ty pounds per annum. In 1777, Mr Law was promoted to the archdeaconry of Carlisle, and, from the age and infirmities of his father, had now the chief management of all the affairs of the diocese, as well as a leading influence with the dean and chapter. On the 15th of July, 1777, Mr Paley preached, at the visitation of the bishop, in the cathedral church of Carlisle, a discourse, which he afterwards published with the title of 'Caution recommended in the use and application of Scripture language.'* Mr Paley is here an advocate for the sober and solid interpretation of Scripture, and his reasoning is well calculated to counterbalance the opinions of those, who would transfer, indiscriminately, many expressions, describing peculiar circumstances of the first promulgation of the gospel, to the present case of the christian world. Some passages, particularly one against applying the terms 'regenerate, born of the spirit, new creatures,' to -the personal condition of any individuals of the present day, exactly as they were applied to the first apostles and their immediate converts, have been strongly censured by Dr Knox in the preface to his Christian Philosophy, whilst the whole discourse has been warmly recommended by Dr Percival, in communicating an epitome of it to his eldest son. * On the 5th of September he resigned the rectory of Musgrove, and, on the 10th of the same month, was inducted to the more valuable vicarage of Appleby, estimated at about two hundred pounds a year: between which place and Dalston he now divided his time, residing alternately six months at each. Mr Yates, the celebrated master of the free grammar school at Appleby, which he had taught with extraordinary credit and success for more than half a century, was, at that time, almost on the verge of his eightieth year. But, as he still retained the vigour of his faculties, and was at once a gentleman in prineiples and manners, he naturally ranked high amongst the inhabitants of a provincial town. Between him and Mr Paley an intimacy was quickly formed; and some reciprocal compliments, * Percival's Works, vol. i. p. 305. which occurred during their intercourse, are still remembered by their mutual friends. Mr Paley reasons like Locke,' was the obvious remark of the veteran, Mr Yates writes Latin like Erasmus,' the equally well merited reply.. Mr Paley was also intimate with some of the most eminent barristers, who attended on the northern circuit at the assizes at Appleby and Carlisle. Amongst these, his old tutor Mr Wilson had been for some years distinguished by a profound knowledge of the law, united to a strong and correct judgment, as well as by many interesting good qualities in private life. He was a native of Troutbeck in Westmoreland, where he frequently passed the short interval of his leisure from professional engagements, on a small patrimonial estate; and during his retirement there, in a subsequent year, to his own great surprise, was appointed one of the puisne judges of the Court of Common Pleas. Mr Lee, whose great professional abilities, uniform integrity of conduct, and steady attachment to the true principles of civil and religious liberty, will be long remembered to his honour, was a leading counsel on the circuit at this time. Distinguished by many social virtues himself, as well as by his sterling sense and literary accomplishments, he naturally had a very high opinion of and regard for Mr Paley, with whom he lived on terms of intimacy for many years. Mr. Paley, accompanied by his friend Law when afterwards advanced to a bishopric, once visited Mr Lee at his house at Staindrop in the county of Durham, a visit rendered peculiarly pleasant to all parties by the collision of such great conversational powers. * * Mr Lee was successively solicitor and attorney-general during the two short administrations of Mr Fox in 1782 and 1783, and continued through life attached to the constitutional principles and enlightened policy of that truly eminent man. Being once asked his opinion of Mr Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, he replied, I find much in it to praise, much to blame, and much to doubt; but after all it is a very wonderful book.' This just and striking remark on the merits of a work so fatal in its consequences, as influencing public opinion, deserves to be recorded as a strong proof of his discriminative wisdom. Lee gave his last vote in the House of Commons, December 13th, 1792, with Mr Fox, against those rash ́and intemperate proceedings, which eventually involved their country in the calamities of a protracted war. He died in August, 1793. Whilst vicar of Appleby he gave to the world a small volume, selected from the Book of Common Prayer, and the writings of several eminent divines, entitled The Clergyman's Companion in Visiting the Sick; a very useful manual, and such as he had probably experienced the want of himself. This compilation was published at first anonymously; but it has since passed through at least nine editions, and is now sanctioned with his The professional usefulness of this book to the clergy is no small recommendation of its merits; but when considered as originating in Mr Paley's personal attention to the spiritual wants of his own flock, it affords an additional and permanent proof of his worth as a parochial minister. name. On the 16th of June, 1780, he was installed a prebendary of the fourth stall in the cathedral of Carlisle, worth about four hundred pounds per annum, and thus became the coadjutor of his friend Mr Law in the chapter. Mr Paley, as chaplain to the bishop of Carlisle, preached an admonitory Sermon, at the general ordination holden by his lordship at Rose Castle, on the 29th of July, 1791. In this excellent Discourse, which was afterwards published, he displays a benevolent anxiety to promote the welfare of his hearers by seasonable and judicious advice; advice peculiarly adapted to the situation of those who have to sustain the character of curates: an order of men so useful in their profession, and of which a very great proportion of the candidates for ordination at Carlisle is usually composed. He points out to them in a few plain and practicable rules, which equally evince his piety and good sense, how they may best recommend themselves to the esteem of their parishioners, and discharge the duties of their station. The Advice, thus earnestly addressed to the young Clergy of the diocese of Carlisle, cannot be too strongly inculcated on all clergymen who fill the lower ranks of the establishment, as it tends to make even youth venerable, and poverty respected. Mr Yates died soon after this, in the eighty-first year of his age; on which occasion Mr Paley wrote the just and striking eulogy, inscribed on the marble monument erected to this emi nent teacher's memory in Appleby church. His own connexion with that place terminated in the following year, when, in consequence of Mr Law's promotion to an Irish bishopric, he was appointed archdeacon of Carlisle, and divided his future residence between Dalston and his prebendal house. He was installed in his new dignity, August 5th, 1782. The archdeaconry is, in fact, a mere sinecure, the duties usually attached to that office being here performed by the chancellor, whose power extends through the whole diocese. The rectory of Great Salkeld, worth one hundred and twenty pounds per annum, is always annexed to the archdeaconry, and has been so from the foundation of the see. Immediately after this, Mr Paley went with his friend to Dublin, where, September 21, he preached the sermon in the Castle chapel, at his consecration to the bishopric of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh; and afterwards accompanied him to his episcopal residence, on the great river Shannon in Galway, one of the least civilized portions of the island. In the course of this journey he was no idle observer, as his remarks after his return evinced, of the peculiar wretchedness of the lower Irish, and of that ingenuity in eluding taxes, at once injudicious and oppressive, by which that poor and neglected people were then, if not even now, unhappily distinguished. In the consecration sermon, afterwards published with the title of ‘A Distinction of Orders in the Church defended upon principles of public utility,' Mr Paley states the difference between Christianity in its vital principles and in its external forms; and whilst he candidly admits that it may exist under any form of church government, defends the ecclesiastical establishment of his own country, as congenial to the character and habits of the various orders of the community, and calculated to promote the credit and efficacy of the sacerdotal office. An account of this discourse, with some extracts, given in the Monthly Review for March 1783, drew forth some very severe remarks from the poet Cowper, who, in a letter to Mr Unwin on the 12th of May following, insinuates, that from the stretch of ingenuity exerted in the argument, one might suspect the argument itself to be unsound. * From the correspondence of the same elegant writer it should appear, that Mr Paley had favored their common friend, Mr Unwin, with his sentiments on education, early in the ensuing year; since the following passage, in a letter dated May 8th, 1784, certainly does not refer to any thing at that time contained in his published works. 'I am glad to have Paley on my side in the affair of education: he is certainly on all subjects a sensible man, and on such a wise one.'† Mr Unwin's attention seems at this time to have been much directed to the instruction of his eldest son and several interesting letters, recommending a private in preference to a public system of education, were addressed to him by Mr Cowper, who must have entertained a deeply rooted antipathy to great schools. Mr Paley's sentiments on this important subject, if any were preserved, would no doubt be acceptable to the world; and the present writer cannot sufficiently lament, that his own inquiries to elucidate still farther so pointed an allusion have not been attended with success. It is worth the while, however, for the reader to see what Mr Paley afterwards thought it right to recommend in the choice of a public or private education, at the close of his chapter on the Duty of Parents, in his Moral and Political Philosophy. A report has been long in circulation, that Mr Paley, being appointed to preach before the university of Cambridge, on the day when Mr Pitt, after his elevation to the premiership in 1784, made his first appearance at St Mary's, chose this singular but appropriate text-There is a lad here, who hath five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they among so many?' John vi. 9. A lady who had seen this story in a newspaper, once asked the facetious divine if it was true. Why no, madam,' replied he, 'I certainly never preached such a sermon, I was not at Cambridge at the time; but I remember that, one * See Hayley's Life and Posthumous Works of Cowper, vol. ii. p. 84. + Hayley's Cowper, vol. ii. p. 211. ‡ Bk. iii. pt. iii. c. 9. 2d ed. 4to. p. 300, and 11th ed. 8vo. vol. i. p. 366; which editions are invariably quoted in this work. |