MR. ALEXANDER LEIPER was born in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, in the year 1786. He was the son of Mr. Wil liam Leiper, a respectable bleacher and manufacturer. Mr. Leiper, sen. was a pious man, and held the office of Deacon or Manager in the church under the pastoral care of the late Rev. George Cowie, whose holy zeal and success in the ministry are well known throughout the north of Scotland.

Alexander was a delicate child, slenderly made, but of remarkable vivacity, and prepossessing appear ance. His talents displayed themselves early, and he was taught to fear the Lord from his youth. It is a truth that He who marks out the bounds of his people's habitations, places some in singularly advantageous circumstances; and young Leiper was one of the first scholars admitted into the Sabbath Schools which were commenced in his native town, in the year 1797. Here he profited above many. The school which he attended was held in the chapel; the elder boys and girls were ranged around the fronts of

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the gallery; in the lower area the younger children were ranged round the desk, and the seats behind, both above and below, were filled with attentive listeners..

It was a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; not a few of these scholars were trained up for stations of public usefulness in the church; and there were more who were brought to the knowledge of the truth, and still fill up the ranks in the church and among the people of God. Even advanced Christians felt themselves made alive a second time.

Little Leiper had a fine musical voice, and was selected to lead the singing. The writer never can forget the sensations he experienced when the little boy gave out from the desk the psalm or hymn, and after taking his place in the front of the gallery, and repeating his exercises, which were marked by their number, variety, and appropriateness, and delivered in a chaste, yet animated manner, again descended, resumed his place in the desk, and led the concluding hymn. His slender form, his light, waving, slightly-curled 3 B

locks, his silvery voice, and the harmony of the many young voices from the surrounding gallery, formed a scene which cannot be obliterated from the memory.

The marks of early piety were in him distinct and prominent. He was a praying child; and when very young, would (in the absence of his father) have led the family devotions, to the edification and even astonishment of older Christians who happened to be present.

When the morning of life dawns under favourable circumstances, it is often anticipated that a bright day will succeed. It is, however, sometimes otherwise, and it was so with our dear departed friend. Whether it was the intention of Mr. Leiper, sen. to give his son a finished education, or if circumstances prevented it, is not known: certain it is, that our young friend was entered as an apprentice with the agent for the Bank of Scotland, in his native town, before he had completed his thirteenth year. His literary attainments had certainly been great, when we consider his age, and the opportunities be had enjoyed; for after he had advanced in life, and had suffered various trials and afflictions, he would display, when occasion offered, no little knowledge of classic lore. On the expiry of his apprenticeship, or shortly afterwards, he went to Edinburgh, where he held a confidential situation in the banking-office of Messrs. Inglis, Borthwick, Gilchrist, and Co., for a good many years. In Edinburgh, as in other large cities, a very young man, from under the paternal roof, and beyond the reach of anxious relations, is exposed to no small danger, and when we say that young Leiper kept his garments clean, we would add, "To God be the glory." His literary taste led him to cultivate an extensive acquaintance with works of merit. He had a very general knowledge of authors, their characters, and writings, and

would occasionally give such an account of literary works, as few, whosé business is criticism, could do. We have reason to know that this turn of mind never led him to neglect more serious studies, for he was equally capable of speaking of works of Divinity, as of Poetry or Belles Lettres; but we think we have heard him, in after life, express a little dissatisfaction that he had spent so much time in examining the lighter departments of literature. It certainly does require much caution to cull the flowers of poesy, without being defiled by the mire in which some of them are to be found.

It so fell out, in the dispensations of an all-wise Providence, that owing to various causes, his father's business having begun to languish, he finally got into embarrassments; then Mr. Leiper, junior, came forward, nobly stood in the gap, dignifiedly to support his parent, and take on himself to make up all losses; a resolution which, for its principle, cannot be too much applauded, but which was afterwards heavy in its results. In addition to this, when his father died, in 1810, leaving his family with but slender provision for their support, he again came forward, and took upon himself the charge of his widowed mother, and never did he neglect or lose sight of that duty, at any period during the remainder of his chequered life.

In the end of the year 1814, Mr. Leiper made arrangements with a commercial house in Glasgow, to enter as a partner, but never was admitted as such. He had been previously in a very debilitated state, and he was led to this step from an idea that his weakness was partly occasioned by the confinement incidental to his situation, and an expectation that more exercise might be beneficial to his health. At that time he had been for several months incapacitated from attending to any description of business, and the