Thus accomplished, he found it necessary to enter into active life, and to gain a livelihood by his talents and in dustry. The first situation he obtained, was that of second assistant in an academy at Greenwich, kept by Mr. Brake!). and intended chiefly as introductory to the naval and military professions. The income, though small, which he thus acquired, was most laudably employed. \Vhile at college he had contracted debts, which he now resolved most scrupulously to liquidate, and on this prin ciple he restricted himself to the barest necessaries, until fully relieved from these obligations. In allusion to this circumstance, he used to remark, that such difficulties might afford a useful lesson to a young man of good prin ciples ; and that the privations to which he then thought it his duty to submit, produced a habit of economy, which had been of infinite service to him ever after." Not withstanding his economy, however, he availed himself of every opportunity in his power to visit the metropolis, where he spent most of his time in visiting the theatres or the courts of law. In visiting the latter he was un doubtedly solicitous, at the same time, to witness the in genuity and eloquence of the bar, and to see carried into effect those general principles of jurisprudence, with which in books he had been so long acquainted ; while, in the motives that prompted him to frequent the theatre, a love of amusement and dissipation of thought, which he was never able fully to counteract, may have had no incon siderable share.
Dr. Paley, in the mean time, however, was not inatten tive to literary pursuits, nor unambitious of literary dis tinction. In 1765, he became a candidate for one of the prizes, given annually by the representatives of the uni versity of Cambridge to senior bachelors for the two best dissertations in Latin prose. The subject proposed was a comparison between the Stoic and Epicurean systems of philosophy, with respect to the influence which they exert on the morals of their respective votaries. Paley espoused the cause of Epicurus, and defended it with so much talent, that, though with considerable hesitation, he was adjudged the first prize. This hesitation arose from a suspicion that he was not himself the author of the dis sertation, or rather that the body of the essay and the notes to it were not the composition of the same person, the one being written in Latin, the other in English. There was here, we confess, much room for suspecting the can dour or veracity of Paley ; but the real state of the case, as he himself condescended to make no communication on the subject, must now remain for ever in uncertainty.
In consequence of a misunderstanding with Mr. Braken of a pecuniary nature, he left that gentleman's service; but still continued to reside in Greenwich, as he was now employed in the capacity of tutor to a young gentleman of that place, named Ord, now Dr. Ord of Farnham, and was also, on receiving deacon's orders, engaged as assistant curate of the parish. In these situations, however, he did not long remain : in 1766, he was elected a fellow of Christ's college, (worth 100/. a-year,) and the following season, having removed thither, he entered on the duties of private tuition. In 1768, he was nominated a public lec turer by Dr. Shepherd, his former tutor ; and the duties of this important station he discharged with the most f..e.-rupolous fidelity and the most brilliant success. Along with Mr. John Law, his colleague, he instituted a new zourse of evening lectures ; an innovation which at first excited considerable opposition, but which, owing to the prudence and firmness of these gentlemen, and the in trinsic merit of the plan, ultimately acquired no small de gree of popularity, and added much to the reputation and importance of the college. His talents now began to be fully appreciated, and scarcely a year elapsed that did not witness him acquire some new appointment—appointments gained not by any family or political interest, but result ing entirely either from the esteem of his private friends, or from the character he had established in the world for worth and talents. In 1771, he was chosen one of the
preachers in Whitehall chapel ; and having, in 1775, been appointed rector of Musgrave in Westmoreland, he re signed his situation in the university, leaving behind him the character of an ingenious and useful teacher. Through Dr. Law, bishop of Carlisle, he soon afterwards obtained the archdeaconry of that place, and various other livings in the church of an inferior order : Bishop Porteus of London conferred on him the valuable prebend of St. Pancras, Cathedral of St. Paul's ; and Dr. Tomline pro moted him to the subdcancry of the diocese of Lincoln : But the most important preferment he obtained, was the rectory of Bishop Wearmouth, (estimated at 1200!. yearly) the gift of Dr. Barrington, the present venerable bishop of Durham, and presented by him in the most flattering manner. " Be assured," says Dr. Barrington to our au thor, who was expressing his gratitude, " Be assured that you cannot have greater pleasure in accepting the living in question, than I have in offering it to you " He now resided, during the remainder of his days, either at Lin coln or Bishop Wearmouth.
Ere he was elevated to this last ecclesiastical dignity, he had attained to a high degree of literary celebrity by his various excellent productions. Some of his earliest compositions, which were on mathematical subjects, were printed while he was a student in the university, in the most eminent periodical productions of that time. He was the author of several pamphlets, and various occa sonal sermons, some ol met with a very rapid sale, and gained their author something like distinction among his brethren. But Dr. Paley was destined to produce some thing far greater than a short publication of transient or local interest, and, as an author, to attain to a degree of distinc tion, to which none probably of his contemporaries in the same church can lay any claim. In 1785, appeared his " Principles of Moral and Political Science," a publica tion which had formed the subject of his academical lec tures, and the success of which was deservedly so great, that it underwent fifteen editions in the author's life time. Ills next work, entitled, " Horm Paulinx, or the truth of the Scripture History of St Paul, evinced by a comparison of the Epistles which bear his name. with the Acts of the Apostles, and with one another," was published in 1790; in 1794, his " View of the Evidences of Christianity," was given to the world : and his " Natural Theology, or Evi dences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, col lected from the appearances ol Nature," appeared in 1801, at a time when the author was labouring under a disease which ultimately was the cause of his death His constitution, though naturally firm and athletic, had now begun to yield to the bad effects which not unfre fluently result from too close an application to literary put suits. In 1800, he had been attacked by a violent af fe? l!on of the urinary system, accompanied with a species of maelena or black flux—complaints from which, as just hinted, he never afterwards fully recovered. And though he enjoyed some short intervals free from pain, the symp toms of his disorder, at every fresh attack, became more alarming; and in May, 1805, it was evident to all that his life was in imminent danger. He was supported, in the prospect of death, by the influence of that religion which he had zealously aught and illustrated. Ile endeavoured to comfort his afflicted family with the hopes and promises of the gospel. His last days were spent in the exercises of devotion, and he calmly expired, on Saturday the 25th of May, in the sixty-second year of his age.