without it there can be no firm, lasting bond of union, no hearty, steady co-operation; no real, desirable peace. But let vital godliness prevail; let personal religion animate us, and every gracious result will flow from it; the glory of the Lord will be in the midst of us, and a wall of fire will encircle us. Indeed, the Christian is not warranted to pray for temporal blessings for himself or for his country, but in connexion with, or subordination to, those that are spiritual; and that man who seeks and prays for his country's spiritual and eternal weal, merits better of his country than the man who seeks and strives for her highest earthly glory and aggrandizement; ay, who is successful in securing it: for what, let me ask, is temporal weal to spiritual health,—to eternal happiness? What is all earthly good, compared with a renewed and sanctified heart? What is peace with man, compared with peace with God? What is deliverance from human oppression, compared with rescue from the galling yoke of sin? What is security from the wrath of man to deliverance from the wrath of God? A compassionate heart bleeds for the poverty, the bondage, the carnage of his fellow-creatures; but a sanctified heart, not neglectful of these, feels more deeply for their ignorance, their guilt, their depravity, and the fearful consequences flowing from them. And how can we hope for this result, either personally or generally, but by vital godliness possessing the heart, by the spirit of vital religion pervading the land ?-Rev. Dr. Brown.

THE FAITHFUL LABOURER.

"THEY rest from their labours." It is especially the Ministers and Missionaries of the Cross whose "rest" is here spoken of. These have "borne, and have laboured, and have not fainted." One has been, like Apollos, an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures ;" another has consecrated the loftiest gifts, and the richest stores of learning and accomplishment, like Paul, to the glory of his Lord. Another, like Morrison or Carey, has translated the book of God into the languages of the millions of heathen idolaters. Another, like Williams, has built, with his own hands, the Missionary ship which carries him and his native teachers through the isles that gem the mighty deep. One has toiled as the Minister of Christ in the streets and lanes of the crowded city; another, in the rural hamlet, or the sequestered valley. But all have worked for God. All, like Nehemiah's builders, have "had a mind to work." Theirs has been indeed "life in earnest;" for they loved their Master, and souls were perishing. The time was short for labour, and holy zeal would brook no delay. But death comes, and these "sons of toil" enter into rest. And even as health is all the sweeter after the wearisome days and nights of sickness have passed by; even as home is doubly dear to the wanderer who has known the misery of an exile's banishment and a stranger's heart; so the rest of heaven will be all the sweeter to the servants of God because of the toil that has preceded it. And yet theirs is not the rest of "sleep," so sweet to the labouring man on earth. Of heaven it is written, "There shall be no night there." There shall be no cessation to spiritual energy and intellectual activity.-Sermon on the Death of Rev. Josias Wilson, of London, preached in Townsend-street church, Belfast, by Rev. John Weir.

BIOGRAPHICAL RECOLLECTIONS OF ANTHONY

FARINDON, B.D.:

WITH OCCASIONAL REMINISCENCES OF HIS FRIEND, JOHN HALES, OF ETON. BY THE REV. THOMAS JACKSON.

(Concluded from page 873.)

X.-STRICTURES ON THE MISREPRESENTATIONS CONCERNING THE SALE OF

HALES'S LIBRARY.

THE publication of Hales's last will and testament in "the General Dictionary," under the article PEARSON, in the year 1739, gave rise to much flippant and perverse criticism on the part of men whom no one would have suspected of arriving at hasty conclusions from insufficient premisses. These parties asserted that Wood's well-authenticated narrative concerning the sale of Hales's library, and the account of Farindon's last interview with him, furnished to Walker by Archdeacon Davies, are in direct contradiction to his last will and testament. While the interests of truth are principally concerned in the calm and discreet rectification of such palpable mistakes, some amusement is likewise afforded to the philosophic mind by reviewing the progress of error, which usually becomes aggravated misrepresentation as it passes through fresh hands, viresque acquirit eundo.

The first animadversion upon this supposed discrepancy occurs in the Biographia Britannica, under the article HALES, (p. 2487,) in which the biographer gravely says, "Wood is mistaken in supposing it was his whole library: see his will." Now, on a reference to the words of Wood, it will be found that he does not make any supposition about the whole, but asserts plainly that Hales sold "the best part of his very admirable library." The biographer then adds: "Though his fortune was much broken by his sufferings, yet the current story of his being reduced to extreme necessity appears, by his will, not to be well grounded." In a note to this sentence, after giving the paper furnished by Archdeacon Davies, respecting Farindon's last interview with Hales, he says, "The story is so circumstantially told, and so well attested, that it could not have been discredited by any evidence less than that of Mr. Hales's will."

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In the "British Biography," the editor, after giving the substance of Walker's account, which, he says, "appears to be well attested," subjoins this remark: "There is great reason to believe that all the particulars of it are not true. For, by his will, he bequeathed legacies to several persons, to the amount of upwards of forty pounds; but all his Greek and Latin books (except St. Jerome's Works, which he gave to Mr. Mountague) he bequeathed to William Salter, Esq.:' so that it seems evident he could not have sold his whole library in the manner above related."

Without stopping to quote other minor critics, who have merely copied the words of the Biographia Britannica, we at length arrive at Alexander Chalmers, Esq.; who, in his valuable "General Biographical Dictionary," completes the climax of exaggeration by venturing to assert: "It is now unnecessary to trace a narrative so flatly contradicted by Hales's will; in which we find him bequeathing a very considerable part of his library, and indeed leaving such friendly legacies as are wholly inconsistent with the

* Octavo cdition, 1767, vol. iv., p. 373.

"*

circumstances of a man reduced to a few shillings, and in debt for his lodgings." This unwarranted assertion was made when the writer had before him an interleaved copy of Des Maizeaux's "Historical and critical Account of the Life and Writings of the ever-memorable John Hales," &c., which contained many important manuscript interlineations by one of the editors of the Biographia Britannica, preparatory to a new edition of that great work, and to which Chalmers confesses himself to be indebted for many emendations. This copy of Des Maizeaux's book was purchased by one of my learned friends at Chalmers's sale, in 1834, who soon afterwards gave it to me. Respecting Farindon's last conversation with Hales, that editor writes thus: "This account cannot be true; for from his will it appears that he gave away in friendly legacies forty-three pounds, and had money out that was to be called in." Dr. Campbell, the much-admired author of the "Lives of the Admirals," &c., seems to have had the oversight and final revision of all the articles intended for insertion in the Biographia; and he has appended the following significant words to the hasty remark of his colleague: "This account may yet be true." Now, of all men then living, Dr. Campbell was the most competent to qualify this rash and sweeping conclusion. Born in Scotland, he had been taken, when only five years old, to reside with his maternal grandfather Smith at Windsor, under whose kind and indulgent care his early genius was fostered, and his literary taste formed and refined. His grandfather was either himself one of the Trustees to Hales's will, or was a near relation of that Trustee. From him, therefore, he must have heard many interesting particulars of his old and "ever-memorable" friend, and of the privations which he endured toward the close of life.

But, leaving these considerations, which are only personal, I think the subjoined remarks will convince unprejudiced minds, that both Archdeacon Davies's communication to Walker, and Wood's description of the sale of Hales's library, are substantially correct, and quite in accordance with the provisions of his will :

1. Those gentlemen who first animadverted on the will should have previously read the probate appended to it, which "the General Dictionary," in folio, (vol. viii., p. 236,) gives in the official Latin; but which, in the Biographia Britannica, is an English abridgment. From all the copies of this authentic document it will be seen, that probate was not granted to the executrix till ten years after the death of the testator. The reasons of the delay the animadvertors ought to have explained. But if the testator died as opulent as they wish their readers to believe, probate would have been asked and granted long before the six months had expired. The consequence is, that all their rapid deductions from the contents of the will are nullified. Many persons have with the best intentions devised property which they could not themselves obtain, and which never came into the possession of their descendants. But Hales's bequests, it will be seen, were not exactly of this description.

2. A clause in the will reads thus: "All which moneys here bequeathed, do at this present rest intrusted in the hands of my singular good friends, Mr. William Smith, and Mr. Thomas Mountague." Does this clause imply, that the twenty-three pounds previously specified were moneys then actually in the hands of the Trustees? Would not an acute Lawyer interpret it only as a clause conferring powers on them? A subsequent clause avers

* "General Biographical Dictionary," vol. xvii., pp. 38, 39.

and directs: "Now, because moneys are many times not at command, but may require perchance some time to take them up, I ordain that in six months after my departure she see all these my bequests and legacies orderly and faithfully discharged."* How does this agree with the preceding one? It seems to have been a kind of after-thought, when his hostess had suggested to him how low his exchequer really was, and that the necessary expenses of his funeral would consume all the available cash.

3. All the books mentioned in the will may be easily reconciled with Wood's narrative, and with the account of Farindon's last interview. Wood says, he " was forced to sell the best part of his most admirable library, which cost him £2,500." The following is Lord Clarendon's description of this library: "Hales had made a greater and better collection of books than were to be found in any other private library that I have seen." + This is the affirmation of a man who spoke from personal knowledge. In Farindon's last interview, Hales told him, " he had been forced to sell all his library, save a few books which he had given away, and six or eight little books of devotion, which lay in his chamber." This conversation is supposed to have taken place about nine months before the death of Hales, to whom, at that time, at least fifty pounds were paid either by Farindon, or by some "other friend that had too full a purse;" and, consequently, in the intervening months he might have purchased a few scarce books, which augmented his previously-small store, though he had less need of them than most men, being himself bibliotheca ambulans, as he was properly called by Sir Henry Wotton. May not "the few books which he had given away" be the identical “Greek and Latin books" which he bequeathed in his will to his young friend Salter, thus repeating his previous gift to him in a more formal manner? Salter was in affluence, and had been under Hales's tuition after the ejectment from his fellowship; and it is very probable, that the greater portion of these Greek and Latin books were those which he had left at Rich-Kings, and which he was in the habit of recommending or explaining to the young gentleman, in his occasional visits to his mother's seat. If all his remaining Greek and Latin books were as numerous and valuable as Chalmers wishes to represent them, it is much more likely that by far the greater part of them would have been given to his learned and much-beloved friend Mountague, whose acquirements rendered him capable of profiting by the gift, and to whom he left only a copy of St. Jerome's Works, a fact in itself abundantly confirmatory of the scantiness of the number thus bequeathed. And may not the "six or eight books of devotion which," he told Farindon, "lay in his chamber," be the complement of "all his English books" which he left to Hannah Dickenson? In his brief sojourn at Rich-Kings, after having spent a long life in the ardent pursuit of multifarious knowledge, he began, as it became one who had then nearly reached his "three-score years and ten," to apply himself to the perusal of devotional works, of which "the Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis was his chief favourite. All this is in perfect keeping with his own brief description, at the commencement of his will, of the worldly substance which he possessed: "By this my last will and testament, I do dispose of the small remainder of my broken estate." But these expressions are ill in accordance with Chalmers's grandiloquent phraseology: "In his will we find him bequeathing a very + Clarendon's "Life," vol. i., p. 41. See page 751.

* See page 872.

considerable part of his library, and indeed leaving such friendly legacies as are wholly inconsistent," &c.

4. One omission in the will is very remarkable: the name of Farindon, who was the most intimate friend which he had in the world, is not once mentioned. The difficulty is solved by a reference to their last interview, in which Farindon informs his friend of his prosperous condition: "I have at present money to command, and to-morrow will pay you fifty pounds, in part of the many sums I and my poor wife have received of you in our great necessities; and will pay you more, suddenly,* as you may need them." This money, paid the day afterwards, and the promise of more whenever it might be required, were the sole qualifications which Hales possessed for making the trifling bequests in his will, the probate of which was not granted till ten years after his death! Farindon must have been cognisant of the disposal of "the best part" of Hales's library in 1652; because it had enabled his friend to be diffusive of charitable aid to himself and to others in the time of their urgent distress. But the subject of their last conversation evidently was, his having "been forced" at length to sell his whole library," perhaps early in 1655; that is, all the books which remained after the sale in 1652. The proceeds of the sale in 1655 seem to have been dispersed in the same liberal manner as the former, among the most indigent of his brethren; and the consequence was, that, towards the close of 1655, "he had no more money than what he showed Farindon, which was about seven or eight shillings."+

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5. The time of this interview is vaguely enunciated. "Some few months before his death" may mean six or eight months, or even a year. The sale of "the best part" of Hales's library is supposed to have taken place in 1652. This would allow his generous disposition sufficient time to lend or give away the purchase-money, in various sums, to some of his learned and pious friends whom he knew to be indigent, before the last visit of Farindon, who had been restored to his living in Milk-street in 1654, and whe, residing then within six miles, might have been informed of the sale of the remainder of his books, in one of his calls upon his friend at Eton, in the autumn of 1655. This would bring the time within eight or nine months of Hales's death, and is consistent with the expressions which he uses in parrying off Farindon's importunity to repay the advances which, at various times, he had made to him in the true spirit of benevolence : "No: you do not owe me a penny; or if you do, I here forgive you; for you shall never pay me a penny! I know you and yours will have occasion for much more than you have already gotten. But if you know any other friend that hath too full a purse, and will spare some of it to me, I will not refuse that." In this short colloquy he makes an indirect allusion to the four hundred pounds which Farindon had received from his congregation when ejected from Milk-street, and to the liberal support of opulent men after his restoration in 1654.

6. The issue of that interview, after the very amicable parleying of the two friends, undoubtedly was, that on the day afterwards Farindon, according to his promise, did pay fifty pounds to Hales; which, when put into the hands of thrifty Hannah Dickenson, would maintain a man of his abstemious habits eight months, and leave twenty-three pounds to be delivered to his Trustees for funeral expenses and small legacies. Farindon was of as generous a disposition as Hales, and was incapable of resorting, + See page 869.

* In our modern phraseology, "on demand."