He had fewer incentives than other men to exertion, from secular emoluments. He had fewer opportunities for improvement than others, from access to public libraries, from the advantages of public education, and above all from the company of persons accurately and profoundly learned. But his diligent researches, his extensive and various knowledge, his zeal for the diffusion of learning, and his solicitude for the discovery of truth, will always be remembered with respect by unprejudiced judges, who consider the numerous difficulties with which he had to struggle, and the virtuous motives by which he was actuated. For my part, I shall ever think of him as one of the best scholars produced by my own country in my own age; and as one of the best men who, in any country, or in any age, have examined the evidences of Christianity seriously, believed them sincerely, defended them earnestly, and endeavoured to practise the duties which it inculcates, steadfastly and faithfully. While the foregoing letter was in the press, some additional remarks were communicated by Dr. PARR in the following letter, addressed as before: Dallington, near Northampton, June 25, 1804. DEAR SIR, I am now on a visit to my respectable friend, Mr. Rye, and among other excellent books in his possession, I met with the Æschinis Socratici Dialogi tres, edited by Le Clerc, and the Silvæ Philologicæ, which he affixed to that edition. The whole work seems to have been written, while the mind of Le Clerc was smarting under the barbarous treatment he received from Bentley and Burman, in consequence of the metrical blunders, and unsatisfactory emendations, which may be found in his edition of Menander. But the first chapter of the Silvæ ought to be read attentively by every man who unites good-sense and good principles with critical knowledge, and it contains a passage, which, in justice to Le Clerc himself, and the illustrious scholars whom he commends, I beg of you to affix to the letter, which I some time ago wrote to you, about our friend, the late Mr. Wakefield. I am, dear Sir, Truly and faithfully yours, S. PARR. "Si fuerunt viri litterati acerbiores æquo et superbi, mitiores alii et modesti fuerunt. Dionysius Lambinus, Janus Gruterus, Caspar Scioppius, et Dionysius Petavius insectati sunt, fateor, suâ ætate, Gifanios, Pareos, Gothofredos, Scaligeros et Salmasios, nec hi omnes adversariis semper pepercerunt. Sed non desunt mitiorum exempla, ut Isaaci Casauboni, Gerardi Joannis Vossii, qui, quod equidem sciam, neminem sunt insectati, et Joan: Schefferi, qui Tan: Fabro, a quo irrisus et male habitus fuerat, modestissimè et optimè, in posterioribus notis ad Phædrum respondit. Jacobus etiam Sirmondus, è Jesuitarum sodalitio, bonarum litterarum studia, sine cujusquam injuriâ, coluisse fertur. His subjungere possumus Joan: Georgium Grævium, ob incruentum calamum, nuper laudatum. Quin et exempla insignia ejus mansuetudinis viva nunc habemus duos illustres quidem illos, munerum amplitudine, sed ingenio et insigni litterarum elegantiorum cognitione, cum summâ humanitate conjunctâ, clariores viros, Ezech. Spanhemium, et Gisbertum Cuperum; quos merito suspicit Europa, et quos suæ mansuetudinis, modestiæque, quamvis injuriis interdum provocatos, nondum pænitere non temerè adfirmamus. "Ergo optimos quosque viros, et qui bonas artes, ut cum Gellio loquar, sinceriter cupiunt adpetuntque, hos quam maximè humanissimos esse oportet, operamque dare, ne, vitiis suis, innoxiis litteris contemptum apud imperitos creent.-Silv. Philologic. cap. 1, pag. 139. I have great pleasure in communicating the following addition: "Dionys. Petavius, qui modum nullum servavit in exagitando Scaligero, apud suos dicere solebat, eum, etiam cum erraret, docere: quod nobis aperuit sodalis ejus et amicus Francisc. Vavassor." P. 141. Dr. Johnson, I remember, made a similar remark on Dr. Bentley, when he and I were conversing about Bentley's Notes on Horace, and the Strictures written upon them, by Johnson of Nottingham and Alexander Cunningham. APPENDIX. (Η.) Remarks, relative to the Character of Mr. WAKEFIELD, by a Clergyman of the Church of England. In general the character of a man is most satisfactorily displayed in his actions and his works. Yet to this maxim there are excерtions; and there is scarcely to be found one more striking than in the instance of Mr. Wakefield. As a man, his motives and principles were frequently misunderstood; as a writer, from various causes, the occasions were few in which he did justice to his own talents. If the strictest and most inflexible integrity can give estimation and lustre to a • character, there are not many that can come in competition with Gilbert Wakefield. It was the leading feature of his life and the stone of stumbling in the way of his promotion. The principal troubles and anxieties which he had to encounter were produced by his steady adherence to what he considered as |