THOMAS ANDREW KNIGHT, ESQ. /I 



than himself to admit he had been wrong ; and his forgiveness 

 of similar offences against himself and his forgetfulness of 

 injuries, have more than once been manifested in instances 

 where others thought the provocation received might have 

 justified a lasting estrangement. 



The warmth of his feelings, it cannot be denied, sometimes 

 warped his judgment ; and the faculty of fairly balancing oppo- 

 site contingencies, and giving to each its due weight, and thus 

 arriving at a cool and impartial estimate, was not one of the 

 qualities in which his understanding most excelled. He was 

 too much disposed to act on the impulse of the moment, and 

 this often exposed him to subsequent inconvenience and an- 

 noyance ; though the ill consequences that might have arisen 

 from this failing were generally averted by the kindness of his 

 heart, and the strict integrity and sense of justice by which all 

 his actions were controlled. 



It must always be difficult for children to speak of the fail- 

 ings of a father ; and this difficulty is tenfold increased, when 

 these were so overbalanced by what is great and good, as was 

 the case in Mr. Knight's character, and when the kindness 

 and affection by which every act of his domestic life was 

 guided, prevented his little faults from being perceptible to his 

 family, except at a distance; but in touching on the evil as well 

 as the good, they feel sure they are only doing what his own 

 upright and manly mind would have approved. 



The unguarded expressions in which it has before been men- 

 tioned that Mr. Knight occasionally spoke of men and mea- 

 sures, was also sometimes the cause of misconception as to the 

 nature of his religious opinions. It was very far from true 

 that he disbelieved the fundamental truths of Christianity ; on 

 the contrary, he often referred to them both as a test of truth, 

 and a rule of conduct. He was not attached to any particular 

 party or sect, but always declared his belief that all would be 

 objects of Divine mercy, whose actions and conversation were 

 controlled and directed by the influence of Christian principle. 

 He entered life at a time when, as the warmest supporters of 



