among his papers I found a list that he had arranged, and I hope to give his friends, at some future time, his last work. "Pain did not make life less sweet, nor take one charm from the duties that he loved. Through years he had labored to keep the mind superior to suffering, and he felt he could do so still. He tried hard to get well; but, when one after another of his holds on life failed, he yielded himself to the arms of his Saviour, as naturally as a tired child seeks rest on the bosom of its mother. Exceeding peace took possession of his soul. Everything was right, and every friend who came to his bedside was welcomed with a kiss of love." (pp. 311,312.) The spark of life grew more dim; but O, what a thought was this to cheer his dying hour, "I never preached an insincere word in my life." How touching was his thoughtfulness of her who had been so much to him: "The next morning, while I was moving around his bed, I perceived that his eyes followed me with a troubled expression. I said, 'Is it not all well with you this morning?' 'All but one thing,' he replied; I cannot tell just how you feel about me.' I had prepared myself for this direct question, and was enabled to say, 'Whatever God sees fit to send will be right with me.' 'O, bless you! bless you for those words!' said he. I never was happier in my life. You need say nothing more.' No farewells were ever spoken; we needed none." "On Tuesday evening, March 18th, we felt it was his last night with us. Friends who loved him as a brother could not leave us, and I looked around the room on the same faces that had greeted us on the first evening of our arrival in Philadelphia. He knew them all, but he seemed not to be with us. Often during the night he fancied his mother was around his bed. His last hours were soothed 'by the memory of the hand-charm.' When morning dawned we smoothed his pillow, and with a smile he thanked us and said, 'O, that is beautiful!' It was our last office. He dropped into a quiet sleep to awake to a fairer morn than ours. "Friends dressed him for his burial in the same suit of black that he had worn on the last day he entered his pulpit, and I thought of his oft-quoted words of Mrs. Mayo: 'No longer the shroud and the pall wear gloom, They laid him in a beautiful coffin, and, on Friday, conveyed him to his own beloved church for funeral services. The pulpit and the furniture around it were draped in black; and, borne up the aisle by eight of his church, acting as bearers, his coffin was placed in front of the altar, where his willing feet had so often stood to break the VOL. XIV. 8 bread of communion, or in the impressive rite of the consecration of children. One who had been dear to him in social life sung alone, with a tremulous voice, an anthem that he loved : 'Angels, ever bright and fair Take, Ó take him to thy care!'" (pp. 315, 316.) So lived and so died a true disciple of Christ—one whose great glory and crown was to be a minister of the gospel. He was a man of many virtues, but no words of ours can tell so well as this book what he was. Here are tributes and testimonials from many and dear friends. We shall copy but one, and that from one who knew him well, and for whom he had done what he had done for many others,-given encouragement and aid, at a time when he needed both. "You know that I should agree with you in what you say of Mr. Bacon. I never saw a nobler man. Some persons didn't understand him. I did. Those who saw him, or were with him every day, could not be blind to his purpose, his intrepidity, his persistence, or his love. He was John and Peter combined, in his high calling; in spirit always affectionate, bold, and earnest. "Well do I remember him in his home. I never shall forget what his home was to me. I have always been thankful and proud that it was for a time my home. Whenever I am awake, and am conscious that I walk in the path that suits me, I see that the beginning of it reaches back to the time when we lived on Kent-street, in Haverhill. I had had dreams and yearnings before Mr. Bacon came to Haverhill. I sometimes saw my future. I sometimes saw a man of strength lifting me to a higher place, and giving me a start in a right direction. At length that man met me in the street, in the person of my pastor, and invited me to come and see him in his home. I couldn't guess what he meant. I was too timid to call to see him till the last hour, but when I did call I was introduced to a new world, to new friends -a host of them—and to a new life. What can I do to show my love for that man of God? I never have said much to him or to you in this direction. I never could say much to him. I never met him at any time without feeling a reverence for him which made me silent. For years I have seen him as a transfigured one, for whom of all the men in the world I would do my best. He is transfigured before us all now. He stands on the heavenly mount 'in garments white and glistening.'" (pp. 90, 91.) Many, very many, can give the same testimony. To how many young writers has he extended the encour aging hand—to how many hesitating preachers, the needed aid! His religious nature was very deep. To him, "a minister of Christ" was a holy and significant title, and one not to be assumed lightly. He would keep it pure from the least touch of sin, or appearance of evil. ... "The minister is more than the man. To him are given privileges, and to him are opened mysteries in domestic life, that would not be opened to the mere man. The minister is a living symbol of the religious sentiment. Do not lower the dignity of a true minister. Take a right platform, and resolve to bring others up to that, rather than to go down to them. This is due to your office. 'I magnify mine office;' I consider its relations, and it becomes more and more important in my sight." (p. 151.) It had been his boyhood's dream to be a preacher. That dream was accomplished; and although he left us as it were in the midst of his usefulness, still many a life of fourscore has not borne so rich a harvest to the Lord. In our denomination he has left a void not easily filled. Sincerity, devotion and zeal characterized his preaching. He had a power of touching the deep fountains of the heart, such as few possessed. He had a ready flow of thought, and it was conveyed to his hearers in words well chosen, clear and eloquent. He always impressed his audience with the conviction of his sincerity and his deep reverence; and in prayer we have few like him. Not many have the versatility of talent which he possessed; with depth of thought he combined gracefulness, and he saw no incompatibility between strength and beauty. He never passed unnoticed the delightful vales and cool fountains where poesy waited for her votaries; and though he was a close student and deep thinker, he never scorned the pleasant paths of literature. But in this Memoir, beside the life of the preacher, we have also the life of the man. We see him in domestic life, in his study where he sat and wrote with his children about him, whose chance remarks often suggested thought for a sermon. It was indeed one of his traits to draw from little incidents that came to his notice, useful lessons, which his ready pen gracefully and happily illustrated. The letters to his wife are among the most interesting portions of the book, for they show how, like the true man he was, he confided in her judgment and trusted her with all his plans, no matter how trivial or weighty they were; and in all things considered her his equal. To woman he was always deferential and kind; for the man who so loved his mother could never speak slightingly of the sex. Perhaps many, but little acquainted with him, misunderstood him. 66 Many think me," he says, "a cold and dis tant one." "Instead of putting the best side out to strangers and persons with whom he was slightly acquainted, he did the opposite. Those who read his writings seldom found their expectations met in a slight or casual interview. To a stranger he did not seem genial; and had a stranger witnessed his manner of greeting his particular friends, he would not have been impressed with the idea that he was a warm-hearted man. Yet did he possess a deep fountain of friendship and generosity. I feel that I know this; and if you write his memoir, it will do justice to him in this respect, wherein he was least understood.' Would that I could do justice to one whose outward life was but half the expression of his great soul. Only with his pen and in his pulpit did he completely reveal himself. In social life he seldom expressed all that he felt, and often when he felt the most he would express the least; but not the simplest act of kindness that he could perform for any one was overlooked. It was often astonishing to witness his tender regard for children; no mother's eye detecting quicker than his their wants and annoyances; and among the sick and sorrowing he was best known and appreciated. Those who thought him a cold and distant one' amid busy life, forgot it all when they needed his sympathy or aid; and such times have made his name cherished with a deeper love than often falls to the lot of man." (pp. 152, 153.) Full of interest and instruction to us is this life of a good man, for it shows us how much can be accomplished in even a short life-time, by an earnest worker. And he was an earnest worker; the record of his life bears to heaven no wasted days, no misspent hours. His powers were confined by no thought of self; where duty called he was ready to go. His conscience and his God were more to him than man, and the work appointed him on earth, more than a life of ease and indulgence. We follow here the aspirations of a human soul from boyhood to the time when he laid down the work of life on earth, for the labor to which his God has called him. N. T. M. ART. VII. Literary Notices. 1. An Atlas of Classical Geography. Constructed by William Hughes, and edited by George Long, formerly Professor of Ancient Languages in the University of Virginia. With a sketch of Classical Geography, and other Additions, by the American Editor. Containing Fifty-two Maps and Plans on Twenty-six Plates, with an Index of Places. Philadelphia: Blanchard & Lea. 1856. AFTER a somewhat careful examination of this work, we feel warranted in recommending it without reserve to those who wish to procure a sufficient and at the same time convenient Ancient Atlas. Comparing it with such others as have been published in this country, we may state that it is not so large as Tanner's, but is about as full, and has the improvements which more recent discoveries supply. It is much larger than Butler's, and is on rather a larger scale even than Findlay's. Though it is not so full of names as the latter, we think the plan of the maps, and their arrangement, are better adapted to the wants of the student or reader of Ancient Geography; and the execution by the engraver is as good. Indeed, it appears to us to contain almost every thing that is needed for ordinary purposes in this department of classical learning, and to be a tolerable equivalent for some of the much larger and more expensive works of the kind which have been published in Germany. The introductory sketch of Classical Geography, though brief, is a judiciously drawn outline, and the concluding Index of Places, with references to the latitudes and longitudes on the maps respectively where they may be found, makes the apparatus complete. The price, $3, is very moderate for such a volume as this. To accommodate those who may wish to select an Atlas of the kind, we give the list of its Maps and Plans. I. Geography of the World, according to the Ancients: 1. according to Homer; 2. according to Hecates; 3. according to Herodotus; 4. according to Evatosthenes and Strabo; 5. Western Europe according to Strabo; 6. the World according to Ptolemy; 7. India according to Ptolemy; 8. Britain according to Ptolemy. II. The World as known to the Ancients; with the boundary of the Persian Empire under Cyrus. III. The Empire of Alexander the Great, with the adjoining regions. IV. The Provinces of the Roman Empire, A. D. 119. V. Britania. VI. Gallia. VII. Hispania. VIII. Italia, Northern |