Mr. URBAN,

Rotherham, May 24. THE HE reviewer of Sir John Hawkins's Life of Dr. Johnfon, under the head of "liberal opinions" extracted from that work (fee p. 345), having introduced a very illiberal ftory of a female Quaker; my intimate acquaintance with many refpectable perfons among the Quakers, and the knowlege I have of the peculiar nature and neceffary operation of their difcipline, authorize me confidently, to question, if not directly to contradict, the narrative. The molt favourable conftruction I can put upon this curious and original anecdote (fo effentially connect ed with the Life of Dr. Samuel John fon!") is, that the di cerning Knight was groffly impofed upon by a common and, as it appears by his own account, a moft ftupid and hameless proftitute, in the plain and neat garb of a Quaker. For fuperlatively stupid and fhameless muft the have been, when all the worthy Chair man's virtuous eloquence could not convince the "ftiff Quaker" that a notorioufly wicked life was fcandalous! Sir John, however, poffeffes no fuch magic power of affimulating contradictions. The most common affociation of ideas "perplexes him exceedingly”—and the daily and public conduct of the multitude is a folecifm in manners. ftrangely puzzled," fays the worthy Juftice," to reconcile in my mind the profeffion of purity with the practice of lewdnes." Strangely puzzled, indeed, Mr. Urban! The biographer of Dr. Johnton was doubtless well acquainted with the purity of the Chriftian religion, but had never been a witnefs to the lewdnefs of any of its profefors till he was fhocked and puzzled with it in "the plain and neat garb of a Quaker."

"I was

Had this foolish and miferable woman appeared in any other garb than that of a Quaker, the ftory would not have been worth relating. The members of the Eftablished Church may be as immoral and profane as they pleate, Sir John Hawkins will give himfelf no trouble to reconcile the purity of their profeffion with the badness of their lives; but the moment a poor Quaker is found guilty of any of thofe crimes which, among other profeffors of Christianity, pafs almoft without notice, every beholder, however indiffe rent before, is fuddenly feized with a ho ly zeal for the pureft of all religions," and the unhappy culprit is immediately held up, with malicious exultation, to the wonder and deteftation of a virtuous publick. Even the abilities of a Middle

fex Juftice are exerted to "preferve the perishing infamy of his name, and to render it immortal." PHILO VERITAS.

MR. URBAN,

YOU have given us, in your laft month's Magazine, a review of “A brief Account of the Hofpital of St. Elizabeth, annexed to the Imperial Monattery of St. Maximin of the Benedictines, in the Electorate of Treves."This monaftery is fuppofed to have been founded by Conftantine the Great, and fill flourishes first in the antiquity of its inftitution, and fecond to none in Ger many for revenues. A third of all the rents and profits of the abbacy was granted in perpetuity to the hofpital of St. Elizabeth, which continued to enjoy this bounty till about 1620, when it was neglected and involved in fuits. Alexander Henn, who was abbot from 1672 to 1689, reftored it to its former profperity, rebuilding both it and the church and monaftery, which had been burnt in the French war: but fucceeding abbots monopolized and perverted its revenues to other purposes; and fuch is its prefent ftate, utterly profaned and despoiled. One of the monks ventured to remonftrate to his abbot, 1764, bút not only met with a repulfe, but the moft cruel treatment for his interference. But with an unbroken fpirit he has at laft addreffed a memorial to the Emperor himfelf, with the prefent History annexed to it, confirmed by an appendix of original charters.

Such is the hiftory of the Latin publication,-concife, nervous, and containing every information neceffary to its purpose. The tranflator, whom, from his initials, we fairly conclude to be Capel Loft, fired with a very different fort of zeal, and much more outrageous ideas of civil liberty, has made it a vehicle for his own fentiments, prefixing to it a long preface about monaftic inftitutions and monafteries, containing nothing new, and fwelling this with a farrago of notes from Sarpi, Milton, Warburton, Gibbon, Jebb, and the Monthly Review, and with long extracts from the puffing of the feveral States of America in favour of religious freedom and toleration, and winds up the whole with a life of Paolo Sarpi, who is compared to the late Dr. Jebb. Thus can a German memorial (which one night expect to find rather verbofe and wire-drawn) be spun out into a fix hilling English octavo.

P. Q.

56. The

420

56. The Epiftolary Correfpondence, Vifitation Charges, Speeches, and Mifcellanies, of the Right Reverend Francis Atterbury, D. D. Lord Bifbop of Rochester. With Hiftori cal Notes. Volume the Fourth. 8vo.

F

Of the Three former volumes of this collection a full account has been given in our vol. LIII, p. 423, and vol, LIV. pp. 119, 189, 332. The prefent publication is equally authentic, and ftill more entertaining. The part which has been communicated by the Bishop's only furviving grandfon (the prefent Dr. Atterbury, of Christ Church, Præcentor of the cathedral of Cloyne, and rector of Clonmel,) is by much the greater portion of the volume, and conhifts almoft wholly of the correfpondence between our learned Prelate, his juftly-efteemed daughter Mrs. Morice, and Mr. Morice, the husband of that lady; and difplays, in a moft amiable manner, the filial and parental virtues. Of Mr. Ofborne Atterbury alfo, the Bishop's only fon, many new and curious particulars are here developed. It has been too generally taken for granted that there were weighty reafons for the unhappy mifunderftanding between him and his father; and that he was difinherited for marrying against the Bishop's inclinations. It appears, however, that the young gentleman was not married till fix months after the death of his father; and from the manner in which the fon is mentioned in almost every paffage where his name occurs, there is reafon to imagine that his offences were greatly aggravated. At leaft, if we may be allowed to form a judgement of him in the earlier part of his life from the advanced period of it, an inconfiderate wildness feems to have been his greatest error, and the fource of all his misfortunes. He was admitted, in 1718, at Weftminster; whence, in 1722, (being then captain of the fchool) he was elected to Chrift Church. Soon after that period the Bishop wrote to him an affectionate letter. In 1724 he was under the tuition of Mr. Le Hunt, and applied for a licence to correfpond with his father. Early in 1726 he went a fhort voyage to fea; and it appears by the next letter, that in November that year he failed for India. He returned in Auguft 1728; and in the December following embarked again for China, where he continued till the death of his uncle, whofe teftamentary generofity, in fome degree, alleviated his father's difregard.

On the

news of this event he returned to Eng, land, where he married in August 1732, and the fame year was ordained by Bi fhop Hoadly, who had no particular at tachment to the family; and in 1746 he

obtained the rectory of Oxhill in Watwickshire, where he died, much refpected, in 1753.

We fhall turn, however, from this only painful part of the business, and

felect fome remarkable extracts.

April 11, 1724, the King's licence was neceflary, before "Ofborne Atterbury, the Bishop's only fon, and W. Le Hunt, clerk, his tutor," could have "the liberty of writing to, and receiving letters from, the Bishop."...

Feh. 15, 1725, the Bishop fays, "I am better than I have been for fome years; but am in much want of money, and forced to borrow till you fupply me;"-a fufficient contradiction to the idle report of his having carried large fums abroad with him."...

Dec. 7, 1726. "The two quartos pleafed me much, nor was I eafy till I had perufed every line of them; but was forry to find, at the close of the laft, that fo much of the work was from two other hands; fince fo much lefs of it belongs to that which I most value."....

Jan. 4, 1727 "I faw, by your advertisement, that Gulliver was a book much out of your way; but could not tell what to make of it. I fhall long till it is with me. There are other copies of it here, but I cannot get at them. I fhould be glad you would enquire, and fend me word, who was the author of a copy of verfes to Lord Cadogan †, printed in one of the English news-papers about a fortnight ago. Your Twitnam friend can tell you. There is a particular turn in them that makes me inquifitive after

the writer. I hope it is one I do not know, that I may have the fa isfaction to think tat fome new pen is arifing, that promises to be in any degree like thofe I do; therefore pray fail not to find out the perfon.".... April 11. "I had the first part of Gulliyer's Travels, but not the fecond; however, it has been lent me here, and I have had the pleasure of reading it. Both parts are now tranflating here, though the French will not be able to relifh the humour of that piece, nor understand the meaning of it."...

Feb. 14, 1727-8. A meffage has been fent me by the Lieutenant de Police of this place, from the King and the Cardinal, in relation to Pere Courayer's retreat into Eug

Pope's Homer's Odyiley, Books IV. and V.

This was Tickell's poem On the Death of the Earl of Cadogan,' July 17× 1726." ‡ Mr. Pope."

land,

land, which they fuppofed me to have facilithted; and that all the methods taken by him in that respect, and towards defending the ordinations of the Church of England, had been concerted with me. I faid what was true on that head, without difguife; and, after an hour's converfation, did, I think, fatisfy the Lieutenant that I had done nothing but what became me. He owned as much,

and promised to make his report according ly, and to justify me, not only à la cour, but à la vit; and he has been as good as his word, and behaved himself, on this occafion, with all honour and with all civility towards me; fo that I look upon that matter as quieted. But a great noise having been made about it at Paris, and different reports spread concerning what paffed in that conference, and concerning the event of it, I was willing to let you know the truth of matters, that neither Mrs. Morice nor you might be under any needlefs alarm."..

"Bishop Gaftrel's book has never reached me; and yet I have the greatest defire to read it: pray venture another by a furer hand, and withal ferd me the piece which Voltaire has lately printed in English, 1 fuppofe it is of a fize that may come by the poft; if not, take fome other way; for there is a French gentleman of his acquaintance whom I have promifed a fight of it. That gentleman has learned English, and defires me to recommend fome new English book to him, to be tranflated. I know of none. If your Twitnam friend does, I fhould be glad he would name it to you, that you may procure and feud it me. He knows the books that have any credit with you, and are likely to have any here when tranflated. I am as much a stranger to any thing of that kind as if I were not an Englishman; and yet I am refolved to live and die truly fuch, however my country may have used me....

"I wrote to you by the post this day, on account of a metfage fent me from the King and the Cardinal by the Lieutenant de Police, in relation to Pere Courayer. It has made a great noife here; but the truth is as I have told you. I did not mince the matter to the magiftrate, nor am at all athamed of what has happened, or concerned for it. I owned my friendship for Pere Courayer; told them frankly a great deal more than they knew of that matter, as far as I was concerned; and thought there was no reason to wonder at, or blame my conduct. I convinced them of that point, and I believe there is an end of it. I fhewed the Lieutenant the picture of Pere Courayer hanging up in my room; told him I had vifited him in his retreat at Hanment, while he was in difgrace there; and that he came to take leave of me the night before he left Paris; and that in all this I thought I had done nothing that mifbecame me. If you fee Pere Courayer, let him know thefe circumftances,"

421 We fhall conclude for the prefent with the Bishop's letter to the Lieute nant de Police on this occafion:

Feb. 1727-8.*

"SIR, could not be very agreeable to a perfon in "Though the occafion of your feeing me my circumstances, yet the iffue of that vifit was fuch as I fhall always reflect on with

gratitude and pleasure. You were pleafed to treat me in the most obliging manner; you promifed to do me juftice to the Cardinal+ (to whom I had been misreprefented), and to others, as you had occafion: and I have the fatisfaction to find, from fome accounts which have reached me, that you character which all the world gives you. have every way anfwered that honourable

"Sir, it becomes me to acknowledge this to you, and to every body. I should have waited on you to this purpose, would my infirmities have fuffered me. Since they will

not, this is the only way in which I can pay you my acknowledgements.

"At the fame time, permit me to ask one favour more of you; and, from the experience I have already had of your goodness, I promise myself that you will not deny it me. The Cardinal may poffibly have other rethould that happen, what I beg of his Emiports made to him, to my disadvantage; nence is, that, before they make impreffion, communicated to me, that I may fatisfy him he would please to let them, fome way, be. (as I fhall do with all fincerity and franknefs) what real ground there is for them, before he takes notice of them in a manner that cannot but be highly prejudicial to me." He will have more light from me, in fuch a from the natural manner in which I fhall cafe, than from all the world befides; and, open myself, will be better able to judge of my conduct, than by other informations. They may perhaps be founded on partiality or mistake; but from me he shall always have the very truth (as far as I myself am concerned), whatever may be the confequence of owning it. I well know my fitu ation here, as a ftranger, and on other accounts; and fhall be careful to do nothing that mifbecomes it; or, if I do, fhall be the first to condemn it myself, as foon as it ap pears to me.

"Pardon the trouble of this new request, which arifes from the favourable reception you gave to a former.

"I am, with respect, Sir, your most humble and moft obedient servant,

FR. ROFFEN." Some further extracts fhall be given in a future number.

*Indorfed by the Bishop, "Copy of my letter to the Lieutenant de Police. With "this English letter, which was in my own "hand, I fent, in the hand of another, a "French copy of it."

Flen

a prime minister of France. 5.The.

422

57. The Right of Proteftant Diffenters to a complete Toleration afferted; or, An Effay containing an Hiftorical Review of their "Situation under the Laws impofing the Sacramental Teft on Perfons admitted to Offices; and fhewing the Impofition of that Teft to be unjust with respect to the Proteftant Dif Jenters of England and the Natives of North Britain, as well as inexpedient; with an Answer to the Objection urged from the A of Union with Scotland, and Proofs that the prefent is the proper Time for applying to Parliament for the neceffary Redress. To which is added, A Poftfcript, in Reply to the Arguments of Bishop Sherlock on the Subje of the Tf Law, latety re-published. 8vo. THOUGH the claim in queftion has been already brought to a decifion by a vote of the legiflature, we have thought this pamphlet deferving a place in our literary regifter, and have given the title at large, to fpeak for itfelf. The writer clofes his well-written work with profeffions of "friendship, good order, tranquillity, and religion," and difavows the "language of infolence," How different from that of feveral eminent leaders among the body of men who call themfelves Diffenters, and ufe for the weapons of their warfare, not reason and argument, but chicanery: abule, violence, and menaces are difavowed by their own party when they find how little they are likely to gain by this outrageous and indecent conduct, which cannot be juftified by what our author calls "the prefent fyftem of feverity and ill-will" Yet, to fhew to what fhifts the plea is reduced, the writer before us fcruples not to confefs "the diminution of numbers among the "Diffenters fince they have been re"lieved from the penal laws as pre"venting a poffibility of mifchief to the "eftablishment."-"The friendship of a refpectable body of men would add to the fecurity of the establishment, "efpecially if there is the leaf colour for pretending that the Diffenters "have it in their power to become for"midable, were they fo difpofed." Is hot this a contradiction to the plea? for if the enemy dwindles away to nothing, the danger ceafes, and the remedy becomes ufelefs. Nothing but a wish to acquire a little confequence, and to fhare a little worldly power, pomp, and profit, remains to be urged, And furely no confcientious, religious man would obtrude himfelf into thefe, but rather avoid them,

The moft grievous oppreffion un"which the Difenters now. labour," ?

66

fays the Effayift, "is their exclufon from public offices, except on terms "which many of them cannot confci"entiously comply with;" and this is a mark of reproach. Yet Dr. Furof the Teft Act would be a greater difneaux, as cited by him, fays, the repeal advantage to the Diffenters than to the Church, as it would diminish their numbers.

Does not the writer's zeal affume too much, when he afferts that the leave given to Catholics to celebrate mafs privately is capable to be construed into a public and numerous meeting? or did the Catholics hefitate at this before the Commercial Treaty? or have not the Diffenters their religious meetings, in the most unrestrained manner? Our author's plea of merit for the Diffenters is nothing less than that they have faved the ftate. To what the boafted toleration of America amounts may be learned from the Marquis de Chastellux and his translator.

58. An Appeal to the Candour, Magnanimity, and Justice of those in Power to relieve, from Severe and opprobrious Severities and Penalties, a great Number of their Fellow-Subje&is, who will give every Security and Teftimmy of their Attachment to the present Efiablish ment, which does not oblige them to violate the Rights of Confcience.

THIS fmall publication of 14 pages urges the fame claim to a fhare of public offices and honours, and a fuither one to be married and buried by their own ministers, according to their own forms. We juft mention this that we may not seem to have omitted any thing that has appeared on either fide in this debate.

59. Obfervations upon the Cafe of the Proteftant Diffenters. By a Lay-Member of the Chureb of England. 8vo.

THIS fhort examination of the reafons or pleas wherewith the Diffenters conclude their cafe, ftrongly points out the expediency of fupporting the teft from the danger of trusting fo large a body of men, of the principles which they awow, with a participation of power and influence in the ftate. Their application has been ably defeated on the 28th ult.; and we hope, for their own credit, they will not repeat it, especially in the ungenerous mode which is given out on the eve of the diffolution of the prefent parliament,

69. An