pany, that is, of idle fellow commoners and other persons of fortune; but their manners never subdued my prudence. I had a strong ambition to be distinguished, and was sensible that, though wealth might plead some excuse for idleness, extravagance, and folly in others, the want of wealth could plead none for me. When I used to be returning to my room at one or two in the morning, after spending a jolly evening, I often observed a light in the chamber of one of the same standing with myself; this never failed to excite my jealousy, and the next day was always a day of hard study. I have gone without my dinner a hundred times on such occasions."__“I generally studied mathematics in the morning, and classics in the afternoon; and used to get by heart such parts of orations, either in Greek or Latin, as particularly pleased me. Demosthenes was the orator, Tacitus the historian, and Persius the satirist, whom I most admired." In January 1759, he took his Bachelor of Arts degree; and on the 1st of October 1760, was elected a Fellow of Trinity College. Four years afterwards he was unanimously elected by the Senate assembled in full congregation, Professor of Chemistry. If his application for this office, in the circumstances in which he made it, is a proof of his presumption, the success which attended his exertions is no less a proof of his abilities and per severance. "At the time that honour was conferred on me,” he says, "I knew nothing at all of chemistry,-had never read a syllable on the subject, nor seen a single experiment on it, but I was tired with mathematics and natural philosophy; and the vehementissima gloria cupido stimulated me to try my strength in a new pursuit, and the kindness of the University (it was always kind to me) animated me to very extraordinary exertions. I sent, immediately after my election, for an operator to Paris, I buried myself, as it were, in my laboratory, at least as much as my other avocations would permit, and, in fourteen months from my election, I read a course of chemical lectures to a very full audience, consisting of persons of all ages and degrees in the University." He adds, in a very characteristic manner, "I now look back with a kind of terror at the application I used in the younger part of my life. For months and years together I frequently read three public lectures in Trinity College, beginning at eight o'clock in the morning; spent four or five hours with private pupils, and five or six more in my laboratory every day, besides the incidental business of presiding in the Soph's schools. Had so much pains and time been dedicated to Greek and Hebrew, and to what are called learned subjects, what tiresome collations of manuscripts, what argute emendations of text, what jejune criticisms, what dull dissertations, what ponderous logomachies, might have been produced and left to sleep on the same shelves with bulky systems of German divinity in the libraries of Universities!" His next step was the divinity chair, of his advancement to which he thus speaks. "In October 1771, when I was preparing for another course of chemistry, and printing a new chemical Syllabus, Dr Rutherforth, Regius Professor of Divinity, died. This professorship, as being one of the most arduous and honourable offices in the University, had long been the secret object of my ambition. I had for years determined, in my own mind, to endeavour to succeed Dr Rutherforth, provided he qualified for the undertaking. His prelived till I was of a proper age, and fully mature and unexpected death quite disheartened me. I knew as much of divinity as could reasonably be expected from a man whose course of studies had been directed to, and whose time had been fully occupied in, other pursuits; but, with this curta supellex in theology to take possession of the first professional chair in Europe, seemed too daring an attempt even for my intrepidity. However, not being of a temper to be discouraged by difficulties, and not observing that any men of distinguished talents stood forth as candidates for the professorship, except Dr Gordon, and thinking that I would labour night and day till I was qualified for the office, if I were appointed to it, and knowing that I was sufficiently versed in dialectics, from having presided many years in the philosophical schools, I determined to sound the University, and, if I found the general sense of the body favourable to my pretensions, to become a candidate." He was unanimously elected on the 14th of November. "Thus did I," he then proceeds," by hard and incessant labour for seventeen years, attain, at the age of thirty-four, the first office for honour in the University, and, exclusive of the mastership of Trinity College, I have made it the first for profit. I found the professorship not worth quite L. 300 a-year, and it is now worth L. 1000 at the least. On being raised to this distinguished office, I immediately applied myself, with great eagerness, to the study of divinity. Eagerness, indeed, in the pursuit of knowledge, was a part of my tem per, till the acquisition of knowledge was attended with nothing but the neglect of the King and his ministers; and I feel, by a broken constitution at this hour, the effects of that literary diligence with which I laboured for a great many years. I reduced the study of divinity into as narrow a compass as I could, for I determined to study nothing but my Bible, being much unconcerned about the opinions of councils, fathers, churches, bishops, and other men as little inspired as myself. This mode of proceeding being opposite to the general one, and especially to that of the master of Peterhouse, who was a great reader, he used to call me Autodidaxlos, the selftaught divine. The Professor of Divinity had been called Malleus Hæreticorum; it was thought to be his duty to demolish every opinion which militated against what is called the Orthodoxy of the Church of England. Now my mind was wholly unbiassed; I had no prejudice against, or predilection for, the Church of England; but a sincere regard for the Church of Christ, and an insuperable objection to every degree of dogmatical intolerance. I never troubled myself with answering any arguments which the opponents in the divinity schools brought against the articles of the church, nor even admitted their authority as decisive of a difficulty; but I used, on such occasions, to say to them, holding the New Testament in my hand, En sacrum codicom! Here is the fountain of truth, why do you follow the streams derived from it by the sophistry, or polluted by the passions of man? If you can bring proof against any thing delivered in this book, I shall think it my duty to reply to you. Articles of churches are not of divine authority, have done with them, for they may be true,-they may be false, -and appeal to the book itself. This mode of disputing gained me no credit with the hierarchy, but I thought it an honest one, and it produced a liberal spirit in the University." We have quoted so much from this first part of the Bishop's life, in his own words, because we think it the most interesting part of the whole, and because we wished to exhibit (as he himself gives it) the character of his mind in his most active and enterprising days. We believe our readers will admire with us the fine spirit that actuated him, but will also agree with us in thinking that his intrepidity bordered upon rashness and extravagance, and will not impute it merely to a culpable neglect on the part of the king and his ministers, or to the bigotry of the hierarchy, that a person of this turn of mind did not rise to the highest offices, either in church or state. There is a wellfounded dread prevalent in all ranks and professions, of allowing much influence to men, whatever may be their talents or integrity, whose opinions upon important practical subjects appear to be formed without having been maturely weighed, or who do not, amidst their zeal for improvement, sufficiently respect what is established. Thus we find Dr Watson, soon after he became Professor of Divinity, publishing an anonymous pamphlet against the expediency of requiring from the ministers of the established church a subscription to the present articles of religion, in which we do not pretend to say whether he was right or wrong; but we can easily conceive, that a person who held this opinion, and many others of the same stamp, might become an object of conscientious apprehension to many of the more soberminded members of the establishment, and that it was not merely envy and littleness of mind which made them look coldly upon his advancement. He married in the year 1773, and, at of a small sinecure rectory in North the same time, went to take possession Wales, which he obtained through the interest of the Duke of Grafton. "At the time he did me this favour,” says our author, "we thought differently on politics. I had made no scruple of every where declaring that I looked upon the American war as unjust in its commencement, and that its conclusion would be unfavourable to this kingdom, and his Grace did not abandon the administration till October 1775."-The independence of Dr Watson's politics is certainly much to be admired. He never addicted himself to be the blind follower of any existing administration, but adhered strictly to what he conceived to be the sound Whig principles of the constitution. This steady conduct would have made him of great weight and authority both in the country, and with ministers, had it not been blended with a degree of forwardness which led him to step out of his way, on many occasions, with advice when it was not asked, and often, too, of a kind that had more of an Utopian than of a practical character. In 1778 he preached the Restoration and Accession sermons before the University, which he published, calling the first of thei "The Principles of the Revolution vindicated." This sermon," he says, "was written with great caution, and, at the same time, with great boldness, and respect for truth. In London it was reported, at its first coming out, to be treasonable; and a friend of mine, Mr Wilson, (the late Judge,) who was anxious for my safety, asked Mr Dunning (afterwards Lord Ashburton) what he thought of it, who told him, that it contained just such treason as ought to be preached once a month at St James's." Mr Fox, too, in debating the Sedition Bill in December 1795, said, "that the measures of the united branches of the legislature might be so bad, as to justify the people in resisting the government. This doctrine he had been taught, not only by Sydney and Locke, but by Sir G. Saville, and the late Earl of Chatham; and, if these authorities would not suffice, he would refer the House to a sermon preached by Dr Watson, the present Bishop of Llandaff, which, in his opinion, was replete with manly sense, and accurate reasoning, upon that delicate but important subject." All this is well; and Dr Watson's next exploit, his reply to Mr Gibbon," a month's work in the long vacation," gained him also great and deserved popularity. On the formation of the Whig administration in 1782, he was promoted, by Lord Shelburne, to the see of Llandaff; "not," he thinks, "from any regard to the zeal and industry with which he had, for many years, discharged the functions, and fulfilled the duties of an academic life, but to the opinion which, from his sermon, his Lordship had erroneously entertained, that he was a warm, and might become an useful, partizan." He soon shewed the minister, however, VOL. 11. proposal, though, unfortunately for "My dear Lord Duke,-The inclosed will shew you that you have not been mistaken in your opinion of my principles; it is an answer to a pressing letter from the Duke of Portland. I send it to you in confidence; you will perceive from it that my word is gone to take no part in this business. I am sick of party. You are a young man, and zeal may become you, but I have lost my political zeal for ever; the coalition has destroyed it. If a new administration is formed, it will be but a new coalition. Your political character is yet, in my opinion, unsullied; you are said, indeed, to be a deserter, but let it be remembered, that the Whigs first deserted their own honour when they joined Lord North." Mr Pitt now came into power, in T direct opposition to the majority of the House of Commons, and, accordingly, the Parliament was dissolved. Here occurs an instance of the Bishop's extraordinary forwardness, honourable, no doubt, in its motives, but so little regulated by any sound discretion, that it is quite sufficient, if there were nothing else, to account for the sort of neglect which he afterwards so constantly complains of. He wrote thus to the minister: "Dear Sir,-Will you allow me to say, that I think you cannot continue minister with that high sense of honour which I wish you to do, whilst the resolutions of the last House of Commons respecting you stand unblotted from the journals," &c. !-In March 1785, Dr Watson published his collection of Theological Tracts, in six volumes, and we must say it was rather pitiful in his brethren of the bench, if it is true, as he was informed, that they disliked this valuable compilation on account of his having printed in it some tracts originally written by dissenters. The public made amends, by the rapid sale of the work, which speedily went through two large editions. In 1786 he received a great addition to his fortune by the death of a Mr Luther, who had been much indebted to him for some very friendly offices. He was left sole executor to this gentleman, and the bequest of an estate in Sussex brought him upwards of L.23,000. "I have managed," he says, " as I ought to have done, this legacy. It has enabled me to preserve my independence, and to provide for my family. I have a thousand times thought, that, had I been a mean-spirited time-serving bishop, I might perhaps have escaped that marked and unmerited neglect of the court, which I have for so many years experienced, but that I should certainly have forfeited the affection of my friend: his upright and honourable principles would never have suffered him to distinguish such a character with that eminent token of his regard which he be queathed to me." Next year he was applied to by government for advice relative to the improvement of the strength of gunpowder, and the suggestion which he gave of making charcoal by distilling the wood in close vessels, was, he was assured, the means of a saving to government of L. 100,000 a-year. During these years, many letters, chiefly on the state of Ireland, passed between him and the Duke of Rutland, then Lord Lieutenant. They are very honourable to both partiesand when the Duke died in the close of this year, the Bishop made a most affectionate eulogium on his character in the close of a speech in the House of Lords. His speeches in Parlia ment, we may here remark, several of which are inserted in these memoirs, are in a style of clear and manly eloquence, and add another wreath to his many accomplishments. Bad health now induced him to retire from the labours of the theological chair, and he wished much to have got some other appointment which might have enabled him to resign it altogether. He applied, to that effect, to Mr Pitt, but without success, and from this time he never obtained any favour from the Court. His support of Mr Fox's Regency bill, finished him with the Queen; the King received an impression that he was probably a republican, and at the best an impracticable man, and the advice which he volunteered in the letter above quoted, continued, we may suppose, to stick in the stomach of the minister. We certainly think it would have been more to the honour of those in high places, if, overlooking his peculiarities, a person of the Bishop's acknowledged worth and talents, had been promoted to some richer benefice. his Majesty was not very far wrong he is said to have applied to him, and in the epithet of impracticable, which vice, must have naturally inclined his constant officiousness in giving adthose to whom he gave it to turn their backs upon him. We have three or four letters of this sort to Mr Pitt, which seem, as might be expected, to have met with very little regard. Yet the Bishop, that, whatever he writes, There is a singular infirmity about unimportant as it may be, he thinks worthy of being preserved, and the most common marks of attention shewn to him, he seems to regard as quite unprecedented, and due only to his peculiar merits. For instance, he does not see that the following reply to the address which he presented from his diocese on the King's recovery, is merely a common official acknowledgment. "My Lord, I have this day had the honour of presenting to the King the address," &c. &c." and I have the satisfaction of informing you, that his Majesty was pleased to receive the same in the most gracious manner," &c. &c. Mr Howard sent him his book on Lazarettos with this inscription, in his own hand. "Mr Howard presents his best respects to the Lord Bishop of Llandaff, and requests his acceptance of this book, as a small testimony of his esteem." This was, no doubt, a mark of pleasing attention, but the Bishop seems to look upon it as something very pointed and particular. We happen to have in our possession a copy of this book, sent to the late venerable Dr Blair, with an inscription in precisely the same words. Sir John Falstaff's letters to Mrs Ford and Mrs Page have not a closer resemblance. There being no house of residence on his see, Dr Watson retired into Westmoreland, visiting his diocese, however, and London at proper intervals, and performing his duties both as a Bishop and a Lord of Parliament. It was in 1789 that he laid the foundation of his house on the banks of Winandermere. "I have now spent," he says, "above twenty years in this delightful country; but my time has not been spent in fielddiversions, in idle visiting, in county bickerings, in indolence, or intemperance: no, it has been spent partly in supporting the religion and constitution of the country by seasonable publications; and principally in building farm-houses, blasting rocks, enclosing wastes, in making bad land good, in planting larches, and in planting in the hearts of my children principles of piety, of benevolence, and of self-government. By such occupations I have much recovered my health, entirely preserved my independence, set an example of a spirited husbandry to the country, and honourably provided for my family." His most important and popular work, during this latter period of his life, was his seasonable reply to the blasphemies of Thomas Paine, published in the year 1796, which, he justly says, he has reason to believe was of singular service in stopping that torrent of irreligion which this author had excited. David Dale, well known for his philanthropy, asked his permission, which he readily granted, to print 3000 copies, to be distributed among his own workmen ; and many thousands were distributed in other places of England and Scot land at a small price. The following letters on this subject, towards the close of these memoirs, are not a little interesting : "Carlton House, May 4, 1812. "MY LORD,-It affords me the greatest satisfaction to have it in command from the Prince Regent to make known to your Lordship a circumstance which, he is sure, will, on every account, afford your Lordship equal gratification to that which he has himself experienced from it. dinner yesterday at Carlton House, the conversation turned upon the general immorality and profligacy of the present day, when principles and opinions, subversive of all religion and morality, were not only held by many, but studiously endeavoured After to be instilled into the minds of others. One of the most violent of these, a Sussex baronet, was mentioned by a Mr Tyrwhitt, (who, I believe, is not unknown to your Lordship,) as having uttered opinions in his hearing so infamous and atheistical, as to force him to leave the company, first, however, exacting from him a promise, that he would attentively peruse a book he should next morning send him. That book was your Lordship's Apology for the Bible;' and yesterday the baronet's answer read, expressive of the greatest thankfulness for having had it put into his hands, as it not only had decidedly and clearly proved the error and fallacy of every opinion he had before entertained, but had afforded him a degree of secret comfort and tranquillity that his mind had previously been a stranger to. I have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's very much obliged and obedient servant, "W. BRADDYLL." Answer to Mr Braddyll's letter. was "May 8, 1812. "MY DEAR SIR,-The Prince Regent judges rightly of my character; for the circumstance which he has had the kind condescension to command you to make known to me does indeed fill my heart with real joy. When the Apology for the Bible was first published in 1796, I received many letters of thanks, not only from individuals, acknowledging the benefit they had derived from the perusal of it, but from public bodies in Ireland and America. I permitted many thousand copies of it to be printed in Great Britain, without any profit, or wish of profit, to myself, and yet I cleared above L. 1000 by its publication, which sum, accruing from such a source, had my family been less, or my means of providing for it greater, I should have had the greatest satisfaction in consecrating to some work of charity; nay, I was so bent in doing this, that I drew up the subjoined inscription for it : |