SECTION III.

Particulars relative to the Family of Dr. Doddridge: His Will: List of Gentlemen educated under his Care, &c.

As it is natural that the reader may feel desirous of learning something of the future welfare of a family of whose domestic felicity these pages have presented so charming a picture, I have thrown together the following brief particulars :

At the decease of Dr. Doddridge, the family consisted of the widow, son, and three daughters.*

It is related that, with the playful tenderness which so strongly marked his character, he was wont to term the three latter, Faith, Hope, and Charity. Not that either was deficient in those amiable qualities, but because the meek

* In the following memoranda Dr. Doddridge has noted the births of all his children :

"My dear eldest child, Elizabeth Doddridge, was born on Thursday, Oct. 7, 1731, and, to my unutterable grief, died on Friday, Oct. 1, 1736, and was buried by good Mr. Hunt, Oct. 4, by whom the dear babe had been baptized, Nov. 5, 1731.-My second daughter, Mary, was born Monday, May 7, 1733, at six in the morning.—My third daughter, Mercy, was born on Lord's day, Aug. 26, 1734, at near twelve at night.— My son, Philip Doddridge, was born on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 1735, at eight in the morning.-My fourth daughter, Anna Cecilia Doddridge, was born on Lord's day, July 3, 1737, at six in the evening.-My second son, Samuel Doddridge, was born on Monday, April 30, 1737, he died March 14, 1740.-My fifth and sixth daughters, Sarah, and Jane Doddridge, were born on Tuesday, April 22, 1746, at between eleven and twelve at night, and both died on Thursday following, April 24.—My third son, William Doddridge, was born on Saturday, Nov. 5, 1748, at three in the morning, and died on Friday following, Nov. 11.”

piety of the eldest, the frank cheerfulness of the second, and the unwearied kindness of the youngest, rendered the appellations singularly appropriate. The successful progress which their brother made in his studies has been indicated by several passages in this Correspondence, and a further evidence of this fact will be found in the following extract from an unpublished letter of Dr. Doddridge's, dated 1749. "She (speaking of his wife) has done her part with great and successful care in the wise and pious education of our four surviving children, of whom three are daughters, between the ages of seventeen and twelve. Our only son, who bears my own name, is about fourteen, and has made very uncommon attainments in Latin, Greek, French, and Italian, under the instruction of his worthy master, the Rev. Mr. Aiken,* of Kibworth, once my pupil, and after that my assistant."

At the period to which I am now alluding, Mr. Doddridge was sixteen, and after about two years spent in study under the direction of the pious Dr. Ashworth, to whom Dr. Doddridge had confided the care of the Academy, he was articled as a student of law with persons of legal skill and eminence, first at St. Albans, and afterwards in London. In the meantime, Miss Doddridge having been married to John Humphreys, Esq., of Tewkesbury, an attorney, then in high reputation and extensive practice, Mrs. Doddridge was induced to remove to that town with her two remaining daughters, for the sake of reuniting the family so far as a near residence to her eldest child would allow. Here for some years she en

* Afterwards the Rev. John Aiken, D. D. and tutor at Warrington. + My grandfather Humphreys was then a widower, having previously married Elizabeth, the only daughter of Ebenezer Hankins, Esq. (See vol. iii. p. 72.) The father of the Mr. Humphreys here mentioned was also a lawyer in large practice at Tewkesbury, but came originally from Upton upon Severn, in Worcestershire, in the neighbourhood of which the family had estates."

joyed the felicity of witnessing the domestic happiness of her family, and the advance of her grandchildren in the paths of piety and useful learning.

As long as her health permitted, Mrs. Doddridge continued to correspond with many of the valuable friends of her former life; and when growing infirmities obliged her to resign this pleasing employment entirely to her daughters, she was still actively alive to the duties of piety and charity, and continued to keep a diary for the better regulation of her time. It is to be regretted that, after an interval of so many tranquil years, her resignation to the afflictive hand of Providence was again, in the evening of her life, to be called into exercise. The domestic sorrows alluded to were, first, the ruined fortunes of her son-in-law, and shortly afterwards the death of her son. The former event arose from losses sustained by extensive speculations in land, the value of which was then suddenly deteriorated by the American war; and so total was the wreck that her daughter returned to the parental protection. The latter, although a more trying affliction, was not so sudden. Mr. Doddridge having for some years suffered from ill health, had, therefore, retired to Tewkesbury, where he took some share in the business of his brother-in-law. The immediate cause of his death was a strangury, which occurred in the forty-seventh year of his age. After these afflictions Mrs. Doddridge survived about five years, under much bodily suffering, supported with cheerfulness of temper, and accompanied with that holy serenity of spirit, and confidence in God, which rendered her death a welcome transition to herself,-and to her children, a sorrow sanctified by the consolations of religion. Her decease occurred April 7, 1790, at the age of eighty-two.

"

In the simple round of domestic avocation, piety, charity, and literary leisure, which best enshrine the female character, there is little to describe. And in the future lives

of the Misses Doddridge, and their sister, Mrs. Humphreys (then a widow), there did not arise any event of general interest. The gentle virtues which adorned the character of Mrs. Humphreys have been slightly sketched on a previous occasion in these pages; and of her maiden sisters the following particulars may not prove uninteresting: Mercy, the eldest, possessed great comprehension of mind and solidity of judgment, and consequently evinced a total freedom from prejudice, and extensive information, qualities which rendered her society highly instructive and pleasing. She had many literary friends, among whom was the late Miss Hamilton. Cecilia, the youngest, with equal piety, but, perhaps, less mental activity than her sisters, had an affectionate cheerfulness of manner which deeply endeared her to her friends. The eldest and the youngest were buried in the ground attached to the Presbyterian Chapel of Tewkesbury, the decease of Mrs. Humphreys having taken place June 8, 1799, at the age of sixty-six; and that of Mrs. Anna Cecilia Doddridge, Aug. 3, 1811, at the age of seventy-four.* The death of Mrs. Mercy Doddridge occurred when she was at Bath on account of her health, October 20, 1809, at the age of seventy-five.

Of the three surviving children of Mrs. Humphreys, my late father was the eldest. He was bred to the law; and

In the interesting and able “ History of Tewkesbury," with which Mr. Bennet has recently favoured the public, the following passage occurs in allusion to the residence of part of the Doddridge family in that town. "After the Doctor's decease, which happened at Lisbon in 1751, his widow, son, and two maiden daughters, resided at Tewkesbury, in great respectability and esteem.”—“ On a raised tomb, enclosed with iron railings (in the burial ground at the back of the Presbyterian Chapel), are these inscriptions:"

"Memoriæ sacrum Elizabethæ Humphreys, Johannis Humphreys, gen. uxoris, quæ vixit annos 26. ob. Maii die nono 1752.

"Charlotta Elizabetha, prædicti Johannis Humphreys et Mariæ uxoris ejus secundæ filia. Obijt 18, die Augusti, 1765, natali die, anno ætatis suæ quarto.

"Josephus filius Johannis et Mariæ Humphreys. Vixit septimanas

after the usual education at a classical school, studied for some years at the Warrington Academy, then under the able superintendance of Doctors Aiken and Enfield. He afterwards passed through the ordinary professional course, was admitted, &c. These steps were hardly taken, and some advantageous prospects opened for his settlement in Town (having then recently married my excellent mother), when repeated attacks of paralysis rendered him incapable of any active exertion, and obliged him to retire into the country, where he led the secluded life of an invalid until his decease, December 3, 1813, at the age of fifty-three. Happily in his case the mental faculties remained unimpaired, and although he was subject to spasms, so painful as frequently to prevent sleep, he bore these sufferings not only without complaint, but with an unwearied cheerfulIn him fortitude and integrity were blended with great tenderness of mind; his piety was free from prejudice, and his nonconformity compatible with the most cordial religious candour. Although unable to pursue the common objects of life, he was constantly exerting himself in offices of benevolence; and his leisure was devoted to the benefit of his children and the pursuits of literature. I have said "his children;" but, alas! he was afflicted with the loss of one just as her opening faculties promised richly for the future; and he who now pays this little

ness.

decem. Obiit 10, die Octobris, 1766. Phi. Doddridge, gen. Ob. 13 Mar. 1785, ætat suæ 47.

66

5 Mercy Doddridge, Philippi Doddridge, S.T. P. vidua. Obiit vicessima die Aprilis, anno Domini 1790, ætatis 82.

66

Mary Humphreys, Johannis Humphreys, vidua necon predicti P. Doddridge filia. Obiit die Junii octava, anno Domini 1799, ætatis 66. "Anna Cecilia Doddridge, postrema superstes filia predicti Philippi Doddridge. Ob. 3 die Augusti, A. D. 1811, ætatis suæ 74.

"Maria sola charissima filia Johannis Doddridge Humphreys et Mariæ uxoris ejus. Ob. 27 die Novembris, A. D. 1811, ætatis suæ 14.

"Memoriæ sacrum Johannis Doddridge Humphreys, Gen. Obiit 3 die Dec. A. D. 1813, ætatis suæ 53."-See History of Tewkesbury, page 239.