AT RIPLEY. 33 



At Ockham, and at the hospitable house of Lady 

 Byron, at Esher, Dr. Carpenter had occasional opportu- 

 nities of making acquaintances outside the range of his 

 own pursuits. The Dissenters' Chapels Act, passed in 

 the summer of 1844, had relieved the Unitarians from 

 the danger of being dispossessed of the chapels which 

 they had inherited from their Presbyterian ancestors. 

 Among the promoters of this measure was Mr. Samuel 

 Smith, with whom Dr. Carpenter was thus brought into 

 contact. 



He had taken an active part in the Committee for the 

 Chapels Bill, and I was glad to learn that a subscription is 

 being entered into for making a present to Mr. Field, who 

 most liberally declines receiving any remuneration for his 

 services, though (as I have heard from several sources) all his 

 time this Session, and much of his time for the two preceding, 

 has been taken up about this business. Mr, Smith fully con- 

 firmed my previous impressions : that without his exertions, 

 and the influence he has gained by his thorough probity and 

 professional skill with the Government Law Officers, the Bill 

 would never have passed. I know it to be a fact that nearly 

 every Government speech was got up from materials supplied 

 by him, and taken with the utmost confidence. Gladstone's 

 speech was prepared within thirty-six hours of the Debate. 



These passing glimpses into the outside world could 

 not, however, compensate for the absence of the religious 

 sympathy to which he had been accustomed. 



I feel the loss of public worship (so he wrote to his brother 

 Russell, in December, 1S44) more than any other kind of in- 

 convenience of my situation here. I have a most particular 

 attachment to Lewin's Mead Chapel, and to the worship as 

 there conducted ; and you can scarcely think how strong is my 

 yearning to be at my old post, and to feci that I am endeavour- 

 ing, however feebly, to lead the devotional feelings of the con- 

 gregation by that form of expression which is, in my own mind, 



