self more fully to his pursuits of literary study; and it will therefore be proper to take a view, in the next chapter, of the works of literature which he had produced, with a diligence scarcely to be surpassed, up to the present period; and also a brief notice of the various talents with which he was endowed.

It is singular, that among his copious Manuscript Minutes he has left scarcely any records of the employment of his time in study*. He appears to have noted, in his memorandums, only the pleasures which he enjoyed in society, or the benefits which he diffused in it. It will, however, be partly seen from the following letter, by what methods he found leisure and opportunity for his deep and important researches.

A 『,

To the Rev. Dr. Rutherforth. [BXTRACT.]

"Dear Sir, "London, 24th August, 1771. "It has been a matter of great concern to me, that I have not been able to cultivate that correspondence and friendship with which you have been pleased to honour me, for I was ever truly sensible of the advantage and

* Some few only are found in the following minutes: MS. August 6th, 1775.-Packed up such of my books and papers as I wanted, and in the evening brought them to 'brother William's lodging at Hackney, in order to be private; and was employed without interruption in preparing several

'tracts.

October 19.-At Bamborough Castle. Finished my tract "On the Law of Retribution.”’

improvement which I might have reaped from it. The remarks, which I send enclosed, were indeed drawn up in answer to your letter, so long ago as August 1770, but ever since that time, till the last month, I have lived in a continual hurry; almost my whole time from morning till night being taken up in my office business, except now and then some little engagement with my brothers, which I could not well avoid; so that I have not had leisure to this time. We keep no holidays in the Ordnance, as in other public offices, and I am stationed in the most laborious post in the whole office; so that, as my time is not my own, I profess myself entirely incapable of holding a literary correspondence. What little time I have been able to save from sleep at night, and early in a morning, has been necessarily employed in the examination of some points of law, which admitted of no delay, and yet required the most diligent researches and examination in my study. And I have not scrupled to employ, now and then, even the leisure of a Sunday in this manner, because my labour has not been for profit, but merely with a view to do good and prevent injustice, by pointing out some notorious corruptions in the beaten paths of the law, which has enabled me to serve a few individuals, I hope with good effect.

"I should not have mentioned such particulars as these, relating to the employment of my time, had it not been necessary for me to convince you that my ordinary excuse, the want of leisure, was not feigned, and that my whole time has been unavoidably engrossed.

"With great esteem and respect, &c.

He gives a similar account in one of his letters to Mr. Benezet, on the subject of African slavery..

"Dear Sir,

7th July, 1773.

"I hope you will not measure my esteem for you by my negligence in writing. I found myself obliged to defer acknowledging your very sensible letters, for want of proper leisure; for I am really a sort of slave myself, being obliged to employ every day in the week, constantly, in the ordinary business of my office, and having no holidays but Sundays, as the branch that I am in requires more attendance than any in the whole office. However, every opportunity that I could possibly get to myself (and Sundays in particular, after service) has been employed in reading and collecting materials to forward the undertaking which you have so much at heart," &c. &c.

CHAP. VII.

MR. SHARP's first literary enterprise was a work of no indifferent magnitude, if we regard the subject of it, though it consisted of a few pages only in duodecimo. It was printed in the year 1765, in answer to the Rev. Dr. Kennicott's statement of supposed corruptions in the Hebrew text of Ezra and Nehemiah. It was called, "Remarks on a printed Paper lately handed about, entitled, A ""Catalogue of the sacred Vessels restored by Cyrus, "" and of the chief Jews who returned at first from "the Captivity, together with the Names of the "returning Families, and the Number of the "Persons at that Time in each Family: disposed "'in such a Manner as to show most clearly the great Corruption of proper Names and Numbers "in the present Text of the Old Testament." "Addressed to all such Gentlemen as have received "or read the same."

The boldness of this attempt cannot be regarded without surprise. It were surely no trifling hazard for a young author, however accomplished for controversy by the regular instruction of the schools, to make his first essay against one of the ablest scholars of the day, on points in which he was allowed to be

pre-eminently learned. But Dr. Kennicott's present antagonist had received no classical education: he had left the only school at which he had ever been placed, before he had attained any solid acquaintance with the languages of antiquity; and he had, ever since that early period of his life, been confined to the most unremitting employment of all the ordinary hours of labour. His uncle, the Rev. Granville Wheler, on reading his corrections of Dr. Kennicott's Catalogue, humorously compared him to David attacking and wounding Goliath.

This work gave the first proof of his unwearied powers of application, and of the strong bent of his mind to the pursuit of Biblical knowledge. The singularity of the subject, the confidence with which his enterprise was supported, and the success with which it was finally attended, form one of the most remarkable incidents in literary annals *.

Dr. Kennicott is well known in the literary world for his laborious and valuable edition of the Hebrew Bible. He laid the foundation of his great work in 1753: his first volume was published in 1776; and the whole was completed in 1780. He had published proposals, in the year 1760, for printing, by subscription, a new edition of the Hebrew Bible,

Mr. Sharp's controversy with Dr. Kennicott, in the part of his undertaking here mentioned, appears to be an anecdote unknown to Dr. K.'s biographers. The letters, which passed on this occasion, are preserved among Mr. Sharp's Correspondence.