ages, has been refcued from the ruins of time, and was inftructive to them, to every intervening period, and may be equally fo to us. This God was reprefented under the form of a figure highly dignified, whofe head was encircled with a radiated crown: he refted upon a broken column, on which, and on its pedestal, in characters more intelligible than hieroglyphics in general, was marked, according to their ideas, the fituation of the Sun, the orbits of the planets, the various conftellations, the figns of the zodiac, with calculations, fhewing by their motions the lapfe of years, by their revolutions the revolutions of time: around the middle of this ftatue was entwined a ferpent, the well-known emblem of eternity.

Glancing with a mental eye to this venerable figure, piercing the thick veil in which antiquity has throuded his alle. gorical form, we fhall find the impreffion which it makes fufficiently trong to en able us to judge that from the earlieit periods, in a nation where the lamp of fcience which has fince illuminated the world was first lighted, the mythologifts thought it neceffary to form an object of adoration, whofe attributes combined the folar fyftem, time and eternity. Perhaps when the first age, after its erection, had elapfed, the temple of Canouphis was opened, and the whole people crowded to pay their devotion to him who had already paffed the gulf of time, and was embraced by eternity; perhaps the fame ceremony was observed at every revolving period, which was, by the nation, confidered as a call upon them to make up their accounts, by cafting a retrospective eye over their former tranfa&tions, reflecting in what manner they had employed their time, and confidering whether, like their deity, they were prepared for the embraces of eternity.

Although, under the Chriftian difpenfation, many may be prepared to fcoff at my bringing inftances from heathen mythology to enforce the purer doctrines of that religion, it will not be contended but that from every fyftem, however in congruous and erratic its tenets might have been, fomething moral and confequently profitable may be deduced; and perhaps from none more than from the religious fymbols (in which certainly was difplayed all the learning of the times) of a nation that was the parent of mythology, as well as the cradle of fcience. To be " skilled in all the wif

dom of the Egyptians," was, among the chofen people of God, confidered as the highest effort of human genius, and the highest compliment that could be paid their fages, who unquestionably, from their pristine connection with them, borrowed thofe fublime images and that figurative mode of expreffion which adorn and elucidate the scriptural books: there- fore the ideas of thofe original poffeffors of learning or wisdom, for they are used as fynonimous terms, are adduced to fhew, that from the earlieft ages, from the moment the taper of knowledge was first lighted, these important confiderations operated upon the human mind more than I fear they do at present.:

Yet at prefent, at this moment, the only one of which we are certain-the moment when a new sera begins to dawn, a new fcene to open before ushow much doth it behove us to reflect upon our real fituation; to view the prefent apex upon which we ftand, and from this eminence, like skilful surveyors, obferving the country around, form a general though ideal plan or scheme of human life; in order that, while we contemplate on the fates of the myriads that appear and are fwept away from the extenfive fpace within our mental grafp, they may furnish us with proper reflec tions upon the nature of time, operating upon vitality, and forming a chain of caufes and confequences leading from the first stage of infantile existence to eternity.

To do this with effect, we must, as has been obferved, consider ourselves as ftanding on the top of a pyramid compofed of flights of steps, every flight containing a decade: around the base of this ideal pile, we fhall behold millions of infants, crawling, as it were, into life. On the first ten fteps, children fporting in wanton gambols; the second will be filled by the youth of both sexes, afcending with vivacity, jocund from the impulfe of health, and flourishing in all the bloom and animation of adolefcence. On the third we fhall ftill behold them ascending, but with graver steps, encumbered with burthens which feem to accumulate as they proceed to the fourth decade. Here, after anxiously cafting their eyes around, as if to obferve in what manner their offspring, whom they have left on the first and fecond flights, climb the steps of life, they begin a contrary courfe, defcending on the other fide with greater rapidity, though less

C 2

firmness,

firmnefs, than they rofe. In the fifth, their loads appear wonderfully to have increafed, and their bodies seem less able to hear their preffure. With weakened limbs and unfteady footfeps they totter on, however, to another, fome to anether; and a few to another after that; which leads to the bottom, where we hall oblerve, in the very, very fmall number that remain alive, every mark of mental imbecility and corporeal decrepitude: but while we lament the fad condition of thefe furvivors, we fhall, perhaps, from it derive confolation for the fate of those who have been fwept off from every step, as they attempted to gain the fummit; or those whofe heavy burdens and bodily infirmities caused them to flip as they were defcending.

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This picture of human life, drawn with a trembling hand, is a true though faint emblem of the operation of time upon existence in the laft, in every centory that has elapfed fince the creation of the world; and may, if we view it in a proper light, lead us to confider how we bave afcended or defcended the mountain of years, over which we are now travel. ling whether we have, in any of the tages, loitered upon the road; indulged ou felves in excurfive rambles; purfued criminal or frivolous objects; been engaged in fchemes inimical to our own, to The general happiness; and have failed to make advantage of that stock of know. ledge derived from experience, which our ancestors had left us, but have iquandered it away in defultory adventures and idle fpeculations, by which means we are in danger of becoming bankrupts of time, and confequently of eternity.

Thefe reflections, forming an balo, an imaginary circle, feem to round the Eighteenth Century; and, confidered in a general view, extended to a scale which not only ferves to measure Europe but Afia, Africa, and America, after enabling us to furvey countries devaftated, cities dilapidated, empires overthrown, to trace circuitous courfe of ambition, war, and all their dreadful concomitants, rebellion, faction, fedition, peculation, fraud, and a voluminous catalogue of confequent erimes, brings us, jaded with our toil, debilitated with our fhare of the vices of the times, and fuffering all the incon veniences without having attained any of the experience of age, exactly to the point whence we fet out.

The curtain which fell at the clofe of the lait (the Seventeenth) Century will, If it is for a few minutes again drawn

up, difcover a series of events wonderfully imilar to thofe which have dif graced the prefent. The fame tragedy hath again been acted, although, thank Heaven! the scene of the catastrophe has been laid in a different country. Another Monarch has bled; Princes and Nobles have again been driven into exile by the double edged fword of the malignant demon of Democracy: here candour obliges me to state, and proud I am to ftate it, that from the inherent humanity, which is our national characteristic, though almoft frightened from the land in that turbulent period to which I have alluded, yet still the Goddess hovered in the air; therefore, foul as was the murder of the benignant and unfortunate Charles; atrocious as were the crimes of the English regicides; their treason and enormities were not attended with thofe dreadful, those fanguinary confequences which have followed, and do ftill continue to follow, the fates of the no lefs benignant and unfortunate Louis, and (who can think of them without pity combined with horror?) his innocent Queen and family.

Thefe dreadful events, and the vengeance of the Almighty which hath overtaken, and ftill pursues their murderers, together with other circumftances nearly as terrific, the effects of their crimes, have marked the last decade of the Eighteenth Century upon the tablet of the hiftoric Mufe in characters written with blood, and extended the flames of the war, which it is to be hoped they have kindled, as an Indian lights his funeral pile, to perish in its vortex, to every furrounding nation. With respect to these kingdoms, though blefled in a fupreme degree is our infulated fituation; while from Pentland Firth to the Land's-End our brare domeftic bands are armed for our defence; while our coats are guarded by a navy victorious in every part of the globe; a navy that has exalted the glory of the British flag to a height on which it was never before difplayed; we have had little opportunity to feel the preflure, and ftill leis to fear the confequences, of Gallic arms or Gallic enormities; yet we have affumed a proud, a diftinguished ftation: we have not only fympathized in the fufferings of fuffering humanity, but have accompanied thole fympathetic feelings with active exertions. We have endeavoured to stop the torrent, even at its fource, which, illuing from that red land of regicides, had directed its streams to other countries, had tapped the mounds

of

of piety and morality, and confequently afforded a ready entrance to infidelity, to ruelty, and rapacity; whether affuming the lion port of open hoftility, or, ferpent like, crouching with infidious art to lick the feet of the pfeudo goddess of liberty,

Be it our praile, be it recorded in the annals of time, that the Clofe of this Century, as the Clofe of the laft, finds us again in the character of the Saviours of Europe; that we have again oppofed, fuccefsfully oppofed ourselves to an irruption, which, like the bursting of t. na, was spreading deftruction and deval. sation to every creature, and every thing which was fo unfortunate as to be liable to its collifion.

It has alfo been the peculiar happinefs of this country, that during thofe years in which a rapid fucceffion of fanguinary fcenes have ftained the immenfe canvals displayed upon the theatre of the world, our domeftic reprefentations, whether we confider them as delineated by the pencil of the arts, or the pen of literature, guided by the unerring hands of nature and truth: whether they have been ren. dered bufy and interefting by unlimited commerce, doubly gilt and decorated by opulence, or illuminated by the lamps of fcience, have, with refpect to ourselves, been calculated to leave a pleafing impreffion upon our minds. Vices we certainly have but our domeftic vices, if they have in the prefent Century in ereafed, or are at this hour increafing, are perhaps the confequences and concomitants of our domeftic, profperity, and not, in their effect upon fociety, fo dreadful as thofe tranfmarine crimes which, had not the legislature, interfered, were daily importing, and which, with refpect to other nations, have counteracted the labours of divines and moralifts, have driven back their advances toward civilization and refinement through nine tenths of the Century, and, as has been obferved, at the Clofe of it brought them precifely to the point whence they fet out.

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I mean Charles the XIIth, who, in imitation of the "Macedonian Madman,' extended his conquetts from the shore of the Baltic to the banks of the Borithe. nes. There the ftar of victory, which had fo long lighted him on his erratic courfe, and in the fall of kingdoms and the fate of kings, difcovered icenes fimilar to thofe fo lately afted in Italy, funk into the waves. That of the Ruffian Emperor and empire arole, and, as at the Clofe of this Century, we have seen its fuperior influence stopped that devafe tation which was upon the point of overwhekning Europe.

To elucidate this by a hort obfervation, it is well known that the first year of this era, was the first of the reign of a man who seemed, by his leaving a part of his people in a ftate of poverty and diftrefs, while he led another to certain deftruction, to have been formed for a democratic leader, a conful, or dictator, rather than a monarch, but who has by his flatterers, with more truth than judgment, been styled the Alexander of the North.The reader will anticipate that

It would be an unpleafing task more fully to record, as it certainly is an unpleafing fpeculation to reflect, that in the circle of this Century, so many of the years which form integral parts of it, have been tained with rebellion, facrificed to war, or that thofe of the preced ing periods, taken from the Norman Conqueft, nay, from an æra much incre remote, do not feem to have been lets turbulent: yet, when we confider" all thofe things as having paffed away like a fhadow," and that every object around us is in the fame ftate of transition; we fhall find confolation in the lapfe of time operating upon the brevity of human exiftence. We fhall find confolation even in the idea, that although a thoufand years are in the light of the Omnipotent but as yesterday, and our age as nothing before him; though we have fuffered the paft of this Century in which we have lived to recede from our fight without being able to retiace it by thofe marks thofe veftiges of wildom and virtue which we ought to have erected, like columns and obelisks by the way fide, as guides and directors for pofterity; yet ifill, if we make a proper ufe of the few or many years that are allotted to us, if we take a warning instead of an example from the events that have paffed, we may even arreft the fmall portion of this Century which is within the grasp of time, and when it finks like the Phoenix into its own afhes, rife on the morning of the next with a renovation of mentaltrength fufficient to enable us to foar with the fabled bird, far, far beyond the atmosphe.. ric influence of thofe little paflions and prejudices, of thofe paltry ftimulations of ambition and intereft which have dif tinguished our career on this fublunary fpot, and flying on the wings of time, arrive at the blissful mansions of eternity.

DR

Bishop's Court, Dec. 21, 1756. F diftance of fituation and delay of

I correspondence can poffibly be con

fiftent with undiminished affection and regard, then my dear friend and brother Hwill allow that fuch may be the

cafe between him and me.

If, Sir, you should question, Whether I have not wrote oftener to other friends? You have for anfwer, Thofe on neceffary business excepted, I fcarce think I have. One great and real occafion of delay is the hindrances I meet with from fitting down to write a long letter; for I have no notion of short ones to particular friends, and efpecially from this foreign land--where it is not like fending by the bakers or market folks from Hitchin we inuft wait here for vcffels, and wind, and opportunity of tranfinitting to our poits 14 or 15 miles.And what will my good friend fay, when I affure him, I have now no less than between 30 and 40 letters on my hands at this time upanfwered: fome of 'em indeed may perhaps not require immediate notice. Be that as 'twill, I would only defire 'you, dear Sir, to believe I have not wilfully or defignedly neglected you: but if the appearance of it be too much even for your great candour to acquit me of; I am at your mercy, the penalty is ready, viz. as long a ceffation of the direction of your pen toward Bifnop's Court, which, if you think I deferve, you may depend on its being what I fhall fenfibly feel, for I have left nobody behind me, whofe friendship I should more regret the lofs

of.

You was to enquire of our welfare, I hear, from our late fervant upon her return to Hitchin; by whom doubtless you expected more than a verbal compliment from me: and from that time, I fuppofe, you began to give me up. Conveyance of letters by goods or travellers, to fave poltage, we by no means approve, having had fome 6 weeks or 2 months paff ing that way. We learn from her, that the was not able to convince you of our being in a place much different from the delerts of Arabia, or that we fee the fun here much more than those under the poles. That we are fome degrees North et our former fituation is undeniable:

but no lefs true is it, that we have far lefs froft and fnow than in the South of England, at least of any continuance. Though fuel is cheap, we had no fire in our parlour till after Michaelinas, which perhaps is more than you can say at L- and Mrs. Hildefley, notwithlanding he is out every day, puts ori neither hat, hood, nor cloak. Neither are the variations of heat and cold fo great as in England: the extremes in the whole year here, don't differ above twenty de grees, at leaft they have not in the time we have been here; whereas I have known that of 30 at Hitchin in the space of three or four days: you know I am a great weather obferver. Bateing a few fits of the cholick laft Spring, which I attri buted to my eating frequently of Ling fifh, which I am fond of, I don't know for years, that I have had fewer com plaints, than fince I have been in this new climate. I never was an athletic ftrong hero: witness the trial in our northern tour, when I was fome years younger, what more than enough you had to do, to get me on from stage to ftage. Alert in a morning, and impatient to wait your Reverence's folemn motions, and regular preparations,-but when out, who was fure to be lag but poor Mark? I often think of that journey, and of the pretended fuperexcellencies of the North, witnefs the meat we faw in the market at Scarborough, and the cherries we had in the middle of July. Did I tell you that my chum Ingram died about the time I left London, and that I received a draught of ten pounds from his widow, being a legacy in his will?-But once more as to the boasts of the North of England: I affure you we poor Manks-iflanders won't yield to them. I call our brother Robinson countryman, for I think we have every thing full as good as in Lancashire: he is fo modeft or so juft-only to except potatoes; but we are too near Ireland, even to admit that preference. Fish, wine, and poultry of all forts, 'tis certain, we have very good and cheap here; in all other articles (perhaps too I may except coals and candles) we must submit to South-England. My wife reckons fhe parted from England, when she turned

ber

her back upon Lichfield: for after that, the inns began to be very poor and mean, not better I think than your Sugar Loaf at L--which we wondered at in fo great a road as that to Weftchefer. I can't fay the in any refpects likes this place fo well as I do; notwithstanding the privilege of the women in this country, in having a legal claim to a moiety of their bufbands eflates real and perfonal, fo as to be capable of difpofing of it by will-What think you of that, Mrs. H? A rare law this to make good husbands, and do as their wives bid 'em! -But you have a good one you'll fay without fuch a law, and therefore have no defire to come to Manks-land for the receipt.

How goes grain with my brother far. mer? Wheat is here at 5s. and barley at 38. per bufhel: which we call dear. But perhaps we shall find it dearer from England-if we could have it from thence; of which it feems we are debarred by the embargo. This, as we are part of his Majefty's dominions, we think a little hard. You fay, pray what taxes or excife do you pay to the king ?-Sir, I've done. We must do as well as we can with our own provender. How you go on in England, we fometimes hear as the wind blows us a bit of news. But we don't much concern ourselves about political matters; as we have no places of great profit or preheminence to contend for. And our detached fituation makes us the more indifferent about those that have. We go to church and pray for our king, and with well to the establishment of our mother church and country, —and eat our herrings and are quiet.

had no

healths.-And pray acquaint us with the itate of your own and Mrs. H How have you fared as to rheumatic pains? Do you ride, or take phyfick, or neither? Went you your ufual tour after harvest, into Cambridgeshire, &c. The Bishop of Durham wrote me of Sir Fran. St. John's death. If Mrs. Hrelation to his large fortunes; she is, however, related to them that had. I have one lefs friend, then I had, to receive me, if I live to revifit my native country; for though he was rather a reclufe and referved man, and of few acquaintance, yet I believe I was as much in his favour as any one almoft-that were not in his will. But as one of our

When you next fee Sir Thomas Salusbury, pray prefent him with my beft refpects; and I fhould be much obliged to him, if attention to more material bufinefs, when he is next in town, will admit of it, that he will be fo good as to procure for me, from Dr. Hay, or at the office where it is lodged, a copy of the paper I fubfcribed in the veltry room, jutt before my confirmation, at St. Martin's; and whatever fee may be due to the clerk for the fame, you'll be pleased to anfwer for me. For though I did not fubfcribe what I did not read, yet I fhould be glad to be gratified with the revifal of it.

Speak us with particular regard to the family at the Temple when you fee them; (if they have not by this time orgot their neighbour Mark and his wife Betty). I hope they all enjoy their

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acquaintance used facetioufly to fay, Don't tell me of refpect and kindness, that is the time to know who loves us, when they are dead, and not when they are living. For my part, I had no fort of expectance of fuch pofthumous teftimony.-He was an ingenious gentleman like many one that had a juft fenfe of religion, and in thofe capacities I thought, the friendly notices he always bestowed on fo little a man as I, exclufive of relationfhip, an honour to me. He was one of the firft that paid me the compli ment of a vifit at Covent Garden on account of my nomination to this fee, and not finding me there came to me to Hanover Square which showed, at least, he was well pleafed at my advancement. For he was of that fet, who thought it an advancement-though in a foreign land. I fometimes think what a melancholy place England will appear to me, if I fhould ftay till there is nobody left there that will own me ? What with fome that are dead-and fome that are offended that I did not first write to 'em, or in properer time or manner-and fome that will have forgot me through long abfence, and some that may confider me as a foreigner, with whom they have now no connection; and fome that think I ought to have ftaid where I was, and took it ill that I fhould be fo rude as to leave my old station.-So that fometimes I think I may e'en as well fet up my staff in this exile ftate, and not think of fo long a journey to pay my refpects to old friends, who may, if not dead themfelves, look upon me as dead and gone. But if ever I fhould live to crofs to the other fide, I fhall probably have the affurance to hazard a reception at the parfonage of L, or wherever the prefent owner's merits and friends may by that time have otherwife difpofed of him. Sometimes

I think,