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LETTER XLII.
From the fame to the fame.
Dear Sir, Bishop-Thorp, July 29, 1745.

I
AM in your debt for three letters, the
last of which met me here, at my
return out of Nottinghamshire, where I
went to vifit a friend, fnug and private,
as I hoped, but I found it quite other-
wife, and am really returned to this
However, my
place for retirement.
journey was very agreeable. I paid fome
compliments to great folks, who love to
be complimented, and got into the ac-
quaintance and characters of fome of
the principal gentry in that part of my
diocese.

I thank you for your offer of the cu

that it was really Hannibal ad portas, and fo it will prove, if Oftend be taken ||. This acquifition in North America is fomething, and, I fuppofe, pleases the merchants. Sure it is not poffible for the Dutch to act the part of which they are fufpected. If they do, let France be our ally, and lord of the Seven Provinces ! An open enemy is a friend, compared to a fecret and prefidious one. By this means they would reduce the royal duke to the Fauces Caudina ††. I am, &c.

riofities, 1 mean the forms of prayer col- I

lected by Mr. Say t; but as I am never likely to be employed in forming compofitions of that fort for the public f, that work being in the province of Canterbury, they will be of no ufe to me; for common use, the common form will ferve my purpose.

I was extremely pleafed to hear of your kind reception at Cambridge. If I had had no hand in it, the good mafter's natural temper would have prompted him to have behaved towards you in the manner that he did. I dare fay you will have no reafon of any kind to repent your fon's admiffion into Bene't college, where I wish him every poffible fuccefs. Tom Pyle is a learned and worthy, as well as a lively and entertaining man. To be fure, his fuccefs has not been equal 。 his merit, which yet, perhaps, is in ɔme measure owing to himself, for that ery impetuofity of fpirit, which, under roper government, renders him the greeable creature he is, has, in fome ircumftances of life, got the better of im, and hurt his views.

Your last letter brought me very difareeeble news, and I began to think,

Dr. William Herring, rector of Carleton. + On public occafions, from the time of archShop Laud.

1 Unlikely as it was, this event, however, did on happen.

Minister of Lynn-regis, canon refidentiary Salisbury, and author of a paraphrafe on the He died in , Epiftles, and Revelations. 157, aged 84. Sixty Sermons by him, on plain

LETTER XLIII.

From the fame to the fame.

Dear Sir, Bishop-Thorp, Oct. 15, 1745
WAS extremely mortified at a letter to-

day from Mr. Herring, in which he

told me, that he had not fent you a fermon it and fpeech §§, because he did not know where you lived. I ask your pardon for being fo careless; but, indeed, I had given him my orders to you (as was right, I am fure) among the first of friends.

my

You fee what a buftle these ruffians have made in the nation. I little thought I fhould have been the fubject of fo much obfervation at this juncture, my meaning being only to discharge my duty in my proper fphere and flation; but, be the event what it will, I hope I fhall have the grace never to repent of doing my best fervice to my country.

and practical fubjects, were published in two volumes octavo, in 1773. Mr. Whiston fays, that "Dr. Sydall, with Mr. Pyle, fen. of Lynn, were "the two beft fcholars that he ever examined for "holy orders, while he was chaplain to Dr. Moor, "bishop of Norwich." Memoirs of his Life, p. 287.

Oftend was taken, August 14, and, on December 4, Hannibal was at the gates-the Pretender was at Derby.

** Cape Breton.

+ Or the Caudian Forks." The danger and difgrace of the Romans in thote narrow pafies may be feen in Livy, b. ix.

11 Preached at the cathedral-church of York, on occafion of the rebellion in Scotland, Sept. 22.

§§ On the fame occation to the nobility, gen. try, and clergy, at the caftle of York, Sept. 24. This was the firft alarm that was given to the na tion, and will ever be remembered to his Grace's

honour.

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Our beft intelligences from the North feem to agree, that the rebels are much divided, and, I hope in God, the next news will be, that they are in confufion. What is the matter in the city of London? there is a jealoufy and gloominefs, quite difagreeable; and I hear a difcouraging account of Oxford.

If you pleafe to call at Mr. Herring's when you go into the city, a fermon and fpeech are extremely at your fervice. I am, dear Sir, yours, &c.

LETTER

XLIV.

what I have is now my own, to the end of my fhort leafe; at least no northern irruptions are likely to fhorten it. Od Lovat, the arch rebel, is taken; and the chiefs are now fuffering the just punitment of the most prefidious rebellica that ever men were guilty of. Their country is the picture of defolatior; half the men flain; families periking for want; houfes and huts burnt; corn deftroyed for forage; not a fpire of grafs; woods burnt to the ground, fu the compafs of twenty miles; and even their private fisheries all drained to fupply a devouring army. This is the date of the enemy-country, and furely to

Archbishop Herring to William Duncombe, other than the effects of the jufteft verge.

Ef.

Dear Sir, Bishop-Thorp, June 25, 1746. bad news must be told, I think

INCE S'N it an honest art, for the comfort of this chequered life, to convey it in as agreeable manner as may be, and mix it in fome fort with pleafure. Your good brother is paying a debt which, jerius, ocius, is due from us all; but, I dare fay, your kind prefence contributes not a little to lighten his fpirit, and footh the cares of his family; and I thank you, when you told me a flory that gave me real conblended entertainment

cern,

that you

with it. If the good man is still amongit us, my beft wifhes are with him; if he is mingled with the greater number, peace be to his manes; and I hope and believe that he leaves a foa behind him, of a temper and difpofition to imitate fo good a father.

Your friend Bewley dined with me the other day. He told me, your brother was ftill alive, by his laft intelligence. 1 propofe to be better acquainted with Mr. Bewley. He is a very agreeable man, and has the air and appearance of a very honot one. I pretend to fome fkill in faces. No way is infallible, but 1 am confident that is one way to the hearts of men. As I do not love to be idle, I have done a good deal here at my premifes, and I have called in Mr. Bewley, who has a turn for it, to plan me a few more alterations. I hope,

John Duncombe, Efq. of Stocks, in Hert-
tubule.
He died June 30, 1746.

ance; and yet there is a horror in the fcene, which makes nature fhrink bas at the reflection. Praised be the good nefs of God, for preferving to us the bleflings of a just and gentle gover. ment! I am, dear Sir, yours, &c.

I

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From the fame to the fame.

Dear Sir, Bishop-Thorp, Oct. 21, 1747
HAVE taken both your letters is

my hands a great many times to a fwer, and been as often prevented. I ver did, nor ever will forget my frie certainly not fuch friends as yourke whom I have known fo long, and trea whofe correfpondence I have recebd both pleafure and profit.

The mafter of Bene't † made meз fit this fummer, and I was extremt

pleafed to hear him fpeak with urto mon regard of your fon. He does? fpeak lightly, and never infincerely.

We have had and Aill enjoy the f feafon imaginable, which, with c reafons, would detain me longer but I am thinking of London, for voice and countenance of every ind dual friend will at prefent have its the fupport of the king's governme Through the feeble help of treacher allies, our neighbour-king is certainly m much for us, and, I think, we hiver thing to do, but practife Phocion's p cy, who advised his country men tis † Mr. Caftic.

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Kenfington, February 2, 1747-8. CANNOT fatisfy myfelf with having fent a cold and common answer of thanks, for your volume of most excellent and ufeful fermons. I do it in this manner with great esteem and cordiality.

Archbishop Herring to the Rev. Mr. Whifton. I thank you, at the fame time, as be

I

Rev. Sir,

Kensington,

January 28, 1747-8. THANK you most kindly for your good letter, and am better pleafed with your Chriftian wifhes for me, than with a hundred compliments I have received in picked and elegant phrafes. Yours, I am fure, come from a good heart and a fober judgment. I will do the best I can in this ftation, to which, indeed, I have been forced. And as neither pride, nor ambition, nor covetoufnefs tempted me to defire it, so it is my daily prayer to God, that in the ufe and exercife of this great office, I may keep my heart and my hands free from thofe fad temptations. What you hint about the form of prayer, your age, and learning, and experience give you a right to fay; but it becomes them who have lefs of all thofe to be a little more referved: the fame form is come out by authority for this year. Many good men concur with you on the fubject of the murrain † ; and, I am afraid, in a little time, it will make the ftouteft of us cry out for mercy, and reach those high places, which feem almoft out of the reach of fuch calamities. Upon your hint, I looked over the forms of prayer, and find one for the 17th of January, 1703-4 This, I fuppofe, is what you

Mrs. Cockburn. Her works were afterwards published by Dr. Birch. The pamphlet to which the archbishop here alludes, is entitled "Remarks "on the Principles and Reasonings of Dr. Ruther"forth's Eifay on the Nature and Obligation of

"Virtue."

In confequence, as it should feem, of Mr. Whitton's defire, a prayer was afterwards ordered on this account, being firit read (as he obferves) in Lyndon church, in Rutland, May 19, 1748.

comes me to do, for your very obliging good withes. The fubject on which my friends congratulate me, is, in truth, matter of conftant anxiety to me. I hope I have an honeft intention, and, for the reft, I must rely on the good grace of God, and the counfel and affiitance of my friends.

I think it happy, that I am called up to this high ftation, at a time when fpite, and rancour, and narrowness of fpirit are out of countenance: when we breathe the benign and comfortable air of liberty and toleration; and the teachers of our common religion make it their bufinefs to extend its effential influence, and join in fupporting its true interest and honour. No times ever called more loudly upon proteftants for zeal, and unity, and charity. I am, reverend Sir, your affured friend.

LETTER XLVIII.

Archbishop Herring to W. Duncombe, Ejq.

Dear Sir, Kensington, May 18, 1748.

AS you infift upon it, that the library

at Lambeth fhall be enriched by your very bountiful prefent, I accept it, with thanks, for myfelf and fucceffers, and they thall be depofited with prop.r care and acknowledgment. Your letter was brought to me in company, and I understood your fervant fhot away like a ghoft.

I fhall always be glad to fee you, and hope you will not defer your vifits till I get to Lambeth.

Your fon writes well, and I feel his agitations before his act. I remember,

Rymer's Fœdera, 1 vols. follo.
PP3

I never

I never was more frightened than on the like occafion. I heard of the riot of thefe boys before. There is nothing in the bufinefs extremely tragical, but it is an inftance how general a fpirit of mifrule is gone forth amongit us.

Poor D'Oyley's death I heard of the day after it happened. I remember his collection of books. I fhould be glad to fee a catalogue of them, and poflibly I might think of purchafing them †. I thank you for your ingenious fonnet, and am, dear Sir, your affured friend.

Pray fee my pi&ure at Hudfon's. If you like it, I will order a copy, and fit once or twice, but, I proteft, I am tired of that work.

LETTER XLIX.

fire to return it to him the fame way, but upon condition that you give him my fincereft thanks for the perufal of it. It has given me prodigious pleafure; and I have but one, or perhaps two reafons, for forbearing the ftrongest encomium. I wish to God, Lucretius had had fo good a fubject, and fo much at his heart!

The author's intentions ** do me honour, aud I am proud of being tranimit ted to pofterity, as a friend to fuch doctrine, fo explained and illuminated. Dear Sir, yours faithfully.

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From the fame to the jame. Dear Sir, Croydon, June 25, 1752. TH HE Country, I perceive, has a fre effect upon you, and it is well fr

Archbishop Herring to W. Duncombe, Efq. you rejuvenescere; for I know, from more

Dear Sir,

Lambeth, May 15, 1750.

no remem

BE affared that I want brancer to ferve you, or the very deferving young man your fon. He shall ot lofe the fellowship at Bene't, through any failure in me to help him, and I know you will leave the manner of it

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reafons than one, that you will be brought into no dangers, by a new fpring in you conftitution. I have reproached myself more than once for not fixing a time for a little expedition hither, as you had intimated an inclination in Mr. Browne to do me that favour, but indeed it was not in my power to do it, for the only day 1 had to fpare, was claimed from me by 1 lady, on a long promife. I will hope for another opportunity, for there is a trea fure in being acquainted with a man of fuch an heart and understanding as Mr. Browne.

I return you ++ Greene's very fenfe letter. I have the beft opinion of him, and a strong propenfity, if I live, to be ufeful to the old houfe II.am, desp Sir, your affured friend.

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as I cannot plead difability for any time fince I received it. My neglect has been Owing to an attention to a courfe of life, where my hours are fet and marked out to particular purposes, or taken up by the vifits of my friends. Bleffed be God for it, I have mended in my health fince my first arrival here, and continue to mend gradually. In fo acute a diforder as mine was, it was not to be expected that I could jump into health (jumping is too much for me), but I ought to be contented and thankful too, if I can walk leifurely into it. I have for fome time regained my natural reft, eat as well as a man can do, palled and fatigued with medicine, have no degree of a fever, and little or no cough; but yet my lungs have not their proper tone, and mount ing up ftairs puts me a little to it.

I am forry you have been fo ill, and hope, when you favour me with another letter, to hear a better account of you. I had two phyficians added to Dr. Wilmot, but yet the doctor loft no reputation with me, for I have a high opinion of him.

I will take care of Mrs. Wright's poems when I go to Lambeth. I am, &c.

LETTER LIII. From the fame to the fame. Dear Sir, Croydon-house, Nov. 5, 1753. IF I did not know you to be an honeft man upon long experience, I fhould take you for a defigning one. I return the inclofed, without any obfervations upon it, but that the compliment you convey, comes from a man, who, it is very plain, does not know me. Excefs

of praise has generally as little foundation, as excefs of calumny.

blood which he loft (fourfcore ounces) his ftrength and fpirits were fo impaired, that though, on his retiring to Croydon, he did, in fome measure, recover, yet, from that time, he might rather be faid to languish than to live; declining, as far as poffible, all public bufinefs, and feeing little company but his relations and particular friends. Once, indeed, the late princefs of Wales did him the honour of breakfafting with him, and was received and entertained with that unaffected eafe and poHireness, for which his Grace was fo eminently diftinguished.

From a noble earl, fince deceased.

I thank you for informing me of the author of Rufticus . That letter had the united approbation of the readers here.

The new edition of Tate and Brady is not come out, that I know of. The emendations fuggefted were much approved of, but my authority to alter them, made a matter of fome doubt; fo the middle way was taken, of correct. ing the errors 1, not the imperfections.

I blefs God, I am eafy, and much the more fo, for abiding here. If a perfect cure is to be effected upon me, it must be done by air and exercise, caution as to what I eat, and quiet, the great balm of life.

Your friend, Dr. Carter §, is griev oufly teafed by folks, who call themselves "the orthodox." I abhor every tend、 ency to the Trinity controversy. The manner in which it is always managed, is the difgrace and ruin of Christianity. Your affectionate friend.

LETTER LIV.
From the fame to the fame.
Dear Sir, Croydon-house, Nov. 25, 1753.

AT laft you will receive the very af

fecting and ingenious poems of Mrs. Wright, which were laid up with fuch peculiar care, that I could neither find them myself, nor give directions to any one else where to look for them.

I have heard nothing of the edition of Tate, which, you faid, you would leave for me at Lambeth. If there is time, it fhall be made proper ufe of; and, I am fure, thanks are moft justly due to you

on that affair .

A letter fo figned in "The World," vol. ¡. nurab. 36.

In the edition of thefe Pfalms, 1737, there were above two hundred errors of the preis.

§ Minifter of St. George's chapel, Deal, who had been prefented, the year before, by one of the chapel-wardens, at the initigation, as it appeared, of the rector, for not reading the Athanafian creed. This gave life to a controverfy with that gentleman, which, as ufual, was attended with much perfonal scandal.

Mr. Duncombe's corrections above-mention. ed (as appears from another letter, dated June 16, 1755), were fent by the archbishop to Mr. Richardfon (king's printer), for a new edition of Tate's Pfalms, then preparing,

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