example to pursue the same path to heaven. It would, therefore, be injustice to the memory of Risdon Darracott, and an injury to the interests of religion, not to claim for him the honours of which an apostle reminded Timothy, "that his mother and grandmother were holy women, in whom dwelt the unfeigned faith of God's elect." The subject of the following pages might, indeed, trace his pious ancestry still farther back; for his great grandfather by the mother's side was a confessor in the cause of religion, during the reign of Charles the first. Abhorring the ceremonies which archbishop Laud introduced into the establishment of his native country, he joined with those who ventured across the Atlantic, to bury themselves in the woods of America. "The sun," said these voluntary exiles for religion's sake, " shines as pleasantly on America as on Britain; the same providence that has guarded us here watches over that country, and why should we hesitate to adopt as our parent that country which would afford us liberty of religion, when our own has proved to us a stepmother?" It required, however, all the force of principle, expressed in this sentence with the eloquence of truth and feeling, to rouse the puritans to such a measure. For the improvements of navigation had not yet diminished the dangers of the voyage, and the American savages, who still excite horror, were at thattime tenfold more formidable. In that desert world the ancestor of Mr. Darra, cott was blessed with a daughter; who was born in the year 1654, and named Hannah. If it must have been painful to parents who had been accustomed to the comforts of England, to see a daughter growing up amidst the wilds of America; the puritans and their wives preferred rearing their children to pure religion, under every privation, to exposing them to the contagion of superstition for the sake of the elegant luxuries of life. It cannot, however, be ascertained whether these good old puritans died in their voluntary exile, or returned with their child to end their days in their native land. Their American daughter, indeed, became a resident in the country which gave birth to her ancestors; for she was married to Philip Risdon, of Biddeford, in Devonshire, from whom the subject of the following memoir derived his baptismal name. The title of generosus gentleman, which is given to Mr. Risdon, in ancient documents, is an indication of what may be called a man of family, raised above the necessity of labour, or trade; for the fashion of giving titles to those who are supported by industry was not then known. Mr. Risdon's attachment to pure religion brought him acquainted with the daugh ter of the refugee, who had preferred a good conscience to the comforts of his native land. In her, therefore, he possessed a companion of kindred soul; for she inherited her father's pious sentiments and heroic spirit. One daughter was born to them in 1693, whom they named Hannah, after her mother. Upon her, life opened with a more auspicious dawn than upon her maternal ancestors; for she was not only born in Britain, but under the tolerant reign of William, who had now terminated the religious persecutions which formerly desolated our country. Mr. Risdon died too early to see his daughter settled in life, so that his widow came to reside with this her only child, after having given her in marriage to Richard Darracott, at that time the dissenting minister of Swanage, in Dorsetshire. This was one of the numerous host who have verified the poet's beautiful couplet: "Full many a gem of brightest ray serene, The The Darracotts, as well as the Risdons, were ancient residents of Biddeford, in Devon. guildhall of that town is said to contain the portraits of Mr. Darracott's ancestors, who are recorded with honor among the mayors of Biddeford. From this his paternal line, the subject of the following pages was entitled to an estate, which, however, he never possessed. Richard Darracott, like Moses, learned in all the wisdom of the world, and fit to shine in courts, preferred affliction with the people of God; for, retiring to feed the flock of God, he spent his days watching over a handful of plain people in an obscure country town. When the writer of this memoir walked through the town of Swanage, almost as retired as the quarries by which it is surrounded, entered the singularly antiquated meeting-house where the faithful pastor preached, and approached the ashlar cottage on the hill where the good man lived, he could not help calling to mind the records of his wisdom and piety which he had perused, and saying to himself, "was this all that the world could afford the man of whom it was not worthy?" Neither the obscurity of the situation, however, nor the smallness of the audience, ever generated in the mind of Richard Darracott the lazy arrogant conceit that his callow thoughts were good enough for his audience. With great care he prepared, not only for the pulpit where he might sometimes expect to address strangers attracted by his talents, but also for those private meetings of the members of the church which were held after the Lord's supper, and from which all strangers were excluded. The notes of the addresses he delivered on these occasions, when the pastor usually pours out the fulness of his heart, without any attempt to shine, excite the highest ideas of his intellectual powers, and of the solicitude with which he studied on every occasion to promote the edification of his flock. A minister could not read them without feeling reproved, or without saying, "if such were his most familiar exhortations to a little company of Christians in a vestry, what would have been his exertions to instruct and save the multitudes whom we are frequently address?" called w a From a volume of these addresses now lying before him, the author cannot refrain from giving a few extracts as a specimen of the manner in which some obscure dissenting ministers were employed in feeding their flocks a hundred years ago. 66 66 My friends, Meeting together thus in private, while others are at their trades, we declare that we are not of this world, but are pilgrims travelling to a better. Heaven is a Christian's proper home and country. He is born from above, his conversation is in heaven, his eternal habitation is there, his head and Lord there, his best friends and kindred there. At such seasons as these, he meets his country folks to talk about his home, his fellow travellers to animate each other in their heavenly march. We now meet our Lord, for in this private place, I am reminded of the sweet passage, Canticles vii. 11. where the church desires to go forth to fields and villages, to walk with Christ, to receive counsel, instruction, and comfort from him, with freedom, and without interruption. Those that would converse with Christ must escape from the hurries of |