that such a thing was desirable. Who could be got to supply it?' I mentioned Rowland Hill and other English ministers. Could a large place be obtained for a year on trial, before proceeding to building?' 'Yes, the use of the Circus may be got for sabbaths; as the Relief congregation, who have had it while their new place was building, are on the eve of leaving it. When I first proposed the Circus, Mr. Haldane turned to a certain lawyer who was present, saying, 'Mr. D., will you inquire about it to-morrow, and if it be to let, take it for a year?'

It was secured the next day; Rowland Hill was invited; he consented to come; and did come in the month of May or June.-The place was crowded even at seven o'clock in the morning, and in the evenings, if the weather was good, no place could have contained the crowds that came to hear; they mounted to near the summit of the Calton-hill, where there was a spot resembling an amphitheatre, as if excavated to hold a congregation of 10,000, which number I believe sometimes attended him. On one occasion he made a collection for the City Charity Workhouse. It amounted to about £30, almost entirely composed of halfpence and pennypieces. I think it was taken away in a wheelbarrow. During his stay many were converted, some of whom had been most grossly immoral characters. It made much noise in the neighborhood;- -even some soldiers attended a prayermeeting. A woman, at her own door, was overheard to say to her neighbor, 'O Sir, what will become of us now, when the very soldiers are beginning to pray?''-pp. 164, 165.

It was a singular fact, that not one of the persons present on this occasion was a dissenter. The movement was obviously of a dissenting character. It wore the complexion and breathed the spirit of a voluntary and energetic faith, yet it was taken by men who avowed their churchmanship, and never suspected that they were in a course of secession from the communion and authority of the kirk. The tendency of their measures was from the first seen by many, and could not long be concealed from themselves. Several Independent ministers were invited from England to supply the new place of worship, some of whom preached on the nature and constitution of the church of Christ, and thus diffused, among the persons meeting at the Circus, congregational views of church government, which led by a natural process to the formation of an Independent church, and the choice of Mr. James Haldane as pastor thereof. A large building, capable of containing upwards of 3000 hearers, was subsequently erected at the sole expense of Mr. Robert Haldane, who provided similar places at Glasgow, Dundee, and other large towns. The example thus set has been nobly followed in England by the treasurer of Highbury College, than whom there is not probably a man living who can point to larger and more useful results of the appropriation of his property. To Mr. Wilson belongs the distinguished

honor of having originated many churches which are now sanctifying their several localities, and contributing largely to the religious institutions which adorn and ennoble our times.

Mr. Campbell was at this time engaged in business as an ironmonger, yet his attention was incessantly given to the various schemes, both benevolent and religious, which were then soliciting public support. He was instant in season and out of season, and taxed his strength to a degree which alarmed many of his friends. His labors as a Sabbath-school teacher and itinerant preacher, were in themselves sufficient to occupy the whole time of an ordinary man, while the correspondence which he carried on with different persons eminent for piety and station, in various parts of the kingdom, must have required an economical arrangement of his time of which few men are capable. He accompanied Mr. James Haldane on several preaching excursions, which awakened the wrath of many clerical officials, and were regarded with great apprehension by a large portion of his countrymen. One stickler for holy orders was so scandalized at his presumption as to refer daily in family devotion to his preaching, in such a manner as caused an apprentice to laugh. The lad was expelled from his master's house on this account; and being reproved by his parents for the irreverence of which he had been guilty, replied, Hoo could I 'but laugh, when master prayed every sabbath mornin', that a 'red hot poker might be stuck into Johnnie Campbell's throat 'that day, if he presumed to minister in word or doctrine?' On one of his preaching excursions, both he and Mr. Haldane were arrested; but were speedily released, the impotency of their opponents being only equalled by their malice.

Many of our readers are probably aware that Mr. Campbell was a voluminous writer for the young. He took the lead in this class of publications, and probably contributed more than any other man to the abundant supply with which the market is now stocked. The manner in which he was led to publish his first book for children was strikingly illustrative of the character of his mind; it grew out of the circumstances in which he was placed, and was designed to supply a want which he could not otherwise suitably meet. The facts of the case were these; he had a young cousin, Mary Campbell, committed to his care, whom he was desirous of directing to the profitable consideration of divine truth. For this purpose he put into her hands Janeway's Token for Children, the perusal of which rather alarmed than benefited her, by associating death, in her mind, with early piety. Having afterwards met with a pious address to children, he determined to ascertain, by a fair experiment on his young cousin, whether its length did not render it

unsuitable for the object which he contemplated. Mr. Campbell's own account of this matter is given in these words:

́One day, after dinner, I laid down my desk upon the table to write a letter, and desired her to sit forward to the table, and I should give her a nice book, published entirely for the sake of young people like herself. She took it into her hand with great pleasure, and began to read it with avidity. When she had turned over the second leaf, I saw she was surprised that there was not the end of a chapter in sight. She then turned the third leaf, evidently to see if there was an end there. On observing this, I said, Go on, Mary, it's very good.' After a little I saw her slyly turn over the fourth leaf, and seeing no end of a chapter, she raised up her arms above her head, saying, 'Am I obliged to read all this at one sitting?' I said, 'No, Mary, you may go to play.' She ran like a prisoner set free from bondage. I was satisfied that long addresses would be of no use to children, for God has evidently studied the taste of his creature in the Revelation he has given to them; for almost the whole of it is given in the form of narrative, here a little instruction of one kind, and there a little of another, mixed up with the narrative. I therefore resolved to endeavor to convey to her young mind gospel truths, by mixing them up with short narrative.'-pp. 186, 187.

On Mary going out to play, I commenced writing the first life in 'Worlds Displayed,' without the most distant idea of its ever appearing in print, and finished it that evening. Next day after dinner I desired Mary to stop, for I had something for her to read; on which I put this life into her hand, and commenced writing at my desk, but, unknown to her, watching her conduct. She read to the end without once looking off the paper, and when done asked me if I had any more? No,' said I, that is enough for one reading; but if you behave well, you shall have such another to-morrow after dinner.' She asked for it next day, when I had the second life ready. We went on this way for some time, till at length I felt like a cask that once had been full, but now emptied of all its contents; when I told her she must begin now and read them all over again. What gave rise to the publishing them I cannot now recollect; perhaps it was her showing them to some of her acquaintance. However that was, an edition of 1500 was printed as a little volume, which, in boards, was sold at eightpence; and so hungry were parents and others for something of a religious cast to present unto their children, that the whole edition went off in a very short time. I suppose such publications were equally scarce in America, for in about a year after Worlds Displayed was published in Edinburgh, the venerable Dr. John Erskine, minister of Old Greyfriars parish, called and read me a letter that he had received from an old minister in Massachusetts, stating that my Worlds Displayed' had come out there, and a large edition had been published, and requesting Dr. Erskine to inform the author for his encouragement. Also a very short time after its publication in Edinburgh, I received a letter from a bookseller in London

6

wishing permission to print an edition of it there. I did not know till about ten years after, how it was so early noticed there; when I was invited to dine with Dr. Adam Clarke in a friend's house in London, who told me that he was the first introducer of the Worlds Displayed' to London. Though I have published many volumes since that time, I have heard more beneficial effects produced by that little Tom Thumb volume than by all the others put together. About twenty-five years ago I had eight gospel ministers, and more than that number of ministers' wives upon my list, who told me that their first serious impressions about religion arose from reading that book, and many more have told me the same tale since that time. How many editions it has gone through in Britain and America, I cannot tell, but the number must be considerable.'-pp. 188, 189.

Mr. Campbell was in habits of intercourse with many persons much superior in station to himself, and the volume before us supplies interesting anecdotes of some of the more distinguished of them. The following, respecting Lord Hailes, is curious, and we should much like to see the accuracy of his lordship's statement tested.

Another of Mr. Campbell's literary friends was the late Rev. Walter Buchanan, of Edinburgh; the friend of Lord Hailes. At his table, Mr. Campbell met some distinguished men, and gathered up many literary anecdotes. One of the latter deserves to be mentioned, because it had much influence in satisfying his own mind upon the perfection of the New Testament.

6 ANECDOTE OF LORD HAILES.

'I remember distinctly an interesting anecdote referring to the late Sir David Dalrymple (better known to literary men abroad by his title of Lord Hailes), a Scotch judge. I had it from the late Rev. Walter Buchanan, one of the ministers of Edinburgh. I took such interest in it, that though it must be about fifty years ago since he told it, I think I can almost relate it in Mr. Buchanan's words.

"I was dining some time ago with a literary party at old Mr. Abercrombie's (father of General Abercrombie who was slain in Egypt, at the head of the British army), and spending the evening together. A gentleman present put a question which puzzled the whole company. It was this: Supposing all the New Testaments in the world had been destroyed at the end of the third century, could their contents have been recovered from the writings of the three first centuries? The question was novel to all, and no one even hazarded a guess in answer to the inquiry.

About two months after this meeting, I received a note from Lord Hailes, inviting me to breakfast with him next morning. He had been of the party. During breakfast he asked me if I recollected the curious question about the possibility of recovering the contents of the New Testament from the writings of the three first centuries? 'I remember it well, and have thought of it often without being able to form any opinion or conjecture on the subject.'

VOL. X.

2 A

"Well,' said Lord Hailes, that question quite accorded with the turn or taste of my antiquarian mind. On returning home, as I knew I had all the writers of those centuries, I began immediately to collect them, that I might set to work on the arduous task as soon as possible.' Pointing to a table covered with papers, he said, 'There have I been busy for these two months, searching for chapters, half chapters, and sentences of the New Testament, and have marked down what I have found, and where I have found it; so that any person may examine and see for themselves. I have actually discovered the whole New Testament from those writings, except seven or eleven verses (I forget which), which satisfies me that I could discover them also. Now,' said he, here was a way in which God concealed, or hid the treasure of his word, that Julian, the apostate emperor, and other enemies of Christ, who wished to extirpate the gospel from the world, never would have thought of; and though they had, they never could have effected their destruction.'

The labor in effecting this feat must have been immense; for the gospels and epistles would not be divided into chapters and verses as they are now. Much must have been effected by the help of a concordance. And having been a judge for many years, a habit of minute investigation must have been formed in his mind.'

-pp. 214-216.

It is not surprising that Mr. Campbell should early have adverted to the christian ministry as his appropriate occupation. It is singular, however, that he regarded the first suggestion of this kind as a temptation from the Evil One. 'On sabbath last,' he says, 'I encountered all day and night 'strong allurements from the adversary to follow the ministry. 'The suggestion increased so at night that I could not give ' heed to a sentence of the sermon. I had a desire to be useful 'to my brethren's souls, but I gave the less heed to it because it interrupted my hearing of the word.' It was well that he did so for a time, as he was obviously not yet qualified for such a work. Had he entered on it at this period, the result might have been ruinous to himself, and useless, at the least, to others. But the moral discipline to which he was subsequently subjected, brought his spirit into happy harmony with religious truth, and so controlled all the sympathies and energy of his nature as to fit him for eminent service to the church of God. The estimate formed of his piety and talents by those who had the best opportunities of observing them, were shown by the proposal which Mr. Haldane made to him, to proceed on a mission to Bengal. The proposition was favorably viewed by himself, but the opinion of his friends being adverse to its acceptance, it was ultimately declined. He determined, however, on relinquishing business, and devoting himself more entirely to the work of the ministry. The success he met with as a village preacher drew him on, step by step, until he found himself