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their occasional insertion in the provincial papers . In the latter end of 1791 , a saucy friend addressed to him a burlesque ode on , what he deemed , his unsuccessful courtship of the Muses * It was received with complete goodhumour—a rare instance of candour
in a youth of seventeen , and , what is still more rare , was followed by a practical adoption of the advice . He seldom afterwards indulged the versifying propensity , though his early purchases of books were still chiefly confined to poetry . During his residence , however , at Durham , which was continued till the latter end of
179 S , the debates on the Abolition of the Sla ^ e Trade , the Test Act , and , above all , the French Revolution , deeply engaged his attention , ( as whose did they not who was then of an age to think ?) and gave his mind an entirely new turn . He bought
many books on these momentous questions , the productions both of English and of French writers ; and the cause of liberty , natural , civil and religious , having been maintained at the public meetings held in that cily with so eminent a superiority of talent by Mr ,
( now Earl ) Grey , the late Mr . Lambton , Dr . Fenwick , and others , and being' espoused in private by several young men of distinguished abilities , -whose friendship he had contracted , he then , probably , first formed that decided attachment to the liberal side
of the question , which ever afterwards marked his character . On leaving Durham he spent some time at home in general reading , and in acquiring the Italian , and improving his knowledge of the French language . He bad conceived an aversion
for retail business ; and thought , probably , that he might combine th ^ profits of a mercantile adventure with the pleasure of foreign travel , by a voyage to the Levant . This he undertook in 1796 , visiting Naples , ( where he was hospitably entertained , by the late Mr . Lambton , then a resident
there for his health , and had also the opportunity of seeing Vesuvius , Hcrculaneum , * Pompeii , &c ., ) Smyrna , Constantinople , where he formed an intimacy with Mr . Thorntota , which was dissolved only by the death of the latter . . Mindful , also , at all times , of making provision for mental im *
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provement , lie had availed himself of the advantage of visiting the Mediterranean to collect a valuable library of books in the Italian and other modern languages : these , however , he lost on his return , having been taken
prisoner soon after setting sail from Gibraltar , ( though with convoy , ) and marched on foot through a considerable part of Spain . He soon , however , found means to return home , ' when he began to apply to the German language , partly with a view to
mercantile expeditious , one of which he made to Dantzic , in 1801 , and another to Hani burgh , in 1803 / from which place he , in company with a friend , travelled on foot through Holstein and part of the North of Germany . Of the city of Hamburgh he
has given an account in the Monthly Magazine , XVI . 218 , 412 . Of the pedestrian tour , his friend had before inserted a short account in the same Volume , p . 127 . But , disgusted with the modes of trick and manoeuvre , so opposite to his plain and honest views , with which trade was then in a manner
of necessity carried on , by simulated papers and other contrivances to evade the effects of Bonaparte ' s measures for the destruction of British commerce , he finally relinquished all thoughts of pursuing it , and , contenting himself with the moderate but easy competence of his family , ( whom he
sincerely loved , and by whom his affection was cordially returned , ) as sufficient to satisfy his very limited wants , he devoted himself to the quiet enjoys rnent of a life . of literary leisure , and to the promotion of knowledge and liberal principles among his neighbours and acquaintance . His readiness in this service he had alread y
evinced , having , shortly after his return from Durham , exerted his influence in order to the establishment of a subscription-library ; which was accordingly established in the beginning" of 179 & > and was carried forward with such success , that it was found expedient to ernqt a public building for the accommodation of the
subscribers- The foundation stone was laid on the 6 th of May , 1801 , " in the name of Almighty God , the fountain of intelligence , and the source of mind . The library was founded during
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138 Memoir of the late Mr . G . W . MeadUy .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1819, page 138, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1770/page/2/
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