The mime of Bishop Horsley stands unquestionably in the first rank of the scholars and divines of the present age. llis intellectual powers were of the highest order, and of so versatile a nature, that wherever lie applied his atten tion, he was generally sure to take precedence. He pos sessed an almost inexhaustible activity of mind united with an ardent spirit of research, and a capability of con stant exertion, which, had his pursuits been less various, might have raised him to a still higher point of eminence. In the mathematical and physical sciences, he held a re spectable station. In metaphysical acuteness and research, he had few superiors. In classical attainments, and par ticularly in a critical knowledge of the sacred languages, he occupied the very foremost rank of excellence. In the most recondite theological erudition, he was not sur passed by any of his contemporaries. And, in the church of which he was so distinguished an ornament and sup -port, he was pre-eminent for his consistency and decision, as the champion of a sound and scriptural creed. In pub lic speaking, his voice was sonorous and commanding, and his whole elocution distinct and impressive. In the duties of his Episcopal office, he was eminently exempla ry; and, in the see of St David's particularly, he strenuous ly exerted himself to accomplish a regular system of im provement in the qualifications and condition of its clergy. He examined in person the candidates for holy orders, and inspected carefully the titles which they produced. He treated them, at the same time, with paternal kindness, en couraging them to visit him, assisting them with his ad vice, and ministering, with a bountiful hand, to their tem poral necessities. in his progress through his diocese, he preached frequently in the parish churches, and bestowed liberal donations on the poor. In the House of Peers, he supported the character of an enlightened and eloquent senator ; and took a part in most of the important discus sions of his time. In his political and ecclesiastical senti ments, he must be classed, and readily classed himself, among high churchmen (a term, which we profess to use not as vituperative, but merely as descriptive ;) but it has never been doubted, that his zeal was conscientiously•sin cere ; and it is certain, that, on many occasions, he disco vered a greater degree of genuine liberality and practical toleration, than many who were louder in their pretensions. He was a systematic opponent of the slave trade ; and is understood, on good authority, to have been anxious to enter into a parliamentary enquiry into the claims of the Irish Catholics, with a view to grant them whatever pri vileges might have appeared compatible with the secu rity of the Protestant succession and the Protestant es tablishment. He was an earnest advocate for mutual
forbearance between the two most respectable parties in the Church of England ; and the decision of his compre hensive mind on the points in dispute deserves to be em blazoned in every vestry of the English and Irish esta blishments. " The Calvinists contradict not the avowed dogmata of the church ; nor has the church in her dogma ta explicitly condemned or contradicted them." He has been charged with harshness and dogmatism in his charac ter and manner, especially as a controversialist, and it would not be easy to exculpate him wholly ; but much of this intolerance, often more apparent than teal, evidently arose from his zeal for the truth which he defended, and his high Sense of its importance. His language, at the same time, however strong, was always dignified ; and his works in general rather display an undisturbed liberality of judgment and expression towards the advo cates of conflicting opinions. Even his sternest polemi cal tracts contain many expressions of the most magnani mous candour, of which the following conclusion of one of his letters to Priestley may he given as a striking speci men. " The probability, however, seems to be, that, ere those times arrive, (if they arrive at all, which we trust they will not) my antagonist and 1 shall both be gone to those un seen abodes, where the din of controversy and the din of war are equally unheard. There we shall rest together, till the last trumpet summon us to stand before our God and King. That whatever of intemperate wrath and carnal anger bath mixed itself, on either side, with the zeal with which we have pursued our fierce contention, may then be forgiven to us both, is a prayer which I breathe from the bottom of my soul, and to which my antagonist, if he hath any part in the spirit of a Christian, upon his beaded knees, will say, Amen." See Preface to Horsley's Sermons. ; Monthly Magazine, 1806, vol. xxii. p. 401. ; Gent. Magazine, 1806, vol. lxxvi. p. 987, &c. Montucla, Hist. des Mathemati ques, tom. iii. p. 13. edit. 1803 ; Phil. Trans. vol. lxvi.: and Public Characters for 180T. (q.)