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municating it, and in sowing the seeds and fostering the growth of it, by his advice, by his interest, and very largely and frequently by his pecuniary assistance to all scholars who stood in need of it, and especially to his brethren in the church, and to young men of promising talents, whose means were inadequate to their support at the Universities. Were I not withheld by the delicacy of the subject, I could corroborate this assertion by many splendid instances, some of which, perhaps, may be known to several of those who hear me. He was utterly destitute of all littleness and jealousy of spirit, and never mentioned the name, either of friend or foe, who had any pretensions to learning, without rendering ample justice to his merits on that score. Neither party, sect, pique, or injury, could ever influence him in this respect; he gave to all their due, and sometimes, perhaps, even more than their due meed of praise; not with grudging and parsimonious measure, but with that frank and cheerful spirit which spoke the sincerity and generous feelings of his heart.

"Of his benevolence and liberality I find it difficult to speak. The theme is so ample, and the examples which occur to me are so numerous, that while I feel it impossible to do justice to the subject, I have the satisfaction to think that there can scarcely be one amongst us who has it not written on his heart. You, in particular, who have so long been cheered by his residence among you, to whose wants, and even to whose enjoyments he so long administered; you, whom he has relieved or visited in sickness, has consoled in affliction, has succoured in distress; you, to whom he has been a counsellor, a father, and a friend, to whom his attention, his influence, and his purse, were never wanting; you can tell, each in your private and domestic relations, how beloved and excellent a pastor, how kind and warm-hearted a friend you have now lost; and as for his public liberality, that I may not wander on an exhaustless theme, but confine myself to this place, need I ask a stronger testimony than that of your own eyes at this very moment? Look at the very decorations of this consecrated spot; dear to you by the me

morials of his generous bounty, yet still dearer by the recollection of his long connexion with it, and by its now becoming the depository of his revered remains. There are those

amongst you to whom this scene has been familiar from their birth, but there are others who have grown grey under his pastoral care, and who can remember the striking contrast which it now offers, to what it once presented; who can remember it, without the religious gloom of its numerous painted windows, without the splendid decorations of its altar and its pulpit, with scarcely any of the marble on its walls, without its organ, without those bells in whose cheerful sounds he so much delighted; in a word, who may recollect it to have been one of the meanest, instead of being, as it is now become by his bounty, undoubtedly one of the best kept, and best adorned places of divine worship which this neighbourhood can present? Truly may we say, that he found it brick and has left it marble. And what speaks far beyond the praise of solemn and decorous ornament, behold the testimony of his labours, in the enlarged dimensions of the edifice itself— not so much called for by the increased population of his parish, as by the iucreased and increasing numbers of that population who have been brought by him to frequent his church. So that he may be said not only to have effected a new creation in the form and decorations of this sacred building by his bounty, but a far more important moral and religious creation by his instruction, in the minds of those who assemble in it; and who, remembering his admonitions, and revering his virtues, will, it is hoped, never look upon these outward decorations and improvements, without associating with them a grateful recollection of those lessons of piety and virtue, with which he taught them to adorn and improve their minds.

"And this leads me to the mention of his piety, which, though unostentatious, was fervent and sincere. Though tolerant in the highest degree to the opinions of all whom he believed to be sincere, he had a thorough and pervading sense of religion in his own mind, a firm belief in the promises of the gospel, and a confiding trust in the mercies of God. I never

knew him mention that august name without the utmost reverence, and though, as I have already observed, his piety was most unostentatious, yet frequently when I have come upon him unexpectedly, and sometimes during the pauses of our more serious conversations (and I may add, that I rarely, perhaps never, passed a day with him, in which some religious topic did not form part of them); I have seen him occupied in devout and private aspirations, with that fervour of manner, and animation of countenance, which though the lips spoke not, sufficiently declared the holy and reverential feelings of his heart. But, above all things, his delight was to contemplate and discourse upon the divine benevolence. This was the master chord to which his own heart was responsive: he loved to be absorbed and lost, as it were, in the contemplation of that divine goodness, which is as ceaseless in its operations as it is boundless in its extent. His own pure

and benevolent spirit, indulgent to the frailties, and compassionate to the wants and infirmities of his fellow-creatures, was refined and exalted by the contemplation of that inexhaustible fountain of all goodness, and his hatred of all cruelty, oppression, and injustice was strengthened in proportion as he found them to be at war with the first principles of nature and religion, with the best feelings of the human heart, and the highest sensations of a God of mercy and a gospel of love. Even in his last illness, and in those moments of temporary alienation, for some such there sometimes were, when the mind often betrays itself, and developes its natural bent, by dwelling on the subjects of its most inward thoughts, and revealing the secrets of its most private meditations, even at those periods, I say, this great and pervading feeling was strongly displayed. There was a holiness and purity in his very wanderings, which bespoke the habitual piety and benevolence of his soul, and which, perhaps, is a more affecting and salutary lesson to the survivors, than any death-bed exhortation could afford.

"And now, my friends, in this spirit, it is not I that speak to you, but himself; you hear him yet once more, teaching

you

you and yours, even from the grave, uttering those words to which he has ordered to be recorded on his monument for your instruction, and which, while living, he illustrated by his example. Reverence them as his last, teach them to your children after you, and let them influence your lives; and remember while opportunity is yet given you, like him, to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."

191

No. VII.

THOMAS BOWDLER, Esq.

THE following memoir of this gentleman, so well known to the public for his general attainments in literature, and for a variety of useful and important labours, is from the pen of his nephew, the Rev. Thomas Bowdler.

*

"Thomas Bowdler, the younger son of Thomas and Elizabeth Stuart Bowdler, was born at Ashley, near Bath, on the 11th of July, 1754. In his childhood he was in every respect formed to engage the affection of his friends and relatives, and the admiration of strangers. By an accident which occurred in his ninth year, he was reduced to a state which almost excluded the hope of recovery, and some effects of it continued through life. His acute sufferings at this time, and his patience under the severe operations which were deemed necessary, while they excited in no common degree the feelings and affections of all around him, afforded at the same time unspeakable consolation to the hearts of those who witnessed them, and a happy prognostic of that fortitude and Christian principle which afterwards so greatly distinguished his character. The time which was passed under this visitation was by no means thrown away. He employed his hours, while he was capable of such employment, in reading, or hearing others read; and thus probably laid the foundation of a vast fund of historical knowledge. So diligent was his attention, and so retentive his memory,

* Mr. Bowdler was descended from the very antient but almost extinct family of Hope Bowdler, in Shropshire. Mrs. Bowdler was the second daughter of Sir John Cotton, of Conington, in Huntingdonshire, who was the fifth baronet in lineal descent from Sir Robert Cotton, the founder of the Cotton Library in the British Museum. She was the author of "Practical Observations on the Book

of Revelations."

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