cuss.

When his public avocations became afterwards very numerous, he was accustomed, in conversing with his younger brethren, occasionally to refer, with his usual modesty, to that course of diligent and laborious study which he had found so advantageous, not only to his ministerial labours, but also in greatly furthering the exertions he had been enabled to make, along with pious and good men, to extend the interests of religion and charity both at home and abroad.

In the summer of 1783 he revisited his native country, where he continued about six weeks, generally preaching three times every Sabbath.

His private diary, from which we have previously taken some interesting extracts, will pleasingly aid us in carrying forward this section. of the memoir. This brief record was so secretly kept, that none of his family were aware of its existence till it was discovered, among some other papers, after his decease. It appears to have been written solely to assist his own grateful recollections of what Divine goodness had done for himself and his family, and to give expression to the devout aspirations of his heart to the God of all his mercies. Many of the subsequent extracts will be deemed valuable, not merely as a record of transactions and events, but as affording a faithful representation of the prominent features of his mind, and particularly of the fervent piety which glowed in his bosom towards that heavenly Friend" who seeth in secret," into whose ear he was accustomed to pour forth the unreserved and confidential breathings of his soul.

He thus notices the death of his revered father, the intelligence of whose dangerous illness had hastened his journey to Scotland:

66

July 6, 1783. It was six hours after his departure that I arrived at Caldron-brae; where I found my dear, my excellent mother, with my brother and sister, dissolved in grief, yet wonderfully supported by the consolations of our holy religion. This was on Sabbath; and on the Tuesday following, according to the usage of the country, he was buried in the churchyard of Gordon, and his funeral attended by a large and respectable number of the friends of the family. It happened, providentially, that the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was dispensed on the following Sabbath at Stitchell; the solemn services of which were found strengthening to our hearts.

"And now, blessed God! when my earthly father is removed from me, do thou take me up. Under thy wise, and kind, and powerful administration, I shall enjoy more safe guidance, more tender care, and more sure protection, than from any created relation I could ever receive. I look up to thee; on thine arm will I lean. Guide me with thy counsel while here, and afterwards receive me to glory. Be thou the husband of my widowed mother, and the father of her children. Bind us together with the cords of love, and enable us to soften and to smooth the rugged paths of old age to her feet."

It would appear, from a long letter addressed to him by one of his most intimate friends, soon after his settlement in London, that his great acceptabi

lity, not only as a minister, but in the intercourse of private life, and his fondness for literary society, excited considerable apprehensions in the breasts of some of his brethren in Scotland. They naturally dreaded lest his pleasing urbanity of manners, his social frankness in congenial society, and his generous unsuspecting temper, might prove snares to him, by alluring him too much into company, which, whatever might be its recommendations in some respects, had a tendency to occupy his thoughts with other pursuits than that of his high calling; and which, if permitted to acquire undue influence over his affections, might even bring his ministerial character and usefulness into imminent hazard. This letter of admonition is too long, and otherwise unfit, for insertion; but we may observe, that it is written with the unreserved plainness and earnestness of warm attachment, and is equally creditable to the friend who wrote, and to him who received and carefully preserved it. It is a great blessing to a young man to possess such a friend; it is still a greater to be so worthy of one as was the subject of this memoir. Whatever were the fears of his friends, they were, through the blessing of God, soon happily removed, by his diligent devotedness to his ministerial labours, and by the secluded studies to which for some years he chiefly devoted his leisure hours. His marriage, which took place three years afterwards, opened to his heart a new range of duties and enjoyments, for which he was by natural disposition most peculiarly adapted. The increase of his family, though necessarily bring

ing with it many temporal privations and many anxious cares, was yet accompanied with blessings and comforts which few men were ever more fitted than he deeply to appreciate. The new relationships of husband and father, while they unlocked the hidden fountains of his heart, by developing all his tender sympathies and solicitudes, enriched him at the same time, in the only mode in which he ever coveted riches, by an abundant harvest of reciprocal affection.

In his diary, his marriage is thus recorded:

August 10, 1786. After regular proclamation of bans in the churches of St. Mary-le-bone and of St. Clement Danes, I was married, by the Rev. John Riddoch, minister in Coldstream, to my dear wife, at her father's house, in Edincrow, in the parish of Coldingham, and county of Berwick."

His aged widow (whose maiden name was Mary Neill) still lives to weep over his grave, and to anticipate with humble hope that "gathering day" to which he so often and so confidently alluded. It were indelicate, therefore, to record more prominently than by referring to his letters to her, how richly he experienced the fulfilment of the blessings promised by the inspired author of the Proverbs to the possession of a pious, prudent, and devoted wife. May the testimony so feelingly given by her husband to her devoted kindness, fidelity, and prudence, and the affectionate gratitude of her numerous family for her tender care and pious counsels, be taken by her as a pledge of the faithfulness of Him who hath pro

mised to every such mother, "Her children shall arise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he shall praise her." It is incumbent, however, on the writer to state one fact, a fact which, if unnoticed, would justly expose him and others to the charge of an ungrateful omission, viz. that Dr. Waugh was deeply indebted to the sincere and unvarying friendship which this marriage created between him and his brother-in-law Mr. Neill, of Surrey Street, London, for those constant and delicate attentions to his domestic comfort, and for that cordial co-operation in every plan calculated to advance the interests of his numerous children, which distinguished the conduct of that valued and surviving relative.—We revert to the diary.

66

May 7, 1787. It graciously pleased God to preserve my dear wife, and to give her a son, whom at his baptism, on July 22, we named Thomas, from respect to the memory of my worthy father."

In a subsequent page of this record, we find the following testimony of his devout gratitude to the Bestower of all good for the domestic blessings with which he was surrounded:

66

January 1, 1793. Blessed be God, who is the health of my constitution and the length of my days, for preserving me till the beginning of another year. My family all in good health, and our prospects in life serene. Several of my dear flock have been summoned away to the eternal world, who bade much fairer to enjoy more days than I did. Let the life hitherto spared in the