OF THE REV. GILBERT WAKEFIELD. СНАР. І. Mr. Wakefield's Birth-Some Account of his Parents, &c. 1756. I was introduced into this planet on February 22, 1756, in the parsonage-house of St. Nicolas in Nottingham, of which church my father was then rector. Of him, and my other ancestors, I have but little to inform the reader. Though uninfected by the pride of empty distinctions beyond almost any man alive, he has spoken of his mother, whose maiden name was Russel, as deriving both from the Russel family, and the great lawyer Sir Edward Coke. Her grandfather, if I rightly remember, was clerk to the house of lords in Charles II's time; and his name may be seen subscribed to the secretary of state's permission, prefixed to Burnet's History of the Reformation. My father has spoken of his father as being one of several brothers, the eldest of whom inherited, and, with the assistance of his son, dissipated, a small estate which had been beyond memory in the family, who were settled at Stakenhill, in Derbyshire. My mother's family had been settled for many generations in the town of Nottingham; and her grandfather was twice mayor of that corporation. The heads of this family were, as one of my brothers is accustomed facetiously to observe, of the same occupation with that Simon, mentioned in "the Acts of the Apostles," who lived by the seaside. My father was born in 1720, at Rolleston in Staffordshire, near Burton upon Trent, where his parents afterwards resided. They were not very well able to furnish the supplies necessary to a liberal education, preparatory to the profession for which he was intended; yet he was sent to Jesus College, Cambridge, where he Respecting the above mention of Sir Edward Coke, there seems to have been some misapprehension, as the signature in Burnet is Jo. Cooke, a mode of spelling which does not appear to have been adopted by Sir Edward Coke or his family. The ancestor probably intended, was Sir J. Coke, or Cooke, (Secretary of State to Ch. I.) whose residence was in Derbyshire. See BURNET'S Reformation, and Biog. Brit. 2d Ed. iii. 675, &c. b was admitted in 1738. After finishing his academical course with a reputation far beyond a mediocrity of character, he became curate of St. Mary's in Nottingham; and was afterwards fellow-elect of his college, but married before another vacancy in that set of fellowships, for which only, by statute, he could be a candidate. In the above curacy he passed four or five years. In this very ancient church of St. Mary, of which mention is made in Doomsday Book, on the western end of the south wall, is a marble mural monument, erected by a fond husband to the memory of his wife. After a short account of her family, her age, and the day of her death, follow these two lines, in my opinion exquisitely beautiful, and most happily allusive to that grand consolatory declaration in St. Luke:-" Neither can they die any more; for they are equal to the angels, and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. b At Jesus College upon a vacancy of a fellowship, two persons are elected by the master and fellows, and presented to the Bishop of Ely, who (according to the statutes of the founder) appoints one of them, usually the first-named in the presentation, to fill up the vacancy. The other is called the fellow-elect, and upon the next vacancy is generally re-elected by the college, and then receives the appointment of the bishop. "Rest, gentle shade! and wait thy Maker's will: The circumstances which led to my father's induction to the rectory of St. Nicolas, were honourable to his patrons and to himself, and shall therefore be recorded in this place. HERRING, who had been originally of Jesus College, which he exchanged afterwards for Bennet, examined my father at Kensington for priest's orders, as Archbishop of York, in which diocese the county of Nottingham is included; and was so pleased with the manner in which he acquitted himself in this examination, as to notice him among the candidates, and to assure him that this would not be the last instance of his regard. It was not doubted, at the time, that this amiable prelate intended to give him, on the first opportunity, a prebend in the collegiate. church of Southwell, or some other preferment in that neighbourhood; but his kind intentions. were soon frustrated by his translation to the see of Canterbury. When St. Nicolas in Nottingham, which is in the gift of the crown, became vacant, my father went up immediately to the duke of Newcastle, then prime minister, with a recommendatory testimonial from the corporation of Nottingham. This monument, however, of the good opinion of that fraternity, seemed to operate but feebly on the propensities of his grace, who asked his petitioner if he had no other friends to recommend him. My father mentioned (besides Mr. Plumptree, member for the town, who also interfered on this occasion) his Grace of Canterbury. "That," said the duke, "is powerful interest indeed!" My father lost no time in going to Lambeth; was immediately acknowledged by the noble primate, who ordered his coach that instant, carried the country curate to the minister, and obtained the living for him:-an act of fidelity and disinterestedness highly worthy of that virtuous and patriotic metropolitan; and, I fear, but rarely found in these exalted stations. What a contrast did my honest father experience in the behaviour of Dr. John Thomas, Bishop of Lincoln in those days! This prelate, on his way to a visitation at Loughborough in his diocese, was passing through Nottingham; and happening to be at church when my father read prayers, he entered into conversation with him, after the conclusion of the service, with the utmost affability and good nature; took a walk with him to the castle; enquired with minute anxiety into the value of his living, the |