jjravity on the other, they are seldom recorded ; and, indeed, 
if they were, they would be read without any interest. 
Francis Le Couteur was descended from an ancieiit and 
respectable family, which had been settled for some centuries 
back in the Island of Jersey ; his ancestors had almost all been 
uniformly distinguished for their learning and virtues; se¬ 
veral of them had been in the church, which they had adorned 
with their piety, eruditihn, and humility. In the list of the 
deans of the island, we find two of the name of JLe Couteur, 
the latter of whom died in 1714, at a very advanced age, 
whose name is still venerated among his countrymen as a me¬ 
morable instance of every Christian virtue. 
Young Le Couteur was early intended) for the church; and 
perhaps his abilities, which were already most promising, 
together with his own inclinations, determined the choice of 
his friends. After being sufficiently grounded in gramma¬ 
tical learning, he wasentered at Jesus College, Oxford, where 
he obtained an exhibition through the interest of his uncle 
Payne, then Dean of the Island, and formerly a Fellow of that 
Society. During his stay at Oxford his studies were chiefly 
directed to mathematics and experimental philosophy, which 
sciences continued to be his chief amusement to the end of his 
life. In course of time, he became Fellow of Exeter College, 
in the same University. After an horioutable residence at 
Oxford for some years, and being intimately connected with 
several gentlemen who have since filled some of the highest 
situations in the University, he took orders, and went to serve 
a church at Shrewsbury, where he remained two or three 
years. He was on the point of making the tour of Europe, as 
tutor to a young gentleman, when he met with an accident; 
which was the means of determining his future life; he had 
the misfortune to fracture his thigh, which was attended with 
very distressing circumstances, and through which he re¬ 
mained lame ever after, It was then, tiiat, if ever he had felt 
the cravings of ambition, they forsook him, and that he began 
to look upon the world with the eyes of a philosopher* He 
retired to his native island and married, wisely preferring a 
competency, and the virtuous pleasures of domestic life, to 
the uncertain acquisition of high preferment, and the gratifica¬ 
tions of a licentious age. He was presented to the living of 
St. Martin, in Jersey, which he afterwards exchanged for 
that of Gronville. When the island was surprised by the 
French on the 6th of January, 1781, and the Lieutenant-go¬ 
vernor capitulated without firing a gun, he proved that pa¬ 
triotism and military courage on great emergencies are not 
inconsistent with the clerical profession. He came forward 
on this trying occasion, and to him and a few others, under 
Providence, was owing the deliverance of the island from the 
insidiousness of domestic treachery, or the open attacks of a 
foreign enemy. 
When Mr. Le Couteur came to reside in Jersey, he found 
that cider, which is the staple commodity of the country, wa? 
generally 
