1303. } 
plication to ftudy, rendered abundantly 
productive: fo that the want of an aca- 
demical education, which to. many has 
proved a ferious misfortune, was to him 
no fubjeét of regret, nor bar to improve- 
ment. 
In the rudiments of the Latin and 
Greek tongues, of which he afterwards 
acquired a confiderable knowledge, we 
are aflured his father was well capable of 
grounding him ; but it is highly proba- 
ble, that the {mall profpect of the fon’s 
ever attaining fuch a fituation as to'ren- 
der thefe languages of ufe, added to the 
father’s neceflary and numerous avoca- 
tions, prevented him from deriving much 
aivantage from this fource. It is, how. 
ever, certain, that in this effential branch 
of a liberal education he had no other 
jnttructor ; nor could the affiftance, if 
any, which he hereby received, be of long 
continuance ; for in the fpring of the 
year 1749, when he was fcarce twelve 
years of age, he was employed as an er- 
rand boy, to carry out fall parcels, by 
Mr. Samuel Goadby, a ftationer of great 
refpectability, then and {till carrying on 
bufinefs near the Royal Exchange: to 
whofe communications we are indebted 
for feveral parti@ulars of his entrance into 
life. He continued in this capacity for 
fome years, and to fay that his condué& 
during this period was altogether unex- 
ceptionable, is fearcely doing juftice to 
his memory. When not occupied in 
his ufval bufinefs, books were his ufual, 
and almoft fole, amufement ; being never 
accultomed to engage with other boys in 
thofe. common plays and exerciles to 
which they are ufually attached. 
About the middle of the year 1954, 
Mr. Robert Goadby, a printer of emi- 
nence at Sherborne in Dor/etfhire, was de- 
fivous of procuring a lad of good capa- 
city, and fome talents, likely to be ufeful 
to him in his office; and accordingly 
wrote to his brother in London, to that 
effect, requetting him to make inquiry 
for a young perfon of this defcription. 
But fuch an inquiry was needlefs ; Jofeph 
was at hand; and confidering him as well 
qualified for the fituation, h’s mafter with 
prompiitude gave a recommendation in 
his: favor, at. the fame time fending a 
imall fpecimen of his attainments in the 
aris of writing and pun&uation. A re- 
commendation from fuch a quarter, backed 
by unexceptionable proofs of abilities, 
could not fail to be effetual. Jofeph 
accordingly quitted London, and was foon 
after bound apprentice to Mr. Goadby, 
é 
: 
Memsir of the late Dr. Fofeph Towers. 
459 
without any fee being either required on 
the one fide, or paid on the other. 
Thus was young Towers thrown into 
a department favourable to the cultivation 
of his talents and the natural bent of his 
mind ; having literary works continually 
paffing through his hands, his curiofity 
was excited, and his thirft of knowledge, 
though gratified in part, greatly increafed ; 
this enabled him, in the purfuit of it, to 
furmount all the difadvantages he laboured 
under, from the want of an able tutor, 
the regular difcipline of a {chool, and 
that ffzmulus to exertion which in femi- 
naries of education emulation is well 
known frequently to produce. 
There is reafon to think, that, from his 
firft entrance into the world, he formed the 
refolution of becoming a claflical {cholar, 
and was in the daily habit of applying 
with earneftnefs to acquire an accurate’ 
knowledge of the Latin language. Si- 
tuated as he now was, he. endeavoured to 
feize every opportunity that occurred, 
and. frequently devoted thofe hours which 
moft perfons confume in fleep in order fully 
to underltand and enjoy fome of the molt 
popular of the Roman Claffics ; and he 
at length accomplithed this obje& of his 
unwearied purfuit. Horace became his 
favourite author among the ancients 5 
while of the modern Latin authors he was 
particularly attached to the great Eraf 
mus, whofe writings contributed to the 
eftablifhment of the Reformation. Lone 
before he guitted Sherborne, he had mate 
fome confiderable proficiency in the Greek 
Janguage, and foon after acquired fo much 
of the French, as enabled him tu read 
without difficulty their moft admired 
authors, which he tranflated into Englifh 
with facility. By indefatigable applicas 
tion he alfo laid in fuch a ftore of moral, 
theological, and political knowledoe, as 
made him diitinguifhed as a literary cha- 
racter, in this enlightened age and coun. 
trypnudt appears from a memorandum of 
his own, that as early as the year 1761, 
long before he left Sherborne, he was 
known as a febolar: and had a corre. 
fpondence with the celebrated Lord Lyte 
telton. ; 
In the year 1763, the firft fruit of his 
literary labours was prelented to the pub. 
lic, inthe form of a pamphlet, entitled, 
“<A Review of the genuine DoMrines of 
Chriftianity ; comprehending Remarks on 
feveral principal Calviniftical Doétrines, 
and fome Obiervations on the Uie of Rea- 
fon in Religion ; on Human Nature, and 
on Free Agency.’ This work was pro- 
3L2 duced 
