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visited Cornwall once in three years. I was there in the never-to-be-forgotten year 1828, and hope, should Providence spare my life, to revisit it in the summer of 1831, when we shall once more have an opportunity of meeting. Indeed, if I find my health decline, so that I cannot attend to the duties of my office, I may see you before; for I never intend tarrying here longer than I am able to transact my business:- while I have health and strength, I would as soon be employed as do nothing. Should I live to see you in 1831, I shall have then come to some decision respecting my future movements. In the mean time, let me hear from you whenever you can find time to write. I am always pleased to see your handwriting, as it recalls departed days which can return no more."

During the same month, March 1830, he writes to his eldest daughter,-"On the 3rd of this month I entered on my 66th year, but have fewer of the infirmities of that age than most of my contemporaries. I trust, however, I shall not forget that my threescore years and ten are at no great distance. My only ground of hope for final salvation is on the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ." A few months afterward he observes to her, "I could wish that I was not bound to labour daily with scarcely any intermission; but such is the nature of my employment, that I must be constantly at my post. Sleeping badly by night, I could frequently sleep in the morning; but, when the hour arrives, I must start from my bed, and attend to duty. My daily routine is, to rise at half-past seven; get breakfast, and go to the

office, by nine; dine at one, return to the office at two, and finally leave at six or half-past."

In the summer of this year he writes thus cheerfully and feelingly to one of his old associates:

"MY OLD AND KIND FRIEND,

"38, Newgate Street, London, July 30, 1830.

"About a month has elapsed since the arrival of the fish; and from their appearance, until the present, we have been occasionally feeding on your bounty. For these fish, be pleased to receive the thanks, both jointly and severally, of Samuel Drew and Mary Drew. Thus far we can testify our gratitude in writing; but, if we live to see the ensuing summer, we hope to have an opportunity of communicating it in person.

"Two years have almost gone by since my late eventful journey into Cornwall-What another year may evolve, who can say? We have, my friend, travelled along the stream of life together for many years, and have seen new generations rise, and old ones pass away. We, who were the young, are now the aged, and already become the chroniclers of departed times. The period cannot be remote when we also shall be buried amidst the wreck of things which were.

During the last eleven years we have been separated, and God only knows if we may ever live together again in the same town. I always calculate on coming to Cornwall, in the evening of my days, to sit down in quietness, and keep life's flame from wasting by repose; but unforeseen events demand procrastination, and the tide may overtake me before I can retire.

"On the whole, my health is good. My chief complaint is, that I sleep badly. I am not yet grown corpulent, but my appetite is tolerably good. I sometimes sigh for relaxation, which the duties of my station will not allow; but

'Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die.'

"You can hardly have any conception what sensations the announcement of deaths, in the papers, excite. My old friends seem falling on every side. I fancy I shall be almost a stranger to my native town. Our departure, my friend, cannot be remote: I have already been visited with the infirmities of sixty-five, and those of sixty-six are coming on me, through my spectacles. May we be prepared for the solemn moment when death shall come.

"Give my love to Mrs. Wheeler and every branch of the family, and believe me to be, with the utmost sincerity, your's,

"Mr. John Wheeler, St. Austell.”

"SAMUEL DREW."

About the commencement of 1830, a request was made to Mr. Drew, by some members of the council of the London University, that he would allow himself to be put in nomination for the vacant chair of Moral Philosophy. Though the emoluments of the Professorship would have doubled his income, so great was his reluctance to prolong his stay in the metropolis, that he declined the flattering proposal.

Speaking of the proposition afterwards, to one of his children, he observed, "When it was made to me, the time of my intended stay in London was drawing near its close; and, for a year or two only, I did not think it proper, or worth my while, to engage."

SECTION XXIV.

Mr. Drew's prolonged residence in London - Effect of Dr. Clarke's death on him- His health visibly declines -His reluctance to yield to the demands of an enfeebled constitution — Rapid diminution of strength — He resolves to quit London.

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IN In the summer of 1831, Mr. Drew again visited Cornwall. The blossoms of the grave' were now plentifully sprinkled over his venerable head; while the marks of care and shadows of age were seen in the deepening lines of his countenance. Still he retained much of his former vivacity, and, in his familiar and playful sallies, shewed that his elasticity of spirits was not subdued. But in the faces of the remaining companions of his youth he saw the tokens of advancing age; and so powerfully was he affected by these indications of the ravages of time, that when, on this occasion, he stood to address his townsmen from the pulpit, he was unable to proceed, till his emotion had found vent in tears.

This year, according to his former calculations, was to release him from his literary engagements. Had he yielded to the reiterated and pressing solicitations of his children and friends, his life would probably have been prolonged. Unforeseen occurrences had, however, deranged his pecuniary calculations, and

left him, with respect to his domestic arrangements, as much afloat as he was several years before, Preferring the welfare of his children to his personal ease, he resolved, for their sakes, to devote two years more to labour; and to his strong parental attachment became a martyr. Nor was it without a foreboding of this result that he adopted the resolution; for to one of his children he writes, about this period, "I sometimes fear I shall be chained to the oar for life, though at others I indulge a hope that I shall leave work before death compels me."

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To his sister he remarks, in November, "My time, is, as usual, much occupied. I have few vacant hours or idle days, yet I still look forward to the time of my leaving the turmoil of application, and of coming to my native county; I have long had the port in view; but alas! some contrary wind or adverse current has again driven me from the much-wished-for harbour. I am still at sea; and wait, with earnest solicitude, an opportunity to cast anchor, and furl my sails." And, several months afterwards, he observes, to the same much-loved relative, "I am something like a school-boy waiting the arrival of the approaching holidays; and, as a month goes by, I estimate the probable remainder. But all is in the hand of the Almighty, in whom we daily live and move and have our being."

There was no further indication of debility or declining health, until the summer of 1832, when he took cold, which was followed by a troublesome cough. Upon a constitution thus beginning to give way, the almost sudden death of his long-tried friend

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