ception of the widows of such as had holden offices in the town, but had subsequently declined in their circumstances, on their taking a vow to remain unmarried for the rest of their lives. This institution was founded too much on good sense, and had too much of humanity in it, to flourish under the auspices of a community of illiberal and selfish monks; and accordingly we find that it early fell into decay, and was entirely broken up in the time of Henry VII., who appropriated the house to the purpose of holding a free grammar school: of the masters of which, from its foundation to the present time, the author gives biographical sketches. If we cannot insert among them the name of one who became a prime minister himself, (for we believe, malgré the authority of Archbishop Parker, that Wolsey never presided over this seminary,) the list presents us with a father-in-law of the father, and we presume, therefore, the grandfather of a prime minister; viz. the father-in-law of Dr. Addington, who was the father of the recent premier; together with John Spicer, the patron of the author of this volume, and Dr. Valpy the present master. In this list also occur Julines Palmer, who, in this very town, received the crown of martyrdom; and two divines, to whom the church is obliged for defences of the pious usages of kneeling at the sacrament, and bowing at the name of Jesus.

Among the vicars of the church of St. Giles, we observe none who have left any memorials of themselves; except a fanatical preacher who lived during the troubles; and a modern one who drew attention because he was of a rank, and had been blessed with an education, which might have been expected to have rendered him superior to the illusions which he no doubt felt, and which he laboured to propagate. We mean William Jemmat, who translated the works of Dr. Thomas Goodwin (the examiner designated in the Guardian) into Latin, which were printed at Heidelberg in 1658; and the Hon. and Rev. William Bromley Cadogan, of the school of Romaine; to whose popularity the crowded audiences which we recollect to have seen assembling in the parish churches of the metropolis bore sufficient testimony. How the conversion of the former was effected, we know not; that of the latter, we believe, was caused by the instrumentality of a lady. If a sensible, accomplished, and well educated man be capable of degenerating into a religious enthusiast, we think that his memory cannot be better vindicated than by stating that it was a lady who made him a proselyte.

Having closed his details of the three parishes of which the town consists, Mr. Coates resumes a general topic, and the most interesting of those which his work contains;

namely

namely an account of remarkable persons who had been natives of Reading; and it must be owned that its proportion in this respect is certainly a fair one. It has given several chief magistrates to the metropolis, and two who reflect lustre on that high rank; viz. Sir Thomas White, celebrated for his charities, and Sir John Barnard, a citizen of unshaken independence, and a senator of unswerving patriotism; whose statue many venal successors every day behold without a blush, though not without a conscious self-reproach. To Canterbury this town also gave an archbishop; to the high church, a Land; and to Freland a chancellor, the founder of the house. of Mulgrave. It produced likewise a regicide; it boasts the fine scholar Dr. John Merrick; and a still greater rarity, a learned printer, William Baker, who died in the vigour of life. so late as 1785, well versed in the antient and in the modern languages; and whom, if we may rely on the account here given, the Frobens and the Stephens's would not have dis

owned.

The author very properly gives an abridgment of the life of Archbishop Laud, which is compiled with great neatness, correctness, and impartiality. That Mr. Coat s possesses a mind free from bias clearly appears from his summing up of the character of this singular prelate :

The character of archbishop Laud has been so variously represented, that it will appear difficult to exhibit it in the plain colouring of simple truth. He came into publick notice during the reign of a prince, who had been bred up with high notions of the royal prero. gative; and who, when he was upon the throne, endeavomied to carry it farther than the law allowed, or a prudent regard for his own safety dictated in this court, and under this mouarch, to whom Laud had many private and personal obligations, he had his political education; and therefore we cannot wonder that he had as strong a partiality for the prerogative of the sovereign, as his royal master. The archbishop lived at a time when the Puritans were coming into power; who had such an abhorrence of ceremonies, and so violent an antipathy to episcopacy, that, with them, every form of the established church was popish and idolatrous; and the prelacy and papacy were the same. He was too observant of ceremonies; too fond of that show and pomp which is so conspicuous in the Romish church. This gave great advantage to his enemies, and was one of the principal charges against him. But it must be observed, that the witty reply of a lady, and the ludicrous account of his consecrat. ing St. Catharine Cree church, have as strongly fixed on his character the imputation of fondness for popery, as the accusations of those who brought him to the block.

With these political and religious prejudices, he had naturally great warmth of temper, with a sharpness in his language and expressions; so that he could not debate on any subject, without emo

tion, nor bear contradiction calmly, even in the council. Those, who did not wish him well, took great advantage of his infirmities, and would often purposely contradict and anger him. The Lord Cottington made a more ungenerous use of this artifice than any man; for, being perfectly master of himself, and capable of the most profound dissimulation, he would lead the archbishop into a mistake, drive him into choler, and expose him, even when the king was present. To over-balance these defects in temper and judgment, it must be allowed that the archbishop was a man of real piety, and unbiassed integrity; an encourager of learning, and a liberal benefactor to its advancement; of great parts, and exemplary virtues. He defended himself upon his trial, after a long imprisonment, and under the infirmities of his advanced age, with much acuteness; and, as his greatest enemy confessed, "spake as much for himself as was possible for the wit of man to invent." Lastly, whatever were his faults, he was condemned to death by an ordinance of parliament, in defiance of the statute of treasons, of the law of the land, and, as Heylin observes, of Magna Charta itself; a stretch of prerogative, greater than any one of the sovereign whom that parliament opposed, and which, in the present times, would have been considered as a direct infringement of the constitution.'

The Archbishop, with all his aggravated sins and numerous failings, manifested a regard for learning which ought always to be mentioned to his honour; and it should not be forgotten that this superstitious and intolerant priest presented to the University of Oxford

A large collection of antient coins; and more than 1400 MSS. Greek, Hebrew, Arabick, and Persian; which are in the Bodleian Library. He obtained a new charter for the university, and established an Arabick lecture, which began to be read August 10, 1636. To the bishoprick of Oxford, he added the impropriation of the vicarage of Cuddesden, and prevailed on Dr. Bancroft to build a new house there, for the future Bishop's residence. Ατ St. John's college, he built the inner quadrangle; which was begun June 26, 1632, and finished in 1635; he obtained from king Charles, the vicarage of St. Laurence in Reading for the college, with other valuable preferments; and left to it several bequests by will.'

Mr. Coates terminates this work with an account of the present state of the town. In antient times, it had a flourishing manufacture of cloth, which received a fatal blow during the civil contests, and which an injudicious bounty (no doubt well intended) effecually prevented it from ever recovering. Its trade has lately much increased by means of the canals which pass through it. It claims to be a borough from prescription, and has returned members to Parliament from the 23d of Edward I. to the present time. By a determination of the House of Commons in 1708, the right of voting is vested in

the freemen and the inhabitants. Reading has had the honour of giving its name to the title of the Barony conferred by Charles II. on Sir Jacob Astley, and to that which was subsequently granted to General William Cadogan. The town is certainly under obligations to Mr. Coates; and, since its parishes are crown livings, we should sincerely rejoice to hear that the best of them had been conferred on their faithful historian, as the reward of his diligence. Jo.

ART. II. The Works of Richard Owen Cambridge, Esq. including several Pieces never before published: with an Account of his Life and Character, by his Son George Owen Cambridge, M. A. Prebendary of Ely. 4to. pp. 580. 21. 12s. 6d. Boards. Cadell and Davies. 1803.

TH

HIS volume furnishes not the only example, of late occurrence, in which a son has assumed the delicate office of his Father's biographer, since that task was recently undertaken: by the Earl of Malmesbury. We read with unfeigned pleasure the Memoir which was prefixed by his Lordship to Mr. Harris's Works; and we have now been naturally reminded of this coincidence, by the circumstance of Mr. Harris and Mr. Cambridge having been intimate friends. Both these gentlemen were also eminently distinguished by their attachment to the pleasures of domestic life, which both cultivated with unwearied assiduity and enviable success; and, as a reward for the happiness which they conferred, each has found among the members of his own family an affectionate and "faithful chrouicler."

The incidents in Mr. Cambridge's life were so few, that his biographer has shewn not a little ingenuity in imparting to the narrative that degree of interest which we have found in it. He was born in London in the year 1717, was sent at an early period to Eton, and numbered among his friends and associates there many men who were afterward eminent for their genius and their talents. Mr. C. was in 1734 entered as a gentleman. commoner of St. John's College, Oxford, whence in 1737 he removed to Lincoln's Inn; where he commenced an acquaintance, which ended in a lasting friendship, with the celebrated Isaac Hawkins Browne. In 1741 he married Miss Trenchard, grand-daughter of Sir John Trenchard, who had been Secretary of State to King William, and the confidential friend of that monarch.'

*See M. Rev. N. S. Vol. xxxvii. p. 1.

From

From this part of the work we present our readers with an extract, which distinctly shews the nature of Mr. Cambridge's pursuits at this period:

This marriage, which originated in a mutual preference, laid the foundation of the most tender and affectionate attachment, that subsisted full sixty years.

Besides the beauty of her person, her cheerful temper, and pleasing manners, my mother, with a peculiar delicacy of form, was endued with an uncommon strength of constitution, which enabled her to be the constant companion for her husband in all his most active pursuits; their journies were always performed on horseback; and, when their children became of an age to join in these parties, they were always admitted into them.

Upon their marriage, my father settled at his family seat of Whitminster in Gloucestershire, near the banks of the Severn, seven miles below Gloucester. In this retirement he passed seven or eight years, in the enjoyment of such happiness as is not very often experi. enced, continually engaged in the acquisition of knowledge, or in some useful application of it.

The situation of the place was well adapted to the display of his taste, and the pursuit of those amusements that were most interesting to him. The house was situated on the banks of the little river Stroud, in the midst of rich meadows that characterize the vale of Berkeley; my father's first object was to introduce the more distant landscape, and open to the view those beautiful and lofty hills which bound that extensive valley; and, by a judicious disposal of his buildings and plantations, he greatly embellished the place, and gave to the whole estate the appearance of a garden.

The stream, which ran through the grounds, he made navigable for boats, not only as far as his own property extended, but, by the permission of his neighbours, for a distance of near three miles, and thus obtained, for his private use, at a very inconsiderable expence, what was undertaken forty years afterwards upon a larger scale for the public by the Stroud-water Company; who first made this river navigable from the Severn to the town of Stroud, and then, following the course of the same stream, carried their canal through Sapperton Hill by a tunnel, and united it with the Thames at Letchlade.

By means of this navigation he was enabled to convey with ease the stone and other materials requisite for the various works and improvements carrying on upon his estate; he had also boats of pleasure suited to the size and nature of the river, by which he transported himself and his friends to others of a different construction, adapted to the navigation of the Severn. Such was his turn for mechanics, that it might be called the favourite of his various pursuits; and the structure of his boats afforded him an opportunity of shewing his practical knowledge in that branch of science.

His largest boat for the Severn was built upon the plan of those made use of in the Venetian state; the cabin of which was large enough to receive commodiously near thirty people, and was very handsomely fitted up. Amongst other articles of furniture, it con