Page:Records of the Life of the Rev. John Murray.djvu/114

104 gratifying, and abundantly more so, as I also was included in the invitation. After seeing, and conversing with me, he sincerely lamented, that he had been so far duped by the artful, and designing, as to put the disposition of the greater part of his property at his decease entirely out of his own power; but what he could do, he most cheerfully did. Yet even here we were pursued by disappointment. He requested me to procure him a capable, sober domestic; and I engaged a woman, who, as I believed, answered his description; but, proving an artful hussey, she gradually obtained, over the mind of the old gentleman, an astonishing influence, that resulted in a marriage, which effectually prevented his family connexions from ever again visiting him! Thus were our new-born expectations, from a reconciled parent, levelled with the dust. A series of calamities succeeded; those, whom I had esteemed my best, and dearest friends, proved my most inveterate foes, and, finding it impossible to reclaim us, from what they conceived paths of error, persecuted us with unceasing virulence. Presents, bestowed in the days of confidence, as tokens of affection, were claimed as legal debts; and as the law does not allow presents, I was arrested for the amount, betrayed, by my religious friends, into the hands of bailiffs, at a time when, had the promised lenity been exercised, I could have paid to the utmost farthing. Thus heaven thought proper to keep us low; but our faith increased, and we cherished that hope, which maketh not ashamed; and, even while struggling with difficulties, we enjoyed a heaven upon earth. Gradually I surmounted the greater part of my difficulties. At the house of our brother William, I had an interview with our once obdurate younger brother; he seemed penetrated with sorrow for our long-continued estrangement; he hung upon my neck, wept bitterly, and expressed a fear, that I could never forgive him. I also shed many tears, and extending to him the hand of amity, clasped him to my bosom, with a most cordial embrace. This was a most pleasant circumstance to my beloved Eliza; all now seemed delightful. We had a sweet little retirement in a rural part of the city; we wanted but little, and our wants were all supplied; and perhaps we enjoyed as much, as human nature can enjoy. One dear pledge of love, a son, whom my wife regarded as the image of his father, completed our felicity. But, alas! this boy was lent us no more than one short year! He expired in the arms of his agonized mother, whose health, from that fatal moment, began rapidly to decline. I was beyond expression terrified. Physicians recommended the country; but my business confined me in London, and my circumstances would not admit of my