Mr. URBAN, THE May 14. HE Rev. George Harrison Larden, M.A. whose death was announced in p. 275, as having taken place at Bath upon the 11th March last, was one of the Minor Canons and Sacrist of the Cathedral Church of Chester, and for some years Head Master of the Free Grammar-school in that city; from the laborious duties of which latter situation, the delicate and precarious state of his health had for some time past compelled him to withdraw, and for the restoration of which the efficacy of the Bath waters had been fruitlessly recommended. The death of this most amiable and excellent man has occasioned a void in Society which will not easily be supplied. In him were united superior intellectual acquirements, with the most winhing and conciliating manners. Pos sessed of great firmness of mind, and the most steady perseverance, and endued with a degree of patience perhaps unequaled; his scholars, and those who had the happiness of his acquaintance, will bear ample testimony to the unwearied zeal and ability with which Mr. Larden discharged the laborious functions of his office; in flexible as a disciplinarian, yet always prompt and willing to reclaim with the persuasive admonition of a friend. Had Providence been pleased to bestow upon him the invaluable gift of health, a blessing which he had been long denied, it may be justly questioned whether any one more perfectly qualified in every respect could have been selected for the purpose of filling the situation of preceptor in a seminary of magnitude. The intuitive sagacity and promptness, which enabled his mind to seize and grasp upon such objects as were worthy of attention, was assisted by an accuracy of comprehension, and an astonishing retention of memory, affording him fit and happy opportunities of re-producing them, not only in the course of academical instruction, but in the more unrestrained moments of common conversation. will long cherish with affectionate remembrance the impressive and earnest manner in which he laboured to "instruct, admonish, and reform.” Nor was he less entitled to admiration and respect in the performance of his pastoral duties as a minister of the Church of England. His principles were orthodox and liberal, his practice truly virtuous and devout; and the numerous auditories whom, he was in the habit of addressing, The high and independent spirit of Mr. Larden rendered him decidedly averse to adopting any unworthy means by which he might gain the notice and favour of his superiors, and thus promote his ecclesiastical preferment; it was therefore his lot to receive little advancement or encou ragement, in a profession where reat merit so frequently passes unrewarded. Blest, however, with a mind truly great, he experienced that inward satisfaction and contentment which can alone result from a consciousness of integrity and virtue, and was prepared (though at an early pe riod of his existence, and when the exertions of his faculties were variously required) to meet with becom ing and manly fortitude that destiny, which with rapid strides was hastening to its accomplishment. The keen regret that arises from this awful event, it would be both impossible and unnecessary to describe; the native goodness of his heart, the suavity of his temper, and the warmth of his social affections, were more peculiarly perceptible, and more forcibly experienced, in domes, tic privacy; and one of his pupils feels a melancholy satisfaction in here faintly pourtraying the lineaments of so exalted a character, the truth and sincerity of which, he may safely aver, no one will call in ques tion. J. H. M. Mr. URBAN, THA as May 5. HAT some tribute of respect should be paid to the memory of men possessed of great talents, accompanied with moral excellence, and devoted to the good of mankind, few will deny. How then, Sir, have our fathers neglected the celebrated JOHN LOCKE? What the excellent Dr. Law, Bishop of Carlisle, observed on the subject 30 years ago, still applies. At the close of his preface to the works of Locke in 1777, 4to, he says: count of Mr. Locke and his works, with"I cannot dismiss this imperfect acout giving way to a painful reflection, which the consideration of them naturally excites. When we view the variety of those very useful and important subjects which have been treated in so able a manner by our author, and become sensible of the numerous national obligations due to his memory on that account, with what indignation must we behold the remains of that great and good man lying under a mean mouldering tomb-stone (which but too strictly verifies the prediction he had given of it and its little tablet, as ipsa brevi peritura) in an obscure country churchyard, by the side of a forlorn wood, while so many superb monuments are daily erected to perpetuate names and characters hardly worth preserving." admirers of Locke will be called in a few days, to consider of the best means of carrying into execution this most desirable object; when it is hoped that the gentleman who so nobly distinguished himself in setting on foot a subscription for the monument of HOWARD will lend his kind assistance. A YOUNG DISCIPLE OF LOCKE. Mr. URBAN, May 5. Surely, Sir, it is high time for the PUBLICATION for the avowed honour of our country to erect a monument worthy of the man. Full of these reflections, judge, Sir, what pleasure I must feel when, dining yesterday with the members of that most excellent institution the Literary Fund, this very subject came before them. One of the Stewards addressed the meeting. To men of literature, it might have been deemed an insult had he expatiated on the vast abilities and usefulness of Locke, so well known to them all: he treated the subject differently. In one of the Poems recited after dinner, it was observed of celebrated characters, poets, &c. "they asked for bread, and we gave them a stone." In allusion to this, the gentleman remarked, that there was a certain man who in his day did not even ask us for bread, yet we now refused him astone; that he had been dead full a century, the time fixed by the Catholicks for canonization-that as he still continued high in the estimation of his countrymen, even after this lapse of time, he deserved a stone, we ought now to erect a monument to his memory. At length, after raising the curiosity of the company, and entertaining them with some humourous remarks, he said, the person he meant was one John Locke! His observations were received with applause. Viscount Valentia, who was in the Chair (the Earl of Chichester having then quitted it), with some other noble Lords, fully agreed in the propriety of erecting the monument. As the subject is now taken up with some spirit, there can be little doubt of success. I am satisfied, Sir, it will give pleasure to your numerous liberal-minded Readers to learn, that a meeting of the use of young people, with a most specious title, having lately fallen under my observation, the tendency of which is, in my opinion, extremely hurtful; I beg leave to offer a few such strictures on it, as may tend to put Parents and Tutors on their guard, who think with the Writer of this, and I am persuaded with you too, Mr. Urban, that the Sacred Records are not only our guide to everlasting life, but that they contain the only true information of Creation, the origin of Man, and History of the earlier ages. This they do (said that accomplished scholar, Sir William Jones) independent of their Divine original. The publication I allude to is, "Essays on History, particularly the Jewish, Assyrian, Persian, &c. &c. by J. Holland." The History of Mankind in the earlier ages begins thus: "Though Jews and Christians maintain that the Bible contains the oldest History of Mankind, yet the antient Egyptians and modern Chinese have endeavoured to trace the history of their respective nations to a much earlier period." Now, Mr. Urban, though it is true that Mr. Holland does give, after a short statement of the argument for the superior antiquity of the Bible accounts, a kind of casting vote in their favour, I cannot think it a very fair way of guiding young minds to begin the Bible History with this same concessive conjunction though. But, be that as it may; a little further we are told, Moses had his information concerning the "It is not easy to determine whence creation of the World." Again, on these words-God rested from his work, Mr. Holland tells us, "Whether Moses really fancied that the Divine Being required any rest, or whether he gives this representation merely in accommodation to notions then common, common, cannot at this distance of time well be discovered." You will not suppose, Mr. Urban, that the account of the Fall meets with much credence; yet why, I must leave to Mr. Holland to explain. There is certainly less of Scepticism there than from him one might ex Mr. URBAN, pect. As we get on farther in the T145, from ouro pographical Jewish History, you will conclude, that, on the Extermination of the Canaanites, Mr. Holland would find it necessary to place every difficulty attending it as a Divine Command in full view, and shew no great solicitude to account for it. On the History of Abraham it is said, "The Jews regard him as the founder of their Nation; and, since he was called out of a Land of Idolatry, to serve the one true Jehovah, he has been styled the Father of the Faithful, and the Friend of God." Not quite an accurate conclusion, methinks, Mr. Urban. However, poor Abraham is at last got rid of thus, "Yet, as many strange stories are told of him and of his race, which it is not easy to understand or explain, it may be sufficient to assert this general truth, that the Jews were chosen from among the nations of the earth for the sake of preserving alive in the world the knowledge and worship of a pure and holy Deity." One is glad to find that the young people taught by Mr. Holland come to any Truth at last.-Is it thus the rising generation are to be taught? Let me entreat Parents and Tutors who feel the value and excellence of their Bibles as Heaven's best gift to Man, sedulously to peruse every book they put into young people's hands. This book is specious in title-it is well executed in what relates to Profane History; and the mode of impressing the contents on the mind, through Examining Questions, good. The necessity of quoting these objectionable passages has swelled this letter too much, to allow me room to make those comments I could wish. But I would have it believed, that the Writer of this is far removed from any desire to promote implicit belief in young minds,, or "prevent free discussion on any sacred subject; fully convinced that the more free course Truth has, the more it will be glorified; and as a consequence, that the Bible will be found, in very deed, the Word of Truth. But to advance difficulties, and keep out of sight solutions given by at least as learned, and as wise, as Dictionary of England," respecting the township of Byker, contains a palpable error; viz. "The money raised by parish rates in 1803 was 10101. 25. 3d. at 6d. in the pound;" which I apprehend has been copied from the work printed by order of the House of Commons, of Returns made to Parliament pursuant to 43 Geo. III. and is evidently there a typographical mistake. The rates in the township of Byker that year (to the certain the same now before him) were, one knowledge of the writer, who has quarterly rate at 1s. 3d. two ditto at 2s. 6d. each, and another at 1s. making in the whole amount 7s. 3d. in the pound! The Is. 3d. would be paid for County Rates, Militia Bounties, and other incidental charges, leaving 65. for the poor, which by mistake has been printed in the column of pence instead of that of shillings. This simple blunder makes the rental of the township appear twelve times, more than it is, and ought not to pass unnoticed; and the correcting it will tend to shew the rapid increase of this enormous tax. Your inserting this in the next number of your Miscellany will oblige an inhabitant of Byker, and A NEW CORRESPONDENT. Mr. URBAN, TH May 6. HE animadversions on the turning of gravestones, vol. LXXVH. 818, col. 2, to save the expence of new ones, as noticed in p. 700, col. 2, calls to recollection the extraordinary circumstances attending the tombstone of the famous Antiquary Hearne, as displayed in p. 629 of your volume for 1775. The epitaphs inserted in p. 825, col. 2, were already preserved by Mr. Gutch, in p. 377 of A. Wood's "Colleges and Halls," and it is to be hoped that whatever other monuments may have been removed, for the purpose exposed by your Oxford Correspondent, will be also preserved in some vacant space about the Sanctuary. ANTIQUARIVS. |