self, is given here, and is as remarkable a piece of self-analysis as was ever penned. A very unpleasant chapter, to our thinking, in this portion of the book, is that entitled "The Life Sorrow," in which Mrs. Chapman tells the story of the estrangement between Miss Martineau and her brother James. This was occasioned by the publication of "The Letters," by Miss Martineau and Mr. Atkinson, a book in which the authors distinctly severed themselves from all the principles of the Christian faith Her brother James, in the Prospective Review, denounced the book and its teachings unsparingly, in an article entitled "Mesmeric Atheism." There is no evidence that this review was written from any other motive than a high conviction of duty, and there is every reason to believe that the duty was a painful one and undertaken with reluctance; but Miss Martineau, so severe in her strictures upon others, could not brook such criticism upon herself, and her brother was, as Mrs. Chapman expresses it, "placed in the same category with the defamers of old times whom she must never again meet." Mrs. Chapman, in her chapter on this painful subject, suffers herself to be led, by her enthusiasm for Miss Martineau, to hint at a very unworthy motive for her brother's course, quoting the opinion of some who believed that "masculine terror, fraternal jealousy of superiority, with a sectarian and provincial impulse to pull down and crush a world-wide celebrity, had moved to this public outrage."

Such a character as that delineated in these pages, so strong and self-reliant and many-sided, so clearly revealed and yet in the last analysis so difficult and baffling, constitutes a fascinating subject of study. It is worthy of notice, though at first thought it may seem paradoxical to say it, that the sensitiveness and timidity of her earlier, and the arrogance of her later, years had a common root in one dominant quality of her character, her sublime egotism. The feeling that she was the centre of observation, and that her acts and movements engrossed the attention of all around her, caused her in childhood to shrink from human contact and to have a morbid dread of criticism, while in mature life it sustained her in discouragement, strengthened her against opposition, and imparted acidity to her judgment. The child Harriet, longing

for the temporary distinction of a suicide, or looking for a translation, by angelic ministry, through the chapel windows, is the same, in the controlling qualities of her mind, with the woman who came to measure men and women, not so much by their worth and attainments, or their relations to the world, as by their bearing toward herself, and their deference, or the want of it, to her prejudices. In the account which she gives of her childhood, although she does not fail to recognize and condemn the unlovely traits of character displayed, it is apparent that she considers that the responsibility for them. rested upon her parents rather than herself. Her grievance is that she was not singled out for exceptional treatment; and what she calls the "taking-down process" in her family circle seems to have been very nearly as distasteful to her in the retrospect as the pasting of blacking-box labels was to Charles Dickens. The discontent with which both these distinguished authors looked back over the period of childhood, and the amount of blame which both visited upon their parents, might well cause one to shrink from the consequences of being the father or the mother of a genius.

The disposition which Miss Martineau had to weigh the character of others by their bearing toward herself, we have already remarked upon. As a child she constantly fancied herself slighted; in later life she was equally on the alert for flattery. This she was prompt to denounce and quick to detect, so quick, indeed, as it appears to us, that she often imagined it where it did not exist. She seems to have had always an uneasy consciousness of admiration. If she was invited into company, she felt that it was done in order that she might be exhibited as a "literary lion"; if any one was specially polite to her, she considered that it was because he was planning to trade upon her acquaintance afterward, and to acquire distinction from the fact of having met her. Doubtless she was the object of much sycophancy; the suddenness and brilliancy of her fame must have exposed her to countless annoyances from shallow-brained people who sought to shine, if ever so faintly, in reflected light; and the flatteries she actually experienced, together with those which she fancied, caused her to expect insincerity, and to look upon men and things in

a spirit of cynical unbelief. The most casual reader of her memoirs cannot fail to notice how seldom she speaks with entire cordiality of any one. Even though she seems to praise, there is nearly always in what she says a sting somewhere; and her characterizations of her contemporaries are edged with a keenness which may be truth, but, in some cases at least, seems to be spite. We have selected a section of the Autobiography which seemed to be as rich as any in literary reminiscence and anecdote, the second section of Period IV.,— and have classified, with as much accuracy as possible, her comments upon various personages whom she met. We find that

out of ninety different persons whom she mentions, she speaks with entire friendliness of but twenty-five. The number of those of whom she writes with some measure of praise, qualified with sharp criticism, is thirty-four; while concerning thirty-one she expresses herself in terms indicative of hearty and undisguised dislike.

It would be an interesting but possibly an insoluble problem to determine to what extent her censoriousness of spirit was the consequence of bodily limitations and ailments. It is a fact of universal experience that physical well-being, or the opposite, exerts a subtile but powerful influence over mental moods and processes. A vast amount of cynicism and scepticism has its roots in dyspepsia, and a disordered digestion or a sluggish circulation constitutes the true explanation of many unlovely traits of character. As it is essential to vision not only that there shall be transmission of light, but that there shall be a retina to receive the impressions, so to the perception of the true, the noble, and the beautiful in nature and in life, it is necessary not only that these qualities exist, but that there be a receptive mind to appreciate them. Compare for a moment, at this point, the character of Charles Kingsley with that of Miss Martineau. The two had much in common. Both were earnest workers for their race, though Miss Martineau's philanthropy seems to have been for man in the abstract, and that of Kingsley for man in the concrete. We find that the latter, in his early manhood, was perplexed by the same questionings and smitten with the same scepticism as Miss Martineau, - but here the parallel ends. Kings

ley fought his way through his doubts to a serene faith and a sweet and lofty spiritual experience. In determining these points of contact, and tracing these lines of divergence in the two, is it only an accident that we find Kingsley leading a hearty and wholesome out-o'-doors life, fond of the rod and gun and distinguished for strength and courage, while Miss Martineau, crippled by physical deficiencies and wearied by physical pain, was shut in to habits of brooding and introspection?

It is possible that, if her physical conditions had been more favorable and the associations of her childhood more congenial, her nature would have lost some of the strong and aggressive qualities which enabled her to conquer her way through the world and achieve signal success; but there certainly seems to have been, in her composition, a surplusage of the sterner traits. Some angularities of mind and acerbities of temper might have been taken away, and her character left thereby not less commanding and more symmetrical. Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Cardinal Wolsey the wish that he had served his God with half the zeal he served his king. In like manner, we may say of Harriet Martineau that, had she had half the faith in God that she had in herself, her life would have been serener, its record more agreeable, and its results more lasting.

Boston.

FRANK FOXCROFT.

VITAL STATISTICS OF THE CONGREGATIONAL

MINISTERS

WHO DIED IN THE YEAR 1876.

OMITTED LAST YEAR.

ESTY, ISAAC, son of David and Mercy (Hicks) Esty, was born in Sutton, Mass., 1796, April 24. In 1798 the family removed to Westmoreland, N. H. Fitted for college with Mr. Otis Hutchins, Westmoreland, N. H. Graduated, Yale College, 1821; Andover Theological Seminary, 1824. Home Missionary in Cheshire County, N. H., 1826-8. Went to Cape Elizabeth, Me., 1828, July, and ordained there, 1829, Jan. 28. Dismissed, 1831, April 18. Acting pastor, Bridgeton, Me., 1831-2. Without charge, Westmoreland, N. H., 1832-40. Westminster, Vt., 1840-5. Acting pastor there, in connection with Rev. S. S. Arnold, 1845, March — 1846, March. Acting pastor, Bethlehem and Franconia, N. H., 1846, April, 1851, and again, Westminster, East, Vt., 1853; at Lunenburg, Vt., 1854, and Heath, Mass., 1859-60. Without charge, Amherst, Mass., till death. Married, 1829, Feb. 11, Nancy, daughter of Asa and Anna (Goldsmith) Goldsmith, of Harvard, Mass. Prof. William C. Esty, of Amherst College, is his son. Another died in infancy. Died, 1875, July 31, of marasmus, aged 79 years, 3 months, and 7 days.

ALLEN, ASA SMITH, son of Phineas and Ruth (Smith) Allen, was born in Medfield, Mass., 1797, June 21. Studied theology at Angelica, N. Y., with Robert Hunter, D. D. Ordained, 1837, March 2. Acting pastor, Cuba, N. Y., 1837-46; Dodgeville, Wis, 1846-55; Black Earth, Wis., 1855-68; Clear Lake, Iowa, 1868, till death. Superintendent of Schools, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, 1871-2. Married, 1st, 1819, Lydia, daughter of Samuel and Hannah (Hall) Kingsbury, of Walpole, Mass., by whom he had ten children. She died, 1847, Aug. 14, and he married, 2d, 1850, October, Mrs. Martha Jane, daughter of Dea. Robert and Chloe (Ramsdell) Barney, of Rutland, Vt., and widow of Albert Camp, by whom he had three children. Died of apoplexy, 1876, Nov. 7, aged 79 years, 4 months, and 16 days.

BACON, George Blagden, d. D, son of Rev. Dr. Leonard and Lucy (Johnson) Bacon, was born in New Haven, Conn., 1836, May 23 Preparatory studies in Hopkins Grammar School, New Haven. Entered Yale College with the class of 1856. During college course, he took a voyage for health, as Captain's Clerk and Purser of the United States ship "Portsmouth," to Siam and China. Was absent, 1853-8. Received from Yale College both degrees, A. B. and A. M., in 1866. Member of Yale Theo