confidence in the writer of this Memoir to make known, after the decease of both parties, what was not communicated to him under the seal of secrecy, but deduced from personal observation.

When Dr. Coke first became acquainted with Mr. Drew, his Commentary on the New Testatment was anxiously expected by the public. The whole burden of directing the Missionary work rested then upon him a work which had increased so much, that it was impossible for him to fulfil his duty in this respect, and discharge his literary obligations. Under this difficulty, he looked about for aid; and found

merit, they are not only friendly, but truly affectionate. I have a circle of friends here, who shall be your friends also, who may justly rank among the most excellent of the earth.

"With some of the most eminent of the Literati I have an intimate acquaintance, and meet them frequently in literary committees. Under the rose, my connexion with Reviewers, eminent booksellers, and the members of the British and Foreign Bible Society, gives me opportunities of gaining acquaintances, and hearing discussions of the most important and instructive kind. Into any of those literary mysteries I can soon initiate you. On your present engagement I will give you my opinion when we meet. I am glad you have not lost your grasp of God.

Learning I love,― learned men I prize, with the company of the great and the good I am often delighted; but infinitely above all these and all other possible enjoyments, I glory in Christ,-in me living and reigning, and fitting me for his heaven.

"I am, my dear sir, your's affectionately,
"A. CLARKE."

"I should like to be remembered to any of my old friends who yet remain. I remember well when we had glorious days in St. Austell."

in Mr. Drew such an assistant as he needed. Much material had been collected for the Commentary. The outlines were also sketched of the West Indian History, the History of the Bible, and other books which Dr. Coke had either announced or contemplated. These outlines and materials were put into Mr. Drew's hands; and it became his business to select, arrange, and perfect.

We again quote an explanatory paragraph from his life of Dr. Coke.

"From motives to which the author will not give a name, many questions have been asked, in consequence of the preceding compact, which, in the eye of ignorance, would seem to terminate to Dr. Coke's disadvantage. In a letter which is now before the writer, this sentiment is expressed in the following words: What effrontery must any person be possessed of, who imposes upon the public, by publishing books or tracts in his own name, though written by another, and not ingenuously giving the honour to whom honour is due.' To this family of questions, propositions, and apostrophes, Dr. Coke, in a letter now in my possession, has furnished a satisfactory reply. In the year 1811, when this letter was written, he proposed to incorporate my name with his own; but in the title-pages of works that had already appeared, this could not be done. In such however, as were then designed to be published, it is probable that this incorporation would have taken place, if a change in the mode of his proceedings had not rendered it impracticable, by the disposal of his works to the Conference, and consequently by

suspending the plans which he had in contemplation. Let such as charge him with effrontery' say, what, under existing circumstances, they would have expected him to do more."

After these statements, the reader of this Memoir will be enabled to judge how far the credit or discredit of those works which were given to the world in the name of Dr. Coke, subsequently to May, 1805, is to be imputed to Mr. Drew. Upon the footing already indicated, this engagement subsisted, until the transfer of Dr. Coke's literary property to the Wesleyan Conference, in 1812. It then underwent some modifications, and was terminated by the venerable Doctor's sudden and lamented death, in May 1814, when nearly in sight of the Indian continent.

* The following extract from a letter written by Dr. Coke, off Madeira, January 22, 1814, to Mr. Drew, will throw some further light on the nature of their connexion.

"In respect to the History of the Bible, I verily believe, that if God bring me back from India, we shall be able to proceed with it, or you and some London bookseller. I have taken with me a set of the numbers which have been printed, that I may give them a most serious reading. I have not disposed of the translation of Saurin's Dissertations. They are in a small box in one of Mr. Blanshard's upper rooms.

"The Missionary Sermon. I read the introduction at Portsmouth, and viewed the skeleton. Every thing you write has its excellency. But a weak mind would be tempted to doubt the truth of prophecy from your remarks concerning the several circumstances which establish its truth. It is too refined for common readers. Between us, we shall, I trust, make an excellent sermon of it; and I can send it to the bookroom, or the committee, from India.

"Yours faithfully,

"T. COKE."

SECTION XVI.

Mr. Drew is invited to enter the Church His Conversation with a Deist He writes as a Reviewer.

FROM the celebrity which his Essay on the Soul had obtained, Mr. Drew acquired considerable notoriety as a preacher. When appointed to the pulpit at home, although novelty could not be a source of attraction, the chapel was always filled with attentive hearers; and Methodism in St. Austell was not the less popular for his literary reputation. In Cornwall and Devonshire he was so far an object of esteem or curiosity, that the invitations from various quarters to deliver occasional sermons were more numerous

than he could possibly accept.* "What need," observes a pious friend, in writing to Mr. Drew about this period, "have you to live to God, lest, amidst unbounded applause, you should let go any of that

* On his remarking to an over-zealous lady who blamed him for not attending to all the invitations to preach that he received, that "we are not required to kill ourselves by excessive labour in the services of religion," she very earnestly rejoined, "But, sir, you know that if you die, God will raise up another in your stead." We scarcely need add, that with him such an argument had no weight, however forcible it might have been. thought by his fair adviser.

religion which alone can satisfy the immortal mind!" Happily he did not forget that intellect is the gift of God — that, as a gift, it left no place for self-gratulation that for its proper exercise he must render a scrupulous account-and that, for its right employment and direction, it was indispensable that he should cultivate an habitual dependance upon Him, without whom 'nothing is wise, nothing is strong.' A weaker mind, in Mr. Drew's circumstances might have suffered injury: - he, in every stage, retained his primitive simplicity, and, we believe, never permitted the praise of men to relax his duty to God.

The Very Reverend Archdeacon of Cornwall, after his introduction to Mr. Drew, in 1803, continued to call upon him at the time of his yearly visitations. Notwithstanding his knowledge of Mr. D.'s Methodism, he felt for him a growing regard. It subdued that repugnance with which a gentleman by birth, and a high churchman by education and office, might be expected to view an intimacy with a mechanic, and, according to popular acceptation, a dissenter; and it led, in 1805, to a proposal, which indicated a generous wish to shew himself a patron and a friend. The proposal was, that Mr. Drew should become a candidate for Holy Orders. The Archdeacon promised all his influence, to obtain for him such preferment as his talents merited, and wished him to take the matter into serious consideration.

This proposition Mr. Drew declined. To the Church he felt no antipathy: :-on the contrary, he had been noted by his religious friends for his advo