294. 
tion. Theextract too. from GARDINER’S 
letter to CHEKE, is next to decifive proof 
in favour of Milton. It would be amu- 
fing to trace the defcent of this idle ca- 
lumny from bigot to bigot till it reached: 
Dr. Johnfon ; to whom it muft have been 
peculiarly acceptavle, on account of his 
fuperftitious turn of mind, and innate 
diflike to the caufe and to the affertors of 
liberty.—As to the clergy, they had no 
other means in their power to retaliate 
upon a man, who in feveral of his profe 
works had expofed their frauds, and 
given them fo feverea flagellation. Their 
refentment muft therefore be confidered 
as a matter of courfe; and as thefe gen- 
tlemen, confidered as a colleétive body, 
are not very remarkable for their placa- 
bility and forgiving difpofition, no won- 
der that this idle ftory has been handed 
down from generation to generation, like 
their other idle ftories about Cromwell, 
and the bloody murderers of St. Charles ! 
A gentleman of Mr. WAKEFIELD’S 
tafte, and extenfive reading, can fcarcely 
have overlooked a fpirited defence of 
Milton, prefixed to the fe¢ond volume of 
the memoirs of the late patriotic Thomas 
Hollis? I fhail only add upon this fub- 
ject, that to thofe eld-fafhioned Englifh- 
men, who venerate the genuine principles 
of our free conftitution, the perufai, and 
perhaps the re-publication of Milton’s 
“<< Arcopagitica,’ wouid at this fingularly 
alarming crilis, be a very ufeful em- 
ployment. 
Page 181. ‘The queries of Dr. WarT- 
KINS’, refpeéting the late very learned 
James Pierce of Exeter, will be partly 
anfwered, if he will pleafe to confult the 
Proteftant Diffenters Magazine, vol. 2d, 
page 441, in which fome brief account 
of the birth-place, education, minifterial, 
or literary labours, perfecution and death 
of that good man arerecorded. In thefe 
memoirs too, there is an extract from 
one of Mr. P’s. publications, weil de- 
ferving the notice of fuch of your readers 
as are interefted in the repeal of the Teft 
aét, as it fets the controverfia! artifice, 
and deliberate mifveprefentation of Dean 
Sherlock in a clear point of view. The 
paflage is too long te be tran{cribed; but 
as the writer of the above memoirs jualy 
obferves, it is very remarkable that the 
ingenious editor of the late abridged edi- 
tion of Bifhop Hoadiey’s reply to Sher- 
Jock fhould have overlocked it, and. per- 
mitted his fuppofed right reverend an- 
tagonift once more-—to retaliate the ca- 
jumny without repreheniion. 4 
T join with Dr. W 
to fee fome memoirs of the leained Haslett. 
. Biographical Remarks....dr. Granger. 
A . “ne 
of la Boe ¢ Fart ~ freiy * 
» dame em SS KINS cee WHRINS 
_ [May 
It would alfo give me great pleafure te 
have an accouut of the late excellent Dr. 
Fobhn Taylor of Norwich. 
Dr. WATKINS, in his well written ac- 
count of the late Mr. Madaz, fays, no 
ftain was ever fixed upon him, except _ 
what he incurred by his publication of a 
work, entitled ‘* Thelyphthora, Gc.” 
Without meaning to offend the living, or 
to fay any thing ill of the dead, I would 
venture to afk Dr. W. if he has never 
- heard of the affair at Aldwincle ? Mr. M. 
might not deferve the cenfure then pretty 
freely caft upon him; yet his conduét 
was thought a little fngular, as will ap- 
pear by infpecting the pamphlets pub- 
lifhed upon the occafion, or the 37th vol. 
of the Monthly Review, p. 382, where 
a judicious, candid fummary of the whole 
bufinefs may be found. 
Inthe Monthly Magazine for February, 
p- 28. W. H. enquires after prefident 
Bradfhawe ? Tf he has not already ob- 
tained the information he wants, 1 beg 
leave to refer him to the various volumes 
of the Gentleman’s Magazine, from 1778 
to1788, where he will meet with many 
curious anecdotes well deferving his no- 
tice. Itis next to certain that the prefi- 
dent was of a Chefhire or Derbyfhire fa- 
mily, and fome of his defcendants by the 
female fide were living not many years 
“ago in the above named counties. 
Yours, 
: A Lover of Biography. 
eo 
To the Editor of the Mouthly Magazine, - 
SUR; 
ies a work publifhed about two years: 
fince, entitled, ‘‘Axecdotes, Hiftori- 
cal and Literary,’ I met with the follow- 
ing paflage: ** Granger, who was a re- 
markable ugly man, contended that he — 
was the handfomeft thing in the world.” - 
P.353. The writer then ftates, what he 
calls a fpecimen of logical perverfion ; 
and which, he pretends, Granger urged in 
fupport of his favourable reprefentation — 
of his own perfon. I was perfonally ac- 
quainted with Mr. Granger; and know 
that he was nct an ugly man, but his face 
and perfon were agreeable. A print of him, 
drawa and engraved by William Wynne 
Ryland, is prefixed to the fecond edition 
of his Biographical Hiftory of England; 
and any man, who examines this, wili be 
convinced, that if the print bears the moft 
iffant refemblance to him, he could nog 
ean ugly man. He was far otherwile; 
uppoie, that the. whole ftory is with-~ 
q for Mr. Granger 
But if at any 
time 
Ca pe 
- 
5 
a 
ny foundation ; 
not @ Vain man, 
