"The Great Importance of a Religious Life *,” 12mo. Of this valuable little Book Mr. Bowyer afterwards lived to print many large impressions, * It is a somewhat singular circumstance that the real Author of this most admirable treatise should for a long time have not been publicly known, and the more so, as it is plainly pointed out in the following "Short Character" prefixed to some modern Editions: "It may add weight, perhaps, to the reflexions contained in the following pages, to inform the Reader, that the Author's life was one uniform exemplar of those precepts, which, with so generous a zeal and such an elegant and affecting simplicity of style, he endeavours to recommend to general practice. He left others to contend for modes of faith, and inflame themselves and the world with endless controversy: it was the wiser purpose of his more ennobled aim to act up to those clear rules of conduct which Revelation hath graciously prescribed. He possessed by temper every moral virtue, by religion every Christian grace. He had a humanity that melted at every distress; a charity which not only thought no evil, but suspected none. He exercised his profession with a skill and integrity, which nothing could equal but the disinterested motive that animated his labours, or the amiable modesty which accompanied all his virtues. He employed his industry, not to gratify his own desires; no man indulged himself less: not to accumulate useless wealth; no man more disdained so unworthy a pursuit: it was for the decent advancement of his family, for the generous assistance of his friends, for the ready relief of the indigent. How often did he exert his distinguished abilities, yet refuse the reward of them, in defence of the Widow, the Fatherless, and him that had none to help him! In a word, few have ever passed a more useful not one a more blameless life; and his whole time was employed either in doing good, or in meditating it. He died on the 6th day of April 1743, and lies buried under the cloister of Lincoln's Inn chapel. MEM. PAT. OPT. mer. fil. dic."-The following Epitaph, inscribed on a stone under the cloister above referred to, will clearly point out the Author of the pious performance: "Here lies the body of WILLIAM MELMOTH, Esq. late one of the Senior Benchers The "Great Importance of a Religious Life" had been so commonly attributed to John Perceval, the first Earl of Egmont, particularly by Mr. Walpole in his "Catalogue," that, in 1779, I without hesitation ascribed it to that Nobleman in the "Supplement to Swift;" an error which, in 1782, was readily retracted. -Let Mr. Melmoth's name, therefore, be handed down to posterity with the honour it so eminently deserves; and let the Au thor 1767. In this year Mr. Bowyer was appointed to print the Rolls of Parliament and the Journals of the thor of the "Short Character" have his share of the honour due to the worthy Son of a worthy Sire. "William Melmoth, esq. born in 1666, became a bencher of Lincoln's Inn, and a celebrated pleader. Perhaps few persons have deserved more of posterity than this most excellent man, who made his profession the means of doing mankind every service that Religion could dictate. From the rich he received the reward of his skill; of the widow, the fatherless, and him that had none to help him,' he would take nothing. Indeed, he passed a most useful and blameless life. His whole time was employed in doing good or meditating it;' and how could it more appear than in the excellent Work he composed, 'The Great Importance of a Religious Life;' a Work which had gone through many large editions, and of which 42,000 copies had been sold in the eighteen years preceding 1784, and still continues to sell. What must Infidelity think of this? A genuine Work of acknowledged worth, recommending Religion, published by an author, who was so far from displaying himself as such, that it has been but lately known with certainty who wrote the Treatise, which still continues to have, as it well deserves, an extensive sale. How different is this from the tinsel wickedness we see sent forth by philosophizing individuals: their names are emblazoned, their praises inflated; new titles make new editions, with all the arts and tricks of their partizans; while Religion shews its importance, by calling for the modest, the nameless author's work, to conduct the Christian to his God. Go, Infidel, and blush!" Noble's Continuation of Granger, vol. III. p. 320. A portrait of Mr. Melmoth, by Richardson, is prefixed to the first edition of "The Great Importance of a Religious Life." Another, by Schavionetti, is prefixed to "Memoirs of a late emi nent Advocate, and a Member of the Hon. Society of Lincoln's Inn, 1796," a small octavo of 72 pages, of which 38 consist of epistolary correspondence. The Writer's Father is the subject. of these Memoirs; and we learn from them that, "from early youth, the good man performed the painful but indispensable duty of communing with his own heart, with the severest and most impartial scrutiny;" consulting the eminent casuist on the subject, as also on the propriety of taking the oaths to William III. in order to the exercising his talents as an advocate in Westminster Hall; that he wrote an anonymous Letter to Abp. Tenison; and others, probably with his name, to Daniel Defoe, against the immoralities of the stage; but, above all, that he was the author of "The Great Importance of a Religious Life;" besides Forms of Occasional Prayer; and that, on the death of Mr. Vernon, he, in conjunction with Mr. Peere Wil House of Lords. He was principally indebted for this appointment to his noble Friend Hugh Earl of liams, and under an order of the Court of Chancery, published his indigested Reports, with a well-expressed and manly Dedication to Lord Chancellor King. He died of the strangury, which he endured with great patience, resignation, and fortitude.. He had once an intention of printing his own "Reports;" and a short time before his death advertised them at the end of those of his coadjutor Peere Williams, as then actually preparing for the press. They have, however, not yet made their appearance. Thus much for the Father. Of the younger Mr. Melmoth (who has been briefly noticed in vol. II. p. 193), a further account shall here be given. Hé was the eldest Son of his Father's second wife, daughter of Samuel Rolt, esq. of Milton Erneys, co. Bedford.-In 1756 he was favoured with the appointment of a Commissioner of Bankrupts, by Sir John Eardley Wilmot, at that time one of the Commissioners of the Great Seal, an excellent discerner and rewarder of merit. This we learn from the Memoirs (or Parentalia rather) of that worthy Judge, lately published by his Son; where the following acknowledgment is preserved: Ealing, Dec. 6, 1756. "My LORD, "I denied myself the satisfaction of waiting upon you till the term was ended, in the hope that I might then be so fortunate as to find you at home; but being disappointed of paying my respects to you in person on Saturday last, I beg leave to return you my thanks in this manner. This favour is so much the more valuable to me, as you were pleased to confer it before I had an opportunity of making any application for that purpose; and I entreat your Lordship to do me the justness to believe, that I have the sentiments of it which so singular an obligation deserves. If the publick do not speak more from what it wishes than what it knows, I shall not be premature if I beseech your Lordship to continue the same favourable disposition towards me, when the Great Seal shall be placed in a single hand; but whatever may be the event, I shall always consider myself as having the honour to be, my Lord, Yours, &c. W. MELMOTH." Mr. Melmoth's permission to publish the above letter was thus handsomely expressed to Mr. Wilmot: DEAR SIR, Bath, July 21, 1796. "When I had the honour of your letter, I was confined to my bed by an indisposition, and still am, which, added to the infirmities of great old age, has rendered me exceedingly feeble both in body and mind. ******** I lament this total depression the more, as it disables me to be of the smallest service to you in the pious Memoirs you are preparing for the press, and which I have reason to be firmly persuaded will be a tributeof filial affection and respect, no less honourable to the noble and most respectable Lord your father, than to his worthy son. My letter from Ealing, dated Dec. 6, 1756, is entirely at your command, to dispose of it in the manner you shall think proper. Marchmont; and his gratitude to that worthy Peer is testified in the inscription placed in Stationers hall, which will appear at the end of these Memoirs. I am just risen from my bed to scribble these imperfect lines, and am too weak to add more than that I am, with the strictest truth, respect, and esteem, dear Sir, Your, &c. W. MELMOTH." Mr. Cole, in his MSS. styles Mr. Melmoth" a worthy and amiable character-lived some time at Shrewsbury, but now (1771) at Bath, where he married his second wife, an Irish lady." The first wife was Dorothy, daughter of the celebrated Dr. King, principal of Mary hall, Oxford (see vol. II. p. 607); the second was Mrs. Ogle.-In November 1794, a gentleman, who well knew him, says, "Mr. Melmoth is still living at Bath, in full possession of his faculties, at the advanced age of 84; and, as a proof of it, has very lately favoured the literary world with a Pamphlet, written with his usual classic elegance, being a vindication (and a most successful one) of his opinion respecting the conduct of Pliny towards the Christians, in answer to an attack made upon it by the learned Mr. Bryant. It would be indelicate, perhaps, to detail particulars of the life of any private gentleman still in being; for, though an Author may be considered as a public character, the publick have nothing to do but with his Works. Suffice it, therefore, to remark, in general, that he is no less distinguished for integrity of life, than for polite manners and elegant taste. I will add the simple fact, that he is the eldest son of that great lawyer, and good man, William Melmoth, esq. bencher of Lincoln's Inn, who died in 1743, leaving that valuable legacy to posterity, "The Great Importance of a Religious Life; a tract which has gone through 27 editions, most of them reprinted under the inspection of Mr. Melmoth, and of which (according to the testimony of the Editor of the Biographical Anecdotes of Mr. Bowyer) above 100,000 copies have been sold since the Author's decease. The Works of Mr. Melmoth are in every body's hands, and are so well known that it would be scarcely necessary to give a list of them, were it not that, by the assumption of his naine, some very triding performances† have enjoyed an ephemeral importance which did not belong to them or their author, who impudently enough took up a nearly similar name, with the innocent view, perhaps, of raising the price, perhaps, rather than the reputation of his Works. See Gent. Mag. vol. LXIV. Mr. Melmoth is generally allowed to have been one of the most elegant Writers in the British Nation, He first became known in the literary world, by a Translation of "The Letters of Pliny the Consul; with occasional Remarks, by William Melmoth, Esq. 1746,"2 vols. 8vo; reprinted 1747, and 1748, and frequently since. -Mr. Warton, in a Note on Pope's Works, mentions Melmoth's + Some catchpenny publications by an obscure Writer assumed the pame of Squire Melmoth. The want of sufficient room now compelled him, though not without reluctance, to exchange White Pliny, as one of the few works that are better than the original.” And Dr. Birch, in his Life of Tillotson, p. 362, says, "One of our elegant writers, whose Version of Pliny has shewn, what was never before imagined possible, that translations may equal the force and beauty of the originals, has, in another work of his, mixed the highest compliments upon the Archbishop's sentiments with the strongest exceptions to his style, declaring, that he seems to have no sort of notion of rhetorical numbers; and that no man had ever less pretensions to genuine oratory; that one cannot but regret, that he, who abounds with such noble sentiments, should want the art of setting them off with all the advantage they deserve; that the sublime in morals should not be attended with a suitable elevation of language. The truth however is, his words are frequently ill chosen, and almost always ill placed; his periods are both tedious and inharmonious, as his metaphors are generally inean, and often ridiculous."-His next work was an agreeable specimen of epistolary correspondence, under the name of "Letters of the late Sir Thomas Fitzosborne, bart. on several Subjects-absentis pignus amicitiæ, 1748," Svo. A second volume of these Letters was published in 1749; and in the same year a second edition of both volumes in one. They were afterwards frequently reprinted.-He next published "The Letters of Marcus Tullius Cicero to several of his Friends, with Remarks, 1753," 3 vols. Svo; Cato, or an Essay on Old Age, 1778," 8vo; "Lælius, or an Essay on Friendship, 1777," Svo; "The Translator of Pliny's Letters vindicated from the Objections of Jacob Bryant, Esq. to his Remarks respecting Trajan's Persecution of the Christians in Bithynia, 1794," Evo.-"The Postscript to this excellent Tract (it has been well observed) is worthy of the perusal of every hot Controvertist, and may possibly be a lesson to some of that description. Polemical writers are apt to carry on the debate with so much petulant intemperance, that the question seems ultimately to be, which of the disputants shall have the honour of the last word. The author of the present Defence disclaims all ambition of that kind; and no reply, from whatever hand it may come, shall induce him to advance a step farther in the controversy. It was, indeed, with the utmost regret that he was constrained, by a very unprovoked attack, to enter into it; and he could not but consider himself, upon that occasion, as in circumstances in several respects similar to those of a certain veteran Actor of antient Rome†, who having, in his declining years retired from the theatre, and being compelled by Caesar, in the last period of his days, to re-appear upon the stage, addressed the audience in a suitable prologue, which concludes with these elegant and very apposite lines: + Laberius. Vide Macrob. Saturn. II. 7, |