912 
feemed anxious to appear under fome 
other charaéter, than that of a mere 
preacher by profeffion, Hence it was, 
that as he very foon commenced an au- 
thor, foy mlateer lifep-he ,became’a 
farmer and coal-merchant. How far 
his finances were improved by thefe oc- 
cupations, it is unneceffary to enquire. 
He was, at leaft, influenced by gene- 
rous motives. He never jiked to prefs 
too hard upon his congregation, and was 
never entirely fupported by his. falary. 
He thought it lawful fora pattor to work, 
as well as to pray ; and his religion fome- 
times confited in doing thofe things 
which many preachers think it profane 
to perform. 
As a divine, he poffeffed 
culiarities : he had ftudied all 
the ology, but even at that time of 
when his writings were moft circum- 
feribed by dot& rinal fries, they are 
throughout marked with the liveliefi 
faliies of gemius, and the moft beautiful 
fentiments on hberty and benevolence. 
Indeed, love of liberty. l 
ty ftem 
oreat 
great pe- 
S 
if, 
Li 
and a boundlefs 
hilant! hrcpy, were the eons eatures 
of his charac cer 3 and thoug pee uniform- 
ly and rigoroufly oppoled f iuch fyiems as 
are at variance with-thofe pr pCR eSs he 
lived in friendinip with many who, from 
miftaken notions uf the nature of truth, 
and the bef intereits of fup- 
ported them. His theolcgical writing cs 
therefore, are a fund of entertainment 
to many, who revolt at them asa fyftem 
of inftruéiion ; and whether a man bea 
churchmen cr adivfenter, an orthodox or 
an heterodox man, he may glean fome- 
thing from Robinfon’s iterary produc- 
tions, that cannot fail to render hima 
wifer and a better itis Cue 
ble, though. ke was a confcientious 
eppoler cf religious eftablifhments,. fome 
of their moft ‘zealous advecates ranked 
{ecie ety, 
PAGS 
+3 
tilat, 
among his admirers: and, indecd, {fo 
amta were! his manners, and fo fupe- 
rick his talents, that many dignitaries 
a 
of the church would have been happy to 
ea been the means cf his advancement. 
His writings are numerous, and 
his political works much, and very de- 
fervedly, admired. He had thoroughly 
examined thofe queftions that relate to 
government, and could well illu@rate 
them by his ext ees knowledge of hif- 
tory and antiquity. It is nof faying too 
Nos toaffert, that his two admirable 
orks, entitled a H fory of Bapt.fm, 
aid Ecelefiaflical Refearches, poffefs as 
much elaborate inveitigation, ee Orici- 
t / je : 
nal information, 4s any hifteries in our 
Similes of Homer, Virgil, and Milton. 
Means to govern themfelves. 
language: end it would be doing ime 
juttice to reprefent them as mere details 
of religious ceremonies, er of opinieni 
in theology. Thefe two works are 
proofs, that he poffeffed a confiderable 
knowledge of ancient and medern lan- 
guages ; an extraordinary infight into the 
nature and ne inciples of different govern- 
ments; a clear know ledge of the true 
interefts of man in civil fociety ; of the 
depraved ftate of mait political ‘inftitue 
tions ; and of the only means of amelio- 
rating and reforming them. He re- 
folved government into the mof fimple 
principles, and thought that form the 
beft which leaves men in poffeffion of the. 
He lived 
to fee the commencement of the French 
revolution: he withed it fuccefs: but 
he had a tender heart, and the fhedding 
of blood made-no part of his fyftem, 
either as a divine or a politician. 
ee was the late induftrious and 
learned Mr. Robert Robinfen : thefe are, 
however, but the rude outlines of a cha- 
racter that deferves to be delineated by 
a better pen than mine: his character 
deferves the attention of the philofopher 
and {cholar: and, for this reafon, ds 
nothing of the kind has yet appeared in 
the Monthly Magazine, the preceding 
attempt will not, I hepe, prove unac- 
ceptable. 
Your well-wither, 
Sept. 2, 1796. CaNDIDUS. . 

For the Menibly Magazine. 
SIMILES OF HoMER, VIRGIL, AND 
MILTON (CONTINUED). 
“HE other atmotpherica | appearances 
of 
SNOW, HAIL, MIST, AND DEW, 
may furnifh the next divifion. 
Hail and fnow, though fo Smilar ina 
philofophical view, yet - differ fuficiently 
in their appearance and manner of de- 
fcent, to fugeet different images of 
comparifon. ‘Both, indeed, fall fo thick 
as to afferd an image of number and fre- 
quency ; but the defcent of inow is gen- 
tie, and its confifteuce remarkably foft ; 
whereas hail ts firm and hard, is) falls 
rapidly . We fhall fee how far their ap- 
plication in fimile has been conformable 
to thefe diftinétions. , 
Homer thus deferibes a flight of mif- 
file weapons : 
Like flakes of {now they foll, that ftormy winds, 
Diiving the dufky clouds, thick fcatter down. 
Upon the foodful earth: ‘thus fiom their hands 
Biew thow’rs of darts, IL. xii, 156. 
fa 
