fhall advert only to certain remarkable periods of his life, which he has himfelf dwelt upon with confiderable minuteness. About the year 1644, he was one of the secretaries to the affembly of divines at Westminster. The occafion of that af fembly is fully explained. The parliament, diffatisfied with the order of bishops, or, as the Dr. thinks, rather with the then bishops, who were favourers of arbitrary power, called this affembly to confult of fome other form of government in the place of it: the generality of the English divines then convened were, for a well-ordered epifcopacy, as at least allowable, if not defireable. He excepts the feven Independents, or diffenting brethren as they were called. The Scotch commiffioners were for prefbytry. The Independents for no united government at all. The English and the Scotch were unanimous against the Independents, and Dr. Wallis fays that the affembly was rather Anti-independents than Antiepifcopal. He brings fome proots in favour of this affertion, notwithstanding the covenant which had taken place before he came among them. Dr. Wallis poffeffed one talent which rendered him famous, and, we may add, formidable, all over Europe, that of decy phering-His account of this matter is curious. "About the beginning of our civil wars, in the year 1642 or 1643, a chaplain of fir William Waller fhewed me (one evening juft as we were fitting down to fupper at the lady Vere's) as a curiofity, an intercepted letter written in cypher (and it was, indeed, the first thing I had ever feen of the kind); and asked me, between jeft and earnest, if I could make any thing of it, and was furprized when I told him, perhaps I might. It was about ten o'clock when we rofe from fupper; and I withdrew from my chamber to confider of it. By the number of different characters in it (there being not more than twenty-two or twenty-three), I judged it could be no more than a new alphabet; and before I went to bed I found it out; which was my firft attempt upon decyphering. This unexpected fuccefs was at that time looked upon as a great thing; fo that, fome time after, I was preffed to attempt one of a different character, confifting of numerical figures, extending to four or five hundred numbers with other characters intermixed, which was a letter from secretary Windebank (then in France) to his fon in England; and was a cypher hard enough, not unbecoming a fecretary of state. And when, upon importunity, I had taken a great deal of pains with it without fuccefs, I threw it by; but, after fome time I refumed it again, and had the good hap to mafter it. Being encouraged by this fuccefs beyond expectation, I have ventured upon many others (fome of more, fome of less diffi 2 culty), culty), and feldom failed of any that I have attempted for many years, though the bufinefs, of decyphering has from day to day grown more and more difficult. And of late years the French method of cyphers are grown fo extremely intricate, that I have been obliged to quit many of them as defperate, which have come to my hands, without having patience to go through with them." Thus far the doctor has been pleafed to tell us how he came to commence decypherer. He must have been endued with a happy turn for conjecture, because in feveral of the letters a figure or a character are fed for whole words (befides a great many culls interfperfed), which must add very much to the difficulty of decyphering. For example: fuppofe two correfpondents were to to agree upon an alphabet, or cypher, thus, ABCDEFGHIKLMNOPQRST U W X Y Z o p q r s t u wxyz abcd ef g h i k l m n and that the letter P, the figure 2, or the character, and fo on alternately, that either, or all of these should stand for a certain name or place; would they not think it impoffible for a third perfon to discover their meaning? or at lealt not without a deal of trouble. And herein we cannot but admire the unbounded patience of the doctor, which enabled him to spend so much time and study both day and night, as he did, in fuch difficult and fatiguing bu finefs. The following extracts from the copies of his letters are a convincing proof of his labour and fuccefs in it, and that he never gave up a cypher while he had the leaft hope of fucceeding. In a letter to the earl of Nottingham, who was at that time fecretary to William III. dated Aug. 4, 1689, he fays, "From the time your lordship's fervant brought me the letter yesterday morning, I spent the whole day upon it (fcarce giving myself time to eat) and most part of the right, and was at it again early this morning, that I might not make your meffenger wait too long." 'In another. Yours I received in a packet from the earl of Nottingham laft Sunday-night, after I was in bed. "I wrote to his lordship the next day, on account of the difficulty I at firft apprehended, the papers being written in a hard cypher, and in a language of which I am not thoroughly mafter; but fitting close to it in good earnest, I have (notwithstanding that difadvantage) met with better fuccefs, and with more fpeed, than I expected. I have therefore returned to his lordship the papers which were fent me, with an intelligible account of what was there in cypher." Again, in another to lord Nottingham, he fays, "I am almost afhamed to tell your lordship how much time and and fludy, as well as pains, I have employed upon that very perplexed cypher from Poland, which I have at length mattered; and which, I hope, will be as advantageous to his majesty as aufwerable to the difficulty and trouble of difcovering it." And in another, as above, "I fent your lordship, by laft Thurfday's poft, an account of one of those letters which were fent to me to be decyphered; fince then I have not been idle, but employed a great deal of pains, and (your lordship would say, if you had been to see it), a great deal of patience upon the reft; but without fuccefs. They do fo often change their cyphers, and their methods of cyphering, and make now so very intricate (finding fo many of them have been discovered), that even to myself it seems more flrange that I can decypher any, than that I miss of some, which I thought neceffary thus to fignify that your lordship may not impute the delay to want of attention to his majesty's fervice." But this letter, it feems, was not proof against the doctor's fkill; for he prefently writes: "I have at length mastered this cypher, and found it, as I expected, perplexing enough (the moft intricate, I think, of any that I have decyphered); and I take it for a good-hap, that I have been enabled to decypher it at all. But, my lord, it is hard fervice, and I am quite weary. If your honour were fenfible how much pains and ftudy it coft me, you would pity me-and there is a proverb of not riding a free horse too hard." The doctor, I fuppofe, thought it was now high time (after he had decyphered fo many letters) that fome notice were taken of his fervices; and, as "the labourer is worthy of his hire," he therefore begins to give his lordship the hint. But, as this hint did not seem to be understood by his lordship, the doctor was determined to be a little more plain in his next; wherein he says, "However I am neglected, I am not willing to neglect their majefty's fervice, and have therefore re-affumed the letters which I had laid by, and which I here fend decyphered; perhaps it may be thought worth little, after I have bestowed a great deal of pains upon them, and they valued accordingly; but it is not the first time that the like pains have been taken to as little purpose, by my lord, &c." We are forry to obferve, that the very great fervices he performed by means of this uncommon faculty, were very ill rewarded. Indeed, he feldom received more than the pay of a copyift, when he certainly might have fecured his own terms, and made his fortune at once. But it is among the best parts of his characters that, in all fituations, he was unambitious C. R. N. AR. (V.) May, 1792. F and * and independent. Courtiers promises, as he fhrewdly ob ferves, are like certain medicines, if they do not operate quickly, it is not likely they will at all. The elector of Braitdenburgh fent him a gold chain and medal of great value, which the editor of the prefent work difpofed of fome years ago, as old gold, but not without firft offering it for fale to the Oxford and British Mufeums, and to feveral antiquaries. In 1700 king William granted Dr. Wallis an annuity of 100l. per annum, with furvivorship to his grandfon, Mr. William Blencoe, on condition of his teaching the latter his art of decyphering. In the fubfequent account of the doctor's works, we find nothing new; though perhaps, to many of our readers the following anecdote will be acceptable. In his "Praxis Grammatica," he gives us the following jeu d'efprit, which fhews him to have been fo well acquainted with the English tongue, as to be able extempore to tranflate from the French; an example of joining kindred found (fenjus) with kindred words. In the above book the doctor goes on and fays, "A certain learned French gentle man, about the end of the year 1653► propofed to me the underwritten four chofen French verfes, compofed on purpofe, boalling from it wonderfully of the felicity of his French language, which exprefled kindred fenfes by kindred words; complaining, in the mean while, of our English one, as very often expreffing kindred fenfes by words conjoined by no re lation: Quand un cordier, cordant, veult corder une corde ; Le cordon défcordant fait défcorder la corde. But, that I might fhew that this felicity of language was not wanting to our own, immediately, without making choice of fresh matter, I tranflated verbally the fame four verfes into the English tongue, retaining the fame turn of words which he had obferved in his, only fabilituting the word twist, purely English, for the exotic word cord, which he expected me to use: ← When a twister, a-twifting, will twift him a twift, And to them, thefe four others: Untwirling the twine that untwisted between W. Wallis, of Whitchurch, Oxon. Then, Then, twice having twisted the twines of the twine, And thefe: The twain that in twining before in the twine, Dr. Johnfon gives these lines under the word twifter, but without mentioning the cause of them, fo créditable to Dr. Wallis' ingenuity. The remaining part of thefe Memoirs contains an account of a difpute between Dr. Wallis and Meffrs. Fermate and Frenicle; a long letter on the Trinity, which merits the attention of our modern Unitarians, fome particulars refpecting his theological works, and a fhort character of him. His fame, however, refts principally on his genius as a mathematician, and the high reputation he enjoyed wherever learning had its value. Had he been a theologian only, it is probable he would not have been heard of at the conclufion of the eighteenth century. Eight Sermons preached before the University of Oxford in the. Year 1791, at the Lectures founded by the late Rev. John Bempton, M. A. Canon of Salisbury. By Robert Morres, M. A. 8vo. 45. boards. Rivingtons. 1791. 7ITHOUT intending any difrepect to the memory of the pious founder, or the ingenious authors of thefe lectures, we cannot forbear likening this annual appearance ( an ecclefiaftic champion from the walls of an univerfity, to the fortie from a besieged citadel of a warrior armed at all. points, afferting the claims of his party, or breathing defiance on its furrounding foes. This office performed, he retreats into his ftrong hold to enjoy the praifes of his prowefs: and at the revolution of the ufual period, another champion, alter & idem, fallies from the fortrefs, and repeats the tones of defiance and defence. The founder defigned a perennial fucceflion of thefe defenders of the faith; who, however, are to enjoy the honour and the fruits of conqueft but once. He wifhed the field to be even taken with forces, unexhaufted and ardent for the combat. The enemies of this inftitution may, therefore, call it a polemic hydra; fince even after the poffible demolition of one head, another conflantly fprings to fupply its place: or, according to another allufion Uno avulfo, alter non defcit.' Of the prefent performance we cannot, perhaps, more ef fectually F 2 |