

1>RF.\V. 



that Poet ; Crilici-ins on liisGenius; a new Chron- 

 ology of bis Plays; a Disquisition on the object of 

 bis Sonnets ; and a History of the Manners, Cus- 

 toms, and Amusemonts, Superstitions, Poetry, and 

 elegant Literature of bis age," 1817, 2 vols. 4to. 

 Winter Nights," 2 vols. 8vo. 1820. " Evenings 

 in Autumn ; a series of Essays, narrative and mis- 

 cellaneous," 1822, 2 vols. 8vo. " Noontide 

 Leisure," 2 vols. 8vo. 1824. " Mornings in Spring," 

 2 vols. 8vo. 1828. ' Memorials of Shakspeare," 

 1828. In addition to the above, 'Dr Drake left a 

 .MS. ready for the press: " A selected Version of 

 the. Psalms, with copious Notes and Illustrations." 

 The papers illustrative of our periodical essayists 

 are at once amusing and interesting, from the 

 variety of information they afford touching that 

 popular department of our national literature; and 

 the " History of Shakspeare and his Times " 

 throws much light on the manners, customs, and 

 amusements, superstitions, poetry, and elegant 

 literature of that age. The papers contained in 

 the last eight volumes of Essays, from the " Win- 

 ter Nights" to the "Mornings in Spring," inclu- 

 sive, are of a very miscellaneous character, criti- 

 cal, narrative, biographical, and descriptive. They 

 are pleasing and elegant in their style, and evince 

 no inconsiderable delicacy and discrimination of 

 taste, unvarying kindness of heart, and purity of 

 moral feeling. Their most striking characteristics 

 are, perhaps, grace and amenity, rather than force 

 or originality. The amiable character of their 

 author is, in fact, impressed on all his productions; 

 and in that character, as developed and displayed 

 in his writings, exists their greatest charm. In his 

 criticism Dr Drake seemed only to look at what 

 was beautiful or pleasing, and in his intercourse 

 with his fellow creatures his candour and charity 

 were equally conspicuous. It may indeed be said of 

 him with perfect truth, that in a professional and 

 literary career of near half a century, amid all the 

 turmoils of party strife and contentious rivalry, he 

 so "pursued the even tenor of his way," as never 

 to have lost by estrangement a single friend, or made 

 one enemy. As a medical practitioner he was de- 

 servedly respected and esteemed by his professional 

 brethren for his courtesy and skill, and yet more 

 endeared to all whom he attended by the urbanity 

 of his manners and the unaffected kindness of his 

 heart. Dr Drake died at Hadleigh, in Suffolk, 

 June 7, 1836. 



DREW, SAMDEL, A. M., late editor of the 

 " Imperial Magazine," was born of humble parents 

 on the 3d of March, 1765, in an obscure cot- 

 tage in the parish of St Austell, in the county 

 of Cornwall. When rather more than ten years 

 old, his father bound him an apprentice to a shoe- 

 maker, in the adjoining parish of St Blazey. The 

 treatment he received while an apprentice being 

 such as his disposition could not brook, he left his 

 master when about seventeen, and refused to re- 

 turn. His father compounded for the residue of 

 the term, and procured him employment, and fur- 

 ther instruction in his business, at Millbrook, near 

 Plymouth, in which place and neighbourhood he 

 continued about three years. At the close of the 

 year 1784, or commencement of 1785, when about 

 twenty years of age, he came to St Austell, to con- 

 duct the shoe-making business for a person who 

 was occasionally a book-binder. With this em- 

 ployer he remained above three years; and then com- 

 menced business in that town on his own account. 



In the year 1784-5, the late Dr (then Mr) 



A dam Clarke WHS appointed to the East Cornwall 

 circuit, of which St Austell was the central sta- 

 tion, and the residence of the preachers. The 

 preaching of Mr Clarke and his colleagues aroused 

 Mr Drew's attention to the subject of personal re- 

 ligion ; and his abilities being appreciated by Mr 

 Clarke and his coadjutors, they were soon called 

 into exercise ; for, within a brief period, he was 

 appointed to the charge of a class, and emplmrd as 

 a local preacher. In this field (except as a class- 

 leader, which office he resigned into other hands) 

 he continued to labour until a few months before 

 his decease. 



In April, 1791, Mr Drew married, being then in 

 a creditable way of business. He was not yet an 

 author, but had obtained a name fur skill and inte- 

 grity as a tradesman, and was held in respect by 

 his neighbours. In 1799, he published Remarks 

 on Paine's "Age of Reason," which first brought 

 him before the public as an author. The Remai k> 

 having been several years out of print, were repub- 

 lished, in duodecimo, with the author's corrections 

 and additions, in 1820. In 1802, he published an 

 " Essay on the Immateriality and Immortality of 

 the Soul, "which brought him into honourable notice 

 beyond his native country. This book was dedicated 

 to the Rev. JohnWhitaker, whose patronage had, in 

 a great measure, drawn him forth from obscurity. 

 A copy of the work reaching Bristol soon after its 

 appearance, Mr Richard Edwards, then a bookseller 

 there, wished to possess the copyright. It was 

 sold to him for a very trifling sum; nor did Mr 

 Drew ever express regret at the apparently unpro- 

 fitable bargain. This copyright he lived to resume, 

 and again to dispose of, with his latest emenda- 

 tions, to Messrs Fisher, Son, and Jackson, of Lon- 

 don, by whom the fifth English edition has re- 

 cently been published. The work has gone through 

 several editions in America, and has been trans- 

 lated into French, and published in France. 



The favourable reception which had been given 

 to the Essay on the Soul, prompted the author to 

 further mental exertion. His thoughts, by a na- 

 tural process, passed from a consideration of the 

 Soul to that of the Body; and a determination to 

 investigate the evidences of a General Resurrec- 

 tion was the result. From this investigation, the 

 subject of Personal Identity was inseparable; and 

 on these topics he recorded his thoughts till the 

 end of 1805. At this time, he took a survey of 

 his work, but was so much dissatisfied with it, 

 that he threw the whole aside as useless and half 

 resolved to touch it no more; nor did it appear in 

 print till 1809. It was then, like the Essay on the 

 Soul, published by subscription, and the copyright 

 sold to Mr Edwards. A second edition of this 

 treatise appeared in 1822. 



In May, 1805, he entered into an engagement 

 with the late Dr Thomas Coke, which wholly de- 

 tached him from the pursuits of trade. Hitherto 

 literature had been the employment of his leisure 

 hours. From this time, it became his occupation. 

 About two years previously to this, he had under- 

 taken, in a course of familiar lectures, to instruct 

 a class of young persons and adults in English 

 grammar and composition. A similar course of 

 lectures, with the addition of physical geography 

 and astronomy, was delivered by him in 1811. In 

 1820, he published a " Treatise on the Being and 

 Attributes of God," in two vols. 8vo. This per- 

 formance, which he himself considered as by tr 

 his best, obtained for him additional reputation , 



