Page:Records of the Life of the Rev. John Murray.djvu/15



How sweetly roll'd over the morning of life,

How free from vexation, from sorrow and strife;

Kind Nature presented rich scenes to my view,

And every scene she presented was new.

But soon was the morning of life clouded o'er,

And its charming serenity lost;

Too soon was I forc'd to abandon the shore.

And on ocean's rude billows be tost.

OUR earnest solicitations, my inestimable, my best friend, have, with me, the force of commands, and consequently I am irresistibly impelled to retrace for your gratification, as many of the incidents of early life, as live in my memory. Assured of your indulgence, I unhesitatingly commit to your candour, and to your discretion, the following sheets.

I am induced to regret, that my anecdotes of this charming season are not more multiplied. Were my recollection perfect, my enjoyments would be reiterated, but this would not be right, therefore it is not so; every season has its enjoyments, and the God of Nature has thought proper to keep them distinct, and appropriate.

I think, if I mistake not, I was ushered into this state of being on the 10th day of December, in the year of our Lord 1741, four years before the rebellion, in Scotland, of forty-five. I mention this circumstance, as it proved to me, in early life, a source of some vexation. The rebellion terminated in the destruction of many of the Scotch nobility of my name, and this same rebellion was long the subject of political