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ever fall into Socinianifm, Fanaticifm, Popery, or any of thofe more modern corruptions which infeft this church and nation. Every treatife comprehended in that collection is incomparable in its way.-The fight of Mr. Leflie's two theological folios prepared Mr. Horne for the reading [of] fuch of his political works as fhould afterwards fall in his way; and it was not long before he met with a periodical paper, under the title of The Rehearsal, which the author had published in the time of Queen Anne, when the Infidels and Diffenters were moft bufy. This fingular work, then lately reprinted in fix volumes (1750) fell into the hands of Mr. Horne at Oxford, and was examined with equal curiofity and attention. According to his own account, he had profited greatly by the reading of it; and the work, which gave to one man of genius and difcernment fo much fatisfaction, muft have had its effect on many others; infomuch that it is highly probable, [that] the loyalty found amongst us at this day, and by which the nation has of late been fo happily preferved, may have grown up from fome of the feeds then fown by Mr. Leflie; and 1 have fome authority for what I fay." The authority, we believe, is fubjoined in this note: "No farther proof of this will be wanting to thofe intelligent perfons, who read the learned Mr. Whitaker's Real Origin of Government, one of the greatest and beft [which] the times have produced." P.71.

But Mr. Horne alfo " made himself well acquainted with the ferious practical writings of the Reverend William Law, which, I believe, were first recommended to him by Mr. Hamilton, afterwards Archdeacon of Raphoe, in Ireland, or by the Reverend Dr. Patten, of Corpus Chrifti College. He conformed himfelf in many respects to the ftrictnefs of Mr. Law's rules of devotion; but without any danger of falling, as many did, after Mr. Law's example, into the ftupendous reveries of Jacob Behmen, the German Theofophift. From this he was effectually fecured by his attachment to the doctrines and forms of the Primitive Church, in which he was well grounded by the writings of Leflie, and also of the Primitive Fathers, fome of which were become familiar to him, and very highly esteemed. In English divinity he had alfo greatly improved himself, by the writings of Dr. Jackfon and Dr. Jeremy Taylor; from the latter of which I fuppofe him to have derived much of that mildness and devotion, for which he was afterwards fo confpicuous. The former, Dr. Jackfon, is a magazine of theological learning, every where penned with great elegance and dignity, fo that his ftyle is a pattern of perfection. The early extracts of Mr. Horne, which are now remaining, fhew how much information he derived from this excellent writer, who deferves to be numbered with the English Fathers of the Church."

Soon after he was ordained, he preached before one of the largest and most polite congregations at London. The preacher, whofe - place he supplied, but who attended in the church on purpose to hear him, was fo much affected by what he had heard, and the manner in which it was delivered, that, when he visited me fhortly after in the country, he was fo full of this fermon, that he gave me the matter and the method of it by heart; pronouncing at the end of it, what a writer of his life ought never to forget, that "George Home was,

without

without exception, the beft preacher in England." Which teftimony was the more valuable, because it came from a perfon, who had, with many people, the reputation of being fuch himfelf." P. 77.

The biographer then enters into a more bufy and active period of Mr. Horne's life, his engaging in controverfy. Here we lament we cannot attend him. We therefore proceed to other parts of the character, that will better unite with the parts already given, and exhibit Dr. Horne in a more useful view.

Though the imagination of Dr. Horne was fometimes at play, when the fpeculum of infidelity was in his hand, his heart was always ferious; whence it came to pafs that the compofition of fermons never was out of his mind; and it was the defire and the pleasure of his life, to make himfelf ufeful in the pulpit wherever he went. The plan which he commonly propofed to himself in preaching upon a paffage of the Scripture, was that of giving, 1. the literal fenfe of it; then, 2. the interpretation or spirit of it; and, 3. the practical or moral ufe of it, in an application to the audience: and he was of opinion, that one difcourfe, compofed upon this plan, was worth {wenty immethodical effays; as being more inftructive in the matter, more intelligible in the delivery, and more eafily retained in the memory. Yet, after long practice, he came to a determination, that no method was more excellent, than that of taking fome narrative of the Scripture, and raising moral obfervations in the feveral circumstances cf it in their crder." P. 134.

As for the decor himself, " worldly advantage was no object with him; he lived as he ought; and, if he was no lofer at the year's end, he was perfectly fatisfied. This I knew, because I have it under his own hand, that he laid up nothing from his preferments in the church. What he gave away was with foch fecrefy, that it was fuppofed by fome perfons to be little but after his death, when the penfioners, to whom he had been a common benefactor, rofe up to look about them for fome other fupport, then it began to be known who and how many they were." P. 167.

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"In the year 1788, his conftitutional infirmity began to increase upon him. He grew old fafter than his years would account for, being now only in his fifty-feventh year. However, he refifted his infirmities with a [great] degree of refolution. He accustomed himfelf to walk early in the garden, by my perfuafion; and affented to it, in his pleasant way, with thefe words: I have heard you say, that the air of the morning is a dram to the mind; I will rife to-morrow and take a dram." "That the faculties of his mind did not fail, in the way it was imagined, I could fhew by the laft letter [which] he wrote to me, within a few weeks of his death, in which there is the fame humour and fpirit as had diftinguifhed him in the prime of his life. That he was not fubject to fits of weaknefs in his mind, I do not fay: he could not perfevere in a train of thought, as he ufed to do, but applied himself by fhort intervals, as his ability would permit; and in that way he could execute more than we should have expected from

him, under his bodily infirmities." He foon afterwards fet out on a
third vifit to Bath, in the autumn of 1791. At my departure, he
carried me in his coach about ten miles, he fet me down, and I be-
took myself to my horfes. That moment will for ever dwell, like a
black fpot, upon the mind, in which we had the last night of a be-
loved friend. After this parting I never faw him more.
pany I can now feek only in his writings, which are almost my daily
delight." P. 170.

His com

On the Friday before his death, while his houfekeeper was waiting by his bed-fide, he asked her, on what day of the weck the feventeenth day of the month would fail? She aufwered, on Tuesday. Make a note of that, faid he, in a book; which, to fatisfy him, she pretended to do. This proved to be the day on which he died, as quietly as he had lived. From this occurrence, a rumour got abroad, as if he had received fome forewarning of his death. To this I can fay nothing; but I can think, without any danger of being mistaken, that if ever there was a man in thefe latter days, that was worthy to receive from above any unufual teftimony due to fuperiority, he was that man." P. 172.

Thefe extracts we fhall finish with one, removed from its lefs appofite lituation in the prefatory epittle, and restored to its proper place at the clofe.

"While we were under the first impreffions of grief for the lofs of him, a perfon of high diftinction, who was intimate with him for many years, declared to me, that he verily believed him to have been the best man he ever knew.”

As to his biographer, he has written (which the reader must have obferved) with the warmth of friendship, with the fidelity of truth, and with a zeal for Christianity, all united together. Some little blemishes in ftyle we have noted, as we have tranfcribed. But the author's mind is bent upon higher objects, than petty accuracies of language; and, as all Mr. Jones's numerous publications do equal honour to his head and heart, fo fome of them, his Catholick Doctrine of the Trinity in particular, have done, and will do, more extenfive good, than perhaps half the publications of the prefent century.

ART. VIII

MRS.

Nature and Art. In two Volumes. By Mrs. Inchbald. 12mo. 7s. Robinfons. 1796.

RS. INCHBALD is already in poffeffion of a very fair reputation as a writer, from which this performance will by no means detract. We have, however, a very ferious quarrel

with

with many of the principles which are here inculcated; many mifreprefentations of characters and fituations; many inaccuracies, which a candid enquiry, or a little careful deliberation, would have prevented. We lament that it should be thought neceffary, by fome of the most accomplished perfons in this branch of writing, to exhibit the errors or weaknelfes of those in exalted rank, in the most odious and exaggerated reprefentations. What is intended by it, we fhall not here invefligate; nor ftop to obferve, that, in vulgar minds, the tranfition from contempt and dillike to acts of violence is but too eafy. We shall be fatisfied with telling Mrs. Inchbald, and thofe with whofe fentiments the appears to affimilate her own, that the noblest vir1ues, and most excellent accomplishments, are as often found to unite in individuals of the most elevated rank, as in any other portion of fociety, and that throughout all, the moralit will have occafion to diftribute his admiration and diflike in proportions nearly equal.

The outline of the ftory, which is agreeably enough told in thefe volumes, is this: two brothers, William and Henry, fet out on foot, from a diftant province, to feck their fortunes in London. After fuffering, for a time, the evils of poverty, Henry fortunately remembered one qualification, which, in all bis diflrefs, he had never called to his recollection, namely, that he could play upon the fiddle. This accomplishment, (credat Judæus!) enables him very fpeedily to maintain his brother at college, to obtain for him, firft of all, a living of five hundred pounds a year, and afterwards a deanery, whence finally, he fucceeds to a bishoprick.

The demeanour of the Ecclefiaftic, in his progrefs from humility to grandeur, is reprefented throughout as full of ingratitude, infolence, pride, and every unamiable quality. The Fiddler, ill-treated by his great brother, and lofing, by accident, the means of exerciling his talent, migrates to a diftant and barbarous country, whence he contrives to fend an only fon to the care of his brother; and the contraft of the manners of the uneducated young man, with thofe of the fon of the polifhed, and now affluent prift, the delineation of their several qualities of mind, and their final effects upon the quantum of content which each is fuppofed to enjoy, is the object of Mrs. Inchbald's novel. The Bithop dies, defpifed and unlamented; his for, diftinguished by the vices of the age, becomes a Judge, condemns to death a young woman whom he had feduced, and fpends the latter part of his life detefted by all, and not less so by himself. The Bithop's brother returns to his native country, accompanied by his fon, who, incurring his uncle's dif pleafure, had left England in fearch of his father. The iffue of

thefe

thefe adventures is, that they spend the remainder of their lives in humble, but contented poverty.

Every vice and imperfection to which, from their fituation. and circumftances, grandeur and affluence are expofed, are here plentifully heaped upon the poor Bithop and his friends. All we can fay is, that we know of no fuch ecclefiaftics as are here reprefented; we never heard of fuch diftinction obtained in the Church through fuch a channel; and indeed, throughout, we are compelled to remark, that the author feems to have received her information, with refpect to colleges, and the clergy, from very ignorant, or, what is worfe, very malicious tongues. We could point out many other errors of a lefs important kind, but we would rather turn to the more agreeable part of our duty, that of the communication of praife. The book throughout is remarkably well written; fome fituations are defcribed with fingular elegance, truth, and energy. The following defcription of a young woman, who, having been feduced and deferted, and, as the fuppofed, having alfo murdered her infant, has determined on felf deftruction, can never be read without emotion. With this we fhall take our leave of the performance.

"While fhe found herself refolved, and evening juft come on, the hurried out of the houfe, and haftened to the fatal wood-the scene of meditated murder, and now the intended fcene of fuicide. As the walked along, between the close-fet trees, fhe faw, at a little diftance, the fpot where William firft made love to her; and where, at every appointment, he ufed to wait her coming. She darted her eye away from this place with horror; but, after a few moments of emotion, fhe walked flowly up to it-fhed tears, and preffed with her trembling lips that tree, againit which he was accustomed to lean while he talked to her. She felt an inclination to make this the fpot to die in--but her preconcerted, and the lefs frightful death, of throwing herself into a pool on the other fide of the wood, induced her to go onwards—

Prefently fhe came near the place where her child, and William's, was expofed to perifh. Here fhe ftarted with a fenfe of the most atrocious guilt; and her whole frame fhook with the dread of an approaching omnipotent judge, to fentence her for murder. She halted, appalled! aghaft! Undetermined to exift longer beneath the preffure of a criminal confcience, or die that very hour and meet her final condemnation.

"She proceeded a few steps farther, and beheld the very ivy buth clofe to which her infant lay when the left him expofed; and now from this minute recollection, all the mother rifing in her foul, fhe faw, as it were, her babe again in its deserted state, and, burting into tears of bittereft contrition and compaffion, fhe cried:

"As I was mercilefs to thee, my child, thy father has been pitiless to me! As 1 abandoned thee to die with cold and hunger, he has forfaken, and has driven me to die by felf marder." "She now fixed

her

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