Barrington from Salisbury to Durham, he accompanied his patron, and shortly afterwards obtained a prebendal stall, which he continued to hold after his presentation to the living of Wiston; which, for its picturesque situation, has been called the Tivoli of the north. There he continued to print little cheap publications on religious subiects, for the benefit of the poor. In 1799, he married the daughter of John Bright, of an ancient family in Yorkshire, whose ancestors had suffered greatly during the usurpation of Cromwell. So completely, however, was the bridegroom ignorant of all the details of housekeeping, that he had actually neglected to make the necessary arrangements for the reception of the bride; and it was only through the greater care of his diocesan, that every thing was done to furnish the marriage feast. "In 1803, he was recommended by Mr. H. Addington, then the premier, to the sovereign, for the bishopric of St. David's; and at the end of the charge delivered at his primary visitation, he defended Grenville Sharp's doctrine on the use of the Greek Definitive Article, which was first made known in a number of the Museum Oxoniense, published in 1797. After holding the see for twenty years, he was translated to that of Salisbury, but not before he had done for Wales what no former prelate of that principality had even contemplated. After establishing the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Church Union in the diocese of St. David's, his next step was to found the present college at Lampeter, where future pastors of the church, whose finances did not permit them to go to the English universities, might receive their education at less expense, and be able to gain not only a general biblical knowledge, and of the Greek Testament in particular, but even an acquaintance with Hebrew and Arabic, through the medium of some elementary books, which the bishop himself had written in a style at once clear and simple; while, to insure the services of efficient ministers, he required of all persons who were presented to Welsh livings or curacies, to give satisfactory proofs of their proficiency in that language. 66 "In the politics of the day he took no part, except as they were connected with the interests of the Church; but in his opposition to Catholic emancipation he was strenuous and consistent, and predicted, what has been partially verified, that, instead of allaying animosities, concession would produce only a contrary effect; and by exciting the cupidity of ambition, give rise to fresh demands, and become a perpetual source of contention; for," said he, "popery is incapable of an union with a protestant church, and hence emancipation will be no remedy for schism" and when the bill was actually passed, he regarded it as the precursor of further inroads upon the constitution. In fact, he exerted himself, both in the House of Lords, and more frequently out of it, to expose what he believed to be the errors and corruptions of the church of Rome; and by showing the apostolical origin of the British church, to prove its independence of the papal power. In 1804, the British and Foreign Bible Society was founded, and amongst its earliest and staunchest supporters was bishop Burgess, who, in defending it from the charge brought by professor Marsh against it, of interfering with the Christian Knowledge Society, stated the curious fact, that a Roman catholic had been converted from his former creed by correcting the proof sheets of one of the Society's Bibles. To the Church Missionary Society he likewise gave early aid; and such was the interest he felt for the London Society for the Conversion of the Jews, that a box for the receipt of the smallest donations usually lay upon his writing-table. His greatest efforts, however, as a theologian, were directed to the support of the doctrine of the Trinity, as shown by his various tracts, written between 1814 and 1820, when they were all collected into one volume; where, to considerable critical skill is added a marked tone of earnest piety, and a successful vindication of the orthodoxy of some great names, whom the Unitarians had claimed as their own. "But though he was thus engaged in literary pursuits more immediately relating to his profession, he did not cease to feel an interest in those connected with his early career as a scholar; for, in 1814, he engaged in a controversy with professor Marsh, afterwards bishop of Peterborough, who, in his Hora Pelasgicæ, had questioned the accuracy of some notions promulgated in the Appendix to Dawes' Miscell. Crit., relating to the Digamma; while, in defence of his deceased friend, the bishop of St. Asaph, he did not hesitate to break a lance with Payne Knight, who, in his Analytical Essay on the Greek Alphabet, had spoken of Cleaver's edition of the Lacedemonian Decree against Timotheus, as being a "blundering performance." With less success, however, did he enter the field against professor Turton, subsequently dean of Westminster, who, after appearing as his anonymous reviewer in the Quarterly, assumed the title of "Crito Cantabrigiensis," while defending Porson against a charge made by the bishop, when the latter was insisting upon the genuineness of the text in St. John relating to the heavenly wit nesses. "But the act of all others which will embalm the memory of the bishop, is the foundation of the college at Lampeter, in Cardiganshire, to which he not only bequeathed his library, containing 10,000 volumes, but a sum of money for the enlargement of the building required for such a gift, together with a fund for founding four scholarships. Nor, amidst his other numerous charities, should it be forgotten that he gave 500l. to the Clergy Orphan School, and transmitted, secretly, pecuniary aid to several Roman Catholic priests, who, by their change of religion, had been exposed to great destitution. It has been said, indeed, that by such conduct he held out pecuniary temptation for apostacy; but a Mr. Meek, who had been formerly a dissenting minister, has testified that the bishop, so far from recommending, actually discouraged such conversions; nor would he ordain any persons but such as, after a severe examination, could prove to his satisfaction the sincerity of their new faith. After eighteen years of patient preparation, he lived to see the first stone of the building laid, on Aug. 12, 1822, being the anniversary of the birth-day of George IV., who had generously given 1000l. in aid of the funds collected for the purpose; and he had the still greater happiness to witness the opening of the college for the reception of students in March, 1827. 66 Nor was this the only occasion where the king and the bishop were united in a noble work; for, in 1820, George IV. had founded the Royal Society of Literature, of which the bishop was the first president, nominated by his majesty, whose name was put down by a mistake of the bishop, as an annual subscriber of 1000l. while he intended that sum merely as a donation at the outset of the society, and that his annual subscription should be limited to 1007. During the time the bishop acted as president, he delivered, for eight years successively, a discourse on the state of the society, and took occasion in 1826, 1827, and 1828, to question the genuineness of the posthumous work De Doctrina Christiana, attributed to Milton, which, after its discovery in the State Paper Office by Mr. Leman, was published by Dr. Sumner, then librarian to the king, and subsequently raised to the see of Winchester, together with an English translation. It was not a little creditable to the bishop's sagacity to find that lord Grenville conceived the arguments to be as nearly conclusive as could be expected on such a subject. Previous to his quitting Wales, and taking up his residence in the very place where he had commenced his career of usefulness, and which was endeared to him by many pleasing associations, a subscription was raised, and quickly filled, for purchasing and presenting him with a piece of plate, called the Cambrian Vase, in testimony of the services he had rendered the principality. 66 During the twelve years he presided over his new see, he not only ministered, through numerous unseen channels, to the wants of poorer ecclesiastics, but established a Church Union Society, to which he bequeathed 3000l. for the assistance of infirm and distressed clergymen. Ca June 16, 1835, while he was going through the duty of a confirmation at Warminster, he was seized with a slight attack of paralysis, and, though he rallied so quickly that thanks were publicly offered for his recovery on the 28th, yet he felt that his life was drawing to a close. He had, however, still strength enough left to write a letter to lord Melbourne in 1836, deprecating, in vigorous language, and disproving, with argumentative force, the assertion of the premier, that the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church are fundamentally the same as those of the Church of England; and in the same year he addressed three printed letters to Scholtz, a recent and laborious editor of the New Testament, for the purpose of pointing out some remarkable contradictions in that editor's Prolegomena, and his Note on 1 John vii., res pecting the age of two newly-discovered MSS., which contain the disputed words. Finding his infirmities grow upon him, he requested permission to resign his bishopric, but was informed that such a step was deemed, for many reasons, inadmissible; at last, early in 1837, he was attacked with symptoms of the dropsy, which terminated in his death, on Feb. 19. "His character is described by Dr. Pearson, who married his niece, as that of one' who resembled an ancient father of the church in simplicity and holiness, and distinguished alike for extensive learning and unwearied industry, and the unruffled calm of a meditative mind.' When, however, the time called for it, he could assume a firmness of purpose singularly at variance with his usual meekness of manner, as shown upon two trying occasions. The first was, when living as domestic chaplain with bishop Barrington, at Mongewell Palace; and finding himself, as he believed, not treated with proper respect, he, without saying a word, mounted his horse, and rode to Oxford; and this, too, when his future prospects depended not a little upon preserving the good graces of his patron; nor till he was requested to forget and forgive, did he feel disposed to resume his former office. The second occasion occurred when, during the Bristol riots in 1831, it was reported that Salisbury would be attacked; and on his being urged to quit the palace, he replied, 'No, this is my post, and nothing shall induce me to abandon it!' Of his disinterestedness, no better proof can be given than the fact of his getting an act passed to prevent himself, and all future bishops of St. David's, from granting leases on lives of certain lands belonging to the see, and by so doing sacrificed 30,000l., which he might have gained by renewing them as they fell in." The following extract from a Charge of Archdeacon Berens, Mr. Harford quotes, on account of its characteristic fidelity of description." To those who knew the Bishop intimately, and saw him in the retirement of his own family, there was in his demeanour something singularly engaging. There was an unruffled calmness, a quiet cheerfulness, a gentle and unaffected courtesy and kindness of manner, which well befitted a Christian Bishop. Familiarly acquainted as he was with the classical and theological literature of all ages, possessed of a memory, even in advanced years, remarkably retentive, and well informed in the current literature of the day, his conversation was most instructive and interesting; and he was particularly pleased when he could give to the intercourse of friendship anything of a religious character. The prayers which he used in his family were the prayers of the Liturgy; but those Collects were especially selected which were the most strong and explicit in expressing reliance upon the Atonement of Christ, and upon the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. I never knew any one who appeared to live in more constant anticipations of the time when he should be summoned to his last account, or who was habitually sustained by a more lively faith in the merits and mediation of the Redeemer." On the last Sunday evening of the Bishop's life, the last on which he was able weakly to read the family evening prayer, he repeated the beautiful sonnet written by Mrs. Hemans on her death bed, on hearing the Sabbath bells; but was almost overcome by strong emotion when he came to the words, "I may not tread," &c. He greatly admired the sonnet. as follows: How many blessed groups this hour are bending, Through England's primrose meadow-paths, their way Pour their fair children forth; and hamlets low It is THE NESTORIAN MASSACRE.-No. I. THERE have been several conflicting accounts respecting this sad event; some untruly ascribing it to the dissensions of Protestant Missionaries, of whom there are present in the neighbourhood several from the American Independents, one from the English Church, Mr. Badger, and one from the American Church, Mr. Southgate. The latter has in the fullest manner explained the whole history of the matter, and this fully coincides with Dr. Grant's work on the Nestorians, and with a letter of his respecting the massacre which has been lately published. Dr. Grant, in that letter, evidently alludes, with expressions of sore and deep feeling, to the demeanour of, we suppose, the same gentleman, whose behaviour to the Independents, Mr. Southgate censures at the close of the following letter. However we may regret that any painful feelings have been excited, it is at least highly consolatory to be assured alike by Dr. Grant, the Congregationalist, and the Rev. H. Southgate, the Episcopalian, that such matters have neither caused nor hastened the massacre of the poor Nestorians, and the breaking in, at last, upon their long established independence. We are glad to be able to give the valuable letter of Mr. Southgate on the interesting subject: (To the Editor of The Banner of the Cross.) My Dear Friend:-You ask me to give you some account of the recent events among the Nestorians, and of the causes which led to that awful massacre, of which the heart-rending details have reached your ears. I gladly comply with your request, and the more so because I have been myself most accurately and minutely informed of the whole matter from the beginning. Those brutal murders of innocent Christians, which are to you one great and solitary tragedy, standing out in bold relief, unconnected with the causes that preceded and the consequences that have followed them, are to me but a link in a chain of events which reached back to a long succession of years. You ask if it be true that they indeed arose from "the jealousies of rival Missionaries," as some of the newspapers have reported. Let me tell you the tale as it actually occured, and you may then judge whether religious strife had any part in the matter, But let me first say whence the report to which you allude arose. A young man regaling himself with the summer air of the Bosphorus, has a weekly task of writing a letter to one of the London journals. His stock of news is exhausted, and he turns in his mind how he shall accomplish his regular stint. He seeks for some easy subject of speculation, and the Nestorian Massacre presents itself. He has already given the details of it, and now he imagines that he may fill his sheet with an ingenious theory as to its causes. He pitches upon the differences which he knows are existing among certain missionaries in Mossoul, a city indeed far removed from the scene of action; but what can distant readers know of that? He frames his theory. In the place of facts he puts surmises, and by means of sundry vague insinuations and one rumour, which to a hasty peruser may pass for a fact, he weaves the web of his story. Is one word of it true? Does he himself believe it? This is a matter of little importance. He has accomplished his task, and may now enjoy his repose. The letter goes to London, is published in one of the leading papers, and is seized upon by others. It passes to America, and there again runs through the papers. In how many I have seen it I can hardly tell, the self-same letter emanating from the idle brain of a young man on the Bosphorus. How much evil may come from one inconsiderate act! Did he reflect that he was injuring the good names of men to whom in many respects he might well look up for example and instruction? Not for a moment. He was amusing himself with his own ingenuity, and performing his task of a letter. He never dreamed of consequences. I brought the matter back to his recollection the other day. He had not a word to say in defence of his theory. And is it possible, I have asked myself over and over again, that these idle lucubrations of an idle letter-writer are taken by grave and intelligent men as sober truth? When I first saw the said letter in print, its gross absurdity, to me. who knew the facts of the case, was so palpable, that I pointed it out to one or two others as a most eminent specimen of nonsense. But a little knowledge of facts and circumstances makes all the difference in the world; and of this story it may at least be said, that it is not more erroneous than some others that have been told of the East, and believed too. But the subject is a serious one, and I will therefore proceed at once to give you some serious reasons why this strange speculation of the letter-writer is and |