OF JOHN EDDOWES BOWMAN, ESQ. 49 
opinions which he retained through life. These 
various pursuits, it must be remembered, were 
cultivated amidst the distractions and annoyances 
of a business wholly unsuited to him; but they 
formed the solace and the charm of his life. They 
withdrew him almost entirely from the usual re- 
creations and gaieties of the young; and when 
he was about sixteen, as business required his 
presence soon after six in the morning, in order 
to gain more time, he had a small table fitted up 
at the head of his bed, and rose between three 
and four, summer and winter, that he might devote 
himself without interruption to study. 
The seriousness of his disposition, and his love 
of books, gave him a desire to enter the Christian 
ministry, but in compliance with his father’s wishes 
he relinquished the design. His marriage in 1809 
with a cousin, the daughter of Mr. W. Eddowes 
of Shrewsbury, added greatly to his happiness, 
by uniting him for life with a companion qualified 
to appreciate his tastes and to share in his favou- 
rite pursuits. From this time the bias of his mind 
was fixed, future years only more fully unfolding 
the views and tendencies which became henceforth 
the ruling influence of his life. Every page of 
his diary records his attachment to the quiet and 
H 
