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REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

1. Anecdotes of the Life of Richard Watson, Bishop of Landaff; written by himself at different Intervals, and rewised in 1814. Published by his Son, Richard Watson, LL.B. Prebendary of Landaff and Wells. 4to, pp. 551. Cadell and Davies.

UTO-BIOGRAPHY is a very de

cuted by persons of talent, and still more if by persons of genius, with an union of frankness and sound discretion, it is of high value and profound interest. But if, on the one hand, it be affected and dissembling, or the other, garrulous, gossiping, and full of trifles, it becomes not only vapid, but ridiculous.

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Bishop Watson has steered between these extremes, and perhaps with a very rare felicity. If he errs, it is for want of sufficient minuteness; because he confines himself too much to his public life; to the discussion of public questions;-though it must be admitted that such as he has chosen to register have not yet lost their inportance, nor ever will, as long as the present Constitution of these Kingdoms remains.

If it be said that these are matters of public history, let it be recollected in how slovenly and inaccurate a manner public discussions on such questions are generally recorded. The very point in debate is often not only imperfectly narrated, but entirely misrepresented. If it be necessary to refer to it as authority, where it lays down doubtful opinions, no one can venture to rely upon it as that which was insisted on. In such cases the speaker's own testimony of what he said is decisive.

It is easy to imagine cases in which such precise evidence would not be advantageous to the person comme. morated. To plausible Orators, who possess a command of specious language, and know how to take advantage of temporary and personal topicks, the uncertainty of loose reports is very full of convenience and protection; while the literu scripta is extremely dangerous.

Let it not therefore be supposed that the generality of those who have made a considerable figure as constant GENT. MAG. January, 1818.

and copious debaters would be able, with safety, to fill up the memoirs of themselves with such materials.

It was far otherwise with Bp. Watson; he thought for himself on all occasions, and thought with uncom mon force, clearness, and profundity. The very simplicity and ease with which he comprehended his subjects and wielded his arguments gave, before ordinary minds, even the appearance of superficiality in that which was pre-eminently deep.

For these reasons Bp. Watson's Memoirs of himself will always continue to be a very valuable document of the times in which he lived; and will, on reflection, be far better prized than if at first perusal it had better satisfied an idle and trifling curiosity.

It would, indeed, have rendered the narrative pleasanter, if more of private feelings and private habits had been laid open. But this Prelate was rather a Philosopher and a man of science than a man of genius; he does not seem to have dealt in native impressions; he was always a reasoner, but never a painter. He was never led astray therefore by images which forced themselves before his fancy; but arrived at his results by a regular logical process. That such qualities of the mind, and such a mode of exercising them, form characters highly desirable in society, and well fitted to fill up some of those various stations in public life, which require such diversified talents, will scarcely be questioned; but that they are exclusively useful, or necessary, will not equally be granted. However plausible mere reasoning may appear, there are subjects which are to be determined, and resolutions to be formed, by higher sorts of faculties than the mere reasoning power. The data of high-minded conclusions sometimes lie deeper than mere language can grasp, and than can be brought into the form of a syllogism.

But it is a striking incident to the sort of ability which distinguished Bp. Watson, to be too narrow in its appreciation of any other sort of talent, and too confident of its own! This is the glaring blemish of the Bishop's Memoir; and apparently the

source

source of those unseemly discontents and that unchastized ambition which cast a strong shade on his many virtues. That he was not promoted to an higher See, is the constant and pusillanimous theme of his complaint. That with the notions he consistently entertained, and no doubt entertained honestly, he should have been promoted to the Prelacy at all, was a piece of luck quite out of the ordinary course of human affairs. In truth, it arose from a vacancy at a critical moment of a critical Administration, which lasted but a very few months. We much doubt if choice would have been made of this Divine for the Mitre by any other Minister than Lord Shelburne; and perhaps not by him, had the vacancy happened a few months later. This opinion is grounded on the occurrences stated between p. 95 and p. 103 of the Memoir. We do not venture to state

this opinion as more than a probability. Dr. Watson, in the situation of a Bishop, might exercise a free dom of dissent with the Minister, which he might not have taken as the mere Cambridge Professor of Divinity. But we are inclined to think that he would have exercised it with his characteristic bluutness; and that this would have been fatal to his elevation.

The Bishop continually puts forth his services to the Church and the cause of Religion, as the grounds of his title to farther promotion. The general opinion of the talent and merit of his " Apology for the Bible," and his "Letters to Gibbon," is concurrent with his own. But in no age of our Ecclesiastical History has the most brilliant literary merit in professional productions necessarily secured a Mitre, much less a Primacy. The immortal Hooker, with whom the Bishop, in moments of the most elated vanity,could scarcely put himself in competition, died a Country Rector -humble, peaceful, and contented. There are matters of Church Policy, over which, whether right or wrong, so long as they form the basis of the Establishment, he who differs from their principles cannot reasonably expect to be chosen to preside. That the Bishop had a leaven of democracy inherent in the whole frame of his opinions, few men who unite candour with sagacity will venture to deny. The leveling principle is ap

parent in the scheme of equalizing the revenues of the Bishopricks.

We have thus spoken freely; but we trust also honestly, and kindly. We have no party politicks, no orthodox bigotry, no sectarian zeal to gratify. We shall as little indulge in revengeful degradation, or affected scorn or censure, as in coarse, indiscriminate, and interested panegyrick. Having guarded ourselves by a frank avowal of those objections to which, on our part, the Memoir in question has exposed the eminent man it records, we will indulge ourselves in the more pleasing task of contemplating his virtues and his great endowments.

The grasp of his conceptions, the lucid arrangement of his mental stores, and the simplicity and directness of his thoughts and conclusions, are splendid and delightful examples of a master-mind: he had the art of at once throwing off superfluities, and disentangling sophistries, from any favourite subject. He could seize the principle which combined, and the principle which separated, the parts of that which he undertook to explain; and thus dissect or form them again into an barmonious whole, with a facility which was equally instructive and pleasant. The nakedness of his strength on every topick which he handled, so unlike the parade of learning, or the artifices of minor talent, or the cloudedness of twilight pretensions, conveys a sort of grandeur and gladness to the mind, like the breaking forth of the sun, after the sky has been enveloped in mists.

There are other traits of energy and splendour in his character, which at least lay hold of the imagination, and associate his memory with visions such as genius loves. He whose mind and heart are richly stored will behold with admiration the Bishop busy in erecting his mansion on the banks of Windermere; and delight to contemplate him rearing his plantations and forests in Calgarth Park; bringing the light of Science to Agriculture, making the barren heath smile with verdure and corn; draining marshes, clearing wildernesses, and bidding trees wave on the summits of craggy rocks! In these romantic retreats we behold him throwing off vain pomp, disdainful of the trappings to which his fitful ambition and warm temper at other times aspired;

and enjoying native pleasures in all the native vigour of his powerful intellect. We will not say that he enjoyed it as a Poet; he seems not to have had a ray of that cast of mind about him. In his whole Memoirs we see not a trace of any sensibility to Polite Literature of any kind. Hayley appears almost the only man in this walk with whom he corresponded, or appears to have been acquainted: the name of Johnson scarce What is more ever (if ever) occurs. extraordinary, we believe Burke, a Politician, is only once mentioned or alluded to. It must be obvious that the Bishop differed from that splendid orator and profound statesman totis viribus: but we presume that, even in the height of his self-estimation, he could scarcely consider this wonderful man beneath his notice.

His

On the whole, we must admit that in many leading points Bp. Watson was a great ornament to the Bench. There is something in commanding and practical talents like his, which carries with them the respect so necessary to that high station; much also to the same purpose even in his bold and decisive temper. skill in weapons to combat sophistry, the industry which he could apply, the readiness of his pen, the vigorous plainness of his style, the weight which his scientific acquirements added to his character, the amiableness of his private life, and the awe which the simple greatness of his manners and habits carried with it, exhibited a concurrence of high qualifications which do not very often unite under the same Mitre.

The Bishop was born at Heversham, in Westmoreland, in August 1737; was promoted to the Bishoprick of Landaff, July 26, 1782; and died July 4, 1816, æt. 79. His eldest son, formerly Lieutenant-colonel of the 3d Dragoon Guards, died before him, having married Miss Corry, a natural sister of Lord Belmore, by whom he left issue. [See vol. LXXXVI. ii. 274.]

2. British Monachism; or, Manners and Customs of the Monks and Nuns of England: to which are added, I. Peregrinatorium Religiosum; or Manners and Customs of Antient Pilgrims. II. The Consuetudinal of Anchorets and Hermits. III. Some account of the Continentes, or Persons who had made Vows of Chastity. IV. Four select Poems in various Styles. 1. Economy

of Monastic Life. Spenser. 2. Triumph of Vengeance, an Ode. Gray. 3. The Red Man, or Address of Buonaparte's familiar Dæmon. Gray and Collins. 4. An Epitaph in the German manner. By Thomas Dudley Fosbrooke, M. A. F. A. S. Author of the History of Gloucestershire, Illustrations of the Townley Statues, Abridg ment of Whitby's Commentary, Occasional Sermons, &c. A new Edition, very much enlarged, and embellished with Plates. 4to, pp 568. Nichols and Co. WHEN the first edition of this elaborate and interesting Work appeared, it was pronounced by our learned brethren " a valuable and important addition to the stock of our National History." It was introduced into every Library which professed to include the higher order of publications; and, with no other aid than its intrin sic merits, which may in the main be said to consist in the novelty and curiosity of the matter, gradually become scarce and dear.

The imperfection of first Essays is manifest, because general opinion has not developed itself in the detection of omissions, or the suggestion of improvements. In what respects the first edition was defective is mentioned by the Author in his Preface, and the desiderata supplied accordingly in this new issue; which, if the first obtained a large share of public approbation, must, in reason, be much better. We are persuaded that it is so; and we trust that we are only treating a laborious and careful Writer with common justice, when we adduce the causes upon which our favourable opinion is founded.

To every man of high reason and strong pious feeling, enlightened by science, nothing is more disgusting than the nauseous filth of superstition, folly, spiritual pride, fraud, cunning, prejudice, and ignorance, which is perpetually thrown into the " living water" of pure simple elementary character, the divine Philosophy of Christ. Were it not conspicuous that Ecclesiastical History is, with rare exceptions, a Medical Nosology, it could not be believed that a voluntary relinquishment of society, to live upon vegetable food, and forego all pleasures, should entitle a man to a liberal provision of his worldly neces sities, and even empire, over the very minds of his fellow-beings. Although the social duties tend chiefly to the well-being of man, and although, in

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all ages, it has been established by Nature, that the trade-wind of our animal appetites should continue,under all circumstances, to have a permanent and uniform direction; yet Folly has ever delighted, like a child playing with a toy, to box the compass, and steer the vessel out of the lati tude where alone it can meet with the gale which carries it into a safe port. No truism can be more evident, than that a state of seclusion is one of selfishness; and, in a religious and moral view, allowable only to infancy, age, or disease. How then could such a system ever find advocates? In warm climates the wants of food, heat, and cloathing, are felt in so slight a degree, scarcely at all, that such seclusions are not perceived to affect the interests of society (Nature there, comparatively speaking, wet-nursing her children throughout life); and these Oriental habits becoming ingrafted with our divine religion, and various systems of false Philosophy, were, by migratory fanaticks, who knew that, to avoid persecution, it was not safe to stay long in one place, introduced into the West and North of Europe. Such was the origin of that strange system known by the name of Monachism, which, transplanted to our regions, could never be made to attain a perfect growth. In treating the subject as a question of climate, we are vindicated by the plainest laws of political œconomy; for it is most certain that a larger population can be more easily supported in Asia than in Europe, and that a tendency to augment unnecessarily unproductive labour is anywhere only a method of diminishing the supply of our wants and comforts, and obstructing the progress of civilization and refinement. This is no paradox. It is a simple result of the increase with which Providence rewards labour.

These remarks may serve to introduce one leading improvement in this new Edition of Mr. Fosbrooke's Work. We are informed by our Author, in his valuable and original Preface, that some of our Brethren had complained of the paucity of reflections in the first Work; and, to show the propriety of the remark, had quoted the passage (p. 214, new edit.) beginning with "Monachism," &c. as "exhibiting genius and talents,

which ought to have been more and better exerted." With the vague terms " genius and talents," as here applied, we are disposed to quarrel. We should rather say, that Mr. Fosbrooke's reflections show philosophical habits of thinking, and much original knowledge of human nature and the world. We not only allude to the passage in question, but to others in particular, which we shall extract as specimens. We think that they would not disgrace our highest Philosophical Historians.

The first passage regards Fanaticism, p. 3.

"Fanaticism will ever have success. It treats upon a subject where there is a general feeling and interest, and acts by operating upon passion, which is always contagious and intelligible; besimilar, though their understandings

cause the sensations of all mankind are

may differ.

"Without a common interest, unanimity is impossible; and this common interest extends only to Religion at large. Particular modes of professing it are questions unconnected with the feelings, which ['particular modes' should have been added, feelings not being the antecedent] therefore do not attract the ignorant, who expect the senses to be roused, by the inebriating pleasures of what may be called the spiritous liquors of Divinity."

Though we rather reprobate the severity of this remark, yet, as it is plain the vulgar cannot comprehend abstract scientific disquisition, we agree with Gray, that chopping Logick is not a good general rule for Sermon composition; and that there is room for improvement by persuasory and feeling addresses, founded upon plain Scriptural truths, without the aid of frothy trash, or syllabub declamations. It is an extraordinary fact, but well authenticated, that a Methodist Preacher used the following metaphor in all its homely indelicacy: "If you tread in ****, you know it will spread all over the shoes; thus it is with sin. If you do not scrape and rub and brush your shoes, it will stink and foul the whole house; so also it is with sin." Being publicly rebuked for the coarseness of his language, the zealous Wesleyan observed that, as he was preaching to Colliers, it was the best method which he could take to be understood. Though it is plain that he

degraded

degraded the holiness of Religion, by bringing (to use his own method of figurative style) the blackguards of language into the society of this chaste and dignified Matron, yet there was a basis of prudence in his general principle; and it is only from an opinion that much good will infallibly result to our excellent Churchestablishment from plainer and more general preaching, that we have made this digression.

The second passage which occurs in the Chapter of Modern Monachism, relates to Bouthillier de la Rance, the founder of the order of La Trappe. It is as follows:

"He [Bouthillier] is said in early life to have been a man of elegant mind and pleasurable habits, who at the age of fourteen published an edition of Anacreon. Two accounts are given of his change of manners; one, that it was owing to a providential escape when a gun burst upon his shoulder; another, that, intending to surprize a favourite female by an unexpected visit after long absence, he rushed into her room, and found her a corpse, disfigured beyond conception by the small pox, and the surgeon about to separate the head from the body, because the coffin had been made too short. The shock was terrible; but, had he been a confirmed libertine, would have been soon forgotten, except by occasional painful recol

lections.

"Too rigid education (for he had been tutored under an Archiepiscopal uncle) produces an exaggerated estimate of pleasure. But, being undeceived by experience, and elevated above mere grossness by literary habits, he recurred to early impressions. Warm feelings,

united with an active mind, must ever have a hobby, which it pursues fanatically; and through the Monastic Fenelon system of his education, a system which in its pursuit of faultless character forgets that to be void of excellence is the greatest of all faults, Bouthillier de la Rance, unfortunately for the world considering his abilities and energy, directed his attention to the creation of feeble character and useless innocence. As he does not quote the Sacred Writings but to support the postils of the Ascetic Fathers, he did not know that one object of the Holy Apostles in the Epistles was, to fix all the necessary forms of Christian Communities. Unacquainted with the real tendency of Apostolical Philosophy to produce, by means of faith, purity, contentment, and prudence, a sublime

mind, and a happy temper; he did not also know that Christianity has, by this means, the promise of the life which now is, as well as of that which is to come. In his Monastic reforms, he places the minds of his followers immoveable in the stocks, and makes them corporeally mere dumb working animals, always in harness, and prevented, except by agricultural industry,

from rendering common services to mankind, much more from making those active exertions for the good of society; of producing which, under happier religious principles, no man would have been more capable." P. 401.

Passing by other-interesting reflections, dispersed through the Work, all in the same style, viz. of avoiding common-place and òbvious idea, we notice only one (in p. 17), because it has a bearing upon a favourite political dogma now much in vogue: we allude to the abolition of flogging in the Navy and Army.

Mr. Fosbrooke says,

"Corporeal punishments have ever been indispensable, where grossness of character prevails."

We know an old farmer, who said, after his hen-roost had been robbed, "that there were no good times since whipping was left off." However esteemed may be this remark, it is sufficient to state, that by this means alone discipline is supported in the Army and Navy among numbers of ferocious characters, without that sacrifice of life or civil utility which the punishments of the common law occasion. If a ruffian be sensible of nothing else, he can at least feel pain; and it is a fact not to be disputed, that this mode of punishment is attended with greater benefit to the publick and the delinquent, and is more often an act of humanity, than other methods.

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