REV. MR. ELLIOTT, OF PRESCOT.

SIR,-No notice of the death of my lamented father having, to my know ledge, appeared in any of the publications emanating from the religious body of which he formed so respected a minister, I beg respectfully to direct your attention to some particulars concerning him which came under my own personal observation.

The subject of this memoir was educated at Hoxton Academy, at which time his religious opinions, although Calvinistic, were perfectly free from that rancorous spirit of bigotry which too often animates individuals holding such sentiments. The change brought about in his religious views was in a great measure attributable to his enjoying frequent opportunities of listening to the celebrated Mr. Belsham, who officiated at Essex-Street chapel, and whose intellectual vigour and logical acumen made an indelible impression upon my late parent's mind. With the sincerity and candour which characterized his nature, he no sooner changed his creed than he stood forward the earnest advocate of what he conceived to be pure and enlightened Christianity. Fulwood, near Sheffield, was the seat of his first ministerial labours, where he enjoyed much of the friendship of a late member of the Shore family, for whom he entertained a warm regard. Risley, in Lancashire, formed the next field for his exertions, where he blended agricultural pursuits with the preaching of the gospel. A pastoral life was to him the source of much enjoyment, and he ever retained a keen perception of the beauties of nature. Although naturally of retired habits, he at this period formed some valuable acquaint

ance.

A pressing invitation from the Presbyterian congregation assembling at Blackwater Street, Rochdale, induced him to quit Risley, after faithfully performing the duties of his office there for the space of about five years. The neighbourhood of Rochdale abounds with romantic scenery, and my late father took up his abode at an ancient mansion, Oakenrod Hall, commanding a fine view of the surrounding landscape, and distant from the town three quarters of a mile.

The Dissenting interest he conceived to be much promoted by frequent ex

changes among its ministers, and it has frequently been my privilege to attend him in excursions of this nature.

The Sunday-school in connection with Blackwater-Street chapel owed much of its prosperity to his zealous superintendence; besides which, he established several classes among the junior members of his congregation.

After a sojourn of twelve years at Rochdale, my revered parent removed to Prescot, where he continued to discharge the sacred duties of his office through a long course of years, his exalted piety and unswerving integrity securing for him universal esteem. During the latter portion of his life he was visited with domestic afflictions, which are supposed to have aggravated his bodily ailments. He had long been a martyr to dyspepsia; when, in the month of April, 1847, he was suddenly attacked with a violent pain in the stomach, accompanied with other alarming and distressing symptoms. Medical aid being procured, his disease was pronounced to be inflammation of the liver, from which, in the course of about six weeks, he recovered. His frame, however, was terribly shattered, and a short dry cough was his companion by night and by day. During the many sleepless hours that he passed, he was frequently heard to recite with much fervour several portions of the Holy Scriptures. Change of air being now deemed advisable, he proceeded to Lytham, where, in a day or two after his arrival, he experienced a most dangerous relapse, attended with a complete prostration of the mental and bodily faculties. A medical practitioner being summoned, his case was stated to be perfectly hopeless, notwithstanding which he rallied, so as to be able to go on to Blackpool, whence he returned to Prescot, August 19, 1847.

Throughout this afflictive dispensation of Providence, it was a subject of much surprise to him who pens these lines, that so few labourers in the same vineyard should have stepped forward to administer sympathy and consolation to the distressed sufferer.-The eminent Mr. Bickersteth, of Liverpool, was now consulted, when he told the writer that, in all human probability, he would soon lose his father, the malady he was suffering from, if malady it could be termed, being atrophy, or a general breaking

up of the constitution. Under the above gentleman's treatment, he steadily improved until December, when the prevailing epidemic, influenza, attacking him, carried him off in one short week. At three o'clock on the morning of the 20th of December, 1847, he gently breathed his last.

The memory of this good man will be fondly cherished, and his bright example cannot fail to emulate his surviving family and friends to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

WILLIAM ELLIOTT.

1848. July 6, at Burlington, Vermont (U.S.), aged (within three days) fifty years, Rev. Oliver W. B. PEABODY. He was born at Exeter (N. H.), July 9, 1799, and was twin brother of the late Rev. William Bourne O. Peabody, and, like him, bore the names of his father, Judge Peabody, and of his maternal grandfather, Hon. Wm Bourne. The brothers were educated together by Dr. Abbot, and then, in 1812, entered Harvard College. Their personal resemblance was typical of their oneness of sympathy, aim and character. As a youth, Oliver Peabody was a most amiable, pleasant young man, full of wit and most irresistible humour. He was well read and accomplished. He first directed his thoughts to the law, his father's profession, and followed it, though not exclusively, for eleven years. The legislature and the newspaper press shared his cares. In 1830, Mr. Peabody removed to Boston. His brother-inlaw, Mr. A. H. Everett, was then Editor of the North American Review, and Mr. P. assisted him. He also became assistant Editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser. He served two or three years in the Massachusetts legislature. In 1836, he was appointed Registrar of Probate in Suffolk county, a laborious post, the duties of which he continued to fill till 1842. In the latter year, his health failing, he resigned his post to accept the office of Professor of English Literature in the Jefferson College, in the State of Louisiana. The climate was so unsuitable to his health, that he very soon resigned the Professorship, and now fulfilled a purpose and gratified a taste that had been long growing, by entering on the ministry. From his early days he had lived under high and pure religious influences, and latterly his reading had been mostly theological. During his preparatory studies, he resided partly in Boston

and partly at Springfield with his brother. While in the former city, he acted as the secretary of a philanthropic institution designed to aid, by advice, &c., persons intending to emigrate. In the winter of 1844-5, Mr. Peabody received from the Boston Association its licence to preach. In August, 1845, he settled as pastor of the Unitarian church in Burlington. To himself his ministry was a very happy epoch. The relief of the poor, the comfort of the sorrowing, the raising of society, were no new efforts to him, and the duties of a Christian minister only united in a specific form hopes, labours and exertions to which, in whatever occupation, he had always devoted his life. His ministry was from the first very successful. Before he entered on it, he knew what it was, or what it might be, for he had seen for more than twenty years all the detail and beautiful completeness of his brother's ministry in Springfield. He knew what he himself should labour to do in it, for no man had a deeper sympathy for others, or a more devoted reliance upon God. Shortly before his death, he nearly completed a biography of his brother, which we may hope will soon be published, and will prove an affecting memorial of both these accomplished brothers, who were united in their lives and scarcely divided in their death. The writer who has traced his character in an article in the Christian Examiner, whence the above particulars are derived, describes Mr. Oliver Peabody as "a spiritual man," as one "in whom the true spirit always held ascendancy over mere intellect, as over the body," and "who was less bound to the earth the longer he lived upon it."

Sept. 25, aged about 89, Mr. BENJAMIN DEBNAM, brightsmith, the oldest member of the Presbyterian congregation at Warminster. In 1785, not long after the formation of a Sunday-school by Mr. Raikes at Gloucester, Mr. D. was appointed to conduct a Sundayschool at his own house, by the Warminster Presbyterian congregation of that period. The duties of this office he fulfilled till 1839, when, in consequence of his advanced age, the school was removed to the vestry of the meeting-house, where it is still carried on. It is thought that his death was a little accelerated by an accident which befel him in the street; he was unable to walk out afterwards, declined for a few weeks, and then gently yielded up his

breath. Persons of various creeds attended to hear his funeral sermon; his great age, the number of years he had been in business, his habits of attending other places of worship besides his own, and of religious interest and inquiry in general, having rendered him quite a character in his town. T. J. R.

October 2, at the residence of Miss Wood, Edge-hill, near Liverpool, in the 65th year of her age, MARY, the wife of the Rev. William FIELD, of Leam House, near Warwick.

Oct. 9, at Bristol, aged 77, the Rev. JOHN TINGCOMBE. He was born at Plymouth, where his family occupied a respectable position amongst the Presbyterian Dissenters. Being designed for the ministry, he entered, in 1787, the Academy at Daventry, where for two years he had the privilege of studying under the Rev. Thomas Belsham, and of having as companions in the Academy, Mr. Kentish, Dr. Shepherd, Mr. Williams, Mr. Israel Worsley, Dr. Malachi Blake, &c. Amongst his classfellows were the late Mr. Davis, of Chowbent, Dr. Warwick, Mr. William Stevenson, Mr. Jardine, of Bath, and Mr. Porter, of Plymouth Dock. common with all his companions at Daventry, he gratefully appreciated Mr. Belsham's "liberality of sentiment, his temperate and sober discipline, and his unremitted application to the discharge of duty." When, in 1789, Mr.

DOMESTIC.

In

Belsham resigned into the hands of the Coward Trustees his office of Theological Tutor, on account of his adoption of Unitarian opinions, several of the Daventry students resolved to remove to the New College at Hackney, in which Mr. Belsham was invited on leaving Daventry to become the Resident Tutor. Amongst them was Mr. Tingcombe. He was accustomed to the close of his life to speak of the instructions of Mr. Belsham with gratitude and veneration. His first ministerial settlement was in his native town of Plymouth, in 1798, when he succeeded Dr. John Jones. Here he continued eight years, and then removed to Newport, in the Isle of Wight. In 1815, he settled with the congregation at Bridgewater, where he remained eleven years. His last ministerial engagement was at Frenchay, in 1829, and continued till 1835. His health appeared to be at this time failing, and his voice to be unequal to the effort of public speaking, and he withdrew from the exercise of his profession. He was characterized by benevolence, good sense, delicacy of feeling, and particularly by humility. He lived for many years in Bristol; and was greatly valued by the limited circle to whom his worth was known. His chief pleasures latterly were reading and attending the services of religion at Lewin's-Mead chapel. It was on his way to chapel that his last illness came on him. After a few hours' sickness, he sank quietly to rest.

Leeds Domestic Mission. The annual meeting was held in CallLane chapel on Monday, Oct. 16, the Mayor of Leeds, F. Carbutt, Esq., in the chair. The missionary's report to the Committee, a large part of which was read to the meeting, was peculiarly interesting for the graphic and evidently true picture which it gave of the feelings excited among the manual-working classes by the last French revolution, and for the details of the missionary's exertions, private rather than public, to temper wild expectations within the wide sphere of his personal influence, and to restrain the tendency to violence and outrage which prevailed so alarmingly in the West Riding for many months. Mr. Alderman Luccock was disposed to conjecture that the comparative tranquillity of Leeds during the

most disturbed period of the past year may be ascribed to such influences as that of the Domestic missionary. The detail of the ordinary operations of the Society was highly encouraging to the friends of the Mission; and this meeting was considered to be one of the most interesting and satisfactory of its anniversaries.

Original Sin curiously tested.

Mr. Mann, the Secretary of the Board of Education for Massachusetts, has, in his eleventh annual report, recorded the result of a very singular theological experiment. He prepared a circular, in which he asked for a definite reply to the following questions: "How much can be accomplished by the best education that we can command? Supposing all the children in our Commonwealth to be brought under the influence

of our common schools, and supposing these schools to be made as good as we now have the means of making them, what per-centage of young persons can be made useful and exemplary men and women, and what per-centage must be pronounced irreclaimable and irredeemable?" This circular he sent to eight teachers in different parts of America, all distinguished for long experience and general success, and, moreover, all "orthodox" in the article of original sin. He wished to know what was practicable in the view of those who saw the greatest difficulties to be overcome. The tenor of the answers is remarkable: "With entire unanimity," says a writer in the Christian Examiner, "speaking from an experience vary.

ing from ten to forty years, and in terms remote from any ambiguity or hesitancy, they unite in saying-Bring all children into your public schools, keep them there six hours a day, for ten months every year, between the ages of 4 and 16, and under the intellectual and moral training of the best teachers that can be procured, and the result will be not more than two per cent. of incorrigible children, as five of these writers say, while three of them agree in thinking that every child might be trained up to a life of usefulness and virtue."

When the human race is truly educated, what will they think of that portion of the faith of their progenitors which included the doctrine of inherent hereditary depravity?

1848. Sept. 4, at the Old chapel, St. Nicholas Street, Ipswich, by Rev. T. F. Thomas, Mr. FRANCIS ALLMAN to Miss SARAH ANN CHAPMAN.

Sept. 6, at Calcutta, JAMES SEWARD FIELD, Esq., of the Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam ship Haddington, to KATE, second daughter of Edward FORD, Esq., of Laura Place, Clapton, Middlesex.

Sept. 27, at the Presbyterian meeting-house, Evesham, Worcestershire, by Rev. D. Davis, B.A., late of Stockport, the Rev. W. H. HERFORD, B.A., of Lancaster, to ELIZABETH ANNE, second daughter of the Rev. Timothy DAVIS, of Evesham.

Sept. 28, at the chapel in the Conigree, Trowbridge, by Rev. S. Martin, Mr. HENRY BROOKMAN to Miss MARY TOWNSEND.

Sept. 30, at the chapel in the Conigree, Trowbridge, by Rev. S. Martin, Mr. RICHARD HAWKINS to Mrs. CAROLINE DUCHE.

Oct. 2, at the High-Pavement chapel, Nottingham, by Rev. B. Carpenter, Mr. ROBERT WOOD to Mrs. SOPHIA HARRIMAN, both of Nottingham.

Oct. 3, at Little Portland-Street chapel, London, by Rev. T. Madge, EDWARD ENFIELD, Esq., of the Royal Mint, to HONORA, youngest daughter of John TAYLOR, Esq., F.R.S., of Kensington.

Oct 4, at the Great meeting-house, Coventry, by Rev. John Gordon, CHAS. TWAMLEY, Esq., formerly of Dudley, but now of London, to CATHERINE, youngest daughter of William FREEMAN, Esq., and niece of Stephen Freeman, Esq., of Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire.

Oct 4, at the Bank-Street Presbyterian chapel, Bolton, Mr. CHARLES BOWMAN, of Lower Broughton, to MARIANNE, second daughter of Joshua CROOK, Esq., of Whitebank, near Bolton.

Oct. 5, at the chapel in the Conigree, Trowbridge, by Rev. S. Martin, Mr. WILLIAM HENRY WAIT to Miss MARY ANN PHILLIPS.

Oct. 6, at the New meeting-house, Birmingham, by Rev. Samuel Bache, the Rev. EDWARD PARRY, of Battle, Sussex, to ELIZABETH, daughter of Mr. John RICHARDS, of Aston.

Oct. 17, at Yarmouth, by Rev. Henry Squire, the Rev. JOHN CROPPER, A.M., of Stand, to Anne FREELAND, youngest daughter of Dennis BROWN, Esq., Wareham, Dorset.

Oct. 18, at Stockport, Mr. ELIJAH THORNLEY, of Failsworth, to HANNAH, daughter of the late Mr. Robt. RAYNER, of Hyde.

Recently, at the Unitarian chapel, Devonport, by Rev. J. C. Woods, Mr. JAMES MARSHALL, R.N., to Mrs. Lucy NETHERTON, both of that town.