rposes, will wonder how a frame naturally weak should
so long have endured the wear of such exertion. In 1788, when his
illness was a matter of deep concern to the Abolitionists, Dr.
Warren said that he had not stamina to last a fortnight. No doubt
his bodily powers were greatly aided by the placid and happy frame
of mind which he habitually enjoyed; but it is important to relate
his own opinion, as delivered by an ear-witness, on the physical
benefits which he derived from a strict abstinence from temporal
affairs on Sundays: "I have often heard him assert that he never
could have sustained the labor and stretch of mind required in his
early political life, if it had not been for the rest of his
Sabbath; and that he could name several of his contemporaries in the
vortex of political cares, whose minds had actually given way under
the stress of intellectual labor so as to bring on a premature death
or the still more dreadful catastrophe of insanity and suicide, who,
humanly speaking, might have been preserved in health, if they would
but conscientiously have observed the Sabbath."

In 1797 Mr. Wilberforce married Miss Spooner, daughter of an eminent
banker at Birmingham. Four sons survived him. He died, after a
gradual decline, July 29, 1833, in Cadogan Place. He directed that
his funeral should be conducted without the smallest pomp; but his
orders were disregarded, in compliance with a memorial addressed to
his relatives by many of the most distinguished men of all parties,
and couched in the following terms: "We, the undersigned Members of
both Houses of Parliament, being anxious, upon public grounds, to
show our respect for the memory of the late William Wilberforce, and
being also satisfied that public honors can never be more fitly
bestowed than upon such benefactors of mankind, earnestly request
that he may be buried in Westminster Abbey, and that we and others
who may agree with us in these sentiments may have permission to
attend his funeral." The attendance of both Houses was numerous. Mr.
Wilberforce was interred within a few yards of his great
contemporaries, Pitt, Fox, and Canning.

SIR HUMPHRY DAVY

By JOHN TIMBS, F.S.A.

(1778-1829)

[Illustration: Sir Humphry Davy.]

The boyhood of Davy has been sketched in some of the most
fascinating pieces of biography ever written: the annals of science
do not furnish us with any record that equals the school-days and
self-education of the boy, Humph