88 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SANCROFT* 



that his own turn of mind was morose and 

 melancholy; it may safely be asserted, that not 

 only is there nothing known respecting his 

 private habits of life which justify the impu- 

 tation, but that all which we do know respect- 

 ing him, proves the very reverse to have been 

 the fact. Especially in his private letters to 

 his friends, which afford the best picture of the 

 state of his mind at the season of retirement, 

 we uniformly perceive a cheerful course of 

 thought, without the smallest tincture of sour 

 or morose feeling, a disposition to be pleased 

 with every thing around him, and to view pass- 

 ing events in a favourable light; in short, every 

 thing the most remote from gloominess of 

 temper and spirit. As to Burnet's assertion, 

 that none loved him and few esteemed him, 

 the reader must judge, from all that has ap- 

 peared respecting him, w^hether the very re- 

 verse was not the truth ; that all who knew 

 him, warmly loved him ; and that, with very 

 few exceptions, even those who most differed 

 from him in opinion, honoured and esteemed 

 him. 



Among the more striking features of his cha- 

 racter may be remarked a peculiar kindness 

 and tenderness of feeling, displayed at all pe- 

 riods of his life towards his relations and more 

 intimate friends, and especially evinced in his 



