cipation, subscription to articles of faith,—the slave trade, the policy of the war with the French republic, his opinions appear to have nearly coincided with those of the Whigs; and he often spoke in terms of the highest respect of the genius and character of Mr. Fox. Of Mr. Pitt he appears to have entertained a less favourable opinion.

Mr. Paley vacated Dalston in May 1793, on being collated to the vicarage of Stanwix, which had the advantage of being in the immediate neighbourhood of Carlisle. In the following year he published his "View of the Evidences of Christianity," which was dedicated to the Bishop of Ely. Of this work, which like his Moral Philosophy, has run through a vast number of editions, it is perhaps sufficient praise to say, that it has nearly superseded every other book on the subject. After the appearance of this publication, Mr. Paley's services to the cause of revealed religion could be no longer overlooked by the dispensers of ecclesiastical patronage. In August 1794 he was collated to the prebend of Pancras, in St. Pauls, by the late Dr. Porteus, Bishop of London. In the following year he got his degree at Cambridge as Doctor in Divinity, and was successively promoted to the subdeanery of Lincoln, and to the rectory of Bishop Wearmouth, valued at 12007. per annum. A few months after, he married a Miss Dobinson of Carlisle; and from this period to his death he divided his time between Bishop Wearmouth and Lincoln,

being obliged to reside three months annually at the latter place. Both his parents lived to witness his high reputation and success in life. His mother died in 1796, and his father in 1799, after seeing his sanguine anticipations amply fulfilled.

In 1800 he was attacked by a disease in the kidneys, accompanied with a species of melæna, which obliged him to suspend his professional duties. He experienced a second attack at Lincoln in the following spring, and a third about the end of the year. During the progress of this fatal disease, he was engaged in finishing his "Natural Theology," and it is interesting to know, that his remarks on the power which pain has of shedding a satisfaction over intervals of ease, which few enjoyments exceed, were suggested by his own situation at the time. His Natural Theology was published in 1802; and, as he himself informs us, was undertaken chiefly with the view of making his works into a comprehensive system of religion and morality. It did not disappoint the high expectations which his former publications had excited. Indeed, it may be safely recommended as the very best Manual of Theism hitherto produced. His health had been partially restored by the use of the Buxton waters, but the disease was by no means eradicated; and soon after his return from Lincoln to Bishop Wearmouth, in the beginning of May 1805, he was attacked with such severity as to render all the usual

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means of relief ineffectual. His strength failed rapidly, but his faculties remained unimpaired. He met the approach of death with firmness, comforted his afflicted family with the consolations of religion, and late on the evening of Saturday, May 25, he tranquilly breathed his last.

Dr. Paley was twice married, and left four sons and four daughters. In person he was above the common size, and rather inclined to corpulence in his latter years. Endowed by nature with a strong understanding and a sound judgment, he was guided in all his pursuits by just and sober views of human life, and hence he constantly attached himself to objects of practical utility. If not distinguished by much sensibility, or great warmth of affection, he was from principle strict in the discharge of his duties: he was a good husband, a kind father, an indulgent master, and a faithful friend. Though economical both from principle and habit, he was liberal in all his pecuniary transactions, and charitable to the poor. Affable and plain in his manners, he associated with men of every rank, without the formality and reserve which are sometimes supposed to accompany ecclesiastical rank and literary reputation. He held it not only allowable, but wise, to relieve severe application by intervals of amusement, and he was, for this reason, always willing to take a part in any species of innocent recreation. In short, few men enjoyed the pleasures of

life with greater zest, and few bore more firmly with its pains.

In conversation he delivered his opinions with great freedom, speaking strongly at times for the sake of effect, and often speaking all he felt, in cases where others only say what it is decorous to feel. Many anecdotes of his conversation are preserved in the recollection of his friends, of which the industry of his biographer has collected a small number. A few of these are deserving of notice, as throwing light upon the peculiarities of his character. When at Cam

bridge, being one day in a party of young men who were discussing somewhat pompously the summum bonum of human life, he heard their arguments with patience, and then with a half smile, and in a dry sarcastic tone, replied, "I differ from

all; the

you all;

true summum bonum of human life consists in reading Tristram Shandy, in blowing with a pair of bellows into your shoes in hot weather, and in roasting potatoes in the ashes under the grate in cold." He seems to have entertained a very low opinion of that kind of rapid declamation which imposes so much on the multitude, for in speaking of an orator of this description he once observed, "I know nothing against the man, but that he is a very popular preacher." Having prosecuted one of the college servants for theft, when the day of trial approached, he feed counsel to assist the culprit in his defence. On the singularity of this conduct being remarked to b

him, he replied, that "he thought it his duty to society and to the college to institute the prosecution; but let the fellow have fair play on his trial," added he, "and if, through any of the loopholes of the law, he then escape conviction, I have done my duty, and shall be content." The man, through some defect either of the indictment or the evidence, was actually acquitted.

Of his merits as a writer, it is unnecessary to say much. His works are in the hands of the learned and the unlearned; and the public voice has already assigned him a high rank among those who have contributed by their labours to instruct and improve the species. All his writings bear the impression of an acute and vigorous mind, possessed of extensive information, and liberalized by intercourse with the world. In perusing his works, the attentive reader cannot fail to be struck by the comprehension of his views, the perspicuity and conciseness of his statements, his skill in pursuing an argument through a mass of details, without ever losing sight of his object, and his unrivalled talent for illustration. On topics which had been nearly exhausted before he wrote, much originality could not be expected; but he has done all that his situation permitted him to do; he has methodized the facts and conclusions of his predecessors, and presented them to his readers in a form strikingly novel and impressive. In short, he has given an interest to didactic discussions, of which