upon his mind; the horrid resolution was staggered, he went home, but the emphatic words continued uppermost, and he was preserved. A few days afterwards a relation died, leaving him an ample fortune, and he lived many years the friend of Hanway, and of mankind.”

Impressed with these ideas concerning these Essays and Thoughts, the Editor of this little Volume wished very much to see them in more general circulation, and suggested to the publishers the printing a pocket edition of them, together with the Bishop's Nine Papers from the Olla Podrida, which have not as yet been appended to any of his works, and also his Poems, which, though few, are valuable on account of the sweetness and simplicity of the versification, and the usefulness and piety of the sentiments.

The public have long been in possession of a pocket edition of Bishop Wilson's Maxims of Piety and Christianity. The following volume the Editor considers worthy to stand upon the shelf by the side of that excellent Manual, and to take its turn with it in the pocket, as containing food for meditation, or matter for conversation in a family circle: Papers vii. ix. and xii. of the Oila Podrida will furnish some valuable hints for the improve

ment of society in this particular. Of Bishop Wilson's Maxims, it may be said, that they are throughout of an uniform tenor, of sober wisdom, and fervent piety. Bishop Horne's Essays, &c. if occasionally of a more playful cast, will, perhaps, on that account more engage the heart, and sink the deeper into it. Of the use of Apophthegms we have an instance given in p. 5, and of the manner of preparing them for ourselves, in p. 25, § 16.

"There is no kind of knowledge (says he, p. 114, § 1.) which, in the hands of the diligent and skilful, will not turn to account. Honey exudes from all flowers, the bitter not excepted; and the Bee knows how to extract it*."

Had Bp. Horne prepared these Essays, &c. for the press himself, no doubt many additions and corrections would have been made, many references added, and those passages from classic authors, which have no translation annexed, would have had them: the Editor would have supplied these to the best of his ability, but not being upon the spot, the volume was not printed under his inspection. A new edition of Bishop Horne's Works has been announced, and it is much to be wished,

* See the Bishop's Meditation on the Bee, at the end of this volume, p. 292.

that they may have received such additions, as very many are the instances wherein no reference is given to the author, or the page, whence a quota. tion is taken. The quoting of a valuable passage from an author with a reference, frequently induces the reader to turn to it, and to read his works. Persons even well-informed upon the subject, may not

* An instance may be mentioned, which occasioned the Editor some little trouble: In Bp. Horne's Sermon, entitled Considerations on the Sea, Vol. III. Serm. iv. he says "The great and learned champion of the Roman Church, who spent the best part of his life in sifting the disputes between the Catholics and Protestants, composed towards the close of his days, a small treatise upon The ascent of the soul to God by meditation on the creatures, which, from thenceforth, he made his constant companion, and was wont to say, it was more satisfaction to him to have been the author of that, than all his large volumes of controversy."

The Editor had inquired who this author was, of several friends of much more extensive reading than himself, and without success; till, on re-perusing the Life of Bp. Horne, he met with the following passage, p. 183. "CARDINAL BELLARMINE wrote a small treatise, entitled, De ascensione mentis in Deum per scalas rerum creatarum, which he valued more than any of his works, and read it over continually with great pleasure, as he says in the preface to it." Card. Bellarmine, and his meditation, are mentioned again in these Essays, p. 131, § 9. A translation of this Work was published in the year 1705, "By a Divine of the Church of England." The Preface, "To the Protestant Reader," is signed H. Hall, and dated Hampstead, June the 5th, 1703.

have read that particular work, and the younger student stands absolutely in need of such assistances. More of the Bishop's writings have been promised to the world, but the death of Mr. Stevens, who possessed his MSS. has perhaps made some difference with respect to them. The Editor of this volume has heard from a gentleman who was at Magdalen College at the time, of a Sermon preached by Dr. H- then President of the College, in the College Chapel, upon the happiness of the marriage state, a subject which he said at first seemed odd to introduce amongst a society of Bachelors, but that it was treated with admirable propriety, and the marriage state warmly recommended. Dr. H-mentioned the happiness which had fallen to his own lot in that state. A Sermon on such a subject, from such a person, could not fail of being highly acceptable to the public.

With the Editor's sincere wish, that the following pages may afford as much amusement and instruction to their Readers at large, as they have done to him, he remains,

their very faithful, &c.

ESSAYS,

&c.

ABBEY LANDS.

SIR BENJAMIN RUDYARD in a speech (preserved by Nalson, ii. 300) mentions it as the principal parliamentary motive for seizing the abbey lands by Henry VIII. that they would so enrich the crown, as that the people should never be put to pay subsidies again; and an army of 40,000 men for the defence of the kingdom should be maintained with the overplus. How did the matter turn out? Sir Benjamin tells us, "God's part, "religion, by his blessing, had been tolerably well

preserved; but it hath been saved as by fire; "for the rest is consumed and vanished. The

people have paid subsidies ever since, and we are

now in no very good case to pay an army.” [A more exact account of this design and its consequences may be found in Sir Henry Spelman's

History of Sacrilege, chap. vii.]

B