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other occupations than researches into scriptural divinity . Certainly , those of the English clergy to whom biblical learning is most indebted are the very men among them who are least of all devoted
to subscriptions , &c . as such ; and what has been done for this branch tff criticism by those ministers of the church , who not merely approve of subscription to articles , but who subscribe
with the greatest cordiality , and we believe , with perfect sincerity to the specific articles of that communion ? We even go further , and are not ashamed of adding that the description of the clergy
to whom we have just adverted , we mean the self-named evangelical class , hold biblical learning in no high repute ; not perhaps without reason , so far as their tenets and their own credit with
the intelligent public are concerned . The assertion therefore , of Mr . Wood's illustrious friend , is the reverse of probability and fact , and seems to argue some want of observation upon real life :
—quandoq ; bonus dormitat Homer us . " As a votary of natural science , Mr . Wood attained no inconsiderable distinction . Soon after
his settlement in Leeds , he formed a strong attachment to the study of natural history : but of all its branches , botany ( the peculiar attractions of which his
biographer has . well described , ) was that which he most zealously pursued . Nor was he unknown to the world , in the character of a practical botanist , pp . 50—58 , 89 — 103 . He also fulfilled , with great honour and usefulness , the duties of a private teacher of the youwg .
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From motives worthy of himself , he resolved that " to at least a small circle of female youth he would endeavour to open sonic sources of rational and refined
enjoyment : * the course of in * struction through which they passed , occupied three years , aud comprehended lectures upon his ., tory , geography , natural philo * sophy , grammar , the belle ^ -leU tres , natural history , the humanmind , moral philosophy and the . evidences of natural and revealed religion .
We shall transcribe here some remarks of Mr . Wellbcloved ' s , both for the good sense by whicii they are dictated and for the accuracy with which they represent on the one hand , the wants , of schools ,, and on the other , the practices of certain mercenary booksellers and authors :
" —Mr . Wood found it very difficult to make a proper selection of clas 9 books for the use of his pupils . Of the numberless volumes which issue from the press , ostensibly indeed for the use of young persons , but in reality it is to be feared , for the sake of pront to the author or bookseller , few can serve the purposes of an enlightened instructor .
Persons engaged in teaching are in ge * neral ^ the only persons qualified to compose for the use of teachers : but the daily labour of instructing seldom affords them leisure sufficient for the task ; this falls therefore frequently into the hands of those who are incompetent to the business ; and works are obtruded upon
the public , read by instructors , and put into the hands of youth , containing materials arranged and collected -without judgment , as injurious to the cultivation of a good taste as they are ill adapted to c © nvey clear and accurate knowledge * and to assist the memory . " pp , 70 , 7 * i
The publications which Mr . Wood selected for his pupils , in the several departments of his lectures , are then enumerated : under that of history , Beck / brd ' s
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H 1 £ 4 Ilcvicrv . — MemoifsofthclaieJlev * TF . Wood .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1809, page 224, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1735/page/48/
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