"his conscience the language of Juvenal. We all of “us need such aids. But there is abundant room for "impartiality, for candour, for large and correct views "of agents, and the circumstances under which they "act, before we pronounce a sentence of unqualified "condemnation upon our fellow creatures. Your "censures upon Cranmer were the result of delibera❝tion. They are accompanied by the strongest marks "of effort. They are expressed in language most "aculeate and energetic. They are not without the "aid of four italics. They are reinforced by some "concessions which follow them at no great distance. "Above all, dear sir, they lead, or as I should say, "compel an attentive reader to contrast your length"ened and pointed charges against Cranmer, with the “studied conciseness of your statements about Gar"diner and Bonner*."

"The finest specimen I know of MODERATION AND 66 CHRISTIAN CHARITY IN POLEMICAL WRITERS is "in the preface of Montagu, bishop of Norwich, to "his Apparatus ad Origines Ecclesiasticas. Read it,

say I, to protestants and romanists. It is the 15th "paragraph. I do not take up my opinions from "modern pamphleteers. I have learned my lesson in "the schools of Bishop Andrews, Bishop Moreton, "Bishop Jeremy Taylor, Dr. Barrow, Bishop Montagu, "and Isaac Casaubon, in his answer to Baronius; and

• If a new edition of the Historical Memoirs should be called for, the Reminiscent will reconsider, with all the attention due to whatever falls from Dr. Parr, what is said in them of the unfortunate and wickedly-treated prelate. In the mean time, he wishes both the descendants of the prelate, and the members of the church, of which that prelate was a distinguished founder, to be in possession of Dr. Parr's spirited, elegant, and amiable extenuation of what may be thought the vulnerable part of the prelate's character.

"I shall make a concession, which you will stare at "from a verbal critic, when I prefer Montague to "Casaubon. Let me not forget the answer of arch

bishop Laud to Fisher: Laud investigates,-Laud "reasons,-Laud distinguishes,-Laud reviles not, ❝and surely you and I must sympathize in holy indignation when we read, that, during the infamous "trial of Laud, his candour to an adversary was one "topic of accusation against him.--Our friend Mr. "Denman expresses a hope that you and I can effect "between the two churches, what was in vain at"tempted by archbishop Wake, and some doctors of "the Sorbonne, and Denman holds up the venerable 66 name of Bossuet. With a deep sense of reverence "to the learning, talents and virtues of the English "and French prelates, I should consider them as men "the most unlikely to reconcile differences. Their very sincerity and real and polemical talents, were, "in a peculiar degree, obstacles to any scheme in "which they were engaged. I trust in God, that "heart is undefiled by vulgar and virulent prejudices "against the church of Rome. But let my wishes "be what they may, I look upon the union of the "churches as morally impossible. Do not be angry "with me. I read with unfeigned sorrow and un

my

feigned assent, the acknowledgment of the pious "Jeremy Taylor, that the attempts of Grotius, Cas"sander and others, for what Jeremy, in his learned " phraseology calls a synchretismus, never will succeed. "With what attention, and oh! with what delight "have I read the Consultatio Cassandri, the Votum pro "Pace Ecclesiasticâ, and the noble work of Grotius, " in his Rivetiani Apologetici Discussio. I differed often "in opinion, but I always harmonised in spirit with "the Præfatio of Cassander ad Cæsarem Carolum V. "and the Confessio Fidei Augustana. Had I been a

bishop, I should have quoted largely from the last" mentioned book in the discussions about civil and " and ecclesiastical power. You will find these writings "in the 4th volume of the works of Grotius."

Assuredly the reader will be obliged to the Reminiscent for presenting to him the preceding valuable lines.

NOTE II. referred to in page 252.

The Inaugural Oration at Laying the First Stone of the London Institution.

MY LORD MAYOR;
MY LORD CARRINGTON,

President of the London Institution;
And GENTLEMEN,

EVERY person, who heard the eloquent and dignified address to the right honourable the lord mayor, on his placing the first stone of the London Institution, must join me in regretting that, to his many other attentions to this institution, his lordship does not add that of addressing you, on your return from the interesting ceremony. This, the managers of the institution have desired of me; and in obedience to their wishes, I now request your attention to a few words, which I shall offer to your consideration, on the advantages which science and commerce derive from each other. But I beg leave to premise what I shall say upon it, by a short account of the formation of the institution, and the views of those with whom the design of it originated.

I.

ABOUT ten years ago, some gentlemen of high rank in commerce, and distinguished by their enlarged and cultivated understandings, projected the institution, on whose account you have this day been convened. Considering the mercantile eminence of their country; persuaded that, whatever increases the splendor, increases equally the strength and activity of commerce, and contemplating the example of almost

every other European nation, they thought it due to the dignity and glory of the empire, that her commercial metropolis should be graced by a literary and scientific institution, on a liberal and extensive plan. They judged that such an establishment would bring science and commerce into contact, and that, by their approximation, each would draw forth and invigorate whatever there might be of latent energy or power in the other.

Under this impression, they submitted their views to the consideration of their fellow citizens, and solicited the co-operation of their munificence. The design was universally approved; and a subscription of about 70,000 l. immediately raised, within the walls of the city of London and her commercial environs. The portion of land which has just been honoured with your presence, was purchased from the corporation of London, with a view of erecting upon it a building, suited to the purposes of the institution. I am authorised to add, that the gentlemen, who treated with the corporation for the purchase of it, speak, in high terms, of the liberality of their proceedings.

Presuming on this liberality, and addressing myself to it, may I, an unauthorised individual, intimate an humble wish-(but a wish generally entertained),that some arrangement may be made with the corporation of the city of London, by which the Gresham lectures, shall be attached to the London Institution? and, in conformity to sir Thomas Gresham's wise and beneficial intentions, thus made really and actively conducive to the general diffusion of science and literature. This must be the wish of every one, to whom these are dear; or who reverences the memory of the venerable founder of the lectures; or who feels the respect always due to the ashes, which still speak, of the illustrious dead.