Some letters, however, he wrote, which cannot but be generally interesting. The following tender and affecting letter to the Bishop of Bristol, upon the death of his son, is of this number. "MY DEAR Lord, "Queen's College Lodge, November, 1810. "Misfortune and sorrow affect persons very differently. The presence of an affectionate friend sometimes affords relief, but in my own case, when in deep affliction, I had no desire to see any creature whatever. "Ever since I heard of the late heavy stroke on your Lordship and your family, I have been tempted to call at your Lodge, but I have been kept in doubt, and upon the whole, I have judged it safer to write this note, than to intrude myself at a season when, possibly, it might not be quite proper to do so. "Not that I can have a syllable to say which will not at once occur to your Lordship, who has formerly gone through a severe discipline of Providence, and most certainly I shall not pretend to intimate how very greatly the effects of your loss, and the sense of it, will be mitigated, will wear off, as they say, by time. I know from experience, that though the violence of grief may subside after some time, yet that when the wound is deep, it is never healed in that The world never more looks like itself, or as it did before. way. "There is, however, a lesson to be learned in the school of affliction, and, perhaps, no where else so well; and the sooner we learn that lesson, the better shall we bear these events so trying to human nature. "I am not going to preach, and your Lordship will immediately comprehend my meaning. "While I thus condole with you as a father, my heart could actually bleed for the situation of your dear daughters. In the numerous lights in which I can view the loss which they have sustained, I constantly perceive it to be absolutely incalculable. "Yet, one single word. While some persons may, perhaps, recommend it to them, to plunge into the world, and so divert their thoughts by a variety of scenes, your Lordship will, I trust, think it wiser, to introduce to them gradually, the lesson above alluded to. "Assure yourself and then, my dear Lord, of my most sincere and affectionate sympathy on this mournful occasion, as also of my earnest prayers, that a kind Providence may still plentifully bestow upon yourself and your family its choicest blessings. "I am, my dear Lord, "Your faithful and affectionate servant, "Don't trouble yourself to take any notice of this note." The Vice-Chancellor's year was now ended, and it would have been agreeable to conclude the account of its various and tumultuous affairs with the above truly friendly and Christian letter. It is necessary, however, to add a few words concerning Dr. Milner's mode of conducting the Sunday dinner-parties which the Vice-Chancellor is, or was, expected to give. The whole number of the resident members of the Senate being entertained in turn, these parties are, in term time, necessarily large; and in compliance with the fashion of the time, they were, by the generality of Vice-Chancellors, given after the second service at St. Mary's. This practice Dr. Milner, for many obvious reasons, disapproved. He gave his dinners, therefore, invariably, between the morning and afternoon services. The dinner (at which,-according to his standing order, and the only order he probably ever gave upon the subject,―every thing was always the best of its kind), was put down at twenty minutes past one o'clock precisely: and it was understood, that at three, the whole party attended the Vice-Chancellor to St. Mary's. At the large parties there was, of course, little time for anything besides "the business of the hour." The smaller and less ceremonious entertainments, during the long vacation, when three Esquire Bedells, Messrs. Beverley, (John Beverley of famous memory), Isola, and Gunning, and one or two old acquaintances of the Vice-Chancellor, constituted the whole party, were, so far as conversation was concerned, by far the most agreeable, and doubtless live in the recollection of all who ever assisted at them. Mr. Gunning, well qualified, surely, to judge of ViceChancellors' dinners, thus speaks, particularly with reference to the smaller ones, of those given by Dr. Milner: "I well remember," he says, "the dinners at which I have been present. The conviviality of the President, and his hearty laugh, were quite delightful. My recollections of those pleasant days are very vivid." Mr. Gunning adds: "The abilities of the Dean were of the very highest order; his acquirements most extraordinary; and the versatility of his talents quite wonderful. It was an observation of Professor Carlyle that if the Dean had undertaken to work a lace veil, he would have done it better than any female brought up to the business."" A few remarks concerning these dinner parties may be here permitted. And, first, it should be observed, that in theory Dr. Milner altogether approved of them. The original intention and purpose of them he considered to be, that the Vice-Chancellor should, on Sundays, exercise a liberal hospitality, and afterwards, accompanied by his guests, attend the afternoon service; thus, probably, securing the attendance of some who might otherwise have neglected the duty of public worship. In practice, indeed, he felt, that it might be difficult, in modern times, to realize this idea: the most effectual means, however, for this end seemed to be, to give the entertainment, be the persons invited who they might, between the Church services; to allot to it but one hour and a half; and to make it understood that the guests were expected to accompany their host to church; and these means Dean Milner constantly adopted. Still it may be thought, from the account above given, that his hilarity, on these occasions, was excessive. Upon this point-without attempting to dispute the correctness of his own assertion, made as early as the year 1787, that he was "subject to odd conceptions of persons and things ;" and that he had "a tendency to the comic," which he daily became "more and more convinced" that it was his duty to check and restrain,” it may be sufficient to quote the very just observations of one who cannot be suspected of the partiality which may, perhaps, be imputed to the present biographer. "His cheerfulness," writes the Bishop of Calcutta, “was always innocent and inoffensive-always under the control of principle-and when religion became the topic of conversation, always subdued to the most sedate seriousness.” Those persons who are interested in the account of this important year in the life of Dr. Milner, will read with pleasure a paper, entitled An Address to the Heads of Colleges and to the other Members of the Senate, drawn up by himself towards the close of his year of office, embodying his deliberate thoughts concerning the principal events and circumstances which had taken place during his Vice-Chancellorship, and explaining his conduct in regard to them. Since, however, this valuable paper may be naturally supposed to be especially interesting to academical readers, so much of it as appeared fit for this work is given in a separate chapter, and may be omitted, in the perusal of this Memoir, without leaving any chasm in the history of Dr. Milner's life. The Rev. Daniel Wilson. Vide Christian Observer for May, 1820. CHAPTER XXI. Observations by Dr. Milner upon the principal Events and Circumstances of his Vice-Chancellorship; with an explanation of his Conduct in regard to them; embodied in an Address to the Heads of Colleges and to the other Members of the Senate.-Honourable mention of Dr. Paley. A.D. 1810. ETAT. 60. In order to render intelligible the early part of the following abridgment of the Address, already mentioned, it is necessary to observe, that, some time after the sitting of the Vice-Chancellor's Court on the 14th day of February in the year 1810, Dr. Brown, who, as it has been intimated, did not make his appearance on that occasion, published a pamphlet, with the design of vindicating the line of conduct which he had adopted. The first part of the following Address has reference to this pamphlet; and this part, with some other portions, though never, I believe, published, was printed, and circulated by Dr. Milner among the members of the Senate. It is proper to add, that to the observations therein contained, Dr. Brown attempted no rejoinder. Some other very important matters, to which no allusion. has been made in the foregoing chapter, are touched upon by Dr. Milner in this masterly Address, but in such a way as to be perfectly intelligible without any previous explanatory notice. It was a common practice with Dr. Milner to make, in writing, full statements of his sentiments and opinions, with regard to such affairs of importance as came under his management; but, although some valuable documents of this nature have been partially used in the course of this volume, feelings of delicacy towards living persons, or other obvious reasons, have prevented their insertion at length. In the present case, although, from similar motives, some passages will be suppressed, a general outline of the whole Address may properly be |