(H.) p. 253.

MEMOIR

OF

MR. WALKER.

THE Rev. George Walker, F.R.S., whose death has been sincerely lamented by a number of affectionate relatives and friends, was born about the year 1734 at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in which town his father was a respectable tradesman. He was sent at an early age to the free-school of his native place, then under the care of the Rev. Dr. Moises. In this seminary he gave very early tokens of an uncommon capacity for literary acquirements; and passed some years with the advantage that might be expected under a master whose professional reputation was very high, and whose success in instruction has been proved by the eminence to which several of his pupils have risen, among whom may be enumerated the present Lord Chancellor, and his brother Sir Wm. Scott. It may be interesting to mention that Mr. Walker, four years before his death, visited

his first venerable instructor, then in extreme old age, who gave him a most cordial reception, and spoke of him as one whom he had a pride in numbering among his scholars, and who had fully realized his expectation concerning his future proficiency.

At the age of ten, he was sent to his uncle, the Rev. Thomas Walker, a dissenting minister of great respectability at Durham, who had hitherto directed his education, and continued to superintend it, with the view of fitting him for his own profession. In this city he pursued his classical studies in the grammar-school, then flourishing under a head-master of great abilities, whom his scholar always recollected with a kind of enthusiastic veneration. He was thoroughly grounded in the Greek and Latin languages, and was, besides, furnished with much general knowledge from his uncle's instructions, when he was removed to the university of Edinburgh. He was there a pupil of that eminent mathematician Dr. Matthew Stewart, from whom he imbibed that pure and elegant taste in mathematical speculations, by which both tutor and pupil have been so much distinguished. He did not, however, find

This gentleman, though highly esteemed among his brethren, was known to the public only by a single sermon preached at the opening of the new meeting at Wakefield in the year 1752.

this school favorable to those theological studies on which his mind was principally bent; and he removed to the university of Glasgow, then in reputation for its lectures in divinity and moral philosophy, and there completed his education.

Mr. Walker's first settlement as a minister was at Durham, about the year 1756, as successor to his uncle, who had removed to Leeds. He continued there about seven years, and then accepted an invitation to Great Yarmouth. Of the general respect and esteem which he enjoyed in that place during a residence of several years, there are many still living witnesses. Few men, indeed, have been better qualified to shine and interest in society. Well acquainted with all the best authors, especially in history, ancient and modern; accustomed to free and enlarged discussion of topics of the greatest importance to mankind; and gifted with a warm and copious eloquence; he attracted general notice and deference in conversation. At the same time, his thoroughly amiable and benevolent disposition, his cheerful, open, and companionable nature, and his unaffected simplicity, endeared him in an uncommon degree to all within the sphere of his intimacy. He married at Yarmouth in 1772, and not long after removed to Warrington, as mathematical tutor in the academy at that place.

To the affection and regard which he inspired in the breasts of all with whom he was connected in that institution, I can bear a heartfelt testimony; as I had the happiness of being one of the social circle to which he imparted so much animation. He had, unfortunately, too much cause to be dissatisfied by the failure of the moderate expectations of emolument which were held out to him on his removal. I know not that blame was imputable to any individual on this account; but, in fact, the alma mater of Warrington was ever a niggardly recompencer of the distinguished abilities and virtues which were enlisted in her service. Mr. Walker, while a single man, had exercised a prudent economy, which had enabled him to collect a valuable library, and also to indulge his taste for prints, of which he possessed a number of specimens from the early Italian and other masters, purchased with judgement, and at a price greatly inferior to that which they at present bear. As a house-keeper, his inclination led him to a boundless hospitality; and though his personal habits of life were simple and unexpensive, in the calls of charity and of social entertainment he knew no stint. At what period he became a fellow of the Royal Society, I am uninformed; but he was so when he printed at Warrington his Doctrine of the Sphere, a 4to volume, published in 1775, with

many plates of a peculiar construction, and which cost him much labor. This is considered by the best judges as a very complete treatise on the subject, and an example of the purest method of geometrical demonstration.

He removed about the beginning of 1775 to Nottingham, to occupy the station of one of the ministers of the High Pavement meeting. This town was the place of his longest residence, and the scene of his principal activity and usefulness as a public character. Mr. Walker had long been a deep thinker upon political subjects, and had imbibed, with all the ardor and decision of his character, those principles of civil and religious liberty which are by many regarded as fundamental to a free constitution, and of the highest importance to human society. Nottingham is one of the few places in this kingdom in which such principles are allied to municipal power and magistracy; he had therefore a large field for extending the influence of his knowledge and eloquence over public assemblies. As the period of his residence there comprehended the whole of the American war, the efforts made for the reform of parliament, the first applications for the abolition of the slave trade, and the discussion of various other important points,-his advice and assistance were frequently called for in the political measures