1797. | Original Notices of eminent Charagters.---Dr. Enfield, 40% 
chofen, in 1763, minifter of the very re- 
fpectable congregation of Benn’s Garden, in 
Liverpool. 
feven of the happieft years of his life, very 
generally beloved and efteemed. He married, 
in 1767, the daughter ot Mr. Holland, draper, 
in Liverpool, with whom he paffed all the rett 
of his days in moft cordial union. . His lite- 
fary reputation was extended, during his refi- 
dence in this place, by the publication of two 
volumes of fermons, which were very well re- 
ceived, and have ferved to grace many pul- 
pits befides that in which they were originally 
preached. A colleétion of bymns and of fa- 
mily prayers, which he alfo publifhed at Li- 
verpool, did credit to his tafte and judgment. 
About 1770, he was invited to take a fhare in 
the conduct of the academy, at Warrington, 
and alfa te occupy the place uf minifter to the 
diffenting congregation there, both vacant by 
the death of the Rev. Mr. Seddon. His accept- 
ance of this honourable invitation was a fource 
of a variety of mixed fenfations and events to 
him, of which anxiety and vexation compofed 
too large a fhare for his happinefs. No affiduity 
on his part was wanting Iu the performance of 
his various duties; but the difeafes of the in- 
ftitutien were radical and incurable ; and per- 
haps his geatlenefs of temper was ill adapt- 
ed to contend with the difficulties, in matter 
of difcipliney which feem entailed on all dif- 
fenting academies, and which, in that fituation, 
fell upon him, as the domettic refident, with 
peculiar weight. He always, however, pof- 
feffed the refpeé&t and affection of the beft- 
difpofed of the ftudents; and there was no 
reafon to fuppofe that any other perfon, in his 
place, could have prevented that diffolution 
Which the academy underwent, in 1733. 
During the period of his engagement there, 
his indefatigable induftry was exerted in the 
compofition vf a number of works, moitly, 
indeed, of the clafs of ufeful compilations, but 
containing valuable difplays of his powers of 
thinking and writing. The moft confiderable 
was his §* Jnftitutes of Natural Philofophy,”’ 
(quarto, Johnfon, 1783) a clear and well- 
arranged compendium of the leading principles, 
theoretical and experimental, of the fciences 
comprized under that head. And it may be 
mentioned, as an extraordinary proof of his di- 
ligence and power of comprehenfion, that, on 
a vacancy in the mathematical department of 
the academy, which the ftate of.the inftitution 
rendered it impoffible to fupply by a new tutor, 
he prepared himfelf, at a fhort warning, to fill 
it up; and did fillit with credit and utility, 
though this abftrufe branch of fcience had 
never before been a particular objeét of his 
ftudy, He continued at Warrington two 
years after the academy had broken up, taking 
a few private pupils. In 1785, receiving an 
invitation from the principal diffenting congre- 
gation, at Norwich, he accepted it, and firft 
fixed his refidence at Thorpe, a pleafant vil- 
lage, nearthe city, where he purfued his plan 
f taking a limited number of pupils to beard 

In that agreeable town he paffed 
in his houfe. He afterwards removed ‘to 
Norwich itfelf ; and, at length, fatigued with 
the long cares of education, entirely ceafed 
to regeive boarders, and only gave private in- 
ftruétions to two or three felect pupils, a 
few hours in the morning. This too he at 
lat difcontinued, and devoted himfelf folely: 
to the duties of his congregation, and the re- 
tired and independent occupations of literature. 
Yet, ina private way and fmall circle, few 
men had been more fuccefsful in education, of 
which many ftriking examples might be men- 
tioned, and none more fo than the members of 
his own family. Never, indeed, was a father 
more defervedly happy in his children ;- but 
the eldeft, whom he had trained with uncom- 
mon care, and who had already, when. juftof 
age, advanced in his profeffional career fo far 
as to be,chofen town-clerk of Nottingham, 
was moft unfortunately fnatched away by a 
fever, a few years fince. This fatal event 
produced effeéts on* the doétor’s health which 
alarmed his friends. The fymptoms were 
thofe of angina peétorisy and they continued 
till the ufual ferenity of his mind was reftored 
by timeand employment. Some of the laft years 
of his life were the moft comfortable: employ- 
ed only in occupations which were agreeable 
to him, and which left him matter of his own 
time ; witneffing the happy fettlement of two 
of his daughters; contracted in his living 
within the domettic privacy which he loved; 
and connectea with fome of the moft agree- 
able literary companions, and witha fet of the 
moft cordial and kind-hearted friends that per- 
haps this ifland affords, he feemed fully to en- 
joy life as it flowed, and indulged himfelf in 
pleafing profpects for-futurity. Alas! an un- 
fufpected and incurable difeafe was preparing a 
fad and fudden change: a {chirrouS contraétion 
of the rectum, the fymptoms of which were 
miftaken by himfelf for a common laxity of 
the bowels, broughton a total ftoppage, which, 
after a week’s ftruggle, ended in death. Its 
gradual approach gave him opportunity to dif- 
play all the tendernefs, and more than the ufual 
tirmnefs of hisnature. He died amidft the kind 
offices of mourning friends, and his laft 
hours were peace ! Befides the. literary 
performances already mentioned, Dr. Enfield 
completed, in 1791, the laborious tafk of an 
abridgment of *¢ Brucker’s Hiftory of Philo~ 
fophy,” which he comprized in two volumes, 
quarto. It may be truly faid, that the tenets 
of philofophy and the .lives of its profetfors 

were never kefore difplayed in fo pleafing a - 
form, and with fuch clearnefs and elegance of 
language. Indeed it was his peculiar excel- 
lence to arrange and exprefs other. men’s ideas 
tothe utmoft advantage. Perhaps, at the time 
of his deceafe, there was not in England a more 
perfeét matter of what is called the middle /y/e in 
writing, combining the qualities of eafe, ele- 
gance, perfpicuity, ,and correctnefs, entirely 
free from affectation and fingularity, and 
fitted for any fubjet. Ir his caft of thought 
was Not original, yet it was free, enlarged, and 
aig manly, 

