for your happiness; and I am, dear Sir, with the truest affection, your most faithful servant and brother, W. WARBURTON." "DEAR SIR, Prior Park, Sept. 2, 1751. "Your kind letter gave me, and will give Mr. Allen, great concern; but for ourselves, not you. Death, whenever it happens, in a life spent like yours, is to be envied, not pitied; and you will have the prayers of your friends, as Conquerors have the shouts of the crowd. God preserve you; if he continues you here, to go on in his service; if he takes you to himself, to be crowned with glory. Be assured the memory of our Friendship will be as durable as my life. I order an enquiry to be made of your health from time to time: but if you fatigue yourself any more in writing, it will prevent me that satisfaction. I am, dear Sir, your most affectionate friend and brother, W. WARBURTON." Bishop WARBURTON to Sir EARDLEY WILMOT*, "MY GOOD Lord, Prior Park, March 9, 1766. "I confess, that to trouble your Lordship with any interruption, at this season, is doing like the Pharisees of old, who drew men of the Sanhedrim off from the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy, and good faith, to give their attention to mint, anise, and cummin. But, I am about framing, in my life-time, a small Theological Lecture at Lincoln's Inn: and, that Society not being incorporated, I have a good pretence to put it into the hands of Trustees, who are to chuse their successors. I shall be glad to be honoured with the names of the two Lords Chief Justices and Mr. Yorke, as those of my own appointment; and have applied to them for this leave, as I now do to your Lordship. I presume that one or both of them may have acquainted you with my project; and, on that presumption, will conclude, that I have the honour to be, with the highest regard and attachment, my Lord, your Lordship's most faithful and obedient humble servant, W. GLOUCESTER." *** The remark made by Dr. Stukeley in this Volume, p. 55, is thus confirmed in Bp. Newton's account of his own Life: "When Dr. Warburton was made Bishop of Gloucester, he desired his friend Dr. Newton to preach his Consecration Sermon; which service was performed at Lambeth on January 29, 1760; and the Sermon, as usual, was printed by Archbishop Secker's order. It was somewhat extraordinary, that he who had Lord Hardwicke and Lord Mansfield for his friends should "be made a Bishop by the means of Mr. Pitt; but Mr. Pitt at that time represented the City of Bath, where he was brought in by the interest of Mr. Allen, whose niece Mr. War A part only of this Letter has appeared in print. The whole is now copied from the Original, communicated by my late truly benevolent friend, John Eardley-Wilmot, Esq. burton burton had married. He was promoted to the Bishoprick of Gloucester from the Deanery of Bristol, where Mr. Allen had laid out a good deal of money in repairing and new-fronting the Deanery-house, and had not quite completed it when the Dean was made Bishop. However, such was Mr. Allen's generosity, that he was willing to finish what he had begun; but inquired first who was likely to succeed to the Deanery. It was supposed to lie between Dr. Squire and Dr. Tucker, and Mr. Allen asked what sort of men they were; and the Bishop answered in his lively manner, that the one made Religion his Trade, and the other Trade his Religion. Dr. Squire succeeded to the Deanery of Bristol, where Mr. Allen completed his intended alterations, and Dr. Tucker was soon after made Dean of Gloucester. It was true that Dr. Tucker had written upon Trade and Commerce with more knowledge and intelligence than any Clergyman, and with as much perhaps as Sir Josiah Child or any Merchant: but he has also written very well upon other subjects more properly belonging to his profession. He had the pen of a ready writer; but it was apt sometimes to run away with him, and wanted judgment to curb and restrain it. He had strong and lively parts, and with many of the excellencies it is no wonder that he had also some of the failings of every great genius. He was too an excellent Parish-priest, and an exemplary Dean in keeping his residence, and performing his duty, in managing the Chapter estates, in living hospitably, in repairing and improving his house, and in adorning and beautifying the church and the church-yard. In these things he merited well, and had many good qualities: but it is to be lamented, that he had not the respect for the Bishop, which was really due to his personal character as well as to his higher station, so that there was not that⚫ friendship and harmony between them, which ought always to subsist between the Bishop and the Dean of the same Cathedral. They were both men of great virtues, but they were both also men of strong passions. Both were irascible, but the Bishop was more placable and forgiving, the Dean longer bore resentment. There was also some misunderstanding between Dr. Warburton and another friend of Dr. Newton, who was suspected of having assisted Mr. Edwards in his Canons of Criticism,' which was the smartest pamphlet that ever was written against Dr. Warburton. This produced a coolness between them, but proceeded no farther. Hawkins Browne was then in a decline, and died soon after the time that the other was made Bishop; so that Dr. Newton's joy for the promotion of one friend was damped by his concern for the death of another." The following very animated and impartial portraiture of Bp. Warburton, dated Feb. 12, 1785, is transcribed from a Letter of Dr. William Cuming, of Dorchester, to Dr. Lettsom. "Many years ago I read over the polemical and critical works of the late Dr. Warburton; and from the perusal I conceived a most most unfavourable opinion of the man; so stiff and conceited in opinion; so dictatorial in his sentiments, treating every one who thought differently from himself with the most sovereign contempt. It is above thirty years ago that Ralph Allen, of Priorpark, first came to pass about three months in the summer annually at Weymouth; his niece, Mrs. Warburton, was always of the party. She was elegant in her person, possessed of an excellent understanding, great politeness, and a most engaging naiveté in conversation. I had been introduced to Mr. Allen's acquaintance soon after his first arrival, and was always professionally employed in the family. After a few years, the Bishop, whom I had never seen, came to pass a month of the summer with Mr. Allen at Weymouth. I was soon after sent for, to attend some one in the family. After having visited my patient, Mrs. Warburton took me by the hand, and led me to the diningroom, where we found the Bishop alone. She presented me to him with 'Give me leave, my Lord, to introduce to you a friend of mine, to whom you and I have great obligations, for the care he has repeatedly taken of our son.' He received me courteously enough, but I own to you I felt an awe and awkward uneasiness. I determined to say but little, and to weigh well what I said. We were left alone-it was an hour to dinner-he soon engaged me on some literary subject, in the course of which he gave me the etymology of some word or phrase in the French language, with a 'Do not you think so?' I ventured to dissent, and said I had always conceived its origin to be so and so: to this he immediately replied, Upon my word I believe you are in the right: nay, 'tis past a doubt; I wonder it never struck me before." Well, to dinner we went: his Lordship was easy, facetious, and entertaining. My awe of him was pretty well dissipated, and I conversed with ease. Some time after dinner, when he was walking about the room, he came behind me, tapped me on the shoulder, and beckoned me into an adjoining room. As soon as we entered, he shut the door, seated himself in an armed chair on one side of the fire-place while he directed me by his hand to one on the opposite side. My fit immediately returned: I expected to be catechised and examined; but it was of short duration. He said, he was happy in this opportunity of asking the opinion and advice of a gentleman of my character respecting some complaints he had felt for some time past, and which he found increasing. On this my spirits expanded; I did not fear being a match for his Lordship on a medical subject. He then began to detail to me the complaints and feelings of those persons addicted to constant study and a sedentary life. As I mentioned several circumstances which he had omitted in his catalogue, and which he immediately acknow ledged, I gained his confidence. He was sensible I was master of my subject. It is a good political maxim, Docti sunt doctè tractandi.' I explained to him the rationale of his complaints, and shewed him the propriety of the diet, exercise, and regimen, which I recommended to him. In short, we parted, to join the company, very well satisfied with each other. I found my disgust and prejudice gradually abate. During several subsequent years, I had repeated opportunities of being in company with him, and never saw a single instance of that fastidiousness and arrogance, so conspicuous in his writings. He always received me with great good humour; I conversed with him easily and familiarly. On all subjects he shewed an attention and deference to the opinion of others. He had a great fund of anecdote, and told his stories with much humour and facetiousness. This change in my opinion relating to Dr. Warburton was the effect of my being personally acquainted with him: however, I can neter forgive him for defacing the immortal Shakespeare, by his many ridiculous and unlettered notes, though he made me a present of that and all his other Works. He ought,' said Quin the Player, to have stuck to his own Lible, and not to have meddled with ours.'" In a subsequent Letter Dr. Cuming adds, "If my paper in my last letter would have held out, I should have finished the subject of Warburton, by giving you an arch, but not unjust, character of him, which I extracted many years ago, and before I was acquainted with the Doctor, from a letter written by a gentleman, a Clergyman I believe, in Devonshire, to a learned friend of mine, in which the metaphor is admirably supported. Thus he expressed himself: And whom we may compare, not altogether improperly, to a Blazing Star, that has appeared in our hemisphere: obscure his origin, resplendent his light, irregular his motion, and his period quite uncertain. With such a train of quotations as he carries in his tail, and the eccentricity of the vast circuit he takes, the vulgar are alarıned, the learned puzzled. Something wonderful it certainly portends, and I wish he may go off without leaving some malignant influence at least among us, if he does not set us on fire.'" Mr. EDWARD CAVE* to the Rev. Dr. DODDRIdget. St. John's Gate, May 20, 1746. "DEAR SIR, I got safe last night to this strong Tower with all my company, having a very agreeable day's journey; during which, as you had so cordially expressed your concern for us both in public and private, we frequently remembered your goodness, as well as your very delectable and no less improving conversation and discourse; and heartily wished you and your Fellow-travellers safe over the rough ways, and without any bad or perplexing accident; of which as we should be glad to have an account, we apprehend that it may not be displeasing to let you know how we performed our stage, as we set out so late. "Having, at 18 miles by my measure, at a quarter past 11, reached Aylesbury, which is 44 measured miles from London, we The original Compiler and Editor of the Gentleman's Magazine. See the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. V. pp. 1-50. From the Original, communicated by the Rev. T. Stedman. took took a little bait, and proceeded to Wendover, called two or three miles, and measuring five. At this place, having slipped between the Chalk-hills, here called, I think, the Chiltern, by a very easy ascent, compared with that near Dunstable, or the Chalk-hills in the road from Oxford, Tame, Baldock, Bedford, · Cambridge, &c. we travelled but slowly through that confined but delightful Valley, which reaches along the road, or just below it, from Missenden, called six and measuring ten miles from Aylesbury, where about three we dined, to Chalfont. "Our intended speed was unexpectedtly interrupted by waters, in some places near a furlong in length, but not otherwise disagreeable, as we could every where discern the gravel at the bottom not far off, being only the exuberance of that pleasant stream which rises about Missenden, and often crossed our way, and sometimes washed a considerable part of it, making the cooling gale of the day (of which I hope you had the benefic, still more refreshing, and affording us great comfort in a close road, where, however, the hedges often met, or were spread over our heads on the sunny side; so that our journey was extremely pleasant, both upon and between the Hills, in which last I apprehended we should have been much incommoded by the sun. At three miles before we reached Uxbridge, we entered the great road from Oxford, half an hour past six: but, though it was very dusty, the wind blew it from us, and we got to our journey's end a little after ten. "I shall be now turning myself to the other pleasure-business; and shall not forget the kind hints, which, with so much judgment and benevolence, you were pleased to mention. "I must not yet, though long, conclude, without returning my thanks for all favours received and intended; and adding by desire the hearty respects of all the company, jointly and severally, to you and your Fellow-travellers and Family. "I should have troubled you with a Letter which I owed you about Christmas; but, being impatient of care, and generally inattentive as to decent writing, it wanted to be transcribed, and so was mislaid; and that you have this so soon, or fit to be seen, is through the goodness of an expert and ready writer, who offered to transcribe it; who is charined (like me) with, and longs for a further opportunity of enjoying, your conversation. I am, Reverend Sir, your much obliged and very humble servant and admirer, EDWARD CAVE." Original Letters of the Rev. JAMES HERVEY . Mr. JAMES HERVEY to his Father. "HONOURED SIR, Oxon, Sept. 15, 1736. "I thank you for your kind Letter, which was the more grateful to me, in that I knew I deserved, and almost expected, *Communicated by the Pev. T. Stedman; to whom they were given by Dr. James Stonhouse in 1772.-"Propter virtutem et probitatem, eos quos nunquam vidimus, diligimus." T. S. + The learned and pious Author of the well-known "Meditations." one |