tion, with no alterations, but some additions, and are, doubtless, the best of all the volumes in that size. Mr. Nichols's acquaintance I owe to your Lordship; it has long been confirmed into friendship that has been delightful and serviceable to me on all occasions, for as many years past as I have known him. From the Northumberland family, besides the honour of their countenance, and the credit of their patronage, I have derived no essential service. I think of the late Duke with tenderness and gratitude, and believe the present Duke is as desirous to serve me as his father was, if opportunity offers. The Museum, that was ever under the Queen's patronage, and of which the Archbishop kept the key, may now be more open, when I probably shall neither have so much need or inclination to go into it. In the course of my endeavours to qualify myself for either department in that establishment, I stumbled on the discovery of its original founder, an amiable and respectable gentleman, buried in oblivion, owing chiefly to the change of his real name, Courten,* to Charleton. I have given something like a life of him for the new edition of the Biographia Britannica, that cost me some trouble, and on the accuracy_of_the account, at least, your Lordship may rely. But I weary you, and shall only add, that besides the superintendence of octavo editions of Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, I am, moreover, engaged at present as an Index-maker to the Rolls of Parliament,† &c. I am, with a grateful sense of my many and great obligations to your Lordship on all occasions,

"Your Lordship's most obliged and humble servant, "JOHN CALDER."

Furnival's Inn, Feb. 26, 1789.

"MY DEAR LORD, "I am very happy in having succeeded, as you kindly wished, in my pursuit of conjugal felicity, and this is the true and only reason for my not having sooner informed your Lordship that your bill came safe to my hands last month, and that I accept it thankfully in full of all

* Dr. Calder's very valuable and curious Life of William Courten, occupies no less than 19 pages of the Biographia Britannica, vol. IV. 334-353. Courten was a learned naturalist, and general collector of coins and other curiosities. Sir Hans Sloane was his friend and executor; and Courten's collections formed part of the Sloane Museum, purchased by the nation in 1753.

† As an assistant to Rev. Dr. Strachey and the Rev. John Pridden. See Gent. Mag. 1825, i. 469.

demands. I have consigned my Liturgical and other collections for your Lordship to the care of Mr. Nichols, who rejoiced to hear of your welfare, and to whom I delivered your commissions. I long to hear from your Lordship again, and to be favoured at full length with your opinion of the Tatlers, &c. I have left my chambers here, and live now at Croydon in Surrey, to which place your Lordship, I hope, will be so good as to direct a long letter for me, with your earliest conveniency. I beg my most respectful compliments to the ladies.

دو

"Your Lordship's most obliged servant, J. CALDER."

1788.

Bishop PERCY to Bishop DOUGLAS.*

"MY LORD, Dromore, July, 1788. "Having accidentally heard that your Lordship was about paying a visit to your diocese, and to make some stay at Rose Castle, I could not resist the desire I had to present my respects to your Lordship, on your connection with a country where I spent some time very agreeably, and, if you had not kindly interposed and been the instrument of sending me hither, I should have been ready to receive you as Dean of your cathedral.

"I found, on my arrival here, a very heavy charge of about 3,2001, Irish, for a new-built See-house, but having discharged that payment, and thereby realized threefourths of that sum to my family, I like my situation so well that I am not anxious to remove. This part of Ireland is extremely well peopled, and, being the seat of a very rich and thriving manufacture, our payments are better made, and the people more civilised and more amenable to the laws, than in any other part of this kingdom that I have ever seen, so that I am satisfied with my present residence.

"For troubling your Lordship with this detail, I presume on your goodness, and that you may not be altogether uninterested in the fate which you were the means of procuring me; and, indeed, as my diocese is only separated from yours by the Irish Channel, I am inclined to look upon you still as my neighbour, and to claim the privilege and garrulity of one. I found many worthy and agreeable people in Cumberland, and especially in your

* An abridged copy of this letter is printed in Bishop Douglas's Life. See Literary Illustrations, vol. VII. p. 450.

Chancellor and Archdeacon* a most intelligent and pleasing acquaintance. And one circumstance I cannot but mention, as it may be of consequence to the health and happiness of your Lordship and your family, a most ingenious physician at Carlisle in Dr. Heysham,† whom I beg leave to recommend, if medical help should be wanted, as a very skilful, ingenious man: I verily believe I owe to him the preservation of my own life and health this moment in a critical complaint, and I have known other decisive instances of his skill in my own family. He is a modest unassuming man, and has besides the misfortune to be opposed by the party who is hostile to my Lord Lonsdale, so that he requires, as he deserves, the protection both of people of merit and also the friends of his Lordship; to whom, however, I believe he was never so much as known.

Wishing your Lordship long life and happiness, in the enjoyment of that elevation which you so highly adorn, I have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's most obliged and obedient servant, T. DROMORE."

Bishop DOUGLAS to Bishop PERCY. "MY LORD, Rose Castle, Aug. 23, 1788. "It gave me real pleasure to receive a letter from one whom I have so long known and respected. Ever since my arrival I have been so much engaged that I could not, till now, sit down to acknowledge the favour, and to express the satisfaction I feel on knowing so authentically that your Lordship finds your situation so much to your liking. Few of our profession, especially of our rank, who • have been transplanted to Ireland, seem to have been so fortunate as your Lordship, if we may judge from the frequency of their visits to this island. I have often reflected with myself, how much more agreeable I should have found my residence here if you had been my neighbour at Carlisle. Indeed the state of that cathedral grieves me; your successor has not hitherto fixed himself there, and a non-resident Dean will naturally be answerable for the non-residence of his brethren of the chapter.

I

* Archdeacon Paley. He died May 25, 1805, at Bishop Wearmouth, aged 62. See memoir in Gent. Mag. LXXV. p. 585, and Jefferson's History of Carlisle, p. 427-429.

+ See p. 359.

Dr. Ekins. See p. 191.

understand that Dr. Hudson* is the only prebendary who passes much of his time at Carlisle, and one would imagine, from the practice there, that the statutes of that church gave a perpetual dispensation to be absent. I am much pleased with my neighbour the Chancellor, but am sorry to hear that Mrs. Paley is in an awkward state of health. As to my clergy, though I find few of them have had the advantage of an academical education, I have seen several of them whose attention to their duty is exemplary. Dr. Heysham dined with me soon after I received your Lordship's letter, and I took an opportunity of telling him that you had mentioned his name. You may depend upon my best endeavours to serve him. I am sorry to hear that the violence of Cumberland politics should have affected his interests. I hope, for my own part, to keep myself perfectly disengaged from party; and I think I may be able to shew my gratitude to Lord Lonsdale for recommending me to the Bishoprick, without making any of his opposers my personal enemies. would give me real pleasure if I could be a peacemaker between the two parties, but your Lordship, I guess, knows them so well that you will think this a very difficult task. With my best wishes that you may pass many happy years in your See-house at Dromore, unless you should move to that at Armagh, I remain, your Lordship's most faithful and obedient servant, J. CARLIOL."

It

Rev. Dr. OWEN† to Bishop PERCY. "MY GOOD Lord, Edmonton, August 3rd, 1789. "I consider myself greatly obliged to you for the expressions of regard contained in your Lordship's letter, and for your kind exertions in behalf of my work, which was unfortunately printed before your letter reached me. Should ever a second edition appear, I will take care your own name, with those of the subscribers you have done me the honour to procure, shall be inserted.

"HENRY OWEN."

* Joseph Hudson, D.D., prebendary of Carlisle, and vicar of Newburn and Warkworth. He died in 1811, in his 93d year. Of this able and eccentric divine a good account is given in Jefferson's Carlisle, pp. 421-425.

†The Rev. Henry Owen, M.D., F.R.S. Rector of Edmonton. He died Oct. 14, 1795, in his 80th year. For memoirs of this learned divine, and character of his works, see Literary Anecdotes, vol. II. 433-435; vol. VII. 304, 642. "The Modes of Quotation used by the Evangelical Writers explained and considered."

Bishop PERCY to JOHN LEWIS BOISSIER, Esq. "Upper Merrion Street, Dublin, March 24th, 1789. "The Bishop of Dromore has just received a most obliging and highly-valued mark of friendship from Mr. Boissier in his excellent version of Mr. Bonnet's* Inquiries concerning Christianity. His goodness in remembering him at so remote a distance, would have made any mark of his attention highly acceptable; but the excellence of the subject highly enhances the value of the present. The ingenuous manner in which the translator has recorded his own liberal convictions, gives an additional weight to the author's acute reasoning.

Mr. BOISSIER to Bishop PERCY. "MY LORD, Bath, April 16, 1789. "Your Lordship's approbation (conveyed in the lines which I received last week) of my Translation, and the intrinsic merit of the original, gave me the greatest satisfaction; but I am truly concerned that so many months should have elapsed from the time of my sending and your Lordship's receiving this mark of my respect.

"The prelate alluded to in my Preface is the present Bishop of London,† by whose advice I omitted the chapters which your Lordship wishes were inserted. I shall, however, consider the propriety of adding them to a future edition. They belong rather to natural than revealed religion, and are too metaphysical for the generality of readers, though in my opinion they most admirably introduce the subject.

"I do not apprehend, my Lord, that Priestley's opinions on materialism are much read by that class in society which I had in view when I first undertook my translation, which was intended to call back and enlighten those unwary readers misled by the studied misconstructions of some modern writers, whereby every thing may be easily represented as false or ridiculous.

"Perhaps I ought, in justice to Mr. Bonnet, who has been misrepresented by Priestley, and shewn as a ma

* Charles Bonnet, F.R.S. was an eminent natural philosopher, born at Geneva in 1790, and died 1793. His works are enumerated in Watt's Bibliotheca, I. 131. His "Philosophical and Critical Inquiries concerning Christianity," were translated by John Lewis Boissier, esq. 1787, 8vo. + Bishop Porteus.