HON. AND REV. WALTER SHIRLEY.

SOME of our collections contain hymns beginning,"From heaven the loud, the angelic song began,"

"Hark! in the wilderness a cry,"

Flow fast my tears, thy cause is great,"

"Sweet as the shepherd's tuneful reed,"

"Source of light and power divine,"

and a few others which were written in the last century by the Honorable and Reverend Walter Shirley, the friend of Whitefield and Wesley and the personal friend but doctrinal opponent of the well-known Rev. John Fletcher: he was also a relative and valued friend of the excellent Countess of Huntingdon, the pulpits of whose chapels he frequently supplied. He was eminently successful as an Episcopal minister at Loughrea, in Ireland, to the inhabitants of which place he dedicated a volumė of excellent sermons. Mr. Shirley composed some very animated lines on the departure in 1772, two years after the death of Whitefield, of several missionaries from. Lady Huntingdon's college to this country. He died in his sixty-first year, in 1786, of a very painful disease; but such was the extent of his holy zeal that, though for some time before his death he was unable to lie down in bed, he sat in his chair and frequently preached to great numbers, who crowded the drawing-rooms, the lobbies, and the staircase as far as his voice could be heard; and the testimony of God to his ministry was truly remarkable.

LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY.

WHERE is the modern American hymn-book which does not rejoice in some of the compositions of Mrs. Sigourney? and whose hymns are more beautiful, more evangelical, or more generally acceptable? She was a native of Norwich, Connecticut, and at three years of age might be seen reading her Bible. Her early genius was happily fostered, and at the age of eight years she knew how to express her thoughts in writing with ease and beauty.

In 1819 Miss Huntley was married to Charles Sigourney, Esq., of Hartford, from whom a year or two since she was separated by the hand of death; but she is still blest with an amiable daughter. Her life has been distinguished by almost incessant activity in the duties of female education, and in writing an ample variety of volumes and essays both in prose and verse, all of which are beautiful and useful; nor will she, as we believe, regret on a dying pillow the production of any one of them. Many years. ago we published in England a selection of her poetry, collected by ourselves, under the title of "Lays from the West;" and most of her productions since that time have been republished in that land. It has been well said that "her position as first in purity and talent among the lady writers of America has never been disputed by a person worthy the name of critic.”

REV. S. F. SMITH, D.D.

THIS excellent Baptist minister of New England is well known as a gentleman of literary taste, and the author of many highly acceptable hymns, including,

and

Softly fades the twilight ray,"

"Yes, my native land, I love thee."

He was also one of the editors of the hymn-book used by his own denomination, called "The Psalmist." He needs no further praise, nor need his character be more fully described.

ANNE STEELE.

THIS lady, usually in England called Mrs. Steele, having become advanced in years, unmarried, was the writer of many of our favorite hymns. She was the eldest daughter of the Rev. William Steele, pastor of the Baptist church at Broughton, in Hampshire, England, and was born in 1716. Very little is known of her, even though Dr. Caleb Evans, of Bristol, published a memoir of one whom he highly esteemed, living, and whose three volumes of poetry, under the name of “ Theodosia," he greatly assisted to publish. At fourteen she was baptized and united with the church under the pastorate of her father, sustaining that connection till her

death in 1778, in the sixty-second year of her age. Even in early life she was exceedingly fond of poetry, but was always unwilling that what she wrote should be made public; and, though she at length yielded to the importunities of her friends, she always withheld her name. In early life, she consented to give her hand to a worthy young man named Elscourt, and the day for the wedding was fixed; but a few hours before the intended event he went into the river to bathe, incautiously passed beyond his depth, and was drowned. Never again did her heart warm with human love.

The remaining part of Miss Steele's life was spent in retirement, manifesting, as Dr. Evans says, "unaf fected humility, warm benevolence, sincere friendship, and genuine devotion." Her capacious mind was clothed with a weak and languid body; and the death of her father, to whom she was most ardently attached, gave such a shock to her frame that, though she survived him for some years, she never recovered from it. Though from the period of her father's decease she was confined to her chamber, she looked with sweet resignation to the time of her removal from earth; and, when it happily arrived, she was, amidst great pain, full of peace and joy. She took the most affectionate leave of her friends who stood weeping around her, uttered the triumphant words, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," closed her eyes, and fell asleep in Jesus. A very appropriate inscription, written by one of her nieces, was inscribed on her tombstone :

"Silent the lyre, and dumb the tuneful tongue,

That sung on earth her great Redeemer's praise;
But now in heaven she joins the angelic song

In more exalted, more harmonious lays."

Mrs. Steele's hymns, as the reader well knows, are highly esteemed in all our churches: they are the breathings of a living soul, and have alike drawn forth the sympathizing tear, the rapturous song, and the prevailing prayer. Long will she continue to sing on earth and to educate saints for heaven.

REV. SAMUEL STENNETT, D.D.

THE family of the Stennetts furnished successive ministers to the Baptist denomination for more than a century, when the name became entirely extinct. The most eminent of the family was Samuel, the son of Joseph Stennett, pastor of the Baptist church at Exeter, England. Samuel was born in 1727 and died in 1795. His father moved to Little Wild Street, London, in 1737, and in early life his son became first his assistant and afterward his successor. He was an eminent scholar, and was honored with a degree of D.D. by the King's College at Aberdeen, and was a personal friend of his sovereign, George III., for whom it was said he read books, criticisms on which the king used to retail as his own. His literary style had all the elegant simplicity of Addison combined with more strength than