nually increasing affection and respect of that numerous and enlightened congregation, during the long space of thirty-five years, is a most pleasing and satisfactory testimony to his having filled that important place ably and well.

When he had been settled in Leeds about two years, he published a small volume consisting of twelve sermons on social life. These sermons were composed solely for the pulpit, at different intervals, and not in the order in which they were published. An incident which painfully affected his mind and disqualified him for the labour of invention, was the occasion of their being transcribed for the press (c); and thus several solitary hours, which, by an inferior mind, would have been devoted to unavailing regret, were employed by him in a manner highly becoming his own character, soothing to his own feelings, and beneficial to the world. The subjects which compose this little volume, are, "General Benevolence, Mutual Edification, Universal Sympathy, Compassion, Courtesy, Sympathetic Joy, Religious Conversation, Truth, the Fear of Man, Excess of Good-nature, the dangerous

(c) See Preface and Sermons on social life, p. ii.

Influence of little Faults, and Faults which on account of their supposed minuteness, are generally overlooked." All these, of great importance to the direction of the social principle, and to the comfort of social life, are treated, if not in the most masterly manner, yet with great elegance, precision and force. They shew that the preacher's heart was alive to the tenderest and the best feelings, and are admirably adapted to promote the harmony and the highest good of society. It is not unusual for men of eminence to undervalue their early works; more extensive reading, maturer judgment, and a more accurate acquaintance with mankind, discover to them errors and defects, where the world at large, who have not made a similar or equal advancement, see only excellencies; and what the world still, and not unjustly, continues to esteem and value, they treat with indifference, and consider of little worth. It was thus that Mr. Wood was inclined to speak of this early production; but though it may not exhibit his best thoughts upon all the important subjects of which it treats, it contains much ingenious and useful reflection, upon topics intimately connected

with the dignity and the comfort of life. It is much to be regretted that this volume is out of print and scarce. The following is the judgment passed upon it by a contemporary critic: "These discourses are not indeed highly oratorical or pathetic, but they abound with manly sentiments, and judicious observations, expressed in easy, perspicuous, and spirited language: they place several common topics of morality in a new light, and treat of several not usually discussed from the pulpit. . . . . . .These are discussed in a manner which will probably lead those who are fond of ancient systems and forms, to throw them by, under the degrading appellation of light moral essays; but, in our opinion, they entitle the author to the character of a useful and elegant preacher." Month. Rev. vol. 53. p. 424.

On the 29th of September, 1780, Mr. Wood married Louisa-Ann, the second daughter of Mr. George Oates, of Low-Hall, near Leeds. This gentleman was engaged in the Leeds trade, and his house (which is still continued by two of his grandsons), was one of the oldest and most respectable in that town. Being possessed of excellent abilities, and much general informa

tion, he had great influence, and was ever regarded by his neighbours as a leading man. In religion he was a steady dissenter, and in politics a whig of the old school. In this connection, which lasted six and twenty years, Mr. Wood experienced much domestic felicity; and it was a matter of no little importance to his comfort, that he became by this means united in closer ties, to a considerable part of his congregation. The fruit of this marriage were four children, three of whom survive their parents.

To so upright and consistent a minister of the gospel of peace, animated by the divine spirit of his great Master, the miseries of the long contest between this country and her American colonies, were the occasion of deep and unaffected concern. His liberal and enlightened views were wholly at variance with the selfish and tyrannical politics of the day, and he thought it his duty openly to protest against them, and to use his endeavours, as far as his influence could extend, to incultate a temper more becoming in men and christians. At a meeting of the Associated Dissenting Ministers, in the West-Riding of Yorkshire, held at Bradford, July 4th, 1781, he delivered an excel

lent discourse" on the christian duty of cultivating a spirit of universal benevolence, amidst the present unhappy national hostilities." At the request of the audience it was afterwards published. Neither the ingenuity nor the eloquence displayed in this discourse, nor even the importance and continued necessity of the les sons it contains, have, it is to be feared, preserved it from the fate of similar productions. It was read, admired and forgotten. It is, however, one of the most interesting of his productions, and the truths it inculcates are unhappily no less disregarded now then they were at the time of its publication. The great object of the preacher is to shew that a spirit of universal benevolence is an indispensible part of the christian character, and that the frame of the world and the constitution of its inhabitants are evidently formed and wonderfully contrived to bring that spirit into exercise. Commerce, which is so generally prostituted to the most selfish purposes, and which has so frequently been the means of tyranny, injustice and oppression, he proves to be "that social chain which surrounds the globe, and was intended to bind all its inhabitants into one harmonious