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it to a flame; and a philosopher must allow that he exposes, with equal severity and truth, the strange contradiction between the faith and practice of the Christian world. Under the names of Flavia and Miranda he has admirably described my two aunts-the Heathen and the Christian sister. "GIBBON.

DR. WARBURTON.

THE bishop of Gloucester, amidst all his fooleries in criticism, and all his outrages in controversy, certainly united most vigorous and comprehensive intellect, with an open and a generous heart. As a friend, he was, what your lordship* experienced, zealous and constant; and, as an enemy, he properly describes himself to have been choleric, but not implacable. He, my lord, threw a cloud over no man's brighter prospects of prosperity or honour, by dark and portentous whispers in the ears of the powerful. He, in private company, blasted no man's good name, by shedding over it the cold and deadly mildews of insinuation. He was too magnanimous to undermine when his duty or his humour prompted him to overthrow. He was too sincere to disguise the natural haughtiness and irritability of his temper, under the specious veil of humility and meekness. He never thought it expedient to save appearances, by shaking off the "shackles of consistency, "-to soften the hideous aspect of certain uncourtly opinions, by a calm and progressive

* This is addressed to Dr. Hurd, bishop of Worcester.

apostacy, to expiate the artless and animated effusions of his youth, by the example of temporizing an obsequious old age.

He began not his course, as others have done, with speculative republicanism; nor did he end it, as some persons are now doing, with practical Toryism. He was a churchman without bigotry; he was a politician without duplicity; he was a loyalist without servility.

DR. PARR.

DR. JORTIN.

As to Jortin, whether I look back to his verse, to his prose, to his critical, or to his theological works, there are few authors to whom I am so much indebted for rational entertainment, or for solid instruction. Learned he was, without pedantry he was ingenious without the affectation of singularity: he was a lover of truth, without hovering over the gloomy abyss of scepticism; and a friend to free inquiry, without roving into the dreary and pathless wilds of latitudinarianism. He had a heart which never disgraced the powers of his understanding. With a lively imagination, an elegant taste, and a judgment most masculine and most correct, he united the artless and amiable negligence of a schoolboy. Wit without ill nature, and sense without effort, he could, at will, scatter upon every subject; and in every book the writer presents us with a near and distinct view of the real man.

ut omnis

Votivâ pateat tanquam descripta tabellâ

Vita senis.

Hor. Sat. i. Lib. 2.

His style, though artificial, is sometimes elevated; though familiar, it is never mean; and though employed upon various topics of theology, ethics, and criticism, it is not arrayed in any delusive resemblance, either of solemnity from fanatical cant, of profoundness from scholastic jargon, or precision from the crabbed formalities of clouded philologists, or of refinement from the technical babble of frivolous connoisseurs.

At the shadowy and fleeting reputation which is sometimes gained by the petty frolics of literary vanity, or the mischievous struggles of controversial rage, Jortin never grasped. Truth, which some men are ambitious of seizing by surprise in the trackless and dark recess, he was content to overtake in the broad and beaten path; and in the pursuit of it, if he does not excite our astonishment by the rapidity of his strides, he, at least, secures our confidence by the firmness of his step. To the examination of positions advanced by other men, he always brought a mind, which neither prepossession had seduced, nor malevolence polluted. He imposed not his own conjectures as infallible and irresistible truths, nor endeavoured to give an air of importance to trifles by dogmatical vehemence. He could support his more serious opinions without the versatility of a sophist, the fierceness of a disputant, or the impertinence of a buffoon: more than this-he could relinquish or correct them with the calm and steady dignity of a writer, who, while he yielded something to the arguments of his antagonists, was conscious of retaining enough to command their respect. He had too much discernment to

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confound difference of opinion with malignity or dulness, and too much candour to insult where he could not persuade. Though his sensibilities were neither coarse nor sluggish, he yet was exempt from those fickle humours, those rankling jealousies, and that restless waywardness which men of the brightest talents are too prone to indulge. He carried with him, into every station in which he was placed, and every subject which he explored, a solid greatness of soul, which could spare an inferior, though in the offensive form of an adversary, and endure an equal with or without the sacred name of friend. The importance of commendation, as well to him who bestows as to him who claims it, he estimated not only with justice, but with delicacy; and therefore he neither wantonly lavished it, nor withheld it austerely. But invective, he neither provoked nor feared; and as to the severities of contempt, he reserved them for occasions where alone they could be employed with propriety, and where by himself they always were employed with effect for the chastisement of arrogant dunces, of censorious sciolists, of intolerant bigots in every sect, and unprincipled impostors in every profession. Distinguished in various forms of literary composition, engaged in various duties of his ecclesiastical profession, and blessed with a long and honourable life, he nobly exemplified that rare and illustrious virtue of charity which Leland thus eloquently describes :-" Charity never misrepresents; never ascribes obnoxious principles or mistaken opinions to an opponent, which he himself disavows; is not so earnest in

refuting, as to fancy positions never asserted; and to extend its censure to opinions, which will perhaps be delivered. Charity is utterly averse to sneering, the most despicable species of ridicule, that most despicable subterfuge of an impotent objector. Charity never supposes that all sense and knowledge are confined to a particular circle, to a district, or to a country. Charity never condemns and embraces principles in the same breath; never professes to confute what it acknowledges to be just; never presumes to bear down an adversary with confident assertions. Charity does not call dissent insolence, or the want of implicit submission a want of common respect."

DR. PARR.

DR. LELAND.

OF Leland my opinion is not, like the Letter-writer's, founded upon hearsay evidence, nor is it determined solely by the great authority of Dr. Johnson, who always mentioned Dr. Leland with cordial regard and with marked respect. It might, perhaps, be invidious in me to hazard a favourable decision upon his History of Ireland, because the merits of that work have been disputed by critics; some of whom are, I think, warped in their judgments by literary, others by national, and more, I have reason to believe, by personal prejudices. But I may with confidence appeal to writings, which have long contributed to public amusement, and have often been honoured by public approbation; to the Life of

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