I had often mentioned to my precious one a prospect of religious service in Ireland, and once since our return home from our last Continental journey; when she replied, “I have no concern to go to Ireland—­thou must do that when I am taken from thee.”  It cost me many tears and prayers before I could be resigned to request a certificate, alone, for the first time since our union; but, looking seriously at the subject, the language was constantly in my heart, The hour cometh when no man can work.  Life is uncertain, and I can only expect sustaining grace by faithfully following my Lord:  and, blessed be his name, he has kept and sustained me in every trial.

This day would have been the twenty-fifth anniversary of our union.  How near it has brought my precious one to me in spirit, and how strong are my prayers that my Lord may preserve me faithful to the end of the race!  I can say my desire is, when he cometh, he may not find me idle.

The visit which John Yeardley made in Ireland was general, comprehending all, or nearly all, the meetings of Friends in the island, and including a few public meetings in Leinster province.  He has left very few notes of this journey, except an itinerary of the places at which he stopped, but makes frequent mention of the hospitality and kindness of Friends.  From Cork he writes:—­

I am in the midst of a family visit to the Friends of Cork, and shall have, I expect, from ninety to a hundred sittings.  I am lodged a few miles in the country, in a mansion surrounded by beautiful grounds, and all the beloved inmates most affectionate and helpful to me.  They send me to my work in or about the city mostly to breakfast; and I return, in the evening, and enjoy the refreshing breezes and the quiet:  but then I have the family visits to resume next morning.  In riding to town to-day, I tried to raise my heart to God; when the language sweetly occurred to me, Bread shall be given thee, thy water shall be sure.—­(Letter of 8 mo. 5, 1851.)

A few days after his return from Ireland, he left home again to visit the Isle of Man, in company with Barnard Dickenson.  On his return, he was refreshed by a visit to Dover, where he spent three weeks in the company of his kind and sympathising friend Margaret Pope.

The interval which elapsed before the recommencement of his missionary labors was to be short.  In the First Month of 1852, we find him again under exercise of mind for foreign travel; having, this time, to direct his course towards the interesting community of religious persons in Norway, whose principles and practices are the same as those of Friends.  The Diary which follows is the utterance of his heart in the prospect of this work.

1852. 1 mo. 24.—­This has been a precious morning unto my soul; such a season of spiritual comfort I have not been permitted to experience for a long time.  I think it is vouchsafed me through the efficacy of earnest prayer, which has brought me to resignation to my Lord’s will.  I have now no more doubt as to Norway.  Light springs on my path.  How powerful is the love of God when it fills the heart; there is not a place on the Lord’s earth where I think I could not go, if favored with the strength, and blessed with the presence of my God and Saviour.