Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Leah Moser and PG Distributed Proofreaders
1869.
"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."—PHIL. 1. 21.
The first edition of this volume appeared in England in 1855, whereit was printed for private circulation only. Many expressions of theinterest that has been felt in its perusal, and of the value that hasbeen attached to the record it contains, have reached the editorand the family of the departed. Several applications to allow itspublication in America have also been received; and, after seriousconsideration, the editor feels that he ought not to withhold hisconsent.
In order that it may be more interesting and worthy of thelargely-extended circulation that it is now likely to obtain,additions have been made, and particulars inserted, which a greaterlapse of time from the occurrence of the events narrated, seems nowto permit. A slight thread of biographical notice has also beenintroduced.
But it is not to this part, which merely serves to render the volumemore complete, by enabling the reader to understand the circumstancesby which the writer of the Diary was surrounded, but to the Diaryitself, that the editor desires to commend attention, believing thatthose who enjoy to trace the operations and effects of Divine grace onthe heart will find much that is interesting and valuable therein,and that the young may reap instruction and encouragement from thespiritual history of one who early and earnestly sought the Lord.
EDGBASTON, BIRMINGHAM, 2d mo. 12th, 1861.
Eliza Southall, wife of William Southall, Jr., of Birmingham, England,and daughter of John and Eliza Allen, was born at Liskeard, on the 9thof 6th month, 1823.
As she felt a strong attachment to the scenes of her childhood, andan interest in the people among whom she spent the greater part of hershort life,—an attachment which is evinced many times in the courseof her memoranda,—it may interest the American reader to know thatLiskeard is an ancient but small town in Cornwall. The country aroundis broken up into hill and dale, sloping down to the sea a few milesdistant, the rocky shores of which are dotted with fishing-villages;in an opposite direction it swells into granite hills, in whichare numerous mines of copper and lead. There is a good deal ofintelligence, and also of religious feeling, to be met with among boththe miners and fishermen, Cornwall having been the scene of a greatrevival in religion in the time of John Wesley, the effects of whichhave not been suffered to pass away. A meeting of Friends has beenheld at Liskeard from an early period in the history of the Society;but, as in many other country places in England, the numbers seemgradually to diminish, various attractions drawing the members to thelarger towns. Launceston Castle, so well known in connection with thesufferings of George Fox, is a few miles distant.
The family-circle, until broken a few years before her own marriageby that of an elder sister, consisted, in addition to her parents, offive daughters, two of whom were older and two younger than Eliza. Herfath