< or politics, a rehearsal should entertain him, when a mef⚫ fenger to fummon him to council could not be admitted.

This is true of him, that of all the noise made of his loving women, he never had fo much as a baftard laid to his charge, that he or any body elfe believed to be his own. Some pretended to love his perfon, but it was his eftate, "which smarted for it. It is hard to tell by his expence which was his favourite pleasure, I think, his chymistry at home, and fox-hunting abroad.

• I will conclude his character with faying, that if human frailty will not excufe these faults, let chriftian charity' oblige us to hope, that as God gave him time, he gave him alfo the grace of true repentance.

We are now come to the laft fcene of the tragi-comedy. of his life. At the death of King Charles he went into. the country to his own manor of Helmefly, the feat of the • Earls of Rutland in Yorkshire. King Charles was his best friend, he loved him and excufed his faults. He was not fo well affured of his fucceffor. In the country he paft his time in hunting, and entertaining his friends; which he did a fortnight before his death as pleasantly and hofpitably as ever he did in his life: He took cold one day after foxhunting, by fitting on the cold ground, which caft him into an ague and fever, of which he died, after three days fickness, at a tenant's houfe, Kirkby More-fide, a lordship ⚫ of his own, near Helmefly, Ap. 16, 1688; ætat. 60.

The day before his death he fent to his old fervant Mr. Brian Fairfax, to defire him to provide him a bed at his boufe at Bishop-hill in York, but the next morning the • fame man returned with the news that his life was despaired of. Mr. Fairfax went poft, but before he got to him he was fpeechlefs. The Earl of Arran, fon to Duke Hamilton, was with him; who, hearing he was fick, vifited him in his way to Scotland.

When Mr. Fairfax came, the Duke knew him, looked earneftly at him, and held him by the hand, but could not fpeak. Mr. Fairfax afked a gentleman there present, a Juftice of Peace, and a worthy difcreet man in the neighbourhood, what he had faid, or done, before he became fpeechlefs. He told me fome queftions had been afked him about his eftate, to which he gave no answer. Then he was admonished of the danger he was in, which he feemed not to apprehend; he was asked, if he would have the minister of the parish fent for to pray with him,

to which he gave no answer; which made another question ⚫ be asked, If he would have a Popish Pricft? To which he anfwered with great vehemence, "No, no!" repeating the words," He would have nothing to do with them.' • Then the aforefaid gentleman, Mr. Gibson, asked him again, If he would have the Minifter fent for? And he calmly anfwered, "Yes, pray fend for him." This was the morning, and he died that night. The Minister came, and did the office required by the church; the Duke devoutly attending it, and received the facrament, and an hour after became fpeechlefs; but appearing fenfible, we had the prayers of the church repeated by his bed-fide, recommending him to the mercy of God, through the merits of Jefus Chrift.

Thus he died quietly in his bed, the fate of few of his predeceffors in the title of Buckingham. His body was embalmed and brought to Westminster-abbey, and there laid in the vault with his father and brothers, in Hen. the VIIth's Chapel.

Mary Dutchefs of Buckingham was the only daughter of Thomas Lord Fairfax, and Ann, the daughter of Ho• race Lord Vere. A moft virtuous and pious Lady, in a vitious age and court. If fhe had any of the vanities, the had certainly none of the vices of it. The Duke and the

This agrees pretty nearly with Mr. Pope's defcription, in the following picturesque lines:

In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half hung
The floors of plaifter, and the walls of dung,
• On once a flock-bed, but repaired with straw,
With tape-ty'd curtains, never meant to draw,
The George and Garter dangling from that bed,
• Where tawdry yellow, ftrove with dirty red,
• Great Villiers lies-alas! how chang'd from him
That life of pleasure, and that foul of whim!
'Gallant and gay, in Cliveden s proud alcove,
The bow'r of wanton Shrewsbury + and love;
Or just as gay in council, in a ring

• Of mimic'd ftatesmen and their merry King.
No wit to flatter left of all his ftore!

No fool to laugh at, which he valued more;
There, victor of his health, of fortune, friends,
And fame, this lord of useless thousands ends.

The Countess of Shrewsbury, a woman abandoned to gallantries. The Earl her Husband was killed by the Duke of Buckingham; and it has been • said, that during the combat, she held the Duke's horses, in the habit of a

• Page.'

REV. Sept. 1759.

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lived

lived lovingly and decently together; fhe patiently bearing with thofe faults in him which the could not remedy. She furvived him many years, and died near St. James' at Weftminster, and was buried in the vault of the family of Villiers, in Hen. VIIth's Chapel, anno 1705. • ætat. 66.'

G

Samuel triplici Nomine Laudatus, Propheta, Populi Ifraelitici Judex, Scholarum Propheticarum Rector. Conciones due Habita in Templo B. V. M. Oxon. Coram Baccalaureis Determinantibus. A. Johanne Burton, S. T. P. Coll. Eton. Haud ita pridem C. C. C. Oxon. Socio. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Rivington and Co.

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HE firft of thefe difcourfes celebrates the praises of Samuel, confidered as a Prophet and Judge. The fecond celebrates him as founder of the Schole Prophetica: and here the author does not amuse his readers, with the idle and fanciful conjectures of the rabbinical writers, but taking Scripture alone for his guide, lays before them what may be collected from thence in regard to the origin, difcipline, &c. of these Schools.

In the Appendix, he confiders a point of great importance to the interests of religion, and the credit and usefulness of our clergy, viz. the great want of proper inftruction, in the University of Oxford, for thofe who are defigned for the facred office. Hear part of what he fays upon this fubject, which will ferve, at the fame time, for a fpecimen of his ftile and manner of writing.

Sentio in materiem me incidiffe ardui fane momenti, neque tacendam neque dicendam fine cura: ideoque, ut a dictis abfit invidia, orationem effe mihi hac in parte præmuniendam, fententiam diftinctius explicandam, cautiufque ⚫ defendendam. "Defideratur nempe fpecialis aliqua infti"tutio & præceptio quæ Prophetarum filios ad officium Pafto"rale obeundum aliquanto inftructiores efficiat."— Qualis autem illa effe debet & unde fubminiftranda, fi quæras, rem 6 omnem paulo altius repetitam fic mecum cognofce.

Scias imprimis aliam in Academiis nunc effe, quam quæ fæculis fuperioribus olim fuit, ftudiorum atque difciplinæ rationem. Non jam undique ad Scholas publicas, non ad Profefforum cathedras concurritur: non jam ex ipforum • prælectionibus & difputationibus hauritur quicquid eft fcien

⚫ tiarum

tiarum. Jamdiu exolevit illa olim laudabilis publice prælegendi confuetudo; &, cum audientium fpe ftudioque, • Prælectorum induftria fimul confenuiffe videtur. Omnis • ifta præceptio fyftematica, & quidem ut plurimum scholastica, qua majores noftri guadebant, in defuetudinem prorfus abiit. Imo quidem & Difcipuli noftri ab operofa ifta & fervili fyftematum difciplina ufque adeo abhorrent, ut extra ordinem fine duce vagari & errare malint, quam ex præ⚫ fcripto fapere, & theologiæ fynopfin aliquam prælibare.

Quid porro autem? nullane intra parietes privatos in Collegiis, & quidem Theologorum, inftitutio Theologica celebratur? quidibi Prophetæ infigniores? nonne illi ultro ⚫ fibi filios afcifcunt fuos, & difcipulos, ad virtutum confimilium æmulationem tum præceptis tum etiam exemplis formandos?-Eft illud fane in promptu:& foret profecto ‹ illud optandum maxime, quod Ecclefiæ prodeffet maxime. • Sed difciplinam talem fruftra quærimus. Antiquam vero <illam, quæ in prælectionibus publicis five exercitationibus fcholafticis unice verfabatur, fructu fuo & gratia destitutam prorfus obfoleviffe video.

'Quid interim a Præceptore domeftico reftat expectandum? 'profecto quid illius cura efficere potuerit in univerfum pro 'certo ftatuere non aufim: at vero unum illum omnibus fufficere non poffe facile intelligo; & proinde hac in parte fpe'cialem præceptionem atque difciplinam defiderari.

• Ut ut vero ifthæc fuerint, id ipfum, de quo querimur, 'malo fato noftro contigiffe fentio: nempe Theologiæ ftudia, quibus nihil gravius fanctiufve, cum præceptionibus neque 'publicis neque privatis pro merito fuo dirigantur, fluctuare prorfus & in incerta ferri; & hac ardua in re præter fas ⚫ æquumque adolefcentium noftrorum ingenio atque libidini nimium permitti.-Tantamne vero rem tam negligenter agi?& illam fcientiarum principem, cui cæteræ omnes • famulantur, την τεχνων τέχνην και επισήμων επισημην, apparatu fuo & fatellitio deftitutam quorumlibet quafi impuris manibus invadendam objici? hoccine eft credibile aut memorabile ?-Artes quidem cæteræ, tum liberales tum etiam • Mechanicæ, dignitatem fuam quafi præmunitam tuentur, nec nifi diuturno labore & exercitatione fe expugnari patiuntur. Non Chirurgiam, non medicinam exercet, nifi qui fub alicujus Magiftri aufpiciis artis præcepta didiceret, nifi qui in corporis humani anatomia, in materie medica exploranda & adhibenda aliquandiu fuerit verfatus. Non itidem ⚫ in Foro caufas agit, nifi qui juris confultorum inftitutis atque doctrina imbutus, nifi qui & meditatione domeftica &

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ufu forenfi aliquam & juris peritiam & dicendi facultatem • fuerit affecutus. Neque vero agmen ducit Centurio, nifi qui fub imperatore aliquo ftipendia meruerit, confiliis militaribus aptoque armorum ufu exercitatus, & ad difcrimen omne præparatus.-At vero Artifex Theologicus- at Juris Divini confultus at Miles Chriftianus-fine inftitutione debita, fine difciplina, fine exercitatione prævia, uno quafi impetu facto, ad officia momenti longe graviffimi administranda fidenter accingitur.-Atqui profecto, fiqua omnino in re, in hac præfertim cautius erat agendum: illius certe fpecialis dignitas tum etiam difficultas fpecialem quandam & majorem folito porapaσxεun poftulabat. Imo fane, inquis at vero illam haud femper recipit adolefcentis Academici, qualis fere folet efle, conditio. Quid enim Ille? C cum jam in philofophiæ curriculo quadriennium rite con• fecerit, illico votorum compos exit Artium Baccalaureus : quid deinde? per unum fere atque alterum annum rufticatur: ibi ftudiis vacat omnibus, forfan & nullis : interea pro • Prophetarum filio vix agnofceres. Jamque tandem, quando ætas patitur, fubigitque fortaffe res angufta domi, inter Theologiæ ftudiofos nomen profitetur fuum: teftimonio facile parabili commendatus Ordinum facrorum candidatus accedit; initiatur: Curam Paftoralem fufcipit; in Roftra, in celebritatem prodit rudis ille & avrodidanres, jam populi • præceptor reverendus, non is, qualis effe debuit, non certe Evangelicus ille omodeσToτns, e locuplete penu inftrumenta theologica vetera fimul & nova depromens ufibus variis ac• commodata, προς διδασκαλίαν, προς ελεγχον, προς επανορ • θωσιν, προς παιδείαν την εν δικαιοσυνη.

< Quæ cum ita fint, define mirari, fi in tanta hominum Clericorum frequentia tam pauci re vera Theologi reperiantur. Quin potius mecum difpice quænam media ad illum quem appetimus finem aptiffime conducant: ut nempe inftitutione quadam theologica imbutus, & ingenii morumque conformatione exercitatus, nofter hic Prophetarum filius ex Academia in Ecclefiam prodeat tanto nomine non in• dignus.'

In Collegiis fingulis quifquis Theologiæ nomen dederit < per annum integrum, antequam ab Academia difcefferit, • aut Ordinum facrorum Candidatus prodierit, Prælectore aliC quo publico ftudiorum duce morumque informatore uti te

neatur, & fub illius aufpiciis Theologiæ curfum qualemcun· que fyftematicum e vo conficere: ita ut hiftoriam univerfam Biblicam, Evangelica dogmata fidei, præcepta • moralia five Ethicam Chriftianam, &, quæcunque demum 'in