others; who, poor and unknown, may at this moment be struggling with adversity, and attempting to emerge from obscurity. It will add another example to many, which may be adduced, and thereby assure them, that in this comparatively happy country, poverty and the want of education, are no obstacles to patronage and support. On one account I gladly embrace the occasion which is now afforded me. It is that of recording the obligations which I owe to a man of eminent character and abilities, who is now no more, but whose memory I hope, I shall never cease to respect and revere. By this plain statement, I feel a hope that I shall secure myself from the censures of the candid and liberal-minded; they will enter into my views, and place a proper estimate on my motives. With the envious and the malevolent, I cannot expect the same success. For I no more flatter myself with the thought that I can escape their detraction, than with the expectation that I can cure them of those passions, which must give greater pain to such as cherish them, than it is in their power to inflict on others. My narrative which follows, is little more than the simple monotony of humble life. But on these accounts, "Let not ambition mock their useful toil, I was born in the parish of St. Austell, in the county of Cornwall, on the third day of March, 1765. My father, who was a labouring man, supported his family, which consisted of a wife and four children, in creditable poverty, by dint of application, industry, and frugality. But though neither of my parents was ignorant of the importance of education, such were their circumstances that it was not in their power to afford me any, except that which acquired at a little reading-school, in which I merely learned the knowledge of my letters. Here my education ended, for to a writing-school I never was promoted. At the age of seven, I was obliged to go to work, and for my labour, my parents received twopence per day. The next year I had the misfortune to lose my mother, and many a time since This throbbing breast has heav'd the heartfelt sigh, Soon after this, my father removed into another neighbourhood; and at the age of ten years and a half, I was bound an apprentice to a shoemaker, in the parish of St. Blazey. Prior to this time I acquired some know name. ledge of writing, but it amounted to little more than merely to know how to make the letters of the alphabet, and to write my And this knowledge, scanty as it was, I nearly lost during my apprenticeship; but towards the latter years of the term, I made some progress in my reading. This I attribute chiefly to the opportunity which I then had of perusing the Weekly Entertainer, published by Messrs. Goadby and Co. of Sherborne. In these miscellanies, such narratives as were affecting, and such anecdotes as were pointed, were the principal objects which attracted my notice. And among these, nothing excited my attention, so much as the adventures, vicissitudes, and disasters, to which the American war gave rise. On quitting my master, I procured employment in the vicinity of Plymouth. Here, the necessity of earning my own livelihood engrossed all my attention; so that the same cause which removed me from perusing the Weekly Miscellany, nearly quenched all my desires after further knowledge. After labouring in this neighbourhood about four years, I returned to St. Austell, to which place I was attracted by the advance of wages. In this town it was my lot to conduct the shoemaking business for a man who is now in America: he was an eccentric character, but by no means destitute of understanding. His original occupation was that of a sadler, and through his own appli cation he had obtained some knowledge of bookbinding. To these employments he superadded the manufacture of shoes, and in one shop carried on these three trades together. In this situation, I found myself surrounded by books of various descriptions, and felt my taste for the acquirement of information return with renewed vigour, and increase in proportion to the means of indulgence, which were now placed fully within my reach. But here some new difficulties occurred, with which I found it painful to grapple. My knowledge of the import of words was as contracted, as my ideas were scanty; so that I found it necessary to keep a dictionary continually by my side whilst I was reading, to which I was compelled constantly to refer. This was a tedious process. But in a little time the difficulty wore away, and my horizon of knowledge became enlarged. Among other books which were brought to be bound, it happened that Mr. Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding made its appearance. This was a work of which I had never heard. I occasionally opened b the volumes, and read a few pages, but rather with amazement than satisfaction; and from that moment began to reflect on the intellectual powers of man. In doing this, I could not but draw a contrast between my own mental condition and that of others. This awakened me from my stupor, and induced me to form a resolution to abandon the grovelling views which I had been accustomed to entertain of things, and to quit the practices of my old associates. Soon after this, I engaged in business for myself, when the pressure of trade, and pecuniary embarrassments, retarded my progress in mental acquirements, but stimulated my endeavours to emerge from ignorance. By unremitting industry, I at length surmounted such obstacles as were of a pecuniary nature this enabled me to procure as sistance in my labours, and afforded me the common relaxation which others enjoyed. This was the only leisure at which I aimed. In this situation, I felt an internal vigour prompting me to exertions, but I was unable to determine what direction I should take. The sciences lay before me. I discovered charms in each, but I was unable to embrace them all, and hesitated in making a selection. I had learned that "One science only would one genius fit, |