From earth's dull pleasures, and senseless mirth,
Come thou my soul, in haste retire;
Assume the grandeur of thy birth,

And to thy native heaven aspire.
'Tis heaven alone can make thee blest,
Can every wish and want supply;
My endless comforts ever blest
Are all above the sky.

And art thou mine, my dearest Lord?
Then leave I all and fly

The boundless wishes I can form

Unto a pitch more high.

Yes; thou art mine; the contract's seal'd
With thy own precious blood;

And the Almighty's power's engag'd

To see it all made good."

In this manner she made various hymns; and all her meditations were on heavenly things, till she died of a broken heart, which, if I remember right, she was about thirty; and the gentleman died about the same age. - The reason why I have brought forward her meditations is, because they have been a comfort and consolation to me, amidst the various troubles I have passed through, to bring my heart above this world.

Now I shall return to the history from what I have heard my father and mother say. My greatgrand-father was a very proud, austere man, which made it very unpleasant to his children; and having a second wife, it made it so unhappy to the eldest son, who was my grandfather, that his father and he parted in great anger, and he never saw his father afterwards. He had an uncle settled in Pensylvania, who had great property, and no family; and there he determined to go. The first voyage he took they were shipwrecked. I never heard whether any were saved, but my grandfather Jews of

he was protected by some ere they were cast away, and

he remained there till he saw a ship that he made signs to, and they sent a boat and took him aboard. While he was with the Jews it was the season of the year that they went to a certain place every year to worship, where they said the Messiah would come, and my grandfather went with them. He said they all were very kind to him, in supplying him with necessaries. The ship that he entered into was bound for Topsham, in Devonshire. As he was without money he attended the captain, as a servant; but in his voyage he told the captain, who his father was, and where he lived; but said, from the manner they had parted, he could not write to him, and was afraid his father would disinherit him, by cutting off the entail of the land. The captain undertook to write to his father, informing him of the shipwreck, and distress of his son. His father wrote back a letter to the captain, inclosing a draught for £200, which he desired he would let his son have; and to let him know, though he was angry with him, yet he never would disinherit him; for he would never cut off the entail of the land, which had been in succession for seven generations. When the captain received the letter he called my grandfather, and said, "Mr. Southcott, why had not you made yourself known to me sooner? I used to call you John, but I should never have treated you in the manner I have, if I had known you had been that gentleman's son. Then the captain and my grandfather became great friends, and had a great respect for each other. When the ship came into Topsham my grandfather fell in love with Miss Mauditt, of a moderate for e; they married, and lived at Topsham, till ather was born; then my grandfather was ned to take another voyage to Pensylva

nia, to his uncle. He arrived safely, and his uncle rejoiced greatly to see him, and wished him to remain with him; but when he found he had a wife and child in Topsham, he said if my grandfather would return for his wife and child, and come back to him, and settle there, they should live as he did; and, when he died, he would leave them all his property; and he was the richest man in the place; and, as he had no child, he should leave it all to him. My grandfather said, he would return to England for his wife and child.

But, during the time of his absence, there was a gentleman of the name of Southcott, who had no family or relations; and, hearing of the discord between my grandfather and his father, he said he was afraid the name of the Southcotts would come low; therefore he advertised, that if John Southcott, son of William Southcott, would come to him, he would give him the sum of ten thousand pounds; as the gentleman was then fast in a decline. But as my grandfather was not in England, to answer the advertisement, and the gentleman did not know him personally, there was another family near, of the same name, who went and personated my grandfather; and he made his will and left them ten thousand pounds, and died very soon after. When my grandmother heard it she was greatly grieved about it, and told it to my grandfather, when he came home, what he had lost by being absent. He desired her not to grieve at the loss of that; for he said he should have plenty; for his uncle had settled all his estate and property upon him; and as his father had promised that he would never cut off the entail of his land, he should have all he could wish for; and intreated her to go with him to Pensylvania. But this she refused to do; and he could no ways

shed

here

prevail upon her; for my grandfather was quite the reverse of his father: he was a very humane d be man, of tender feelings. He bore an excellent character; and therefore he did not use arbitrary power over his wife to compel her to go against her will. He staid at Topsham with his wife till the second son was born, which was John; he then took another voyage to go over to his uncle again; but he never reached the place; for the ship was wrecked, and he was drowned.

and

Here my grandmother was left in great distress, with two children, destitute of the fortune they had a right to expect; and as my grandfather had never made up the breach with his father, there had been no intercourse between them. Therefore her spirit was too proud to stoop, as she might not be looked upon as a match fit for him; and thus she would not write to him. Her uncle took my father to provide for him; he had an estate of fifty pounds a year, which he promised to leave to him; and another relation of my grandmother took my uncle John; and she married again to a captain of a ship soon after my grandfather's death; and soon after his death his father died; and then the youngest son, which was William, wrote a letter to my grandmother, that his father was dead, and he was not married, nor ever intended; but if she would come with her two sons, the eldest should have the land that he was heir to, and the youngest should have all his fortune that remained; for his sister was married to a gentleman in London. When she received the letter she was so mortified and confounded, to think that she married again so soon after her husband's death, with a man that was spending all her property, that she thought she should be so much despised by him, that she never answered his letter; and he was offended, and wrote no more.

After my father had lived some years with Mr. Mills, his future prospect was blasted, of what he was promised to have from him. Mr. Mills was a man given to drinking, so that he had a mortgage of fifty pounds upon his estate; and after that the man contrived to get Mr. Mills in liquor, and he got him to sign away the whole estate for fifty pounds. After Mr. Mills found what he had done he was like a madman, and used to cry over my father, and say, " my dear boy, my dear child, I have ruined thee for ever! I should not so much lament my own loss, if it was not for your sake." With his excess of sorrow he gave himself up to drinking, and did not live long after; but he spent all he had before he died. Then my father was left as an orphan in the world, having no friend or relation to assist him, as the captain that married my grandmother had spent all her property, so that she could not do anything for my father; and he was brought up to farming with his uncle, and in that capacity he went as a servant.

Now I shall return to my father's brother John. He was brought up by a relation of his mother's; and he was mate of a ship; but before they were grown up young men, their father's brother in Hertfordshire died; and no one ever looked after the property, for the children. My father's brother was a remarkably religious young man; and the last time he went to sea he took an affectionate leave of my father, and said, " my dear brother, I hope we shall meet in a better world! I don't believe I shall ever see you more in this." When he was coming home he wrote a letter to his mother, that he should take a ship for London, as he intended to go to Hertfordshire, to seek for his father's relation, to find out the property. She sent him a letter immediately, that she had been greatly troubled in dreams about him, that he was