having been married to her cousin, William Miller, the eminent publisher in Albemarle-street, and the immediate predecessor of the present John Murray. The younger son, Thomas Miller, a fine youth of sixteen, was lost in the Halswell, in an outward-bound voyage to the East Indies, in 1785. He had obtained a commission as midshipman; and when he thus found an early and premature grave, had, in his own and the fond hopes of his friends, commenced a career of profit and glory only to issue in the honour and advancement of himself and family. So near, are often found, the beginning and the end of man's most dazzling prospects! The circumstances attending the wreck of this ill-fated vessel were of the most melancholy nature. Out of upwards of two hundred individuals on board, only seventy-four were saved.

One of the family, who has furnished the above particulars, observes :-" William Edward inherited his father's enthusiastic love of music, literature, and the fine arts. He was distinguished by an open, frank, ardent disposition, and a generosity which knew no bounds. His person was strikingly handsome, and his manners fascinating; but he was passionate, selfwilled, and impatient of control; and the death of his mother, when he was only ten years of age, left these evil passions unchecked."

That part of the above description which relates to the personal qualities of Mr. Miller at this period, will be readily believed by all who knew him; and the other, which refers to the growth of his propensities in the absence of maternal instruction and control, will be admitted as next to certain: for who can supply the loss of a mother's influence, wisdom, and love?

Nothing can be conceived more hazardous than the position of this youth, with his native dispositions unchecked, either by the restraints of maternal influence, or religious instruction. His father, at the time in

question, was in the zenith of his popularity; was sought and caressed by the fashionable public; moved in a sphere of constant gaiety and dissipation; and was received as the friend and companion of the rich and the great. This was the society into which young Miller was introduced, and these the scenes and objects which evolved around him, so soon as he emerged from the thoughtlessness of childhood, and opened his eyes upon the world. Youths of a susceptible nature cannot help taking the impress of the moral lessons which are taught by the habits of the men and women around them. When music, poetry, and gorgeous decorations are employed, to throw a charm of beauty over dissipating amusements, not only some of the noblest gifts of God are prostituted, but a paradise of pleasure is created;—the more seductive, because of the blandishment and grossness which intermingle with each other-the one, by its softness and polish, hiding the deformity of the other. Thus, by the ingenuity of evil, those fine provisions of a bountiful Parent, which are given as the solace, the joy, the ornament, and the exaltation of man, are turned into an incitement to voluptuousness and sin.

A continuous whirl of dissipation is but ill suited to the introduction of youth to the great business of life. The mental faculties, instead of being weakened and impaired by the frivolities of pleasure, need to be strengthened and matured by an education in the great principles of religious truth, a knowledge of the relations in which

man stands to his fellow man, and an introduction to the science of practical business.

How is it possible, that the understanding of a boy should act aright, exhibit any robust strength, or be capable of discriminating betwixt right and wrong, when the grand truths of religion, the laws of mind, the business of the world, and the moral principles of God's government both of himself and all other creatures are kept out of sight. Instead of acquiring the habit of just reasoning, on facts and principles, as they come before his attention, he must of necessity become the helpless victim of every passing delusion; and instead of acquiring an amount of mental strength, by which he shall be able to rise above the fashionable follies of his time, he must fall into every snare, as the silly insect is fascinated by the lamp which scorches its plumage and burns it to a cinder.

Such were the scenes to which William Edward Miller was introduced in his youth, with a nature full of enthusiasm, passion, and generosity. He was trained in his father's profession. What else, indeed, could he be trained to, when his very nature seemed to be music. He excelled in the rules of the art; but music with him was an innate sense-a faculty, a sentiment, a deep emotion-his soul echoed to the power of harmony in all its depths of feeling. If we may infer what he must have been in youth, by the enthusiasm he exhibited even in old age, it is impossible to imagine any thing more absorbingly ardent than his devotion to his favourite pursuit, or more impassioned than his performances. His physical orgazination, and his mental constitution, were both exquisitely delicate, as if formed to reverberate to the touch of those wonder

ful influences, which fill the universe, and draw forth the song of the poet, and the combinations of the musician. When art happens to fall in with this primary taste and feeling, it scarcely appears as such; the most curious, complex, and abstruse composition, meeting with a congenial faculty, is then absorbed into the soul, and its performances appear like the pouring forth of a simple, elemental, and natural emotion.

Commencing his professional pursuits in the possession of these rich and varied powers, young Miller soon attained great celebrity. The temptations of this state proved too great for his inexperienced youth, as the sequel will soon make known. Either from the dazzling brilliancy of the society in which he moved, the unbounded applause he met with, the exciting pleasures in which he constantly mingled, or else, from the force of his own passions, or most probably the union of all, he became discontented, restless, and unhappy. We have no proof that he was enslaved by the grosser vices; but his mind having nothing to rest upon, but the fascinating amusements of an external gaiety, he found no rest, and became chafed, irritated, and dissatisfied. If in any case, pleasure without God and the blessings of religion could produce happiness, it would have been so in the case of William Edward Miller. The means to produce it seemed complete; and it might have been expected, had the thing been possible, that the conjunction of such circumstances with such a nature, would have operated to create a state of complete satisfaction and joy. This, however, was not the case; and the sorrow endured in the midst of gaiety, only goes to show, with the history of mankind, in all times and in all places, that the soul is so

constituted as to render it impossible to satisfy its cravings for happiness, by the VANITIES of the world, however gilded, or however varied.

Ambition, pride, avarice, or any of the other passions can no more be satiated than the grave. They are of the nature of a disease, and indulgence, like strong potations in a fever, only aggravates and inflames. It is a law of our moral constitution, that the action of any of the passions, whether to good or evil, adds vigour, strength, and force to the propensity. So it was in the case of this interesting youth. Unchecked by religion, uninfluenced by example, he was hurried on by a pressure of feeling which overwhelmed all the dictates of prudence, and even respect for his own fame and that of his family. This case, amongst others, shows most clearly, the insufficiency of the innate powers of the mind, to preserve the life from fatal evils, without the instructions, and the guardianship of religion.

A rash resolution now opened a new scene of adventure to young Miller. The relative above quoted observes in respect to this: "About the age of sixteen, he went (to London we presume,) to take lessons of the celebrated Cramer, and was then led by a profligate acquaintance, the late Lord P., into every species of extravagance and dissipation. His father remonstrated, and at length stopped the supplies; when William Edward, in a fit of resentment and remorse, and being also greatly embarrassed, embarked on board a ship, waiting to sail for the East Indies. He had not intended making any communication to his friends of his situation and destiny; but the vessel lying a fortnight in the river before she sailed, he was