006 
fatisfafion with the doctrine and worfhip 
ef the church continuing to increafe, he 
probably confidered his conneétion with 
it as not likely to be durable. The dif- 
guft he felt at what he faw of the practice 
"of privateering, and the flave-trade, in the 
Jatter place of his refidence, alfo awaken- 
ed in his mind that humane intereft in the 
rightsand happinels of his fellow-creatures, 
which has made fo confpicuous a part of 
his charaéter. The American war did not ~ 
tend to augment his attachment to the po-. 
litical adminiftration of his country: in 
fhort, he became altogether unfit to make 
one of that body, the principal bufinefs of 
which, in the opinion of many, feems to 
be, acting as the fatellites of exifting au- 
thority, however exerted. His marriage, 
in 1779, to Mifs Watfon, neice of the 
rector of Stockport, was foon followed by 
an invitation to undertake the poft of claf- 
fical tutor at the diffenting academy at 
Warrington, with which he complied. 
That he was regarded as a very valuable 
acquilition to this inftitution—that he was 
exemplary in the difcharge of his duty, 
and equally gained the attachment of his 
pupils, and the friendfhip and efteem of 
his colleagues—the writer of this account 
can from his own knowledge atte. Be- 
ing now freed from all clerical fhackles, 
he began his career as a theological con- 
troverfialift, and, it muft be confeffed, with 
an acrimony of ftyle which was lamented 
by his friends, and which laid him open to 
the reproach of hisenemies. It is not here 
intended to vindicate what the writer him- 
felf cannot but difapprove; but the real 
and fubftantial kindnefs of Mr. Wake- 
field’s temper, and the benevolence of his 
heart, were fuch, that this apparent con- 
tragiction muft be fulved by his warmth 
of zeal in what he thought the caufe of 
truth, and perhaps by a familiarity with 
{cholaftic debates, which rendered him in 
fome meafure cailous to the ufe, or rather 
abule, of vituperative-expreflions from the 
prefs. -In difputations by word of mouth. 
no man was more calm and gentle, more 
patient in hearing, or more placid in re- 
plying ; and if, in his writings, he has 
without hefitation or delicacy beftowed his 
cenfures, he has been equally liberal and 
decided in his praife. His applaufes evi- 
dently came from the heart, fiee and un- 
ftinted, for envy did not poffefs a fingle 
p2rticle in his compofition ; nor has he’ 
withheld them when he thought them 
deferved by particular laudable qualities, 
even in characters which he could not re- 
gard with general approbation. Noman, 
perhaps, ver more fully gave way to the. 
A Tribute to the Memory of Mr Wakefield. [Otober ty 
opennefs of his difpofition im (peaking the 
whole trutb concerning men and things, un= 
moved by common confiderations ; whence 
it is not to be wondered at, that he fre- 
quently rendered himfelf more obnoxious 
to antagonifts than the cafe effentially re- 
quired, and roufed prejudices which a 
more guarded conduct would have left. 
dormant. A fentence which, in his Me- 
moirs, he has quoted from Afgill, expreffes 
(as it was probably meant to do) the fpi- 
rit with which he wrote. ‘* A blunt au- 
thor in purfuit of truth, kuows no man 
after the flefh, till his chace is over. For 
aman to think what he writes, may be- 
fpeak his prudence: but to write what he 
thinks, be{t opens his principles.” 
We fhall not, in this fketch, attempt to 
give an account of all his publications, 
many of them fmall in bulk and tempo- 
rary in their application. ‘The moft im- 
portant of his theological labours will be 
allowed to be thofe in which he employs 
his fingular erudition in the explanation 
ef Scripture. Of thefe, the firft was ** A 
New Tranflation of the Firft Epiftle of 
Paul, the Apoftle, to the- Theffalonians,’” 
printed in 1781. It was followed in the 
next year by ‘* A New Tranflation of St. 
Matthew, with Notes, critical, philologi- 
cal, and explanatory,”’ gto. a work which 
obtained much applaufe, and amply dif- 
played the extent of his reading, and the 
facility with which his memory called up 
its repolited ftores for the purpofe of il- 
luftration or parallelifm. At this time 
he likewife augmented his fund for Scrip- 
ture interpretation by the acquifition of 
various Oriental dialeéts. After quitting 
Warrington, at the diffolution of the aca- 
demy, he took up his refidence fucceffively 
at Bramcote in Nottinghambfhire, at Rich- 
mond, and at Nottingham, apon the plan 
of taking a few pupils, and purfuing at — 
his leifure thofe ftudies to which he be- 
came continually more attached. While 
in the firft of thefe fituations, he publifhied 
the firft volume of «* An Enquiry into the 
Opinions of the Chriftian Writers of the 
three firft Centuries concerning the Perfon 
of Jefus Chrift,” a learned and elaborate. 
performance, but which did not meet with 
encouragement fufficient to induce him to 
proceed in the defign. A painful difo~- 
der in his left fhoulder, with which he 
was attacked in 1786, and which harafled 
him for two years, interrupted the courfe 
of his empioyments ; and he could do no 
more for letters during that period, than 
alleviate his fufferings by drawing up fome, 
remarks upon the Georgics of Virgil and 
the Poems of Gray, which he pee 
With — 
