"The firft reply to Milton's Defenfio Populi, was published in the fame year, and was entitled "Apologia pro Rege et Populo Anglicano, contra Johannes Polypragmatici (aliàs Miltoni Angli) Defenfionem deftructivam Regis et Populi." The author was unknown. Milton directed his younger nephew to answer it, who poffibly prepared the firft draught of a reply; which, before it went to prefs, was fo carefully examined and corrected by Milton, that it may be confidered almost as his own performance, although denominated "Johannis Philippi Angli Responfio ad Apologiam anonymi cujufdam tencbrionis pro Rege et Populo Anglicano infantiffimam." This piece appeared in 1652. Bishop Bramhall is the ideal enemy with whom Phillips here encounters. Of fo contemptible and barbarous a compofition as the Apologia, that learned prelate could not be the author. Since the first edition of this ac. count of Milton was published, I have indeed difcovered the real author; and the imputation, whether of Milton or his nephew, applied to this excellent Bishop, muft never more be named. Dr. Symmons is wholly mistaken in his fuppofed difcovery of the au thor. I have the authority alfo of Bishop Bramhall himself on my fide. But it was thought fubfervient perhaps to the confequence of the caufe, to exhibit its nameless opponent as a man of the most diftinguished talents." P. 82. The author, it appears, was one John Rowland, who, in a Supplement to the Apology, boldly avowed his own name, The title of the Supplement is ftated by Mr. T. to be "Polemica, five Supplementum ad Apologiam anonymam pro Rege et populo Anglicano, adverfus Jo. Miltoni Defenfionem Populi. Anglicani, &c. Per Jo. Rowlandum, Paftorem Anglicum, 1653." 12mo. After much ftuff againft Phillips, which may be feen in Mr. T.'s note, Rowland thus avows himself. "Non fum enim Johannes Bramalius, Epifcopus Dirræus, au licus, fed Johannes Rowlandus, Anglicus, Paftor Ecclefiæ parti. cularis, et tamen nominis mei me non pudet, quod in Ecclefia* orthodoxum, olim in proverbium ceffit, Rowlandus pro Olivero, &c." Bishop Bramhall's difavowal, and difcovery of the real author, is flated in the fame note, in these terms. "I have now to communicate Bishop Bramhall's own remark, obligingly tranfmitted to me from Ireland, by the Rev. Edward Berwick (of Efker, near Leixlip) who, in looking over fome original Letters of the Bishop, difcovered the information in one of * "Printed Ecclefiæ." Rev. them them addressed to his fon, under an affumed name, and dated at Antwerp in May 1654. That filly book which he [Milton] afcribes to me, was written by one John Rowland, who fince hath replied upon him. I never read a word either of the first book, or of the replie, in my life." P. 83, note. Whatever may be deemed the value of fuch a fact, the mode of difcovery and proof, is truly characteristic of Mr. Todd's diligence, in which, as in many other valuable quali ties of an Editor, he has feldom been furpaffed. We fhall fpon have to notice him as an illuftrator of the writings of Gower and Chaucer, in which capacity he has lately eftablished a new claim to the relpect and gratitude of the Public. ART. VI. Elays on various Subjects, by George Walker, F.R.S. late Profeffor of Theology at the New College, and Prefident of the Philofophical and Literary Society, Manchefter. To which is prefixed, a Life of the Author. In Two Volumes. 8vo. Price 11. Is. Johnfon. 1809. IT T has been truly obferved, that of late years the writers againft Chriftianity have inferted their objections in works, where the unwary reader expects nothing on the fubject; and that the minds of youth are thus perverted, before they have reafon to fufpect themselves in danger. It cannot, indeed, be faid that, in the life of a diffenting teacher, efpecially of that clafs which affumes to itfelf the denomination of rational Chriftians, violent or infidious attacks on our civil and ecclefi aftical establishments ever come unexpectedly on the reader; for it is known to every reader, that thofe Diffenters, who -call themfelves rational Chriftians, have hardly any other ob. ject in view than the overthrow of Epifcopacy in the Church and of Monarchy in the State. We believe, however, that the biographer of Mr. Walker has the honour of being the first author, even of this clafs, who has put together a few unimportant events in the form of a life, merely that he might infert between them his own and his hero's ebullitions of difaffection. The events in the life of Mr. Walker, which are here detailed, might all have been narrated in the compafs of a very few pages; but, by means of reflections and fpeeches on the telt laws, and on the adminiftration of the Civil Government, the Memoir, as it is called, has been fwelled to the bulk of 218 pages. We fhall take the liberty to feparate the events of Mr. Walker's life from the extraneous matter matter of the biographer, and then make fuch remarks on fome of the biographer's opinions, as the tendency of them may feem to demand. George Walker, we are told, was born about the year 1755, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and defcended from a family of confiderable antiquity. He received the rudiments of his education at the Grammar School of Newcafle, under the ⚫ care of the Rev. Dr. Moifes, a clergyman of the Church of England, who had the honour of educating the present Lord Chancellor and his brother Sir William Scott. "` In this fituation Mr. Walker gave early indications of a diflinguifhed character. Before he had obtained the age of five, he had made fo confiderable a proficiency in the Latin language, that he was deemed fully competent to enter upon Cafar's Com mentaries!" Let no man henceforth call in queflion any thing that has been faid of the early attainments of the ADMIRABLE CRICHTON. At the age of ten Mr. W. was removed from Newcaftle to Durham, that he might be under the immediate direction of his uncle, a Diffenting Minifter of the rational clafs; and foon afterwards "his deftination for the miniftry," fays our biographer, "was finally decided." In confequence of this decifion, he was, in 1749, removed to a diffenting academny at Kendal; and, in 1751, to the Univerfity of Edinburgh, where he feems to have made a very refpectable progrefs in the fcience of mathematics, under the tuition of Dr. Matthew Stewart, the father, we believe, of the prefent Profelfor Dugald Stewart; and in logic and rhetoric, under the gentleman who was then profeffor of thofe arts. In 1752 he removed to the University of Glaf. gow, where he ftudied theology for two years under Dr. Leechman, then Profellor of Divinity, and fometime afterwards Principal of the College of Glasgow. In 1754, Mr. Walker returned to the houfe of his father, and feems to have preached occafionally in the diffenting chapels in the neighbourhood, without having received any kind of ordination, or fo much as a folemn licence to preach the gofpel. It is well known that one of the original objections of the Diffenters to our Church, was the ufe of a liturgy, which, in the language of those fanatical men, "ftinted the fpirit;" but ftrange to tell, Mr. Walker, at this period, compofed his prayers, and read them in the diffenting conventi cles, not, however, it appears, to the fatisfaction of the people; for he thus expreffes himfelf, on the fubject, in a letter to a friend. "I pray with notes, rather than not pray at all, for this is truly the state of the cafe; and yet fo obftinate is prejudice, as to make make no allowance for the difference of nature and abilities. You would laugh to hear their pretty notions of extempore prayer; that it comes reeking warm from the heart; that it gives all the glory to God, fhews a diftruft of human abilities, and confidence in the operation of the Spirit, which will furely affift those who put their trust in it, and expect its infpiration in a fanctified place; but that on the contrary, the prayers which the spirit of man has compofed in an unhallowed closet, are cold and lifeless, have more reafon than devotion in them, in fhort, might have anfwered very well, in the time of Paganism, for an address to Ju piter, but have not fufficient raptures to warm the heart of a zeal lous enthufiaft, nor (are) flocked enough with thofe magical words, which, without meaning, fo ftrangely, as with a mechani. cal impulfe, affect the common clafs of hearers. Some (men) are uncommonly bleft by Nature, and without much premeditation can fpeak with great propriety and elevation of thought; but for every one to prefume on the like abilities, would be to fwell like the frog, and burft in the attempt. But, in my opinion, where fuch diftinguished abilities are wanting, to lead the devotions of a whole audience, to fpeak their fentiments, and disclose their affections, which relate to the most auguft and venerable object in nature, requires fome forethought and confideration; and to attempt it without these affiftances, would be an affront to the audience, and the Being before whom they are affembled." Mem. P. 33. Thefe are judicious reflections; but, as the biographer ob ferves, Mr. Walker found a compliance with the prejudices of his feet abfolutely neceflary, to remove an otherwife infuperable bar to the exercife of his profeffion. Having learn ed to rehearfe his prayers without notes, he was, in 1757, chofen minifter of the congregation at Durham, of which his uncle had been paftor, and underwent the ceremony of ordination in the month of October that year. His biographer thinks ordination a very foolish ceremony, and we fhall confider his objections to it by and by; but at prefent we pro ceed with the narrative. While at Durham, Mr. Walker was a frequent contribu tor to the Lady's Diary; and finifhed there a valuable work on the fphere, which he had commenced before he was eighteen; but he foon felt himself uncomfortable at Durham, where the diffenting zeal feems to have evaporated before he was fettled as a minifter; and in the end of the year 1761, or the beginning of 1762, he accepted of an invitation to Great Yarmouth. There he amufed himself with mathematical purfuits, in which he feems to have taken great delight; and having got acquainted with Dr. Prieйtley, and communicated feveral papers to the Royal Society, to be in ferted ferted in their tranfactions, he was, probably through the Doctor's influence, elected a Fellow. At the fame time he was applied to by a gentleman of great refpectability, (we know not whom) to undertake the charge of educating his eldeft fon; but whether he yielded to the application, we are not diftin&tly told. The biographer indeed fays, that "this was his first entrance upon the business of education;" but of that bufinefs we hear nothing more, except that he declined about the fame time to undertake the education of the two fons of the late Marquis of Lanfdowne, an office to which he had been earnestly recommended by Dr. Price. On reading this part of the narrative, we were forcibly ftruck with the fingularity of a peer of the realm, who was soon. afterwards prime minifter, applying to a diffenting teacher to recommend to him a gentleman of character and extensive knowledge and learning, who would be willing to undertake the education of his two fons; as if no fuch gentleman could have been found within the pale of the established Church! Mr. Walker having at that particular period married, declined the office, which, this biographer fays, was afterwards accepted by Dr. Pricftley*. At the clofe of the year 1771, Mr. Walker received an invitation to become the paftor of a diffenting congregation at Birmingham; and having accepted of the invitation, a houfe was provided for him, and every neceflary preparation made for the accommodation of his family. In the meantime, however, he was applied to by the truflees of the diffenting academy at Warrington, to undertake the office of mathematical tutor in that inflitution; and by the advice of his friend, Doctor Prieftley, he broke faith with the congregation at Birmingham, and removed to Warrington in the latter end of the year 1772. Of this step, indeed, he had foon * Dr. Priestley, however, gives himfelf a very different account of his connexion with Lord Shelburne.-" I had been recommended," fays he, "to Lord Shelburne by Dr. Price, as a perfon qualified to be a literary companion to him.-My office was nominally that of librarian, but I had little employment as fuch, befides arranging his books, taking a catalogue of them, and of his manufcripts, which were numerous, and making an index to his collection of private papers. In fact, I was with him as a friend, and the fecond year made with him the tour of Flanders, Holland, and Germany, as far as Strafburgh; and after spending a month at Paris, returned to England." Mem. of Dr. Priestley, |