which your Royal father is said to have declared made him a Bishop. He made himself unpopular in his own 'profession by the defence of a fantastical system. He had decriers, he had no trumpeters,-he was great in and by himself; and perhaps, Sir, a portion of that 'power and adroitness you have manifested in this debate, "Dec. 16. It was one of Markham's foibles not to estimate sufficiently learning or its pretensions, though there can be no doubt of his great acquirements. Perhaps it is a law of nature that what is possessed, is never so highly rated, as what is not. I believe I mentioned that his reading, at least whilst 1 knew him, did not appear to be systematical, or with any view beyond the present time; but, if the most abstruse Greek book had been placed before him, he would have read it without interruption, and with the closest attention and interestif any one had called and sat some time, he would have conversed freely, but before they had closed the door, he would have returned to his book, with the same intenseness as before. It is probable that I, whose want of attention in reading has been all my life a sore grievance, may admire him in this respect more than others. It continued to the last, and his eyes, which were uncommonly small and almost covered with flesh, never failed him, or required spectacles. Nature is equal: owe the highest duty, and have all possible obligation. I believe I never told you how happy I am in an excellent father and mother, very plain people you may be sure, for they are farmers, but of a turn of mind, that might have honoured any rank and any education. With very tolerable, but in no degree affluent circumstances, their generosity was such, they never regarded any expence, that was in their power, and almost out of it, in whatever concerned the welfare of their children. We are three brothers of us. The eldest settled ' might have been owing to him.' Fox, when the Prince was gone, exclaimed, in his high tone of voice, He thuoght he had caught you, but he caught a Tartar. "I took down this conversation from my revered friend's dictation. He averred that he was put on his defence, and that the argument was maintained with some heat. when she gives fine black eyes, they are rarely strong and permanent. I am afraid my observations can be of little use to you, as I am conscious of a careless habit in writing Letters, both as to expression, and whatever relates to composition." By way of parallel, I will extract the following story, communicated by Mr. Ashby to the late John Nichols, Esq. respecting the editor of Demosthenes : — "That Dr. Taylor was too busy a man to be idle, is too shining a particular in the Doctor's temper and abilities not to be a little more insisted upon. If you called on him in college after dinner, you were sure to find him sitting at an old oval walnut-tree table entirely covered with books, in which, as the common expression runs, he seemed to be buried; you began to make apologies for disturbing a person so well employed, but he immediately told you to advance, taking care to disturb, as little as you could, the books on the floor, and called out, John, John, bring pipes and tobacco; and then fell to procuring a small very reputably in their own way, and the youngest in the Birmingham-trade. For myself, a poor scholar, as you know, I am almost ashamed to own to you how solicitous they always were to furnish me with all the opportunities of the best and most liberal education. My case in so many particulars resembles that, which the Roman poet describes as his own, that with Pope's wit I could apply almost every circumstance of it. And, if ever I were to wish in earnest to be a poet, it would be "The Dedication of the two Tracts of a Warburtonian, addressed by the editor to a learned critic, is one of the most striking monuments of English literature. There is no equal quantity of fine writing in the same quantity of any other composition, with which I am acquainted; nor from which a richer selection of phrases, strong ex space for the bottle just to stand on, but which could hardly ever be done without shoving off an equal quantity of the furniture at the other end; and he instantly appeared as chearful, good-humoured, and degagé, as if he had not been at all engaged or interrupted. Suppose now you had staid as long as you would, and been entertained by him most agreeably, you took your leave, and got half-way down the stairs; but, recollecting somewhat, that you had more to say to him, you go in again: the bottle and glasses were gone, the books had expanded themselves so as to re-occupy the whole table, and he was just as much buried in them, as when you first broke in on him. I never knew this convenient faculty to an equal degree in any other scholar." Memoirs of Dr. Taylor, prefixed to Two Music Speeches at Cambridge spoken at Public Commencements in the Years 1714, and 1730, p. XXX. E. H. B.] for the sake of doing justice to so uncommon a virtue. I should be a wretch, if I did not conclude, as he does, si Natura juberet A certis annis ævum remeare peractum, Atque alios legere ad fastum quoscunqne parentes, Fascibus et sellis nolim mihi sumere; demens Judicio vulgi, sanus fortasse tuo. In a word, when they had fixed us in such a rank of life, as they designed, and believed should satisfy us, they very wisely pressions, bitter allusions, sarcastic turns, and happy illustrations, can be more frequently quoted. (Tom Warton professed to Dr. Routh that, if he were called upon to point out some of the finest sentences in English prose, he should quote Parr's Preface and Dedication of the Warburtonian Tracts.) They are in the mind of every left the business of the world to such as wanted it more, or liked it better. They considered what age and declining health seemed to demand of them, reserving to themselves only such a support, as their few and little wants made them think sufficient. I should beg pardon for troubling you with this humble history; but the subjects of it are so much and so tenderly in my thoughts at present, that, if I writ at all, I could hardly help writing about them." HURD p. 160. Sept. 13, 1755. Your truly friendly Letter of the 31st past, brought me all the relief I am capable of in my present situation. Yet that relief had been greater, if the fact had been, as you suppose, that the best of fathers was removing from me, in this maturity of age, by a gradual, insensible decay of nature; in which case, I could have drawn to myself much ease from the considerations you so kindly suggest to me. But it is not his being out of all hope of recovery, (which I had known long since, and was prepared for,) but his being in perpetual pain, that afflicts me so much. I left him last night in this disconsolate condition. So near a prospect of death, and so rough a passage to it, I own to you I cannot be a witness of this in one, whom nature and ten thousand obligations have made so dear to me, without the utmost uneasiness. Nay, I think the very temper and firmness of mind, with which he bears this calamity, sharpens my sense of it. I thank God, an attachment to this world has not as yet been among my greater vices. But, were I as fond of it as prosperous and happy men sometimes are, what I have seen and felt for this last month, were English scholar, ready ornaments of conversation, nor has the attempt to decry this fine specimen of our literature, by denominating it a series of antitheses, at all succeeded. The very nature of the subject made it antithetical. One object of the work was, to compare Hurd with Warburton, to display the mighty controversialist, and to throw enough to mortify such foolish affections. And in truth it would amaze one, that a few such instances as this, which hardly any man is out of the reach of, did not strike dead all the passions, were it not that Providence has determined, in spite of ourselves, by means of these instincts, to accomplish its own great purposes. But why do I trouble my best friend with this sad tale, and rambling reflections? I designed only to tell him that I am quite unhappy here, and that, though it is more than time. for me to return to Cambridge, I have no power of coming to a thought of leaving this place. However, a very few weeks, perhaps a few days, may put an end to this irresolution." HURD P. 194. All "Dec. 1. I have to tell you that it has pleased God to release my poor father from his great misery. You will guess the rest, when I acquaint you that his case was cancerous. his family have great reason to be thankful for his deliverance: and yet I find myself not so well prepared for the stroke, as I had thought. I blame myself now for having left him. Though when I was with him, as I could not hide my own uneasiness, I saw it only added to his. I know not what to say. He was the best of men in all relations, and had a generosity of mind, that was amazing in his rank of life. In his long and great affliction he shewed a temper, which philosophers only talk of. If he had any foible, it was perhaps his too great fondness for the unworthiest of his sons." HURD p. 201. 66 Aug. 27, 1757. I write one line, before I set out, to tell you how tenderly affected I am by your goodness to my poor |