86 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SANCROFT. 



may be said in extenuation, no doubt, from the 

 natural effect of an adverse course of events, 

 and of bodily infirmity, on a mind v^hich had 

 then lost something of its vigorous tone, and 

 had thereby become more exposed to the in- 

 fluence of others. But, after all, it must not 

 be disguised that these are partial shades and 

 blemishes in a character which, taken as a 

 whole, presents most powerful claims on our 

 admiration and esteem. 



And indeed the general excellencies and vir- 

 tues of his character were such as would fully 

 make atonement, in the opinion of every candid 

 judge, for much greater errors and imperfections 

 than those which persons most adverse to his 

 memory have ever charged upon him . His piety, 

 as the history of his whole life has evinced, did 

 not consist merely in the regularity of devotional 

 exercise, but was evinced in the influence pro- 

 duced on his feelings and conduct, in his re- 

 signed acquiescence under all the dispensations 

 of Providence, in the subjugation of all inor- 

 dinate worldly passions and desires, in the 

 ardour and animation of his Christian hopes, in 

 the even and cheerful serenity of his mind 

 under disappointment and privation. Under 

 this disposition of mind, we never find him a 

 restless and ambitious seeker of worldly emo- 

 luments and distinctions, panting after sue- 



