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the- principles of humanity ; : - ** - « ' that he was expert in the art of mi mi ck ry : — -That he was so bad a horseman as actual - ly , to fall from his poney seven times in a journey , from his father ' s house to Cambridge . At
college he applied himself assuhousj y to those studios required by the University ; but his room was the . common rendezvous of the idle young men of his college . He was remarkable for indulging himself in bed till a very late hour , and for being much in
company after dinner , so that it is inferred that he was more indebted to observation and reflection than to books for the general improvement of his mind . On his
arrival at college his manners and drc * s were the subject of merriment among the students , but the superiority of his genius , and his real moral worth claimed general esteem and admiration . He was
# n excellent companion , and had the happiest knack of turning the laugh against himself , by relating some absurd and ridiculous blunder which he had commit ted , and in his merry humours he could always find something to laugh at himself , and was often heard to sav that iC A man who is not
sometimes a fool is always one . " Jn this manner , Mr . Mead ley retraces every part of Dr . Pa . JeyV life , mixing the important with the Jocose ; and the serious character of the tutor and divine
with his wonted pleasantry as a friend and companion . " No studious man perhaps , ever cntere 4 more into the pleasures , of society than Mr Paley , nor presented so rare an' assemblage of amiable and attractive qualities an social life . — Among his friends no ; man was more highly esteemed $ jfor great as were his
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tgTerns and literary attainments , even these were far exceeded by his many amiable traits of frankness and good nature . " . . ' In another part of the volume Mr . Mead icy wrjres :
u Many of the opinions , which Dr . Paley casually advanced in conversation , would , if collected , form a series of instructive aphorisms , applicable to the conduct of individuals , and the government of states . It was not indeed , on points of importance alone that he
displayed his powers , he frequently indulged in repartee , animadverted on common occurrences , or introduced some lively stories of himself and his associates in early life . Many Characteristic sketches of his conversation . are preserved in the recollection of his friends , and deserve a more permanent record /*
Of these we shall notice , one which no man can read without emotions of interest : " In the year 1 795 , during ^ one of his visits to Cambridge , Dr . Paley , in the course of a conversation on the subject gave the following account of , the early part of his own academical life ; and it is here given , on the authority and in the
very words of a gentleman who was present at the time , as a striking instance of the peculiar frankness . witrv which he was in the habit of relating the adventures of his youth . " , I spent the first two years of my un ^ dergraduatcship happily but
urtprofitably . I was constantly in society , where we were not immoral , but idle and rather expensive . At the commencement of my third year , however , after having left the usual party at rather a late haur in the evening , I was awakened at five in the morning by one of my
companions , who stood at my bed-side and said— < Paley , I have been thinking what a d **** d fool you are , I could do nothing , probably , were I to try , and can afford tne life 1 lead : you could do every thin ^ and cannot afford it . I have had no sleep during tr e whole night on account of these reflections , and am
now come solemnly to inform you , that if you persist in your indolence , 1 mus . t
renounce your society . ' . " I was so struck " - —JDr , Paley continued , with the visit and visitor , that I lay in bed great part of the day and formed , * ny p . lanu X'Ordered niy bud *
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Iw Revi € W ,- ^ MeacUej / s Memoirs of Paley .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1809, page 164, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1734/page/44/
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