youth was seized with despondency, which produced fearful results. Notwithstanding the celebrity of his father, the affection of his mother, and the honours which appeared to await him, existence became a burden too insupportable for him to endure. Destitute of the consolations of religious hope, and without holy principle, he had recourse to self-destruction, and the horrible crime was perpetrated with almost unparalleled coolness and desperate deliberation. He retired to a small room, fastened the door, closed up every aperture which could admit the external air, and placing his writing materials and a stop watch upon his table, lighted a brazier of charcoal before him. As the process of suffocation went on, he continued to note down the sensations he experienced, and persevered in describing the increase of his suffering until his hand-writing became illegible, and he ceased to breathe! Such a fearful catastrophe recalls to our mind those solemn words, "Without God and without hope, in the world."

The most prosperous career, the most brilliant talents, even the exercise of the most amiable and beneficent virtues, cannot shield a man from suffering in his own person and in those he loves, the consequences of forgetting the paramount claims of Him by whom all his powers have been imparted, and to whom his life is due. Although M. Berthollet survived some years this overwhelming stroke, he never recovered his equanimity. A profound melancholy and disquiet were written indelibly in his countenance, yet still,

with characteristic fortitude, and in the spirit of that philosophy which was all the consolation he knew, he continued to discharge the duties that claimed his attention, and bore, without complaint, a long and suffering illness. At length he expired, in 1822, at the advanced age of 74. Oh! that he had been a Christian; then would he indeed have been of "the highest style of man."

JAMES BRINDLEY,

THE ORIGINATOR OF CANAL NAVIGATION.

Born 1716-Died 1772.

"He is as plain a looking man as one of the boors of the Peak, or one of his own carters; but, when he speaks, all ears listen, and every mind is filled with wonder at the things he pronounces to be practicable."

SUCH is the account given of this remarkable man, a person of extraordinary genius for mechanical invention, and who attained distinction by his skill in planning and conducting inland navigation. His history is a most instructive one, and well calculated to encourage those who find themselves under the greatest disadvantages in early life.

He was born at Tunstead, in the county of Derby, in the year 1716, of parents who possessed a small freehold, the income of which was unhappily dissipated by his father, who utterly neglected the care of his son, so that he was deprived of the advantages of even a common education. This disgraceful conduct reduced the family to want, and James, until he was seventeen years old, was employed as a farmer's lad, and had no better chance than the children of the poor cottagers around him.

At that age the lad bound himself apprentice to a wheelwright named Bennet, who lived near Macclesfield, in Cheshire. This man, being generally occu

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pied in distant parts of the country, bestowed but little instruction upon young Brindley, who was left much to his own resources; and these circumstances, so far from being adverse to his improvement, seem only to have called forth more strongly the peculiar qualities of his mind. He was gifted naturally with great inventive faculties, and even in the early part of his apprenticeship frequently astonished his master by the clever improvements which he suggested; and when left to manage the business without any instructions, he gave so much satisfaction to the millers who employed him, that before long he was consulted in preference to Bennet, or any other workman.

Faithful in his situation as servant (would that all apprentices had the same high principle to rule their conduct!) he was anxious to uphold the credit of his employer. On one occasion, he had an excellent opportunity for exerting himself on this behalf. It chanced that Bennet was employed in preparing some machinery of a new description in a certain paper-mill, but a rumour was circulated that he did not know what he was about, and would be unable to execute his contract. This report coming to the ear of Brindley, as soon as he had finished his week's work, and without saying anything of his intention, he set off for the mill, and took a careful survey of the works. After a walk of fifty miles, the energetic youth reached home in time to recommence work on Monday morning he had marked with discerning eye the points in which his master's work was defective, and enabled

him to correct them. The result was that Bennet's engagement was satisfactorily fulfilled. Before his apprenticeship had expired, when, through age and infirmities, his master became unable to work, this admirable young man carried on the business for him with reputation, and provided a comfortable subsistence for the old man and his family.

Brindley afterwards engaged in the millwright business on his own account; but he did not confine himself to the making of mill-machinery. In 1752, he contrived an improved engine for draining some coal-pits at Clifton, in Lancashire, which was set in motion by a wheel 30 feet below the surface, and the water for turning which was conveyed from the Irwell by a subterraneous tunnel 600 yards long. In a short time the fame of his inventions spread far beyond his own neighbourhood; and, in 1755, a gentleman of London engaged him to execute a portion of the machinery for a silk-mill at Congleton. The construction of the more complex parts was at first intrusted to another individual, who, assuming airs of superiority, treated Brindley as a common mechanic, and refused to show him his general designs, until, as he was found incapable of performing his portion of the work, it became necessary to take the advice of Brindley, who offered to complete the whole of the machinery in his own way; and the proprietors, convinced of his integrity and talents, allowed him to do $0. The ability with which he accomplished this undertaking raised his reputation still higher.