1830.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



461 



much of his time must have been thus oc- 

 cupied : now and then he complains, but 

 gratified vanity peeps out notwithstanding. 

 (July 7, 1810.) " Showing to Mr. W., 

 vicar of Halifax, and in the evening to 'a 

 stranger, brought by Captain Neville, as a 

 kinsman of Dr. Sacheverell's, but supposed 

 to be the Doctor himself, incognito ; the 

 hand is not unlike, and the motto suitable, 

 * Dulce et decorum pro patria patij " every 

 visitor inserted his name and a " motto" in 

 Thoresby's album. A few days after " Show- 

 ing collections to Dr. Gibson, of Covent Gar- 

 den ; in company were two of Richard Crom- 

 well's daughters (one was Dr. Gibson's wife), 

 who took notice of what related to that family. 

 Thus I am exposed, like a common inn- 

 keeper, to guests of all complexions ; the 

 last was Dr. Sacheverell's kinsman, then 

 two of Oliver Cromwell's grand-daughters 

 (one of which seemed to have his height of 

 spirit] ; but as much as moderation is de- 

 cried, one betwixt both extremes is, in my 

 opinion, to be preferred before either." 



Thoresby was a great discerner of provi- 

 dences. In his early years a mutual attach- 

 ment between himself and a young lady was 

 broken off by her friends, and they parted 

 in tears. She married a richer man, not 

 much to her comfort, and died early. " The 

 kind providence of God which foresaw this 

 (her early death), and how unfit I was for 

 such a trial, prevented it (her marriage with 

 him) in mercy." His affection survived 

 the affront, or her premature death would 

 have been ascribed to the guilt of jilting. 

 Ascriptions of this kind are frequent. After 

 attending evening service, he was " unwil- 

 lingly engaged with Mr. D. and Mr. C., 

 unsuitably to the day, and in return lost 

 a silk handkerchief a just punishment for 

 unsuitable discourse." Recording a tre- 

 mendous storm " this thunder-storm," 

 he adds, ( ' was ordered by Providence for 

 the detection of a murderer;" and then de- 

 tails the story the man took shelter in 

 somebody's house, and was recognised. 



Speaking of the comet of 1682, he adds : 

 " Lord, fit us for whatever changes or alte- 

 rations it may portend ; for, though I am 

 not ignorant that such meteors proceed from 

 natural causes, yet are frequently also the 

 presages of imminent calamities." 



His public devotions were.unfailingly paid 

 but not always with discretion. He com- 

 plains once of the ridicule thrown upon him by 

 his fellow-townsmen, for begging the prayers 

 of the congregation for his safety, when set- 

 ting out on a journey. Some good-natured 

 friend " fished out" who the prayers were 

 for. In such formalities he had the utmost 

 confidence. Being once about to return 

 from London, he says: "I was at the 

 prayers at St. Lawrence Church, and re- 

 quested of a devout gentleman I had ob- 

 served most constantly there, that they 

 would please to continue their prayers for 

 those upon their journey till Friday next 

 it is a good provision against dangers, to 



have a stock of prayers going forward for 

 us." 



He qnce met Whiston in company 

 " wretchedly heterodox ;" and once dined 

 with Locke at Lord Pembroke's. Speaking 

 of " Locke's Essay," he observes" Some 

 passages to be cautiously admitted, as where 

 he says that revelation is not so sure as our 

 reason or senses (Thoresby not distinguish- 

 ing evidently between revelation and testi- 

 mony) ; and the famous Bishop Stilling- 

 fleet taxes him with some odd notions, if 

 not heterodox, about the resurrection." 



The short incidental notices which occur 

 here and there of known persons are amus- 

 ing ; but the judgments pronounced upon 

 them are of no sort of value, from the calibre 

 and prepossessions of the man. 



Murray's Family Library, Vol. XI. 

 It is not, we think, more than a twelve- 

 month, or two at the most, since we ex- 

 pressed at some length our opinion of Mr. 

 Washington Irving's History of Columbus. 

 The eleventh volume of the " Family Li- 

 brary" contains an abridgment of that vo- 

 luminous work, compressed by the author 

 himself. Nothing could have been better 

 imagined the original was decidedly too 

 long, and nobody better than himself could 

 know, if he consulted his own recollections 

 in the composition, where, in particular, he 

 had bestowed his tediousness. We like 

 the degree of compression too, that is, down 

 to about one-fourth or a fifth ; and we are 

 quite sure, the same process, and in the 

 same, or even a more liberal measure, might 

 be very advantageously applied to more mo- 

 dern works than our pages, if we could 

 spare them, would contain. Nothing worth 

 preserving in the original work is lost, and 

 the price of the abridgment is less than a 

 tenth. 



Sydenham, or the Man of the World, 

 3 vols., \2rno. This is a story of the times, 

 and by implication at least lays claim to a 

 large acquaintance with the higher classes 

 of life, though without affording indispu- 

 table proofs of personal intercourse with the 

 scenes and sets, which the author shews up, 

 private or political. The whole, we sup- 

 pose, might be readily picked up without 

 his mixing in the circles of fashion, or the 

 houses of parliament without being a guest 

 at L or H house, or a member of 

 Brookes's. The sketches, as to views, mo- 

 tives, and effects, correspond very accu- 

 rately with the common talk which floats in 

 the atmosphere of club-rooms and every-day 

 society. If descriptions like these before 

 us, professing to throw open boudoirs and 

 drawing-rooms the whole interior of fa- 

 shionable follies are to carry weight, they 

 require authenticating the writers should 

 communicate their 'names let us know 

 their condition and rank in life where and 

 with whom they associate, what are their 

 opportunities, and then we can appreciate 

 their communications. None but our 



