884 Original Letter from Mrs. Doddridge to her Children. cellent Church-eftablishment, I greatly refpect many of the Ditlenters and their writings, fuch as Dr. Doddridge and Mr. Orton, who are both dead, and whofe letters and correfpondence I would ftrongly recommend to the publick. And I should have thought more favourably of Dr. Price if he had died. in those tenets which he profeffed in his fermon of 1759; extracts from which are to be had at Meff. Rivingtons. Mr. John Clayton's Addrefs and Sermon of the prefent day do him much credit; and, if the fame rational, moderate, and candid fpirit, had influenced the reft of his brethren, we fhould neither have heard of Birmingham riots, nor of French Revolution-feafts in England. The widow of that excellent man, Dr. Doddridge, died within thele two years. It is to be hoped that the Editor of his Correfpondence, in the next edition, will infert the admirable and pious letter which he wrote to her children, from Lisbon, upon the death of their father. In the mean time, I fend it to you, to infert in your ufetul and interefting Repofitory. Philip Doddridge, D.D. was prevailed upon, for the recovery of his health, to go to Lisbon, in the neighbourhood of which city he died October 26, 1751. His widow, Mrs. Mercy Doddridge, who accompanied him thither, wrote the following letter to her children in England after his decease. Yours, &c. "My dear Children, O. C. “Lisbon, Nov. 11, N.S. 1751. "How fhall I addrefs you under this aweful and melancholy Providence! I would fain fay fomething to comfort you. And I hope God will enable me to fay fomething that may alleviate your deep diftrefs. I went out in a firm dependence that, if Infinite Wifdom was pleafed to call me out to duties and trials as yet unknown, He would grant me thofe fuperior aids of ftrength that would fupport and keep me from fainting under them; perfuaded that there was no diftreis or forrow, into which he could lead me, under which bis gracious and all-fuflicient arm could not fupport me. He has not difappointed me, nor fuffered the heart and eyes directed to him to fail. Ged all fufficient, and my only bope, is my motto: let it be yours. Such, indeed, have I found him; and fuch, I verily believe, you will find him too in this time of deep diftrefs. Oh! my dear children, help me to praife Him! Such fupports, fuch confolations, fuch comforts, has He granted to the meanest of His creatures, that my mind, at times, is held in perfect aftonishment, and is ready to burst into fongs of praise under its most exquifite diftress. "As to outward comforts, God has withheld no good thing from me, but has given me all the affistance, and all the fupports, that the tendereft friendship was capable of Northampton friends could not have exceedaffording me, and which I think my dear ed. Their prayers are not loft. I doubt not but I am reaping the benefit of them, and hope that you will do the fame. "I am returned to good Mr. King's. Be good to poor Mrs. King. It is a debt of gratitude I owe for the great obligations I am under to that worthy family here. Such a folicitude of friendship was furely hardly ever known as I meet with here. I have the offers of friendship more than I can employ ; and it gives a real concern to many here that they cannot find out a way to ferve me. These are great honours conferred on the dear deceased, and great comforts to me. It is impoffible to fay how much these mercies are endeared to me, as coming in fuch an immediate manner from the Divine Hand. To his name be the praise and glory of all! "And now, my dear children, what shall I fay to you? Ours is no common lofs. I mourn the best of husbands and of friends, removed from this world of fin and forrow to the regions of immortal blifs and light. What a glory! What a mercy is it that I enabled with my thoughts to purfue m there! You have loft the dearest and best of parents, the guide of your youth! and whofe pleasure it would have been to have introduced you into life with great advantages. "Our lots is great indeed! But I really think the lofs the publick has sustained is still greater. But God can never want inftruments to carry on his work. Yet, let us be thankful that God ever gave us fuch a friend; that he has continued him fo long with us. Perhaps, if we had been to have judged, we thould have thought that we nor the world could never lefs have fpared him than at the prefent time. But I fee the hand of Heaven, the appointment of His wife providence in every step of this aweful difpenfation. It is his hand that has put the bitter cup into ours. And what does he now expect from us but a meek, humble, entire fubmiffion to his will ? We know this is our duty. Let us pray for thofe aids of His Spirit, which can only enable us to attain it. A father of the fatherless is God in his holy habitation. As fuch may your eyes be directed to him! He will fupport you. He will comfort you. And that he may is not only my daily, but hourly, prayer. "We have never deferved fo great a good as that we have loft. And let us remember, that the beit refpećt we can pay to his memory is to endeavour, as far as we can, to follow his example, to cultivate thofe amiable qualities that rendered him fo justly dear to us, and fo greatly esteemed by the world. Particularly I would recommend this to my dear P. May I have the joy to fee him acting the part worthy the relation to fo amiable and excelent a parent, whofe memory, I hope, will ever be valuable and facred to him and to us all! Under God, may he be a comfort to me, and a fupport to the family! Much depends on him. His lofs I think peculiarly great. But I know an all-fufficient God can over-rule it as the means of the greatest good to him. "It is impoffible for me to tell you how tenderly my heart feels for you all! how much I long to be with you to comfort and aflift you! Indeed, you are the only inducements I now have left to wifh for life, that I may do what little is in my power to form and guide your tender years. For this purpofe i take all poffible care of my health I eat, fleep, and converfe at times with a tolerable degree of chearfulness. You, my dears, as the best return you can make me, will do the fame, that I may not have forrow upon forrow. The many kind friends you have around you, I am fure, will not be wanting in giving you all the affiftance and comfort that is in their power. My kindeft falutations attend them all. "I hope to leave this place in about fourteen or twenty days. But the fooneft I can ach Northampton will not be in less than x weeks, or two months time. May God be with you, and give us, though a mournful, yet a comfortable meeting! For your fakes I trust my life will be fpared. And, I blefs God, my mind is under no painful anxiety as to the difficulties and dangers of the voyage. "The winds and the waves are in His hands, to whom I refign myfelf, and all that is dearest to me. I know I fhall have your prayers, and those of my dearest friends with ⚫you. "Farewell, my dearest children! I am your afflicted, but moft fincere friend, and ever affectionate mother, M. DODDRIDGE.' Mr. URBAN, Gravefend, Aug. 12. THE HE family of WISEMAN appears to have existed in the county of Effex fince the time of Edward IV. and to have been in poffeffion of Much Canfield park, in that county, which was obtained, by purchase, in the reign of Edward VI. by John Wileman, efq. who had been one of the auditors to Henry VIII. and knighted at the battle of Spurs. The title of baronet was conferred on two of its branches, and many honourable pofts under the Crown were enjoyed by its defcendants. The laft of this family, of confequence fufficient to attract any thare of public attention, was Sir Charles Wifeman, bart. ap. Mr. URBAN, MY October 17. Y old cat having twice effayed to jump as usual in at my window, which is about five feet from the ground, and failed; when the fucceeded on the third trial, on taking her up in my arms I was furprized at the palpitation of heart and thortnefs of breath which the felt. Calculating from this little inftance what must be the degree of palpi tation, and the velocity of refpiration, in a hunted hare or fox, I with John Hunter, or fome other equally skilful anatomift of the quadruped race, would inform us whether thefe animals are furnished by Nature with organs adapted to qualify them to fuftain the pursuit of the two-legged Nimrods, who take an annual pleasure in worrying them. Yours, &c. I PHILOZOΩΝ. Mr. URBAN, Sept. 21. SHALL confider myself indebted to any of your numerous and intelligent readers, who will indulge me with information relpecting the article gunpowder, under all or any of the following heads, viz. The origin of its difcovery? By whom? The period of its being firft applied to the purposes of war? When the use of it became general ? Whether, in the early period of its use, it was manufactured in this country, or imported ? If manufactured here, whence were the raw materials fupplied, particu larly falt-petre? What laws or reftrictions have, from time to time, been framed for the encouragement of its manufacture, or affecting its export or import? When, and where, the first gunR. W. powder-mills were erected? 886 Remarks on the Miniature Piure of Milton. [oa. been fuggefted with refpect to the miniature picture faid to reprefent Milton. I pafs over his unkind infinuation that I had feen the miniature, although I had afferted the contrary; if he knew me, he would regret the harshness of his language. As to me, he exultingly demands, "How did he know that there was any date at all, as he fays he never faw the picture?" and, "How came Selden into his head ?"—I answer briefly, that I found both circumftances in Mr. Warton, p. 532. Since I drew up the article in your Magazine, p. 399, I have procured an impreffion of Mifs Watfon's admirable performance, and, on examining it and the certificate fubjoined, I find my doubts increased. The profeffional skill of Sir Joshua Reynolds is nothing to the queftion at iffue. On his authority, I admit the miniature to be of the hand of Cooper, and on the fame authority I admit that it ftrongly refembles the perfon whom it meant to reprefent. But ftill the question remains, is that perfon John Milton ?-And this is a matter which cannot be determined by the profeffional skill of Sir Joshua. In the miniature, as reprefented by Mifs Watson, there is the lively eye of a man policffed of fight; and an artift like Cooper would never have given fuch an eye to a blind man.-The effects of a gutta ferena are always vifible to an attentive obferver. But it is faid, that the gutta ferena, or rather its confequence, is not vifible in Faithorne's drawing of Muton. I never faw it; but I fuppofed that it reprefented Milton as blind, becaufe Richardfon's etching reprefented him fo: and, if Rich ardson has mifled me, I muft lament that 1 put my trust in a painter and connoifjeur; and I must concur with R. J. in his mean opinion of Faithorne's abilities as an artist. There is another argument in referve to account for the lively eye in Cooper's performance. Milton himself fays, that, though he had loll his fight, it was not perceptible to others, and that his eyes preferved their original luftre." This is hear-fay evidence indeed! how could a blind man tell how his eyes looked? and could he, with certainty, affert that they preferved their original luftre? It is probable enough that fome friend of Milton may have faid, "You look just as if you law;" and that felf-love did the reft.-Milton, in a more recol. lected moment, hefitated as to the nature of his blindness, and he fpake of "a drop ferene, or dim fuffufion." Was this dim fuffuhon confiftent with the ori ginal luftre of his eyes? Your correfpondent, with the help of a pair of compaffes, goes about to prove, that Cooper's painting and Faithorne's drawing are alike: The fame large eye-lid, the fame shaped nofe and mouth, and the fame long line which reaches from the noftril to the corners of the mouth, and the fame head of hair."What, then, becomes of Sir Joshua's opinion, that an idea of Milton's" countenance cannot be got from any of the other pictures?" and as to the head of hair, the cobler of Athens was admitted, by the Reynolds of his day, to be a competent judge with regard to a flipper; fo let twelve independent hair-dreters, good men and true, judge of the head of hair, and I am willing to ftand to their ver dict. Before I examine the famous certificate, it is neceflary that I fhould juftify myfelf for having faid, that, " to impofe on fo fair and worthy a man as Sir Joshua Reynolds is an aggravated of fence."-The inference drawn from this is, that I treated him as a box bomme ! I have lived long enough to obferve phrafes held as fynonymous which have no real connexion, fuch as individuals and focieties, liberty and licence, Whigs and Republicans, and a hundred more. But never till now did I hear that fair and worthy meant the fame thing as bon homme, or filly fellow. For my own part, I fhould confider it as a high enco mium, were my furviving friends to place the epithets of fair and worthy on my tomb, and 1 fhould not fuppole the infcription to be mifapplied, becaufe, while addicted to studies very different from thofe of biography and hand-writ. ing, I had, once in my life, been led to give too much credit to an anonymous memorandum. And now as to this memorandum.➡ Here we have a new authority. It feems that Mr. Tyrwhitt, whofe fkill in matters of this kind is univerfally acknowledged, fcouted the queftion which was put to him, Whether be thought the manufcript was a late fabrication? Without calling in question the authenticity of this anecdote, I mult obferve, that the queftion ought to have been, "Do you fuppofe that this memorandum was written before 1693 " and it is probable that the question was fo put: for the memorandum might have been a fabrication, and yet not a late fabrication. Mr. T. is reported to have anfwered: "The orthography, as well as the colour of the ink, thews it to have been written about a bundred years fince.” That the unpremeditated converfation of learned men is frequently incorrect, or incorrectly reported, may be feen in the Colloquia Menfalia of Luther, in the Scaligeriana, and in Selden's Table Talk. The two circumstances on which Mr. T. is reported to have founded his judgement, do not prove any thing. 1. As to orthography, ufed here for falfe fpelling, the only two words misfpelt are amannuenfis, for amanuenfis, and fecratary, for fecretary. Now, fure ly, Mr. T. would not, upon recollec tion, have faid, that fuch spelling was in ufe about a hundred years ago. 2. As to the colour of the ink, when that is once changed, no man can say at what time the change happened. I have feen a writing not twenty years old, which had affumed the yellow and dingy hue of antiquity; and writings fix hundred years old, having all the freshness of yesterday. Befides, Mr. T. would, on reflexion, have recollected that there exifts a compofition which can give the look of antiquity to a forgery of yesterday. I have known that compofition ufed for very wicked purpofes. Had I been prefent, I fhould have afked another quefiion of Mr. T. as a man of extensive reading: "Was the expreflion fine arts, which occurs in the memoran dum, ufed in English to early as 1693" and I should have afked it not captiously, but for information. R. J. remarks, that even the mistake of fuppofing Deborah Milton to be dead when the memorandum was written, "fhews it to be not a fiction. A man who deals in flion takes care, at leaf, not to be easily detected. No man in these latter days but knows that Deborah Milton lived till 1727, as that circumftance was made notorious to the world from Richardfon's Life of Milton, and from the benefit-play which was given to Deborah's daughter in the year 1752." To this it may be answered, 1. That, if the memorandum was written at any time between 1693 and 1727, the argument of R. J. will be wide of its maik. 2. It is a miftake to fuppofe that a man who deals in fiction takes care not to be eafly detected, for the contrary propofition is much nearer the truth. In the cafe of forgers, we fee the juice of that faving, The wicked shall not understand.` Witnefs the Greek Epifles of Brutus, the Acta Pilati, Jofippon, the whole Works of Annius of Viterbo, the forgeries of Hardinge, &c. &c. 3. It may be afferted, that, at this moment, not one of a bundred of the people in England, even of those who can write and fpell, know that Deborah Milton was alive in 1727, or that the ever had a daughter. R. J. concludes with faying, "The progrefs of the picture feems to be this: Milton ding infolvent, and Deborah Milton of courfe in great indigence, it is very improbable that he would keep to herself a picture of fuch value: it was therefore fold, as we fuppofe, to the author of the memorandum [fuppofed before to have been the eldest fon of Sir William Davenant]; and the account there given is probably fuch as he received from the feller of the picture, who, in order to raife its value, boafts how many great men had defired to have it" This is a moft unfortunate hypothefis throughout. There is no reafon to fuppofe that Milton died infolvent. A regular law-fuit took place in the Commons concerning his nuncupative tefta ment. See Warton, Appendix, p. 28.Letters of adminiftration were afterwards granted to his widow. Ib. p. 41.-Before we can fuppofe that Deborah fold the picture, we muft fuppofe her to have been poffeffed of it. Now the and her fifiers lived apart from their father four or five years before his death." Ib. p. 33. And it is probable that, at that time, Deborah was in Ireland. Ib. p. 41, 7. r. How then came fhe to be poffeffed of the picture? If the was left in extreme indigence, why did the retain the picture from 1674 to 1693 ? Would the fon of Sir William Davenant, tho' a gentleman of education, have written amanuenfis, and fecratary? If he bought the picture from Deborah, he must have known that fhe was alive; and, thould we fuppofe that the tale was managed by an interpofed perfon, ftill it is admitted that that perfon told a long ftring of faifehoods to Mr. Davenant.The hypothefis of R. J. is, that he told falfehoods; my fufpicion is, that he swrote fallehoods: fo we are nearly at Yours, &c. one. 888 SEE Ceremony of Confirmation:- Archbishop Gilbert. 10a. Mr. URBAN, Cornwall, O2, 16. EEING in your Review, p. 842, that the Preface to the new edition of the Blackfmith's Letter is fuppofed to proceed from the fame pen as the " Hiftorical Memoirs of Religious Diffenfion," of which it fpeaks fo handfomely; and as the fuggeftion carries with it a ftamp of duplicity and artifice: I presume upon your well-known candour, that you will give the author of the latter publication the earliest opportunity of fetting your Review right upon this point, and doing away the unfavourable impreffion, by declaring, that he is not only not the author of that fpirited Preface, but that he is totally unacquainted with, and unknown to him; as the publ fhers of the new edition of the Blacksmith's Letter can upon application, testify. J. T. I Mr. URBAN, October 18. SHOULD be very forry to keep alive the little controverfy, if it may be deemed fuch, which has fubfifted in your Magazine, relative to the mode of adminiftering Confirmation; but your correfpondent, p. 799, has not, with fufficient precifion, ftated the difference, or the fimilarity, between the adminiftration of Baptifm and that of Confirmation. I have baptized, in the church where I have officiated for more than ten years, no less than twenty fix infants on one Sunday afternoon: but, although I used one fervice only, fpeak ing in general terms, for the whole number, I neverthelefs took each infant Separately in my arms, and likewife repeated to each infant separately the words, "N. I baptize thee," and "We receive this infant," &c. Now the Diocefan, whofe manner of confirming has given rife to thefe obfervations, does not repeat feparately to each individual perfon the words" Defend, O Lord," &c. although he lays his hand indeed on each perfon's head. The way, therefore, in which Baptifm is adminiftered does not prove the propriety of the method of confirming ufed by the Bishop of London, nay, rather contravenes it. fuppofe all the clergy ufe the words in the Baptifmal Service in the fame manner as I myself do; at leaft, I have never heard of an inftance to the contrary. The impreffive addrefs of the B fhop of London to the young people, after Con firmation, I was a witnefs to. Nothing could be better conceived, nothing I better delivered, nothing could be ut Mr. URBAN, OF D. N. October 22. F your correfpondents *, who have difapproved or vindicated the Bifhop of London's mode of Confirmation, not one feems to have been aware that it did not originate with him, but with Dr. Gilbert, Archbishop of York. This is advanced upon the authority of the late Bishop Newton, from whofe Account of his own Life, and Anecdotes of his Friends (8vo edit. p. 77), the following is an extract : "There is a method of Confirmation which was first introduced by Archbishop Gilbert: he first propofed it to the Clergy of Nottingham at his primary vifitation; and, upon their unanimous approbation, he put it in practice. This was, instead of going round the rail of the Communion-table, and laying his hands upon the heads of two or four perfons held clofe together, and in a low voice repeating the form of prayer over them, he went round the whole rail at once, lai hand upon the head of every person feve then he drew back to the Communion and, when he had gone through the and, in as audible and folemn a ma he could, pronounced the prayer ove all. This had a wonderful effect Clergy and the people were ftruck v decency as well as the novelty of th mony. The Confirmations were pe in lefs time, and with lefs trouble, wi filence and folemnity, and with mor larity. It commanded attention; i devotion; infomuch that feveral fince have adopted the fame method. The objection to this method i at a time? And if the hands of t * See pp. 659, 723, 799, 810, 850. |