}

nufactures were established throughout and difaftrous change was preparing to the kingdom, the public tranquillity manifeft itself, which no human pruwould not be fo fhamefully interrupted dence could have forefeen, nor precau by infurgents of different denomina- tion delayed. We were deftined to tions, as it has been, and ftill continues experience in its fullest extent, the to be, in fo many parts of the kingdom. mutability of fortune, and the fragility The lower orders of the people ought of greatnefs; to exhibit a leffon to our to be enlightened by a comprehenfive own and to future times, that the fplenand liberal plan of education; affocia- dor and felicity of man, however folid tions for difcountenancing vice, and the foundations on which they may propagating virtue, morality, and reli- feem to repofe, are in the hands of a gion, fhould be formed throughout the Superior Being, who confers or withkingdom, on a plan fimilar to that of draws them in an inftant. We are arthe Dublin affociation; the magiftracy rived at that awful and affecting period, of the kingdom, fhould, by their exam- when the feelings of all thofe who fhall ple, inculcate good morals, and by at- perufe these fheets, will be deeply intetention to their duty, and that of the refted. It is however, neither in our peace and happiness of the kingdom, plan, nor in our intention, to relate the fupprefs the licentioufnefs, intempe- private hiftory of that extraordinary rance and turbulent difpofitions of period; or to drag into open day, facts the lower orders of the community. and anecdotes, which, curious as they The poor fhould be encouraged by lef- muft appear to pofterity, are in every fening of the rack rents which are fe- fenfe unfit for the perufal of the prefent vered from the vitals of industry to fup- age. Sentiments of duty, delicacy, and -port luxury, idle parade and wanton refpect towards a prince inexpreffibly profufion. The immediate cultivator dear to his people-towards a queen, fhould poffefs an intereft in the foil, he who, fince the aufpicious date of her contributes to fructify, and he then arrival in Great Britain, and in every would fet about the cultivation of it relation of domestic life, has been exemwith chearfulness and alacrity. The plary and refpectable-towards the ilwages of labour fhould be alfo increaf- luftrious perfon, on whom the fceptre ed, by which an additional incentive of George the Third, muft, in the ordiwould be added to induftry, and ruddy nary progrefs of human events, at fome health infufed into the looks of our future period, devolve; even motives of prefent half-ftarved and emaciated pea- prudence, decorum and propriety arreft fantry. If thefe things were done, in- the pen, and induce us to draw the veil ftead of conniving at, and fometimes of oblivion over fo melancholy a scene. inciting the peafantry to murmur against the parfon and tithes, then might we hope to fee the country flourith, and the noise of infurrection and fedition for ever banished the land."

Suffice it to fay, that the malady under which his majefty had fuffered, during three months, and whofe appearance bad hitherto feemed to baffle all In treating of the malady under fubfided, fanity of mind and ftrength of medical skill, gradually, but rapidly which our gracious fovereign laboured, reafon refumed their empire, and left no we are much pleased with his delicacy. trace of temporary fubverfion. Time "The fovereign was defervedly dear to confirmed the cure, and restored to his every rank and order of his fubjects, fubjects, a prince rendered fupremely who united in regarding him as their and peculiarly dear to them, by the refather and benefactor. The govern- cent profpect and apprehenfion of his ment, beloved at home, was relpected lofs-the demonftrations of national abroad; and the people, happy beyond joy far exceeded any recorded in the the example of former times, looked up -British annals. Serenity and tranquilwith equal affection and veneration to- lity, fo long banished, refumed their wards the fource of thefe multiplied place, and foon effaced the recollection benefits. But in the midft of this flat- of a calamity, not tering aspect of affairs, an unexpected and alarming in its appearance and more awful

progrefs

who was about to fet out to canvas ANDREW KIPIS, an eminent

pectable filk-hofier of that town, was maternally defcended from the Rev. Benjamin King, of Oakham, in Rut bandfaire, one of the minifters ejected for nonconformity; and was the fecond of the three furviving fons of Mr. Andrew Kippis, of Sleaford, in the county of Lincoln, who died in 1748, at the age of eighty-four. His mother, Anne Ryther, was grand daughter of the Rev. John Ryther, who was ejected from the church of Ferriby, in Yorkfhire. The names of both his reverend ancestors are recorded, and mentioned with particular refpect, in Dr. Calamy's account of the Minifters ejected and filenced by the act of Uniformity, is the reign of king Charles the fecond..

a very high ftate of profperity and re putation; and it fupplied the country with a great number of minifters, not lefs diftinguished by their usefulness as preachers, than by their literary acquifitions and exemplary conduct. Mr. Kippis availed himself of the peculiar advantages for improvement which he enjoyed in this academy; and his confpicuous proficiency, and general de portment, conciliated the esteem and attachment of his tutor; whom, in return, he regarded with the greatest veneration and affection; and to whofe memory, in the fequel, he had the opportunity of paying a tribute of grati tude and refpect, which did equal honour to his own talents as a writer, and to his excellence as a man.

When Mr. Kippis had completed his courfe of five years at the academy, he was invited to undertake the pafto ral care of a congregation of Protef tant Diffenters, at Dorchefter; but having, at the fame time, received an invitation to fettle at Bofton, in Lincolnshire, he preferred the latter fitua tion, and went to refide there in the month of September 1746. Here he continued four years; but, in November 1750, he accepted the paftoral

On the death of his father, in the year 1730, the fubject of the fe memoirs, then about five years old, was placed under the care and protection of his grandfather at Sleaford. Here he received his grammatical education; to which he devoted his talents with fuch affiduity and fuccefs, as to attract the particular attention of the Rev. Mr. Merrivale, minifter of a congregation of Proteftant Diffenters in that town. This gentleman was greatly diftinguished for his refined tafte and extenfive charge of a congregation at Darking, learning; and to his zealous and active friendship our young ftudent was probably indebted for his future eminence; it being generally underftood, that it was by his advice and encouragement that he directed his views to the profeffion of a Proteftant Diffenting Minifter, and to thofe literary purfuits, in which he afterward fo much excelled. Indeed, he ever after ipoke of this friend of his youth in terms expreffive of the greatest veneration for his memory, and of the deepeft fenfe of his obligations to his friendship and patronage.

in Surry. A vacancy having been occafioned foon after, in the congregation of Proteftant Diffenters, in Prince'sftreet, (then called Longditch) Weftminfter, by the death of the Rev. Dr. Obadiah Hughes, Mr. Kippis was chofen to fucceed him in June 1753-In the month of September, of the fame year, he married Mifs Elizabeth Bott, one of the daughters of Mr. Ifaac Bott, a refpectable merchant at Bofton; and, in October following, he came to refide in Westminster."

Mr. Kippis' fettlement with the fociety in Prince's fireet, Westminster, In the year 1741, Mr. Kippis was laid the foundation of that celebrity admitted into the academy for the edu- which he aftewards acquired, and of cation of Proteftant Diffenting Mini- the extenfive usefulnefs which diftinfters at Northampton, under the care guifhed his future life. In confequence of the Rev. Dr. Doddridge, whofe of this, he was foon introduced into a admirable qualifications as a tutor, and indefatigable labours as a theological writer, are univerfally known. This inftitution was, at that time, in

connexion with the Prefbyterian fund, to which his congregation had long been liberal contributors, and to the profperity of which he was himself Cc 2 afterward

afterward ardently devoted. In the month of June 1764, he fucceeded Dr. Benfon as a member of Dr. Williams' Truft; and this appointment, likewife, afforded him an opportunity of being eminently useful. His connexion with the general body of Proteftant Diffenting Minifters, belonging to the cities of London and Westminster, and to the borough of Southwark, gave him frequent occafions to exercife his talents for the honour and intereft of the caufe, to which, both by his fentiments and profeffion, he was zealously attached.

In 1763, Mr. Kippis fucceeded the Rev. Dr. Jennings, as claffical and philological tutor, at the academy in Hoxton Town, then fupported by the funds of William Coward, Efq. In 1767, the principal and profeffors of the univerfity of Edinburgh unanimoufly conferred upon him the degree of Doctor in Divinity, on the unfolicited recommendation of the late learned profeffor Robertfon.

In the year 1772, during the application of the Proteftant Diffenting Minifters, for the enlargement of the act of toleration, Dr. Kippis published a valuable pamphlet, entitled, A Vindication of the Proteftant Diffenting Minifters, with regard to the late application to parliament.' The fubjects of this vindication were the matter, the manner, and the time of the application; and it was intended as an anfwer to a publication, afcribed to a writer, who now fills a high ftation in the church. Before the conclufion of the year, a fecond edition of this pamphlet appeared, with confiderable and very valuable additions. The celebrated dean Tucker published an anfwer to it, entitled,' Letters to the Rev. Dr. Kippis, occafioned by his treatife, entitled, A Vindication, &c... The fubject in difpute was undoubtedly of great importance to religious liberty, and was treated by Dr. Kippis, not only in a mafterly manner, but, in every refpect, like a Chriftian Minifter. It would be unjuft, at the fame time, not to add, that the Letters of the dean are written with a degree of candour, moderation, and politenefs,

that is not often to be met with in theological controverfies.

It may be here proper to obferve, that, as an author, Dr. Kippis had commenced his career in early life, as many other young men have done, by contributing to the magazines of the time. He afterwards occafionally wrote various articles in the Monthly Review, at an early period of its eftablishment, in concert with not a few learned gentlemen, particularly the late Rev. Dr. Gregory Sharpe, mafter of the Temple, and that eminent mathematician, the Rev. Mr. Ludlam, of Leicefter. His articles were chiefly hiftorical and theological, with occafional ftrictures on works of general erudition*. His contributions to this Review contributed, no doubt, to perfect the peculiar talent which he poffeffed of analyzing the labours, and appreciating the merits, of the most celebrated writers, and to qualify him more eminently ftill for that great national undertaking, which bas exalted him to a high rank among the literati of this country, and will carry down his name, with fuperior luftre, to the lateft pofterity.

The publication to which we allude was a new edition of the Biographia Britannica, enriched with many new articles, and with confiderable additions to feveral of the former lives*. In this great work, the comprehenfiveness and powers of his mind, the correctness of his judgment, the vaft extent of his information, his indefatigable refearches, his peculiar talent

NOTE S.

He alfo furnished a periodical publication, called The Library, with feveral very valuable papers; and he afterward laid the foundation of The New Annual Regifter, and fuggefted the improved plan upon which it is conducted. The Hiftory of Knowledge, Learning, and Tafte in Great Britain, and the Account of the Domeftic and Foreign Literature of the Year, were, at the commencement of the work, written by him.

†The firft volume was published in 1778, the fecond in 1780, the third in 1784, the fourth in 1789, and thei: th in 1793(already