to grief. Spiritual
matters were not all that came upon him. In the utter lack of
conscientious men to perform the functions of the magistracy, he was at
once appointed to the bench; nor, indeed, was there the same feeling in
England then as now against the combination of the clergyman and justice
of the peace. The most exemplary parish priests viewed it as a duty to
administer justice in their villages; and the first, and till quite
recently the sole manual of prayers to be used with prisoners, was the
production of one of these clerical magistrates. A Yorkshire farmer's
son could not be expected to know much about law, but good sense,
uprightness, perception of justice, and intense determination, he had, as
well as Christian humanity; and in these he was superior to any of his
colleagues on the Paramatta bench, whom he was continually striving to
raise to some comprehension of the commonest rules of justice, mercy, and
decency; and in this, after a long course of years, he in some measure
succeeded; but not till after his strong hand, impartial justice, and
hatred of vice, had made him enemies among all parties; and it is only
too probable that his secular authority, though always nobly wielded,
impeded rather than otherwise his pastoral influence.

His farming education served him well when he received a grant of land,
and of thirteen convicts to bring it into order. It was part of his
payment, almost indispensable for procuring to his family the necessaries
of life, and it gave him, besides, the means of imparting instruction in
honest labour. His property became the model farm of New South Wales,
and the profits afforded him the means of establishing the schools,
benevolent institutions, and missions, for which there were few, if any
purses to draw upon. He won himself respect on all sides, especially
from the Governor of the colony, Captain King, a hasty, violent, but good-
hearted man, with whom more than once he had misunderstandings, but such
as were made up again. On one of these occasions, the chaplain's advice
was asked by the Governor, and promised on condition that he might speak
as to a private individual. So, when they met, Mr. Marsden locked the
door, and, in plain and forcible terms, gave _Captain_ King a
thoroughgoing remonstrance on the faults of _Governor_ King, which was
taken in perfect good part.

Nevertheless, the whole construction of Society was so atrocious, that
nothing could effe