and sent him off to Liverpool. He promised to write, but we never
heard any more of him. His clothes were tied up in two bundles; my
brother James took one, and I the other, and we walked with my
father to Hockley Pool, where we loaded the bundles with bricks, and
threw them into a deep part of the water."

[Illustration: G. Edmonds]

The narrator of this story, and the chief actor in the simple drama was
George Edmonds. I mention this little event because it shows that the
spirit of hostility to tyranny, and the scorn of oppression, cruelty,
and persecution, which he manifested in his after life, were inborn, and
a part of his nature. The same noble spirit which induced him, like the
good Samaritan, to bind up the wounds, and to succour and defend the
friendless soldier, gave his tongue the eloquence, and his soul the
fire, to denounce, in the presence of assembled thousands, the
malpractices of those then in power, and the injustice of the laws
under which the people groaned.

George Edmonds was born in the year 1788, at the house in Kenion Street
of which I have spoken. His father was the Minister of the Baptist
Chapel in Bond Street. He was very popular as a preacher, and he appears
to have been a man of much culture. An engraved portrait of him may be
seen in the window of Mr. Massey's shop at the top of Mount Street. He
was possessed of considerable humour, and was almost as celebrated as
the great Rowland Hill for making droll remarks in the pulpit. It is
told of him that, reading the fourth chapter of _Philippians_, and
coming to the thirteenth verse, he read, "I can do all things;" here he
paused, and said, "What, Paul?--do all things? I'll bet you half-a-crown
of it;" then, suiting the action to the word, he placed the coin on the
leaf of the book; but on reading the concluding portion of the verse, he
said, "Oh, that alters it! I withdraw the bet," and then went on with
his reading.

Under his father's care, George Edmonds received a really good
education, and became an excellent classical scholar. His knowledge of
Greek was extensive and profound. He was not apprenticed or articled
to any business or profession, and he appears to have devoted his
early manhood entirely to study. His favourite pursuit was the science
of language, and in this branch of learning he became probably one of
the best-informed men of his day. He was in constant correspondence
with the most eminent and learned