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for the want of due vigilance. Experience has already taught them, that in the discharge of an important duty, labor ipse voluptas, and this encouragement cheers them in their endeavours to rise yet higher in the public favour, by seeking on every hand, and totally unmindful of any sacrifice, new sources of literary entertainment, and subjects of graphic illustration.

Incessantly as the press brings forth fresh supplies for the gratification of that insatiable thirst for information which distinguishes this age, beyond all precedent, it is no easy task to keep an equal pace with public curiosity; and it is still less so to select from the multifarious topics which possess claims to particular discussion, articles of extraordinary interest, without excluding others that have also paramount pretensions. Hence it unavoidably happens, that though these monthly vehicles of literature have been enlarged from time to time, according to the increasing spirit of enquiry, they are even now confined within an area too limited to allow room for all the communications of merit that press for admittance.

This the Proprietors and Conductors have thought it necessary to observe, as an apology to their numerous friends for the omssion of many articles of correspondence, which are now lying under consideration, or have been kept back to make way for matters of a momentary nature. Unpleasant as it is to be in arrears, it is an inconvenience that cannot be remedied under the contracted circumstances within which the Original Department of a Magazine is necessarily bounded.

London, January 1, 1819.

THE

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

No. 55.]

AUGUST 1, 1818.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

ON BISHOP WATSON'S MEMOIRS.
MR. EDITOR,

AFTER the able criticism on Bishop Watson's posthumous work, and the very just delineation of its author's character which appeared in the Quarterly Review, I hesitated on the expediency of resuming the subject in your magazine. But, upon second thoughts, observing that the Reviewer has omitted to notice the secret springs of the Bishop's conduct in some important cases, and that he has passed over in silence incidents which, properly considered, will fully explain the cause of his Lordship's complaints and invectives, I have again undertaken the disagreeable task of going through this nauseous mass of vanity and calumny, of egotism and defamation. Whole letters are copied and conversations related for no other purpose than to show the high opinion entertained of the Bishop by men of some importance in the state, or of name in the circle of letters. Sometimes, however, his Lordship's conceit has had the effect of blinding his judgment, and he has recorded sarcasms for compliments. Thus, when Dr. Hinchcliffe, master of Trinity College, and Bishop of Peterborough, told him that he was the most straight-forward man he ever knew, the professor took it for a testimony to his integrity, when, for aught that appears, it was a blunt reflection on his temerity; and his readiness to dash through thick and thin whenever any object allured his ambition. The master was a very extraordinary character, who had risen from the meanest origin to a principal station in Westminster school, next to the headship of his college, and lastly to the episcopal bench, for which two last preferments he was indebted to the Duke of Grafton, whose election to the chancellorship of Cambridge he had strenuously supported. On the death of Dr. Drummond, Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Peterborough exerted every nerve to gain that dignity, but being, to his great mortification, sup. planted by his competitor in the mastership of Westminster school, Dr. Markham, he became a furious patriot and the zealous defender of the American NEW MONTHLY MAG.-No. 55.

[VOL. X.

insurgents in the House of Lords, where the intemperance of his speeches astonished even those peers who were themselves violent on the same side of the question. In imitation of his friend the bishop, the regius professor made the university pulpit an instrument for the propagation of revolutionary politics, or, to use the language of the poet, converted it into "a drum ecclesiastic,' by preaching up the doctrine of resistance at a time when England was engaged in a war with her rebellious colonies.

Whether that war was just or unjust on the part of England is of no consequence in the present case, as affecting the conduct of these two dignified divines; both of whom were stipendiaries of the government whose measures they opposed, and both of whom were ministers of that gospel which taught them to study quietness and such things as tended to edification. While the academic shade was thus disturbed by the din of politics, and the dissemination of principles little calculated to make students either contented subjects or good christians; the most respectable of the dissenting ministers, with the exception of Dr. Price, and a few others of that description, were careful to set an example worthy of being followed in all times of public commotion. Though it was natural for them to have a bias in favour of their transatlantic brethren, on account of the similarity of their religious opinions, they for the most part avoided any thing that could inflame the passions of the people against the government by which they were tolerated. The same moderation distinguished the clergy of the Church of Scotland, several of whom, particularly Professor Campbell, of Aberdeen, preached and printed discourses admirably adapted to promote conciliation, and forming a striking contrast to the inflammatory publications of Price and Watson.

It may be said, perhaps, that the Cambridge professor acted upon conviction and with perfect disinterestedness on this occasion; but admitting this, and admitting that in his attachment to the Duke of Grafton he had no eye to a VOL. X. B

2

On Bishop Watson's Memoirs.

change in the administration, still it will be impossible for the most subtle casuist in the school of sophistry to justify his abuse of the pulpit to party purposes. His sermons, recommended as they were by an eloquent delivery, could not fail to make a strong impression upon the hearers, who were of no ordinary class, and whose future usefulness in society depended, in a considerable degree, upon the principles imbibed at the university. The observation has been so often made as to have become almost too trite for repetition, that the clergy as such have nothing to do with politics; that their province is to cultivate the Christian virtues in themselves and the congregations committed to their charge. But if this be true as applied to the parochial priesthood at large, it is more especially obligatory upon those who are intrusted with the important office of preparing students for holy orders. It would be strange indeed, to expect that conduct in a young clergyman when he enters upon the world, which he was not taught by the prelections and example of his instructors at college.

I have remarked, however, that they who are disposed to condemn the clergy for meddling with politics, always take care to make a special reserve in favour of their reverend friends and partizans, even though they may be as violent in their zeal as the errant saints of old, who

Proved their doctrine orthodox By apostolic blows and knocks; Called fire and sword and desolation A godly, thorough reformation. If a conscientious divine in turbulent times exhorts his hearers to be quiet and mind their own business, to shun the company of seditious men, and to manifest their christian character by a peaceable demeanour, the chance is, that he will be branded as a sycophant paying servile court to government, and the mercenary advocate of passive obedience. On the other hand, when a restless demagogue takes advantage of his publicsituation and influence to foment popular discontent, he is cried up as the patriotic defender of the principles of liberty, and a champion in the cause of the people. The political activity of a divine of this description is, in the estimation of his party, the noble energy of an independent mind; while the gentle, pacific conduct of his neighbour is treated with worse than contempt, and ascribed to the basest of motives. Thus blind is party prejudice, and credulous in every thing that tends to self-deception.

[Aug. 1,

The regius professor of divinity at Cambridge was eaten up with inordinate ambition, and he had sagacity enough to know that administrations are not immortal. We have his own confession on the subject of his expectations, and they began to be gratified when Lord Shelburne whom he had courted, and the Duke of Rutland whom he had instructed, apprized him of his nomination to the see of Landaff.

There have been prelates in former days, and there are some in our own, whose ideas of the episcopal character have led them to regard consecration as something more than a mere civil ceremony, and the dignity conveyed by it as imposing obligations of the most serious nature. Thus Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, refused to leave that poor diocese for a richer, saying, " he would not leave his old wife." The exemplary Dr. Bedell, bishop of Kilmore, in Ireland, acted in the same spirit: and there is a living ornament of the bench who has more than once declined a translation, though his see is both laborious and one of the meanest in point of revenue. Not so Bishop Watson, who had scarcely gained this elevated station, with the professorship and archdeaconry annexed, before he began to look around him to secure the means of another advancement. The prospect indeed was flattering enough, for he was now in the vigour of life, being little more than forty, while many of his brethren were verging fast to the grave. But he stumbled by his officiousness, and the eagerness with which he pursued his object, threw him at a greater distance from it. His ambition was to play the statesman, and to make the world believe that whatever might be his talents as a philosopher and theologian, these were in reality trivial when compared to his transcendent abilities and skill in politics. But here the bishop forgot that the merit he assumed was the very pretension most likely to give offence, even to those who might be inclined to further his views. Ministers may promote churchmen from political considerations, and as a reward for past services, but they will never employ them as counsellors in matters of government if they have any regard to their own security. The time when the cabinets of princes were directed by ecclesiastics has long since passed away; and it is no proof of the Bishop of Landaff's judgment that he wished for its revival, even though in his own opinion he was the first man in the world to guide the affairs of a great nation. Upon every suc

1818.]

On Bishop Watson's Memoirs.

cessive administration, however he en-
deavoured to produce this conviction,
and when he found that all his efforts
were fruitless, he marked all ministers
in his black book and private conver-
sation, as the enemies both of him
and the country. Yet he still con-
tinued to court every one in turn, and
whenever there was any indication of
a change on the bench suited to his
purpose, he never failed to be upon the
alert in order to insure the appointment.
Thus on the decline of the venerable
Lowth, he sent his six volumes of theo-
logical tracts into the world with a most
flattering dedication to her majesty,
moved thereto, as he says, by his respect
for her domestic character. Now the
compilation, whatever may be its utility
to students in divinity, is of a descrip-
tion little suited for the library of a
queen, and consequently it could not have
been inscribed to this august personage in
simple admiration of her private virtues.
The see of London, however, was in
the bishop's eye, and he took this me-
thod to gain it, but his aim was frus-
trated by the personal merits of Dr.
Porteus, and his particular interest with
the queen, for which both that amiable
prelate and her majesty have had the
honour of a place in the Episcopal Dun-
ciad. Mr. Pitt also came in for a pretty
large share of the bishop's resentment,
though his lordship did not directly break
with that minister till the affair of the
Regency; nor would he then, had it not
been for the death of Dr. Shipley, by
which event an opening offered itself
for a removal from Landaff to St.
Asaph. Not content however with giv-
ing a silent vote in favour of the abstract
right of the Prince of Wales to take
upon him the exercise of the regal
functions, the bishop made a long speech
in support of that claim, and, be it re-
membered, that he was the only one of
his order that came forward promi-
nently on such a delicate business. With
the same promptitude and decency he be-
came a member of the prince's cabinet,
and the adviser of his royal highness on
that occasion. Nay more, we have his
own word for the strange fact, that un-
mindful of his character as a divine, and
his duty as a subject, he intermeddled
in the unfortunate difference that arose
between the prince and his mother on
the subject of the regency. But in truth,
at this period there seemed so little
chance of the recovery of his majesty,
that the bishop calculated upon his suc-
ceeding to the vacant see, as quite cer-
tain; and indeed there can be no doubt

3

that if the bill had passed in time for the appointment, this would have been one of the first acts of the regency.Unfortunately, however, for the right reverend advocate his sharp-sighted policy failed him in this instance, confirming the remark of the wise man, that " Upright walking is the only sure walking." The king unexpectedly recovered, and one of the first things performed by him in the discharge of his royal function was the nomination of Dr. Samuel Halifax to the see of St. Asaph, for which that learned and truly respectable prelate has had the honour of having his memory blackened in this posthumous piece of biography.

It might reasonably have been imagined after such a turn to his time-serving manoeuvres, that the bishop would have gone to digest his mortification at the feet of the Welsh mountains, or by the lakes of Westmoreland. But his spirit though chagrined by disappointment was not to be shamed into quiescence. He still continued, as occasions offered, to ply the minister with solicitations, urging among other reasons for a compliance with his wishes, the advantages that government would derive from his services in a wider sphere of action, and from the relinquishment of his professorship. Mr. Pitt, however, pretty well knew his man, and if he did not, the king did, who to say the truth never liked the principles of the bishop, whatever opinion he might entertain of his abilities. On the death of the chancellor's brother, a mighty stir ensued among the bishops, and his lordship of Landaff was no less active than the rest. But though he made a bold push to gain either Salisbury or Carlisle, in the event of not being able to succeed with Durham, the king was inflexible, for the affair of the regency was fresh in remembrance. About this time it was that the bishop delivered that extraordinary charge at his visitation, in which he attempted to justify the French revolution in regard to ecclesiastical spoliation; aud having thus apologized for sacrilege, he made an open avowal of Erastianism, by dividing the whole state of the christian church into sects, and making them equal to each other, whether "Athanasians or Socinians, Lutherans or Calvinists." According to this representation of Christianity, the idea of a church vanishes into empty air, and the notion of it as a society founded on the apostolical commission, and perpetuated according to the promise of the founder is a mere chimerical illusion. After having

4

On Bishop Watson's Memoirs.

vacated in this manner one of the principal articles of the christian faith, it was not much to be wondered that a defence of the Protestant dissenters should follow, with a broad insinuation against the establishment as an intolerant system that stood in need of farther reformation. Such was the instruction which -the Bishop of Landaff gave to his Welsh clergy, at a time when revolutionary principles were spreading in every direction, when missionaries were prowling about to disseminate them, and when the example of France was held up as deserving of imitation in every respect. Some of the more intelligent of the bishop's auditors, and one in particular, a beneficed clergyman of the first respectability in talent and fortune, took notes of the charge as it was delivered. Copies of these notes were quickly in circulation, though only within the sphere of those who were most affected, and at length one found its way to the late primate Moore. All this did not pass without the knowledge of the bishop, who notwithstanding suffered seven months to elapse before he published the discourse which had produced so much sensation, both in and out of his diocese. How far the printed address corresponded with that delivered cannot be well ascertain ed, but at the time of the publication, a clergyman of the first character, who had been a fellow collegian of the bishop, and then resided in that neighbourhood as the master of a grammar-school, assured the writer of this, that the charge was most confoundedly garbled. Let this be as it may, even as the thing stands, such a pastoral address was calculated to encourage rather than repress the spirit of innovation. I have indeed heard it observed, as a justification of the bishop's conduct in this instance, that he generously stood forward to shield the dissenters from popular fury; and as a proof of his good intention, reference has been made to the riots at Birmingham. But the truth is, the riots at Birmingham did not break out till five weeks after the delivery of this charge, so that unless the bishop had been a prophet he never could have had those outrageous proceedings in contemplation. It deserves remark also, that those riots were not levelled against the protestant dissenters as such, but Dr. Priestley and his adherents, who by their inflammatory conduct and writings were the cause of all the mischief that followed: but in truth the peculiar colouring of this extraordinary charge of his lordship

[Aug. 1,

is to be sought in the state of his mind experienced in not being included in the under the disappointment which he had episcopal changes that had recently taken place. He might now have seen the present reign were at an end; but the that all hopes of a translation during bishop was a straight-forward man, and repeated rebuffs only served to quicken his desires. It was not, however, till the administration of Mr. Addington (now Lord Sidmouth) that he could be said to have any chance of success, and he endeavoured to insure it by practising all the arts of the most adroit courtier. The effect of this was, that though he procured preferment for others, as the remuneration of literary services, a remora was indelibly fixed to the keel of his own ambition, which no change of circumstances or conduct could remove.He saw Gloucester, Bangor, Exeter and St. Asaph pass in review before him without his being able to fasten lowest of those diguities. upon the

nick-named, came into power on the deAt length the Talents, as they were mise of Mr. Pitt, and the horizon once more appeared to brighten up in favour of the bishop, who made another effort to clear all obstacles that lay against him in a certain high quarter by printing what he called "A Second Defence of revealed Religion," in two sermons preached at the Chapel Royal. The dexterity of his lordship in timing his several publications to the furtherance of his views would furnish a curious subject of discussion, but that I shall leave to the future biographer of this singular character. It is sufficient here to observe, that when he sent these disthe head of affairs, and that men equally courses to the press his friends were at obnoxious with himself had managed to get into the highest offices of the state. Notwithstanding all this, and the pre sentation of his book to the king, the fatal star of the bishop's fortune continued to shed its baleful influence, and he remained stationary at Landaff, where I shall leave him for the present, intending in another letter to examine his conduct as a diocesan, and his principles as a divine; from whence posterity may see what were the real causes of all his wailings and reproaches. June 9, 1818.

J. WATKINS.

ON DULWICH COLLEGE.
MR. EDITOR,

for June, who signs B. S. L. requests ot
A Correspondent in your number
be informed something respecting the

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