Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-01-17
LISDLEY MURRAY.


LISDLEY MURRAY.
Every Intelligent American is of cour se
familiar with the name of Liudley Mprrov
he was born in Pennsylvania, in tine wear
Il45. His parents were persons of res6ect-
able character, who were solicitous to inn.
bue his mind with pious and virtuous prin-
c'Pies, lie was carefully and regularly edu-
Gated, aud made rapid progress in learn
lug. His father, who removed to New
York aud became one of her most distin.
guisned merchants, placed him at the age
OF fifteen in his counting house, iptendiSg
to form him to mercantile business, Bn9
this employment not agreeing with younp
Murray's taste for reading and desire of imo
proving his mind, he solicited permission
10 study medicine or law. His father per-
celYlng his strong bent towards learning.
! procured for him private tutor, a person
OF erudition and responsibility, under
whose care aud direction he wSs closely
applied to liberal studies, and gratifed
himself in his favorite pursuits. At the
: age OF nineteen he commenced the study of
law, under the auspices of gentleman en-
inent IN the profession; and he mad the
I happiness OF having for his fellow student
the celebrated Mr.. jay, once pleuipoten,isrv
to the English court. At the expiration Of
four years, Mr.. Murray was admitted to the
oar, and received license to practise both
| as counsel and attorney in all the courts of
the State of New York.
In this profession he continued with in
creaslug reputation and success till the
troubles IN America interrupted all bust
ness OF this nature. He then removed from
New York, and spent some time in the
co3ntry; but impatient of an innctiye life
ana uesirous OF improving his fortune, he
returned 10 the city, and engaged in the
mercantile line. By his diligence, abili-
ues, ana respectable connections, he ac-
quired in the course of j few years vsrv
handsome competency. He then concInJ,
ed TO retire from business, and made a cor.
| respondent arrangement of his affairs
lie thOn purchased beautiful conntrv
! residence, a few miles from the citv n
New York, where he hoped to enjoy much
pleasure in rural occupations, and in the
social intercourse of wide circle of re-
!ations and friends. But these pleasing
prospects soon disappeared; for not loDg
after his determination to retire he was ar
rested 6y the hand OF sickness. The fever
with which ne was afflicted, left q great
weakness in his limbs, and his health and
strength became so much impaired as to in
duce him, by the advice of his physicians
and friends, to try the air and climate of
England. In the year 1855 he accordiuply
went there aud settled in Yorkshire
where he purchased house pleasantly
| situated about a mile from York; but the
weakness of his limbs gradually increased,
SO much that for some years he found him.
self incapable of walking more than a
| leW steps L. the course of day without
! greatiuconvenience
Being thus deprived of the usual occu-
Patious and amusements of life, and of the
! Of Aoi,,
he very happily and generously turned his
attention to compose literary works for the
! benefit chiefly OF the rising generation. In
this benevolent employment he found great
satisfaction, and met with uncommon sue
cess. His English grammar, with the ex
| ercises and the key, was at once adopted in
most of the principal seminaries in Eng
land. The merit of this work, and the
high character given to it in the different
reviews, induced his booksellers to offer
him very considerable sum for the copv-
right, WHICH he thought proper TO accept.
DE hkeWlse wrote work entitled ale Lee
teur Francois" on the exact plan of the
English Reader. Having begun his litera-
ry career from disinterested motives, he
constantly devoted all the profits of his
works TO charitable purposes, to the beue-
hit OF institutions for the relief of the poor
| and distressed, to assist the needy in pro-
curing education tor their children, and TO
render more comfortable those who were
in straltened circumstances. The work
which Lindley Murray FIRST published, aud
which appeared to afford him peculiar sat-
isfacuon, was entitled The Power OF Re-
ligion on the Mind, in Retirement, Aflic-
ton, and at the Approach of Deatb.n The
hrst impression was made wholly at Mr..
Murrays own expense, and was given away
chiefly in the neighborhood of his resi-
deuce. 1t afterwards passed through a
great many editions.
Lindley Murray was a member of the
Society of Friends; but in all his writings
he has scrdpulously avoided introducing
10 any shape the peculiar tenets of the
sect. On moral and religious subjects. he
con6ned himself to the leading principles
of piety and virtue, and to the general pre-
Icepts of Christianity. "It is a trite obser
varion," says DE-. Bisset, "that the pancity
of incidents in the lives of men of letters
necessarily makes their biography very lit
tie interesting. Literary biography ap-
pears, in truth, to possess some secret
CHARM by which it is rendered more gener-
ally and highly popular than the accounts,
however elaborate, of the lives of any other
4 class OF men," Examples of this fact will
readily suggest themselves to the recollec-
tion of every reader, and the biography of
hindley Murray will surely provo that the
memoirs of a recluse may be full of inter-
esting matter.