expressions. Much of this would have been corrected had he not always been too hasty in the composition of his productions, or had he taken time to correct them. But they were in general the effusions of the moment, and committed to the press, perhaps, without his having even once glanced over their contents.

In private life, where his natural disposi

tions were most predominant, he was the reverse of this. He was the mild, the cheerful, the amusing companion. His lips were tinged with honey, though his pen was sometimes dipped in gall. He was lively and even playful in conversation. He loved young persons, and was beloved by them, as was evinced, among other instances, in the attachment of the students at Hackney college. He could bear contradiction with great temper, though he asserted his own opinions with firmness; but in general he was not fond of disputation.

Let not the infidel or the sceptic audaciously claim any "lot or part" in this excellent man. His opinions, though differing in some respects from established doctrines, were diametrically opposite, and invariably hostile to theirs. He was not satisfied with thinking that the scriptures offer much better grounds

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for virtue than any system that ever appeared; his opinion was that they furnish the only grounds, and other systems none at all. He was therefore a firm believer in the promises and prospects afforded by the gospel.

Mr. Wakefield's talents will scarcely be judged of correctly by his publications. His reputation for classical learning is indeed well established, not only in this country, but throughout Europe. He was critically versed in all the Greek and Roman writers: he was master of the Hebrew, and possessed a knowledge of the Arabic and even the Coptic. For these studies he was eminently qualified, by possessing one of the most retentive memories that ever fell to the lot of man. He assured the writer of these pages that at one time of his life he had by heart the whole of Virgil and Horace, almost the whole of Homer and of Pindar, and the Holy Scriptures. Of this we may cite as a proof his uncommon readiness and aptness at quotation. Those pieces which he composed most rapidly are full of learned quotations, when it is manifest from the time he employed upon them, that it was impossible any part of it should have been expended in looking into books. He frequently indeed lamented that his memory was so tenacious, that in composing, the chain of

his own ideas was interrupted by those of other men, which involuntarily intruded upon him.

But while they give credit to his erudition, the public will perhaps be disposed to depreciate his talents; and they will be less inclined to credit the assertion that he was a man of great genius, of an excursive fancy, and of fine taste. Of all this, those only who enjoyed his conversation are competent judges. He seldom spoke upon any subject without reflecting lustre upon it, and putting it in a new and striking point of view. The observation may appear singular, yet the writer cannot help being of opinion that had Mr. Wakefield been less learned his genius would have been more conspicuous. He certainly, in illustrating the work of another, sometimes wasted those talents which might have produced a better. Those industrious students who devote themselves to elucidating ancient authors, purifying the text and rectifying error, are to be classed among the benefactors of literature, but abilities inferior to those of Mr. Wakefield are competent to this undertaking. Lord Bolingbroke has somewhere remarked that Littleton had the genius for a lexicographer; Stephens had talents superior to this servile task.

Of his taste, perhaps, no better specimens need to be produced than his imitations and translations of Horace, Juvenal, &c. In his prose productions there are also some passages illuminated with all the splendour of genius, though it must be confessed that the style of the majority of them is unequal. The most perfect of his works, in this point of view, are, perhaps, "A sermon preached at Richmond on the peace of 1782," which contains some beautiful passages, and his "Evidences of Christianity." Why the majority of his productions are destitute of that polish and excellence, which might be expected from a man of his superior accomplishments, may be accounted for from the nature of the subjects, and from the circumstances under which they were composed. He accounted it the first of duties, the end and object for which he was gifted with talents, to devote those talents to the study and explanation of the Holy Scriptures. The general bent of his studies, and the principal aim of his writings was this. Much of them were therefore employed in verbal criticism, where there is little scope for eloquence, and where the matter calls for more attention than the style. Perhaps too the composing much in a foreign and a dead language is not likely to

produce fluency and elegance in a writer of English; and perhaps his fond attachment to the writers of a preceding century, valuable indeed for their learning and information, but obsolete in their style, was not calculated to improve his taste. But, in truth, the great impediment to his excellence as a writer has been already intimated. The majority of his productions, and those on controversial subjects in particular, were too hastily composed. The first edition of his Memoirs was finished in the incredibly short space of twelve days; and the Letter to the Bishop of Landaff in one evening after tea. This, while it impresses us with astonishment as to the powers of the writer, affords an excuse for his imperfections, and, at the same time, leaves an impression of deep regret, that he who possessed such powers had not united with them a portion of patience; that he who was capable of so much should have left any thing imperfect.

In fine, let us remember that the career of Mr. Wakefield was, by the act of Providence, interrupted before he had arrived at what may be considered as the age of literary maturity. Had it pleased the Great Disposer of all things to have indulged him with a protracted existence, it is not probable that it would have passed without improvement. On.