correspondence between the two sides of any animal, the right hand answering to the left, and so on, is touched upon, as a proof of a contriving Creator, and a very striking one it is. Well! we have a long and abstruse problem in chances worked out to show that it was so many millions, and so many odd thousands to one, that accident could not have produced the phenomenon; not a bit of it. Paley (who was probably scratching his head at the moment) offers no other confirmation of his assertion, than that it is the most difficult thing in the world to get a wig made even, seldom as it is that the face is made awry. The circulation of the blood, and the provision for its getting from the heart to the extremities, and back again, affords a singular demonstration of the Maker of the body being an admirable Master both of mechanics and hydrostatics. But what is the language in which Paley talks of this process ?-technical ?-that mystical nomenclature of Diaforius, which frightens country patients out of their wits, thinking as they very naturally do, that a disease must be very horrid which involves such very horrid names? Hear our anatomist from Giggleswick. 'The aorta of a whale is larger in the bore than the main-pipe of the water-works at London Bridge; and the roaring in the passage through that pipe is inferior, in impetus and velocity, to the blood gushing from the whale's heart.' He cares not whence he fetches his illustrations, provided they are to the purpose. The laminæ of the feathers of birds are kept together by teeth that hook into one another, as a latch enters into the catch, and fastens a door.' The eyes of the mole are protected by being very small, and buried deep in a cushion of skin, so that the apertures leading to them are like pin-holes in a piece of velvet, scarcely pervious to loose particles of earth. The snail without wings, feet, or thread, adheres to a stalk by a provision of stickingplaster. The lobster, as he grows, is furnished with a way of uncasing himself of his buckler, and drawing his legs out of his boots when they become too small for him. In this unambitious manner does Paley prosecute his high theme, drawing, as it were, philosophy from the clouds. But it is not merely the fund of entertaining knowledge which the 'Natural Theology' contains, or the admirable address displayed in the adaptation of it, which fits it for working conviction; the 'sunshine of the breast,' the cheerful spirit with which its benevolent author goes on his way (xudu yaav), this it is that carries the coldest reader captive, and constrains him to confess within himself, and even in spite of himself, it is good for me to be here.' Voltaire may send his hero about the world to spy out its morbid anatomy with a fiendish satisfaction, and those may follow him in his nauseous errand who will, but give us the feelings of the man who could pour forth his spirit in such language as this: It is a happy world after all; the air, the earth, the water, teem with delighted existence. In a spring noon, or a summer's evening, on whichever side I turn mine eyes, myriads of happy beings crowd upon my view. "The insect youth are on the wing." Swarms of new-born flies are trying their pinions in the air. Their sportive motions, their wanton mazes, their gratuitous activity, their continual change of place without use or purpose, testify their joy, and the exultation they feel in their lately discovered faculties.'

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"Mr Blanco White read the Natural Theology,' and was thereby induced to read the Evidences.' This is precisely what we have been

arguing for; thus let the blow be followed up. The truth of Christianity depends upon the truth of its leading facts. Here are a number of transactions recorded, which do not relate to an obscure clan in some wild and sequestered corner of the earth, but such as are said to have happened in a most civilized age, and amongst a well known people. They involve the customs, the rites, the prejudices of many nations and languages; they are full of allusions to their institutions, domestic, civil, political, religious; they constantly lay themselves open to a scrutiny on the minutest points of geography, of history, of chronology. They not unfrequently make mention of individuals,-of individuals not so famous as to be spoken of with safety on public report alone, nor yet so obscure as to admit of being spoken of at random without detection. They not seldom refer to the accidents of the day, a tumult, a conspiracy, a dearth. What room is there here for the application of tests to ascertain their veracity! If they endure such tests, (as they do,) the cumulative argument is little short of demonstration. But this very same history, of which the component parts are marked by characters of truth thus various, tells of miracles. What is to be done with these? Yet, if these be true, then is not preaching vain, nor faith vain. The Hora Pauline' is but one of these many departments of evidence; but it is, perhaps, the most satisfactory, and certainly the most ingenious of them all."

Paley is described, by a writer in the New Monthly Magazine,' as having been a thick, short, square-built man; with a face which, though animated and cheerful, could not but at first sight appear ugly; with bushy brows, snub nose, and projecting teeth; with an awkward gait and movement of the arms, and a decent and dignified, but by no means excessive, protuberance of the belly; wearing a white wig, and a court coat, but without a cassock,-for to this part of the dress of a dignified ecclesiastic, he had a particular dislike, calling it a black apron, such as the master-tailors wear in Durham.' His utterance was indistinct, and his dialect remarkably provincial: "When the persons with whom he conversed were near him, he talked between his teeth; but there was a variety and propriety in his tones,-an emphasis, so pronounced, and so clearly conveying his meaning,-assisted, too, by an intelligent smile, or arch leer, that not only what was really witty appeared doubly clever, but his ordinary remarks seemed ingenious."

Bishop Horsley.

BORN A. D. 1733.—died a. D. 1806.

THIS celebrated prelate was born in London, in the parish of St Martin's, of which his father was incumbent. He was educated at Westminster school, whence he was sent to Cambridge, where he took the degree of LL.B. in 1758.

He early attained distinguished proficiency in mathematical studies. His edition of Apollonius, printed at the Clarendon press in 1769, obtained for him a high rank amongst the geometricians of his country.

'Quarterly Review.

In 1773 he was chosen secretary of the Royal society. In 1774 he was presented by the earl of Aylesford, to whom he had acted as tutor, with the rectory of Aldbury; and, in the same year, he received the degree of LL.D. from Oxford. Bishop Lowth, soon after this, appointed him his private chaplain, and gave him a prebendal stall in St Paul's.

In 1778 he preached his celebrated Good-Friday sermon in St Paul's cathedral, in which, with equal acuteness and force, he attacked the Necessarian hypothesis. In 1781 he was appointed archdeacon of St Alban's. At a visitation, held 22d May, 1783, he delivered a charge to the clergy of his archdeaconry, in which he severely animadverted upon Priestley's History of the Corruptions of Christianity.' In this discourse, Horsley maintains that the opinions of Dr Priestley on the subject in question are in general the same with those of Daniel Zuicker, a Prussian divine of the preceding century, viz. that the first race of Christians were Unitarians; the second, Arians. The arguments, too, by which both Priestley and Zuicker support their assertions, Dr Horsley shows to be the same; and he then proves to our conviction that the faith of the first Christians was not Unitarian. It follows, of course, and he shows by additional evidence, that what was believed by the first race of Christians could be no invention of the second. He farther shows that the notion of a Trinity, more or less removed from the purity of the Christian faith, is found to have been a leading principle in all the ancient schools of philosophy, and in the religions of almost all nations. Dr Priestley's assumption, that the doctrine of our Lord's divinity was an innovation of the Platonic Christians of the second century, being overthrown by direct proof that this pretended innovation was a part of the faith of the first Christians, all secondary arguments became insignificant: our author, however, reviews some of these, and shows their frivolity. Dr Horsley goes on to show that the notion of the gradual progress of opinions, from the mere Unitarian doctrine to the Arian, and from the Arian to the Athanasian faith, is wholly groundless. Dr Priestley instantly replied to the archdeacon, in a series of letters, in which he repeated all his former assertions. Horsley rejoined with still greater force and severity. Dr Priestley continued the combat in another series of letters, to which the archdeacon again replied. The controversy here closed on the part of the latter; who signified that it was an endless task to contend upon an exhausted topic, with one who was never disposed to cease disputing till he had obtained the last word. In 1789 Dr Horsley · collected these tracts, and printed them in one volume octavo, with some additions, particularly a sermon on the incarnation, preached at Newington, on Christmas-day 1785; and which, having a material relation to the controversy in question, he thought proper to insert in this collection.

While this dispute was going on, Dr Horsley was engaged in another which made nearly as much noise as the first, at least in the scientific world. When Sir Joseph Banks was chosen president of the Royal society, on the resignation of Sir John Pringle, the mathematical and philosophical members of the Newtonian school were disgusted at the extraordinary preference which was shown to subjects, as they conceived, of an inferior nature to those which ought to engage the atten

tion of their learned society. It has been said that cabals were formed by those members of the old stamp against the president and his friends; but of this no proof was ever brought forward. In 1784, however, the latter ventured upon a step which could not fail to fan the smothering flame into a blaze. The council thought proper to dismiss the learned Dr Hutton from the office of Latin secretary for foreign correspondence upon the very frivolous pretence that it was improper such a post should be filled by a person who did not reside in the metropolis. The scientific members took fire at this treatment of one of the ablest and most respectable of their body. Accordingly, in several meetings of the society, attempts were made to lessen the influence of their president, and to reinstate Dr Hutton in his place, but without success. In this contest between philosophy and the virtuosi, Dr Horsley made the most conspicuous figure. Finding, however, that his labours, and those of his learned associates, were in vain, he forsook (to express it in his own forcible language) "that temple, where philosophy once reigned, and where Newton presided as her officiating minister."

In 1786, Dr Horsley obtained, without either solicitation or even expectancy, a prebend in the cathedral church of Gloucester. His friend, on this occasion, was Lord Thurlow, then chancellor; who, without being personally known to Dr Horsley, or receiving any application on his behalf, resisted every request that was made for this valuable preferment, and bestowed it upon the man whom he justly considered as having merited it the most.

In 1788, Dr Horsley was elevated to the episcopal bench, on the translation of Dr Smallwell from the see of St David's to that of Oxford. Lord Thurlow, on this occasion, was again his steady and unsolicited patron; and made it a point to bring in his friend, in opposition to candidates who were backed by all the force of ministerial influence. His conduct in the see of St David's was highly praiseworthy. Of all the bishoprics, no one exhibited more poverty or more ignorance on the part of the clergy than this. Many of the curacies, when his lordship entered upon the government of this extensive diocese, did not exceed ten pounds per annum, and some of the churches were actually served for five! What was still worse, the multitude of candidates for orders increased yearly; so that Wales poured her superfluous clergy into England, to the disgrace of the cloth, and the real injury of such as were regularly bred. A reform was therefore necessary, but it required a strong and persevering mind to accomplish it. Dr Horsley was not to be daunted by any obstacles. He obtained an accurate and minute state of his diocese. He then gave notice to the beneficed clergy, who did not reside, that they would be compelled to residence, or to allow their curates a more liberal salary. By these means, he remedied that shameful abuse of one man's serving several churches on the same day; directing that a curate should serve two only, and those within a moderate distance of each other. Having regulated the condition of the clergy, he proceeded to a stricter course with respect to candidates for holy orders, admitting none without personally examining them himself, and looking very narrowly into the titles which they produced. With all this vigilance, his lordship acted to them as a tender father, encouraging them to visit him during his stay in the country, which was usually for several months in the year, assisting them with

advice, and administering to their temporal necessities with a liberal and paternal hand.

In 1793, Bishop Horsley was translated from the see of St David's to that of Rochester, with the deanery of Westminster. In 1796 he printed, without his name, a profound and elegant dissertation on the Latin and Greek Prosodies.-In this learned performance he shows an uncommon acquaintance with the nature and construction of the ancient languages, and approves himself a powerful advocate for the use of the Greek accents. In the year 1800 was published, The Substance of the Bishop of Rochester's Speech in the House of Peers, May the 23d, in the Debate on the third reading of the Bill for the Punishment, and more effectual Prevention, of the crime of Adultery.' This speech combines all the energy of diction and vigorous turn of thought that characterizes the rest of his productions; but many of his arguments are founded on doubtful constructions. In the same year appeared his 'Critical Disquisitions on the eighteenth chapter of Isaiah, in a Letter to Edward King, Esq.' He likewise published, in the year 1800, a charge to the clergy of his diocese, delivered at his second general visitation, in which he indignantly reprobates the principles of the French philosophers and German illuminati, and expresses some apprehension concerning the progress of Methodism in his own country. In 1801, he published an octavo volume, entitled ' Elementary Treatises on the Fundamental Principles of Practical Mathematics, for the use of Students.' Although published first, this is the last in order of three volumes of Elementary Geometry which this prelate sent forth from the Clarendon press. The other two volumes were in Latin, and the last of them made its appearance in 1803. The first volume contains the twelve books of Euclid, with the author's corrections; the second, Euclid's data, a book on the properties of the sphere, Archimedes on the dimensions of the circle, and Dr Keil's elegant treatise on the nature and use of logarithms; and the third, in English, consisted, according to the title, of Elementary Treatises.

In 1802, this indefatigable prelate published a new translation of the prophet Hosea, with notes critical and explanatory, which evince profound erudition and patient perseverance. He was, in the same year, on the demise of Dr Bagot, translated to the more lucrative see of St Asaph. In 1804 was published, the substance of his speech on the 23d July, on the bill for the relief of certain incumbents of livings in London. In behalf of this measure, the bishop argued with fairness and ability. Soon afterwards appeared his sermon on 'Christ's Descent into Hell, and the intermediate State,' from 1 Peter iii. 18-20, which was intended to have formed part of the appendix to the second edition of his translation of Hosea. In 1805, Dr Horsley printed a critical essay On Virgil's two Seasons of Honey, and his Season of sowing Wheat; with a new and compendious Method of investigating the Risings and Settings of the Fixed Stars; and on the 5th of December, in the same year, he preached, in the cathedral of St Asaph, a sermon, which he afterwards published, under the title of The Watchers and the Holy Ones.'

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As a

This indefatigable prelate died on the 4th of October, 1806. polemical theologian he holds a foremost place. It is deeply to be regretted, however, that he should have frequently expressed himself in a