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THE INFIDEL BLACKSMITH.

WILLIAM BALL, THE COTTAGE YOUTH.

JOHN TOMKINS, THE DRAM-DRINKER.
"THERE IS NO TIME TO SPARE."
"OH, IF I WERE THE SQUIRE."
A PICTURE OF POPERY.

The following little books for children were also written in verse, and sent forth from time to time:

VILLAGE CHARACTERS.

SARAH BELL AND FANNY BLAKE.

SOMETHING WANTED.

THE HOLIDAY EXHIBITION.

THE MILLER; OR, HOW LONG WILL IT LAST?

SARAH GEE AND SUSAN GREY.

THE SEA.

ALPHABET OF GOOD AND BAD HEARTS.

TALES IN RHYME FOR Boys.

TALES IN RHYME FOR GIRLS.

The plainness and originality of style of the foregoing tracts and books, with the author's easy mode of expressing important truth in simple rhymes, were well suited to the tastes and capacities of the labouring classes, whether old or young, among whom they soon obtained the stamp of popularity, which they have

retained to the present day. They have been perused in the drawing-room with pleasure and profit, while they have conveyed instruction to the cottager, the mechanic, the sailor, the soldier, and the poor man's child. Several of them have been re-published in North America; and they have obtained a circulation wherever the English language is spoken.

CHAPTER III.

66

ASSUMES THE NAME OF OLD HUMPHREY.

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A new sphere for the exercise of the talent of Mr. Mogridge was presented when the Religious Tract Society commenced, in 1833, its periodical, the "Weekly Visitor." On being invited to become a contributor, and to suggest any special department of the work he might wish to engage in, it occurred to him that articles on a variety of familiar topics, treated in a popular manner, would suit his pen, and be acceptable to the public. After further reflection, the signature "OLD HUMPHREY" occurred to his mind as in keeping with the character and design of the proposed series of papers. Under a title so homely and peculiar, he thought he could the more readily find his way to the hearts of his readers. At first, he regarded it as a pure fiction, simply to be used as a medium of conveying his thoughts on whatever incidents of a useful and amusing kind might come under his notice; but when his readers began to regard it as the signature of a real personage, he was

constrained, in some measure, to identify himself with it, and to become more circumspect in his

narrations.

The new engagement great zeal and cordiality. "that strikes the mark

was entered on with "The arrow," he says, efficiently, must have

power to go beyond it; and without some confidence in our own powers, we are not, in any undertaking, likely to succeed. I am sanguine enough to think I shall interest my readers in my observations and retrospections. Barren and unlovely must be that rude and rugged land over which we could travel for fifty years without finding some object deserving regard, some fruit worth plucking, or some wild flower worthy to be placed in our bosom. And blind must be the eye, and callous must be the heart of him, who, mingling as a man with his fellow pilgrims in this breathing world for more than half a century, has stored up nothing in his memory that would be interesting to describe."

The popularity of the "Old Humphrey " papers was evident from their first issue; and they awakened not a little curiosity in their readers to know the name and locality of him who had adopted the appellation. Is he an old man or a young man? Is he single, married, or a widower? Does he write for pleasure or for

pay? Is he a resident in town or country? Can you obtain for "a constant reader" a copy of verses in his own handwriting or will he inscribe a few lines in a lady's album? Will he favour " a well-wisher" with a copy of original verses for a charity bazaar? or will he write a hymn for an approaching Sunday-school anniversary? Such were the kind of appeals made to the officers of the Society to gratify curiosity, or to advance the interests of benevolence.

During the official tours of the Society's secretary and superintendent, Mr. William Jones, on behalf of the Institution, several friends suspected that he was the identical “old gentleman" who so freely, yet kindly, pointed out various interesting facts connected with the visits paid to many of the attached friends of the Society. As the secretary occasionally supplied Mr. Mogridge with topics and incidents which had passed under his notice in his journeys, the persons concerned, when these matters appeared in print, were not only pleasantly surprised, but saw in them, as they thought, corroborative proofs of the authorship of the papers. It need scarcely be added, that Old Humphrey was never requested to refer to any circumstance of a private nature, or which could possibly wound the feelings of any person.

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