complained of a pain in his breast and arms, but was not considered in danger.  He retired to bed at his usual hour; but he slept little, and quietly departed about five o’clock the following morning, the 26th of the Third Month, 1821; and was buried at Highflatts the 31st of the same; (many Friends and others attended the meeting on this solemn occasion, which was eminently owned by the presence of the Great Shepherd of Israel;) aged seventy-one years, a minister about forty-two years.

CHAPTER IV.

HIS FIRST RESIDENCE IN GERMANY.

1822-24.

John Yeardley left Hull on the 14th of the Fourth Month, and arrived at Hamburg on the 21st.  For the purpose of attending the Exchange, and of becoming acquainted with the language, he hired a lodging in the neighborhood of the city, where he remained for some weeks.  Writing to his brother, under date of the 23rd of the Fourth Month, he says,—­

In the neighborhood of Hamburg, lodgings are not easily obtained for so short a time as a month.  We succeeded in procuring a room three miles from the town, at Eppendorf, in the house of three young women, sisters.  It is a charming walk, mostly over the fields.  It is quite a cross for me to go on ’Change; but as it is the only place for information, I must submit to it, my visit to this place being for instruction in the language and mode of conducting business:  but, from what I have yet seen, it will be quite the best for me to proceed into the interior of the country in a few weeks.

What his reflections were when he found himself actually an inhabitant of the land where for so long a time he had mentally dwelt, will be seen by the following entry in his Diary.  The maxim with which it concludes may be said to be the motto which he inscribed on his shield for the remainder of his life.

This morning I am thankful to feel something of a peaceful serenity to cover my mind, and am well contented in being placed on this side of the German Ocean.  I consider it an unspeakable blessing that I do not feel so much as a wish to return, until the time may come that I can see clearly that it is right for me so to do.  Should I not be favored with health and strength to do what I have sometimes thought designed for me before I set my foot in this land, or should my Heavenly Father see meet to cut short the work in righteousness and not permit that I ever see my native country again, his gracious will be done.  I leave this as a testimony that none need to fear his rightly sending forth those who ask and rightly wait for his counsel.  I do not know why I should thus write:  I trust it proceeds from a resigned heart; and I will add, for fear I should never have another opportunity, that I should wish all to know who have known me, that I have no reason to doubt the rectitude of my crossing the water with a prospect of a residence in this country, and that should time with me now close, I die in peace with my God, and in that love for mankind which believes “every nation to be our nation, and every man our brother.”—­(6 mo. 8.)