318 PROCEEDINGS OP THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



Kingdom of Christ," and in refutation of Tractarianism, have had a wide 

 influence upon the course of religious thought in England for more than 

 a quarter of a century. His " Treatise upon Logic " attained an unex- 

 ampled circulation both in England and this country, and was the chief 

 means of rescuing the study of that science from the neglect in which 

 it had languished for nearly two centuries. The corresponding treatise 

 upon Rhetoric has almost equal merits ; while the admirable little text- 

 books on " Money Matters," " The Evidences of Christianity," and 

 " The British Constitution," which he prepared for the use of the Irish 

 National Schools, are the productions of a Christian philosopher, filling 

 one of the highest offices in the Church, who was not too proud to assist 

 in teaching the humblest of the poor. It ought not to be forgotten, 

 also, that he was even munificent in his charities, though his income 

 was but scanty for an Archbishop, and that he was wholly disinterested 

 in bestowing his patronage, giving but a very modest preferment to his 

 only son. 



The great popularity and influence of his writings are attributable 

 in a considerable degree to the merits of his style, which has often been 

 compared with that of Paley. It is clear, unpretending, and forcible, 

 abounding with homely but apposite illustrations, which have fre- 

 quently the effect of wit. He appears more as a teacher than an author, 

 repeating the truths which he deems important over and over again in 

 his different works, and always more regardful of the effect to be pro- 

 duced, and the principles to be inculcated, than of what might be 

 thought of his own manner and intentions. His own character peeps 

 out in an unconscious and amusing manner, especially in his later 

 works, but always in a way to command the respect, and even the 

 affection, of his readers. He manifests perfect simplicity and hearti- 

 ness, and that sort of good nature which the French call bonhommie ; 

 he quotes his own writings frequently, and is so eager to impress upon 

 others the doctrines which he thoroughly believes and deems of the 

 highest interest, that his manner might sometimes be chargeable with 

 dogmatism. He was a thinker, rather than a great scholar; the 

 truths which he was most anxious to present were not those which he 

 had found in books, or which related to the interpretation or the 

 enforcement of other people's thoughts, but those which he had evolved 

 from his own researches and meditations, and on which he had dwelt 

 so long that they assumed in his eyes what was perhaps an exaggerated 

 importance. He acquired that influence in his Church, in his own die- 



