tion. This I am now happy to return, and I have inclosed 5s. which I will entreat you to bestow in a new binding, and will hereafter repay any expense of a messenger to carry it to Dulwich, unless you should have the goodness to make an excursion there yourself; then I hope you will desire the Rev. Mr. Smith, the Fellow of that College, who received all the books from me, to show you every article of which he has the list, that you may be able to vindicate me, as I am sure you will be inclined to do, from any cruel and injurious insinuations which may have been thrown out upon this subject, and for which there could have been no grounds, but for the unfortunate accident of the fire above mentioned, and its unavoidable consequences, &c. In performing this kind act of friendship for an absent man, you will exceedingly oblige, dear Sir, "Your faithful and most obedient servant, "P.S. My Lord Sunderlin is so good as to convey this parcel to his brother, whom I shall entreat to forward it to you; and I hope you will favour me with a line to inform me when you receive it, and that you are well.” ISAAC REED, Esq. to Bp. PERCY. "MY LORD, Staple Inn, July 11, 1795. "I received yesterday from the booksellers a copy of the Reliques of Ancient Poetry,' for which I beg leave to return my acknowledgments, and at the same time take the opportunity of apologising for what I am afraid may have been considered a neglect, in executing the commission you last summer entrusted to my care. "As soon as I received the book I sent it to the binder, and, when it came out of his hands, went to Dulwich to deliver it to the Librarian. It happened at that time to be his vacation; he was absent, and therefore I was obliged to entrust it with the schoolmaster, leaving a note for Mr. Smith to desire he would acknowledge the receipt of it. In October he called upon me, but I was at Cambridge, and we did not see each other until after Christmas. I then communicated to him such particulars from your Lordship's letter as related to the book, and was desired by him to assure you that the College were sensible that your conduct towards them had been perfectly honourable, and, whatever insinuations had gone abroad, they both collectively and individually had no hesitation in declaring their disbelief of them. I was then about writing to your Lordship, when an illness came upon me which took off my attention from everything but myself. In February, I was informed by Dr. Farmer that your Lordship was expected soon in London, and therefore I thought it of less importance to write, as I should have an opportunity in so short a time of communicating the steps I had taken in this business. "The above detail, which I fear your Lordship will consider very tedious, will, I trust, exonerate me from some of the blame, if it does not altogether excuse me from the whole charge of negligence. I have the honour to be, "Your Lordship's most obedient and very humble. servant, ISAAC REED." Bishop PERCY to Bishop SUTTON.* "MY LORD, Dublin, April 8, 1794. "I fear your Lordship will have reason to regret your readiness to oblige, when you find what trouble it entails upon you. Your kind acceptance of my nephew, as a candidate for holy orders, has encouraged me to apply again to your Lordship. "I beg to be informed, when your Lordship will hold your next public Ordination for your diocese; and then, if you will have the goodness to admit among your candidates a young gentleman † whom I hope you will find well qualified, it will exceedingly oblige me. His case, which is rather particular, is briefly this: He is the son of a very worthy clergyman, who was formerly a private tutor at Eton, but is now settled in Ireland. His son has been regularly educated at Trinity College, in Dublin, where he has just taken his Bachelor's degree: but by a private regulation, some time since established here, the Irish Bishops are prevented from conferring orders till the candidates have attended a certain course of lectures in Trinity College. In the interim, his father is not only upon the point of losing his curate in a living at some *Bishop of Norwich, and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. He died July 21st, 1828, aged 73. See a memoir of him Gent. Mag. vol. XCVIII. ii. pp. 173, 194. Rev. Mr. Sturrock, son of the Rev. William Sturrock. See p. 316. 4 distance from his own residence, but is also suffering great loss from the mismanagement of his affairs by a bad tithe-proctor; and, if this young gentleman waits the course prescribed by his college, it will be a year and a half longer before he can receive his dismission, although he is of full age for deacon's orders, being at or near 23. In the interim, the delay will be attended with even ruinous effects to his worthy family. As I am prevented by the above-mentioned regulation from ordaining him 'myself, I cannot but wish to get him admitted a candidate in England, where I shall desire his literary and theological attainments may be submitted to any proper examination; but for his moral character I can be answerable myself, having known him from a child, and being firmly persuaded he will be a valuable acquisition to the clerical profession." Bishop SUTTON to Bishop PERCY. "MY DEAR Lord, Palace, Aug. 16, 1794. "At the time I received your Lordship's letter, and from that period to this, I was and have been overwhelmed with public business, and private distress. My Visitation (a circuit of six weeks' continuance) prevented me holding a public Ordination at the usual time. I shall hold one on the 21st of next month; and shall very readily admit Mr. Sturrock, under your Lordship's recommendation, as a candidate for deacon's orders. Mr. Sturrock will make his appearance at Norwich on the Wednesday preceding the day of Ordination. A very short statement of facts will, I am persuaded, be sufficient to apologise for any apparent neglect of your Lordship's application. "It was necessary that the time should be fixed for Ordination before your Lordship's letter could be answered to any good purpose. The arrangements of a primary Visitation are numerous; and the duties of it sufficiently anxious. As the time approached I could think of nothing else; and, on the threshold of the business, I sustained a shock by a severe loss in my family, from the effects of which I am scarcely at this hour recovered. The time of Ordination is only just fixed. "I have the honour to be, my dear Lord, your faithful, humble servant. C. NORWICH." The Abbé de TRÉVERN* to Bishop PERCY. No. 10, Green-street, Grosvenor-square, "MY LORD, "Will you allow me to trouble your Lordship with an humble request? The case is this: "The Bishop of Langres, who lives at Constance, has been engaged for a long time on a work that he means to publish by the way of a subscription: the subject he is writing upon you will better know from the inclosed Prospectus, and will, I hope, appear to your Lordship equally interesting to the established church, as the hierarchy is kept up in your spiritual government. "The author, Mr. de la Luzerne, Bishop of Langres, Duke and Peer of France, brother to the late French ambassador to the Court of England, is one of the most learned bishops of the Gallican church, no less celebrated for the many writings by which he defended the Church against the innovations of the National Assembly, than for his generosity in sharing with the exiled clergy of his diocese, as long as in his power, what he had been able to save from the wreck of his fortune. After having supported his clergymen, he begins now to feel himself distressed; and he is obliged to provide for his own subsistence. But all his talents and abilities will prove of no avail without subscribers. He desires me to get as many as I can in this country. Unhappily he applies to me at a time when the town is very thin. "I most earnestly beg leave to call for your assistance. I know you are a friend to every kind of learning, as you are a stranger to none. Be so good, my Lord, as to patronise this subscription in Ireland, to recommend it to your brother Bishops, and all your learned acquaintances of every communion. They may send their names to J. Booker, according to the note in the Prospectus, and the advertisement in the Times † of yesterday, the 8th of July, which I suppose is seen in every county in Ireland. *Vicar-General of Langres. +"Subscription for aWork by the Bishop of Langres.-J. Booker has the honour to inform the public in general, that he is authorised to open a subscription for the above Work, which will shortly be published at Constance. The author is M. de la Luzerne, Duke and Bishop of Langres, Peer of France, and brother to the late French ambassador of that name to the Court of England, one of the most learned bishops of the Gallican Church.-This Work is entitled, Dissertations on the respective rights of Bishops and Priests in the Church; it will be published in French. "Subscriptions are taken in by J. Booker, No. 56, New Bond-street, "Pardon me, my Lord, for the trouble of this letter: I beg you will accept my excuses, and also my most sincere acknowledgment of the pains you will be at in favour of the Bishop of Langres. "I have the honour to subscribe myself, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient, humble servant, "L'ABBÉ de TRÉVERN, Vic. Gen. of Langres. "Be pleased to present my best respects to Mrs. Percy, and to the young ladies: I hope this will find all the family in good health.” "MY LORD, Castle Howard, Yorkshire, Nov. 1, 1794. "I have the honour to return your Lordship my sincerest acknowledgments for the trouble you have the goodness to take in promoting our subscription. I sent up to London the names of the most reverend and learned subscribers: they are certainly qualified to reflect an honour upon the list, and to become an inducement to many more to follow the example. But I must confess to your Lordship the apprehensions I am under about the publication of the Work. It was not to be printed but after 1500 subscribers could have been secured; a great many were expected, I know, from Flanders, Brabant, the Electorates, &c. Now that those wretched countries are run over by the Republicans, there is no depending upon subscribers from that quarter. What shall the Bishop of Langres resolve, I do not know. I wrote to him to that purpose; but, owing perhaps to the difficulties of correspondence, I have no answer. When I receive any, I will not fail to communicate it to your Lordship; in the mean time, I think we may go on, and take in as many subscribers as may come in our way. The publication must certainly be put off for some time, more or less: but I hope it will take place as soon as opportunity serves. I know the work is very much advanced, and, if it be wholly finished before it is sent to the printing-house, the promptitude of the delivery will make amends for the delay of the first publication. "I have luckily found in my portefeuille the advertisement in the Times, which I now inclose; but you will perhaps think there is no need to be at the trouble and (London). It will consist of 4 or 5 volumes in octavo; each volume 48. to subscribers. The money to be paid on delivery. Letters, post paid, addressed to J. Booker, will be duly attended to." |