fellow citizens, but even of French officers and soldiers; and some of his very enemies could not but bear testimony at his grave, "Truly a great and good man is buried here!" It was the lot of Mr. Lavater, as it is generally of eminent men, to be exalted above measure by some persons, and unjustly censured by others; but no candid and impartial man who knew Mr. Lavater personally, who has read his writings, and observed his conduct, will deny that he was, though a singular, yet both a great and a good man. His intellectual powers were by no means of the common cast; his powers of comprehension were unusually quick; he possessed an eminent gift of observation, an excellent memory, a rich, lively, and perhaps too luxuriant an intagination; which, however, as he advanced in years became more chaste, and was more wisely directed and restrained by sound reason and judgement. His knowledge was also very extensive, though it consisted not so much in classical learning as in the knowledge of himself, of mankind in general, of God, and of divine things. As to his moral and religious character, he was a Christian in the fullest sense of the word: he believed in the Bible, and in the God of the Bible, with the most implicit, child-like, and unshaken confidence. No modern philosophy, no derision of his enemies, no defection of his learned friends, neither the frowns of men, nor their deceitful flattery, could ever induce him to renounce his faith in the unerring word. It was, indeed, to him "eternal life to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent." Often whilst speaking of him in public, or in a private circle of friends, his heart glowed and his lips overflowed: he knew not how to find terms sufficiently strong, energetic, and impressive, to extol his person, doctrine, and character; his spotless life, his dying love, his admirable condescension, his all-sufficient grace, his boundless mercy and compassion, his neverfailing ability and willingness to save. Him to serve, him to glorify, him to recommend by a thousand ways and means, him to imitate, in him to trust, even in the darkest moments, for him to win souls, was the grand object of his ambition! To preach and catechise, to visit the sick, to relieve the poor, to comfort the afflicted, to gladden the heart of the widow, to provide for orphans, to establish and support benevolent institutions, to exert him self self in doing good, was the very delight of his soul. His Christian principles made him a most affectionate husband, a wise father, a kind master, a faithful and sympathizing friend, a conscientious pastor, a loyal subject. Naturally timid, Religion made him the boldest confessor of the truth; volatile in disposition, Religion 'made him steady and consistent. He was of an irritable temper; but he kept it under, from a principle of the fear of God: he was prone to vanity; and the many marks of distinguished honour he received from, a crowd of admirers, and even from the great and mighty, had a tendency to encrease these inordinate emotions of self-love; but he constantly combated this dangerous enemy, and blessed God for every humbling dispensation of his providence. There was a period in his life in which, as he acknowledges, he had nearly been carried to the very brink of fanaticism by ambition, warmth of imagination, and a heart of extreme sensibility; but the gracious hand of Providence drew him back, and preserved him. Lavater was a man much habituated to private prayer; and having experienced, from the earliest period of his life, many remarkable answers to his petitions, his faith grew very strong, and his confidence in prayer was remarkably great. His penetration entered deep into the human heart; his eye scrutinized sharply, but with such amiable mildness as banished all fear and restraint from the circle in which he was; only the perverse, in head or heart, felt uneasy in his presence. To form a just idea of Lavater's generous disposition, which breathed nothing but benevolence, was ever inclined to forgive, and always disposed him to make the situation of others his own, it would have been necessary to hear how Lavater himself was used to speak in familiar and confidential conversation; in which he laid aside all reserve, and, as he expressed himself, could think aloud respecting his ill-judging adversaries. He indeed became all things to all men, and still retained his own consistency. This firmness and this pliability, this conscious dignity and this self-abasing humility, this superior power and this indulgent condescension, this manly energy and this childlike simplicity, this firm adherence to his own principles and this unbounded toleration towards those of different opinion, this implicit belief in the Bible, and this thirst after after luminous, philosophical precision and demonstrative ideas, this artlessness and this acute discrimination, this thorough contempt of all things transitory, and this thankful free enjoyment of all the blessings of life, this deep sense of the vanity of all earthly things, and this sincere regard for all that is excellent and amiable, this placid melancholy and this chearful serenity, this unwearied activity and this tranquil enjoyment of repose, will seldom be found combined in any character, in an equal degree, as in that of Lavater. To know him thoroughly, and in the most exalted parts of his character, one ought to have seen him in those moments when he felt himself nearer to heaven than to earth, when his love to Jesus Christ glowed in its full lustre, when his longing after him displayed itself in the highest fervency, and when his prayer seemed to leave the world behind, and mount to the very throne of God. One ought to have heard him when he spoke upon those points of Christianity which to him were the most important and sacred, when he conversed with persons whom he knew to love Christ above all things, of Christ and his love, when he maintained the boldness and simplicity of faith, his conviction of the efficacy of prayer, of the certainty of divine influence, when he inculcated that disinterested charity which quite forgets self, can sacrifice every thing for others, weighs every word, and is ever inclined to think no evil, when he enjoyed patient endurance and ever-forbearing toleration. Finally, To know him thoroughly, one ought to have seen him in situations of the severest trials, when he had to contend with doubts within his own breast, and fought his way through to a renovated and more firmly established faith, when streams of tears, extorted by the most acute mental sufferings, flowed from his eyes; and he was yet able, the next moment, to receive a casual visitor with a cheerful air, and with recovered presence of mind to converse with him upon any subject which demanded his attention; to give his advice to him who required it, and to console him who came to him in want of consolation. This may seem the language of panegyric; but it is that of truth. Imperfect as the above delineation of bis character has been, all who had the pleasure of his intimate acquaintance will recognize the resemblance between the the portrait and the original; and those who had not, may be enabled to form some conception of a character which will rarely find its equal. His works may be divided into four principal classes: 1. Practical Religion. 2. Poetical. 3. Physiognomical. 4. Political. 1. Mr. Lavater's pen was chiefly employed in the promotion of the interests of pure and undefiled religion and morality. Of his sermons, a great variety has been published, both separately and in collections; among which, those on the Prophet Jonah, and on the Epistle to Philemon, hold a distinguished place. His various Addresses to Young People; his Private Diary for a Self Observer, Leipzic, 1772, 1773, which has been translated into English; his Prospects, or Views into Eternity, Zurich, 1782; his Pontius Pilate, Zurich, 1782, 1785; his Pocket Bible for the Afflicted, Zurich, 1788; and many other larger and smaller works and pamphlets, have all one and the same grand aim, to glorify God, to exalt the person and work of Christ, to recommend his excellent doctrine, tó instruct and edify the reader, to comfort the afflicted, and to inculcate a faithful discharge of all religious and social duties, from the purest motives of Christianity. 2. A similar tendency is discernible in his Poetical Works; the most remarkable of which are the following: Jesus Messiah, or the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, in Verse, four volumes, Zurich, 1783-86. Jesus Messiah, or the Coming of the Lord: a Poetical Paraphrase of of the Revelation of St. John. Joseph of Arimathea, Hamburgh, 1794. A Collection of Spiritual Hymns, two volumes, Zurich, 1776, 1780. Swiss National Songs Zurich, 1788. 3. Among his Physiognomical Works, the principal is entitled, Physiognomical Fragments; of which several English translations have appeared. 4. Among the Political Writings of Mr. Lavater, his Expostulatory Address to the Directory of the French Republic, Zurich. 1798; and his Letters on the System of Deportation, Zurich, 1799, two volumes, are chiefly deserving of notice. A noble spirit of freedom and indepen These National Songs will never be forgotten so long as his native country, which he so much loved, shall ev ist. VOL. III.-No. 60. Ff dence, dence, of fearless courage and unshaken confidence, characterizes his writings of this kind, no less than a spirit of candour, moderation, and resignation to the Divine Will, with submission even to the most unjust proceedings of his enemies. LAWRENCE, CHRISTOPHER, was born at Derchester in 1613, at the time the town was in flames; so that his mother was forced to be removed into the fields, just after her delivery. He was of an ancient and respectable family in this county. He was educated at the university of Oxford; on leaving which, in 1636, he was ordained by the bishop of Bath and Wells. He afterwards lived some time at Plymouth, where he had an intimate friendship with Mr. Hughes. During the civil wars, he spent some time in London, where he assisted young gentlemen in their academical studies. Mr. Lawrence had the living of Odcomb in Somersetshire, where he had some trouble from the widow and friends of the former incumbent. In 1652 he was forced to quit the place, for not taking the engagement. He then removed his family at a great expence to London, having a prospect of some employment there as a scholar; but meeting with a disappointment, he returned to Dorsetshire, and in 1654 was presented to the living of Langton Matravers, in the Isle of Purbeck, by sir Walter Erle. In 1658 he was removed to Came in the same county, from whence he was ejected in 1662. He had spent a considerable sum of money in repairing, and partly rebuilding the parsonage house, but could not get the least allowancnce made him for it. Many of his friends, and some persons of rank, pressed him to conform; but he could not satisfy his conscience to do it. However he was a stranger to faction, had a great abhorrence of the proceedings against the king in 1648, and was heartily desirous of the Restoration. After his ejectment, he attended the public worship in Dorchester and at Frampton, where he was intimate with the incumbents till his death. 1665, the militia being raised, under the pretence of a plot In in the North, some soldiers were sent to Mr. Lawrence's to apprehend him; but missing of him, though he was in his study, they did a great deal of mischief in the house, particularly by destroying a great quantity of medicines which Mrs. Lawrence had prepared for the poor, whom she used |