The work was dedicated To the most High, the most Mighty, and most Excellent Monarch, "Frederic III. King of Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg. ***Sir, "As the following sheets, containing the letters of an eminent "Prussian Divine, relate to a scheme patronised by your Royal "Grandfather, they require no other apology for being laid at your 66 Majesty's feet. The descendants of an English Prelate, in whose "hands alone the original papers are lodged, which are as yet un"known to the world, have presumed to do this; well knowing that your Majesty will not judge of the gift by the obscurity of the persons who make it; but that, if there be any thing in it which can be made conducive to the public good, your Majesty will bring it to perfection: under which persuasion it is with all humility offered to your Majesty, AS THE FRIEND OF MANKIND." The offering was graciously received by the King, and the work was greatly approved by the clergy both of Prussia and Holland*. His third publication was "A Short Introduction to Vocal Music," of the merits of which the approbation of men of acknowledged judgment and professional eminence furnishes the most decisive testimony. à Oxford, ses conversations avec plusieurs de nos Ecclesiastiques, et une étude appliquée de notre Discipline et de notre Liturgie, lui avoient inspiré une veritable admiration pour la constitution de notre Eglise."-Muysson, Traducteur. Dr. Jablonski thus delivers his opinion of our Protestant Church, to a friend (Dr. Nicholls), in a letter dated January 10, 1708 : ............ inde in eâ sententiâ confirmatus fui, Ecclesiam Anglicanam inter omnes Ecclesias Reformatas ad exemplar Ecclesiæ Primitivæ proximè accedere, meritoque audire Sydus in Colo Christiano lucidissimum, Decus Reformationis primarium, et Evangelii adversus Papatum propugnaculum firmissimum." * Some Letters in the Correspondence will explain what is further deserving to be known of "Dear Sir, + From Joah Bates, Esq. to Granville Sharp, Esq. "Hinchinbrook, Dec. 27, 1768. "A party of very musical people are assembled at this place, most of whom are very desirous of improving themselves in the art of singing at sight. It was natural for me to His fourth work, "On the Pronunciation of the English Tongue," was printed in the year 1767. He gives the following account of it in a letter to his brother, Dr. John Sharp, dated January 3, 1786. "The few hours of leisure that I was able to spare from business, in September and October last, were chiefly spent in drawing up a short treatise on the English Tongue, to render the reading and pronunciation of the same more easy to Foreigners. Dr. Gregory Sharp, Dr. Birch, and my brothers here, have read, and approve of it, and advise me to print it. Dr. Sharp would have me print it in Latin, French, and English. "I believe the whole (except the preface) may, when printed, be contained in a sheet of paper. ; "Dr. Lowth does not treat upon the English pronunciation in his Gramınar ; neither do I know of any author that has, (except Wallis), to any purpose. An honest Scotchman, Mr. Buchanan, has indeed lately attempted it, but with so many refinements by way of polite pronunciation, that he makes it ten times more difficult and irregular than it really is. Wherefore I flatter myself that my little treatise will be the more acceptable to the public, especially as the extreme difficulty and uncertainty of the English pronunciation is universally complained of," &c. &c. There are two separate editions of this work; one in English only, and one in English and French*. In 1768, he published a tract entitled "Remarks on several mention to them your little Treatise, as the best calculated for this purpose of any thing I had ever seen; and curiosity is so greatly raised, that I promised to write to you, and beg the favour of one or two copies, if you have any to spare. Besides considerably improving the art itself, you will make a great many people happy, and we shall all be bound to remember you with gratitude. "With best respects," &c. JOAH BATES." A valuable letter likewise from our eminent native composer, Mr. Shield, will be found in the Appendix, containing, in addition to several interesting anecdotes, a critical examination of the "Introduction to Vocal Music." The reader is referred to it both for amusement and instruction. * By what methods he had acquired a sufficient knowledge of French to venture on a publication in that language, is uncertain; but in the correspondence which he afterward carried on with the principal members of the first French Revolution, the rough copies of some letters, written entirely in French, with great alterations and interlinings in his own hand, prove him to have possessed a considerable knowledge of that tongue. "important Prophecies." The immediate motives of this publication are not known to his friends. He himself describes it, in the catalogue of his works, only as "written in answer to Dr. W―ms.” Its object is, to defend the received interpretation of certain passages, in the Prophetical Writings, which declare the miraculous birth of Christ. His two next works have been already mentioned. He edited "A short Account of that Part of Africa inhabited by Negroes" (originally printed in America), "and of the Endeavours of the Society for Propagating the Gospel to instruct Negro Slaves in New York;" adding to his publication "A Conclusion, by the Editor:" and to this succeeded the celebrated "Representation of "the Injustice and dangerous Tendency of tolerating Slavery in " England, 1769." 66 66 In the year 1771 appeared a tract on a subject entirely distinct from any yet mentioned. It is called "Remarks concerning the Encroachments on the River Thames near Durham Yard," and is noticed by him in a letter, already quoted, to Dr. Rutherforth :— “One public affair has likewise taken up some of my time; viz. the rights of the city of London upon the river Thames, which, as a citizen, I am bound by oath to maintain. A little tract on this point I am now printing." In 1772 he printed "An Appendix" to the Representation against Slavery. Similar motives to those just described by himself, springing from a sense of social duty, gave rise to his next production, "On Duelling;" of which he gives the following account to his friend Benezet. [EXTRACT.] " 7th January, 1774. "Towards the end of last summer, when I had set about to finish my tracts, I was undesignedly drawn off by a particular subject, the pernicious practice of duelling, which occurred to me in the course of one of my tracts, viz. that relating to the Necessity of Submission to Personal Injuries,' in which it was proposed to show the true meaning of the several texts usually cited for the lawfulness of slavery among Christians. My intention, indeed, was only to touch lightly on duelling; but, in examining the subject, I found it so perplexed with contradictions, and false precedents cited by the law writers, that I was gradually and imperceptibly led on by the importance of the subject to canvass it thoroughly; and at length, on account of some violent disputes and personal abuse among our magistrates in the city, I thought it my duty as speedily as possible to print my Remarks on it in a separate tract." S."Sept. 3, 1773.-Sent to the press my book on Crown Law, respecting the due distinction between murder and manslaughter. "October 7.-Sent copies to the twelve Judges, the Recorder, the Lord Mayor; also to Aldermen Sawbridge, Oliver, Wither; and Mr. M. Lovell." The year 1774 produced a work which has been also mentioned; viz. " A Declaration of the People's natural Rights to a "Share in the Legislature." The motives have been given in the Manuscript minutes, in which the account is thus continued : “This Declaration was reprinted even in the same year, 1774, in almost every part of America, at the very time that the British Government had most fatally determined to enforce its unconstitutional and unjust pretensions, and thereby incurred an extraordinary national punishment,—even the forfeiture of all the colonies which they had intended to oppress, together with an immense loss of lives and a most ruinous expense! "Such are the baneful effects of yielding to the false political suggestions of the prince of this world and his spiritual agents! The providential effect of the wicked notions which, through a fatal delusion, have prevailed in the cabinets of princes, is completely contrary to their political expectations. For they conceive that there is (what they call) an imperial necessity, or a political expediency, for adopting illegal and unjust measures. But they are not aware that such measures always produce the very mischiefs which they hoped to prevent by them, and draw down the Divine vengeance declared in the 64th Psalm: They imagine wickedness, and practise it; but God shall suddenly shoot at them with a swift arrow; yea, their own tongues shall make them fall; and all men that see it, shall say, This hath God done! for they shall perceive that it is bis work!’ ver. 7, 8, and 9*." In the year following he published another tract (or rather an enlarged edition of the last mentioned) entitled, "A Declaration of the People's natural Rights to a Share in the Legislature, against the 66 On the occasion of this work he received the following lines from of the Directors of the Bank of England. TO MR. GRANVILLE SHARP, Payne, Esq., one “On reading his late instructive and excellent Book, entitled 'A Declaration of the People's natural Right to a Share in the Legislature, as the fundamental Principle of the British Constitution of State.' "Wise, learned, meek, with reverential love Of God's just laws, and love of man inform'd, His own rights sacred as the rights of monarchs! Through streams of kindred blood, her hasty strides To the dark gulph of dissolution—then, O then, may thy just spirit, self-approv'd In its past efforts, with the eye of faith, Awful, yet calm, behold the signal vengeance, And on the spotless wing of liberty Rise uncorrupted to its native heaven!" Over these verses is written, in red ink— "Mem. A seasonable warning to G. S., not of what he is, but what he ought to be." |