people, but, even if he failed in doing this, he always contrived to introduce some serious remark before he left their houses. A Presbyterian, who was warmly attached to her own Church, when speaking of Mr. Mortimer, said, “Ah, he was a real good man. I have often said, that he and Mr. J. [the minister of her own communion] were the two best ministers in Canada. I wouldna miss going to hear Mr. Mortimer preach in the evening [she went to her own place of worship in the morning], but I havena the heart to go now. I weel remember how he sat here, for near an hour, talking to my husband the last time he was here. My husband served at Waterloo, and they were talking about the battle, and such things; and then he stopped all of a sudden, and smiled, and said, ‘but I didna come here to talk about politics.’” He was particularly desirous of impressing upon the minds of those whom he visited the importance of individual and experimental religion, and would constantly remind them that their great aim should be to prepare for heaven. He took also occasion to warn them of open sins which they were in the habit of committing, such as drunkenness, or the neglect of public worship. An old man, who frequently gave way to a habit of intoxication, and, perhaps from this cause, has now become prematurely infirm and almost childish, alluded to the last visit of his pastor in the following manner:—“On the Thursday—the Thursday, you mind, before he died—old Mr. Mortimer came to see me in his little carriage, and his man drove him: and he gave me a caution. He said, ‘Mr. —, I saw you on Yonge-street a short time since, and you were drunk;’ and on the next Saturday he was a corpse, and I lost my brother:” and the old man turned aside to hide his tears. The husband, or rather the widower, of a Presbyterian, mentioned that his wife had frequently remarked to him, that there could not be a better minister by a sick bed than Mr. Mortimer: for that he never excited persons, but that at the same time he did not delude them about their eternal prospects, but spoke candidly to them, according to their different states of mind. She said that there was no minister that she should so much like to see, if she were ill, as Mr. Mortimer. Her wish, however, was not gratified, for she survived him about half-a-year. Another person, a member of a Presbyterian family in the neighbourhood, after stating that Mr. Mortimer was very much missed, said, “And no one misses him more than my mother; for he used to come and sit with her, and talked so nicely to her, that it did her so much good—it did her good till he came again. There will never be another minister like Mr. Mortimer: if there were to come five thousand, there would not be another like him.” {268a}