Excerpt from Last Leaves: Sketches and Criticisms The boy early 'gave evidence of talent; and, at one time, it was proposed to educate him for the ministry. It is, perhaps, no mighty matter of regret that this project, for some reason or other, was abandoned. Undoubtedly, as a parson, he-would have been much beloved by his parishioners; but there seems no special reason to suppose he would have shone as a pulpit orator. He would Scarcely have written the Life Drama, or writing, could scarcely have published it; and, instead of Dream thorp, etc., the world might perhaps have been favoured with some volumes of dull discourses, which would not, by comparison, have enriched it. Mr Smith, senior, was a pattern-designer; and by this accident, as I imagine, rather than any special leaning or aptitude that way, the junior was determined to the same employment. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.