MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 53 



lect his ever commenting" upon the sermons he 

 heard there, further than that, the good man's 

 discourse from the pulpit seemed to him to be 

 wasted upon the majority of his congregation, and 

 of his calling some of them " holy professors." 

 My mother, who was of a religious turn, had, 

 indeed, all her life endeavoured to make me so 

 too ; but, as I did not clearly understand her well- 

 intended lectures, they made little impression. 

 My father's pithy illustrations, as before hinted at, 

 were much more forcibly and clearly made out : I 

 understood them well, and they operated power- 

 fully upon me.* I have often reflected since upon 

 the very high importance, and the necessity, of 

 instilling this species of education into the minds 

 of youth ; for, were pains taken to draw forth the 

 pride naturally implanted in their minds for the 

 wisest and best purposes, if properly directed, it 

 would exalt human nature, and be of the utmost 

 importance to individuals and to society. It is 

 the want of this education, and the want of in- 

 dustry, that occasions and spreads misery over 

 the land. How can I doubt that, if my father 

 had been a thief, I would have been one also, or, 

 if a highwayman or robber, as expert as himself. 

 In my opinion, there are two descriptions of per- 



* I recollect one instance where I felt the force of this species of 

 education, I might enumerate some others, but this left its mark 

 upon me. Having fallen in with, and joined, two untutored lads, in 

 Prudhoe " lonning," they jumped over the hedge and filled their 

 pockets with potatoes. The farmer was watching, but they escaped. 

 Not having followed their example, I did not offer to fly, but he 

 seized me, and threatened what he would do. At this I was ex- 

 tremely distressed, and had it not been that I consoled myself with 

 the certainty that my father and mother would believe me, on my 

 asserting that I had not stolen any of his potatoes, I believe I would 

 have drowned myself. 



