During the American war, and long afterwards, every one was a politician. According to his own account of his juvenile days, the subject of our narrative was quite on the side of the Americans; and it does not appear that his sentiments on this matter had hitherto undergone any alteration. The person just named emigrated to America; and alluding, in one of his letters to Mr. Drew, to his own suspected character of republican, observes, " You were as deep in the mud as I in the mire." There was a danger, at the time of which we now write, about the year 1789 or 1790, of political discussion occupying Mr. Drew's attention, to the exclusion or detriment of his more important mental occupations. From this hazard he was preserved, by an incident which he has often related.

A friend one day remarked to him, " Mr. Drew, more than once I have heard you quote that expression,

"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." "You quote it as being true; but how are we to understand it?" "I can give you," replied Mr. D., "an instance from my own experience. When I began business, I was a great politician. My master's shop had been a chosen place for political discussion; and there, I suppose, I acquired my fondness for such debates. For the first year, I had too much to do and to think about, to indulge my propensity for politics; but. after getting a little ahead in the world, I began to dip into these matters again. Very soon, I entered as deeply into newspaper argument as if my livelihood depended on it; my shop was

often filled with loungers, who came to canvass public measures; and now and then I went into my neighbours' houses on a similar errand. This encroached on my time; and I found it necessary sometimes to work till midnight, to make up for the hours I lost. One night, after my shutters were closed, and I was busily employed, some little urchin who was passing the street put his mouth to the key-hole of the door, and, with a shrill pipe, called out, Shoemaker! shoemaker! work by night, and run about by day!"

And did you," inquired the friend, "pursue the boy with your stirrup, to chastise him for his insolence?" "No, no;" replied Mr. Drew. Had a pistol been fired off at my ear, I could not have been more dismayed or confounded. I dropped my work, saying to myself, True, true! but you shall never have that to say of me again!' I have never forgotten it; and, while I recollect any thing, I never shall. To me it was as the voice of God, and it has been a word in season throughout my life. I learned from it, not to leave till to-morrow the work of to-day, or to idle when I ought to be working. From that time I turned over a new leaf. I ceased to venture on the restless sea of politics, or trouble myself about matters which did not concern me. The bliss of ignorance on political topics I often experienced in after life; the folly of being wise my early history shews."

In the lives of good men, indications of an overruling Providence are frequently discoverable. The foregoing incident, we think, may be classed among them. That it gave a colouring to Mr. Drew's habits,

and tended to the formation of his character, he expressly asserts. Its effects may be perceived in his future history. Frequently has he quoted, as expressive of his own sentiments, that beautiful apostrophe of Cowper,

.

'Happy the man, who sees a God employed

In all the good and ill that chequer life;
Resolving all events, with their effects
And manifold results, into the will

And arbitration wise of the Supreme!"

Though all the circumstances of life are under the Divine direction, and, therefore, equally providential; yet there are some occurrences in which this direction is especially apparent. The prospective influence of events is beyond our knowledge: we can judge of them only by comparison with the past. Whether we stand by the fountain of life, or view its stream flowing onward through an undiscovered region towards the ocean of eternity, the circumstances which may determine its course and its magnitude are to us unknown; but, in passing from its estuary to its source, we perceive the localities which gave direction to its current, and the tributaries which augmented the volume of its waters.

SECTION X.

Traits of character - Mr. Drew's method of instructing his

He purposes emigrating to

HAVING happily disentangled himself from the meshes of political debate, Mr. Drew was enabled, with less interruption, to indulge his taste for literature and metaphysics. As he could devote but little time to the acquisition of knowledge, every moment was fully occupied. Drive thy business-do not let thy business drive thee,' was one of those maxims of Dr. Franklin to which Mr. D. adhered; and his example shews, that literature may be cultivated, and piety pursued, without prejudice to our worldly interests.

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During several years," he observes, "all my leisure hours were devoted to reading, or scribbling any thing which happened to pass my mind; but I do not recollect that it ever interrupted my business, though it frequently broke in upon my rest. On my labour depended my livelihood — literary pursuits were only my amusement. Common prudence had taught me the lesson which Marmontel has so happily expressed: Secure to yourself a livelihood independently of literary success, and put into this lottery only the overplus of time. Woe to him who depends

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wholly on his pen! Nothing is more casual. The man who makes shoes is sure of his wages-the man who writes a book is never sure of any thing.'"

To a person of Mr. Drew's sensibility, poetry would present many charms. The poetical works of Milton, Young, and Cowper, he read with avidity;-and Pope's Ethic Epistles, against which much needless outcry has been raised, were, early and late in life, his favourites. Goldsmith was another of his admired writers, both in poetry and prose. The whole of the ⚫ Deserted Village' was committed to memory, and some of those traits in its delightful picture of the village pastor, he perhaps felt to be not inapplicable to himself. At this period

"His house was known to all the vagrant train."

"It was," says his sister, "a sort of asylum for foreigners. To the itinerant trader and the wandering musician my brother's doors were always open. He delighted to converse with them, to learn their history, and to gather from them such information as they could furnish about their respective countries. If intelligent and well-behaved, they were generally invited to sit at our table, and partake of our fare; and frequently has the Jew or the Italian left his box of valuables at our house as a place of safety."

Though but a young tradesman, his punctuality and integrity procured him general respect; much deference was paid to his judgment; and he was frequently chosen by his neighbours an arbitrator in their petty quarrels. In this office, his strict honesty did not always accord with the views of the