made of them, the hours I have squandered, and the opportunities of improvement I have neglected;when I imagine what with those advantages I ought to be, and find myself what I am; I am resolved to endeavour to be more careful for the future, if the future, be granted me; to try to make amends for past negligence, by employing every moment I can command to some good purpose; to endeavour to acquire all the little knowledge that human nature is capable of on earth, but to let the word of God be my chief study, and all others subservient to it; to model myself, as far as I am able, according to the Gospel of Christ; to be content while my trial lasts; and, when it is finished, to rejoice, trusting in the merits of my Redeemer. I have written these resolutions to stand as a witness against me, in case I should be inclined to forget them, and to return to my former indolence and thoughtlessness, because I have found the inutility of mental determinations. May God grant me strength to keep them!"

Among the reflections, there are many which strongly breathe a spirit of humility, dependence, and devotion. We see, indeed, in almost all of them, a mind deeply impressed with the value of religion, and the vanity of worldly things. The following are peculiarly striking.

"The Christian life may be compared to a magnificent column, whose summit always points to heaven. The innocent, and therefore real pleasures of this world, are the ornaments on the pedestal; very beautiful, and highly to be enjoyed when the eye is near, but which should not too long or too frequently detain us from that just distance, where we can contemplate the whole column, and where the ornaments on its base disappear.

"The cause of all sin is a deficiency in our love of God. If we really loved Him above all things, we should not be too strongly attached to terrestrial

objects, and should with pleasure relinquish them all to please him. Unfortunately, while we continue on earth, our minds are so much more strongly affected by the perceptions of the senses than by abstract ideas, that it requires a continual exertion to keep up even the remembrance of the invisible world.

"When I hear of a great and good character falling into some heinous crime, I cannot help crying, Lord, what am I, that I should be exempt? O preserve me from temptation, or how shall I stand, when so many, much my superiors, have fallen?'

"Perhaps there is nothing more difficult to guard against, than the desire of being admired; but I am convinced that it ought never to be the motive for the most trifling action. We should do right, because it is the will of God: if the good opinion of others follow our good conduct, we should receive it thankfully, as a valuable part of our reward; if not, we should be content without it.

"Hope without foundation is an ignis fatuus; and what foundation can we have for any hope, but that of heaven?

"Great actions are so often performed from little motives of vanity, self-complacency, and the like, that I am more apt to think highly of the person whom I observe checking a reply to a petulant speech, or even submitting to the judgement of another in stirring the fire, than of one who gives away thousands."

Such, among others, are the indications of piety and good sense which Miss Smith's writings furnish, and which are amply confirmed by the testimony of her friends. The following extract is from a letter written by Mrs. H. Bowdler, in September, 1806.

"But the part of her character on which I dwell with the greatest satisfaction, is that exalted piety which seemed always to raise her above this world,

and taught her, at sixteen years of age, to resign its riches and its pleasures almost without regret, and to support with dignity a very unexpected change of situation. For some years before her death, the Holy Scriptures were her principal study; and she translated from the Hebrew the whole book of Job, &c. &c. How far she succeeded in this attempt, I am not qualified to judge; but the benefit which she herself derived from these studies, must be evident to those who witnessed the patience and resignation with which she supported a long aud painful illness, the sweet attention which she always shewed to the feelings of her parents and friends, and the heavenly composure with which she looked forward to the awful change which has now removed her to a world, where (as one of her friends remarked) her gentle, pure, and enlightened spirit will find itself more at home than in this land of shadows.'

Miss Smith's religion, it must be remembered, was not raised in the hot-bed of controversy, nor trained up in the nurseries and forced soil of a party. It was less the offspring of feeling than of reflection; but it taught her seriousness and humility, kindness, resignation, and contentment. It sustained her through the trials of life, and cheered her dying hours.

MISS HENRIETTA NEALE.

MISS HENRIETTA NEALE was born in London, her father being a citizen of the metropolis. Her mother was the only child of Mr. William Whately, a gentleman of Bromley, near Bow, Middlesex. On being left a widow with five young children, she retired with them, first to her mother's house, and soon afterwards, on the decease of the latter, to Northampton. Mrs. Neale was descended, by the maternal line, from pious French Protestants, who took refuge in this country from the persecution of Lewis XIV. The favour of God so rested on the family of these oppressed Christians, that it is believed never to have been destiute of a seed to serve him. Mrs. Neale trained up her children in the fear of the Lord, with the happiest success; and through his blessing on her laudable exertions, they discovered, in early years, a love to the ways of Christ.

Henrietta, the subject of this Memoir, was early distinguished by habits of piety and a love of religious retirement. She was in the practice of committing her daily thoughts to writing, from the age of sixteen. A selection from these papers is given at the end of this memoir. When seventeen years old, she thus writes: "Our blessed Redeemer has said in his word, we must examine ourselves. How little have I been found in that duty! This night I have searched my own heart. My sins are more in number than the hairs of my head! The remembrance of them is grievous, and the burden intolerable. I should be quite cast down, were it not for those comfortable words, Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you

A short time afterwards, she writes: "O Lord,

grant that I may be more constant in prayer! What could such a sinner as I do, if it were not for my blessed Redeemer, who laid down his life for such as I am! I cannot but lament how ill I have spent my time; but do thou, O Lord, for the future, enable me to redeem it; for, without thee, I can do nothing. Wean me from this world! Yet, thanks to my God, I can say I enjoy more true pleasure in my closet, than any this world can afford!"

At Northampton, the family attended on the ministry of the late Rev. John Ryland; and the three daughters, Elizabeth, Leonora, and Henrietta, joined the church under his pastoral care. On that occasion, Miss H. Neale observes: "I was enabled, though in an imperfect manner, yet, with composure and comfort, to declare in Sion what God has done for my soul; and was admitted as a member. O that I may walk worthily! May I be like Daniel, whose enemies could bring nothing against him as an accusation, but in the matters of his God!"

In 1789, Mrs. Neale and her two younger daughters removed to Luton, to reside in the same house with her widowed daughter, Mrs. Chase, who was left with three young children. As Mrs. Chase devoted her time chiefly to the education of her children, the attention of her sisters was naturally attracted to the same object; and a very pleasing and instructing volume, intitled "Amusement Hall," was, in consequence, written by Miss H. Neale, and published in 1794. Her talents and taste for the tuition of children were fully demonstrated in that work; and at this period, Mrs. Chase made an alteration in her domestic arrangements, which afforded increasing scope to her exertions. At the request of her friends, she opened a boarding school. Before her sister's arrangements became so extensive as to occupy all her time, Miss Neale published, early in 1796, her Sacred History, in Familiar Dialogues, in three