WATSON. 



erdfes, and from their nature and variety he juftly infers the 

 importance of thefe exercifes. 



In February 1764 an occafion was afforded him of mani- 

 fefting his friendly attachment to Mr. Luther, one of the 

 members for Eflex, who had been formerly his pupil, and 

 his difinterefted anxiety for his happinefs. Having heard 

 that he had feparated from his wife, and was haftily gone 

 abroad, he immediately prepared to feek him, and to im- 

 part to him, if poffible, fome confolation. Although he 

 had no money, and could not fpeak a word of French, 

 he determined on his journey ; and having borrowed 50/., 

 and provided a French and Englifh Diftionary, he polled to 

 Dover, and haftened to Paris, where he found his difconfo- 

 late friend. After twelve hours (lay at Paris, he returned 

 to England ; and having crofled the channel four times, and 

 travelled izoo miles in very bad weather within a fortnight, 

 he brought his friend back to his country and his family. 

 Of Mr. Luther, he fays that " he was a thorough honetl 

 man, and one of the friends I ever loved with the greateft 

 affeaion." 



In November 1764, he was unanimoufly elefted by the 

 fenate to fucceed Dr. Hadley, as profeflbr of chemiftry ; 

 and though at this time he knew nothing of chemiilry, he 

 procured an operator from Paris, and immured himfelf in 

 his laboratory, fo that in 14 months from his eleftion he 

 read a courfe of chemical leilures to a very full audience, 

 and another in November 1766. For the fourth time he 

 was made moderator in Odlober 1765, and in 1766 made 

 his lad fpeech in Latin to the fenate. Befides other im- 

 provements in the univerfity education, which he had pro- 

 pofed on former occafions, he now recommended the infti- 

 tution of public annual examinations, in prefcribed books, 

 of all the orders of ftudents. In 1774 this fubjeCl was re- 

 vived and enforced by Mr. Jebb. The defign was unequi- 

 vocally approved by the chancellor of the univerfity, the 

 duke of Grafton. After a long difcuffion of the fubjedl, 

 the regulations drawn up by the fyndics were propofed to 

 the fenate, and were rejedled by the " Non Regent Houfe," 

 47 againil 43. In 1764 application was made for a ftipend 

 to the profeflbr of chemiilry ; and after confiderable delay, 

 100/. a year was obtained : and this grant paved the way for 

 fimilar ftipends to the profeflbrs of anatomy, botany, and 

 common law. In Odlober 1767, Mr. Watfon fucceeded 

 Mr. Backhoufe as head tutor in Trinity college, and, for 

 the fhort period during which he retained the office, dif- 

 charged its duties with confcientious diligence. " In this," 

 he fays, " and the two following years, I read chemical 

 leftures to very crowded audiences, in the month of No- 

 vember. I now look back with a kind of terror at the 

 apphcation I ufed in the younger part of my life. For 

 months and years together, I frequently read three public 

 leftures in Trinity college, beginning at 8 o'clock in the 

 morning ; fpent four or five hours with private pupils, and 

 five or fix more in my laboratory, every day, befides the 

 incidental bufinefs of prefiding in the fophs fchools." 



In 1768 he compofed and printed his " Inftitutiones Me- 

 tallurgicx," and about the fame time prefented to the Royal 

 Society a paper on the folution of falts, and was elefted a 

 fellow of that fociety. In the following year he pubUihed 

 his Affize Sermon, which he dedicated to Mr. Luther. 

 Upon the vacancy in the office of regins profeflbr of di- 

 vinity, occafioned in Otlober 1771 by the death of Dr. 

 Rutherforth, Mr. Watfon propofed to become a candi- 

 date ; but he was then neither bachelor nor do6lor in di- 

 vinity ; and without being one of thefe, he could not be ad- 

 mitted as a candidate. Prompt, however, in the execution 

 of all his meafures, though he had only feven days for the 



accomplifliment of his objeft, he obtained the king's rasiri* 

 date for a dodlor's degree, and was created a doftor on the 

 day previous to that appointed for an examination of the 

 candidates. The fubjefts on which he was to write were, 

 the reconciliation of the genealogies in Matthew and Luke, 

 and the interpretation of the pafl"age, " What (hall they do 

 that are baptized for the dead ?" i Cor. xv. 29. He was 

 alfo appointed to read a Latin dilTertation on Gen. x. 32. 



At length he was unanimoufly elefted, having, as he fay*, 

 by hard and inceffant labour for 1 7 years, attained, at the 

 age of 34, the firft office for honour in the univerfity, and, 

 exclufive of the maderfhip of Trinity college, he made it 

 the firft for profit ; having advanced it from 330/. a year to 

 at lead 1000/. Having been promoted to this honourable 

 and important office, he devoted himfelf, with his accuf- 

 tomed refolution and perfeverance, to the (ludy of divinity ; 

 making the Bible the objeft of his inveftigation, and feehng 

 no concern about the opinions of councils, fathers, churches, 

 bifhops, or other men, as httle infpired as himfelf. Al- 

 though he was called by the mafl;er of Peterhoufe, avloii- 

 o2K7oi, the felf-taught divine ; and though the profeflbr of 

 divinity had been nicknamed " Malleus Hareticorum," he' 

 profelTes that his mind was wholly unbiaffed ; without pre- 

 judice againft or predileftion for the church of England ; and 

 aftuated only by a fincere regard for the church of Chrift, 

 and an infuperable objeftion to every degree of dogmatical 

 intolerance. " I never troubled myfelf," thus he proceeds, 

 " with anfwering any arguments which the opponents in the 

 divinity fchools brought againft the articles of the church, 

 nor ever admitted their authority in decifion of a difficulty. 

 But I ufed, on fuch occafions, to fay to them, holding the 

 New Teftament in my hand, ' En facrum codicem! Here is 

 the fountain of truth ; why do you follow the ftreams de- 

 rived from it by the fophiftry, or polluted by the paflions 

 of men ? If you can bring proofs againft any thing delivered 

 in this book, I (hall think it my duty to reply to you : 

 articles of churches are not of divine authority ; have done 

 with them ; for they may be true, they may be falfe ; and 

 appeal to the book itfelf.' This mode of difputing gained 

 me no credit with the hierarchy ; but I thought it an honeft 

 one, and it produced a liberal fpirit in the univerfity." 



About the clofe of the year 1771 our author printed an 

 Effay on the fubjeft of chemiftry, which was difperfed 

 among fome few friends ; but it was unjuftly charged by 

 the authors of the " Journal Encyclopedique," with favour- 

 ing the " Syfteme de la Nature." The author remon- 

 ftrated, and the periodical journahfts made an apology. In 

 the following year Dr. Watfon publilhed two letters to the 

 members of the houfe of commons, under the feigned name 

 of a Chriftian Whig, the fecond of which was infcribed to 

 fir George Savile. In 1773, upon maturely weighing the 

 queftion concerning the abftraft right which a national church 

 may claim of requiring fubfcription to human articles of 

 faith from its public minifters, he publi(hed " A brief State 

 of the Principles of Church Authority," which he deUvered 

 as a charge to the clergy of his diocefe, in June 1813. In 

 this traft it is maintained, that every church has a right of 

 explaining to its minifters what doftrines it holds ; and of 

 permitting none to minifter in it, who do not profefs the 

 fame behef with itfelf. With refpeft to another queftion, 

 viz. whether the majority of the members of any civil com- 

 munity have a right to compel all the members of it to pay 

 towards the maintenance of a fet of teachers appointed by 

 the majority to preach a particular fyftem of doctrines, this 

 may admit a ferious difcuffion. Our author once thought 

 the majority had this right in all cafes, and he afterwards 

 apprehended that they have it in many. But a cafe may 



happen, 



