man of that rigid turn and behaviour. A friend that knew him tells me, that he was very humane, civil, and condefcending, which I was glad to hear, when he was thought by others to have affumed rather too much of the air of prelatical dignity and importance. He was for no reform or alteration in any of our church-establishments at home, though he fhewed himself fo zealous to fettle bishops, &c. in our American plantations. When the Free and Candid Difquifitions were published, he, being then Bp. of Oxford, took the firft opportunity to declare against them to his clergy at his vifitation. Bp. Sherlock, in his vifitation of his clergy of London, expreffed a more favourable opinion of that treatife, and the defign of it, allowing that fome things in the church might deferve farther confideration, and fome amendment, &c. Dr. Sykes, and fome others of the elergy, did thereupon apply to his Lordfhip to publish that charge: to which requeft he gave a civil answer. Some very free and shrewd obfervations have been lately made by feveral fagacious perfons upon Abp. Secker's letter to Mr. Walpole, which was published this year. Surely there are some things in that letter that appear pretty odd, and fomewhat difficult to be accounted for. And fo do feveral parts of this prelate's character and conduct, especially in churchmatters. Time may difcover. What opinion he might have of diffenting divines in general I know not; but he did not approve of those who, having been educated in that way (as he himself had been), did afterwards come over to our church for preferment. Dr. Smith, who was intimately acquainted with the late Dr. Secker (nephew to the Abp.), tells me, as he had it from that friend, that the uncle would never fhew any favour to fuch converts, and had refolved never to give them any preferment in his gift or patronage. At the fame time he fhewed all the favour, and gave all the encouragement he well could, to thofe clergymen of his diocefe and elfewhere who made converts among the laydiffenters to the established church. Some This article will, I prefume, be found a mistake upon a proper enquiry. I think he "preferred one Stretch, and several others, who were converts like himself. He used one clergyman [Mr. W. of in Kent] very ill, who applied for a difpen"fation, because he adopted Dr. Middleton's opinion about the difcontinuance of miracu"lous powers in the church, and obliged him to recant, &c. "He difpofed of all preferments during the last three or four years of his life, at the re"commendation of Mrs. and Mifs Talbot, who reigned without controul, and difpenfed his "favours as they thought fit. His own nephew, Dr. Secker, remonstrated to him on this "head more than once, but without effect. "He rigidly infifted on curates being licensed in his diocese; and a certain person was "obliged to take out two licences for the fame church where he was curate and lecturer at "the fame time, which coft him five pounds. His Grace faid, it was not to fill his officers "pockets at the expence of his clergy. Q. What other end could it aufwer? I have been informed that a layman, who had been acquainted with the Abp. a great 66 many years, declared that it was a matter of great doubt with him whether he was fin" cere or not in his religious profeffions: fo difficult, he observed, it was to difcover the "prelate's real fentiments. "He difapproved of all theological tracts, or explanations of SS. though ever fo inge"nious, and according to just criticifm, unless they coincided with the doctrine of the "Church of England as by law established; which he made the fole standard of truth and He was no friend to freedom or liberality of fentiment. Witness his treatment "of Dr. Sharpe, and fome others whom I could name. * error. It was his maxim, that the first rule in converfation was Silence. He feemed to be "averse to flattery, and was not fond of the leaft approach to it in converfation or writing. "He was eafy of accefs, and always gave ftrict orders, that every clergyman fhould be ad"mitted if he defired it; and then behaved with great affability and condefcenfion. A Ger"man Divine, of the Calviniftical profeffion, who had applied for relief to build a church "abroad, &c. to the Kirk of Scotland and Diffenters in England about 1762, with little fuccefs, applied at laft to the Abp. He received him with fo much civility and huma"nity, accolting him in a familiar manner in French, of which language he was a perfect "mafter, that it raised the foreigner's admiration; and affifted him more effectually than "the Kirk, &c. had done, "His converfation at table was free and chearful; and when Dean of St. Paul's, he enter "tained the clergy of that cathedral with hofpitality every Sunday. "When his Grace first came to the fee of Canterbury, he fent printed queries to all the "clergy in his diocefe, touching the number of inhabitants, the number of diffenters of all "denominations from the established church, the number of communicants, the legacies "given to the poor, how they were applied, as well as all donations, the money collected Some, who refpected him, thought he went rather too far in difcovering his diflike to his old friends, and his oppofition to that non-conformity in which he had been first nurtured. But the cafe is often fo in fuch tranfitions from one perfuafion to another. Jan. 6, 1770, a clergyman of the diocefe of Canterbury (well known to Abp. Secker, and favoured by him,) being now at my houfe, fpeaks very well of that great man in feveral refpects, at the fame time acknowledging that he had heard his conduct in fome things was not well approved, and that many, had expreffed their diflike of it. He was, it feems, highly refpected on many accounts in his diocele of Canterbury, where he was a ready and generous contributor towards feveral pious - and charitable defigns, as is well known and remembered in thofe parts. And few comparatively there feem to be apprifed of any diffefpect paid to his memory in other places. He was generally confidered there as a great and good man, and a true friend to the intereft of church and state. Very careful of the concerns of his church, and the good behaviour of his clergy; and in fome inftances particularly inquifitive into their conduct and morals. It was commonly faid he had two paper-books, one called the black, the other the white book; in which he entered down fuch notices as he received concerning the different characters of each, as they happened to fuit the defign of either book. Those whofe character he found to be bad, he refolved never to promote, nor did, paying no regard to any folicitations made in their behalf. And one or more, being men of ill report, and highly unworthy of their office, he had intended to have profecuted, and to have put them under church-cen1ures; which, it feems, they had long and greatly deferved, being indeed a fcandal to their profeflion. He encouraged young clergymen of good character for fidelity in their calling. When a near relation of his, a clergy man in Northamptonshire, who had collected a good library, died, leaving it to the Archbishop's difpofal, he appointed Archdeacon Head, with one or two more, men of judgement and probity, to divide that library into three parts, and bestow them upon three ftudious and regular young clergymen, for their encouragement and farther proficiency in ufetul knowledge and literature; the perfon who gives me this account being one of the three. And he fays, that the books be received are very useful ones, and of confiderable value. He has bestowed many benefactions in the county of Kent and elsewhere; giving large fums towards the repair of decayed vicarage-houses, and for the relief of diftreffed perfons, &c. from 10 or zol. to 100l. and upwards. He gave 81. to the church or chapel at Sheernefs, towards purchafing proper plate with other utenfils for the communion; which before had been usually borrowed from a public-houfe in the neighbourhood. He required all clergymen + who were poffeffed of a benefice of the value of ool. per ann. clear, to perform divine offices in their refpective churches twice every Sunday (viz. morning and afternoon), not allowing any fuch to serve alfo a curacy. And fuch as had a living of 150l. a year, or above, he required to preach twice in their church every Sunday 1. And he expected alfo the regular obfervation of holidays happening on a week-day. I afked what care he took about cafechifing, when he was fo careful about preaching. My friend fays, he has not heard. The Bishop, it feems, was averfe to perfecution. He declared fo in particular with regard to the methodists: fome of whom thought he favoured their principles and tenets. Accordingly, when his catechetical lectures were published after his death, they greedily bought them up, but were difappointed more than they expected, though in fome things they J. J. approved of him. The offertory, &c. &c. by which he got an exact account of the state of every parish in "his diocefe. He fent the fame queries to his clergy 20 years before, when he was first "made Bp. of Oxford." Dr. DAWSON, MS. Query? He commonly was called Tho. Cant, by the clergy in Kent. Dr. DAWSON, This originated from a famous epigram of Lord Chesterfield's, ending "He figns his own name when he writes Thomas Cant." EDIT. + It does not appear that the Abp. ever carried his point in either of these articles; at least it is certain, the clergy in a great part of his diocese are so far from preaching twice a day, that they never refide upon their livings, nor preach at all. His Grace indeed would not allow 30l. a year-curates to ferve more than one church; and I know one that ferved two churches without neglecting either of them, that was obliged to quit the diocese on that ac Dr. DAWSON, count. This is a miffake. What his Grace called the whole duty was one fermon and twice 152. Les Jardins, ou l'Art d'embellir les Payfages. Poème par M. l'Abbé de Lifle, de Academie Françoile. 4te Edition. A Paris. 8vo. 1782. ABOUT the fame time that the English Garden of Mafon appeared here, the Gardens of M. de Lifle, a work long expected, and highly praifed, attracted the attention of our neighbours. Both thefe Georgics are didactic, and therefore must be frequently dry, as well as thofe of their Mantuan predeceffor, which "few (our author fays) "but fcholars now read, while all who are acquainted with the Latin language know by heart the IVth book "of the Eneid." The fubject of Gardens (as he adds) has before been treated, in four cantos, by F. Rapin, "in "the language, and, fometimes, in the "ftyle, of Virgil, with great elegance "and fuccefs;" but M. de Lifle points out feveral faults in his plan and execution, for which we give him credit. Laudable is the defign of this writer in thus endeavouring to ingratiate and endear to the opulent their own estates, to expand and diffufe the love of nature and fimplicity; for, as he fays elfewhere, Qui fait aimer les champs, fait aimer la "vertu." In his Ift Canto, after propofing his fubject, a fubject which Virgil regretted he could not fing, and invoking his Mufe, the author goes back for the antiquity of Gardens to thofe of Alcinous, Babylon, and Rome. He might have traced them from that of Eden, if he believes Mofes, and he has indeed afterwards quoted our Milton's beautiful defcription of it, with a profe tranflation and a juft elogium, in his Notes. Confidering a garden as "a vaft picture," he exhorts his planter to be a painter, and always to confult Nature, "Of the place "T'adore the Genius, and confult the God," "the Genius of the place," of Pope, and to let "trees, rocks, waters, and "flowers be his pencils, his cloths, and "his colours." Chantilli, Belail, and Chanteloup, he proposes as models, with feveral others lefs known in England, particularly Bagatelle, which introduces a panegyric on his patron, the Count d'Artois. He then points out the rocks The feats of the Prince of Conde, the Prince of Ligne, and the Duke de Choifcul. GENT. MAG. December, 1783. which art fhould avoid; recommends the ftudy of the Berghems and the Pouffins; examines the choice of fituations, and directs what he thinks most proper: "Loin des champs trop unis, de monts trop 66 inègaux, "Sur un riche vallon une belle colline." He teaches his pupil not only to charm the eye, but to fpeak to the heart, to attend to the "mute eloquence of waters, "meads, and woods," to vary and group his objects, which he exemplifies in numerous inftances both of the vegetable and animal creation, both of active and fill life. The Gothic inclosure of walls is reprobated, and the whole country is confidered as one vaft garden, and rivers, cities, woods, rocks, and, if poffible, the fea, are to be made fubfervient to the planter. This introduces a fine digreffion to the picturefque beauties of Greece and Italy. Two plans are then mentioned, the one regular and formal, the other natural and negligent; but "between Kent and Le Notre," our author will not decide, but conducts us to Verfailles and Marly, "the palace "of Armida, and the garden of Alci"nous," and to the garden of Eden as defcribed by Milton, preferring his authority in gardening, "as more poe. "tical," to that of Spenfer. In the IId Canto we learn the various "greens and riches" that art and tafte give to trees, whether grouped or fingle, whether diftant or near, whether fmall or large, in woods or in groves, &c.; and, when the axe is neceffary, its fentence is lamented, particularly at Verfailles, where the poet beautifully regrets the fall of thofe woods "which "faw the pride of Montefpan figh, and "were privy to the fecrets of la Va"liere's heart; which faw both Cor"neille and Turenne perish," &c. Different greens are ordered to be contrafted, the oak with the poplar, and the various hues of the purple, the orange, the carnation, &c. From trees we are led to fhrubs of various climates and feafons, and the evergreens, that triumph over winter, as at Mouof the Duke of Chartres, "a fairyccaux, in particular, the winter-garden 66 ground."-Amidst the inftructions for planting trees on any memorable event, an heir to the crown, a Dauphin, occafions an apoftrophe to him and the Queen, perfectly fuitable to a loyal Frenchman. The conquest of new fruits, fruits, the introduction of exotics, as by Lucullus among the Romans, and by the Romans among the ancient Gauls, is ftrongly recommended to their pofterity; and the canto concludes with an apoftrophe to Potivera, the native of Otaheite, brought to France by M. de Bougainville, and an interesting story of his embracing a tree well known to him, which reminded him of his own country, faving, with great fenfibility, This is Orabeite, and, looking at the other trees, That is not Otabeite. This is indeed a very happy and beautiful episode. The IIId Canto opens with an ad drefs to the warriors who had deferted . to their gardens for the fields of America, to enable "a friendly people, long op"preffed, to reap in peace the harvefts that they have foun;" whofe valour, however, the Mufe pretends not follow over the waves to York," but only "embellishes her gardens for their "return." To England the honour is given of eftablishing a truc tafte in gardening. Nature is recommended as the beft model; at the fame time the ridiculous frenzy of the Dutch for flowers is ridiculed, and the folly expofed of planting them only in beds or parterres. Decrying the vain imitation of rocks, our author follows Mr. Whateley "to "the fields of Midleton and the moun"tains of Dovedale," which are well defcribed. Art is an enchantrefs, and woods are the charms that are called in to the affittance and ornament of this wild and favage nature, as if a fairy, with her ring, had made the retirement. Such is the grove of St. Cloud, Cafcades of various kinds have a great effect, and much is faid of the union of art and nature in the beautiful difpofition of rivers and lakes. After Arethufa and ALpheus, and the fountains of Vauclufe, Petrarch and Laura are introduced as ftill embellished by thofe picturefque fcenes. Canto IV. begins with an elogium on Homer, who difplayed his tafte for thefe rural fubjects by introducing them even in the midst of his battles on the fhield of his hero.-Regular paths and formal rows of trees are now, in the English mode, ftudioufly to be exchanged for the free ferpentine line of beauty; yet not in an extreme, as every path should have fome end, fome object. The bold, as well as the flattering, fhould form the landfcape, in imitation of Pouffin's famous Arcadia, which near the dance ing peafants difplays a tomb. Every one has felt fome lofs. Therefore in your groves infert occafionally an urn, a yew, or a cyprefs, facred to war, to love, or to friendship; but never urns without grief, fictitious coffins, or the vain monuments of docs or birds. "Mourning is thus profan'd, and mock'd "the tomb," An elogium on the humble graves of the village dead here follows, profeffedly imitated from Gray,-Obelisks and rotondas, kiosks and pagodas, are profcribed. Preferable are the beauties of the ferme ornée, when simple and elegant, and not raised into a palace; the barn, the harveft, the waggon, the vintage, the poultry, pigeons, &c., to which may be added a menagerie of beautiful (not the rareft) foreign birds and beafts, and a confervatory of exotic aromatic plants, ananas, &c. a cold bath, a fishing hut, a ftudy, and an obelifk, inferibed "To our brave feamen, dying for thei "country." Ancient remains, or ruins, have an excellent picturefque effect. Such as aa antique, modeft chapel, an old fort, well known to the Bayards and Henries, a deferted abbey, embofomed in a wood, in which you may imagine Heloife to have wept, all well painted. But far be fictitious ruins, counterfeited temples, and canles that never exifted, and confequently cannot intereft. This introduces a pleafing apoftrophe to Italy, the theatre of ruins and noble actions, of heroes and of poets. To fuch remains may be fubftituted animated bronzes and living marbles, and even the heathen deities, if well executed, and properly placed, and in the fituations here recommended, with modern fages and heroes, a Fenelon and a Sully, and, above all, a Cook, for whofe brows the poet, at the conclu fion, has woven a garland, which we will here add, as a specimen of his verfification, referring for a tranflation of it to p. 1045. "Donnez des fleurs, donnez; j'en couvri rai ces fages [rivages Qui, dans un noble exil, fur de lointains Cherchoient ou rèpandoient les arts confo[les cœurs, Toifur-tout, brave Cook, qui, cher à tous lateurs; Unis Unis par les regrets la France et l'Angleterre; Toi qui, dans ces climats où le bruit du ton nerre Nous annonçoit jadis, Triptolème nouveau, Ait vu des cieux brûlans, fendu des mers de Vous qui pleurez fa mort, fiers enfans d' Imitez, il eft tems, fa noble ambition. Pourquoi dans vos égaux cherchez-vous des efclaves? Portez-leur des bienfaits, et non pas des en 154. A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocefe of Sarum, at the Primary liftation of that Diocefe in the Year MDCCLXXXIII. By Shute Lord Bfhop of Sarum. 8vo. THIS Charge is animated with a truly Chriftian fpirit, as may appear unfortunate Cook, and the order given by our young king to respect his ship in all feas: an order which does equal honour to the sciences, to that illuftrious voyager, and to the king, whofe fubject, it may be said, he became by that new kind of beneficence and protection." from the following extract relating to the manner of treating thofe who vent extravagant notions in religion: "But though we should exert our diligence to prevent our people's being infected by the abfurd and pernicious notions to which I have alluded, we should thew all poffible tenderness perhaps, in the event, perfuade them, but we to those who maintain them. We may then thail certainly perfuade others, that it is their opinions alone which we oppofe from a conviction of their alarming tendency; and they who are not too far gone in enthufiafm may be regained to the fober truth, as it is in Chrift Jefus, by the exertion of a genuine zeal, who were milled into error by the dif play of an adulterated one. And what may justly merit our moft ferious confideration, if they gain profelytes by mistaking this prin ciple, and applying it to falle objects, we furely may, with equal fuccefs, counteract their attempts by directing it temperately, fteadily, and judicioufly to true ones. Should there chance, among thofe who hear me, ro be any who have adopted the opinions hinted at, and who make them the standard of their faith and practice, they will allow me, with the tenderness of a man who pities their miftakes, to remind them that they do not fofficiently diftinguish, in reading the New Teltament, and applying it's language, between men and things in the infancy of the Gospel, and it's prefent ftate, between the apoftolical powers and their own. They unhappily forget that the extraordinary operations of the Holy Spirit have long ceafed; that it's ordinary effects are confiftent with our free agency; and are not manifefted in fancied impulfes, or imaginary calls, but in the more certain evidence of it's fruits, a good life.They forget that to ftretch themselves beyond their proper line, and to intrude into the province of other men, is unauthorised and unwarrantable; fince every minifter is accountable to his great Mafter for the truft committed to his charge. They thould remember likewife, that by unfettlingthe minds of their followers as to Chriftian virtue and good works, fixing them on vifionary notions of an inactive faith, destroying their utility in performing the duties of common life, fo valuable in the fight of Gon, when properly performed, and by fubftituting the dreams of a warm imagination in the place of the clear decifions of the Gofpel, and the cool deter. minations of the judgement with respect to the ftate of their fouls, they retard, instead of advancing the caufe they would be thought moft anxiously to ferve; and, fiually, let them reflect, while the best friends of Reve lation behold with concern the injuries it receives through their errors, what triumph they afford to it's most inveterate enemies." Other topics are, non-refidence, curates, teftimonials, and the other utual fubjects of fuch epifcopal difcourfes. 155. Con |