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Untitled Article
the calves and clean out the cow-house—lighted the pipe , walked round the gardens to see what was wanting there—wfcnt up to the paddock to see if the weanling calves were well—went down to the ferry to see whether the boy had scooped and cleaned the boats—^ returned to the farm—examined the shoulders , heels , traces , chaff , and corn of eight horses going to plough —mended the acre staff—cut some thongs , whip-corded the boys' plough
whips—pumped the troughs full—saw the hogs fed—examined the swilltubs , and then the cellar—ordered a quarter of malt , for the hogs want grains , and the men want beer—filled the pipe again , returned to the river , and bought a lighter of turf for dairy-fires , and another of sedge for ovens . — hunted up the wheelbarrows and set them a trundling—returned to the farm , called the men to breakfast , and cut the boys' bread and cheese , and saw the wooden bottles filled—sent one plough to the three-roods , another to the three-half-acres , and so on—shut the gates , and the clock struck five
—breakfasted . " The remainder of the letter is in the same style . In another , written in 1772 , he says that he is attending his wife for the tenth time in childbirth ; " three nights I have sat up , and what with the fatigue of overseeing so great a family , where one is old , another sick , and all , as it were , past help , or not arrived at it ; what with public labours and
a variety of et ceteras , I am now fit to sleep on the floor . " In a letter written apparently a few days later , after mentioning the encouraging prospect of his wife ' s recovery , he says , " I have had a fine week , you must think , nurses , helps , &c , to the number of seventeen or nineteen in a day , with my own family ; and I , poor I , all day forced to find eyes and feet , and thought for all . "
But it was not merely for himself and his family that he thus laboured , Robinson was an eminently charitable and hospitable man , always ready to communicate from his own means , such as they were , to relieve the necessities and add to the comforts of others . In this particular , the sentiments expressed in one of his letters , were those on which he acted . In the original they are blended with some reflections on the vanity of learning in a Christian preacher , which he himself , we are confident , would , if called
upon , have explained away and limited , till we should have differed from him but little or not at all ; but which , as they stand , are expressed much too broadly and loosely . We mention this in order to explain the allusions to the same subject in the extract given . " I feel , " he says , " three pounds , gained honestly by the sale of a fat bullock , produce more fire in my spirit , than all those pretty , but poor , tassels and spangles can give me . With three pounds I can set fire to ten cold hearts frozen with infirmity and
widowhood , poverty and fear . Half a guinea will purchase the native eloquence of a grateful old woman ; and she , if I set her to read , will give me a criticism of the heart , and the finest reading in the world . Oh ! bless the old soul ! what honied accents she pours into ' my ^ ar ! If I can honestly get , and afford to give away three pounds , it will always be my own fault if
I be not very happy . Now then set me to preach . How is it possible I should be dull ! The luxury of living to the glory of God , and the good of society ; the joy of having saved a forlorn and forgotten cripple from hanging herself in despair ; the felicity of setting fire to incense that burns to the glory of God ; these are preparations of the pulpit , which the cold consumer of midnight oil never derives from his accents and quantities . "
But , notwithstanding the pressure of all his other occupations , such was the untiring activity of Robinson's mind , and such too , it must be added , was the uncommon vigour and elasticity of hist animal frame , that he was
Untitled Article
& 1 & Memoir of Robert Robinson .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1828, page 516, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2563/page/4/
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