140 R O B I 
lot and usefulness of our lives. He was invited to the 
baptism of a child; the minister who was to perform the 
service keeping the company in long expectation of his ap¬ 
pearance, some one suggested, that supposing the child were 
not baptized at all, he saw not how it could affect his hap¬ 
piness. Though the conversation was not pursued, the hint 
struck Mr. Robinson’s mind; and he immediately deter¬ 
mined to read the New Testament with this particular view, 
to examine what it said concerning the baptism of infants. 
He accordingly began with the Gospel of Matthew ; and, in 
succession, perused the historical and epistolary books, in 
expectation that he should find in every following part what 
he had not met with in the preceding parts of the sacred 
volume; namely, passages recommending and urging this 
rite. But observing, on the whole, a total silence about it, 
he thought it his duty to relinquish the practice, as without 
foundation in the rule of our faith; which appeared to him 
to speak only of the baptism of believers. 
This change of his sentiments was more unfavourable than 
the former alterations in his religious judgment to his 
worldly views; and having married very early in life from 
pure affection, he was involved in great difficulties for near 
twelve years after his settlement in Cambridge; as, in that 
course of time, his family became numerous, and the support 
of an aged mother, as well as of a wdfe and ten children, 
depended upon him. But unexpected supplies, from 
quarters of which he was ignorant, frequently relieved his 
necessities, and confirmed his trust in Providence: yet the 
situation of his family must, it is easy to conceive, have much 
affected his mind. For he appears to have possessed great 
tenderness and sensibility, and to have regarded with peculiar 
endearment his domestic connections. 
It may be reckoned a circumstance worthy of mention, 
that the sphere of Mr. Robinson’s ministry was the same in 
which his great grandfather Mr. Shelly, of Jesus College, and 
vicar of All-Saints, had, with others, diffused the principles 
of the Puritans, about the beginning of the 17th century. 
The reputation of the Dissenters in the University and neigh¬ 
bourhood, had for almost a century been sinking into con¬ 
tempt, when Mr. Robinson settled with the baptist church at 
Stone Yard. His abilities and assiduity, however, raised their 
reputation. The place in which his people assembled, which 
was at first a barn, afterwards a stable and granary, and then 
a meeting-house, but still a damp, dark, and ruinous place, 
soon became too small for the audience; and. several of 
the new auditors being men of fortune, they purchased the 
site, and erected at their own expence a new house in the 
year 1764. 
His labours as a preacher were not limited to the town of 
Cambridge; but soon after his coming there, he set up several 
lectures in the adjacent villages. His lectures were either 
annual or occasional, or stated on fixed days. The usual 
time was half an hour after six in the evening; and some¬ 
times at five in the morning ; and now and then in the sum¬ 
mer, at two in the afternoon, for the sake of those who came 
from a distance. 
He died on the 9th of June, 1790, at the house of William 
Russel, Esq., of Showell Green, near Birmingham. He had 
laboured under an alarming disorder for some time before ; 
but on the Sunday preceding his death he preached a charity 
sermon. On Monday he was seized with a fit; on Tuesday 
he recovered and went to bed tolerably well, but was found 
dead next morning. 
The abilities of Mr. Robinson were very considerable, as 
appears from his numerous works; and he possessed the 
quality of expressing his thoughts in an easy and a forcible 
manner. But he appears to have been of an unsteady temper, 
and, in our opinion, acquires but little credit either from the 
frequency with which he changed his religious creed, or from 
the foolish and undeserved acrimony with which he treated 
the church of England. His Plan of Lectures on the Prin¬ 
ciples of Noncomfortnity, for the Instruction of Catechumens, 
is a piece of the most unjust and illiberal,abuse that we have 
ever seen, and would have disgraced the most high-flying 
Puritan of the last century. 
N S O N. 
Mr. Robinson’s largest work, the History of Baptism and 
of the Baptists, was published since his death, and is written 
in the same style and with the same confidence as his other 
works. Yet, as we have heard itremarked by a learned and 
liberal professor of theology in the church which he opposed, 
it is not a little remarkable that there is in it no argument 
or fact against infant baptism which was r.ot answered by 
Dr. Wall nearly 100 years ago, of whose arguments Mr. 
Robinson, however, takes no notice. 
ROBINSON (Mrs. Anastasia), an amiable and accom¬ 
plished songstress who flourished from the year 1714 to 
1724. This performer, descended from a good family in 
Leicestershire, was the daughter of a portrait painter, who, 
having visited Italy for improvement in his art, had made 
himself master of the Italian language, and acquired a good 
taste in music. Finding that his daughter Anastasia, 
during her childhood, had an ear for music, and a pro¬ 
mising voice, he had her taught by Dr. Crofts, at first as 
an accomplishment; but afterwards being afflicted with a 
disorder in his eyes, which terminated in a total loss of 
sight; and this misfortune depriving him of the means of 
supporting himself and family by his pencil, he was under 
the necessity of availing himself of his daughter’s disposition 
for music, to turn it to account as a profession. She not 
only prosecuted her musical studies with great diligerice, 
but, by the assistance of her father, had acquired such a 
knowledge in the Italian tongue as enabled her to converse 
in that language, and to read the best poets in it with 
facility. And that her tas'e in singing might approach 
nearer to that of the natives of Italy, she had vocal instruc¬ 
tions from Sandoni, at that time an eminent Italian singing 
master resident in London, and likewise from the opera 
singer called the Baroness. 
Her first public exhibition was at the concerts in York- 
buildings, and at other places, where she usually accom¬ 
panied herself on the harpsichord. Her general education 
had been pursued with the utmost care and attention to the 
improvement of her mind, as well as to ornamental and ex¬ 
ternal accomplishments; and these advantages, seconded by 
her own disposition and amiable qualities, rendered her con¬ 
duct strictly prudent and irreproachable. And what still 
entitled her to general favour, was a behaviour full of timi¬ 
dity and respect to her superiors, and an undissembled gen¬ 
tleness and affability to others, which, with a native cheer¬ 
fulness that diffused itself to all around her, gained her at all 
times such a reception from the public, as seemed to ensure 
her success in whatever she should undertake. Encouraged 
by the partiality of the public towards his daughter, and 
particularly by the countenance and patronage of some 
persons of high rank of her own sex, Mr. Robinson took a 
house in Golden-square, where he established weekly con¬ 
certs and assemblies in the manner of conversazioni, which 
were frequented by all such as had any pretensions to polite¬ 
ness and good taste. 
Thus qualified and encouraged, she was prevailed upon 
to accept of an engagement at the Opera, where she made 
her first appearance in Creso, and her second in the cha¬ 
racter of Ismina, the principal female part in Arminio. 
From this period till the year 1724, she continued to perform 
a principal part at the Opera with increasing favour and ap¬ 
plause. Her salary is said to have been 1000/., and her 
emoluments, by benefits and presents, were estimated at 
nearly as much more. When she quitted the stage it was 
supposed to have been in consequence of her marriage with 
the gallant Earl of Peterborough, the friend of Pope and 
Swift, who distinguished himself so heroically in Spain 
during the reign of queen Anne. Though the marriage was 
not publicly declared till the earl’s death in 1735, yet it was 
then spoken of as an event w'hich had long taken place. 
And such was the purity of her conduct and character, that 
she was instantly visited at Fulham as the lady of the man¬ 
sion, by persons of the highest rank. - Here, and at Mount 
Bevis, the earl’s seat near Southampton, she resided in an 
exalted station till the year of her decease, 1750, surviving 
her lord fifteen years; who, at the time of the counexion, 
must 
