307 



inherit them. She died in November, 1785. After an illness of 

 only five days Alderman Townsend died at his residence, Bruce 

 Castle, iu Tottenham, July 1, 1787. 



I have occupied this much space in speaking of the Rev. Joseph 

 Townseud's brother, as so remarkable a man cannot fail to have 

 influenced him. Though directed in different channels we see in 

 both brothers the same firm determination, and the same disregard 

 of personal advantage in doing what they considered to be for the 

 general good. 



His Life. — I have nowhere found the exact date of the Rev. 

 Joseph Townseud's birth. The tablet erected to his memory in 

 Pewsey Church records that at the time of his death, in November, 

 1816, his age was 78, so that be must have been bom about 1738. 

 Of his early life and school days I know nothing. He passed his 

 college days at Clare Hall, Cambridge, and went out in mathe- 

 matical honours in 1762, the year before Paley was senior wrangler. 

 In the Tripos list for that year, " Townsend, Clare," stands second 

 of the Junior Optimes, with a foot note in the Cambridge Calendar, 

 " author of the History of the Character of Moses." In the 

 " Gentleman's Magazine " it is stated that he was a Fellow of 

 Clare, but he is not so marked in the Calendar, 



Shortly after taking his degi-ee he seems to have spent some time 

 in Scotland, and we learn from the " Gentleman's Magazine " that 

 he studied Physic under Dr. Cullen, at Edinburgh. Mr. Warner, 

 in his " Literary Recollections," relates that he was throughout his 

 life proud of his medical knowledge, and " the ready and gratuitous 

 exercise of his art among the poor and humbler classes was a 

 pviblic blessing wherever he went." I can find no indication of 

 his having ever passed any examination in medicine, though later 

 in life he wrote two medical books. 



We can gather something of the bent of his mind at this time 

 from a short allusion to this period of his life written in 1812.* 



" The author in early life turned his attention to Mineralogy-, and in his 



father's mines had an opportunity of noticing the visible effects of the Deluge. 



"When he had finished his education at Cambridge, and had left the 



University, he took up his residence in Scotland, where his knowledge 



* Introduction to his " Character of Moses Vindicated." 

 D 



