BUT BECOMES BANKRUPT,

17

and his creditors were called together. The result was, that in 1808 his affairs were transferred to trustees, a fixed sum was allowed for his private expenses, a correct account of all receipts and expenditure was for the first time kept; and shortly after an association was formed, originally entitled 'The Royal Lancasterian Institution for promoting the Education of the Children of the Poor,' and subsequently, for the sake of greater simplicity, comprehension, and brevity, THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN SCHOOL SOCIETY.

Lancaster's affairs were now transferred to trustees, but the man remained unchanged. He was still the victim of his impulses. The excitement of his mind never subsided. The repression of his extravagance was to him an intolerable interference. One by one he quarrelled with his friends; then separated himself from the institution he had founded; commenced a private boarding school at Tooting; became still more deeply involved; went through the Gazette; and finally, wearied with strife and sorrow, sailed in the year 1818 for the new world.

For the few subsequent notices of his life. and character we are indebted to a manuscript communication from himself, which has been kindly placed in our hands, in order to enable us to complete the sketch we have undertaken.

18 HE VISITS THE UNITED STATES,

On his arrival in the States he was everywhere welcomed and honoured as the friend of learning and of man. His lectures were numerously attended, and, for a time, all appeared to go well with him. But his popularity rapidly decayed. Rumours of debt and of discreditable pecuniary transactions in England soon followed him; sickness, severe and long-continued, wasted his family; and poverty, with her long train of ills, overtook him. Under these circumstances he was advised to try a warmer climate, and an opening having presented itself in Caraccas, he was assisted by his friends to proceed thither. He went with his son-inlaw and daughter, (who afterwards settled in Mexico,) and, to use his own words, was kindly received, promised great things, honoured with the performance of little ones,' and-after expressing, in no measured terms, his indignation at the breach of all the promises made to him-was glad to leave his family, and escape with his life. This was accomplished by a hasty flight into the interior, from whence he subsequently reached the sea shore, and embarked in a British vessel bound for St. Thomas.

During his stay in Caraccas he had entered a second time into the marriage state, and his account of the performance of the ceremony is curious, as being probably the

AND THEN GOES TO SOUTH AMERICA. 19

only instance yet on record of a quaker wedding in South America.

6

The party met in Lancaster's school-room. At the time appointed General Bolivar, with his leading officers and a large party of 6 • Boligentry and merchants, assembled. var's suite,' he says, were extremely puzzled at the large maps, some busying themselves with looking for Caraccas in Asia and in Africa. The ceremony commenced by the whole party being requested to sit in silence. After a time this was broken by a notary, reciting the names and connexions of the parties, and proclaiming that each had promised, in the fear of God, to take the other for better or worse, for richer or poorer,' and so on. The witnesses set their hands and seals to the contract; Bolivar signified his approval, and the marriage was regarded by all parties as binding.'

After a short stay at Santa Cruz and St. Thomas, where again his lectures were attended by the governor and the gentry of the island, he returned to Philadelphia. Again sickness overtook him, and poverty, and much sorrow. In miserable lodgings, with an apparently dying wife, pinched by want, and pressed hard by difficulties of every kind, he appealed to the benevolent, and, in addition to other aid, obtained a vote of 500 dollars from the corporation of New

20

HE SETTLES IN CANADA,

York. This enabled him to take a small house, and to recover strength.

He now determined to return to England, and all but agreed for his passage, when circumstances induced him to return through Canada. On his arrival at Montreal he commenced his lectures, and again for a time floated along the stream of popular favour. His worldly circumstances improved, and he determined to give up the thought of returning to England, and to settle in Canada. After a time, and probably through his own folly, he again sank, and then opened a private school for subsistence. In this school-room he held silent meetings' on 'first days,' sitting alone, while his wife and family were gone to church. 'Here,' he touchingly says, I sometimes found the chief things of the ancient mountains, and the precious things of the everlasting hills, resting indeed on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separated from his brethren,' by distance, by faults, by circumstances, and by the just but iron hand of discipline. I longed again and again to come more and more under the purifying and baptizing power of the truth which had been the dew of my youth, and

* Ile had been disowned by the Friends' chiefly on account of his irregularities in money matters.

AND IS KILLED IN NEW YORK.

21

the hope of all my life in its best moments, whether of sorrow or of joy.'

The last letter received from him was addressed to Mr. Corston, from New York, and dated 21st of 9th month, 1838. He was then in the enjoyment of an annuity which had been raised for him in England, chiefly by the exertions of the friend to whom we have already referred. His mind at this time was evidently as wild as ever, and his energies unbroken. He is still ready to undertake to teach ten thousand children in different schools, not knowing their letters, all to read fluently in three weeks to three months.' The fire that kindled Elijah's sacrifice' has kindled his, and 'all true Israelites' will, in time, see it. And so he runs on.

But his career was rapidly drawing to a close. He had fully resolved on a voyage to England; but about a week before the affecting accident occurred which occasioned his death, he expressed some doubts on the subject, saying,He knew not the reason, but he could not see his way clear in leaving America.'

On the 23d of October, 1838, he was run over in the streets of New York; his ribs were broken, and his head very much lacerated. He was immediately taken to the house of a friend, where he died without a struggle, in the fifty-first year of his age.'