inscribed than "Here are deposited the remains of Anne, Hannah, and Nathaniel Cotton."

If we have few particulars of the life of Dr. Cotton, we have many testimonies to the excellence of his character. We find from Mr. Hayley's Life of Cowper, that he had at one time, among his patients, that amiable and interesting poet, who speaks of Dr. Cotton's services, in a manner that forms a noble tribute to his memory. The letter in which this passage occurs, is dated July 4, 1765.

"I reckon it one instance of the Providence that has attended me throughout this whole event, that instead of being delivered into the hands of one of the London physicians, who were so much nearer that I wonder I was not, I was carried to Dr. Cotton. I was not only treated by him with the greatest tenderness while I was ill, and with the utmost diligence, but when my reason was restored to me, and I had so much need of a religious friend to converse with, to whom I could open my mind upon the subject without reserve, I could hardly have found a fitter person for the purpose. My eagerness and anxiety to settle my opinions upon that long neglected point, made it necessary, that while my mind was yet weak, and my spirits uncertain, I should have some assistance. The doctor was as ready to administer relief to me in this article likewise, and as well qualified to do it as in that which was more immediately his province. How many physicians would have thought this an irregular appetite, and a symptom of remaining madness! But if it were so, my friend was as mad as myself, and it is well for me that he was so."

Mr. Hayley says, that Dr. Cotton was a scholar and a poet, who added to many accomplishments, a peculiar sweetness of manners, in very advanced life," when Mr Hayley had the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with him. In a subsequent part of his Life of Cowper, the latter, alluding to an inquiry respecting Dr. Cotton's works, pays the following compliment to his abilities-" I did not know that he had written any thing newer than his Visions: I have no doubt that it is so far worthy of him as to be pious and sensible, and I believe, no man living is better qualified to write on such subjects, as his title seems to announce. Some years have passed since I heard from him, and considering his great age, it is probable that I shall hear from him no more, but I shall always respect him. He is truly a philosopher, according to my judgment of the character, every tittle of his knowledge in natural subjects, being connected in his mind, with the firm belief of an omnipotent agent."

To these testimonies, which can be corroborated by a perusal of his writings, little need be added. His writings are uniformly in favour of piety and benevolence, and his correspondence, from which many extracts are given in the late edition of his works, justifies the high respect in which he was held by his numerous friends. His prose pieces consist of reflections on some parts of Scripture, which he has entitled Sermons, and various Essays on Health, Husbandry, Zeal, Marriage, and other miscellaneous topics. One of these, entitled Mirza to Selim, (an imitation of Lyttelton's Persian Letters) is said to relate to the death of the rev. Robert Romney, D. D. vicar of St. Albans, which happened in 1743. When dying, this gentleman prophesied that his brother and heir would not long enjoy his inheritance, which proved, true, as he died in June 1746.-Some of these Essays were probably written for the periodical journals, and others for the amusement of private friends.

His abilities as a poet demand no parade of criticism. He appears to have written with ease, and had a happy turn for decorating his reflections in familiar verse: but we find very little that is original, fanciful, or vigorous. He scarcely ever attempts imagery, or description, and no where rises beyond a certain level diction adapted to the class of readers, whom he was most anxious to please. Yet his Visions have been popular, and deserve to continue so. Every sensible and virtuous mind acquiesces in the truth and propriety of his moral reflections, and will love the poems for the sake of the writer.