of the Church. Allegation was considered by the writer as equivalent to proof, and personal invective was freely dealt out towards him, on this assumed ground. To rebut this gratuitous and unfounded charge, Mr. Drew wrote a letter, for insertion in the Cornwall Gazette, which his friend Mr. Flindell declined publishing. In consequence of this refusal, it was printed, with some additions, in a small pamphlet, to which Mr. Drew thus alludes, in the postscript of a letter to Mr. Whitaker, July 27. "Since your departure, I have been attacked by an anonymous writer in behalf of Mr. Polwhele, who charges me with a pamphlet of which I am not the author, and makes that mistake the source of attack. I have in the press a small pamphlet, price fourpence, in reply, which I expect will be out in about a week."

This publication led to an overture of friendship from his unknown opponent, which, through some misapprehension, was afterwards retracted. To this circumstance the following letter of Mr. D. alludes; and with it the controversy, as far as he was engaged terminates.

"To the Friend of the Church.'

"GOOD SIR,

66

"St. Austell, October 26, 1801.

I have lately received from you two letters, which, although dictated by the same primary occasion, are evidently written under very different impressions, and discover a mind agitated by a conflict of opposite sensations. The first of these letters is replete with civility and overtures of friendship; but the latter upbraids me with a breach of confidence, and the guilt of a most deliberate falsehood.

T

The former letters, from the concealment of your name, I suspected of insincerity; and the latter, by throwing off the mask, has sanctioned my suspicion.

"I should, however, have replied to your first, had not the omission of your name defeated the design for which it was avowedly written. It has been observed by Dr. Young, on the nature of friendship, that

Reserve will wound it, and distrust destroy.'

If, therefore, confidence be necessary either to the existence or stability of friendship, you have violated its fundamental principle in your first overture; and it is to this violation alone that you have to look for that answer which, in your first letter, you requested from me.

"That you, sir, have been the sport and prey of rumour and conjecture,' your charging me with being the author of Methodism Tried' is a convincing proof; and I feel myself rather at a loss to conceive how you could so easily fall a victim a second time to the same species of imposition.

"If there be in human nature that magnanimity which poets have feigned, and which philosophers have attempted to prove, I doubt not that you will assent to the sentiment of Homer, that

• A noble mind disdains not to repent.'

And I doubt not that you will readily suspend those unfavourable impressions which that report has made on your mind, and which my present letter is designed to do away. Your friendship, or that of any other gentleman, I should be ambitious to acknowledge, and solicitous to retain; but such overtures as are revoked through error, carry a presumption that they are offered through caprice, and leave the person to whom they are made, and from whom they are taken, but little reason to lament his loss. Whatever is held by a precarious tenure sinks in value in proportion to its instability.

"I have not written this to renew hostilities, but to convince you of your deception; not to upbraid your credulity, but to mark the folly of depending on conjecture and report. It is for you, sir, after the reception of this letter, to say on what foundation your letters stand, and to decide whether or not I have acted unworthy of that confidence which you have reposed in me.

To ask you now to reveal your name, may, perhaps, be imposing a task for human frailty too severe.' I shall not, therefore, urge my solicitations. I will, nevertheless, frankly tell you, that the avowal of your name is essential to the reciprocity of that friendship which the concealment of it forbids me to express: I therefore sincerely say-Give me your name, and I will give you my hand.

Animosity, sir, has never formed the smallest part of my character, in my conduct towards you; and this letter will convince you, that I scorn to avail myself of those advantages which your error might occasion. Should you, sir, think proper to avow your name, if Providence spare me to take another journey in your neighbourhood, I will do myself the pleasure of waiting upon you; when, I doubt not, a renewal of hostilities will (in a general sense) be precluded by a concurrence of sentiment. And would you, sir, act in the same manner, I should esteem it as a favour. In the meanwhile, passing by those mistakes and differences which will unavoidably arise from the chequered state of human life, and sincerely wishing you every blessing for time and eternity, "I subscribe myself, your well wisher, SAMUEL DREW."

SECTION XIII.

Progress of Mr. Drew's Essay on the Soul-Interview with Mr. Whitaker-Acquaintance with Mr. Britton-Essay on the Soul published — Its favourable reception— Mr. Polwhele's generous conduct.

We now advert to Mr. Drew's more important work, the Essay on the Immateriality and Immortality of the Human Soul,' the publication of which placed him in the highest rank of christian metaphysicians.

Although he had received so many marks of kindness from his friend and adviser, Mr. Whitaker, and there had been a frequent interchange of letters, yet, until the close of the year 1800, no personal interview had taken place. In a letter from his friend and printer, Mr. Flindell, dated October 10th of that year, this question occurs :-" "Why do you deprive yourself of the opportunities that open to you of becoming acquainted with great characters? Go and see Mr. Whitaker, Dr. Hawker, and all that fall in your way. Exchange a little of your modest worth for my impudence. You love what is curious and excellent, in art and in nature. What is more curious, more excellent, more to be admired, than wise and good men- the noblest work of God?” Acting probably upon this suggestion, and recollecting the frequent and pressing invitations which

he had received from Mr. Whitaker, he called soon afterwards upon his literary friend. The result of that interview, which was mutually gratifying, may be gathered from the following letter of Mr. Drew. It was given by Mr. Whitaker, as a literary curiosity, to John Britton, Esq., the well-known antiquarian and topographical writer, and was thus preserved.

"To the Rev. John Whitaker.

"REV. AND DEAR SIR,

"St. Austell, July 27, 1801.

"It was with the sincerest regret that I heard of your departure from Cornwall, and the occasion which rendered that departure necessary; and the same motive which then gave me regret, now urges me to congratulate you on your return.

"You will, perhaps, recollect, when I had the honour of spending a few hours in your company, some months since, (in which I never felt myself so completely awed into silence by superior greatness,')—that, among other incoherent expressions which I dropt, I hinted that I had revolved in my mind this abstruse and important subject

The

Immateriality and Immortality of the Human Soul. You gave me encouragement to proceed. Stimulated by this encouragement, I returned home, and devoted my leisure hours to that subject. I had brought it to the state of forwardness in which you saw it a few days before you went off to Bath, but had no opportunity of sending it for your inspection. During your absence, it has lain in a torpid state. No human eye (but my own) has ever seen it; and I have reserved it for this purpose, if it has any merit, Mr. Whitaker shall discover it; if not, he alone shall witness its disgrace.

"To descant upon its excellencies or defects, would betray a vanity which I would not wish to