IIEXIIY KIRKE WHITE. xlili 



the tast they have imposed upon me ; it is their hope 

 that Mr Southey will do as much justice to Mr "White's 

 limited wishes^, to his unassuming pretensions, and to his 

 rational and fervent piety, as to his various acquirements, 

 his polished taste, his poetical fancy, his undeviating prin- 

 ciples, and the excellence of his moral character ; and that 

 he will sufi'er it to be understood that these inestimable 

 qualities had not been unobserved, nor would they have 

 remained unacknowledged. It was the general observa- 

 tion that he possessed genius without its eccentricities.*' 



Of his fervent piety, his letters, his prayers, and his 

 hymns, will afford ample and interesti-.ig proofs. I must 

 be permitted to say, that my ow^n v>'7s of the religion 

 of Jesus Christ differ essentially fj-.w i the system of be- 

 lief which he had adopted ; but, hu /ing said this, it is, 

 indeed, my anxious wish to do full justice to piety so fer- 

 vent. It was in him a living and quickening principle 

 of goodness, which sanctified all his hopes and all his 

 affections ; which made him keep watch over his own 

 heart, and enabled him to correct the few symptoms which 

 it ever displayed of human imperfection. 



His temper had been irritable in his younger days, but 

 this he had long since effectually overcome : the marks 

 of youthful confidence which appear in his earliest letters, 

 had also disappeared ; and it was impossible for man to 

 be more tenderly patient of the faults of others, more uni- 

 formly meek, or more unaffectedly humble. He seldom 

 discovered any sportiveness of imagination, though he 

 would very abl}^ and pleasantly rally any one of his friends 

 for any little peculiarity ; his conversation was always 

 sober, and to the purpose. That which is most remark- 

 able in him, is his uniform good sense, a faculty perhaps 

 less common than genius. There never existed a more 

 dutiful son, a more affectionate brother, a warmer friend, 

 nor a devouter Christian. Of his powers of mind it is 

 superfluous to speak ; they were acknowledged wherever 

 they were known. It would be idle, too, to say what 

 hopes were entertained of him, and what he might have 

 accomplished in literature. These volumes contain what 

 he has left, — immature buds, and blossoms shaken from 



