FOR THE ANTHOLOGY.

WHO WAS THE AUTHOR OF THAT IMCOMPARABLE WORK,

66 THE WHOLE DUTY OF MAN?"

THE first person to whom it has been publickly ascribed was Mr. ABRAHAM WOODHEAD, a very learned and pious gentleman; but, as he lived and died a zealous Roman Catholick, could not have been the author.

Mr. Oldfield seems very positive in informing his readers that "the author of the Whole Duty of Man hath been long concealed; but his name is WILLIAM FULMAN; he being now dead, may be now published. He was bred under Dr. Hammond, and for some time his amanuensis. He was a learned divine, born at Senhurst in Kent."-But what authority had Mr. Oldfield for this assertion? It is plain, from the following remark, that he had no good ground to go upon. Bishop Fell's preface to the folio edition of the works of the author of the Whole Duty of Man, printed in 1684, tells us, that "if Almighty God had given longer life to this eminent person (meaning the author of those works) we might have received ample benefits by it; and particularly a just treatise, which was designed and promised, of the Government of the Thoughts" which plainly implies that the author was then dead; so that Mr. Fulman, who died June 28, 1688, could not possibly be the author.

A third person supposed to be the author of this celebrated book, is Dr. RICHARD STERNE, Archbishop of York. The ingenious Mr. Dale, in his life of this worthy prelate, modestly tells us, that "he was much suspected for being the author of that most excellent divine and moral treatise, called The Whole Duty of Man." But if the Archbishop was the author, why should he own his comment on the 103d Psalm, and his book of Logick, and yet so carefully conceal his being the author of a more useful work?

Again, we are assured by Bishop Fell, that if the author of the Whole Duty of Man had lived a little longer, the world might have expected another treatise entitled, the Government of the Thoughts; but could it be reasonably supposed that a man in the 87th year of his age (as was the Archbishop) could

be drawing up a work of this kind, when it can hardly be imagined he was master of his own reason? Besides, the style and orthography of the Archbishop's commentary on the 103d Psalm are so very different from that of the Whole Duty of Man, that no comparison can be made between them.

We shall now produce testimonies to prove that Lady Do-ROTHY PACKINGTON, wife of Sir John Packington, and daughter of Thomas Lord Coventry, keeper of the Great Seal, was the author.

The first witness is the famous George Hickes, the vicinity of whose deanry to Westwood, his intimacy in the family, his known probity and unshaken integrity, will make his authority appear beyond all exception. The doctor, in his preface to his Anglo-Saxon and Maeso-Gothick Grammars, printed before his Thesaurus, and inscribed to the late Sir John Packington, having given an excellent character of his grandfather, proceeds in the following manner in relation to this excellent lady, as translated from the Latin in which he wrote.

"But your grandmother, the daughter of the most renowned. Thomas Lord Coventry, Keeper of the Great Seal, was remarkably illustrious for all virtues, especially such as consist in the practical part of a christian life. She had, moreover, an excellent judgment, and a talent of speaking correctly, pertinently, clearly, and gracefully; in which she was so accomplished, particularly in an evenness of style and consistent manner of writing, that she deserved to be called and reputed the author of a book concerning the Duty of Man, published in English by an anonymous person, and well known throughout the christian world for the extraordinary completeness of a work of that kind. Hammond, Morley, Fell, and Thomas, those eminently learned men, averred that she was as great an adept in the sacred scriptures as themselves were, and as well versed in divinity, and in all those weighty and useful notions relating to duty which have been recommended and handed down to us, either by profane or christian philosophers. I have heard, also, that she was so far from being unacquainted with the antiquities of her own country, that she knew almost as much as the greatest proficient in that kind of knowledge. Nor is this to be much wondered at, since she had in her youth the most excellently learned Sir Norton Knatchbull, baronet,

for her tutor and preceptor; and, after she married, the famous Hammond, and others his contemporaries, very celebrated men, for her companions and instructers."

If this should not be thought a direct proof of her being the author, it however shews that she was every way qualified for it. Besides, a lady (who was living not many years since) declared that Dr. Hickes assured her that Lady Packington was the author of the Whole Duty of Man, and that he had seen the manuscript written with her own hand, which from the many rasures, alterations, and interlineations, he was fully satisfied was the very original book.

The next evidence is the author of the Baronetage, who tells us, that "she was one of the most accomplished persons of her sex for learning, and the brightest example of her age for wisdom and piety. Her letters and other discourses still remaining in the family, and in the hands of her friends, are an admirable proof of her excellent genius and vast capacity; and as she had the reputation of being thought the author of the Whole Duty of Man, so none who knew her well, and were competent judges of her ability, could in the least doubt of her being equal to such an undertaking, though her modesty would not suffer her to claim the honour of it; but as the manuscript under her own hand now remains with the family, there is hardly room to doubt it. By her great virtues and eminent attainments in knowledge, she acquired the esteem of all our learned divines, particularly Dr. Hammond, Bishop Morley, Bishop Fell, Bishop Pearson, Bishop Henchman, and Bishop Gunning, who were ever ready to confess that they were always edified by her conversation and instructed by her writings. These learned and pious gentlemen never failed of an agreeable retreat and sanctuary at Westwood, as far as those dangerous times would permit; and it ought to be remembered, to the honour of this good lady and her husband, that the famous Dr. Hammond found a comfortable subsistence in their family several years, and at last reposed his bones at their burial place at Hampton Lovett, in a chapel built by Sir Thomas Packington, anno 1561."

The third proof is taken from a quarto pamphlet, entitled, "A Letter from a Clergyman in the country to a dignified Clergyman in London, vindicating the Bill brought in the last

session of Parliament, for preventing the translation of the Bishops;" printed at London, 1702 in the 3d and 4th pages of which may be found the following passage: "But before I enter upon the nature, tendency, and usefulness of the bill, give me leave to say something concerning that worthy member, Sir John Packington, who brought it into the House. His zeal for the church and monarchy descended to him, as it were, by inheritance. I must write a history, if I would deliver at large how many proofs his ancestors have given of their being the fastest friends to both; but his grandfather's spending 40,000 pounds, and being tried for his life during the civil wars, because he vigorously endeavoured to prevent the martyrdom of King Charles I. and the destruction of episcopacy; the uninterrupted correspondence of his grandmother with the learned and pious Dr. Morley Bishop of Winton, and Dr. Hammond, and his supporting the latter when deprived, and who is by se veral eminent men [Archbishop Dolben, Bishop Fell, and Dr. Allestry, declared this of their own knowledge after her death, which she obliged them to keep private during her life] allowed to be the author of the best and most masculine religious book extant in the English tongue (the Bible excepted) called The Whole Duty of Man, will serve, instead of a heap of instances, to shew how great regards this family have formerly paid to the church and kingly government."

To the foregoing we might add the testimony of Mr. Thomas Caulton, vicar of Worksop, in Nottinghamshire, who, on his death-bed declared in the presence of several worthy persons, that Mrs. Eyre, daughter of Lady Packington, told him who was the author of The Whole Duty of Man; at the same time pulling out of a private drawer a manuscript tied together and stitched in octavo, which she declared was the original, written by Lady Packington, her mother.

Upon the whole it is presumed that Lady Packington's title to this performance is by far the clearest of all those to whom it has been ascribed; but whether her title be absolutely ascertained, must be left to the judgment of the candid and impartial.

Full of years and of good works, she died May 10, 1679, and was interred in the church of Hampton Lovett, in Worcestershire; where is a small memorial of her at the bottom

of the monument erected for the late Sir John Packington, as follows:

"In the same church lies Sir John Packington, Knt. and Bart. and his lady, grandfather and grandmother to the said Sir John; the first tried for his life, and spent the greatest part of his fortune in adhering to Charles I. and the latter justly reputed the authoress of The Whole Duty of Man; who was exemplary for her great piety and goodness."

[This curious Life of Reiske, valuable for its authenticity and so interesting from its simplicity, is extracted from the seventh volume of Maty's Review.]

THE LIFE OF REISKE,

Collected from that written in German by himself, and published after his death, at Leipsick, 8vo. 1783, (816 pages, with the correspondence); and that written in Latin, published at Leipsick in 1773, by Frederick Morus, Greek and Latin Professor. In other words, the consequences of an honest and ingenious man's falling in love with the Arabick tongue, and being too self-willed and independent.

N

I will write my life; I have often been asked to do it; but hitherto felt no great relish for it. I have been an ordinary man, who did nothing out of the way, nor raised any great expectations. I was no fashionable writer. My life has flown away partly in laborious occupations, and partly in obscure quiet. My writings have done no great matters for literature. The will has always been better with me than the deed.

In some respects a man of letters seems better qualified to write his own life than the stranger is. In some, however, the stranger has the advantage. Length of time makes the man himself forget several things, which others remember; some things, which are material, seem insignificant to him; selflove guides his pen often without his perceiving it; he cannot praise himself, for no body would believe him if he did; and to blame himself, is none of his business.

These are the true reasons which have hitherto kept me from yielding to the importunities of my friends; for as to vanity, it dwells not in me. How long, indeed, could I expect