confounded with the rest), in which is contained whatsoever is necessary for the illustration of any part of the Creed, as to them which have any knowledge of the Latin, Greek, and original languages, of the writings of the ancient fathers, the doctrines of the Jews, and the history of the Church,-those great advantages towards a right conception of the Christian religion."

On the Restoration, Pearson's eminent merits were rewarded with high preferment in the Church, and high station in his university. He became in succession Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, and Master of Jesus College, Cambridge; and he obtained the rectory of St. Christopher's, London, and a stall at Ely Cathedral. In 1662 he was made Master of Trinity in Cambridge; and in 1673, on the death of Bishop Wilkins, he was raised to the see of Chester, over which diocese he continued to preside till his death in 1686.

Pearson was one of the divines of the Church of England who were selected and appointed by Royal Commission in 1661 to meet an equal number of Nonconformist divines for the purpose of reviewing the Liturgy of the Church of England, and, if possible, removing all differences respecting it. Pearson took an active part in the Savoy conferences, which were held in consequence of this commission: and by the confession of Baxter, himself the ablest of the Presbyterian champions, Pearson was by far the first of the divines who represented the Church of England in that discussion, in learning, in judgment, and in powers of argument.

Besides his great work on the Creed, Bishop Pearson is the author of a 'Vindication of the Epistles of St. Ignatius,' of 'Dissertations on the rise and succession of the early Bishops of Rome,' and some other theological treatises. He also collected and published the literary remains of his friend John Hales, of Eton. (Biog. Brit.-Preface to Exposition of Creed.)

BISHOP SHERLOCK.

THOMAS SHERLOCK was the son of Dr. William Sherlock, Master of the Temple, and author of the still well-known 'Practical Discourse concerning Death.' Thomas Sherlock was born at London, in 1678. He was educated at Eton, where he had Bolingbroke,

Townshend, and Robert and Horace Walpole among his schoolcompanions. With Townshend and the Walpoles Sherlock is said to have formed friendships at Eton, to which he owed much of the worldly good fortune which attended him through life. Sherlock distinguished himself at Eton not only in scholarship but in every vigorous game. He was the best and boldest swimmer in the school; and Warton, on the authority of Walpole, interprets Pope's expression the plunging prelate,' which is applied to Sherlock in the Dunciad, as allusive to Sherlock's youthful renown for taking headers. In our days we have known a similar epithet good-humouredly applied for a similar reason to another excellent Etonian. May our modern 'swimming bishop' meet with as much prosperity in his arduous career in England's colonies, as Sherlock met with at home.

Sherlock entered Cambridge in 1693, where he was admitted at Catherine Hall, under the tuition of Dr. Long. His future great rival and contemporary, Hoadly, had entered this college one year before him; and it is a curious fact noticed by Mr. Hughes, in his memoir prefixed to Valpy's edition of Sherlock's works, that the master, the tutor, the rival student, and himself were all destined to attain the episcopal bench. Sir W. Dawes, Master of Catherine, was made bishop of Chester in 1707; and Dr. Long, bishop of Norwich, in 1723. Sherlock, in the person of the future Bishop of Winchester, found a rival worthy of him, and one whose rivalry continued to stimulate him to renewed exertions long after they had both exchanged the academic arena for a wider and more important field of combat. It is said that the two young men very soon discovered their destiny as rivals, and in consequence never regarded each other with feelings of peculiar complacency. One day, as they were returning together from their tutor's lecture on "Tully's Offices," Hoadly observed, "Well, Sherlock, you figured away finely to-day by help of Cockman!" No, indeed!" replied Sherlock, "I did not; for though I tried all I could to get a copy, I heard of only one; and that you had secured."

Sherlock was an excellent classic, but the bent of his mind was more to mathematics, to which he applied himself with the greatest ardour, and with great honour. He was also an earnest student of metaphysics. He took his degree with high distinction in 1697. In 1698 he was elected a Fellow of his college, and soon afterwards took holy orders.

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In 1704, Sherlock was appointed to succeed his father in the Mastership of the Temple. The sermons delivered by him in the Temple Church, which are published among his works, are justly considered to be some of the best specimens of pulpit oratory in the language. One of the "Quarterly Reviewers," in speaking of the various schools of preaching, says :

"The calm and dispassionate disquisition on some text of Scripture, or the discussion of some theological question, henceforward (after the Restoration) to be the exclusive object of an English sermon, was carried by Sherlock to a perfection rarely rivalled, unless by Smalridge, nearly his own contemporary, and by Horsley in more recent times. The question is clearly stated and limited, -every objection anticipated,-and the language is uniformly manly and vigorous. Sherlock indeed occasionally breaks out in passages of greater warmth and earnestness."

The truth is, that he is always earnest, but seldom excited; and this is what best befits the gravity of the pulpit. An enthusiastic preacher is almost always certain either to rush into rant or to sink into sentimentality, both of which are not only sins against good taste, but are by far more serious errors, on account of the disgust which they excite in the best educated and most intellectual part of the audience; a disgust which is too apt to be extended to the place as well as to the preacher.

In 1714, Sherlock was elected Master of Catherine Hall, and in 1715, he was made Dean of Carlisle. He came forward early in the celebrated Bangorian controversy, as Bishop Hoadly's most formidable opponent. He showed in this contest his own independence, and freely risked the loss of the favour which he enjoyed at Court to do what he considered his duty to the Church. He was removed from the list of King's chaplains in 1717; but his high reputation and the friendship of Walpole soon not only restored him, but raised him to much higher rank.

In the controversies which arose at that period respecting the proofs of the divine origin of Christianity, Dr. Sherlock distinguished himself by his valuable writings, particularly his "Use and Intent of Prophecy," and his "Trial of the Witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus," which is a masterly reply to the objections of those who reject the evidence of miracles, and particularly to those of Woolston. In 1727 he succeeded his old opponent Hoadly as Bishop of Bangor, and was translated to Salisbury in 1734. His

learning and eloquence gave him considerable weight in the debates of the House of Lords, and his reputation both as a divine and a ruler in the Church was so great that in 1747 the Archbishopric of Canterbury was offered to his acceptance, but declined by him on account of the state of his health. In the next year, however, he accepted the Bishopric of London.

In 1750 he published his celebrated "Pastoral Letter to the Clergy and Inhabitants of London and Westminster on occasion of the late Earthquakes." Some severe shocks of an earthquake were felt in the region of the metropolis and other parts of England in that year, and the utmost consternation prevailed. Bishop Sherlock's address was, in this excited state of public feeling, bought up and read with such eagerness that more than 100,000 copies were sold within a month. In 1759 Sherlock published an excellent charge to his clergy, in which he expatiates very forcibly on the evils of non-residence. Bishop Sherlock died at the advanced age of 84, on the 18th of July, 1761. (Life by Hughes.-Cunningham's British Biography.)

On approaching the close of the seventeenth century, we find the names of Eton statesmen increasing rapidly in number and in renown. Indeed, for the last hundred and fifty years Eton has supplied our Houses of Parliament with an unbroken succession of chiefs in the war of eloquence; and for far the greater portion of those years she has supplied England with her Premiers. Lord Bolingbroke, Sir William Wyndham, Sir Robert Walpole, Lord Townshend, Lord Lyttelton, Lord Chatham, the elder Fox, Lord North, Charles James Fox, Mr. Wyndham, the Marquess of Wellesley, Lord Grenville, Canning, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Grey, and Lord Stanley-are all Etonians. The names of other living statesmen, besides the great Duke's, might be added to this list; but this work does not comprise the memoirs of the living; and long may it be before it will be possible for any writer to complete a biography of the hero-statesman whom I have named, or of the other distinguished political chiefs of the present time to whom I have referred.

I pass to the consideration of the life and character of the greatest of our statesmen.

SIR ROBERT WALPOLE.

ROBERT WALPOLE (afterwards Sir Robert Walpole, and first Earl of Orford) was born at Houghton, in Norfolk, on the 26th of August, 1676. His family was ancient, honourable, and opulent, and his father had signalised himself in his county by his zeal in promoting the Revolution of 1688. Fortunately for Sir Robert Walpole he was a third son; for his natural easy disposition, and love of society and pleasure, would probably have fixed him in indolence and obscurity for life, if he had been brought up with the expectation of inheriting his father's estate. But the knowledge that he was a younger son, and that he must look to his own exertions for his fortune, taught him the necessity of making early use of his abilities and opportunities, and his strong common sense must have soon shown him the practical value of application and regularity. After being for a short time at a private school at Massingham, he was placed at Eton on the foundation, where he was educated under the care of Mr. Newborough, the head master of the school, who seems early to have discerned and appreciated the solid merits of Walpole's mind, and is said to have taken peculiar pains in stimulating him to exertion. This judicious care, and the beneficial effects of the emulation which prevails in a public school, co-operated with Walpole's knowledge of the necessity for exertion which his prospects in the world required; and he acquired at Eton the deserved character of an excellent classical scholar. Horace was his favourite author, and continued so during his life, when his familiarity with other classics had long faded away. His talents for oratory must have shown themselves very early, for Coxe records (and I have heard the anecdote confirmed from family tradition by Mr. Spencer Walpole, the present member for Midhurst,) that when Walpole and St. John were young members of the House of Commons, and the success of the latter there was reported to Newborough, under whom both had been educated, he replied, "But I am impatient to hear of Robert Walpole having spoken; for I am convinced that he will be a good orator."

It is commonly stated that the rivalry between St. John and Walpole commenced while they were contemporaries at Eton.