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In his writings , however , Dr » Htmi appears with considerably more advantage than in the present volume . Here we see him the ofcse ^ uious and almost iridiscrinitrating admirer ot VVarburton , whom he is ever ready to join in bitter censures oa i £ e heads or
hearts of those whose fate was to be of a different opinion from the author of Me Divine Legation . It is curious to remark how easily , even in spite of . his native urbanity , he catches something of the spirit , how frequently he adopts
the language , how fiercely he branrfiwh . es the weapons , of his chieftain ; and with what selfcomplacency he speaks of men of the first respectability-as dull and wretched ! In the correspondence of these two friends we also meet
with a cant phraseology which disgraces the familiar letters of Pope and his associates , as well as those of some other persons of genius and talent : —the world in which they live is , according to their querulous representations , a wretched world , and the age , un . worthy of their lafcoufs .
The flattery Heaped on Warburton by Hurd , seems to have bet n partly in return for that abundant measure of the same in * i-ense which he received from him ;
und we are disposed to ascribe it , turther , to ari excess of gratitude tor more substantial favours . We believe that he spake of the Bishop irf Gloucester * and wrote to ' him ,
as he really thought and felt . If then we cannot vindicate his judgment , let us not harshly condemn tns feelings , In the Very beginning cf his public lite be was * k > c rc < td by Warbuuott , \ \ kp > certainl y wa& the main instrument of 1 m pLomotiorv uv the c&urch . And
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shall we wonder that & young aii < $ susceptible mind thought highly and even too highly , of the man by whom <* uc& benefits were con * ferred and that be took such a patron for his guide , philosopher and friend ? " We are the more
disposed to resolvet his conduct into this principle , as we know that in other instances he permitted the impulses of a grateful temper to predominate over the " exercise of sober reflection , and to interfere , in some degtee , with the claims of official duty .
His letters in this volume will neither advowee nor diminish his literary reputation : in a moral view , they generally d g him credit ; and we Cannot resist the temptation of making one extract from them , in honofcr of his filial
piety : ** I believe I never told you how happy 1 am in an excellent father and ma . ther , very plain people you may be sure , for they are farmers , . but of a turn of mind that might have honoured an *
rank and any education . With very to * lerable , but in no degree affluent circumstances , their generosity was such , they never regarded any expencc that was in their power , a » d almost out of it , in whatever concerned the welfare of their children . We are three bro *
thers of us . The eldest settled very reputably in their own way , and the youngest in the Birmingham trade . For myself , a poor scholar ^ as you know , I am almost ashamed to own to you how solicitous they always were to furnish me with all the opportunities of the beat and most liberal education , &c » &c . " ( pp . 161 , i 6 z . ) .
This is a charmiug family piece , and pleases us niorq than all the other contents of the volume . - Though we do fiat quarre l with
the Application of the profits arising train the sale of these letters , an irpplication wfevch , we are g lad to learn , has been of great benefit
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& $ 4 Review . —IVarburton ' s Letters
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1809, page 394, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1738/page/40/
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