MEMOIRS OF REV. S. AYSCOUGH. Te de Sanu, of fingular mental worth and enjoyed the warmest affection of all who knew him, for his unoffending manners, goodnels of difpofition, and fincerity of heart. He was the grandfon of William Ayfcough, of Nottingham, who first brought printing into that town. about 1719. His father, George Ayf cough, fucceeded to the bufinefs of printing, and was an eminent ftationer in that place upwards of 40 years. He was much efteemed, and allied to fome of the most relpectable families in the county. His mind was of a fpeculative turn; and, amongst other parfaits, he fancied he could extract gold from the drofs of coals. On this experiment he wafted much of his property; after which, about 1762, he fettled in a large farm at Great Wiglon in Leicef terhire, where he was unfortunate enough to lofe, not only what remained of his own fubftance, but the private fortunes of his fon and daughter. His fon, Samuel Ayfcough, the fubject of this biographical fkeich, was educated in a feminary at Nottingham, under Mr. Johnson, the author of a book called "Noctes Nottinghamie," gether. with fome advantages he derived ries of private gentlemen, and a fmall by his induftry in regulating the Libra affifiance from his friend, enabled him to fend for his father to town, whom he maintained comfortably for fome years till he died Nov. 18, 1783. (See vol, LIII., pp. 982, 1014.) About the year 1785, he appoints ed an Alliflaut Librarian to the British Muteum on the eftablishment. His ambition was to obtain orders; and, after fome difficulty, he fucceeded in his with, was ordained' to the curacy of Normanton upon Soar in Notting hamthire and afterwards appointed alfillant-curate of the parish of St. Giles in the Fields. Here his regular attendance on his duty) and his excellent character, gained him the good opinion and friendship of Dr. Buckner, now bishop of Chichester, the late truly excellent Mr. Southgate, the Rev. Dr. Willis, and other great and good men. In 1790, he was appointed to preach the Fairchild Lecturet on Whit Tuesday at Shoreditch church before the Royal Society; which he continued to do till the prefent year 1804, when he com pleted the feries of the Difcourfes in XV Sermons. Thefe, we happy to hear, will probably he published by fob are friends will have an opportunity and affified his father in his bulinefs when Mr. Afeough's nu teflifying, though pofthumously, their grateful efteem to meritorious in duitry and integrity. The object of the publication will be, to enable his neareft relative to difcharge a few of his pecuniary incumbrances, which a high fente of honour, more imperious than the strict letter of the law, may require. his experiments, and his farms, unil the property was gone. He then had the care of a mill on the eflate, and worked as a labouring miller for the maintenance of his father and fifter, but with ill fuccefs; when, by accident, a gentleman in London, who was an old fchoolfellow, and an intimate friend in early life, hearing of his fituation and diftrefs, about the year 1770, His labours in Literature were of the fent for him to London, new, cloathed moft ufeful caft, and manifefted a pahim, and obtained for him at firttience and athiduity feldom to be met the office of an overlookes of fome paviours in the fireet; and very fhortly after an employment in the British Muleum, as an Affiftant in the Library under the Principal Librarian, at a very fmail weekly ftipend. At this period, it may be faid, his fortune firft began to fimile, and promite an end to his difficulties. His abilities now had opportunity to unfold themfelves to obfervation; his diligence and frugality gave effect to his talents; and the meeknefs of his difpofition and unaffuming manners very foon attracted notice, and procured efteem. His weekly falary was increated; this, toGENT. MAG. December, 1804, with when united to extenfive knowledge; and his laborious exertions in the vaft and invaluable Library of the British Mufeum is a firiking inftance of his zeal and indefatigable attention. He foon acquired that flight degree of knowledge in feveral languages, and that technical knowledge of old books and of their authors, and particularly that fill in decyphering difficult. Wil /* In 1799, he told a friend, that he had laboured in ne Library fifteen years before he was appointed an Officer, and applied at five vacancies. † For an account of this Lecture, fee Mr. Ellis's Hiftory of Shoreditch, p. 277. tings ting, as amply anfwered his purposes in cataloguifing. He aflified in the adjutment and regulation of the Records in the Tower; and, from his unremitting induftry, was patronifed and beloved by men of the first talents and learning. His fituation and falary were confiderably improved in the Britis Mufeum; and the prefent Lord Chancellor, about twelve months* fince, gave him the living of Cudham, in the county of Kent. By this improvement of income, and fome legacies from his relations, he became more eafy; and, had he lived a few years longer, would have furmounted the pecuniary difficulties into which his unbounded generolity had unavoidably led him. In the conclufion of his Fairchild Lectures, after affectionately taking leave of the audience, he thus introduced himfelf: "The Lord Chancellor has honoured me with a prefentation fufficient to make the evening of life comfortable; and increafing years demand more relaxation from the laborious feenes of life that I have too long accustomed myself to. To him, as the agent made ufe of by Providence to confer this blefling upon me, I muft, as becomes me, inake the moft grateful acknowledgments. To Providence, the Mover, moft humbly on my knees I exprefs my moft unfeigned acknow ledgments of gratitude and love; a Providence in which I ever confided. through all the checquered fcenes of life. Under the moti difireffing, he hath always attended to lend me a willing aid. My nurfe in infancy, my-protector in childhood, my guide in manhood, my friend in the evening of life, and in whom I put full confidence, that be will not forlake me in the hour of death, or in the day of judgment." The frict attention which he paid to his paftoral duties at Cudham may be feen p. 518; and his attachment to the parish, by, his topographical account of it in pp. 830, 901. A fimilar account of Breat Broughton, where he had Jately been on a vifit to the rector, is given in our prefent volume, pp. 105, 209. His death happened on the 30th of October, 1804, at his apartments in the Britif Mufeum, by a dropfy in his cheft, at the age of 59. To trace back the virtues of his heart, through a life of uniform and active benevolence, is a luxury in which the pen would indulge * See vol. LXXIII. p. 1249. with grateful recollection, did the limits of this detail warrant it, or were the abilities of the writer equal to do then juftice. Never were his means fo fcanty as to preclude the exercife of doing good, which was the ruling principle of his foul; and it would be difficult. to determine whether the humility or generofity of his nature had the preeminence; whether his affiduity in be nefiting his fellow-creatures outstripped his defire of concealing it. He, indeed, "Did good by ftealth, and blufh'd to find it fame." The unfortunate ever found in him a fleady friend to the extent of his ability inftances without number the writer of this could record, which came under his immediate obfervation. The children of diftreffed parents he educated and fupported at his own charge, even to the placing one of them at the Univerfity. His time was never denjed, nor his purfe fpared, when he could affift indigent Merit wherever he found it. And the words of our immortal Bard, though applied emphatically to a more eminent fiation in public life, will be found to have been equally appropriate to his humbler fphere of charity: May he long continue to do justice, For truth's fake and his confcience I that his bones, When he has run his courfe, and fleeps in bleffings, May have a tomb of orphans' tears wept on him!" In 1789, he published a fmall political pamphlet, under the title of "Remarks on the Letters of an American Farmer; or a Detection of the Errors of Mr. J. Hector St. John; pointing out the pernicious Tendenev of thole Letters to Great Britain ;" of which fee vol. LIII. p. 1036; and the Monthly Review, vol. LXVIII. p. 336. He was elected F.S.A. în 1789. His very nfeful Catalogue of the MSS. in the British Mufcum has been duly noticed in our vols. LI. pp. 69, 11 Catalogue of Antient Charters LIII. 578.. in that matchlefs collection (amounting to about 16,000), it is to be hoped, will ere long be published by the Record Committee of the Houfe of Commons. It is very complete, in 3 krge volumes; and has a double Index. His other labours it would be endlefs to detail. Among the principal of them are, no fmall portion of the 2 Librorum Imprefforum qui in Mufeo Britannico adfervantur Catalogus, 1787," 2 vols. folio; of which about two-thirds were compiled by Dr. Maty and Mr. Harper; the remainder by Mr. Ayfcough. In the new Catalogue, lately made, his perfonal affifiance confilled principally in altering the politions of the books in the Library, which, under Mr. Harper's direction, were reduced to claffes; and the principal entries in his hand-writing are thofe which relate to the rich collection of Pamphlets prefented by his prefent Majelty in 1762. In Index-inaking he was remarkably expert, and indeed had much experience. He lately told a friend, that he had indexed as much, at different times, as bad produced him 18001. Among thefe was a verbal Index to Shaktpeare, for which he had 200 guineas; an Index to Bridges's Northamptonshire; to Manning's Surrey; to LVI volumes of the Gentleman's Magazine; to Maty's Review; to the Monthly Review 1749 -1791; to XX volumes of the Bri tish Critic; to XI volumes of Dodfley's Annual Regifter; and to Two of the lately-publifhed volumes of National Records. IN your Magazine for September, which did not happen to come into my hands till yefterday, I fee (p. 823) a correfpondence publifhed, which paffed between Dr. Lettfom and myfelf, relative to the Doctor's atteftation of the efficacy of Mr. Forfyth's compofition for reftoring decayed trees. Two of the three letters bearing my fignature were confidered by me as private letters, and as fuch I did not expect to fee them in print; but if the publication of them become the means of at tracting the public attention to the points in difpute, and to the difcovery of truth, I fhall feel greatly indebted to the Doctor for having printed them; but I could with the Doctor had been fomewhat more communicative to the publick refpecting-his reafons for having delayed publifhing thofe letters, or agitating the queftion to which they belong, till Death had placed Mr. Forfyth beyond the reach of cenfure or of praife. If he could have vindicated the character of Mr. Forfyth, whom he calls his friend, why did he not fooner attempt to do fo, or affign fome reafons for his filence? was " Mr. Forfyth pofitively afferts, that his compofition cures the wounds of Oak-trees, and that fuch trees are thereby rendered as fit for the Navy as though they had never been injured; that he has reftored Elms to the moft luxuriant flate of growth, of which "nothing re mained but the bark;" that in wounded elms, of which he had cut away the decayed part, "the new wood is as completely united to the old as if it had been originally formed with the tree; and that he filled a large tree, which hollow from top to bottom, with new found wood, which has completely incorporated with what little of the old wood remained." Having repeatedly examined with the utmost attention the trees which had been the fubjects of Mr. Forfyth's experiments, I pledged my character to the publick, that the preceding statements were completely unfounded and Dr. Lettfom has fubfequently figned and published an atteflation, that, according to his actual obfervation and knowledge, the whole of thofe ftatements contains nothing more than the truth." As the difcovery of the meaus of rendering decayed and hollow trees as "fit for the Navy as though they had never been injured" would be of vaft importance to the publick, and as Dr. Lettfom's character and veracity and my own appeared to be placed in oppolite fcales; I propofed to him that he fhould call on his friend Mr. Forfyth to produce fome of thofe fections of trees, afferted and attefted to be in his poffeffion, which were once hollow, but fince converted by him into found timber and that the Doctor fhould join me in a petition to the Prefident of the Royal Society, to appoint proper perfons to examine fuch fections of trees, and to report the refult of fuch examination. Every perfon at all converfant in timber knows, that the queftion in difpute might thus have been brought to an end without the poflibility of error. Dr. Lettfom, however, declined this method of bringing the queftion to decifion, on the ground, that he never meant to enter into a controverly. But did he not enter into the controverfy, and with a great degree of violence, when he gave an attellation to one of the parties, pofitively deciding, or attempting to decide, the whole matter in controverfy, by declaring, from his |