character of the present sketches may, in this busy age, commend them to the general reader. One reflection has been deeply impressed on my mind in the study of Christian Biographies; I mean the unity of religious experience which they present. It has been so in the preparation of these pages. The three Bishops differed on some points: but they held the "One Faith"-" the Truth as it is in Jesus:' and this was evidenced in the humble and devoted walk which Herbert has beautifully styled "the visible rhetoric of a holy life." Such “living" is eloquent preaching. Life examples of proved and established piety in every position, high or low, exercise a marvellous influence over thoughtful and discriminating minds. If the earnest and awakening words of some Christians may be said to "thunder," the lives of "holy and humble men of heart" truly "lighten." Men who set themselves to "live the Bible "-embrace its promises and heed its precepts-can never doubt its origin themselves; and we may, with all confidence, point others to them as "Epistles of Christ" that may be "known and read of all men." BOURNEMOUTH, November, 1889. CONTENTS. The Bishop's Opinions on Many Subjects.—Failing Strength.- "A Working Bishop."-A Mother's Influence.-"Self-exami- 55 Devotedness and Catholicity.-Dean Hook's Testimony.-Sym- Death of His Mother.-"Prayer for Hannington."--Ordination. -Curate of Trentishoe.-The Seed Germinating.—His Eyes Marriage. Birth of a Son.-A Favourite Fiction.-"Little The Lives of Three Bishops. BISHOP FRASER.* BOYHOOD.-EARLY CHAPTER I. TRIALS.-OXFORD IN 1837.-ORDINA TION. LETTERS.-CHOLDERTON, HIS FIRST PARISH.— "A KING AMONGST US." AMES FRASER was born on August 18, 1818, JA at Oaklands House, Prestbury, a Gloucestershire village nestling under the Cotswolds. His father (a cadet of the Frasers of Duris, in Forfarshire) was a successful Indian merchant, and returned to England to settle at a comparatively early age. He married a daughter of Mr. John Willim, a solicitor at Bilston, and James was the eldest of their seven children. Most of his early childhood was spent at his grand 'James Fraser: Second Bishop of Manchester." A Memoir by Thomas Hughes, Q.C. (London: Macmillan & Co.) B father's at Bilston, and in Mr. Hughes' biography we have many charming pictures of the bright and genial boy. "James seems always to be whistling about the house," his aunt said to a friend; "and when I ask him if it is not time to begin his lessons, his answer is always the same, 'Oh, I finished them long ago!"" When he was six his parents removed to Heavitree, near Exeter, and here James was sent to his first school. His grandfather writes to his mother when the lad was seven years old "Your pleasing accounts of all the dear children, and particularly the progress dear James is making in his learning, are most gratifying to us. That boy is a blessing to us all, and some day will be our pride and boast at least, I fully anticipate this"-an anticipation which after events adequately sustained. At fourteen he was left without a father, and many heavy losses made his mother's lot a peculiarly trying one. The Bishop, in one of his Manchester speeches, made a filial reference to this period of his life. Mr. Hughes does not give the passage, but it is worthy of prominent notice. The Bishop said:-"His father, who was a man of active mind, had invested his means in iron and stone mining in the Forest of Dean district; but most of what he had was lost, and |