phecies concerning the Christian Church, in twelve Sermons preached in Lincoln's Inn Chapel, at the lecture founded by bishop Warburton, 2 vols. 8vo. ; Sermons preached before the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, 3 vols. 8vo. ; a Sermon before the House of Lords, January 30, 1786; an edition of Bishop Warburton's Works, 6 vols, 4to. with a biographical account of that Prelate, which has been attacked in an able letter on account of fome remarks in it reflecting on Archbishop Secker, and other eminent men. The learned editor alfo experienced fome rough treatment from Dr. Parr in the republication of "Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian, 8vo. 1789." Of these petulant performances, however, the bishop very properly took no notice; and he was also equally filent when Dr. Priestley, with his accustomed forwardness and asperity, attacked fome pofitions in his three volumes of Sermons, and endeavoured to provoke him into a controverfy concerning ecclefiaftical establishments, and the doctrines of the Church of England. That reftlefs controvertist was very ambitious of entering the lifts with Gibbon the hiftorian as well as with the bishop, and it is a curious inftance of literary vanity, that in the fame performance he fhould have publicly challenged those two writers into the field of combat upon different fubjects. It is worth while, however, to extract a paffage which thews his opinion of Dr. Hurd. "One of the worft fymptoms of the present time" fays Priestley," is that men of the greateft eminence in the church and of the most unquestionable ability, appear to be either wholly indifferent to the fubject, or, inftead of promoting a farther reformation, acquiefce in the prefent fyftem; when all they can urge is fo palpably weak, that it is barely poffible they fhould be in earneft; not indeed in their wishes to keep things as they are, but in thinking their arguments have that weight in themselves, which they with them to have with others. To fee such men as bishop Hurd in this class of writers, a clafs fo little refpectable, when he is qualified to clafs with Tillotfon, Hoadley, and Clarke, equally excites one's pity and indignation*.' But while this doughty champion of Socinianifm was thus. treating the clafs of divines among whom the bifhop had enrolled himself, he little thought that one of them was about to put him to confufion, and to ruin the cause which he confidered as invulnerable. Bishop * Hist. of the Corruptions of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 476. Bishop Hurd was a man of mild manners, a profound fcholar, an excellent writer, and a moft exemplary prelate. He died at the advanced age of eighty-eight, and has left a name which will ftand as long as letters and religion fhall continue to be refpected among us. APPENDIX TO THE LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SECKER. MR LETTER to MR. ETOUGH. "St. James's, Westminster, April 11, 1749. R. WALPOLE has been fo kind as to make me two vifits fince you were in town, and hath put into my hands the papers which you intimated he would, with leave to communicate them to the bishop of Glocefter; * and we have both of us read them with great fatisfaction, and a high efteem of the abilities and fpirit of the writer, who has fhewn the righteft judgment of affairs, fupported it with the cleareft reafon, propofed it, and purfued the propofal with the most steady refolution, and yet the greatest decency and propriety; and (which I could not help taking particular notice of,) hath, in feveral places, expreffed a ftrong sense of the fuperintendancy of the Divine Providence. On the whole, I do not think any man living hath deferved fo well of this country, in its late fituation, as he hath; and I fee that his brother deferved much better than I apprehended, though I always both thought better of him, and wifhed bet ter to him, than fome who voted conftantly with him. I hope Mr. Walpole's health will long permit him to continue his attention to the public, and that the directors of the public will attend to his advice. The affair of Tobago feems likely to blow over; what may blow from the North, God knows! if we have any wisdom, we fhall endeavour to keep clear; but alas! there feems no difpofition to the way which he hath pointed out, and which I fear is the only one."+ * Dr. Martin Benson. II. †The papers here alluded to composed the "Letter to a Friend who desired my thoughts upon signing the Preliminaries," which letter was written by Sir Robert Walpole in justification of his conduct, with respect to the pacification of 1748. This letter it is said "removed many prejudices which Dr. Secker, then bishop of Oxford, had entertained against the administration of Sir Robert Walpole." Coxe's Memoirs of Lord Walpole. II. To Mifs ELIZABETH CARTER, on EPICTETUS, from the Memoirs of that Lady, recently published. "Good Mifs Carter, Cuddesden, Sept. 13, 1749. T packet without giving me notice; and fo you muff HIS naughty girl [Mifs Talbot] hath fealed up her take what I have to fay by itself. Arrian is not a commentator on Epictetus, as Simplicius is; but profeffes to exhibit his very converfations and discourses, as Xenophon doth those of Socrates: and a tranflator fhould represent him in our tongue, fuch as he appears in his own: not indeed copying the peculiarities of the language he speaks in, but still preferving his genuine air and character as far as ever is confiftent with making him rightly understood. Where the terms of his philofophy are now become obfcure, or the manners of his age and country unfuitable to ours, I allow the one to be cleared up, and the other softened, to a requifite degree, in the tranflation itself, and ftill more in a short note. Nay, fome parts, thofe for inftance where he digreffes into logical niceties, provided a general notice be given of what nature they are, I think may be entirely paffed over. Et quæ defperas tracta nitefcire poffe, relinquas. But with proper exceptions of this kind, every ancient writer should, in common juftice, be laid before the modern reader, if at all, fuch as he is. And Epictetus in particular should, be cause he will make a better figure, and have more influence in his own homely garb than any other, into which he may be travesti. Abruptnefs, and want of ornament, very often add much force and perfuafion to what is faid. They fhew the speaker to be in earnest, which hath the greatesft weight of any thing: and the fame fentiments delivered in a smooth and polite, a florid and panegyrical, or a formal and profeffional ftyle, are no longer the fame. These laft were the methods in vogue when Epictetus lived; and they had brought philofophy into difregard and difgrace. He faw it with grief; and reproved Meffieurs les Philofophes with an honeft zeal. Surely then, we should be very careful to do nothing that may but feem to approach towards transforming him into one of thefe gentlemen. And I am fully perfuaded, that plain and home exhortations and reproofs, without ftudied periods and regular connections, in fhort, fuch as they might be supposed to come extempore from the fulness of of the old man's good heart, will be more attended to and felt, than any thing fprucer that can be fubftituted in their room. I do not mean by all this to vindicate my own specimens. I confefs myself to have bent the ftick as ftrongly as I well could, the oppofite way to yours. But I am content to divide the difference with you; which, perhaps, after we have both explained ourselves, will be no great one. Yet indeed, of the two, I think a rough and almost literal tranflation, if it doth not relifh ftrongly of that warm and practical fpirit, which to me is the characteristic of this book, infinitely preferable to the most elegant paraphrase, that lets it evaporate, and leaves the reader unmoved. I know you experience fo much of this way of thinking in general, that I may very fafely truft you with the particular application of it; and therefore fhall only add, that I am, with high esteem and every good wish, Madam, Your moft obedient, humble fervant, III. The Archbishop's Letter to the Bishops of his Province. My Lord, It T having been the unanimous opinion of as many of our brethren, the bishops of this province, as I have had an opportunity of confulting during the present feffion of parliament, that it might be for the fervice of religion to revive and enforce, with fome variations and additions which I proposed to them, the rules published by the four laft of my predecesfors in the fee of Canterbury foon after their acceffion to it; I earnestly recommend to you, I. That you require of every perfon, who defires to be admitted to holy orders, that he fignify to you his name and place of abode, and tranfmit to you his teftimonial, and a certificate of his age duly attested, with the title upon which he is to be ordained, at least twenty days before the time of ordination; and that he appear on Wednesday, or at farthest on Thursday, in Ember-week, in order to his examination. II. That if you fhall reject any perfon, who applies for holy orders, upon the account of immorality proved against him, you fignify the name of the perfon fo rejected, with the the reafon of your rejecting him, to me, within one month; that fo I may acquaint the reft of my fuffragans with the cafe of fuch rejected perfon before the next ordination. III. That you admit not any person to holy orders, who having refided any confiderable time out of the university, does not fend to you, with his teftimonial, a certificate figned by the minifter, and other credible inhabitants of the parish where he so refided, expreffing, that notice was given in the church, in time of divine fervice on fome Sunday, at least a month before the day of ordination, of his intention to offer himself to you to be ordained at fuch a time: and that upon fuch notice given, no objections have come to your knowledge for the which he ought not to be ordained. IV. That you admit no letters teftimonial, on any occafion whatsoever, unless it be therein expreffed, for what particular end and design fuch letters are granted; nor unlefs it be declared, by thofe who fhall fign them, that they have perfonally known the life and behaviour of the perfon for the time by them certified; and do believe in their confcience, that he is qualified for that order, office, or employment, to which he defires to be admitted. V. That in all teftimonials fent from any college or hall, in either of the univerfities, you expect that they be figned, as well as fealed; and that among the perfons figning, the governor of fuch college or hall, or in his abfence, the next perfon under fuch governor, with the dean, or reader of divinity, and the tutor of the perfon to whom the teftimonial is granted, (fuch tutor being in the college, and fuch perfon being under the degree of master of arts) do subscribe their names. VI. That you admit not any perfon to holy orders upon letters dimiffory, unless they are granted by the bishop himfelf, or guardian of the fpiritualties, fede vacante; nor unlefs it be expreffed in fuch letters, that he who grants them, has fully fatisfied himself of the title and conversation of the perfon to whom the letter is granted. VII. That you make diligent enquiry concerning curates in your diocefe; and proceed to ecclefiaftical cenfures against those, who shall prefume to ferve cures without being firft duly licensed thereunto; as also against all incumbents who shall receive and employ them, without firft obtaining fuch license. VIII. That you do not by any means admit of any minifter, who removes from another diocefe, to ferve as a curate in yours, without the teftimony in writing of the bishop of |