with a cold phlegmatic 'no,' or 'yes!' Indeed you might console yourself with pitying my want of taste and spirit; but would that be a sufficient gratification? Upon the whole, perhaps it may be advisable not to hazard the disappointment, but leave the humdrum mortal to himself, absorbed in his own vanity. "Whether you will admit my application of the text alluded to in my last or not, I never made a more apposite one, and I feel the force of it. Grey hairs are found upon him, it is said, and he knoweth it not. That person, I suppose, had but a few. Mine are too many, and too visible, even to escape my notice, disposed as I may be to wink at them. While others go far and wide to see ruins, I have only to look in the glass; a ruin presents itself, and the business is done. You want me, after having beheld my natural face in a glass, to go my way, and straightway forget what manner of man I was: but treacherous as my memory is, that cannot be, the lines are too strong and deep, the impression is not so easily effaced. "You urge me to come to hear all; and as a further inducement, you observe, that besides what you have to say, Peter has a deal to tell me, which every one allows is much more to the purpose. The hearing of what Peter has to offer on any subject, would certainly be an additional motive for wishing myself at Farnborough; and its being more to the purpose than what you have to say, you evidently show to be your stated opinion, no less than that 2 James i. 23. of others, by the silence you regularly observe whenever he is about to speak, and your never failing to let him take the lead in all conversation; but what you have to say yourself is always so much to the purpose, that to hear it I would cheerfully submit to all the bumps I should receive in the ride from home to the happy spot; which, on a moderate computation, at the rate of one thousand per mile, the quantity observed by a friend of mine to be uniformly received in that space, would amount to the sum of one hundred and fifteen thousand and upwards. So you see it is not for the want of inducement or inclination; the fault is in the old materials. But after all, notwithstanding I have no other attendant than my old man William3, I should think, crowded as you are with real curiosities, you would not wish any more antiques at present, and had rather have the room than the company of such rubbish. "I mentioned in a letter to your brother a design I had upon the Doctor, and I am obliged to him for humouring me in my fancies. He has the thanks of the Scotch Episcopal Church, which were transmitted to me in a letter from the Bishop of Aberdeen; and their prayers he may be sure of, 3 By "his man William" he meant himself, for he never had any other attendant. He never would have a servant, for two reasons: 1st. Because he disliked the trouble of it; and next, because he was desirous of reducing his personal expenses within as narrow a compass as possible, that he might have the more to give away. He had many jokes about his man William, using to say, he had no more faults than himself. which he will think worth all the money, not to mention the Bishop's blessing, which, perhaps, he may think not inferior in value to that of his own Diocesan." Upon the subject of Dr. Gunning's pious care in adorning and beautifying his church, he further writes, in another letter : "I am sorry you should have set your heart on my being at the opening of the church, as that was at no time probable, and is now entirely out of the question. What may happen in the spring no one can tell; but as 'life never knows the return of the spring,' the chances are against my being then at Farnborough. The tower, it was imagined, would fall on Peter, and I conclude it did; but I trust without doing him any material injury, as you mention no such thing, and speak of its being finished, and looking very handsome. If Peter will be so delighted with the pulpit when it is up, how delighted will you be when he is in it! I am glad the way to the church is made smooth and easy; it is to be hoped the people will not want to be told, this is the way, walk ye in it.” He was prevented by illness from attending the opening of the church at Farnborough, in the month. of March, 1795; but when he heard of it, by a letter from Mrs. Gunning, thus he answers: * But the good letter-writer furnished an elegant clock to this tower, which cost him upwards of 701. "March 10, 1795. "Many thanks for the pleasing account of the Feast of Dedication. Methinks I see the good Peter, with the keys at his girdle, as eager to open the doors of the temple as the people could be to have them opened. That they had such a desire and longing to enter into the courts of the Lord looks well; and as Charity believeth all things, let Charity believe it was from a better motive than that of idle curiosity. The Doctor's pensioners, in putting off their old clothes, will be reminded to put off the old man; and in putting on their new clothes, to put on the new man: and you will have the satisfaction to see the scions which you have planted, become, by the blessing of God, trees of righteousness. Though your good man was never happier in his life than in seeing the church so full, and in preaching the Gospel, after the example of his Master, to the poor; yet I could have wished, for the sake of the rich at a distance, that the day had been more favourable, that they might have been gratified in hearing him. Crimson velvet, with a deep gold fringe, and every thing to answer it! handsome indeed! Where is the Lord worshipped in the beauty of holiness, if not within thy walls? Thither may the tribes go up to give thanks to the name of the Lord-and peace be within thee!" He sent the Doctor a beautiful little service of communion plate, to use in administering the Holy 5 These were the gift of Mr. Stevens. Communion to the sick, with the following inscriptions,—On the covers of the paten these words, "Behold the Lamb of God"!" On the inside of the paten, "He was known of them in breaking of bread "." And on the cup, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." And on the foot of the cup, "For Christ is our peace"." This present was accompanied with a letter to Mrs. Gunning: "There is something else in the parcel, for the sending of which, perhaps, I ought to make some apology. You may remember you merrily said one day, that your good man was so particular he would hardly go to visit the sick without his band. Now, as he is so very liturgical, so very rubrical, and so very canonical, I have taken the liberty to send him some private communion plate, which I hope he will gratify me in accepting, as a small token of my unfeigned friendship for him, and my high reverence for his amiable, exemplary character, as a Christian Divine of the Apostolical Church of England." I shall for the present conclude his correspondence with his observations on the uses of sickness to the true Christian, as found in parts of two or three letters, addressed to the lady, whose vivacity of manner, and unfeigned piety for so many years, and to the end of his life, attracted his friendship and esteem. 6 John i. 29. 7 Luke xxiv. 35. 9 Eph. ii. 14. |