79S 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



innate benevolence, and of early and 

 habitual intercourse with the most 

 improved classes of society. They 

 alone, in short, who have had the 

 happiness to experience the delights 

 of his converse, can form any just 

 conception of its attractive pleasures, 

 and its ameliorating virtues. . 



But, highly as this excellent man 

 Tvas to be admired and loved for his 

 engaging manners, and iiis intellec- 

 tual endowments, these sentiments 

 v.erc yet more forcibly excited by 

 the exalfod qualities which dignified 

 and embellished his moral nature : 

 these were the precious gems that 

 jhcd around his character tiiat lustre 

 which made him a public light : from 

 these did all his attainments derive 

 their sterling value ; to these were 

 all his other qualifications rendered 

 subservient ; and from their pervad- 

 ing influence did he acquire that se- 

 cret charm, which gave him an irre- 

 sistible ascendant over the aftections 

 of all who knew him. A strict pro- 

 bity, and an inviolable love of truth, 

 were perhaps the mo«t conspicuous 

 in the asseniblage of these moral 

 graces. From these his whole con- 

 duct derived a jnirity and elevation, 

 such as could spring onlj' from a 

 mind in which the finest sensibilities 

 had ever remained unhurt by the 

 consciousness of dishonour. To 

 transmit to his children this precious 

 inheritance, guarded at^ainst conta- 

 mination by every persuasion of pre- 

 cept, and every allurement of exam- 

 ple, was a principal study of his life; 

 and, to secure to them the perma- 

 nent enjoyment of (his valuable de- 

 posit, he laboured unceasingly to 

 inculcate that which he truly deem- 

 ed the foundation and the fence of 

 every virtue, thepiincipleof religmi. 

 indeed, to impress this principle 

 upon the understandings and the 



hearts of all to whom his conversa- 

 tion or his writings could extend, 

 was to him the first duty and the 

 highest glory. And it was delight- 

 ful to behold a man, distinguished 

 in a profession in which, whether 

 truly or not, religious scepticism 

 has been supposed to prevail, pro-, 

 mincnt in the walks of philosophyj 

 which, in latter times, has too often 

 but misled her votaries ; and ho- 

 noured in all the literary circles of 

 an age, whose peculiar pride it has 

 been to undermine established opi- 

 nions ; lending the whole weight and 

 moment of his name and t ilcnts to 

 the maintenance of genuine religion, 

 and the support of christian virtue. 

 Educated a dissenter, he steadily re- 

 tained the principle of rational dis- 

 sent, without descending to be a 

 partizan. Solicitous ujjon all occa- 

 sions to make the scripture the in- 

 terpreter and the test of religious 

 truth, he had imbibed from the 

 stated perusal of the sacred volume, 

 (an exercise to which, with the other 

 olTices of family devotion, the com- 

 mencement and the close of tho 

 Lord's day were uniformly conse- 

 crated by his entire household.) an 

 enlightened familiarity with those 

 great vital verilies which must lie at 

 the foundation of the creed of every 

 sincere christian. His religious te- 

 nets were, therefore, reverenced by 

 the truly good and candid of all de- 

 nominations ; and by some of ihc 

 most eminent divines and worthiest 

 prelates of the established church, 

 his correspondence and friendly in* 

 tercourse were sedulously courted, 

 and his sentiments and opinions not 

 unfrcquently cited and recommend- 

 ed. But neither was his a religion 

 that could rest in speculation ; it 

 was transfused into his life, and go- 

 verncd all his actions; its purifying 



poMcr 



