Royal Astronomical Society. 515 



as he frequently termed them, of the Jewish race ; and he would 

 have held any biography of himself very imperfect which omitted to 

 note how strongly he felt toward their persuasion. It seldom hap- 

 pens that any person devotes himself so keenly to any history with- 

 out imbibing some opinion of the superiority of its subjects ; and 

 Mr. Frend carried to the very verge of paradox, or it may be a little 

 beyond, the notion that the mathematical and astronomical science 

 of ancient Judea was substantially equal at least to that of any 

 period of modern Europe, not excepting the present. Their lunar 

 calendar was as good as if it had been made from modern observa- 

 tions, and much better adapted to represent a long period than any 

 other ; as much of pure mathematics as any one ought to admit 

 flourished among them in the time of Solomon. It is needlessto say, 

 that not a vestige of historical evidence was ever produced in favour 

 of these opinions, nor did we ever hear of any modern Jew who had. 

 carried his notions of the learning of his ancestors to such a length. 

 Among modern nations, Mr. Frend had a peculiar respect for the 

 Chinese, and was impressed with the opinion (not by any means 

 peculiar to himself) that their government and social state is a model. 

 The rudiments of science which he found among these nations, the 

 ancient Hebrews and the modern Chinese, were easily magnified by 

 his temperament, which was both sanguine and contemplative, into 

 as much of astronomy and arithmetic as he had been able to save 

 from the pollution of attraction and negative quantities; conse- 

 quently, these countries were the depositories of real science, un- 

 corrupted by sophistry. For the ancient Greeks and their writings 

 he had an open contempt ; they were children who had learned of 

 the Jews, and spoiled their masters' doctrines : the good was due 

 to their teachers, the bad was their own. All this time, and in the 

 midst of such strange singularities of opinion as were never long 

 absent from his mind, there was an eagerness to see the good of 

 every thing actually present, which made his approbation very easy 

 to gain. No one who talked with him could soon fathom the wide 

 difference of sentiment between the two ; for whatever might be the 

 subject, there was a side on which it could be favourably viewed ; 

 and for that side Mr. Frend's mind, or that part of it which regu- 

 lated his first expressions, had the quality (we must not say the at- 

 traction) of a magnet. His persuasion of the rapid advances which 

 his contemporaries were making in morals, arts , and even sciences 

 (however corrupted), was a spring of comfort to his age which never 

 ran dry ; and his interest in every thing new, which promised im- 

 provement to any class of mankind, in any one of those particulars, 

 was, even after he was unable to speak or move, a commanding in- 

 stinct, which he could not have disobeyed if he would. This un- 

 varying effort to detect good in whatever came before him was es- 

 sentially linked to his religious feelings, the source of his daily com- 

 fort, by the view which he never ceased to take of the ultimate con- 

 sequences of Christianity ; which he looked upon as the gradual re- 

 storer of mankind to a state of perfect goodness and knowledge. 

 Every advance in art, learning, or science, — every amelioration of 



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