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A striking delineation of Mr. Mudge's character, from the pen of his intimate friend Dr. Johnson, appeared in the London Chronicle of the 2d May, 1769, to which concurrent testimony is borne in Boswell's Life of Johnson, Vol. IV. p. 82, and in Mr. Northcote's Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds. His talents, his attainments, and his Christian graces were, also, eloquently described from the pulpit, to his sorrowing parishioners, on the Sunday following his decease, in a sermon by the Rev. John Gandy, his curate, and successor in the vicarage of St. Andrew's, to whose kindred spirit a cordially intimate intercourse of many years had afforded the best opportunities of appreciating the moral and intellectual character of the friend whom he delighted to honour. We the more readily give, below, some passages from this sermon, as the record of a competent judge, because in a recent work, * of somewhat more pretensions than a mere pert self-sufficiency, Mr. Northcote is (strangely enough) made the organ of sentiments respecting Mr. Mudge very different from those expressed in his own avowed publication, "The Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds." Passages from a Sermon preached 9th April, 1769, by the Rev. John Gandy, on the occasion of his predecessor's death.

"And here, I cannot resist the inclination I feel, to pay a small tribute to the memory of your late most worthy pastor. It is impossible that the subject I have been treating ('Let me die the death of the righteous,') should fail of bringing him to your minds; and I doubt not you have already guessed with what intention I chose it. The intimate and unreserved friendship with which I was honoured by that excellent man, and which, indeed, for some years has made one great happiness of my life;-this, together with the relation I have borne to him in a public capacity, seems to call more especially on me thus publicly to recollect his virtues.

"His character was, indeed, rendered truly amiable and respectable by an union of the best qualities of the head and heart. His understanding, naturally vigorous and comprehensive, was enlarged and disciplined by study and contemplation. Well versed in every necessary branch of learning, and nicely skilled in the original languages of the Sacred Writings, he bent himself, almost wholly, to the work he was so well fitted to undertake, and to which the obligations of his profession very happily led him. The Testimonies of God were, indeed, his delight and his counsellors, and in the latter years of his life were scarcely ever out of his hands. Hence, his profound knowledge in the doctrines as well as duties of religion, which, in these matters, made his authority almost decisive. The public already enjoy some fruit of his learned labours in the elucidation of the Holy Scriptures; and it were much to be lamented, by all that wish well to the interests of piety and good learning, if any production of so much genius should be lost to the world. +

Hazlitt's Conversations with Mr. Northcote.

Mr. Mudge translated the whole of the Hebrew Bible, the manuscript of which was lent to a clergyman, and-lost! a misfortune which almost gives to the above expression a character of unconscious prophecy. He is also the author of "Sermons ;"" An Essay towards a New Translation of the Psalms," and other works highly esteemed by the learned and the good.

"The retirement of the closet, sometimes unfriendly to the growth of social virtues, and apt to spread a rust over men of recluse lives, served only to polish and humanize this most excellent man, and more completely qualify him for the offices and enjoyments of society. He did not wrap himself up in a vain self-sufficiency, but was industrious to impart every discovery of truth, and make others as wise as himself;-not dealing out his knowledge, drop by drop, with the niggardliness and jealousy of a little mind, but, as from an abundant fountain, pouring it forth with a generous profusion where he saw a capacity for receiving it, and with an energy that always made it sink deep into the mind. Thus, in private life, he omitted no convenient opportunity of showing the loveliness and necessity of religion and virtue, with the warmth of a zealous votary to both. As a public preacher he inforced (as you all well know, who have so long listened to him with pleasure, and, I doubt not, with infinite advantage to your eternal interests), as a public preacher, he enforced those great truths which he so perfectly understood, with an animated, manly, and most unaffected eloquence. Equally removed from bigotry and insipid indifference, he was steady in his own principles, and indulgent to other men's. Learned without arrogance, a critic without asperity, -a genius without the pride of parts,—it is no wonder that his conversation was univerally coveted as the certain source of instruction and entertainment. Who ever felt uneasy in his presence? Who was ever oppressed or insulted by his superiority of genius or learning? Who remembers an illiberal contradiction to have fallen from himor a mortifying expression that might raise a blush in the face of youth or modesty? His candour and indulgence were, indeed, as great as his talents :-he made the most of every little attainment,magnified every trifling grace,-rejoiced in every hopeful promise; if there was any virtue-any praise-in persons of whatever age, or degree, or understanding, or abilities,-it was nourished by his liberal commendation. The truth is, he wanted no addition to his own, and therefore was never inclined to detract from the merit of other men. His virtue and wisdom, however eminent (and they were most eminent), had none of that unamiable austerity which has so often brought discredit upon both. He knew too well the difficulty of being wise and good, to refuse allowance to the weakness and infirmity of mankind. Thus, influenced by the most ingenuous and liberal sentiments, and watchful over himself to detect the insinuation of every unamiable habit, years came upon him without their vices, and his very advanced age was adorned with all the cheerfulness, the candour and liberality of youth. His growing infirmities, that seemed to lead apace to that labour and sorrow which naturally belong to his time of life, never betrayed him into petulance, nor divested him for a moment of that complacency which he had learned in the school of religion: for, convinced that the universe, and every single part of the universe, is under the immediate care of a Being of perfect wisdom and perfect goodness, and that the great scheme of providence is so ordered as to include within it all possible good to every individual of the creation, he did not suffer this grand opinion of his to rest in a useless and ineffectual speculation, but made it the rule of his life. He was not only convinced

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that he ought to be satisfied with every dispensation of providence, but he was satisfied; and the fruit of this persuasion was visible in the admirable serenity of his mind :-neither anxious for life, nor afraid of death, he had long given himself up to the supreme Disposer of all events, having subdued the reluctances of corrupt nature which dictates an indecent competition between our will and the will of God. By a sudden death, it pleased God to spare him, indeed, the pain of further trial,—but at the same time, I doubt not, he lost the glory of being exemplary in the last stage of life, as he had been in the progress of it. It was, I believe, his wish so to die-and he might be allowed to wish it; for, such was the tenour of his life, that no death could be sudden to him in the view of religion. If the constant improvement of his talents-the sincerest love of God and zeal for his glory-the firmest persuasion of the truth of the Gospel, and an exemplary though unostentatious practice of the duties of it-and the warmest and most comprehensive charity, can qualify a man for the enjoyment of heaven,-he is, where he firmly trusted he should be, in the bosom of his Redeemer. We may well be allowed to mourn our loss;-it were strange, indeed, if we did not ;-for where again shall we find so much learning tempered with so much wisdom, and adorned with so many graces of social virtue? But it is for ourselves only that we must weep, and not for him, for he is in everlasting peace."

THE "CHRISTIAN OBSERVER" ON THE "CHRISTIAN

REMEMBRANCER."

THE editor of the Christian Observer has, in his last Number, asserted a doctrine somewhat startling, and which he would be surprised to see applied to his own periodical, viz. that Editors are responsible for every syllable written by their correspondents. That they are, to a certain degree, responsible, we fully allow; they are bound to close their pages against all matter offensive to religion, morality, and decency: and any communication deficient in these respects would justly open them to censure. There may be other cases, for it is not our present business to settle the limits of our editorial accountability,-in which we could not reasonably complain if the public should visit on our heads the errors of our correspondents. But such, we submit, is not the case, in the instance selected by the editor of the Christian Observer, for the fulmination of his terrors against us. A correspondent, signing himself "E. B." in our number for October last, calls the attention of the public to "the assumption of the title of 'Reverend' by dissenting teachers." In his letter he frequently alludes to the laxity of ecclesiastical principle which characterizes the Observer, and contrasts this quality with the profession of that publication, that it is "conducted by members of the Established Church." We are not obliged to say whether or not we agree in every iota of our correspondent's observations. All that we affirm is, that his communication was one of that nature for which we ought not to be made responsible ; it was, indeed, controversial, and might have admitted a reply in our own pages; and we could not, of course, be answerable for the opinions of both sides. At any rate, our correspondent has been very

fair; for he has given references throughout, so that such as take an interest in the question may form their own conclusion on the validity of his arguments.

The Christian Observer, therefore, will not draw us into the lists of controversy, in behalf of one for whom the laws of literary warfare have never made us surety. It was natural enough that the editor of that publication should repel the allegations of E. B.; and had he contented himself with so doing, we should have left the whole affair in the hands of our correspondent. But as the Observer chooses to shift the fair ground of the lists, and not only to run at us, as though we were bound to be champions of E. B., but also to attack us on independent reasons, we suppose he will compel us to break a lance with him. The Observer is, in our opinion, too experienced a tactician to be ignorant that we could not, in fairness, be answerable for the opinions of E. B.; but these afforded him what he thought a favourable opportunity for the introduction of a subject, on which he wished to engage us by an apparent contrast, which, with some readers, might have the effect of an argument. He charges us, after having, through our correspondent, affected much zeal for episcopacy, with having openly approved and encouraged an act of canonical insubordination; the letter of the Vicar and Curate of Trinity, Coventry, to their diocesan, on his intention of presiding at the Coventry Bible Society.

Our readers may remember that, when we inserted this letter, we left it, as we ourselves expressed it, "without note or comment, to the consideration of every true Churchman." We expressed neither approval nor disapprobation; nor was our motive to draw attention to the conduct of the gentlemen who wrote it, but rather to the effects of the Bible Society's constitution, as evinced in the fact that it had been the means of creating disunion among Churchmen in an important instance. But on the present occasion it would be injustice to conceal the truth, that we believed every true Churchman would be pleased with the manly but most respectful manner, in which the gentlemen in question acquitted themselves in a situation of great difficulty. Will our readers believe that we are accused of commending a letter "bidding defiance" to a Bishop? We intreat them to re-peruse the document, and see wherein it in the slightest degree approximates to any thing of the kind. "Mr. Hook and his Curate," says the Observer, "threaten the Bishop that if he presumes to preside at the Bible Society at Coventry, they will render him obnoxious to the censures of his parishioners." This is a very gross misrepresentation. The remonstrants never use such language as, "if the Bishop presumes;" and what follows is no threat whatever, but a simple description of what they honestly believe will be the effects of the Bishop's countenance of the motley meeting. "Your Lordship compels us," say they, "in self-defence, to state, to those persons committed to our charge, what our reasons are for declining to support a society at which our Bishop presides. If we fail to convince them that we are right, we shall expose ourselves to their contempt, and our ministrations will become ineffectual; if, on the other hand, we succeed, we shall do what is equally to be deprecated, by rendering our Bishop obnoxious to their censures."

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The remonstrants are next charged with the assumption of" the most lordly tone." We again entreat our readers to re-peruse, and we assure them they will find nothing of the sort. On the contrary, the remonstrants "respectfully represent,"-" earnestly request,"--" seriously and solemnly entreat and implore."-Is this "lordly?" Could more respectful language have been used by the editor of the Christian Observer himself? Or has his quotation from Quintilian put him out of taste with ordinary addresses to episcopacy?

As to the Observer's attack on the remonstrants for " "praying to God to send him [the Bishop] a wise decision on the subject," it is what we do not understand. What! are our Bishops above the prayers of their clergy? The compilers of our Liturgy thought not so, when they directed the most unlettered peasant to pray that it would please God "to illuminate all Bishops with true knowledge and understanding." If it be presumption for a clergyman to suppose that his diocesan can be any the better for "wisdom that cometh from above," we confess that we must, after all, yield the palm of high church principle to the Christian Observer.

We are also most unjustly charged with "checking temperate argument, after the fair opening we have given for a calm discussion" of the points at issue between our contemporary and ourselves, in what he is pleased to call our "candid and handsome review" of his Family Sermons. We have no wish to impose any such check. The critique to which he alludes is evidence of our impartial feeling; and he may be sure that we shall ever be as forward to praise and to recommend his sermons, as we shall to condemn many principles and practices which, unhappily for the peace of the Church, find countenance in his miscellany. To correspondents we are open, and they sometimes censure us as well as the Observer; but we must enter our most positive protest against being arraigned by our contemporaries, for every argument and every allegation which we may not deem it advisable to exclude from this miscellany. For what we write in our behalf we are accountable, and are ready to reckon whenever the account is demanded.

*** We have just received a letter from E. B. on this subject, which shall be noticed.

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