this lady, and the industry of Mrs Meikle and her elder daughter, who span or sewed as they found employment, the few wants of the family were supplied during the summer.

But James had now entered the 19th year of his age, with little education, and without an occupa tion by which he could earn his daily bread. His mind was still directed towards the holy ministry, and eagerly bent on acquiring the education which he deemed necessary as a preparation for it; but Providence seemed to refuse his services in the gospel, by defeating all his attempts to enter the university. For some time he flattered himself with the hope of obtaining a bursary, or, as it is styled in England, an exhibition; and he considered it as already secured by the generous exertions of a gentleman who took an interest in his affairs, when an unexpected objection was started against him, which blasted all his prospects. Party-prejudices were strong at that time against those who had separated from the established church, and he was refused the bursary because he was a Seceder.

Despairing now of getting forward in his education, and yet unwilling to abandon his favourite pursuit, he felt ashamed of his situation, in the 19th year of his age, poor, in health, and yet doing nothing for his own maintenance; and he confesses, that when any old acquaintance inquired how he was employed, he often wist not what to say. Yet he was not absolutely idle. "All the summer," he says, "I spent amongst my books in a melancholy solitude, and contracted acquaintance with very few." As a species of recreation from the severe studies in which he was engaged, he amused himself with an attempt to versify the book of Job, and proceeded as far as the twentieth chapter;

but," on a second reading, I found it," he says, "so flat, and tending rather to obscure than to illustrate the beauties of that noble book, that I never transcribed it. Notwithstanding, I found at double advantage from my labour; for, first, I spent many hours with pleasure, which I might otherwise have spent in repining thoughts at the providence of God; and, secondly, I grew much better acquainted with the book of Job, a book greatly adapted to my situation, than I could have grown by an ordinary reading." It appears, indeed, that the pleasure he found at this period in writing of divine things in verse, gave occasion to that custom of versifying his meditations, in which he persevered to the very close of life, and which has produced a number of metrical performances which is truly astonishing; many hundreds of poems, all on religious subjects, and sufficient to fill six or seven volumes of the size of the present, being found amongst his papers.

This melancholy period of extreme poverty, disappointment, and anxious suspense, continued with little variation during the whole of the ensuing year. Providence deprived the family of the friend whose humane attentions have been already mentioned. Besides, after their expectations of a speedy and favourable termination of the law-suit had been considerably raised, they were dashed at once to the ground by a decision which put their hopes of relief from that quarter more distant than ever. "Like the sinning Jews," he says, we expected much, but it came to little; for it was entirely cut off, till better proof could be brought that it was not prescribed." So low, indeed, were their circumstances, that at Whitsunday 1749, they found b

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it a matter of the greatest difficulty to procure a decent lodging of two apartments, because they could neither find caution to the landlord, nor, as is customary when caution cannot be found, lay down one half of the rent. Yet when they were brought low, God helped them. They were enabled to endure their afflictions without murmuring at the divine dispensations; and besides, they were seasonably relieved by the sympathizing liberality of some good Christians, who, Mr Meikle remarks, increased the favour by the truly delicate and Christian manner in which they conferred it.

With regard to himself, Mr Meikle observes, that although he was unable to enter the university, he found means occasionally to receive instruction from private teachers; and that the adversity of this period of his life was blessed to him for spiri tual good. He expresses his warmest gratitude to God for three things in particular: first, that his proud spirit, which at first rose against the idea of dependence on the charity of others, was brought down to submission and thankfulness; secondly, that amidst his difficulties, he was enabled to resist solicitations to go to the Indies, where he would have been removed from the means of grace, and where the friend who urged him to go was soon cut off by the unhealthiness of the climate; and, thirdly, that when he met with some old acquaintances who had come to town to study at the university, he was enabled to hold his peace, neither envying their prosperity, nor daring to dispute the conduct of Providence towards himself. His soul prospered when outward things were adverse. He took much pleasure in prayer, and statedly performed the duty four times a-day: "This," adds he, "I say not out of vain glory, but to stir up

those who have much leisure and opportunity to abound in this delightful and profitable exercise." And he remarks, as the result of his own happy experience at this time, "that sanctified affliction, the chastisement of our heavenly Father, is no small mercy to them that are rightly exercised thereby; that it is honied affliction which brings the soul nearer to God; and that (alluding to Hos. ii. 14.) it is God's way, in the time of melancholy solitude, to speak comfortably to the soul." Yet his spiritual prosperity was not without alloy; for he complains bitterly of the motions of sin within him, and remarks with grief, that for some part of this time he did not live so near to God as he ought.

At the beginning of the winter 1749, finding his inability to enter the literary classes of the university as great as ever, and satisfied that it was his duty to submit to what appeared to be the will of Providence, and take some measures for his future maintenance, he formed the resolution of commencing the study of medicine; yet not, he says, as his ultimate object, but as a means of helping him forward, if it should be the will of God, by the profits of his practice, in his main design of entering into the sacred office. The different professors of medicine, to whom it appears his father had been known, displayed great generosity in giving him li berty to attend their lectures without payment of the customary fees; yet even with this advantage he could not avoid contracting some small debts, which his circumstances did not enable him for several years to discharge.

As a student of medicine, he now entered on a new scene, and became exposed to temptations from which

he had hitherto been free. "I was afraid of forgetting God my Saviour, as I was to change my savoury solitude for a correspondence with an indifferent sort of youths; but I still kept up the form of religion as usual, what of the power I dare not say." "My fellow-students, some of whom were gentlemen of fortune, were obliging to me, and gave me access at pleasure to their books; though otherwise their company was by no means to be desired, as they were accustomed to swear in conversation."-He adds afterwards, "I was grieved at the oaths I heard, for my conscience was then tender: O that it were tender still!"

How long Mr Meikle studied medicine, and when he commenced practice as a surgeon, cannot be ascertained, as his papers for some years about this period have unhappily fallen by. It is probable that he removed to his native village of Carnwath towards the close of the year 1750, where he continued to act as a surgeon till the spring of 1758. Two loose papers have been found, from which this is concluded. The one, written in the Latin language, and styled Petitio ad Deum, 1750, leads to the conclusion, that when he wrote it, he had formed the resolution of practising as a temporary expedient, but had not yet carried it into effect. It is, as far as its meaning can now be collected, to the following effect: "Conscious of sin, deserving and fearing divine wrath, but hoping for salvation through the blood of Christ, I have formerly made, and now again make known to thee, O God! the inmost thoughts and desires of my heart; and trusting that thou wilt graciously answer, intreat thee to hear and grant these my requests. 1. Look on me with favour, for the sake of Jesus Christ my Lord, in whom thou art well pleased, and pre