the dark and evil day. The following letter was written by him to a lovely young woman in his congregation, which, independent of its excellent advice, derives a melancholy interest from the fact, that she was the victim of untimely death, but a death that was neither unprepared for nor unwelcome:

"MY DEAR CHILD,

July 19, 1826.

"I have much pleasure in sending you some good counsels, because I well know that you will receive them with kindness, and study to conform yourself to them.

"You have enjoyed many advantages under the pious care of your beloved parents, and you know that all our privileges imply correspondent responsibility on our part. You have been taught to reverence the book of God, and will peruse its contents daily and with delight;-you will form the opinions you cherish of the rule of your duty and the sources of your happiness on the views there given of these most important subjects. The Bible is the inspiration of God, and demands, in the tone of Divine authority, the unqualified submission of our understanding and our will. Ever connect obedience with your highest honour and true felicity. A religious character, formed on the law of God and the life of the Saviour, constitutes the highest dignity and the loveliest ornament of our nature : nothing in form, fortune, or rank, can supply its place.

"You have been carefully taught also a sacred regard to the unseen offices of religion, in the closet and in the workings of your own mind when alone. These exercises of devotion are absolutely necessary to maintain the vitality of religion in the soul, and to justify the profession we make in public; they are springs also of the purest joy to a good mind, and of solace amid the ills of life; they open intercourse with Heaven, which will give elevation of sentiment, desire, and hope, to the young,

which nothing else can impart, and shed that mild radiance around a character which ever attends unaffected piety they will make you the ornament of your family, as you are its youngest hope.

"Continue to cultivate the sympathy and unaffected kindness for which I have ever loved you; beware of affectation, as certain deformity; keep your native ease, and you will ever delight the discerning and the good.

"Above all, let the fear of offending God in the frame of your mind (for God's law takes cognizance of thoughts and feelings), as well as in your more open deportment, and a habitual concern to please him, constitute the ruling principle in all your sentiments and actions. This principle is the only security of respectability of character and solid enjoyment.

"But I must close this scrawl; and with renewed assurances of esteem and love, I am, my dear child, your sincere friend."

It deserves to be mentioned, that while his friendship was courted by persons of high station and influence, and while men, whose eminence in rank and wealth is adorned by the piety, humility, and charity of the Gospel, manifested that they were gratified by his society, edified by his wisdom, and blessed by his prayers, and evinced their regard by most cordially aiding him in his various measures of public utility and private beneficence, he never boasted of their countenance, never omitted the humblest service in order to share their hospitality, and never availed himself of his influence with them for any selfish object.

He numbered among his friends persons in a humble sphere, whom he valued for their simple worth and fervent piety, and whom he delighted

to notice and to patronise in the obscurity in which they moved. A remarkable instance of this deserves to be mentioned. Mr. John Ker, who had come as a teacher to London, and had been fixed by some friends of religion in a school supported by subscription, he treated with unwearied kindness for a long course of years, exerted himself to procure subscribers to his school, frequently examined his scholars, and used to speak with delight of the judicious counsels and fatherly care of John Ker. The compiler of these pages saw him in the chair at the annual meeting of the friends of that school, some years after Mr. Ker's death, and well remembers the happy flow of eloquence and feeling with which he paid a tribute to the labours of this man as a teacher, and to the simplicity and godly sincerity of his character. It seemed to him like finding the flowering heath of his own land amidst the luxuriance of a richer soil, which charmed by the recollections it excited, as well as by its simple beauty. We have heard him relate an anecdote of this venerable man, highly characteristic of his steady integrity of principle. Mr. Ker had been summoned as a witness at a very important trial in the Old Bailey, and being called to take the oath by kissing the New Testament, he declined it, and craved the indulgence of the court, saying that he was a Presbyterian, that he had conscientious scruples against taking the oath in that form, and that he wished to be sworn according to the mode used in his own country. Lord Chief Justice Eyre gave him permission; and, holding

up his right hand, he repeated, with great solemnity, the oath taken in Scottish courts of justice. His venerable appearance, his gravity of manner, and his slow and solemn utterance, deeply impressed the whole court. This excellent man felt the warmest gratitude to Dr. Waugh for his kindness; and a paragraph or two from his letters to him will shew how strongly it impressed him, and what uncorrupted sanctity he maintained in such a scene.

"MY DEAR, ACTIVE, AND STEADFAST FRIEND,

"I do now feel my infirmities increasing upon me; and no wonder, after seventy-six years of age and fifty-six years of school-teaching, to say nothing of several years spent as a shepherd-boy at a pound a-year wages. But why art thou cast down, O my soul? hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him.' The bitter cup of my affliction is sweetened with loving-kindness and tender mercies. Goodness and mercy hath followed poor unworthy John Ker all the days of his life; and in the Lord's good time I shall get home, where there is no sin, no sorrow, no tears, no separation from those we love. I have heard, with tears of joy, that our friends on both sides of the Secession in Scotland have had several friendly meetings, and much brotherly kindness. May the good Lord continue and increase it till it arrive at perfection!

"I can give you a shower of glad and grateful tears; and I pray that Jesus, the good Shepherd, our highest Lord, and the best Friend, may bestow upon your own soul, your family, and flock, those showers of blessings which he hath promised. My strength and my eyesight fail. May God be the strength of your heart and your portion for ever! Amen."

It ought to be mentioned, as a feature in his character as a friend, that he was perfectly free

from all jealousy. Often has the warmest friendship been converted into enmity by rivalship for popularity; and the talent which was once admired, and the eloquence which was listened to with delight, have, when they came into competition with mean self-love, produced envying and detraction: but Dr. Waugh was never more eloquent than in praising those whom he saw followed by admiring crowds, when he felt there was worth to be celebrated; and often has the comparison or the surmise intended to depreciate, been repressed by his mild reproof. With those with whom he was peculiarly associated he was careful to avoid every thing like interference or dictation, and to give to their exertions all the praise that was their due. To the young ministers who went to London to officiate for a season, he shewed himself a father, was careful to introduce them to families in whose society they would be happy, to bring them forward to services where their talents might be shewn in a way creditable to themselves and useful to the cause of religion, pointed out to them the objects most worthy of their attention, and, in many cases, at considerable inconvenience to himself, accompanied them in excursions where he thought his presence would be useful. His mind kindled, and its stores were brought forth to gratify them; and his flights of fancy and tales of other times are still recollected as adding a charm to the loveliest and most splendid scenes. There was not one of them that left London without the liveliest impression of his kindness, and in his heart not one