Had it not been for this foolish prediction, he had possibly been less careful; and what the effects might have been we cannot calculate, for no man is impeccable.

There was little remarkable in other parts of his childhood, but that he was a very inapt scholar, and found it very difficult to acquire the knowledge of the Alphabet. For this dulness he was unmercifully censured and unseasonably chastised: and this, so far from eliciting genius, rather produced an increase of hebitude, so that himself began to despair of ever being able to acquire any knowledge by means of letters. When he was about eight years of age, he was led to entertain hopes of future improvement from the following circumstance. A neighbouring schoolmaster calling at the school where he was then endeavouring to put vowels and consonants together; was desired by the teacher to assist in hearing a few of the lads their lessons: Adam was the last that went up, not a little ashamed of his own deficiency: he however hobbled through his lesson, though in a very indifferent manner: and the teacher apologised to the stranger, and remarked that, that lad was a grievous dunce. The assistant, clapping young Clarke on the head, said, Never fear, Sir, this lad will make a good scholar yet. This was the first thing that checked his own despair of learning; and gave him hope. How injudicious is the general mode of dealing with those who are called dull boys. To every child learning must be a task; and as no young person is able to comprehend the maxim that the acquisition of learning will compensate the toil, encouragement and kind words from the teacher, are indispensably necessary to induce the learner to undergo the toil of these gymnastic exercises. Wilful idleness and neglect should be reprehended and punished; but where genius has not yet been developed, nor reason acquired its proper seat, the mildest

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