In June, 1781, Dr. Hurd was translated from the see of Lichfield and Coventry to that of Worcester, upon the promotion of the Honourable Dr. Brownlow North, to the Bishopric of Winchester; he was himself succeeded by the Hon. Dr. Cornwallis. In this year also he was appointed Clerk of the Closet to the King, and published two volumes of sermons, preached at Lincoln's Inn Chapel.

From this period Dr. Hurd chiefly resided at Hartlebury, the episcopal palace, a retreat which no allurement of persuasion or ambition could ever tempt him long to quit; in 1783, therefore, when the see of Canterbury became vacant by the death of Dr. Cornwallis, and the primacy was offered to the Bishop of Worcester, he replied, "I am too happy in my diocess to allow me to form a single wish for change;" and he declined in consequence the high honour which awaited him, expressing at the same time his gratitude at the manner in which it had been offered.-Upon this refusal, Dr. Moore, Bishop of Bangor, succeeded to the primacy.

In writing the life or delineating the peculiarities of any other character, we should have been tempted to have dwelt long upon this refusal, as a noble instance of self-denial-in the present instance it only served to prove in practice, what the Bishop had long promised in theory.

On the 30th of January, 1783, Dr. Hurd preached a second sermon before the House of Lords.-In this sermon he displayed the enlarged views of a profound politician, and illustrated his arguments from the stores of Christian know ledge, maintaining that the religion of Christ was not more remarkable for the mild tenour of its principles in religious affairs, than for every freedom of opinion with respect to civil liberty.

Two years after this, appeared, in seven quarto volumes, the works of Dr. Warburton.---This edition contained all the labours of the Rev. Bishop, which Dr. Hurd conceived himself authorized to preserve; it was not, therefore, without some chagrin and considerable astonishment he noticed a publication, which appeared some time after, under the title of "Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian."

The cause of this celebrated production arose from the VOL. I.

3 M

circumstance of Dr. Hurd's prefixing no memoirs of Wär burton to his superb edition. This omission was certainly rendered remarkable from the tone of mystery that obtained in the advertisement, and which seemed to promise that there existed reasons sufficiently important to justify so singular an omission. The singularity obtained still higher importance from the promise of the Memoir at some future time, when, upon producing a ticket, it would be presented to the purchasers of this expensive edition.

These circumstances gave occasion to many calumnies sufficiently absurd, from men, who wished rather to discover cause for censure in Dr. Hurd, than to afford opportunities for admiration to Warburton; but every friend to the fame of the worthy bishop must lament the consequences; for a publication equal to the dedication of the two tracts of a Warburtonian, is, perhaps, not to be found in the whole compass of English controversy. Obliged as we are to give an impartial testimony to the point and poison of the arrow, we cannot refrain from indignantly wishing that its point had been blunted and its poison extracted, ere it had struck the heart of a man so excellent as the Bishop of Worcester: whatever, therefore, as a combatant is gained by the author of that dedication, is more than lost to him as a man. Those motives which he ascribes to the Bishop for the omission of the Life, the Miscellaneous Translations, and the Enquiry into the Causes of Prodigies and Miracles, argue but faintly for the greatness or purity of his own mind;-they are of too frivolous a nature to be true, and if true, unworthy the attention of so able an expounder. The republication of Dr. Hurd's Essay on the Delicacy of Friendship, can be considered in no other light than as an apology for the fierceness of his attack, and an indecent violation of what may be considered estimable in the scholar, or valuable in the man. Dr. Hurd was himself willing to atone for any severity of remark in which he had indulged, and corrected it as far as he was then able to do, by buying up all the remaining copies of his address to Dr. Jortin, that were within his reach. In reprinting that address, after the subject had been many years forgotten, during the life, and without the consent of the

author, Dr. Parr, without rendering any very material. service to the reputation of his friend, violated the feelings of age, and laid up bitter materials for future reflection.

In 1794, the expected Memoir made its appearance, under the title of "A Discourse, by way of Preface, containing some account of the Life, Writings, and Character of Dr. Warburton." This memoir is written with ease and elegance, and with what perhaps could be scarcely expected, consider able impartiality.-The picture delineated is doubtless drawn by the pencil of a friend, but the likeness is such, that the most careless observer may recognize the original; those, who knew the Bishop of Gloucester intimately, extol the faithfulness of the portrait, while those who knew only to censure him, turn away their eyes with regret, that in bearing witness to his exalted genius they had so long been blind to the qualities of his heart.

In the year 1793, Dr. Hurd collected the letters he had received from his friend Dr. Warburton, and made an entry on a blank page in the first of five port-folios, to the following effect: "These letters give so true a picture of the writer's character, and are besides so worthy of him in all respects, (I mean if the reader can forgive the playfulness of his wit in some instances, and the partiality of his friendship in many more,) that in honour of his memory, I would have them published after my death, and the profits arising from the sale of them applied to the benefit of the Worcester Infirmary."

These letters were sold to Messrs. Cadell and Davies for the sum of four hundred pounds, which has been appropriated to the purpose the Bishop had directed.

In this collection there are but few from Dr. Hurd to the Bishop of Gloucester; those few, however, are sufficient to prove that the friendship between these eminent men was founded upon the sincerest affection, and conducted through life with perfect equality.-We think it necessary to make this remark, as there have been not wanting some to doubt the independence of the one, and the perfect sincerity of the other.

This was the final effort of this amiable and learned man in the cause of literature; he died unmarried at Hartlebury,

on the 28th day of May, 1808, and was buried on the 17th of June, in Hartlebury church-yard; and according to his own desire, his funeral was attended only by his tenants and domestics.

The progress of Dr. Hurd through life was pre-eminently fortunate; from comparative obscurity, he rose to a rank and consequence in society, which, in most instances, are but the result of well-directed but laborious industry, of servility, or intrigue. To this eminence he arrived from the exercise of his natural talents, and from an unassuming gentleness of manner, which endeared him so much to those friends, whom he as ardently loved, that no opportunity was ever lost by them, that could in any way administer to his comforts, or exalt his fortune.

To the character already drawn, we have little more to add; as a man, he was one of those who exalt the character of human nature in the eyes of a misanthrope; as a Bishop, no one ever fulfilled his duties with more rigid observance, and no one ever enjoyed the entire veneration of a whole diocess with such warmth of gratitude and unassuming modesty. All the pleasures arising from virtues, which a love of temperate solitude never fails to create, he enjoyed; a retirement, sanctioned by the applause and example of those men, who have the most laboured to reform or enlighten mankind. To be arduous in the busy pursuits of common life, is to be active, and to be serviceable only in a limited sphere: many an ambitious man has filled the see of Canterbury, whose character and whose use are barely delineated by the historian of his cathedral, while he who refused the dignity will descend to posterity in company with the Bishop of Gloucester, both deserving, but in vain soliciting the discriminating pen of a Johnson.

ACCOUNT

OF

ECCLESIASTICAL BOOKS.

Institutes of Biblical Criticism; or Heads of the Course of Lectures on that Subject, read in the University and King's College of Aberdeen, by Gilbert Gerard, D.D. Professor of Divinity, and one of his Majesty's Chaplains in Ordinary in Scotland. Svo. Constable and Co. Edinburgh, 1808.

THE object of this elaborate work is to reduce the general principles and rules of sacred criticism to a regular system. It is divided into two parts; the first upon the Sources, the latter upon the objects of Scripture Criticism. These two parts are each sub-divided into eight chapters, and the chapters are separated into sections. By this mode of arrangement the various subjects are kept perfectly distinct from each other, and are by that means more clearly elucidated.

These skeletons of lectures will prove a very desirable acquisition to the young biblical student, both in stimulating him to the study of scriptural language, and also in directing his choice of books, when any dubious or contested point may arise either in the scriptures, or in the numerous commentaries on them.

The first part treats of the sources of scripture criticism; these are,

I. Manuscripts and Editions. II. Original Languages. III. The Kindred Languages. IV. Versions. IV. Versions. V. The Occasion, Scope, and other Circumstances of the Books of Scripture. VI. Comparison of Scripture with itself. VII.`Ancient History and Manners. VIII. Ancient Learning and Opinions.

Dr. Gerard's remarks on the authority, use, and the man