He entertained great respect for all, whatever was their station, who steadily pursued some useful object, and whose talents were directed for the benefit either of themselves or of others; but the profligate and slothful, however charitable he might be to their failings, had no share of his personal regard: from this proper feeling might arise the very judicious way in which he left his munificent and excellent charity to the poor of his native place. At three different periods of the year, he appointed certain articles of clothing to be given to such deserving persons as were not in the receipt of parochial relief; and on its first distribution there were some hundreds of applicants. Other charities will greatly benefit by his ample legacies; but one which he had intended to found and endow of himself, and which was designed for the reception of patients, from all quarters, afflicted with deformities of the spine and malformation of the limbs, was never carried into execution. On this, his favourite wish, he had conversed with many friends; and it is greatly to be lamented that his native town should be deprived of such a benefit, and that his wishes should have been frustrated. The very valuable collection of anatomical preparations which Mr. Chessher had, from time to time, collected, with the greatest care and without regard to expense, were a source of gratification to himself, and of advantage to numbers, even amongst his patients; to whom he would exhibit them with all the fervour and animation of his early days. Many anxious parents have been convinced by such demonstrations of the necessity for mechanical means in their child's case. These preparations, with his medical books and machinery, he bequeathed to Mr. Ridley, the gentleman whom he appointed to succeed him, and who now follows the profession at Hinckley.

The fortune Mr. Chessher had acquired, by great talent and unwearied industry, was considerable; but his liberality, and the moderation of his fees, prevented an accumulation of great riches. He had fixed charges for those who had the means of remunerating him: but no sooner did he learn the inability of any one to meet the expense, than he rendered

those charges as easy as possible; and, in many cases, none were made except for the machinery. Many poor children received gratuitous assistance; and several are now obtaining a livelihood who, but for the means employed by this friend of the afflicted, would have remained cripples for life. In his habits of living, Mr. Chessher was very abstemious, although he kept the most liberal establishment; and long, very long, will his old patients and friends remember the cheerful and elegant entertainments given under his hospitable roof. He made it a point to serve his native place, by spending his ample income amongst the different tradespeople; and the good thus effected was incalculable.

In figure, Mr. Chessher was of the middle size; and his fine countenance had in it all the marks of great and peculiar genius. In general conversation he was full of anecdote; and to listen to his recollections of early life could not fail to enlighten his hearers. In conversing with the friends of a patient relative to a case, he was never betrayed into hasty observations, however tedious or minute might be the details..

Intentional injustice he would repel, but never resent; and in giving his opinions of others he was the most charitable of human beings, always seeking to extenuate where he could not praise, and wishing good to all mankind. He was a true Christian; and, although making no outward display of religion, his heart was ever alive to its hopes and consolations..

Long will his memory remain in the grateful remembrance of his friends, and in the admiration of all who can feel and appreciate the excellence of genius, united with industry and ennobled by virtue.

Mr. Chessher departed this life on the 31st of January,

1831.

We have been favoured with the foregoing memoir from an authentic source.

409

No. XXXI.

THE REV. PHILIP TAYLOR.

MR. TAYLOR was born in the parish of St. George Colegate, Norwich, the 11th May, 1747. He was the eldest son of Mr. Richard Taylor, of that city, and grandson of that justly celebrated divine, Dr. John Taylor; whose admirable tract, "On the Value of a Child," was occasioned by his birth. Mr. Taylor's maternal ancestors had been, for two centuries, resident in the parish in which he was born.

From his fifth to his seventh year Mr. Taylor attended the school of Isaac Jarmy, clerk of the Society of Friends in Norwich. His first classical instructor was his learned grandfather; and, in the year 1757, he accompanied him to Warrington, whither the Doctor removed, to fill the situation of Theological Professor in the Dissenting Academy then recently established there. For two years after this period he was under the care of Dr. Edward Harwood, an able classical teacher at Congleton, and author of the "Introduction to the Classics." He then returned to Warrington, and passed a year under his grandfather's roof; going daily to the free school, under the Rev. Mr. Owen. In 1760, he became a pupil, with his cousin, Dr. Rigby, afterwards of Norwich, of Dr. Priestley, at Namptwich; whom he accompanied, in the autumn of 1761, to Warrington, in consequence of the sudden death of his grandfather, in the month of March of that year, and Dr. Priestley having been appointed classical tutor in the Academy. In the beginning of the year 1762 he lost his excellent father; and, in the following autumn, he was removed to the Academy at Exeter, under the care of Mr. Micajah Towgood, Messrs. Merivale, Hogg, and Turner. There he remained till 1765, when he again returned to Warrington,

and finished his theological course, under that excellent man, and accomplished scholar, Dr. John Aikin.

In April, 1766, he preached for the first time in public, at Blakely, near Manchester. In September, 1767, he was chosen assistant to the Rev. John Brekell, minister of Kaye Street, in Liverpool; whom he succeeded as pastor of the congregation upon his death, and was ordained thereto, July, 1770, in the presence of eighteen ministers. In the year 1771 he paid his first visit to Dublin, a voyage having been recommended for the recovery of his health; and from this incident arose his introduction into the family of the Rev. Dr. Weld, for whom he preached, and to whose only daughter he was afterwards married, in September, 1774; a connection of unalloyed felicity to both parties. Never was man more highly blessed in a virtuous and sympathising consort. Three years after this period he was invited over to Dublin as assistant to his father-in-law, Dr. Weld, and co-pastor with his much esteemed friend the Rev. Samuel Thomas; with whom he had previously been acquainted in 1764, when on a visit at Yeovil, where Mr. Thomas was then minister. Dr. Weld was the immediate successor of the learned Dr. Leland; and it is a remarkable fact, that the ministry of Dr. Leland, Dr. Weld, and Mr. Taylor embraced a period of more than 150 years.

Whilst a student at Exeter, he contracted a warm and lasting friendship with James White, Esq., afterwards a barrister, with whom he continued to correspond until the death of the latter, in the year 1825; and whose steady attachment, notwithstanding their different professions and pursuits, was a source of high enjoyment to the pure and benevolent mind of our venerable friend. Drs. Enfield and Estlin, too, may be mentioned as kindred minds, whose correspondence often delighted him.

Mr. Taylor was eminently fitted to give and receive enjoyment from society. His cheerful temper, his frank and cordial manners, his animated conversation, enlivened by humour and enriched with anecdote, rendered him a delightful and desired companion. But he never forgot, nor could any of

his friends or associates be betrayed into forgetting, the respect due to the character of a Christian minister. No one ever felt under improper restraint in his presence; on the contrary, he was the promoter of innocent cheerfulness upon all occasions: yet he was the last man with whom a scoffer or a libertine would have ventured to take a freedom. His musical acquirements contributed their aid to the charm of his society. Nature had gifted him with a voice of great power and excellent quality; and he had cultivated both vocal and instrumental music with considerable success. His taste was remarkably pure; and some of his Psalm-tunes may be reckoned among the most perfect specimens of that description of composition. He was for many years a member of one of the musical societies of Dublin, then adorned by the talents of Stevenson, Spray, Smith, and T. Cooke. His brethren in the ministry were particularly attached to him, and always delighted in his cheerful and entertaining society. With these distinguished social habits, however, he neglected not the domestic duties. His home to him was always the centre of happiness; and from him that happiness was diffused to the humblest being within the reach of his influence. He was dearly loved by every inmate of his house. In his garden he took great delight; and few could excel him in horticulture. Many an affectionate friend will remember the order which pervaded it, and the luxuriance of its productions: but when in the evening, seated in the midst of his happy circle, he delighted all hearts with the beauty of his reading, and the excellence of his selections— it was in these hours he might be said to present a perfect pattern of benign enjoyment and domestic felicity. In all arrangements of life he was remarkably exact; and his pecuniary engagements were fulfilled with scrupulous punctuality. To his friends and connections he was ever hospitable, and to his neighbours generous and kind. He took with him to the grave the blessings of the poor; and as he never made an enemy while he lived, so his memory is sacred in the hearts of all who ever knew him. As a husband, a father, and a friend, he stood pre-eminent; and, as a bright