I was fourteen years and a half old when I was taken to Taunton to be placed with a shoemaker, George Bowden, who took me as an apprentice without any premium, and engaged to find me in everything. I was accordingly bound apprentice to George and Mary Bowden, as honest and worthy a couple as ever carried on a trade. They carefully attended to their shop six days in the week, and on the seventh went with their family twice to an Anabaptist meeting-house, where little attention was paid to speculative doctrines, but where sound morality was constantly inculcated. The two sons of Mr Bowden having joined the Wesleyan Methodists, who were at that time making many converts, was led to join the same sect. The enthusiastic feelings which I now imbibed, and the desire which I had to talk on religious subjects, many of which were beyond my depth, answered one valuable purpose-it caused me to embrace every opportunity to again learn to read, so that I could soon peruse easy parts of the Bible, and Mr Wesley's hymns; and every leisure minute was so employed. In the winter I was obliged to attend my work from six in the morning until ten at night. In the summer half year I only worked as long as we could see without candle; but notwithstanding the close attention I was obliged to pay to my trade, for a long time I read ten chapters in the Bible every day. I also read and learned many hymns; and as soon as I could procure some of Mr Wesley's tracts, sermons, &c. I read them likewise. I had such good eyes, that I often read by the light of the moon, as my master would never allow me to take a candle into my room.

I

In the fourth year of my apprenticeship my master died, by which event I gained a little more liberty in attending the meetings of the Methodists, who certainly never had a more unscrupulous proselyte. In my excitement, my memory became very tenacious, so that everything I read I made my own. could have repeated several volumes of hymns; when I heard a sermon, I could have preached it again, and nearly in the same words; my Bible had hundreds of leaves folded down, and thousands of marks against such texts as I thought favoured the doctrines which I had imbibed. My religious exercises at length suffered interruption. The election for two members of parliament was strongly contested at Taunton just as I attained my twenty-first year (1767), and being now of age, the six or seven months which I had to serve of my apprenticeship were purchased of my mistress by some friends of two of the contending candidates, so that I was at once set free amidst a scene of riot and dissipation. Having a vote, and being possessed of a few ideas above those of my rank and situation, my company was courted by some who were in a much higher sphere; and in such company I soon forgot my former connexions, and ran into the extreme of intemperance. My condition was deplorable; for when the election was over, I had no longer open houses to eat

and drink at free cost, and having refused bribes, I was nearly out of cash. However, I did not sink quite so low as I might have done, but in general worked very hard, and did not spend all I earned in dissipation.

Wearied with this mode of life, and wishing to see more of the world, I shortly after went to Bristol, where I procured work, and fell into a course of reading, which occupied my leisure hours. In the course of my reading, I learned that there had been various sects of philosophers amongst the Greeks, Romans, &c. and I well remembered the names of the most eminent of them. At an old book-shop I purchased Plato on the Immortality of the Soul, Plutarch's Morals, Seneca's Morals, Epicurus's Morals, the morals of Confucius the Chinese philosopher, and a few others. I now can scarcely help thinking that I received more real benefit from reading and studying them and Epictetus, than from all other books that I had read before, or have ever read since that time. I was only twenty-two years of age when I first began to read those fine moral productions, and they made a very deep and lasting impression on my mind. By reading them, I was taught to bear the unavoidable evils attending humanity, and to supply all my wants by contracting or restraining my desires

"To mend my virtues, and exalt my thought,

What the bright sons of Greece and Rome have wrote
O'er day and night I turn; in them we find

A rich repast for the luxurious mind."

It is now twenty-three years since I first perused them, during which time I do not recollect that I have ever felt one anxious painful wish to get money, estates, or anyway to better my condition; and yet I have never since that time let slip any fair opportunity of doing it. Be contented, says Isocrates, with what you have, and seek at the same time to make the best improvement of it you can. So that all I mean is, that I have not been over-solicitous to obtain anything that I did not possess; but could at all times say with St Paul, that I have learned to be contented in all situations, although at times they have been very gloomy indeed. Dryden says

"We to ourselves may all our wishes grant,
For nothing coveting, we nothing want."

The pleasure of eating and drinking I entirely despised, and for some time carried this disposition to an extreme; and even to the present time I feel a very great indifference about these matters: when in company, I frequently dine off one dish when there are twenty on the table. The account of Epicurus living in his garden at the expense of about a halfpenny per day, and that, when he added a little cheese to his bread on particular occasions, he considered it as a luxury, filled me with raptures.

From that moment I began to live on bread and tea, and for a considerable time did not partake of any other viands; but in those I indulged myself three or four times a-day. My reasons for living in this abstemious manner were in order to save money to purchase books, to wean myself from the gross pleasures of eating and drinking, &c. and to purge my mind, and to make it more susceptible of intellectual pleasures; and here I cannot help remarking that the term Epicure, when applied to one who makes the pleasures of the table his chief good, casts an unjust reflection on Epicurus, and conveys a wrong idea of that contemplative and very abstemious philosopher; for although he asserted that pleasure was the chief or supreme good, yet he also as strongly asserted that it was the tranquillity of the mind, and intellectual pleasure, that he so extolled and recommended. "This pleasure," says he, "that is the very centre of our happiness, consists in nothing else than having our mind free from disturbance, and our body free from pain; drunkenness, excessive eating, niceness in our liquors, and all that seasons good cheer, have nothing in them that can make life happy; there is nothing but frugality and tranquillity of mind that establish this happy state; it is this calm that facilitates our distinguishing betwixt those things that ought to be our choice, and those we ought to shun; and it is by the means thereof that we discard those notions that discompose this first mover of our life." St Evremont, in his vindication of Epicurus, says, "Ignorant men know not his worth. Wise men have given large and honourable testimonies of his exalted virtue and sublime precepts. They have fully proved his pleasures to be as severe as the Stoic's virtue; that to be debauched like Epicurus, a man must be as sober as Zeno. His temperance was so great, that his ordinary diet was nothing but bread and water. The Stoics and all other philosophers agree with Epicurus in this— that the true felicity of life is to be free from perturbations; to understand our duty towards God and man, and to enjoy the present without any anxious dependence upon the future; not to amuse ourselves either with hopes or fears; to curb and restrain our unruly appetites; to rest satisfied with what we have, which is abundantly sufficient; for he that is content wants nothing."

I continued the above self-denying life until I left Bristol, which was on Whitsunday in 1769. I had, for some time before, been pointing out to a young friend, John Jones, some of the pleasures and advantages of travelling, so that I easily prevailed on him to accompany me towards the west of England; and in the evening we arrived at Bridgewater, where Mr Jones got work. He was employed by Mr Cash, with whom he continued near twelve months, and in the end married his daughter, a very pretty and amiable little woman with some fortune. When my friend was offered work by Mr Cash, I prevailed on

him to accept of it, assuring him that I had no doubt of my being able to get work at Taunton: but in that I was disappointed; nor could I get a constant seat of work until I came to Exeter, and of that place I was soon tired; but being informed that a Mr John Taylor of Kingsbridge (forty miles below Exeter) wanted such a hand, I went down, and was gladly received by Mr Taylor, whose name inspires me with gratitude, as he never treated me as a journeyman, but made me his companion. Nor was any part of my time ever spent in a more agreeable, pleasing manner, than that which I passed in this retired place, or, I believe, more profitable to a master. I was the first man he ever had that was able to make stuff and silk shoes; and it being also known that I came from Bristol, this had great weight with the country ladies, and procured my master customers, who generally sent for me to take the measure of their feet; and I was looked upon by all to be the best workman in the town, although I had not been brought up to stuff-work, nor had ever entirely made one stuff or silk shoe before. Nor should I have presumed to proclaim myself a stuff-man, had there been any such workmen in the place; but as there were none, I boldly ventured, and succeeded very well; nor did any one in the town ever know that it was my first attempt in that branch.

During the time that I lived here, I, as usual, was obliged to employ one or other of my acquaintance to write my letters for me. This procured me much praise among the young men as a good inditer of letters. My master said to me one day he was surprised that I did not learn to write my own letters; and added, that he was sure I could learn to do it in a very short time. The thought pleased me much, and without any delay I set about it, by taking up any pieces of paper that had writing on them, and imitating the letters as well as I could. I employed my leisure hours in this way for nearly two months, after which time I wrote my own letters, in a bad hand of course, but it was plain, and easy to read, which was all I cared for; nor, to the present moment, can I write much better, as I never would have any person to teach me; nor was I ever possessed of patience enough to employ time sufficient to learn to write well; and yet, as soon as I was able to scribble, I wrote verses on some trifle or other every day for years together.

I came to this place in but a weak state of body; however, the healthy situation of the town, together with bathing in the salt water, soon restored me to perfect health. I passed thirteen months here in a very happy manner; but the wages for work being very low, and as I had spent much time in writing hymns to every song tune that I knew, besides a number of love verses, letters, &c. I was very poor; and, to complete all, I began to keep a deal of company, in which I gave a loose to my natural gaiety of disposition, much more than was consistent with the grave, sedate ideas which I had formed of a religious character;

all which made me resolve to leave Kingsbridge, which I did in 1770.

I travelled as far as Exeter the first day, where I worked about a fortnight, and saved sufficient to carry me to Bridgewater, where I worked two or three weeks more. Before I arrived there, Mr John Jones had gone back to reside at Bristol; but as soon as he heard of my being in Bridgewater, he and his brother Richard sent me an invitation to come to Bristol again and live with them. Finding that I did not immediately comply, they both came to Bridgewater, and declared their intentions of not returning to Bristol without me; so that, after a day or two, I yielded to their solicitations, and lived very comfortably with them, their mother, and sister.

When residing at Taunton, I became acquainted with a young woman of good character and charming manners, with whom I afterwards kept up a correspondence; and I had not been long in Bristol before I wrote to her. I informed her that my attachment to books, together with travelling from place to place, and also my total disregard for money, had prevented me from saving any; and that, while I remained in a single unsettled state, I was never likely to accumulate it. I also pressed her very much to come to Bristol to be married, which she soon complied with; and married we were, at St Peter's church, towards the end of the year 1770. We kept our wedding at the house of my friends the Messrs Jones, and retired to ready-furnished lodgings, which we had before provided, at half-a-crown per week. Our finances were just sufficient to pay the expenses of the day; for the next morning, in searching our pockets (which we did not do in a careless manner), we discovered that we had but one halfpenny to begin the world with. It is true we had laid in eatables sufficient for a day or two, in which time we knew we could by our work procure more, which we very cheerfully set about, singing together the following lines of Dr Cotton :

"Our portion is not large indeed,

But then how little do we need,

For nature's calls are few;

In this the art of living lies:

To want no more than may suffice,
And make that little do."

At this time my wages were only nine shillings a-week, and my wife could get but very little, as she was learning to bind shoes, and had never been much used to the needle. Being pressed for a debt of forty shillings, due to Mr Jones, I paid it off in two months, which greatly lessened our comforts. What we had to spend on provisions was not more than four shillings and sixpence a-week. Strong beer we had none, nor any other liquor (the pure element excepted); and instead of tea, or rather coffee, we toasted a piece of bread; at other times we fried some