delights to assume a poetic form, his first efforts were devoted to the Muses. We insert the following, which were written when he was twelve years of age: Before the earth and sea to man were given, Or sea, with circling arms, the earth embraced. ON THE MORNING. Behold, the earth is clad in sober gray, And twinkling stars foretell the approach of day. A few lines in imitation of Pope, may be considered as no unsuccessful illustration of the poet's rule : 'Tis not enough, no harshness gives offence, The sound should seem an echo to the sense.'- Mazy, inextricable, and perplext. But when the rougher storms fierce rage on high, And heave the angry billows to the sky; When rattling rain comes hissing down in showers, And to the whirlpool in a torrent pours; The line should rage, and every letter move, As if great Jove was storming from above. In the year 1781, when Legh Richmond was in his thirteenth year, he was consigned to the care of Mr. Breach, of Reading, for the purpose of obtaining further assistance on account of his lameness as well as to pursue the course of his education. He was subsequently removed to Blanford, in Dorsetshire, and placed under the tuition of the Rev. Mr. Jones, vicar of Loders, and curate of Blandford; and having made a very creditable proficiency in his studies, and completed his education at school, he was finally sent, in the year 1789, being then seventeen years of age, to the university of Cambridge. CHAPTER II. Comprising the period from his entrance at the University, to his marriage, and aoceptance of the curacy of Brading in the Isle of Wight. MR. RICHMOND was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, in the month of August, 1789. The following particulars have been communicated in a letter from the Reverend A. J. Crespin, vicar of Renhold, Bedfordshire, a contemporary of his in the University, and with whom he formed an intimate friendship, which continued to the period of his death. "I perfectly well remember that our dear departed friend came to Cambridge for admission about Midsummer, in the year 1789. I was just one year his senior. It was then the custom at Trinity College, that one of the under-graduates should take the candidate for admission to the dean, and to one or two others, and then to the master, for examination. It fell to my lot to perform this office for Legh Richmond, and thus our friendship commenced. He came into residence, according to the usual plan, in the following October; we were both among the candidates for foundation scholarships, and after a public examination of two or three days, we were happy in finding our names among the successful candidates; and as we afterwards dined every day at the same table, the bands of our friendship were drawn still closer. * * * "I can with perfect truth affirm, that during the under-graduateship of Mr. Richmond, he applied himself closely to his studies, and was considered and acknowledged by all, to be a young man of great abilities and correct conduct." A letter from the Rev. William Tate, chaplain of the Dock-yard, Portsmouth, and tutor of the naval academy, contains a further and more detailed account of Mr. Richmond's residence at college. "Mr. Richmond and myself were of the same year at Cambridge, and had the same college tutor, the late Rev. Thomas Jones. We were not, however, in the same lecture room till within a year of our taking the degree of A. B.; hence our intimacy did not commence till about the beginning of 1793. Mr. Richmond came to college with a high character for his proficiency, both in classics and mathematics. In fact, I often heard him spoken of as likely to be one of the third or fourth highest wranglers. At the annual college examination in May, he was each year in the first class, and consequently was a prize-man. I do not recollect that he ever was a candidate for a University prize; indeed, I think that although he was an extremely good classic, he did not consider himself sufficiently practised in writing Greek or Latin verse, to venture a competition in this respect with the distinguished men from the great public schools. “That he had a great fondness for social life is not to be wondered at, as he was so well informed on most subjects, and had such a fluency of language, that conversation with him never flagged, and his company was generally acceptable. He visited at the Lodge, Dr. Postlethwaite being then master, and was noticed by some of the senior fellows, in consequence, I presume, of their having been friends of his father, Dr. Richmond, who had himself been a fellow of the college, and whose name stands in the Tripos as having been the tenth senior optime, in January, 1764. "Mr. Richmond's great recreation was music, in which I suppose you are aware he was eminently skilled. He always had a piano-forte in his room, and played on the organ also. To any tune he could, as he played, make an extempore thorough bass. His musical talents gave rise to a great intimacy and friendship with the late Dr. Hague, the professor of music, and also with Dr. Jowett, then tutor of Trinity Hall, who used to have frequent musical parties at his apartments, at which I believe Mr. Richmond was generally present. He was at all times attentive to the studies of the University, and preserved, throughout, the character of a reading man. Mr. Copley, (now the Lord Chancellor) had apartments directly under those of Mr. Richmond, and as they were both reading hard, they commonly, for some months before taking the degree of A. B., had coffee together after midnight. He went through the public exercises of the schools, preparatory to his degree, with great credit, and was accordingly placed by the moderator in the first class. Owing, however, to ill health, he did not go into the senate-house to stand the final examination. Dr. Butler, master of Harrow School, was the senior wrangler, and Mr. Copley the second; and I have a printed Tripos for 1794, now lying before me, at the bottom of which are the following words:Ds. Ashworth, Eman. @grot. Ds. Richmond, Trin. In Ima Quæstionistarum "I believe our year was the last in which those who went out Egrot. in the first class, were noticed in the Tripos. Ever since, the names of such graduates have been omitted in the list of honours; and the Cambridge Calendar, in giving a list of honours for each year, has omitted the names of the Egrot. in 1794, and all the preceding years, although they were actually printed in the original lists. Mr. Richmond was for some years collecting materials for a great work which he intended to publish, on the theory as well as history of music. After taking his degree, he applied himself with great ardour to his favourite study, and took much pains to provide materials for his intended musical publication, which he hoped might be ready for the press in the course of two or three years. I have frequently sat with him, while, for hours together, he was making experiments with his musical plates, of which he had a great number, some of glass and some of copper, of all the common regular forms; as circles, ellipses, squares, rhombuses, pentagons, &c. These he screwed down at a particular point, so as to be perfectly horizontal; and then, having sprinkled fine sand over the surface, the bow of a violin was drawn across the edge, so as to draw forth a musical note; and, by the vibration thus caused, the sand was shaken from the vibrating parts, and became collected in one line or more, formed by the quiescent points. It seemed very remarkable, that whenever that particular note, which was the fundamental of any plate, was sounded by it, the sand invariably took the form of a cross, having its centre in the centre of the plate. All other notes, which could be sounded by the same plate, diverged from the fundamental note, according to a certain scale; and every one caused the sand to take a different form. Sometimes it seemed to take the figure of two opposite hyperbolas; but in whatever form it rested, the figures on the different sides of a straight line, drawn through the centre of the plate, were exactly the counterparts of each other. The lines formed by the quiescent points, in the vibrations of such plates, were calculated by Euler, as may be seen by the Transactions of the Imperial Society of Petersburg, (Acta Petropolitana ;) but the results are little satisfactory, being commonly expressed in hyperbolic forms, and not assuming a tangible shape. "About this time Mr. Richmond was member of a small club, formed by six or eight Trinity men, for the discussion of philosophical subjects. They met once a week at each other's rooms; and, to prevent expense in giving suppers, nothing more was to be provided than red-herrings, bread, cheese, and beer. Hence they called this society the "Red-Herring Club." The respectability of the members appears from this circumstance, that nearly every one obtained a fellowship. Mr. Richmond took a leading part at this time in another small society, which was named "The Harmonic Society." The members were musical amateurs, who, in turn, gave a concert every fortnight, at which, with the help of two or three hired musicians, they performed pieces out of Handel and other celebrated composers, together with catches, glees, &c. In 1796 was published, by Mr. Dixon, a townsman of Cambridge, and one of the members of the Harmonic Society, a collection of glees and rounds, for three, four, and five voices, composed by the members of that society. In this publication, out of seventeen pieces, seven were contributed by Mr. Richmond. "In 1796, Mr. Richmond began seriously to think of taking orders, and of marrying on a curacy. In that situation, he intended conscientiously to do his duty, though he had not the deep sense he afterwards entertained of the vast importance and responsibility of the charge he was about to undertake." The important period to which Mr. Tate alludes was now arrived, when it became necessary that he should no longer delay his choice of a a profession-that choice, which exercises so powerful an influence over all the events and circumstances of future life, and in which our usefulness and moral responsibility are so deeply involved. It was the wish and intention of Dr. Richmond that his son should direct his attention to the law, with the view of being called to the bar; but the predominant views of his mind, after taking his degree, will appear in the following letter: "My dear Father, Cambridge, Feb. 18th, 1794. "It has long been my wish to write to you on the subject which has occupied so much of my attention of late; and on which, during the solemn interval of my confinement, I had more frequent opportunities of meditating than on any former occasion. I hope and trust that I have thought more seriously on this subject, and have pursued a more regular train of sound reasoning and selfexamination on account of my illness, than if I had enjoyed an uninterrupted series of good health. The time is now arrived when, after having passed through the regular forms of an academic education, it is expected that a young man should select his profession; and on the foundation (which he either has, or ought to have laid |