this year conquered, I hope I shall have paid the price for future success. As what is to come, therefore, will be valuable, the purchase cannot be considered dear. A well-earned reputation, wealth to do good, to bestow and to enjoy, ease in the decline of life, and the reflection that the short stay here has not been idly spent, cannot but rouse the feelings of the most indolent mind, and detain even the most unkind in doubt respecting their censure. This is what I hold out to myself,-whether it be delusion or not, must be left to time; but I am not to be dismayed by the prodigal and thoughtless; and it is a chance, if I do succeed, whether it may be equally said in` my prosperity, 'I thought it would come to this.'

"After this declaration, my dear friend, I turn my back on Devonshire. The idea of ever returning, let the event be what it may, is now at an end. William would never have conquered this island if he had not burnt his ships.

"From the immensity of this metropolis your character is kept up by a repetition of fame, and one circle hands you over to another; so that the first may be lost without injury, and the second is often more valuable than the first. No petty incidents of life are inquired into a man is paid his price for his labours, and the obligation considered mutual. You are less exposed to the tricks of the trader and the fire of the brandy-merchant."

The result of the determination expressed in the above letter fulfilled the hopes of the writer: his practice continued to increase. He was soon obliged to add a carriage to his establishment, and had no longer any apprehension of an inability to meet the increased expenditure.

CHAPTER V.

Dr. Knighton chosen as Medical Attendant by the Marquis Wellesley on his Embassy to Spain.-Journal.-Anecdotes of Pitt and Fox.-Embark on board the Donegal.— Capture of three Galiots.-Pitt's Speech on the Slavetrade.-Bay of Biscay.-Cape Finisterre.-Rock of Lisbon.-Cape St. Vincent.-Arrival in the Bay of Cadiz.Letters to Mrs. Knighton.

In the year 1809, Dr. Knighton had the honour of being chosen as medical attendant by that distinguished nobleman and statesman, the Marquis Wellesley, to accompany him on his embassy to Spain; and his lordship's liberality enabled him to risk the inconvenience which might be the consequence of this interruption to his professional career. Fortunately this absence proved of shorter duration than had been anticipated; and a fragment of a journal, with some extracts from Dr. Knighton's

applicable to the disposition of mind which generally bears the term in the English language. You tell me, my good friend, very seriously, that you feel actual surprise when you consider what I have done, considering my years. My answer is, that according to the common pursuits of young men in general, it may be SO; but I myself am not the least surprised, when I reflect on the sleepless nights and weary days, and the scanty pittance of necessity, which induced it. You will inquire if others are not placed in a similar situation. It may be so; and the same will always attend the pursuit, if no gross vice or constitutional infirmity arises to counteract it. My greatest blessing in early life was my wholesome share of good common sense, which enabled me on the spur of the moment to act with propriety, which always came unasked, and was therefore always more valuable. When the mind sinks, then, or I should rather say, feels the weight of the continual struggle with the contending world for a

small share of its blessings,-it is no wonder, when it recurs to the rugged road behind, and looks at the weary length of the distant prospect before, that it should ask itself, 'Have you not attempted too much ?' Where is the heart to be found, that possesses virtue, sensibility, or talent, that in answering the question during the arduous pursuit, (on which, thank God, only his earthly existence depends,) can give it without the sigh of deep oppression?

"If, my dear friend, you think the word 'despondency' right to be applied to me, I beg you will let its meaning be drawn from the feelings which I have just given you. I do not wait for you to remind me, my good friend, of that beautiful image comprehended under our blessed Saviour's miracle of the storm. It is indeed quite impossible to conceive that, without the influence of holiness, the mind can struggle on against the storms of human existence; for, even with the assistance and influence of others, it requires some bright spot of