are joined with him by any clofe connexion; expofed to every malig. nant fufpicion which arifes in his own mind, and to every unjuft fuggeftion which the malice of others may infinuate against them. That ftore of poifon which is collected within him frequently throws out its venom on all who are within its reach. As a companion, he will be fevere and fatirical; as a friend, captious and dangerous; in his domeftic fphere, harth, jealous and irafcible; in his civil capacity, feditious and turbulent, prone to impute the conduct of his fuperi-> ours to improper motives, and upon loofe information to condema their conduct.

The contrary of all this may be expected from a candid temper. Whatever is amiable in manners, or useful in fociety, naturally and eafily ingrafts itfelf upon it. Gentleness, humanity and compaffion flow from it, as their native fpring. Open and cheerful in itself, it diffufes cheerfulness and good-humour over all who are under its influence. It is the chief ground of mutual confidence and union among men. It prevents thofe animofities from arifing which are the offspring of groundless prejudice; or, by its benign interpofition, allays them when arifen. In the magiftrate, it tempers justice with lenity. Among fubjects, it promotes good order and fubmiffion. It connects humanity with piety. For he who is not given to think evil of his fellow-creatures, will not be ready to cenfure the difpenfations of his Creator. Whereas the fame turn of mind which renders one jealous and unjuft towards men, will incline him to be querulous and impious towards God.

In the fecond place, as a fufpicious, uncharitable fpirit is inconfiftent with all focial virtue and happiness, fo, in itself, it is unrea. fonable and unjuft. In order to form found opinions concerning characters and actions, two things are especially requifite, information and impartiality. But fuch as are most forward to decide unfavourably, are commonly deftitute of both. Instead of poffeffing, or even requiring, full information, the grounds on which they proceed are frequently the moft flight and frivolous. A tale, perhaps, which the idle have invented, the inquifitive have liftened to, and the credulous have propagated; or a real incident which rumour, in carrying it along, has exaggerated and difguifed, fupplies them with materials of confident affertion, and decifive judgment. From an action they prefently look into the heart, and infer the motive. This fuppofed motive, they conclude to be the ruling principle; and pronounce at once concerning the whole character.

Nothing can be more contrary both to equity and to found reafon, than fuch precipitate judgments. Any man who attends to what paffes within himfelf, may eafily difcern what a complicated fyftem the human character is, and what a variety of circumftances must be taken into the account, in order to eftimate it truly. No fingle inftance of conduct whatever, is fufficient to determine it. As from one worthy action, it were credulity, not charity, to conclude a perfon to be free from all vice; fo from one which is cenfurable, it is perfectly unjust to infer that the author of it is without confcience, and without merit. Did you know all the attending circumliances, it might appear in an excufable light; pay, perhaps, under a commendable form. The motives of the actor may have

been

been entirely different from thofe which you afcribe to him; and where you fuppofe him impelled by bad defign, he may have been prompted by confcience and mistaken principle. Admitting the action to have been in every view criminal, he may have been hurried into it through inadvertency and furprife. He may have fincerely repented; and the virtuous principle may have now regained its full vigour. Perhaps this was the corner of frailty; the quarter on which he lay open to the incurfions of temptation; while the other avenues of his heart were firmly guarded by confcience..

No error is more palpable than to look for uniformity from human nature; though it is commonly on this fuppofition that our general conclufions concerning character are formed. Mankind are confiftent neither in good, nor in evil. In the prefent ftate of frailty, all is mixed and blended. The ftrongest contrarieties of piety and hypocrify, of generosity and avarice, of truth and duplicity, often meet in one character. The purest human virtue is confiftent with fome vice; and in the midst of much vice and diforder, amiable, nay refpectable, qualities may be found. There are few cafes in which we have ground to conclude that all goodness is loft. At the bottom of the character there may lie fome fparks of piety and virtue, fuppreffed, but not extinguished; which kept alive by the breath of heaven, and gathering ftrength in fecret from reflection, may, on the first favourable opening which is afforded them, be ready to break forth with fplendour and force.-Placed, then, in a fituation of fo much uncertainty and darknefs, where our knowledge of the hearts and characters of men is fo limited, and our judgments concerning them are so apt to err, what a continual call do we receive either to fufpend our judgment, or to give it on the favourable fide? especially when we confider that, as through imperfect information we are unqualified for deciding foundly, fo through want of impartiality we are often tempted to decide wrong.'

We could with pleasure extend this article to a much greater length, and prefent our readers with many beautiful and striking paffages from this volume of Dr. Blair's Sermons; but the extracts here given, are fufficient, we are perfuaded, to justify our character of the difcourfes contained in it.

The fubjects of the fermons not yet mentioned are,-the proper Eftimate of Human Life-the Happiness of a Future State -Death-the Character of Jofeph-the Character of Hazaelthe Benefits to be derived from the House of Mourning-the Divine Government of the Paffions of Men-and the Importance of religious Knowledge to Mankind.

ART. VI. The Hiftory of the Town of Thetford, in the Counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, from the earliest Accounts to the prefent Time. By the late Mr. Thomas Martin, of Palgrave, Suffolk, F. A. S. 4to. l. 4s, fewed. Payne, 1779.

"HON

ONEST Tom Martin, of Palgrave"-by which denomination he was diftinguifhed by his friends, as well as in the lift of fubfcribers to Grey's Hudibras in 1744-did

not

not owe that appellation merely to his love of good fellowship, and contempt of money; but likewife to his moral conduct, as an honeft attorney:-a profeffion to which he was reluctantly brought up, under the care of an elder brother. Some of his objections to this employment, contained in a paper written when he was about the age of nineteen, are worth tranfcribing, as marking his character at that early period of his life.

OBJECTION S.

1. First, my mind and inclinations are wholly to Cambridge, having already found by experience, that I can never fettle to my prefent employment.

3. I always wished that I might lead a private retired life, which can never, happen if I be an attorney. I must have the care and concern of feveral people's bufinefs befides mine own, &c.

5. It was always counted ruination for young perfons to be brought up at home, and I am fure there's no worse town under the fun for breeding or converfation than this.

6. Though I fhould ferve my time out with my brother, I fhould never fancy the ftudy of the law; having got a taste of a more noble and pleafant ftudy.-I have ftaid thus long, thinking continual ufe might have made it easy to me; but the longer 1 ftay, the worse I like it.'

The more noble and pleasant study,' to which he alludes above, was undoubtedly that of antiquities, to which he fhewed an early predilection; appearing among the contributors to Mr. Le Neve's Monumenta Anglicana, when he was only twenty-two years of age. His tafte for ancient lore must have been increased as well as gratified by the confequences following the death of Peter le Neve, Norroy king at arms; whofe widow, as well as his valuable collection of British topographical antiquities, came into his poffeffion.

We are forry to clofe this fhort account of his life and character by adding, that his diftreffes obliged him to dispose of many of his books a fhort time before his death; and that his very large collection of antiquities, as well as scarce books, deeds, drawings, prints, and other curiofities, appears, from a relation here given, to have been in a regular courfe of difperfion, by various fales that have taken place, from the time of his death in 1771, to that of the fale of Mr. Ives's collection in 1777; who had been a principal purchafer at all the preceding fales.

Few of our readers would be gratified by a tranfcript of any paffages that we could felect from this history of a particular town;-though a fenced and royal city, from the unfortunate overthrow of Boadicea, till the establishment of the heptarchy;'

and

and afterwards the metropolis of the Eaft Angles; it will be fufficient to obferve, that our topographical Hiftorian has here collected together all that time has fpared of its uneventful hiftory, during the fucceffive governments of the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans, in this ifland. He then proceeds to give a minute hiftorical account of the various ecclefiaftical and civil eftablishments that have anciently been formed, or still fubfift, in this place; particularly the bifhopric, the various churches, priories, hospitals, manors, together with an account of Writers that have been natives of this town, ancient coins, natural hiftory, &c. Under this laft head, very little occurs, if we except a latin Thefis on a mineral water at this place, published in 1746 by the late Dr. Manning.

In an Appendix, are fubjoined copies of various original papers relating to this borough, thirty-nine in number. We fhall only extract a few particulars from the twenty-third; which contains the account of John le Forrefter, Mayor of the borough, in the tenth year of Edward III. A. 1336. It is fo far curious, as it exhibits an authentic account of the value of many articles at that time; being a bill, inferted in the townbook, of the expences attending the fending two light horsemen from Thetford, to the army which was to march against the Scots that year.

To two men chofen to go into the army against
Scotland

• For cloth, and to the taylor for making it into two

gowns

-

For two pair of gloves, and a stick or staff

For two horfes

For two pair of boots for the light horsemen

1. S.

d.

3

3

O IO

Paid to a lad for going with the Mayor' (to Lenn)

to take care of the horses *

To a boy for a letter at Lenn.' (viz. carrying it thither)

Expences for the horses of two light horfemen for four days before they departed.

* The distance between Thetford and Lynn is about 33 miles.

ART.

ART. VII. An Effay towards attaining a true State of the Character and Reign of King Charles the Firft, and the Causes of the Civil War. Extracted from and delivered in the very Words of fome of the most authentic and celebrated Hiftorians; viz. Clarendon, Whitelock, Burnet, Coke, Echard, Rapin, Tindal, Neal, &c. Printed for W. Parker, Printer of the General Advertiser. 8vo. 3 s. 6d. 1780.

HIS Effay was certainly written many years fince; and,

poffibly, it may have been publifhed before; though it is now introduced to the world as a performance entirely new. To us indeed it is new and if it fhould chance to be an old thing, we hope the candid Reader will put down our total ignorance of it to its true account.

This performance is almoft wholly made up of extracts from the hiftories of the feveral writers quoted in the title-page, and of others whofe names can throw no great luftre on quotation, and will give but little authority to affertion.

In the Preface, the Collector gives a fhort account of the principal authors from whom he profeffes to derive his information refpecting the character and reign of King Charles. Lord Clarendon, with great propriety, takes the lead: but in the account of this noble hiftorian, our Effayift, either from great ignorance, or great malice, hath attempted to revive a calumny, long fince refuted, refpecting the authenticity of the Hiftory of the Rebellion. This celebrated hiftory, fays the prefent Writer, lies under ftrong fufpicion, if not evident proof, of being further foftened and garbled in favour of that cause (viz. the royal caufe) by many grofs interpolations and alterations of the Editors. One of them, the learned Mr. Smith of Chrift Church, Oxon, acknowledged upon his death-bed, that himfelf had been concerned in it. "There was (faid he-and they were fome of his laft words, of whofe truth there can be no doubt) a fine hiftory written by Lord Clarendon; but what was published under his name was only patch-work, and might as properly be called the Hiftory of and and for to his knowledge it was altered; nay, that he himself was employed by them to interpolate and alter the original.'

This infamous flander, thrown on the characters of three very diftinguished churchmen (viz. Dean Aldrich, Bishop Smal dridge, and Bishop Atterbury) fo haftily caught at by the writer of the prefent Effay, was firft publifhed to the world by Oldmixon in his Preface to the History of the Stuarts. The letter which relates this precious anecdote is without a name : though

Commonly called Rag Smith, or Captain Rag, on account of his flovenlinefs, owing to fottifhnefs. Rev.