of being. These pages were open to KITTO, and he appears to have read them attentively, and to have derived much benefit from them; to have acquired a deep religious impression, a love of God, a fear of offending him, a firm belief in the Christian Dispensation, and a practical knowledge of the duties which all men owe to their fellow beings; and it is from hence confidently hoped that his literary productions will ever be directed to the promotion of Morality and true Religion, as taught us by the inspired writers of the Sacred Volume.

But these important considerations cannot always occupy our minds, much less the mind of one so wholly destitute of the relief afforded to others, in the common intercourse of mankind, as the subject of this Memoir. Curiosity, and a thirst for information, naturally led him to seek for other books, but few are the volumes to be met with in the habitations of the poor, and these neither of the most attractive or solid kind. Such, however, as he could procure access to, he appears to have read with attention, and, though he had to contend with many difficulties, he seems to have received a due impression of their contents. It is indeed difficult to understand, and seems rather to baffle the inquiries that have been made, by what means, and from what sources, he obtained the information he has acquired. When the question has been asked of him, his reply has been, that, he obtained some

books from the neighbours, and through the kind ness of Mrs. Bulley, who is the proprietor of a circulating library. It must have been, therefore, from the extraordinary activity of his mind, that he acquired with such scanty means a more than superficial acquaintance with practical and controversial theology; the history of his own country; the manners, customs, and condition of its inhabitants 'at an early period; and a variety of other species of information.

Being from the effects of his accident rendered unfit for the situation of a mason's labourer, or any other active employment, and his father being unable to maintain him, he was, upon an application for relief to the Guardians of the Poor, taken from his parents in 1819, and placed amongst the boys of the Workhouse. Here he was very properly instructed in the making of shoes, with a view of enabling him to obtain his livelihood; and after being there a considerable time, he was bound as an apprentice in 1821, by the Guardians, to a shoemaker in the town. This man being rather poor, and, as it appears, an unworthy person, his situa-tion was extremely miserable. At length, in 1822, having made his unhappy case known to Mr. BURNARD, the clerk of the Guardians of the Poor, a respectable man, who seems to have acted as the friend of KITTO from his first knowledge of him, steps were taken to examine into his situation.

before the Magistrates, and they, being satisfied of the master's improper conduct, discharged him from his apprenticeship, and directed him to be returned to the Workhouse. On this examination the attention of the Magistrates was attracted by the manner in which the charges were preferred against the master, all being necessarily rendered in writing ; and the propriety of sentiment and general accuracy of diction in which the written interrogations and answers were given. But poor KITTO again entered the Workhouse, and was thought of no more: he returned to the manufacture of shoes, and to the solitary amusements which his forlorn condition afforded him. He had recourse to his friend, Mr. BURNARD, and mentions, with much satisfaction, the attention he received from him and two other officers of that large establishment, Mr. NUGENT, the late master of the school, and Mr. ANDERSON, a superintendant of labour; from whom he obtained such loans of books as they had in their power to bestow, which were all, with a very few exceptions, of a religious nature.

Here we cannot forbear remarking how essential to our comforts and how satisfactory to our feelings is the love and attachment of our species. Bereft of the only endearing caress he ever knew --not partaking of the love of parents, or the society of brothers or sisters-deprived of the means of acquiring friends among his companions,

by his inability to join in their amusementsand meeting with no congenial minds with whom he might have discussed those topics which his books might afford him a knowledge of, his hours of relaxation were chiefly spent in musing as he walked, with a pace brisk or slow according to the present tone of his feelings, within the limits of the court-yard of the Workhouse. Sometimes he less gravely occupied and amused himself with the little children by whom he was surrounded, playing with them, and indulging in their infantine pursuits; but here too he was doomed to meet with disappointments, since the volatility of infancy afforded him no assurance of lasting attachment; and he found each day that he had to hold out fresh allurements in order to obtain attention.

In the Workhouse he remained altogether four years, without his attainments being generally noticed, and not more than two or three of those few persons with whom he was acquainted, knew that he had any thing to distinguish him from the common mass. But early in 1823, his case fortunately attracted the attention of two individuals, who used every exertion to befriend him. Mr. HARVEY, a gentleman of Plymouth, well-known to most men of eminence in the science of Mathematics in this country, being accidentally in a bookseller's shop, had his attention attracted by seeing a lad of mean appearance enter the

shop, and immediately commence a communication with its master by writing on a slip of paper; and he remarked that the answers were given in writing, and that no oral communication took place. So novel a circumstance induced him to inquire what it meant; and he was then told that this was the Workhouse-boy, who was totally deaf, and could only communicate with others by means of writing that he had a great thirst for knowledge

and that he came to borrow a book which the bookseller had kindly promised to lend him.

This information was quite sufficient to excite the interest of Mr. HARVEY on his behalf, and induce him to made further inquiries. Having satisfied himself that the lad possessed superior abilities, which it would be highly proper to cultivate and foster, he made his case known to the gentlemen of the town, succeeded in interesting many of them in his future welfare and support; and a great many others, in contributing pecuniary assistance, or in giving books, paper, and pens, to enable him to pursue his literary occupations.

At the same time Mr. E. NETTLETON, one of the proprietors of the Plymouth Weekly Journal, having, as a Guardian of the Poor, accidentally seen some of KITTO's papers, which he had written in the form of Letters, offered him gratuitously to insert any Essay in his publication, by way of affording him an opportunity of making his