At Wilmington there is a church of considerable size, and generally well attended. The congregation have evinced by their attention to the Church, a strong and ardent wish for its prosperity. They have at present the Rev. Adam Empie, from the Diocess of New-York, for their pastor, who is much beloved by the congregation.

At Newbern, the church has lately undergone some alterations and repairs, and affords a very comfortable and decent house of worship. Since the first of last April, the Rev. Jehu Curtis Clay, from the Diocess of Pennsylvania, has been the pastor of this congregation, and he has had the satisfaction of having the church numerously and respectably attended. The number of communicants on last Easter Day exceeded thirty, and there is but little doubt that this church will increase, should the present minister continue his services amongst this people, who, for about twelve months before his arrival, were destitute of a pastor.

At Edenton there is a neat church, but, unfortunately for the congregagation, they have no minister, nor have they had one since the Rev. Mr. Hatch left them, about two years since.

The town of Washington, and its vicinity, has lately met with a loss in the death of the Rev. Mr. Blunt, who, for many years before his decease, was in the habit of inaking apppointments in different parts of the county in which he resided, where he would preach, baptize children, and, at stated times, administer the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. These families, not

It is with peculiar satisfaction we report the increasing progress of the Church in this Diocess. It appears, that since the last meeting of the General Convention, some new congregations have been formed, and some new churches have been erected in this section of the Protestant Episcopal Communion; particularly a spacious and elegant church in the city of Charleston, a neat and handsome church on John's Island, a church in St. Mark's, and one in All-Saints' parish. In some other parts of this Diocess, funds have been raised, and exertions are making for rebuilding their places of public worship; and several have lately been fully completed, and the cemeteries enclosed.

It also appears that the Canons and Rules of the Church have here been observed; that the public offices of our holy religion have, with much uniformity, been performed according to the rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer; and that great harmony and love subsist between the Bishop and his Clergy, as well as among the Clerthemselves.

gy

It furthermore appears, that Mr. John Chandler, Mr. Henry Gibbs, Mr. David J. Campbell, and Mr. Wilson, have been admitted by the Bishop as candidates for holy orders; that Mr. Morris H. Lance, Mr. Thomas Frost, and Mr. Albert Muller, natives of this Diocess, have been received into the holy order of Deacons; and that the Rev. Christian Hanckel has been advanced to the holy order of Priests.

It appears, however, that there is yet cause to lament the ruinous state of many churches, and the want of clergymen in various parts of this Diocess. "The harvest is truly great, but the labourers are few." We have also to lament, that since the last meeting of this Convention, two clergymen, viz, the Rev. James Dewar Simons

and the Rev. Joseph Warren, have been removed by death.

The Society instituted for the Advancement of Christianity in this Diocess, has been productive of much good, and its funds and influence are rapidly increasing. The baptisnis and the communicants have greatly multitiplied within the last year; and the public worship of Almighty God has not only been more generally and devoutly attended, but religious knowledge and practice seem to be progressive. The visitations of the Bishop have been frequent, and the sacred rite of Confirmation has been duly ad

ministered.

From the unremitted zeal and exertions of the Bishop and Clergy of this Diocess, there is reason to cherish the most flattering expectations, that the power as well as the form of religion, under the blessing of God, will continue to increase.

The Western States.

The most gratifying intelligence relative to our Church in this extensive part of the United States has been laid before this Convention. A respectable and flourishing congregation in the city of Lexington, state of Kentucky, has for several years been blessed with the regular ministrations of our church, and the care of an active and zealous pastor. In the state of Ohio, nineteen congregations have been regularly organized; and steps taken for constituting a Diocess. The measures adopted by this Convention, added to the zeal and attachment to the Church, manifested by the scattered members of our communion in these states, and

the disinterested labours of a few clergymen who have been among them, will, it is hoped, through the blessing of God, tend to their speedy enjoyment of Episcopal superintendence.

In laying the preceding statement before the House of Bishops, the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies solicit their counsel, and their prayers for the blessing of Almighty God.

Signed by order of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies. WILLIAM H. WILMER, Pres. New-York, May 26, 1817.

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No. 13.]

(Extracted from the Annual Biography and

Obituary, for the year 1817.)

RICHARD WATSON, a native of Westmoreland, was born at Eversham, about five miles from Kendal, both situated in that county, in the year 1737. His father, a clergyman, who possessed but a very trifling preferment, enjoyed for many years the Mastership of the free Grammar School in Kendal, where the son was brought up. That his education was carefully attended to, and that he was not only early, but thoroughly initiated in the elements of human learning, appears probable; his knowledge, indeed, seems to have been all that he carried with him to Cambridge, except a very scanty stock of money, the most persevering economy, and a habit of application, that defied imitation, and most belief. He was admitted of Trinity College about the year 1755, and his true blue worsted stockings and coarse mottled coat, both of which doubtless evinced themselves of home-spun manufacture; together with a northern, or provincial accent, are still commemorated by tradition in the annals of that celebrated institution. Nor ought such trifles to be overlooked in this place: for when it is recollected, that his unimpeachable morals, rapid progress, and uniform good conduct, either served to overcome or to obliterate the prejudices arising from these petty obstacles, the very mention of them VOL. I.

[VOL. I.

conveys an appropriate lesson to the raw, young, and uninformed Tyro. Mr. Watson was twenty-two years old when he took his first degree, having obtained that of B. A. in 1759; he proceeded A. M. 1762; when he stood high among the Wranglers; and finally crowned his academical promotions as D. D. in 1791. The Doctor appears at an early period to have obtained the respect of his own college, which could not be long unconscious of his worth; and to this was added the esteem of the whole university, in consequence of an incident which might have proved prejudicial to a person less discreet. The late Duke of Grafton, who was then their Chancellor, having made an improper recommendation of a candidate for a vacant office, he gave a spirited opposition to the appointment; but took care, at the same time, to mingle his objections with so much suavity of manner, as actually to obtain the friendship of the nobleman in question. Indeed, at an early period, he appears to have imbibed a due knowledge of the world and its affairs: for although he never excelled in mathematics, a study, then, as now deemed so essential at Trinity College; yet he soon obtained precedency of those who were deeply versed in all its most abstruse branches. Thus Postlethwayte, one of his ablest opponents as a Wrangler, could demonstrate himself fit only for a small rectory in the country, while Watson was soon enabled to become his Diocesan !

A fellowship obtained sometime before, afforded something like present independence, while a college tutorship led to future honours and emoluments. The present Lord Carysfort

25

was one of his early pupils; and to another, the late Mr. Luther, afterwards M. P. for the county of Essex, he was indebted for a large portion of that affluence which accompanied the latter period of his life; while, by means of a third-the late Duke of Rutland, he was at length enabled to attain a mitre.

At the period alluded to, modern chemistry, then in its infant state in Great-Britain, appears to have been unknown, or at least unattended to in the university of Cambridge. This may be fairly deduced from the circumstance, that a gentleman elected Public Professor of this science, was notoriously ignorant of the first principles of the art. Luckily, however, the office fell to the lot of Mr. Watson, in 1764, who determined that it should not be a sinecure. Immediately after his nomination, he associated Hoffman, supposed to be a good practical chemist, in his labours, and by his means learned the rudiments of the art in which he was to instruct others. It is well known in the university, that their first attempts were rude, awkward, and unsuccessful. During the course of their joint experiments, both they and their workshop are said to have "been blown into the air!" but luckily escaping with only a few bruises and contusions, they proceeded in their doubtful and dangerous labours, until considerable progress had been effected. Immediately on this, the subject of the present memoir having commenced his public lectures, adopted the nomenclature then in use, but since become obsolete; and exhibited his apparatus and his experiments to a crowded and admiring audience. The discourses of the new Professor were of a popular nature; he did not pretend to enter into the depths of science, but contented himself with explaining the more obvious principles; and, above all, demonstrating the intimate connexion between chemise try and manufactures.

His fortune was now assured. In 1771 he was created Doctor of Divinity by royal mandate; and in the course of the same year was unani

mously elected Regius Professor of Divinity to the university of Cambridge; to which office, the rectory of Somersham, in Huntingdonshire, is annexed. On this he married a lady of respectable connexions, with whom he had been long acquainted, and soon began to have a family around him, for which he was now enabled to provide.

By this time his reputation had extended throughout the whole kingdom, and the Royal Society, anxious to incorporate a man of such talents among its members, immediately proceeded to his election. Many of his papers, soon after, were published in the Philosophical Transactions; and those connected with chemistry were at length selected, and engrafted into his Essays.

Meanwhile, his friends and admirers were not inattentive to his clerical interests: for in 1774, he was presented to a prebendal stall in the church of Ely; and in 1780, succeeded Dr. Plumptre, as archdeacon of that diocess. In the course of the same year he obtained the rectory of Northwold, in Norfolk; while his patron and former pupil, the Duke of Rutland, now presented him to the valuable rectory of Knaptoft, in the county of Leicester, as an earnest of his future intentions.

It may be here fairly and truly stated, without intending any insult to Oxford, that anterior to the French Revolution, the university of Cambridge was uniformly distinguished by Whig principles, and all those liberal notions both in respect to politics and religion, which were introduced with, or rather confirmed by William III. It was not until the year 1776, that Dr. Watson had an opportunity of publicly maintaining his own opinions on those interesting subjects. Being then nominated to preach before his own university, on the anniversary of the Restoration, he delivered a discourse, which was soon after printed, under the title of "The Principles of the Revolution vindicated," which attracted a considerable share of notice and popularity. Another of the same nature, and