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pains bestowed in acquiring them; but it is one of the instances in which men mistake means for ends, which I suppose to be the great practical error of human life."

In the same memoir it is merely said, that Middleton owed his first important step in life to his reputation as a clergyman and a scholar; but this is probably not quite correct. His successful rival was nearly connected with Bishop Pretyman, and, I believe, became private tutor to his sons immediately after taking his Bachelor's degree. Dr. John Pretyman, the Bishop's brother, had likewise sons to educate; and whatever leaning there might have been towards Middleton, for the reason alleged, it was generally supposed that there was a much greater readiness to take him by the hand, in consideration of the frequent disappointments he had met with in his prizecontests with Maltby.

Such feelings and motives were honourable to both parties, and correspondent thereunto has been the result, since each has eventually risen to the highest dignity in his profession. When I went to the University a few years after they had quitted it, they were frequently the subject of conversation at Pembroke, as stars of such lustre naturally would be in a small society, which has nevertheless the honour of claiming far more than its numerical proportion of mitred

heads. But it is to India we have to look for the noblest monuments of Bishop Middleton's virtues, piety, and talents; and, independently of this very interesting prefatory memoir, the cause of christianity is greatly indebted to Dr. Bonney for collecting and publishing the valuable evidence, contained in his Sermons and Charges, of his judicious conduct in laying the foundation of an episcopal church in that previously benighted land. The European population, instead of letting their light shine before the heathen, to the glory of their Heavenly Father, were scarcely less sensual than the wretched idolaters by whom they were surrounded. How exemplary, how extraordinary then must have been the exertions of an individual who, in such a state of society, could steadfastly proceed in the work to which he was appointed, having to contend alike with native superstitions, the lukewarmness of many of his fellowcountrymen, and the various and still more vexatious obstacles to church discipline, arising out of the conflicting opinions of the different professors of christianity. In his Charges and Sermons, there is perhaps as much sound divinity as can be found any where in the same compass; and however we may revere the

* The distinction which Pembroke College enjoys, for the number of bishops educated in it, must have begun early; since it is said of Queen Elizabeth, that on one of her visits to Cambridge, she exclaimed, as she passed it, in entering the town, "O domus antiqua et venerabilis! O episcoporum mater!-Dr. H.

memory and admire the exalted character of his successor, Bishop Heber, it will scarcely be questioned that he was the fittest of those two eminently learned and pious men, to lay the first stone of the episcopal fabric in India. I regret that a letter which the Bishop, on leaving England, wrote to my brother, has been mislaid, as its contents would, I believe, have thrown a pleasing tint over the familiar lineaments of a mind whose deeper characters are to be traced elsewhere. It might have been seen that, like Bishop Heber, he could be cheerful even at a season when he was addressing friends to whom he expressed his fears that he should never see them more. And doubtless, like Heber, he would have thought it no offence to religion, to relieve occasionally the profound abstractions of his mind, by seeking entertainment in the perusal of some of those wonderful works of the imagination which the pen of Sir Walter Scott has produced ; works which may well be deemed worthy of such readers-an offence nevertheless not to be overlooked by some modern puritans!* But we must not sup

• Whatever dislike the Dissenters may entertain for novels and romances, it is quite certain, that many remarkable men amongst them, even some of their eminent lights and guides, have not wholly abstained from the use of such books. Robert Hall read them with pleasure, and doubtless with benefit; and Wesley, like Warburton, seems to have thought with the elder Pliny, that no book could be used without profit. Nihil enim legit quod non excerperet; dicere etiam solebat, nullum esse librum tam malum, ut non aliqua parte prodesset. Plin. Epist. iii. 5. Indeed, he was himself in some sort a novelist, for he actually abridged "The Fool of Quality," and published it

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pose that he would allow the bow to remain long unstrung; for we are told that during the whole of the voyage to India, this exemplary man applied himself to such subjects as were likely to be useful in his new station. He read Hebrew and Persian, as well as theology; and to his infinite honour, he laid down, among other exercises, the following rules of life, for his future conduct ::

"Invoke divine aid. Preach frequently, and as one having authority.' Promote schools, charities, literature, and good taste; nothing great can be accomplished without policy. Persevere against discouragement. Keep your temper. Employ leisure in

Nor have there been

with the new title of "Henry, Earl of Morland." wanting among those members of the established church, who most resemble dissenters in their opinions and habits, many persons capable both of giving and receiving pleasure from this forbidden source. Cowper delighted in the Argenis, and Cunningham wrote "The Velvet Cushion." Even the Quakers have not abstained from these vanities of a thoughtless world; for Bernard Barton has occupied his leisure with the frivolous and foolish jingle of an idle song; and William Howit has indulged the wildest riot of fancy and fiction in his Pantika.

But in truth, books of this kind, like all other books, are in the predica ment of Martial's Epigrams-Sunt bona, sunt quædam mediocria, sunt mala plura. Many of them, no doubt, are mischievous; but it is equally certain that some are good; and if they are to be rejected altogether, because they may not all be useful, by the same rule, we ought not to read any thing. The error seems to have arisen from some indistinct and unacknowledged persuasion, that every thing fictitious partakes of the nature of a lie, and must be evil; yet all the faculties of the mind may be devoted to some profitable use, and the imagination, as much as any of them, may be exercised in the cause of wisdom and virtue. Our Saviour taught by parables, and the prophets and apostles by figures and allegories.-Dr. H.

study, and always have some work in hand. Be punctual and methodical in business, and never procrastinate. Keep up a close connection with friends at home. Attend to forms. Never be in a hurry. Preserve self-possession, and do not be talked out of conviction. Rise early, and be an economist of time. Maintain dignity without the appearance of pride; manner is something with every body, and every thing with some. Be guarded in discourse, attentive, and slow to speak. Never acquiesce in immoral or pernicious opinions. Beware of concessions and pledges. Be not forward to assign reasons to those who have no right to demand them. Be not subservient nor timid in manner, but manly and independent, firm and decided. Think nothing in conduct unimportant and indifferent. Be of no party. Be popular, if possible, but, at any rate, be respected. Remonstrate against abuses, where there is any chance of correcting them. Advise and encourage youth. Rather set than follow example. Observe a grave economy in domestic affairs. Practise strict temperance. Remember what is expected in England; and lastly, remember the final account."

In conclusion of this brief notice of Bishop Middleton, it is worthy of remark that he and his friend Coleridge, each in his own way, were, in the maturity of their faculties, the alike unflinching advocates of the doctrine of the Trinity. The Bishop's treatise on the

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