3i 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 33. 



her reading a manuscript ; on inquiring what she was 

 reading, she replied, that it was a sermon. His lord- 

 ship expressed his surprise that she should lake so 

 much trouble as to read a manuscript sermon when 

 there were sucli numbers in print. She said, slie could 

 find none so good as those she had in manuscript. Lord 

 Shaftesbury then requested the favour of being allowed 

 to peruse it, and having done so, he inquired of the 

 Countess if sliehad any more, as he should like to read 

 them all if she had. Having received and read them, 

 he was so much pleased, that he resolved to print them ; 

 and having them prepared for the press, he published 

 them with a preface recommending the sermons and 

 highly praising the author." 



It appears that the sermons were prepared for 

 the press, at Lord Shaftesbury's instance, by the 

 Rev. AVilliam Stephens, rector of Sutton, in Sur- 

 rey ; but the fact of the preface being by himself 

 rests on the undoubted evidence of his sister, Lady 

 Betty Harris (wife of James Harris of Salisbury, 

 the author of Hermes), who mentioned having 

 written it from her brother's dictation, he being at 

 that time too ill to write himself. 



The letters to Michael Aynsworth are very in- 

 teresthig, from their benevolent, earnest, and truly 

 pious spirit, and miglit even now be read with 

 advantage by a young student of theology : but, 

 being very severe in many places upon tiie greater 

 part of the body of the clergy called the Church 

 of England, could have been by no means palat- 

 able to the High Church party, — 



" Who no more esteem themselves a Protestant 

 Church, or in union with those of Protestant commu- 

 nion, though they pretend to the name of Christian, 

 and would have us judge of the spirit of Christianity 

 from theirs ; which God prevent ! lest men should in 

 time forsake Christianity through their means." 



The eleventh letter in the MS. is important on 

 account of the observations it contains on the con- 

 sequences which must inevitably arise from Locke's 

 doctrine respecting innate ideas. Locke had been 

 tutor both to Lord Shaftesbury and his father : — 



" I\Ir. Locke, much as I honour him, and well as I 

 know him, and can answer for his sincerity as a most 

 zealous Christian believer, has espoused those prin- 

 ciples which -\Ir. Hobhes set on foot in the last century, 

 and has been followed by the Tindals and all the other 

 free authors of our time. 'Twas Mr. Locke thnt 

 struck the home- blow, (for Hobhes' character and base 

 slavish principles of government took off the poison of 

 his philosophy), struck at all fundamentals, threw all 

 order and virtue out of the world, and made the very 

 ideas of these (which are the same as those of God), 

 unnatural and without foundation in our minds." 



It is remarkable that tlie volume of Whichcote's 

 Sermons printed by Lord Shaftesbury should have 

 been republished at Edinburgh in 1742, witli a 

 recommendatory epistle, by a Presbyterian divine. 

 Dr. Wishart, principal of the College of Edinburgh. 

 In the very neat reprint of the collected sermons 



given by Dr. Campbell and Dr. Gerard, in 4 vols., 

 8vo., Aberdeen, 1751, prefixed to the third volume 

 we also find Lord Shaftesbury's preface. 



S. W. SiNGEH. 



Mickleham, June 4. 1850. 



THE EKBEL. 



Sir, — The printed copy of a song which I in- 

 close is believed, by those who are the best judges, 

 to be the only copy, either printed or in manu- 

 script, now in existence. That circumstance may, 

 perhaps, render it acceptable to you : and I am not 

 a collector of curiosities, and I beg you would do 

 what you please with it. The verses are plainly 

 more modern than the motto : for there are, I 

 think, two alhisions to different plays of the im- 

 mortal bard of Stratford-on-Avon. But perhaps 

 you will think that he copied from it, as it is said 

 he sometimes did from tliinnrs not so good as his 

 own. I do not believe, for my own part, that it 

 was written till after the Great Rebellion. Bishop 

 Christopherson, I take it, was a Roman Catholic, 

 but resident in England, and we see that he wrote 

 in English. The paper, you will observe, is foreign 

 by the te.xture, as well as by the water-mark, 

 which I cannot very well make out ; but it seems 

 to be a bust of somebody; while the type looks 

 quite English, and tiierefore it is no proof that 

 it was printed abroad. 



As I give you my real name, T hope you will 

 not consider me as holding, or wishing to recom- 

 mend, such opinions as are contained in the verses: 

 and by way of protest, you will allow me to sub- 

 scribe myself, your obedient servant, Pacificus. 



" The Rebel. 



" A New Song, or Balade, shewing the naughty 

 conceits of Tray tours ; that all loial and true-hearted 

 men may know and eschew the same. 



" TVif// coHiile Peace to he cause of ydelnes. and that it 

 mnketh meji hodipehis and cnwardes."- — -Bp. Christo- 

 pherson, Exh. ay. Rebel. ] 554. 



" Tell me no more of Peace — 

 'Tis cowardice disguised ; 

 The child of Fear and heartless Ease, 

 A thing to be despised. 

 " Let daffodills entwine 



The seely .Shepherd's brow, 

 A nobler wreath I'll win for mine, 

 The Lawrel's manly bough. 

 " May-garlands fitter shew 



On swains who dream of Love; 

 And all their cherisance bestow 

 Upon the whining dove — 

 " I'll have no doves— not I — - 

 Their softness is disgrace; 

 I love the Eagle's lightning eye, 

 That stares in Pha'bus' face. 



