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    of suck asdid ; all which * I apprehend , proceeded from a mercenary principle born with him , and which it was not in his power to conceal . His way of thinking about religion was very different latterly , from what it was when

    he first came into the country . When he came first to Plymouth he was what the world calls a thorough Church Tory , full of zeal for the clergy and their Establishment , and of a sovereign contempt for all that differed from him . He was a very strict observer

    of the ceremonies of the Church , and gave very diligent attendance to the Sacrament whenever it was administered , and always manifested a very great seriousness in his public devotions . He kept Sundays and holidays very strictly , and was unquestionably

    a man of true piety to the last . But he altered his notions greatly both in religion and politics , by conversing freely with the late Mr . Moyle . He was as great a despiser at last of priests and bigotry as any man , and would bear free conversation about some

    topics which formerly he thought it was a crime only to mention ; but though he fell into a generous and charitable way of thinking , and would converse accordingly , where he might safely do so , yet he seemed to forget his notions when he was at Church . I have often

    heard him rail at and expose the Athanasian Creed out of it , and laugh at many practices as new superstitions ; but yet when he was in , he would reverence that Creed , and comply very

    devoutly with what he would break jests on the next day ; so great was the prejudice which his parents had instilled into him from his very infancy . He had an excellent talent at Rot any , and understood the nature and culture

    ot trees , plants , herbs and flowers , both exotic and domestic , better than any man I ever knew . Some of the top gardeners about London have been glad of and courted his correspondence ; and the late Botany Professor at Oxford , Dr . Delinius , wrote to him

    very often . Ail country gentlemen who had any of this taste would get his acquaintance , by which means he became much more known than persons of his rank generally are . I know of no person that lived better loved and respected , for the whole course of his me here , than honest Ben Smithurst , n of aay man sooner Ibrgot or less

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    talked of afterVhe was diead . ' I xiever could fin ^ any reason for this , unless his going 1 to Lauttceston writhe ^ beginning of his last sickness , and his dying and being buried there , might contribute to put him out of his friends ' minds . But so in fact it was * . Little

    inquiry was made after him during his illness , and his nephew Ben Smith , who was left in his shop , did not seem very fond of making answers to tliat little , so that nothing of the nature of his disorder , his behaviour under it , or the manner or circumstances of his

    death , came to my knowledge . I only heard in general that his illness was tedious , and that he underwent great agonies before he expired . Thus lived and died one of the most facetious companions of his time , to whom may very naturally be applied the discourse of Hamlet to the skull of his old friend

    Yorick , by any person who shall hereafter see his grave , or light of any part of his remains therein . It is not a little remarkable , that all his worth should at last descend to the children of his brother-in-law John

    Smith , who married his youngest sister against his consent , and whom for that reason he never loved . I remember when he was once in a very broken , dispirited way , and thought he should not live long , he made his will , to which I was a witness , and on delivering it to

    his eldest sister Judy , his executrix , he said , ** there Judy , 'tis yours , 'tis honestly got , and I have provided against some people ' s having to do with it the best I can ; " meaning his brother-in-law . and family . But it so

    happened that Ben Smith died consumptive soon after him , and his beloved sister Judy before him , so that it centred in his only surviving sister , Elizabeth Smithurst .

    No relations were now left but Mr . John Smith , the brother , and his two daughters Elizabeth and Grace . The brother at last became poor , and led a very indecent life , and she was obliged to allow him j £ 20 per ana . for his life . The youngest daughter Grace fell in

    love with one Hatherly , who had been a clerk to her father , who had a good estate , but was a very worthless fellow , being both a sot and a fool . However , for peace' sake , poor aunt consented to the match . The eldest daughter Elizabeth did worse , for she fell in love with one Garden , a Scotchman , a sur-

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    Biographical Sketches ofgome > bf -At * Contemporaries , by Mr . John Fox . 445

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1821, page 445, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2503/page/5/