2IO But how the while could the society in London be so inattentive to its parent and founder? The answer is contained in the following words of a letter written to one of his friends in Dublin. "The funds of the British and Foreign Mission are low, low, low; £130 wanted now to pay what is due, besides what they owe me; as yet I have not received one penny from them for my family; for they have not had it to give." After the first nine months of its existence the so- ciety was not able to give him more than the sum of three pounds! When the year 1838 commenced, David Nasmith remarked in his diary, "I am on my journey to heaven; I am more than three-quarters past mythirty- eighth mile-stone on the road, and will soon be at thirty-ninth mile-stone." Among the aims which he contemplated for this year's accomplishment, were the formation of a universal itinerating library, a loan fund for the industrious and deserving poor, twenty city missions, thirty young men's societies, twenty tract societies, twenty maternal societies, fifty family missions, and ten female missions. He added, "Great usefulness is my aim; let it not be my idol: great holiness is my aim; let me enjoy, but not glory in anything but Christ." By the middle of the year he had visited two English and fourteen Welsh towns and villages, and formed three city missions, thirteen tract, thirteen young men's, four maternal, three young women's, and one little girls' associations; besides four female and nine family missions, and a society for the benefit of domestic servants. In October, after a four months' absence from London, he was able at his return to announce the establish- ment of seventy-three societies for the various objects of religious philanthropy. At the commencement of the following year he planned a still greater amount of work, which he specified as follows:—"Finish four months' tour; write twelve city mission letters; write twenty family mission tracts; form twenty city and town missions, twenty young men's societies, ten tract societies, five female missions, twenty family missions, five young men's societies, five maternal societies, five girls' associations, five boys' associa- tions, five servants' and providence houses, one bene- volent society, and one night-asylum—one hundred and two in all." To this huge task he went with his wonted energy, visiting in his tour some of the principal towns of England, and forming societies wherever he came—making way as usual by the precarious bounty of his kind friends, but still finding his expenditure greater than his receipts, although his wonted economy had been more rigid than ever. But at length the brave one was to droop and fall, overpowered but not conquered. Such excessive labours and severe privations combined were too much for any merely human energy; but although his health was yielding, he still continued to persevere in his self-appointed task. In a state of physical weak- ness and depression of spirit he set out to Guildford, to form a town mission, believing that the journey and work would revive him, and had reached that place apparently much recruited, when he was sud- denly seized with such intolerable pain as prostrated him, and made him writhe in agony. It was his last illness, and so sharp that it could not be other- wise than short. But even in the midst of his suffer- ings, his devout character and entire reliance upon his heavenly Father predominated, so that when a friend observed to him, "It is hard, amidst such troubles as this, to say 'The Lord's will be done!'" he answered with much energy, "Not at all" He afterwards added, "I have only one request—that God. would make me eminently holy and humble." His severe pains were only terminated by death, and his remains were interred in Bunhill-fields Church- yard, on the 25th of December, 1839. Thus died David Nasmith in the prime of life, for he had little more than entered his fortieth year. And yet, what an active life was his, and how much it had accomplished! With the simplicity, self- abnegation, and zeal of an apostle, he combined those talents of planning, arranging, and executing great enterprises with small means, that were not surpassed by a Wesley or a Wellington; and of his success, the institution of town and city missions alone will prove an abiding memorial. The solitary pilgrimage which he commenced has swelled into- the march of an army, while nobles and prelates are following his footsteps, and emulating his example. It is a most impressive attestation that in this nine- teenth century, the age of political and moral reform, when so many experiments are tried and thrown, aside, David Nasmith was a great and a true re- former; and that with every year his character will be better understood, and his worth and services be more highly appreciated, until his name is enrolled among the leading spirits of our age. NASMYTH, PATRICK, the son of Alexander Nasmyth, of whom a memoir has already been given, was born in Edinburgh, 7th January, 1786. He was named after Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, one of the inventors of steam navigation. In his earliest boy- hood Patrick showed that love for painting by which his family, of whom he was the eldest son, were dis- tinguished. So wholly, indeed, were his affections devoted to this pursuit, that he made no progress in the ordinary branches of a schoolboy's education, and neither the allurements of duxship nor the com- pulsion of the tawse could suffice to make him even a tolerable scholar. The school-room itself was abandoned whenever a bright sunshine announced that nature could be seen at its best; and on these occasions the truant boy was to be found in the fields or among the hedges, pencil in hand, taking sketches of the flowers and trees. Another proof of his enthusiastic devotedness to the art is yet more remarkable. While still very young, he was engaged to accompany his father on a sketching excursion ; but in his preparations for the journey on the pre- vious evening, an accident lamed his right hand, so that he was to be laid aside as unfit for service. But his left hand was still untouched, and with this he handled his pencil so effectually that the differ- ence in the work was not greatly perceptible. Many of these left-handed sketches are now sought after by collectors, and prized for their remarkable neat- ness and fidelity. As Scotland, with all its beautiful scenery, has one of the most fickle of climates, so that its landscape-sketchers are often wetted to the skin, Patrick Nasmyth endeavoured to counteract these interruptions, so as to continue his labours in storm as well as sunshine, by an expedient which has since become more common among artists—a travelling tent, which he sometimes carried about with him into the country. Though it was more like a little booth for the exhibition of Punch than the attelier of an artist, having been formed by his own hands, which had no skill whatever in car- pentry, he consoled himself for the jeers of his com- panions by the good service which it yielded him. As may be guessed, this booth was never pitched upon the mountain tops when the storm was at the wildest. Having hitherto studied under his father, Patrick Nasmyth went to London, and commenced in earnest the profession of a landscape-painter, in which he acquired such, distinction that he was called the