The family group at Hazelwood, of which Rowland Hill had for many years formed the central figure, began with his settlement at Bruce Castle to break up. It had from time to time been lessened by the marriage of a child; nevertheless, four sons and a daughter had been left, who lived year after year under their parents’ roof in harmony and with great singleness of heart. “In our course through life,” he said in a passage which I once more quote, “from the beginning to the present hour, each one of us has been always ready to help the others to the best of his power; and no one has failed to call for such assistance again and again.” How great was the aid that he afforded his brothers, they gratefully acknowledged. One of them, writing to him a few years after he had left Hazelwood, said:— “No one, I am sure, can forget for many hours together that the family owes much more to you than to any other member—that, in fact, the sacrifices you have made, and the energy and talent you have brought to bear on its advancement ought to obtain for you the constant acknowledgments and gratitude of all. Arthur and I frequently avow this in our private conversation. I think, too, you show beyond dispute that you have been more persevering than most of us in your pursuits, even though you were not allowed to choose your profession.” In the time of their tribulation and in the time of their wealth, the brothers were equally united. Many years they had passed in breathing— “The keen, the wholesome air of poverty; And drinking from the well of homely life.” Not a few years had they now enjoyed of prosperity. But prosperity had no power to snap that bond which had been knitted in adversity. “The whole family participated in my joy,” wrote Rowland, when, as a boy of thirteen, he won the drawing prize. Throughout life, every prize that he won—every prize that any of them won—was a matter of rejoicing to all. “The spirit of co-operation was recommended to us,” the brothers wrote, “by our parents—during their lives and on their death-beds.” An instance of this may be seen in the following letter, written to Rowland Hill by his father:— “_September 17, 1827._