100 MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 



been keeping very bad company in Scotland. A 

 laugh by this was raised against him, and he felt 

 himself quashed by his own folly. 



I very frequently visited Westminster Abbey, 

 on some part of the Sunday ; and, on the fore- 

 noons of that day, I mostly went with my friend 

 Pollard to hear the Rev. - - Harrison, at St. 

 Andrew's Church, Holborn. I sometimes, also, 

 went to hear eminent preachers at other places. I 

 was once invited by my friend William Watson, of 

 the Treasury, who had married the eldest Miss 

 Beilby, to go with him to hear the Rev. Dr. Dodd 

 preach at the Magdalen Chapel. Whether this 

 was at the time he was arrested for forgery I 

 am not certain, but I know I did not see him.* 

 I also went with Mr. Watson to hear the Rev. 

 - Maxwell, another eminent divine ; but, indeed, 

 I believe I -did not miss hearing any of the popular 

 preachers in London. 



For many years after I left London, I went to 

 hear the preachers of various persuasions, and 

 attempted to find out the general character of their 

 several congregations. Having been brought up 

 under the creeds and doctrines of the Church of 

 England, I may, perhaps, have some partialities 

 about me respecting that church, but I have ever 

 considered that its clergy are the most learned 

 of any, and that, excepting some of the higher 

 orders of them, they, as well as cheir hearers, are 

 the most tolerant. I have always felt grieved that 



* [Dodd was arrested in February, 1777, for forging the signature 

 of his late pupil, Lord Chesterfield, to a bond for .4,000. He was 

 executed on the 27th June following, a few days after Bewick re- 

 turned to Newcastle. (See p. 107.) It is probable that Bewick went 

 to hear him before February, as it is not likely that he would preach 

 after that date.] 



