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date from the toils and anxieties of a profession, to which his strength appeared unequal.

However this might be, the discouragement was effectual; and Mr. Doddridge feeling it a duty to seek some other mode of useful exertion, the practice of the law was urged upon his attention. Here the prospect appeared as flattering as it had been before untoward, for the celebrated conveyancer of that day, Mr. Horseman, who had been long intimate with the family, interested himself warmly in his favour, and deeming the talents of his young friend likely to lead to eminence at the bar, introduced him to a counsellor named Eyre, who made him a handsome proposal. There is something in the fact of success that tends to surprise the mind; and the moment of the consummation of hope must always be one of anxiety: so it was with Mr. Doddridge; he had pursued this new object with that ardour which was a characteristic of his mind; but now that it seemed within his grasp, hesitation and doubt came upon him, for he felt that it would be a divorce from all that the early yearnings of his heart had anticipated, and that a lingering feeling of chagrin would ever remain. Actuated by these sentiments, he delayed the acceptance of this kind offer; but a passage from the letter previously quoted will perhaps best explain the state of his mind. "Before I returned my final answer, I took one morning solemnly to seek of God for direction; and so it was, that even while I was thus engaged, the postman called at the door with a letter from Mr. Clark, in which he told me

that he had heard of my difficulty, and offered to take me under his care, if I chose the ministry upon Christian principles (and there were no other that in those circumstances could invite me to such a choice). This I looked upon almost as an answer from Heaven; and while I live I shall ever adore so seasonable an interposition of Divine Providence."

His introduction to the Ministry being thus accomplished in a way so desirable yet unexpected, he hastened back to St. Albans, where for some months he had the advantage of receiving the valuable advice of his generous friend Mr. Clark, preparatory to a removal, in October 1719, to an Academy established at Kibworth in Leicestershire, then a leading place of education amongst the Dissenters, and conducted in the most able manner by the Rev. John Jennings, a gentleman of learning, piety, and candour.

Having sketched with a light but faithful touch the first seventeen years of the life of Dr. Doddridge, and being about to introduce the reader to a portion of his correspondence, which, while it will detail his progress as a Christian and a scholar, in the most circumstantial manner, will also reveal those transient shades of feeling which the kindred warmth of friendship extracts in the security of confidence, as the hushed and balmy breath of evening tempts forth the song of the nightingale; it may be well to give an abstract of his character as far as yet unfolded.

The piety of Dr. Doddridge at this period had received but little bias from the systems of the schools, and may be best described as a sentiment of

filial love, fear, and gratitude, intensely ardent, as its object was supremely excellent; and with this was mingled the persuasion of a particular providence, and the direct agency of prayer, in propitiating the interference of protecting dispensations amid the occurrence of natural events. This tone of mind and delicacy of health, for he viewed each returning birthday as a mercy scarcely to be expected, together with the early loss of his parents, naturally inspired a great tenderness of feeling, which sometimes mingling with the gaiety incidental to early youth, rendered him peculiarly open to the impressions of friendship; so that expressions of ardent attachment and fervent admiration were in him only natural, which might in others be overcharged.

It should also be remembered, that from family connexion and the advantages of education, having mixed in good society and become familiar with polite literature, there is nothing remarkable in the fact that, that pharisaical exhibition of solemn austerity with which the ignorant zealot and crafty professor overbear the unthinking and disgust the judicious, was in his estimation no proof of piety or object of imitation. He evidently considered a moderate enjoyment of the luxuriant products of nature, and of art, not only as innocent, but commendable; and therefore viewed the feelings and habits of polished life as in no way uncongenial with the virtues of the Christian.

A knowledge of these circumstances being premised, those passages in his correspondence, where a

playful air of gallantry is assumed, will not be misunderstood; and those where a more tender sentiment prevails, will not be perverted, for such passages occur. If indeed a cold Platonic indifference to the general charms of female society be deemed a proof of exalted intellect, or an apathy to the blissful emotions of reciprocal affection, and the softer impressions of the senses, be deemed a proof of sanctity; Dr. Doddridge had no claim to either! nor was it a claim which he was ambitious to secure. To place virtue beyond the pale of humanity, and attempt to stifle in their birth the finer emotions of the heart, because in excess they grow pernicious, is little wiser than to tear away the vine that embowers our dwelling with a canopy of grateful fruit and soothing shade, because the wholesome grapes in another form may intoxicate and destroy.

Still it must be acknowledged that on the management of the natural inclinations the comfort and well being of society principally depend; and that no country can become great and happy where they are not restrained within judicious bounds; while in respect to that master impulse, whose empire is so universally felt that it need not be named, the remark bears most emphatic weight. If then, as enforcing such sentiments, the example of an affectionate heart, swift in its perceptions, ardent in its character, and still conscientious amid trying vicissitudes, be calculated to correct and instruct, such an example and such correction will these volumes afford.

SECTION II.

Political Situation of the Nonconformists in the Time of George the First, with a Notice of their Academies; and a Portion of the Correspondence of Dr. Doddridge with his Relatives and confidential Friends, while a Student in Leicestershire.

In the year 1719, when Dr. Doddridge commenced his studies at Kibworth, under the care of the Rev. John Jennings, the situation of the Dissenters was, both with regard to themselves and the estimation in which they were held by the country at large, highly respectable. The virulent and unconstitutional persecution which disgraced the last four years of the reign of Anne, when, as Rapin observes, "all Protestants abroad, as well as those at home, who differed from the establishment, were marked with infamy; and a loud noise for the Church filled all places, and prevented all attention to the calamity and destruction preparing for the state," had happily passed away. The memory of those times was still, however, sufficiently green to render the sufferers cautious; and they could not but bear in mind, that the men were still living around them, who, when armed with authority, had conspired, by that iniquitous device the Schism Bill, to deprive them of the natural privilege of educating their children. The penalties of this measure would indeed have failen upon them, had they not been opportunely rescued

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