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Intellectual Dearth.

should not be left too much to past fame. I speak of the intellectual status of the city as a whole, as of course there are many happy exceptions to this general charge of want of mental culture.

I would only say, in conclusion, that I have spent many pleasant hours at Hereford, not only in admiring its many beauties, but also have enjoyed the society of not a few of its hospitable citizens.*

my

I have already lingered so long over these vacation rambles that I am afraid of having taxed the patience of readers. I should like to have included some other places I have visited in my holidays, such as the Isle of Wight; Rochester, Chatham, and Stroud; Maidstone; Brighton and its splendid downs, &c; but I have said already too much, and will therefore resume the thread of my little history.

I am indebted to John Price's "Historical Account of the City of Hereford," published in 1796, for some interesting particulars relating to the city; and to Mr. J. R. King's very able account of the Cathedral in "Murray's Handbook to the Cathedrals of England."

REMOVAL TO HAMPSTEAD.

N 1859 my health had assumed so serious an aspect as to induce my doctor to recommend my immediate removal from London, and also to require me to give up everything in the shape of work that I could, so as to reserve what little energy was left for my everyday duties at my place of business.

I had sometimes gone without sleep for nearly a fortnight; and as we then lived in a great thoroughfare (in a house built by Braithwaite, the engineer), now known as Euston-road, there was a continuous stream of cabs and carriages passing and repassing all through the weary night. Sometimes, when there was a lull for a few minutes, the silence was the more trying, as I began to listen for the noise again, so as to prevent entirely my getting any sleep. The house stood at the corner of a street which was the principal thoroughfare for Pickford's heavy vans from their Camden Town depôt. The passing of these vans would shake the house to its foundations; and that alone, to one of shattered nervous system, was of itself no small trial.

It was no easy matter for a man of my slender income to find a house a few miles out of London at a rent such as I could afford, and, at the same time, either within a reasonable walking distance from my office, or where a cheap omnibus would help me in case of bad weather, or increasingly failing health.

330

Hampstead Heath.

I have always found a difficulty in obtaining a house such as one was obliged to live in to keep one's standing in society, at a rent that I could afford. There are plenty of "villa residences," and good substantial houses, in the suburbs for those who have four or five times my income. There are houses also in abundance for mechanics and the labouring classes; but a man holding the official position of a gentleman could not, if he would, avail himself of them. I am glad to find that a Christian lady of high rank, and possessed of ample means, has, near Highgate, erected some charmingly built villas for those who have worked hard as clerks in her employ, and who would prefer paying a rent from their income for a residence, than be voted into an almshouse. Those who are interested in these matters will probably have seen the houses referred to, in Swane's Lane, Highgate, erected at the expense of Miss Burdett Coutts, a lady who has done so much to benefit her less favoured countrymen and country

women.

After making many careful inquiries in the neighbourhood of Hampstead, Hornsey, Highgate, Colney Hatch, Finchley, Muswell-hill, and Pinner, I met with a little house at Holly-hill, Hampstead.

We removed there in the autumn of 1859, and I soon found the change most beneficial. The bracing air, a ramble over the heath, and the quiet nights, made a marked and visible improvement in my health, aided, doubtless, very much by deep and refreshful sleep, though it rarely or ever lasted beyond the usual hour of four in the morning.

At the time referred to I was honorary secretary to the church with which I was connected in London, as well as holding the office of an elder in the same church. The responsible duties connected with these offices pressed rather heavily upon my waning powers, and I was very reluctantly compelled to give them up. I was thoroughly persuaded not only by the doctor, but also by my own

Churches and Chapels.

331

consciousness of failing health, and powers of endurance, that such a step was my bounden duty; and having once seen it to be so, I had no hesitation in at once carrying it

out.

Though most thoroughly enjoying the rest and healthful invigorating change at Hampstead, we all missed the services of the sanctuary on the Sabbath, and the earnest manly sermons of our reverend friend in London.

One of the first things I did at my new home was to make myself acquainted with the religious aliment to be found at the churches and chapels of the neighbourhood: for this purpose I visited in succession all the places of worship there. As there was no Independent chapel in the place, it was not unnatural that I should seek out the places occupied by the Baptist denomination. We all, as a rule, go to "our own place," as certainly as Judas Iscariot did to his, though up to this period I was not a Baptist in principle. I enjoyed an occasional visit to my old Episcopalian friends; but felt far more at home among my Congregational brethren. I found upon inquiry that there were two Baptist churches in the parish, one immediately under the shadow of the beautiful spire of Christ Church, and the other only a few doors from my own house, and known as Holly-bush Chapel, though the founder had called it "Ebenezer." The society meeting at "Bethel," near the church, was what are termed "Particular Baptists" of the hyper-Calvinistic school, with close communion. For the information of my Episcopalian, and other uninitiated readers, I may say that "close communion" means that none but baptized believers are admitted as members of the church. These good people would not do for me at all, as I had never as yet seen it to be right and Scriptural to conform to their requirements. The other was a small society of Christian people, that met in a queer little building erected by the late Mr. Castleden, who used it for a residence, as well as for the more sacred purposes of divine worship. This

332

Holly-bush Chapel.

gentleman, I was informed, was a very remarkable man, and so respected and beloved in the parish that many of the highest Episcopal families of the neighbourhood invited him to their houses, and some of them regularly attended the week-night service at his chapel. I regret that I cannot furnish any particulars relating to this good man; but I found that he had left behind him a name beloved and honoured among the people that he laboured for in holy things.

The pulpit of this chapel was supplied at the time of my removal to Hampstead by a worthy man who had formerly been a schoolmaster, but who had relinquished that calling, and had passed through a course of preparatory training for the ministry at Regent's Park College. He was a jolly-looking, genial man, of middle age, a bachelor, and intelligent and companionable. With an entire absence of what is called "ministerial dignity," there was found in him very much to respect and venerate, and as he was a thorough hater of cant, we soon became great friends, and he was a frequent visitor at our fireside. I have mentioned that, although I had been attending what are called Baptist Churches since removing from Paddington, I was not a Baptist in principle, and had there been a church of the Independent order at Hampstead, with a minister that we could have heard with pleasure and profit, we should in all probability have connected ourselves with such a church.

The worthy minister of Holly-bush Chapel did not remain at Hampstead more than about twelve months after my removal there, as the church over which he presided was too poor to maintain a stated minister. I have mentioned that he was a bachelor; but this was not from choice, but necessity, as he had been courting a lady for seventeen years, who would not marry while her mother lived. Our good friend was waiting in patient hope and joyful anticipation for "a consummation most devoutly to be wished," and has now for some years been