ner of delivery was grave and impreffive, affecting rather a tenor of uniform dignity than a variety of expreffion, for which his voice was not well calculated. It was entirely free from what is called tone, and though not highly animated, was by no means dull, and never carelefs or indifferent. As to his matter, it was almost exclufively that of a moral preacher. Religion was to him rather a principle than a fentiment; and he was more folicitous to deduce from it a rule of life, enforced by its peculiar fanctions, than to elevate it into a fource of fublime feeling. Defpifing fuperftition, and fearing enthufiafm, he held as of inferior value every thing in religion which could not ally itself with morality, and condefcend to human ufes. His theological fyftem was purged of every myfterious or unintelligible propofition; it included nothing which appeared to him irreconcileable with found philofophy, and the moft rational opinions concerning the divine nature and perfections. Poffibly the teft of rationality might with him fuperfede that of literary criticifm. It will be feen from the fubjects felected for publication, that moral topics were much more congenial to him than doctrinal ones; and his character as a public inftructor must be derived from the manner in which he has treated thefe. Probably it will be found that fcarcely any writer has entered with more delicacy into the minute and lefs obvious points of moralityhas more fkilfully marked out the nice difcriminations of virtue and vice, of the fit and unfit. He has not only delineated the path of the ftrictly right, but of the amiable and becoming. He has aimed at rendering mankind not only mu tually ferviceable, but mutually agreeable; and has delighted in painting true goodnefs with all thofe colours which it was faid of old would make her fo enchanting fhould the ever become visible to mortal eyes. It will, perhaps, be expected that fomething thould be faid of Dr. Enfield in the peculiar character of a diffenter. To diffent was by no means a part of his natural difpofition; on the contrary, he could not without a ftruggle differ from thofe whom he faw dignified by station, refpectable for learning and morals, and amiable in the intercourfe of fociety. Nor was the voice of authority, when mildly and reafonably exerted, a fignal to him of refiftance, but rather a call to acquiefcence. It is therefore not to be wondered at, that there was a period in his life when he looked towards the religious eftablishment of his country with a wifh that no infuperable barrier fhould exist to the exclufion of thofe who, without violating the abfolute dictates of confcience, might defire to join it. Inclined by temper and fyftem to think well of mankind, and to entertain fanguine hopes of their progrefs towards truth and reafon, he could not bring himself to imagine that the active efforts (which we may all remember) of many excellent perfons to produce a further reform in the English church, and render the terms of entrance into its miniftry more eafy and liberal, would in the end fail of their effect. This idea dwelt long and weightily on his mind, and difpofed him rather to regard the conformities, than the diferences, between fyftems which he expected to fee continually more nearly approaching each other. Moreover, the correct and elegant language, at a fmall diftance from the city, and continuing his plan of domes. tic education. He first fettled at the pleafant village of Thorpe ; but at length he found it more convenient to remove to Norwich itself. Though he was eminently happy in his mode of educating a small number, of which several striking examples might be adduced, yet, like moft who have adopted that plan, he found that the difficulty of keeping up a regular fupply of pupils, and the unpleasant restraint arifing from a party of young men, fo far domiciliated, that they left neither time nor place for family privacy, more than compenfated the advantages to be derived from fuch an employment of his talents, He finally removed, therefore, to a and the manly ftrain of morality, which then characterised the pulpit compofitions of the most eminent of the clergy, commanded his entire approbation; and he thought that a mutual oblivion of topics of controverfy might take place, from a confent in all friends of rational religion to confine their public difcourfes to fubjects on which no differences exifted between them. He lived, however, to fee all his expectations of this amicable union fruftrated-to fee hierarchical claims maintained more dogmatically than before-and the chief ftrefs of religion placed upon those doctrines in which the English church-articles moft differ from the opinions of that clafs of diffenters to which he belonged. He lived, therefore, to become a more decid-fmaller habitation, entirely declined feparatift than ever; and I am fure, that for many years before his death, though all his perfonal candour and good-will towards the oppofite party remained, no confideration would have induced him to range himself under its banners, The rights of private judgment and public difcuffion, and all the funda. mental points of civil and religious liberty, were become more and more dear to him; and he afferted them with a courage and zeal which feemed fcarcely to have belonged to his habitual temper. A very manly difcourfe, which he published in 1788, on the hundredth anniverfary of the revolution, fufficiently teftifies his fentiments on thefe important fubjects. "It is now time to return to biographical narrative. In 1785, receiving an invitation from the octagon-diffenting congregation at Norwich, a fociety with whom any man might efteem it an honour and happinefs to be connected, he accepted it, under the condition of refiding ed receiving boarders, and only gave private inftructions to two or three felect pupils a few hours in the forenoon. At length he determined to be perfectly mafter of his own time, and to give to his family, friends, and fpontaneous literary purfuits, all the leifure he poffeffed from his profeffional duties. The circumstances of his family confirmed him in this refolution. He was the father of two fons and three daughters, all educated under his own eye; and had he had no other examples to produce of his power of making himself at the fame time a friend and a tutor—of conciliating the most tender affection with ready and undeviating obedience -his children would, by all who know them, be admitted as fuffi, cient proofs of this happy art. They became every thing that their parents could wifh;-but the eldest fon, after paffing with uncommon reputation through his clerk fhip to an attorney (Mr. Rofcoe, of Liver pool), and advancing fo far in his profef profeffional career as to be appointed, when just of age, town-clerk of Nottingham, was fuddenly fnatched away by a fever. The doctor bore his grievous lofs with exemplary refignation; but the ftruggle produced effects on his health which alarmed his friends. Symptoms refembling thofe of the fatal disease termed angina pectoris came on; indeed, it may be faid, that he really laboured under an incipient ftate of this diforder. But time, medicine, and happier fubjects of reflection, reftored him to health and cheerfulness. He had the felicity of feeing two of his daughters moit defirably fettled in marriage. His remaining fon bid fair to become all that the other had been. He was, therefore, fully entitled to enjoy himself in the domeftic freedom he loved, and to confine his future exertions to those lettered employments which, to one of his induftrious habits, were neceffary to give a zeft to focial relaxation. He had not yet completely detached himself from the business of tuition, when he undertook the moft laborious of his literary talks, an abridgment of Brucker's Hif tory of Philofophy.' This work appeared in two volumes, 4to. in the year 1791, and would alone have been fufficient to establish the writer's character as a master of the middle ftyle of compofition, and as a judicious felector of what was moft valuable in the reprefentation of manners and opinions. The original work has obtained a high reputation among the learned, for the depth of its refearches, and the liberality of its fpirit; but its Latin ftyle is involved and prolix, and the heavinefs that pervades the whole has rendered it rather a book for occasional consultation than for di rect perufal. Dr. Enfield's abridgement is a work equally instructive and agreeable; and it may be pronounced that the tenets of all the leading fects of philofophers were never before in the English language difplayed with fuch elegance and perfpicuity. It was, indeed, his peculiar talent to arrange and exprefs other men's ideas to the great-' eft advantage. His ftyle, chafte, clear, correct, free from all affectation and fingularity, was proper for all topics; and the spirit of method and order which reigned in his own mind, communicated itself to every subject which he touched upon. Thefe qualities, together with that candour which was interwoven in his very conftitution, efpecially fitted him to take a part in a literary journal; and to one of the moft refpectable of thefe works he was long a confiderable contributor. The inftitution of a new magazine, under the name of the Monthly, which in its plan embraced a larger circle of original literature than ufual with thefe mifcellanies, engaged him to exercife his powers as an effayift on a variety of topics; and the papers with which he enriched it, under the title of the Inquirer, obtained great applaufe from the manly freedom of their fentiment, and the correct elegance of their language. "Thus did his latter years glide on, tranquil and ferene, in the bofom of domestic comfort, surrounded by friends to whom he became continually more dear, and in the midst of agreeable occupations. So well confirmed did his health appear, and fo much did he feel himself in the full vigour and maturity of his powers, that he did not hesitate, in the year 1796, to affociate himself with the writer of this account, one of his oldest and most intimate companions, panions, in a literary undertaking of great magnitude, which looked to a diftant period for its completion. Were it not the duty of mortals to employ their talents in the way they can approve, without regarding contingencies which they can neither forefee nor overrule, fuch an engagement, in perfons defcending into the vale of years, might be accufed of prefumption; but it implied in them no more than a refolution to act with diligence as long as they thould be permitted to act to work while it is called today, mindful of that approaching night when no man can work. The compofition, that of a General Biographical Dictionary, proved fo agreeable to Dr. Enfield, that he was often heard to fay, his hours of ftudy had never paffed fo pleafantly with him; and the progrefs he made was proportioned to his induftry and good-will. Every circumftance feemed to promise him years of comfort in ftore. He was happy himself, and imparted that happiness to all who came within the fphere of his influence. But an incurable difeafe was in the mean time making unfufpected advances. A fcirrhous contraction of the rectum, denoting itfelf only by fymptoms which he did not under ftand, and which, therefore, he imperfectly defcribed to his medical friends, was preparing, without pain or general disease, to effect a fudden and irrefiflible change. The very day before this diforder manifefted itfelf he was complimented on his cheerful fpirits, and healthy looks, and himself confessed that he had nothing, bodily or mental, of which he ought to complain. But the obftruction was now formed. A ficknefs came on, the proper functions of the inteftines were fufpended, nothing was able to give relief; and after a week, paffed rather in conftant uneafinefs than in acute pain, with his faculties entire nearly to the laft, forefeeing the fatal event, and meeting it with manly fortitude, he funk in the arms of his children and friends, and expired without a ftruggle. This catastrophe took place on Nov. 3, 1797, in the fifty-feventh year of his life. The deep regrets of all who knew him- of thofe the most to whom he was best known-render it unneceffary to enter into any further defcription of a character, the effence of which was to be amiable. A man's writings have often proved very inadequate tefts of his difpofitions. Thofe of Dr. Enfield, however, are not. They breathe the very fpirit of his gentle and generous foul. He loved mankind, and wifhed nothing fo much as to render them the worthy objects of love. This is the leading character of the difcourfes felected for publication; as it is, indeed, of all he compofed. May their effect equal the most fanguine wishes of their benevolent author!" ANECDOTES OF LAVATER. [From the first Volume of a TOUR IN SWITZERLAND, &c. by HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS.] WE E ftaid long enough at Zuric to vilit its firft literary ornament Lavater. It being known that he is willing to receive ftrangers, no traveller of any lettered curiofity paffes through the town, without paying him the homage of a vifit. He received us in his library, which was hung thick with portraits and engravings, of which he has a confiderable collection, forming a complete ftudy of the evervarying expreffion of the human face divine. Some very wife men, who admit of no fcope to that faculty of the mind called imagination, and are for ever bringing every theory to the fquare and the compafs, confider his fyftem of phyfiognomy as the fantaftic vifion of an heated brain; but though it may be difficult, it is furely ingenious and interefting to attempt reducing to rules a fcience, which feems to be founded in nature. It is furely curious to analyfe what it is fo eafy to feel, the charm of that expreffion, which is the emanation of moral qualities; that undefinable grace which is not beauty, but fomething more; without which its enchantments lofe their power of fafcination, and which can fhed an animated glow, a fpark of divinity, over the features of deformity: Mind, mind alone, bear witnefs earth, The living fountain in itself contains "Lavater is a venerable-looking old man, with a fharp long face, high features, and a wrinkled brow: he is tall, thin, and interefting in his figure; when ferious he has a look of melancholy, almoft of in quietude; but when he fmiles, his countenance becomes lighted up with an expreffion of fweetnefs and intelligence. "There is a fimple eloquence in his converfation, an effufion of the heart extremely attractive: he fpeaks French with fome difficulty, and whenever he is at a lofs for an expreffion has recourfe to German, which I in vain begged a Swiss gentleman, who was of our party, to tranflate for me: he told me, that for the most part the German words Lavater employed were compound-epithets of his own framing, which had peculiar energy as he ufed them, but which would be quite vapid and fpiritlefs in tranflation. The great rule of moral conduct, Lavater faid, in his opinion, was, next to God, to refpect time. Time he confidered as the most valuable of human treasures, and any wafte of it as in the highest degree immoral. He rifes every morning at the hour of five; and though it would be agreeable to him to breakfaft immediately after rifing, makes it an invariable rule to earn that repaft by fome previous labour; fo that if by accident the rest of the day is fpent to no ufeful purpose, fome portion of it may at leaft be fecured beyond the interruptions of chance. "Lavater gave us a moft pleafing account of morals in Zuric. He had been a preacher of the gofpel, he faid, in that town thirty years; and fo incapable were the citizens of any fpecies of corrup tion, that he fhould have rendered himfelf ridiculous had he ever during that long period preached a fermon |