emoluments were showered upon him from every quarter, and at length, with the single exception of the mitre, his talents procured for him all that clerical ambition could desire. The first prelate who came forward to reward the champion of Christianity was Dr. Porteus, the late pious and exemplary Bishop of London. He conferred on Paley a prebendal stall in the cathedral of St. Paul's, and it was that of St. Pancras, which is one of the most valuable. This was in August, 1794. In January following, Dr. Tomline, the present Bishop of Winchester, presented him to the Sub-deanery of Lincoln, a piece of preferment worth somewhat more than £700 a year: and the venerable Bishop of Durham, Dr. Barrington, soon after added to his emoluments the valuable living of Bishop-Wearmouth. The collective amount of these several pieces of preferment was considerably more than £2,000 a year. The prebendal stall at Carlisle, and the vicarage of Stanwix, were vacated, and Dr. Vernon waived most handsomely his right of presentation to both, in favour of the Bishops of Lincoln and Durham, the recent benefactors of Paley.

The 'View of the Evidences of Christianity,' which was thus liberally remunerated, does not profess to be original. Everything which is advanced in this interesting work had previously appeared in the pages of Grotius and Lardner; but to Paley is due the merit of arranging with clearness, and stating with perspicuity, the materials with which they supplied him. Less concise than the one, and less diffuse than the other, he is more convincing than either, and more luminous than both. To say that every infidel, who sits down to peruse the work of Paley, will rise up convinced, is to expect from the arguments of truth an universality of operation, which is contradicted by fact and experience. We know the opposition which the pride of intellect, and the vehemence of passion, have ever offered to the pure and self-denying religion of Jesus Christ. We know that where it is the interest of any individual to disbelieve, unbelief will be often the natural and inevitable consequence. But respect will be commanded for the tenets of Christianity, and admiration for the character of its Divine teacher, even if doubts be still cherished of its truth. In the mean time, the advocates of our holy religion have ample means of ascertaining that the intimate conviction of their own minds is corroborated by the deductions of argument, and the investigations of learning; while they are "ready to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in" them, and prepared to silence, if they cannot "convince, the gainsayers."

After his installation at Lincoln, Paley proceeded to Cambridge to take his Doctor's degree. In his concio ad clerum, the original defect of his education unfortunately appeared, and exposed him to

the lash of one of the small wits of the University. He was guilty of a false quantity in the word profŭgus, which occurred in his Latin sermon, and which he pronounced profugus. This sin against the classical muse was destined never to be forgotten, for it was immortalised in the following epigram, which was circulated pretty widely at his expense:—

"Italiam fato profŭgus Lavinia venit
Litora."

Errat Virgilius forte profūgus erat.

During his visit to Cambridge, he preached before the University his most interesting sermon on the 'Dangers incidental to the Clerical Character. Here he has in some degree supplied the defect of his former discourse, addressed 'To the Young Clergy of the Diocess of Carlisle,' by calling upon every minister of Christ to examine himself while he exhorts his people to watch the influence of Christianity upon his own mind and heart, to cultivate personal holiness, and to fear lest, "having preached to others," he may be himself "a cast away."

When Dr. Paley was instituted to Bishop-Wearmouth, in 1795, he relinquished his chancellorship at Carlisle, and his vicarage of Addingham, all in fact which could render his presence in Cumberland necessary, and, with the exception of his three months' residence at Lincoln, made his new rectory his constant abode. Here he acted up to his own conviction of the evil and mischief of tithes, by granting to his parishioners a lease for life, and on such advantageous terms that they must have been abundantly satisfied. His rectory was worth £1,200 per annum, but Paley accepted £700. It would probably be found, on examination, that by far the greater proportion of the beneficed clergy of this kingdom, if they do not demand as little as he did, demand much less than the law allows them. Still, when contentions do and must arise, between persons who grudge to the ministers of religion not only the comforts but even the necessaries of life, and those who, being compelled to "live by the altar," cannot be expected to give up their rights without a struggle, every true friend to the Church must wish to see the system changed. Somewhat, in this case, must probably be given up of the temporal privileges of the clergy, and of their influence as the resident gentry of the land, but if these advantages can be retained only by the sacrifice of their ministerial usefulness, no one can regret that they should be abandoned.

On the 14th of December, 1795, Dr. Paley married again. Miss Dobinson, of Carlisle, was the object of his second choice, a lady whom he had long known, and whose character he had long appreciated.

With his increased income he entered, more than he had

been accustomed to do, into general society, and both at Lincoln and at Bishop-Wearmouth he exercised the rites of hospitality with a liberality which was void of ostentation.

Dr. Paley had always been partial to the study of the Law, and we are not surprised to find him, at this time, complying with the request of the Bishop of Durham, and acting in the Commission of the Peace. But it seems that the quickness of his temper was less adapted to the office than the sagacity of his mind, and that the tedious details of the justice-room were sometimes too much for his patience. As he entered upon his function, however, with conscientious motives, he was anxious to perform its duties; and the efforts which he made to decrease the number of public-houses, and to introduce habits of greater caution with respect to licensing these abodes of low profligacy and ruinous self-indulgence, prove his desire to promote the purity of public morals. It would have been well for the neighbourhood in which he resided if his colleagues had possessed the same enlightened views with himself. His plans would not then have been frustrated fromthe want of their cooperation, nor his zeal neutralised by their supineness. On one occasion, during the exercise of his magisterial office, he was of essential service to an individual, by the happy union of humanity and judgment for which his character was distinguished. "During the cry of invasion, which followed the renewal of hostilities with France, in 1803, a young man, residing in the neighbourhood of Sunderland, without any regular introductions or apparent object, fell under the suspicion of being a spy. The rumour quickly spread, and obtained so much credit that the General of division, commanding in that neighbourhood, became seriously alarmed, and applied to Dr. Paley for a warrant to apprehend him, at a very late hour of the night. The prudent magistrate, however, not so easily imposed on by so vague a story, saw at once the indelicacy of arresting, at such an unseasonable hour, a stranger against whom no overt act could be adduced; but, on the following day, when the General and his suite were invited to a conference on the subject, sent him a civil message to attend. The young man immediately appeared, and, by a steady though confidential disclosure of his name and circumstances, soon convinced the whole party that the public had no cause of apprehension, since his present concealment originated solely in a domestic misunderstanding. Dr. Paley, indeed, was so much pleased with his good sense and apparent ingenuousness that he immediately offered him any pecuniary or other assistance which he might in his present circumstances require, advising him, at the same time, to a speedy reconciliation with his family."*

See the Life of Paley.'

It must have been as gratifying to Dr. Paley as to his parents that they survived to witness their son's celebrity, and rejoice at his success. Mrs. Paley did not die till March, 1796, at the advanced age of 83. Her husband lived till the month of September, 1799. Mr. Paley was considered by his son one of the oldest incumbents in England, for he held the living of Helpstone for sixty-four years. In the Church of Giggleswick, where he died, a plain brass plate is to be seen, on which the following inscription has been engraved :

HERE LIE INTERRED,

THE REV. WILLIAM PALEY, B. A.

FIFTY-FOUR YEARS

MASTER OF THIS FREE SCHOOL,

WHO DIED SEP. 29, 1799,
AGED 88 YEARS;

ALSO

ELIZABETH,

WIFE OF The rev. WILLIAM PALEY,

WHO DIED MARCH 9, 1796,

AGED 83 YEARS.

The time was now approaching when the first intimations of a decaying frame reminded Dr. Paley how short-lived is all mortal success. In the year 1800, he experienced a severe paroxysm of some nephralgic complaint, which put a period to his ministerial exertions. Medical skill for a time restored him, but the disorder returned every year with increasing violence, and never ceased to torture him at intervals till he died. In 1802, he was compelled to give up his residence at Lincoln, and the waters of Buxton being recommended for his complaints, he went thither. We know not whether most to admire his diligence or his patience, when we find him at this time, during the intervals of pains, cheerfully and perseveringly devoting every leisure moment to his last great work, the 'Natural Theology.' Though its progress was so often impeded by the paroxysms of his complaint, he was happily enabled to complete it, and such is the cogency of its proofs, the clearness of their elucidation, and the finished style in which they are embodied, that it may be doubted whether his last work is not also his best. The eulogy pronounced upon the author, by Dr. Fenwick of Durham, in his 'Sketch of the professional Life and Character of Dr. Clark,' is so just and apposite that no apology will be necessary for its insertion.

"That truly eminent man was then engaged in finishing his 'Natural Theology;' but the completion of that great undertaking was frequently interrupted by severe accessions of a painful disorder, under which he had long laboured, and which has since proved fatal. Dr. Clark often expressed his admiration at the fortitude with which he bore the most painful attacks, and at the readiness, and even cheerfulness, with which, on the first respite from pain, he resumed his literary labours. When it is considered that the twenty-sixth chapter of his work was written under these circumstances, what he has said of the alleviation of pain acquires additional weight. It is not a philosopher in the full enjoyment of health who talks lightly of an evil which he may suppose at a distance. When Dr. Paley speaks of the power which pain has 'of shedding a satisfaction over intervals of ease, which few enjoyments exceed;' and assures us that a man resting from severe pain, is, for the time, in possession of feelings which undisturbed health cannot impart;' the sentiment flowed from his own feelings. He was himself that man; and it is consolatory, amidst the numerous diseases to which the human frame is liable, to find how compatible they are with a certain degree of comfort, and even enjoyment. Something may indeed be attributed, in Dr. Paley, to a vigour of intellect, which is allotted to very few; but it cannot be doubted that resignation in suffering is less the gift of great intellectual powers than of well-regulated religious and moral sentiments."

The 'Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, collected from the Appearances of Nature ;' was published in 1802. Paley, himself, considered the work as forming the link that was wanted in the chain of evidence which he had already given to the world. "The following discussion," says he, in his dedication to the Bishop of Durham, which is prefixed to it, "alone was wanted to make up my works into a system; in which works, such as they are, the public have now before them the evidences of Natural Religion, the evidences of Revealed Religion, and an account of the duties that result from both." Every friend of truth will rejoice that he lived to complete his design. Natural Theology,' when it is occupied in illustrating from His works the Being and Perfections of the Great Artificer, can never be uninteresting; and Paley has given us one of the most fascinating books which the English language can boast. That some of his discussions on the mechanism of the human frame might have been more anatomically correct, if he had been acquainted with the more recent discoveries of science, may readily be admitted, without invalidating the truth of his conclusions. The

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