1819-1828.] 



CHILDHOOD. 



as his restlessness. His strength, overtaxed by his excessive 

 exertions, at length entirely gave way. On June n, 1826, 

 he preached for the last time for two years. He subsequently 

 resigned the ministry, which he did not resume till 1829. 

 Change of scene was recommended for him ; and he spent 

 some time with friends, mostly in France. He suffered 

 much from depression, and his recovery was very slow. At 

 midsummer, 1827, the Rev. James Martineau, formerly his 

 attached pupil,* who had just completed his college course, 

 arranged to take the superintendence of his school for a 

 year, before settling with a congregation. 



It was then that Philip began his school-life : in a letter to 

 his sister Mary (March, 1828) he writes : " I am now down 

 in the monitor's book, and I say some of my lessons to Mr. 

 Martineau, and I go on pretty well in the school-room." As 

 an infant he had been healthy ; but he soon became a very 

 delicate child, needing great care. In the years when his 

 mother was often laid by from illness, and only by great strength 

 of resolution could undergo the strain upon her, from the 

 additional duties and anxieties arising from Dr. Carpenter's 

 illness, Mary, his eldest sister, was " a mother to him," as she 

 fondly recorded when she heard of his death. His sister 

 Susan (Mrs. R. Gaskell) writes : "'I trust I shall ever retain 

 the remembrance of the love and pride with which his bright, 

 innocent, transparent childhood filled me. In his long and 

 trying illnesses, I never remember any restless impatience. 

 Though not what is called a pretty child, the sweetness of his 

 smile, his pretty dimples, and clear complexion made him very 

 interesting to all who knew him. Frequently, when his mother 

 and sisters were engaged in sewing, while one read aloud, he 

 (unknown to them) would be quietly under the table, until 

 some remark in the book aroused him, and he joined in the 

 conversation which always accompanied the reading. He 

 always was attractive to friends, and in parting was not satis- 



* Dr. Martineau contributed to the " Memoir of Dr. L. Carpenter " a 

 very striking and beautiful delineation of him as he remembered him at 

 school. 



