or one-sixteenth of the average wages of the labouring men who occupy them.

The school-house stands in the middle of the village, and is the centre of many activities. The average school attendance in 1880 was one in four of the whole population.

Not only in this village, but in the villages round about, the care and kindness of Lord Shaftesbury were manifest, and the charge which is often brought against philanthropists, of caring for those afar off while neglecting those close at hand, could never be brought against him by any one who had paid a visit to Wimborne St. Giles.

CHAPTER II.

CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YEARS.

Birth-Home Influences -Maria Millis-The First Prayer-Dawn of Religious Life Manor-House School, Chiswick-Harsh Treatment-His First

Great Grief-Mistaken Views of Education-A Sad Childhood-Removed to Harrow-New Influences- State of his Mind on Religious Questions-First Visit to St. Giles's House-Love of Country Scenes-Cranborne Chase-A Strange Scene at Harrow-Determines to Espouse the Cause of the PoorAn Autobiographical Fragment-Oxford-Takes First-Class in ClassicsExtracts from an Early Diary-"Fugitive and Desultory Notes "-Elected Member for Woodstock at age of Twenty-five-Birthday Thoughts-In France-Supports the King's Government-Canning's Eloquence-Letter from Mrs. Canning-Friendship with the Duke of Wellington-Early Labours in Parliament-" Cursed with Honourable Desires "-Diary-SelfDepreciation-Change of Ministry-Canning, Premier-Place Offered― Office Declined-Grounds of Refusal-State of Political Affairs-At Strathfieldsaye-Letter from Duke of Wellington-Death of Canning-In Wales -Studies Welsh-Misgivings as to Public Career-Letter from Lord Bathurst Wellington, Head of New Administration-Appointed Commissioner of India Board of Control-Suttee-Schemes for the Welfare of India-Catholic Emancipation-Desires to Devote his Life to ScienceCalled to Another Career.

ANTONY ASHLEY-COOPER was born at 24, Grosvenor Square, on the 28th of April, 1801. His mother was the daughter of George, fourth Duke of Marlborough, and his father, as we have seen, was Cropley Ashley, who, in 1811, on the death of his brother, Antony Ashley, the fifth Earl of Shaftesbury, without male issue, succeeded to the title. The early home influences surrounding young Ashley were not in themselves favourable to the development of his character. His father was a

man of considerable ability—of keen sense, and of quick discernment; but he was engrossed in the cares and duties of public life. His mother was a fascinating woman, attached, after a certain manner, to her children; but too much occupied with the claims of fashion and of pleasure to be very mindful of their religious training and of their general welfare. It followed that the tone, the conversation, the amusements, the opinions, the spirit of the home, were all opposed to the early bent of his mind which, from his earliest years, was in the direction of the career he ultimately made for himself. He received no help from his parents in his religious life. His mother did not attempt to influence him in such matters; his father, on one or two occasions, asked him a question from the Catechism, and the answer would meet with approval or displeasure, according to the verbal accuracy with which it was given. For the rest, the boy was left to grow up in the old "high-and-dry school"-in the cold, lifeless, formal orthodoxy of the times.

But, although there was little in the home to foster, while there was much to discourage the growth of that piety which was to characterise so signally his afterlife, one source of helpful and tender influence was preserved to him.

There was in the household a faithful old servant, Maria Millis, who had been maid to young Ashley's mother when she was a girl at Blenheim, and who was now retained as housekeeper. She was a simplehearted, loving, Christian woman; faithful in her

1808.]

THE FIRST PRAYER.

37

duties to her earthly master, and faithful in her higher duties to her heavenly Master. She formed a strong attachment to the gentle, serious child, and would take him on her knees and tell him Bible stories, especially the sweet story of the Manger of Bethlehem and the Cross of Calvary. It was her hand that touched the chords and awakened the first music of his spiritual life. Although not yet seven years of age, there was in his heart a distinct yearning for God; and to her he was indebted for the guidance and the training under which the longing of his heart was ultimately developed into a settled and intelligent faith.

She taught him a prayer-the first prayer he ever learnt; a prayer which he never omitted to use through all the trying days that were soon to come upon him. And in his old age, especially in times of sickness, he very frequently found himself in his prayers repeating those simple words.

It would have been interesting to have read the words of that prayer; it would, perchance, have been helpful to those who have the care and oversight of young lives, to know what simple words may be made. instrumental in leading a life towards its highest aims. Almost the last promise made to the writer by Lord Shaftesbury prior to his fatal illness was that he would endeavour to find time to put down the words of that prayer in writing, but the intention was frustrated.

At the age of seven, young Ashley went to

school. There were, at the beginning of this century, certain schools to which children of the aristocracy were sent, such as, happily, would not be tolerated now under any circumstances. They were hot-beds of every kind of evil and mischief, where bullying, and many other forms of cruelty, were permitted, if not encouraged; where might was right, and the lives of weak and timid boys were made almost intolerable.

To such a school, at the Manor House, Chiswick, now an asylum for the insane, young Ashley was sent. It had a reputation, and a good one in some respects; it was eminently respectable, and the sons of noble families were sent to it. It was formerly a place of retirement for sick scholars from Westminster School: and in 1657 the famous Dr. Busby was living there with some of his pupils; but at the time of which we write it was in the occupation of the Rev. Dr. Thomas Horne. Dr. Horne was a good classical scholar, capable of imparting to his pupils plenty of Latin and Greek; but the art of education, in its wider sense, the training of character aud disposition, the formation of principles, the cultivation of good habits-these were things neglected or ignored. Evil of every kind was rampant; there was neither proper supervision, nor proper food; cruel punishments were inflicted for slight offences; and great offences, such as bullying, foul language, or blackguardism generally not coming within the range of school discipline-were left unchecked.