r 295 J his 
MEMOIRS OF EMINENT FERSONS. 
— as 
A TRIBUTE fo the MEMORY of 
Mr. WAKEFIELD. 
ITERATURE has this month fuf- 
5 _4 tained a fevere lofs by the death of 
GILBERT WAKEFIELD, B.4. whom 
a fever carried off on September the oth, in 
the 46th year of hisage, to the unfpeakable 
regret ot his family and friends. A perfon 
invarious refpetts fo diftinguithed, is a pro- 
per fubje%t for the contemplation of furvi- 
vors; and he had deferved too well of the 
public not to be entitled to honotrable 
and aff-Gionate commemoration. 
Mr. Wakefield, in ** Memoirs of his 
own Life,” publifhed in 1792, has inform- 
ed the world of all the circumftances at- 
tending his education and paflage through 
life down to that period, with a minute- 
nefs and franknefs which render his work 
a very curious and entertaining piece of 
biography. I fhall not make any tran- 
{cripts from it, but, confining my/elf to 
a flight fketch of the leading events, fhall 
take that view of his. character and con- 
duét which fuggeits itfelf to the reflexion 
fo] 
of a friendly but not a prejudiced by- . 
ftander. 
GILBERT WAKEFIELD was born on 
February 22, 1755, at Nottingham, of 
Which town his father was one of the pa- 
rochial clergy. An uncommon folidity 
and ferioufnels of difpofition marked him 
from infancy, together with a power of 
application, and thirft after knowledge, 
which accelerated his progrefs in juvenile 
ftudies. In his grammatical courfe he 
pafled under the tuition of {everal matters, 
the laft and mott refpe&table of whom was 
the Rev. Mr. Wooddefon, of Kingfton- 
upon-Thames, to which parifh his father 
was then removed. He was ufed, how- 
ever, to lament that he had not poffeffed 
the advantages of an uniform education at 
one of thofe public fchools, which un- 
doubtedly, whatever may be their dangers 
and deficiencies, effeét the point at which 
they exclufively aim, that of laying a folid 
foundation for claffical erudition in its 
* moft exact form. In 1772 he was entered 
as a {cholar of Jefus-college, Cambridge ; 
and it was ever a topic of thankfulne(s to 
him, that he became a member of that 
univerfity in which the love of truth met 
with fome encouragement from a fpirit of 
liberal enquiry, rather than of that which 
was devoted either to fupine indolence, or 
to the paffive inculcation of opinions fanc- 
tioned by authority. During the nrft 
years, his attention was chiefly fixed upoa 
. Montuty Mas. No. 78. 
claffical ftudies, always his favourites; _ 
and he was excited only by emulation and 
academical requifitions to aim at that pro- 
ficiency in mathematical knowledge which 
bears fo high a value at Cambridge. Yet 
while he confeffes himfelf deftitute of 2 
genuine talte for {peculations of this kind, 
he fcruples not to declare.the infinite fu- 
periority, in point of grandeur and fubli- 
‘mity, of mathematical philofophy to claffi- 
cal lucubrations. In1776 he took hisde- 
gree of B.A. on which occafion he was 
nominated to the fecond poft among fe- 
venty five candidates ; and foon after, he 
was electe! to a fellowfhip of his college. 
In the fame year he publithed a {mall col- 
leStion of Latin poems, wiih a few criti- 
cal notes on Homer, at the univerfity-prefs. 
Tf not highly excellent, they were fufie 
cient to eftablith the claim ofa young man 
to more than ordinary acquaintance with 
the elegancies of literature. He had al- 
ready obtained a knowledge of the Hebrew 
language, as preparatory. to thofe theolo- 
gical fludies which now became his mof 
ierious occupation ; and it may fafely be 
afQ{rmed that no man ever commenced 
them with a mind more determined upon 
the unbiafled fearch. after truth, and the 
open affertion of it when difcovered. The 
foundation which he laid for his enquiries 
was an accurate knowledge of the phrafe- 
ology of the Scriptures, acquired by means 
of attention to the idiom in which they 
were written. A3at this time fome of his 
moft efteemed academical friends mani- 
felted their diffatisfa€tion with the articles 
of the church ofEngland by aconfcientious 
refufal of fubfcription, it cannot be doubt- 
ed that fcruples on this point had already 
taken poffeffion of his mind; and fo far 
had his convictions proceeded, that he 
has ftigmatized his compliance with the 
forms requilice for obtaining deacon’s or- 
ders, which he received in 1778, as *‘ the 
moft difingenuous action of his whole life.” 
If, indeed, he could receive confolation 
from the praétice of others, there were fe- 
veral of his intimate aflociates, who, by a 
fuperiority to fucn feruples, have fince 
rifen to opulence and diftinétion in the 
church, without betraying any uneafinefs 
for a fimilar acquiefcence, 
Mr. Wakefield left college after ordi- 
nation, and engaged ina curacy-at Stock- 
port, in Chefhire, whence he afterwards - 
removed toa fimilar fituation in Liverpool. 
He performed the duties of his office with 
ferioufnels and punctuality; but his dif 
: es fatisfaction 
NE ES ee ee a ee eee ee 
