{803.] 
wrath and damnation.” He was further 
an Arian, at leaf?, and could therefore be- 
lieve little or nothing. of the Thirty-nine 
Articles. His ftars, however, had been 
more favourable to him, in regard to pre- 
ferments, than to many who beiieved more. 
In the year 1737, he was prefented by 
the Univeriity to the living of Gray- 
ftock, in Cumberland: in 1743 he was pro- 
moted to the Archdeaconry of Carl:fle ; 
and in 1754, he fucceeded, on the refigna- 
tion of Dr. Keene, to the mafterfhip of 
Peterhoule, having previoufly, however, 
given up his archdeaconry in favour of 
Dr. Keene’s fon-in law. In 1760, he was 
appointed public librarian of theUniverfity, 
and in 1764 caluiltical profeflor. Thro’ 
the intereit of the Duke of Newcaftle, he 
obtained a ftail in the church of Darham, 
and through the Duke of Grafton, chan- 
cellor of the Univerfity, the Bifhopric of 
Carlifle. Thefe and feveral cther pieces 
‘of preferment were held by the Bithop ;, 
fo that he may be faid to have pofleffed as 
many ecclefialtical and academical bene- 
fices, as he profefled heretical fentiments. 
Many of the clergy of Cambridge 
‘thought, and, it fhould feem, reafonabl 
enough, that one, binding himfelf fo little 
to the orthedox faith, fhould have heaped 
on him fo many diitinStions and places ; 
while his friends fuggefted, that a perfon 
fo deeply engaged in {peculations, fo peace- 
able in his temper, and fo benignant in 
his difpofition, tree, indeed, himielf, but 
candid to others, could not be too well 
provided for. As tothe Bishop him&lf, it 
is faid, “‘ that there was nothing in his 
elevation to a bithopric, of which he 
{poke with greater pleafure than its being 
a proof, that decent freedom of inquiry 
was not difcouraged.”* In favour of his 
liberality of fen‘imént, being a zealous 
difciple of Locke’s, he would, douptiers 
plead the right of private judgment ; and, 
in vindication of his retaining fo com- 
fortable a portion of theChurch’s+revenues, 
he might plead, perhaps, eleven folid ar- 
guments—he had eleven children. E.R. 
Lo the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
a following anecdote of Monfieur 
Talleyrand, the French mmifter for 
* For this remark and a few hints in this 
article of Dr. Law, the writer is indebted toa 
fhort memoir of the ¢¢ Life of Edmund Law, 
by Dr. Paley, extraéted from Hutchinfon’s 
Hiftory of Cumberland,” and reprinted in 
1800, with notes by Anonymus, fuppoled to 
be a gentleman formerly of Peterhoule, 
Anecdote of Monfieur Talleyrand, 
425 
foreign affairs, may be relied on asa fac. 
The relater was in Philadelphia at the 
time, and prefent at the tranfaction. 
In the reign of the fanguinary Robefpierre, 
Talleyrand, then Bithop of Autun, was pro- 
fcribed with the other priefts; but he 
efcaped and exiled himfelf to America, 
where he lived ‘* comme il plaifuit a Dieu,” 
forhe hadnomoney. After Robefpierre’s 
downfall, the Executive Directory, with 
whom Talleyrand correfponded, promifed 
themfelves great advantages from the ob- 
fervations he made to them upon the fitua- 
tion of affairs in the United States, and 
they recalled him to fill the ftation of mi- 
nifter for foreign affairs, in which they 
were moft likely to reap the benefit of his 
experience. ‘The United States were def. 
tined by the Directory for piunder, and 
Talleyrand was chofen to be their infru- 
ment. He foon fhowed him{elf worthy 
of the employ ; and the Americans began 
to receive marks of his gratitude for the 
afylum they had afforded him, in re. 
peated infults offered to their government 
at home by the French minuters, and con- 
tinued depredations on their commerce 
abroad by French cruizers. This conduét 
of the French prieft will not be thought 
aftonifhing in England, whofe bofom the 
vipers, whom it harboured when flying 
from the {caffold, are now the foremoft to 
fting, and emulous of each other in their 
prayers for the Corfiean defpot’s fuccefs 
in invading and defolating it. Talleyrand, 
having experienced the. inftability of af. 
fairs.of France, was about to return thi- 
ther, not only with a determination of 
making hay whilft the fun fhone, but 
alfo of having a fecure place to houfe it 
in ; and he therefore contracted with Ro- 
bert Morris, Efq. of Philadelphia, for the 
purchafe of a large tract of land, lying on 
the Bald Eagle Creek, in the State of Penn- 
fylvania at the price of 74,0001. flerling. 
A deed of conveyance was executed ; but 
as Talleyrand had no money, it was de- 
pofited with Mr. Wilcocks, the then re- 
corder of Philadelphia, until the purchafe 
money fhould be paid. After Talleyrand’s 
return to France, and entrance upen his 
official employment, the Americans (who 
were extremely haraffled by the depreda.. 
tions of the French cruizcrs upon their 
commerce under an infdious refolution 
of the Executive Directory, that the fiag 
of the Republic wouid treat the flag of 
neutrals in the fame manner esthev fhould 
fuffer it to be treated by the Englith) 
fent three envoys to France to obtatn fome 
compenfation. On their arrival at Paris, 
the envoys could find no peifon authorized 
312 
