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he rode to London , to which place I went with him for the first time . The person who gave him all this trouble was W ***** E ***** , the father of j ** # j £# * # ** v attorney in Plymouth . He was not only a furious bigot to the church , but naturally an ill-natured , tyrannical man , which made him quite as indecent in his private as in his
public character . In short , he was a beast in all shapes . In the pulpit he was for ever raving against ail people who had more sense and modesty than himself ; in company he was drunk , impudent and petulant ; and in his family worse than a Bashaw . He has often said 'twas no more harm to kill
Mr . Gilling than a dog , and gave great room to suspect he would do him some personal mischief , if ever he had an opportunity . However , Mr . Gilling lived to see the end both of his malice and life . Soon after he was settled at
Newton , he had the misfortune to lose his wife , who it seems was somewhat deformed , but a woman of an excellent temper , great prudence , and a good manager . I have heard him say often , that had she lived he should have been
a rich man , and as much , respected as when by living too generous afterwards tie became in debt . He married for a second wife , one Mrs . Atkins , of Exon , who was a person of great spirit , good sense , and an excellent companion when in a good humour . He was
passionately fond of her , and afraid of her ; for she governed absolutely , and in spite of a good school and a handsome income from his estate and meeting , ruh him in debt , which he felt the bad effects of to his dying day . However , this was a very great misfortune to him , and the greater * being attended
with another though of a very different nature . This was the breaking of his meeting , in consequence of the grand squabble at the Assembly about the doctrine of the Trinity . Mr . Gilling was , unluckily , of Mr . Peirce ' s party , and stood by him ; so that above one half of his hearers fell from him , and
set up a new meeting and a new minister . Though this was no more than' h £ was naturally to expect from people of such a temper and way of thinking , yet he had not courage to despite theraj or at least to treat them ivith that inyifferen £ e which they deseti&tl :- he ? tfootight it a terrible dis-
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grace to be deserted ; and to continue his ministry , was to him a matter of such consequence , that he could never think of laying it aside , though he had little more or better than the walls to talk to . This stuck close to him , and broke his heart , and at last an
incurable diarrhoea laid hold of him , which by very slow degrees put an end to his life . Other matters likewise contributed to sink and distress him . The education of his son in Paris and Leyden had very much increased his debts , and then after he set up , he proved
rakish , and met with poor encouragement . In short , the world bore very hard upon him when he was worst able to bear up under it ; notwithstanding which , he never made one indecent complaint , but , on the contrary , shewed the utmost composure and resignation
through the whole progress of his last sickness , professing to the last his satisfaction in the part he had acted towards the support of truth and liberty , in defence whereof he may very truly be said to have lost his life . Persecution seemed to follow him even
after he was dead , for he was refused burial either in the church or churchyard of Newton Abbot ; and when a messenger waited on Sir William Courtenay , who held the parish as a f > eculiar , independent of the bishop , for eave to bury him in either , he was denied ; and when he was coming away , Sir William himself was so mean as
to call after him , and say , they might bury him in one of the marshes . This was no more than was expected from a man of great pride and no brains , who was entirely governed by his wife
and his priests , and who was niever entitled to any respect but what he got from his estate , genealogy and coat of arms . However , his remains were not left uninterred . He often was heard
to say , when living , that if any objection was made to his being deposited where he had ordered , they should without further ceremony and trouble lay him in his own meeting . This was done accordingly , with as much decency and as little noise as the thing
would admit of , and there he yet lies ia peace , an everlasting monument of the ingratitude of those that forsook him , and of the shameful bigotry and unchristian rage , both of the priests who broke his heart , and of the poor
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328 Mr * John Foa ? k Biographical Sketches of some bf ' hie Contemporaries .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1821, page 328, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2501/page/4/
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