WILLIAM STEVENS was born in the parish of St. Saviour's, Southwark, on the second day of March, in the year 1732. His father was a tradesman, residing in that parish, and certainly much inferior in station to the mother of Mr. Stevens, who was the sister of the Rev. Samuel Horne, Rector of Otham, near Maidstone, in the county of Kent, and aunt of the amiable, pious, and exemplary Dr. George Horne, afterwards Lord Bishop of Norwich. The father of Mr. Stevens died when he and a sister, the only issue of the marriage, were infants and the loss of a father, which, generally speaking, is the greatest earthly misfortune that can happen to a child, probably laid the foundation of that intimacy between the two cousins, Dr. Horne and Mr. Stevens, which led to the most beneficial consequences in their future lives. For after the death of her husband, Mrs. Stevens removed with her children to Maidstone, in order to be near her brother's family. Nearly of the same age, Mr. Stevens not being quite a year and a half younger than his cousin, George Horne, they passed their early years at the same school, at Maidstone, under the Rev. Deodatus Bye, a gentleman reported to have been of good principles, and well learned in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and there formed that strong attachment, which probably arose from a congeniality of temper and disposition, which ever

afterwards distinguished them, and which led to the same studies, though the walk of life, in which these eminent persons moved, was so extremely different. In Mr. Jones's Life of Bishop Horne, it is related of Mr. Stevens, though his name be not mentioned, that Mr. Bye had said, that William Stevens never did any thing which he wished him not to have done. When the lad was told of this, he honestly observed upon it, that he had done many things which his master never heard of. This is a proof at once of the early report of Mr. Stevens's good character, from those who were competent to make it; and of his integrity and archness, qualities which never forsook him. What attention he paid to his studies, or what his proficiency was at school, I am not able distinctly to relate but from the anecdote I have just mentioned, I think it may fairly be inferred, that his attainments for his age were perfectly satisfactory to his master. When he was little more than fifteen, George Horne was sent to University College, Oxford, to prepare himself for entering into holy orders in that church, which he afterwards so faithfully served by his matchless writings, and adorned by his exemplary life: and Mr. Stevens was at the same period, being only fourteen, namely, in August, 1746, placed out as an apprentice with Mr. Hookham, No. 68, Old Broad-street, (in which house, from

that time forth, he lived and died) an eminent wholesale hosier, and a most respectable man. Here it would naturally be thought, that separated in situation, from his excellent cousin, and having so few things in common, their minds would naturally be estranged from each other. But the fact was quite otherwise; for the congeniality of their sentiments and opinions induced them to keep up a constant correspondence. Mr. Horne informed his friend of the studies in which he was engaged; and Mr. Stevens spent all his leisure time in the acquisition, by his own labour and industry, of those stores, which his relation, the academician, was amassing under better auspices, and with the fruits of which he afterwards enriched the Christian world. By such means, Mr. Stevens acquired, as is well known to the writer of this account, and to many others now living, not only an intimate acquaintance with the French language, but also attained to a considerable knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew literature: and became one of the profoundest theologians of his time. Of the rapidity with which he acquired a knowledge of languages, I have the proof under his own hand; for in a letter to a young friend then at Oxford, now a barrister, dated Feb. 1789, he says, "It is some "time ago since I learnt French, about forty years,' (this carries us back to the year 1749, when Mr.

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Stevens was only seventeen, and an apprentice to Mr. Hookham)" and I remember it was on the same "terms you are to pay; so that article of expense " is not risen in proportion to many others. The "master attended me for one twelve month, three days in the week, an hour each time, which was "all the instruction I had from him." I have said that Mr. Stevens only employed his leisure hours in these pursuits; and in the attainment of all this knowledge. I repeat the assertion for the benefit of the rising generation; for the fact is so, however improbable and strange it may appear to the indolent and slothful; whose sole employment in the period of youth is to kill time, as they call it, by literally doing nothing: or by doing what is worse than nothing, indulging in criminal pleasures, which destroy and ruin the constitution both of body and mind. But so did not the excellent person, whose life we are now recording, spend his youth and strength: for from his earliest years he was, what he continued during his long life to be, an example of the strictest purity of life and sobriety of manners, patient industry and attention to business, and of incorruptible integrity. That his studies, and the pursuits of his favourite subjects, literature and theology, did not abate any part of the due attention he felt himself bound to pay to his master's business, is best proved by that

master's conduct; for his apprenticeship expired in 1753, and Mr. Hookham continued him for twelve months in his employ as an assistant; and the next year, 1754, when he was only twenty-two years of age, rewarded his fidelity, and his upright conduct, by giving him a share of his business, and constituting him a partner.

Soon after this most advantageous change in his worldly circumstances had taken place, it appears that the constant attention paid by him to the immediate duties of his station, and his laborious studies, overpowered his health; for I have heard him frequently state, that his friends dreaded his falling into a decline. Accordingly we find that he was advised to go to Bristol Hot Wells, where he put himself under the care of Dr. Randolph, a very eminent physician, uncle to the present Bishop of London, and father of the Rev. Dr. Francis Randolph, of Bath, and of Mrs. Gunning, the lady of the Rev. Dr. Gunning, of Farnborough, near Bath. I mention these persons more particularly, because the acquaintance thus commenced with Dr. Randolph, as the able physician, notwithstanding the disparity of years, grew up into a sincere and deep rooted friendship, which only ceased upon the death of the latter. Their opinions were similar, and the Doctor, though much engaged in the exercise of his very honourable