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a good character , unless he happened to be a disciple , though no man in the world stood more on his right to differ from every one than he did . He had the least notion or taste of what is called friendship that I ever have heard of in a maa of virtue and religion . He
valued no person any further than they were agreeable to his interest , or were capable of talking with him . Near relations , long acquaintance , intimate companions , were as easily parted with by him , as their opposites by other people . He was as well pleased alone
in a desert , with his book and pipe , as if he had been in a city , and was more delighted to see sheep and oxen , and to drink water as they did , than to see his fellow-creatures ^ Accordingly , his way of life was for some time like these , for he affected and pretended to vindicate such monstrous indecencies ,
both in his dress and at his table , as were very scandalous , however ianocent , in a person of his rank and education in life . He did not please in the pulpit the generality of his hearers : he never addressed to the passions , he had no melodious voice , nor dkl he cant or whine . His sermons were well
put together , his reasoning close and strong , and his subject generally useful and entertaining , all which equally affected and instructed the seats and the beasts that sat in them . His prayers were the best conceived ones I ever heard \ they were devout , rational
and connected , and therefore for want of noise and nonsense the good people generally went to sleep . His conversation was generally instructive and entertaining , as long as people had the patience to hear him without contradicting him ; but he would tell his
stones so often that they grew dull . He had a general contempt for the leading ministers of his party , and would often expose their notions with great freedom and vehemence ; but this never did him any harm , at least openly , for they were so sensible of the superiority of his sense and of his power to
shew them in a ridiculous Wght , that fthey always feared and flattered him , jand rafther than make him their enemy they complimented him with an ordination upon his own terms , though tfhey knew he despi&ed the notion , and disclaimed all power they pretended to in it . He was altogether as troublesome in his family as he was out of it ,
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and never thought of making himself agreeable , as might have been expected from a man of religion and virtue . And thus lived for a course of many years my uncle Mr . G . Brett ; but whether he was most respected for his good qualities , or hated for his bad
ones , is not in my power to determine . He continued to preach in Liskard , until he had preached away the most of his hearers . His eyes and strength at last began to fail him , for he was full fourscore . He had a daughter , an only child , of whom he was
extravagantly fond , who about this time married one Weymouth , a tradesman of Exeter . As she was to go and live with her husband , he the more willingly laid down his ministry to live with her , and accordingly he removed soon after she was settled . He there
continues the very same man , with the same humour and temper which he always indulged , only with this difference , that he is older and almost blind . When I mentioned the skill he had
in physic , I should have added , that he was strongly persuaded to practise it , and was offered several patients by way of encouragement . The interest of Dissenting Ministers at that time was very low and obnoxious to the govern *
ment , and he once inclined to the proposal . However , this was dropped , being afraid , as he told me , to undertake the employment , and therefore he always acted in the station he was at first intended for , as long as he was able to carry it on . ( To be continued . )
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262 Memoir of the late Rev . fFilltam Blake , of Crewkerne .
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Memoir of the late Rev . William Blake , of Crewkerne : by Dr . Southwood Smith . London , April , 1821 .
EN of the soundest understand-Ming and of the greatest virtue often pass through life without doing any thing to render themselves kn to their contemporaries , or remembered by posterity . Those who are
intimately acquainted with them perceive , that were they placed in circumstances favourable to the exertion of the powers of their mind , and the exemplification of the excellencies of their heart , they would be universally revered for their wisdom and loved
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1821, page 262, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2500/page/6/
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