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OBITUARY.

Short Sketch of the Character of the late might almost terin him a knight-errant in

SIR,

Mr. Joseph Fox.

It would give me great pleasure could I communicate to you a satisfactory account of the life of Mr. JOSEPH FOX, which I am persuaded would be interesting to your readers. My acquaintance with him was too short to enable me to state any facts respecting him with which they are not generally acquainted. But there are some deeds which speak for themselves, which require no minute acquaintance to recommend them, and which all ages and capacities may estimate. In such as these Mr. Fox's memory is sure to survive. The single fact, indeed, that in the infancy of the British System of Education, at the critical moment when it was on the point of expiring, he advanced nearly the whole of his property to save it, is, I fondly hope, enough to preserve his name in undying remembrance. When we reflect that this

the cause of universal good. No corrup→ tion was too high for his attack, no individual too low for his sympathy. He would have been another Clarkson had there been another slave trade to abolish. Like that great benefactor of his species he was by no means possessed of extraordinary talents, except in the line of his profession. It was the energy of his soul that distinguished him from ordinary men. He appeared to have no ambition for personal fame-no desire for making speeches or obtaining applause--but forgot himself in his cause, and was contented to be known only by the blessings he shed around him. The enthusiasm of benevodence kindled a sacred flame within him, supplying the place of the loftiest intellectual faculties. And the honour with which he will hereafter shine in the annals of human improvement will afford an able proof of what the simple energy of virtue is capable of atchieving.

sacrifice was made in the commencement The religious opinions of Mr. Fox were, oflife; on the eve of settling in the world; in general, what is termed orthodox. But and that he had no other resourse than the he was a man whom no sect could claim as profits of a laborious profession, we shall its own. He never gave up to party be incited to believe that it will be blessed "what was meant for mankind." His by generations yet unborn, when the tro- enthusiasm operated on his sentiments as phies of ambition and bloodshed are forgot-genius influences all with which it is con

ten.

But Mr. Fox was not content with this single act of beneficence. During the remainder of his life he gave unceasing attention to the advancement of his favour ite object. His toils were restless and unceasing. As his success in his profession increased, he seemed even more ready to resign himself to the good work he had undertaken, and to forego the bright prospects which opened around him. And though the education of the poor, unmingled with bigotry, was the aim at which his efforts were chiefly directed, a multitude of other schemes for the welfare of his fellow creatures perpetually roused him to fresh exertions. Many of these proved abortive, perhaps from the excess of zeal with which they were pursued. But he was never for a moment appalled; with wonderful elasticity of mind he passed from one generous plan to another, starting up with new energy from every defeat, and deriv ing fresh spirit from the difficulties of his aspiring career. His life was a perpetual contest-a ceaseless warfare with bigotry which knew no pause, and never suffered him to rest on his arms. It was the ruling passion of his soul to be useful.

One

nected-it threw a peculiar tint over them, softening their asperities and bringing them all into a certain keeping and harmony, as imagination lends its loveliness to the passions over which it broods and leaves its light wherever it lingers. The abuses of the Evangelical world met with no indulgence from him, nor were the virtues and charities of the heterodox for a moment forgotten. He associated with men of all denominations to work out his holy purposes: and the Missionary Society through all its hierarchies trembled before him.

On the great cause with which his name will for ever be associated, I forbear to dwell. At the term Universal Education such a crowd of blessings rush over the heart, that one is more disposed to enjoy their delicious confusion, than to analyse or to display them. It was the enthusiasm of Mr. Fox which so intimately connected him with that immortal cause; that enthusiasm which is the spring of every thing truly great; which can elevate ordinary beings to the level of genius, and attire man in a brightness not his own.

I venture to add a few lines as au humble tribute to the memory of my

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Obituary.-Thomas Petter Powell, M. D.

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On Wednesday the 10th of April, 1816, died at his house in Chichester, in the 43d year of his age, THOMAS PETTER POWELL, M.D. He was the second son of an emninent surgeon at Smarden, in Kent, and was born there on the 30th of July, 1773. When seven years old he was sent to a day school in that town, where, under the superintendance of his father, he made some progress in the Latin grammar. At the age of ten he was placed under the tuition of the Rev. Mr. Cherry, of Maidstone. At thirteen he was removed to the King's School at Canterbury, but was not put on the foundation. In this ancient and respectable seminary he remained four years; and his proficiency was such as to render him a favourite of the learned master, the Rev. Dr. Naylor, and to enable him to read with facility and pleasure the Greek tragic poets. Leaving the King's School he returned to Smarden, and, under his father's roof, was initiated in the rudiments of his future profession, his leisure hours being devoted to keeping up and improving his classical attainments. In the year 1792, he entered on his medical studies at Edinburgh, and prosecuted them with singular diligence and success. His respected preceptor, Professor Duncan, sen. promoted him to the honourable and advantageous office of clinical clerk; and, in the last year of his academical course, the Royal Physical Society elected him one of their presidents. In 1795, he took his degree of Doctor of Physic, having chosen for the subject of his thesis the disease called acute Hydrocephalus; and this difficult topic he treated with much skill and discrimination. Having thoroughly availed himself of all the advantages afforded by his residence at Edinburgh, he passed one winter in attendance on the lectures and medical and chirugical practice of Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospitals, and in 1796 entered into partnership with his father. In December, 1797, he married Miss WOOLDRIDGE, of Chichester, a young lady whose personal and mental qualifications fully justified his choice. In 1801, he quitted Smarden, and fixed himself at Northiam, a large and populous village near the eastern extremity of Sussex. Here he resided more than twelve years, dividing his time between

*See Poetry, p. 295.

the labours and harassing duties of his calling, the care of a fast increasing family, and very assiduous application to study both professional and general. At length, finding his extensive practice as a medical surgeon and accoucheur too fatiguing, he removed in the beginning of the year 1814, to Chichester, with the purpose of confining himself to that department for which both his acquirements and his professional rank so well fitted him. In that city he hoped, with less emolument, to find more ease, more opportunity to study, and the enjoyment of more varied and desira. ble society. But Providence, doubtless for the wisest and kindest ends, often sees fit to disappoint the most reasonable expectations of man. Although in his youth Dr. Powell was extremely active, and capable of sustaining great and long continued exertions, there is reason to believe that his constitution was not of the firmest and most robust kind: and the incessant toil of thirteen years, added to the injurious effects of some accidents which had befallen him, had so fatally undermined it, that the more favourable circumstances of his residence at Chichester were altogether inadequate to its reparation. From the time of his arrival there, and, more remarkably from the autumn of last year, his health and habit were observed gradually to decline. The earnest efforts of his medical friends, his own suggestions, and the ablest assistance which this country can furnish, and which he received in the very particular attention paid by Dr. Baillie to his case, were all unavailing. He continued, however, notwithstanding his vari ous oppressive maladies, to labour in his profession with undimished zeal till within a month of his decease, which was prece ded by many days of unusual pain and suffering.

It is difficult to estimate Dr. Powell's character too highly. In his professional capacity he was eminently conspicuous for indefatigable diligence in the pursuit of knowledge, and for the prompt and judicious application of what he thus acquired in his practice. He was thoroughly instructed in all the branches of his business and in the sciences subsidiary to it. To be a good surgeon is the readiest and surest way to become a good physician. Of the truth of this remark Dr. P. afforded a striking example. Like his illustrious countryman, Dr. Harvey, he was pecuhiarly fond of the study of anatomy, and his acquaintance with this science was comprehensive and correct to a degree seldom found in a practitioner placed at a distance from opportunities of maintaining and improving it; but being accustomed to make extracts from what he read, or references to it, and being happy in the possession of a retentive memory, and skil

Obituary.Thomas Petter Powell, M. D.

ful in managing it's treasures, he found his acquisitions always at hand, and ready for use. Such was his ardour for study, that neither fatigue, nor affliction, nor sickness (if not violent) prevented his application to it. With him, as with the President Montesquieu, it was a "never failing remedy for all the ills of life." From his knowledge of different languages and in the dialects of his native tongue, he was an eminently good judge in points relative to the derivation and filiation of words, and to phraseology in general. On subjects of metaphysical inquiry he had much acuteness and discrimination; and if his skill in these topics was greater than his attachment to them, this was probably owing to his preference of studies in which certainty, or, at least, conviction was more easily to be attained, and of which the useful application was more obvious to his mind. With almost all subjects of history, civil and ecclesiastical, of rural and national economy, and of philosophy, natural and moral, he was conversant. Very few indeed were the topics of discussion to which Dr. P. did not bring a wind copiously stored with ideas well assorted, and embodied into a comprehensive and instructive system. His amusements were those of a scholar and a man of taste. He wrote lively vers de Société with great facility and success. In music, both vocal and instrumental, he was no inferior proficient; and his fertile vein of wit and humour was a source of great entertainment to his familiar friends.

Dr. Powell's family, as well as that into which he married, were members of the society of General Baptists; but there is reason to believe that the rapidly increasing sect of Anti-baptists might fairly claim him as one of their own number. The Baptists, having no place of public worship open at Chichester, most of the very estimable individuals of that denomination have been for several years past attendants on the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Fox, the able and eminent pastor of the Congregation of Unitarian dissenters in that city. Dr. P. was also one of Mr. Fox's constant hearers, not one of whom was better qualified to appreciate, or, in fact, more highly valued his services. It is believed that, in his religious opinions, he differed very little from his friend. It is certain that topics of controversial divinity had engaged no small portion of his attention, and he had fitted himself in a peculiar manner to judge of such topics by diligently studying the phraseology of the New Testament in its original language, which his philological skill enabled him to interpret in the most rational and satisfactory manner. That this, in conjunction with a thorough knowledge of the customs, modes of thinking, &c. prevalent among the Jews and first converts

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to Christianity, and not the assiduous contemplation of discordant systems, or a partial attachment to any one system, is the proper foundation for the study of theolo gy, has been most clearly shewn by the late Professor Campbell, in his Introductory Lectures, and sufficiently exemplified in the character and result of most of the controversies which have agitated the Christian world.

While at Edinburgh, Dr. P. was the spectator of a very stormy scene of political contention, and if he was not an actor in it, this arose from no want of zeal in favour of the party which, in his opinion, comprehended the friends of liberty and of popular claims. Through life he retained the same partiality, regulated, however, and repressed by the good sense and sound judgment which he applied to all subjects. Still it may be doubted whether he was sufficiently aware of a fact, the belief of which must be impressed on every calm and unprejudiced mind by even a superficial knowledge of history, and by a slight view of what, during the last five and twenty years, has passed under our own eyes. The fact alluded to is, that there are not in the world wise and virtuous people enough, to keep the foolish and vicious in order. One would imagine that this truth is too obvious to be overlooked and too important to be neglected, and that if it was duly attended to by reformers as well as anti-reformers, it would suggest a salutary lesson of moderation to both. It seems to be the plan of Providence to restrain and check one class of crimes and delinquents by the counteraction of another. The Ovidian hemistich, ponderibus librata suis, is not more applicable to the system of the universe, and to the British constitution, than it is to the general frame of society, composed (as is the majority of it) of short-sighted, wilful and selfish human beings.

In his personal, social and domestic character, Dr. Powell was most exemplary. His anxiety for the welfare of his family impelled him to exertions beyond his strength. His benevolence was conspicuous in the professional attention which he bestowed on the poor, and which was not at all inferior to what he paid to the rich. He had the highest ideas of what is due to integrity and honour; and his conduct was altogether correspondent to his ideas. Before sickness had begun it's ravages on his bodily frame, and rendered him somewhat querulous and irritable, he was remarkable for equanimity and sweetness of temper. To all but his familiar acquaintance his deportment was rather distant and reserved, and this made him less acceptable, than he otherwise would have been, to strangers.

Such was this able physician and excellent man, who devoted his life to useful

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Lately, at Alphington, near Exeter, EDMUND CALAMY, Esq.-Edmund Calamy is a name ever-memorable in the annals of Nonconformity in this country, and dear to all the real friends of religious liberty and truth. The gentleman who is the subject of this memoir was bred to the profession of the law, and was in early life called to the bar; and after having, as a counsel, attended the courts in Westminster Hall for several years, be at length quitted bis residence in the metropolis, and sought and found in the retirement of the country, that tranquillity and quietude which were suited to the habits of his mind. In private and domestic life, his conduct exhibited a pattern of those united virtues of humanity which are best calculated to render it amiable, useful and happy. His native urbanity and kindness, his obliging temper, and accommodating manners, together with the genuine humility, candour, courtesy and benevolence which marked his general deportment, rendered him beloved and respected by all those who were best acquainted with his character and the virtues of his heart: as they will ever endear his memory to an amiable family who are deploring his loss. Mr. Calamy was for many years, during his residence in Loadon, a highly respected member of the principal public Trusts amongst the Dissenters; as he was also concerned in the execution of several private Trusts which were committed to him in consequence of the high estimation in which he was justly held by a numerous circle of friends, for

uprightness, integrity and honour. Having been in a declining state of health for some time past, he finished his course on Sunday, the 12th of May, and was interred in a family vault in the burialground attached to the Protestant Dissenting Chapel at Gulliford, near Lympston, in Devonshire, his funeral being attended by several respectable friends, I. J.

On the 18th instant, Mr. STEPHEN PAUL, Engraver, of Blackman Street, Borough: he died (says a Correspondent) confiding to the care and protection of the one and indivisible God, a wife and seven childreu, the youngest only three months old, utterly unprovided for, and deprived of the means (by his long and protracted illness) of continuing the establishment.

Examiner.

On Thursday the 23rd instant, at his house, Brooksby's Walk, Homerton, aged 38 years, Mr. CALEB STOWER, the Printer of this Magazine from its commencement in 1806, and author of the Printer's Grammar and other Typographical works. He had been for some time drooping under a constitutional, pulmonary complaint, and was at length carried off in a rapid and distressing manner by a brain fever, which no medical directions or friendly attentions could abate. Difficulties in business probably aggravated his disorder, and clouded the last weeks of his life. He has left a widow and four children, to struggle with the world, without the help of an activeminded, kind-hearted husband and father.

April 12, at Draveil, near Paris, Mr. W. STONE, formerly of Rutland-Place Wharf and of Old Ford.

The Republic of Letters has just sustained a loss by the death of SIR HERBERT CROFT, who lived in France, for the last fifteen years.

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Intelligence.-Manchester College, York.

ground of the dangerous tendency of the French principles of politics and philosophy which have spread amongst all classes.

They write from the Hague that the French Refugees have received orders to retire to the towns situated in the northern parts of the Netherlands.

Roxe, April 17.-The reform in the Tribunals of the Inquisition and the Holy Office is continuing with activity, and will extend to all the countries where this institution exists. In the briefs addressed by his Holiness to the congregation charged with the labour, his Holiness says, "Do not forget that the way to render religion powerful in all States is to shew her divine and bringing to mankind only cousolation and benefits; the precepts of our Divine Master, Love each other, ought to be the law of the universe." All legal proceedings in religious matters shall be subjected to the forms of proceeding in civil and criminal matters: accusation, denunciation and inquisition, in matters of faith, cannot serve to begin a legal proceeding; it cannot be founded except in facts. Persons under a judicial sentence, the accomplices of the accused persous declared infamous by a court of justice, cannot be heard as witnesses. All persons, of whatever theological communion they may be, shall be admitted if they are called in exculpation by the accused. The eJations and servants are excluded from being heard either for or against the accused. The proceedings shall be public, and no witnesses shall ever be allowed to adduce hearsay evidence. His Eminence Cardinal Fontana has greatly contributed to get these judicial forms adopted, and it is an essential service which he has rendered to humanity and to religion. It is affirmed that as soon as the New Code is finished, it will be sent to all the Courts.

French Fanaticism. The ceremonies of the Last Supper being too painful for his Majesty, who would have been obliged to remain long standing, it was Monsieur who filled the place of the King in this act of piety, practised by our Monarchs, from time immemorial, on Holy Thursday: Thirteen children of poor but honest parents were admitted to the honour of representing the Apostles. They were all in red tunis, and placed on benches sufficiently raised to enable the Prince, without stooping, to wash their feet, wipe them, and kiss them. Every child received from the hands of Monsieur a leaf, a small cruse of wine, thirteen plates, and thirteen five-franc pieces. The Dukes D'Angouleme and Berri performed the functions of waiters, and brought the bread, the wine and the meats. All these

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ceremonies were gone through with piety and collectedness worthy the descendants of St. Louis. Times, April 17.

DOMESTIC.

RELIGIOUS. Protest against the Marriage Ceremony. April 28th was married Mr. Isaac Carter, of Shoreditch, to Miss Charlotte Southworth, when they delivered the fol lowing protest into the hands of the minis

ter.

"To Mr.

;

~, commonly called the Rev. Mr.-. The undersignal, being Unitarian dissenters, present to you the following protest against the marriage ceremony, to which, according to the law of the land, they are compelled to subscribe; they disclaim all intention of acting disrespectfully to the legislature, or it's civil officer before whom they stand they lament that they are placed in a situation so unnatural, as that even forbearanceto what they consider as established error, would be a formal recantation of opinions, which they received on conviction, and which they will only renounce on similar grounds. · Against the marriage ceremony then, they can but most solemnly protest, Because it makes marriage a religious instead of a civil act.

Because, as Christians and Protestant Dissenters, it is impossible we can allow of the interference of any human institution in matters which concern our faith and consciences.

Because, as knowing nothing of a priesthood in Christianity, the submission to a ceremony performed by a person "in holy orders, or pretended holy orders," is painful and humiliating to our feelings.

Because, as servants of Jesus, we worship the One living and True God, his God and our God, his Father and our Father, and disbelieve and abominate the doctrine of the Trinity, in whose name the marriage ceremony is performed.

ISAAC CARTER,

Signed CHARLOTTE SOUTHWORTH, members of the church of God, meeting at the Crescent, Jewin Street, and known by the names of Free-Thinking Christians."

Manchester College, York.

The following sums have been received on account of this Institution since the last report.

Mr. William Duckworth, Manchester. Annual Subscription,

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