Some Account of the Conversion from Atheism to Christianity of the Late
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TO ·" CHRISTIANITY OP THE LATE WILLIAM HONE, .&UTBOB. OP " THE POLITICAL BOUSB THAT lACK BUIL:r"," ETC., AND Ott "' TRK BVBBY~DAT BOOI... "TABLB BOOK.," AND "YB.AJt BOOil. .. WJTII FURTHER PARTICULARS OF HIS LIFE AND EXTRACTS FROAl HIS CORRESPONDENCE. £u.onh QEhithm, nlristh. LONDON: FRANCIS AND JOHN RIVINGTON. KESWICK: JAMES IVISON. lSSS. L ·J JAMES IVISON, PRIN1.ER, KESWICK. t"' ., b this sketch of William Hone in his latter years, some of his early friends have seen a want of adequate notice of his literary reputation and his intellectual eminence. It was in his christian character that he was chiefly known to the writer, who, at the commencement of the acquaintance, knew little of his writings and nothing of his previous life. His Year Book, Day Book, and Table Book, equally entertaining and inStructive, seem to have given the impulse to the Penny and Saturday Magazines and otheT useful periodicals. His publications on " The case of Eliza Fenning," hanged for murder on what is now thought unsatis factory evidence, have been thought greatly to influence the present amelioration of our criminal code. The man who has done this, has not lived in vain. Even when under the influence of higher motives, in referring to this part of his life, be always expressed thankfulness to the Author of all good, who had thus made him an instrument of public benefit. The mention made of him and of his works by so competent a judge as Southey will be satisfactory ; in May, 1830, be writes thus;- " Hone might have thriven if be bad gone on as badly as he begun ; but he was meant for better things, and published, at a cost which could only be covered by a large popular sale, more curious things than these penny purchasers were prepared for ; so in out-marching the march of intellect, be ' out-ran the constable' at the same time. His old sins averted from him one set of cus tomers, and his better mind indisposed others.'' In another letter be writes, "I have bought Hone's Every Day Book, and his Table Book, and am sorry I had not seen them before my Colloquies were printed, that I might have given him a hearty good word there. I have not seen any miscellaneous books that are so well worth having ; brimful of curious matter, and with an abundance of the very best wood-cuts. Poor fellow, he out-went the march of intellect, and I believe his unwearied and alm06t uparalleled industry has ended in bankruptcy.'' A SOME ACCOUNT OP TBE CONVERSION OP THE LATE WILLIAM HONE. AN incorrect copy of the lines written by Mr. W. Hone, on the blank leaf of a Bible, having been given in the report of the Loughborough Bible Society, a more correct one, as retained by a friend, to whom he had repeated them himself, was sent to the newspaper in which it appeared. It was stated on the same authority, that however edifying he might feel the little girl's love of her Bible there mentioned, it was by no means the commence ment of his conversion to the faith he once despised. About New Year's Day, 1835, he publicly joined a Chris tian community, receiving the Lord's Supper as a member of it; but the memorable conversion of a most determined foe into a humble disciple of Christ had been some time accomplished. The friend above alluded to, early in the spring of 1832, being resident in a village near London, observed daily in the garden of an adjoining cottage a fatherly looking person, with the appearance of a respectable retired tradesman, evidently an invalid, but every morning seated in a little arbour, with a small table before him, and a large family Bible on it, in which he read much, at intervals walking up and down the garden conversing with his children. The gardens were only separated by a trellis-work, the quiet inmates of the one cottage therefore unavoidably heard much of the conversation of the large family occu pying the other, who lived a great deal in the open air. A 2 This affectionate parent was frequent and earnest in striving to impress his children with the importance of religion, and to instruct them in its principles. The strong sense and energetic simplicity of his language were very soon remarked ; so was his early rising and devoted study of his Bible, and his constantly taking his family to a place of worship, generally three times on the Sunday. Some weeks elapsed before the name of these new comers was ascertained, and still longer before it occurred to any one to identify the name of this quiet regular family witlt one that had so different au idea attached to it in general. Those privately acquainted with Mr. Hone, even while the adversary of Christianity, are, however, well aware that, as. a husband and a father, he failed only in the one, but most important, duty of religious instruction. Those who knew him only from h!s public character could never re cognise him in the simple-minded humble Christian, whose daily life and conversation were thus unintentionally the subject of unbiassed observation for some months, and afterwards of admiration and astonishment at the power of Divine grace exhibited in him. Great self-distrust, re markable humility, and submission to severe temporal trials then distinguished the man who had thus characterized his own former disposition :- The proudest heart that ever beat Hath been subdued in me. The .wildest will that ever rose To scorn Thy Word, or aid Thy foes, Is quelled, my God, by Thee ! Thy will, and not my will, be done, My heart be ever Thine! Confessing Thee, the mighty " Word," I hail Thee, Christ, my God, my Lord, And make Thy name my sign. When the copy, sent to the newspaper, of his verses in the Bible was submitted to him he replied thus:-" With the ·~xc~ption of a word or two your version of my verses is correcl. In consequence of many applications, and espe cially of the appearance of the verses, with four others ascribed to me, which I never wrote, printed in TAe Churchman, I have obtained a certified copy of what I did write, for I kept no copy, from Dr. Raflles, of Liverpool, to whom I gave the ·leaf containing them. A correct copy will be seen by you, somewhere or other, in print, next month; afterwards they may come into the paper," (Tlu Patriot-of which he was then sub-editor). The verses are here given from his own copy. At first he had written, in allusion to the seal he had engraved " Thy cross shall be my sign." He afterwards substituted, " And make Thy name my sign." It is difficult to write of any in their lifetime without the power of consulting their wishes ; still more difficult to \vrite of an intimate ftieud impressions derived from confidential conversations, without knowing how far it may be done without violation of implied trust ; under such difficulties the preceding sketch was sent to the Laugh borough Telegraph. It is, however, said to have had a share in giving that impression of the sincerity of this remarkable convert, which latterly became almost universal. Having since that time ascertained the wish of my deceased friend that I should tell all I knew, and all that he had told me, in case. of his dying before he had written his long talked of autobiography, I am now desirous to put on paper some recollections of one whom as a Christian I so highly valued. At the time when I daily saw him from my window, sitting in his little flowery arbour at the end of the narrow slip of garden, which was to him an ample domain, he was recovering from a severe illness. My servant, herself a religious person, said "We have got a good man at next door ; I can often hear him ·talking A 3 to his children." After a wllile as I was walking in my own garden, the invalid, in his, bowed and requested leave to thank me for little attentions we had shown him ; he spoke gratefully of undeserved mercy \n his recovery from his dangerous attack. I found he had pleasure in a few daily words over the low wall and through the trellis-work which separated the gardens. Gradually these increased to conversations ; and with increasing surprise I found that the "tradesman" had an almost universal acquaint ance with English literature, and most with the most sterling authors ; speaking of Chaucer he quoted the familiar line, " the well of English undefiled." I asked, "Do you know where that is ?" " No," he replied, " and I never could find out." I went in for Spenser's Faery Queen, and showed it to him. He said " I have learnt l!Omething from you." I wondered rather at the expression, but thought him a very remarkable person ; he frequently spoke on religious subjects, on which he appeared to be very seriously inquiring. One day he asked, "In what books shall I find your religious opinions ?" I replied, "In one, the Bible." A day or two after, he observed, " I have been thinking much of what you said ; there is but one book, the Bible." At this time I understood his name to be Stone. The great anti-slavery petition being brought for signature I went into his house with it ; he signed, and made all his family sign, explaining to them the reasons for it, in a masterly though quite simple manner.