84 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER 
of science drew him more into general socicty, 
he once expressed his anxiety to a member of his 
family, that such engagements might not wean 
him from his love of home and the simple enjoy- 
ments of his earlier years. One quality of his 
mind—such was his abhorrence of everything 
like parade and affectation—could only be fully 
known to those who were admitted into the inte- 
rior of his domestic life—I refer to his strong 
religious feeling. His devotion was deep, and 
even intense. It was nourished by the nature of 
his habitual contemplations, which filled his whole 
life with the spirit of a sublime and silent adora- 
tion. This spirit pervades every page of his 
Diary, and sometimes breaks forth into direct 
and fervent prayer. Extracts of such a nature 
would be obviously a violation of the hallowed 
secrecy in which his pure mind veiled its deepest 
thoughts from the eye of the world; but those 
who have had the privilege of perusing these re- 
cords of his daily meditations, could not hesitate 
to say of him, in the beautiful language of Scrip- 
ture, that he was indeed ‘‘a just man who walked 
with God.” 
In his politics, he was a decided whig ; in reli- 
gion, a protestant dissenter; and his doctrinal 
