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Untitled Article
manifest in aU . As the events of the early life of Doddridge , —the circumstance of his becoming an orphan at a very early age , his decided inclination for the ministry , his adoption by Dr . Clark , of St . Albans , and his education in Mr . Jennings ' s academy , are probably known to most of our readers , we shall proceed to practise tjie honesty we have been recommending , by extracting letters of a very different cast , but , perhaps , equally characteristic of their writer . The first , addressed to his brother-in-law , is a specimen of the gay style in which he most commonly addresses his correspondents .
cc Harborough , June , 1 / 26 , Wednesday morning , 8 a" * clock . " Dear Brother , " I make it a maxim with myself to write to either you or my sister whenever I have an opportunity of writing at all ; so that you have two or three letters from me where other more ceremonious correspondents have but one . You will not then be offended that I write no more at large , for you must consider that I have a great deal of business which requires my daily
attendance . I was up at five o ' clock this morning ; and I have been all this while studying the connexion of a short section in the Romans , and writing letters . Kay , at this very moment , Demosthenes is waiting to entertain me with one of his Philippics , and Virgil is bringing back JEneas to his camp , where I have long been waiting in pain for his absence . Dr . Tillotson has also been preparing an admirable sermon , which he will quickly deliver in my chamber with his usual grace and sweetness , And then Gerard Brandt will go on
with his History of the Persecution of the Remonstrants , after their condemnation' at the Synod of Dort . In the afternoon I expect to hear from Pliny , who generally favours me with two or three epistles in a day , though a stranger and a Heathen—while " , a Christian minister and my brother , will hardly write once in a quarter of a year ! Then I am to drink a dish of tea with some agreeable women in the afternoon , and may possibly look over a chapter or two in the history of the Four Kings : * and if I should be immoderately transported with the joys of the victory , or the sorrows of the defeat ,
with love to my partner , or anger against my antagonist , I shall hope to find my remedy in the conversation of Mr . Bragg , who has lately undertaken to teach me the Government of the Passions , a lesson , indeed , which I ought to have learnt some time ago ! Dr . Potter is instructing me in Grecian antiquities ; but I fear I shall hardly have time to speak with him to-day . However , I will , possible , attend upon my tutor Cradock , in the evening , who is lecturing on the Epistles with great accuracy and solidity ; besides this , I have a little kind of a sermon to preach in the family according * to my daily custom , and then four letters to transcribe into short-hand .
" Now I will leave you , who are one of the greatest clerks I know , to judge whether all this business will leave me time to say any more than how does my dear sister ? Give my service to her , and to Mrs , Nettleton , and believe me to be , &c . " --Vol . II . p . 138 . We are the more ready to introduce the following letter to a fair one ,
who was inclined to sport with tender feelings , because it is far too common to regard with levity the most important circumstances of life , and the deepest and most influential of human emotions . Though Dr . Doddridge might be too ready to yield up his freedom , the solemnity of the following remonstrance shews how seriously he regarded affairs of the heart , and how his affections were made subservient to his principles .
" Madam , June 4 , 1725 . ts I have so little opportunity of conversing with you alone , that I am forced to take this method of expressing my concern , and , indeed , my amazement , at what has just passed between us . I know you to be a lady of admirable good sense , and I wish you would find out the consistency of your
* Cards .
Untitled Article
Doddridge ' s Correspondence and Diary . 21
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1830, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2580/page/21/
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