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222] Character of the late Mr. Samuel Fothergill.
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gations that have lately been compleated.

The long-projected junction of the Isis with the Severn is another undertaking, which, though of more difficulty than the preceding, is by no means impracticable.

We forbear the mention other canals, which tend only to shorten navigations already established; such as that from Reading to London, represented by the letters A and B, in the general plan; and also the canals from particular towns to other navigations, such as that from Droitwich to the Severn; these having reference only to the particular places to which they are carried: but the junction of rivers that fall into opposite seas are works of magnitude, in which whole communities are interested, and, therefore, are worthy the public attention.

Explanation of the Letters in the Plan.
                                Miles.

a b    mark the Lancaster Canal 72 1/2
c d    Liverpool to Leeds      108 1/2
d e    Leeds to Selby ___       23 1/4
f g h  Duke of Bridgewater's    34
       Navigation ___ 
i k l  Chester and Middlewich   26 3/4
h m    Trent to Mersey          88
n o    Trent to Severn          46 1/2
p q r  Birmingham Canal         24 1/4
s t    Droitwich Canal           5 1/2
u w    Coventry Canal           36 1/4
x y    Oxford Canal             82
z &    Chesterfield Canal       44
A      Reading to Monkey Island 15
B      Monkey to Island to Isleworth 18

Mr. Urban,
TO commemorate the virtues of great and eminent men, who have been honourable in their day, is a tribute due to their memory:-a tribute which sensible men pay from emotions of respectful gratitude, and from a hope that it may prove an incentive to the living to emulate their virtues.

Of this class the late Mr. Samuel Fothergill, of Warrington, an eminent Preacher among the Quakers, and brother to Dr. Fothergill, of London, may with great justice be ranked. I knew him well; and had the happiness of his occasional acquaintance. I call it the happiness, because I never enjoyed the company of any person from whom I received more real satisfaction; and, however diversified with affliction the future part of my life
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may prove, I shall never remember those hours I have spent with him but with peculiar pleasure. He was an happy compound of the Gentleman and the Christian;  the virtues and amiable qualities of each character being admirably blended in him. Graceful in his person and deportment, easy and affable in his manner, he commanded both respect and love. He possessed natural abilities far superior to the generality of mankind, and improved them to the utmost of his power. Well read both in books and men, his studies did not terminate in barren speculation; but the great truths in religion were deeply implanted in his heart, and beamed forth illustriously in a benevolent and truly Christian conduct. 

As a member of civil society, he was exceedingly useful, filling up the social and relative duties of life with great propriety. Blameless in his manners, kind, charitable, and ready on all occasions to devote his time and talents to promote the best of all causes, the good of mankind, he lived beloved, and his loss is deeply deplored by all who had the happiness of knowing his worth.

As a Preacher, he was far superior to most the fill that station: found in the important doctrines of the Christian Faith, he endeavoured to promote them universally, with the greatest energy of language, and the most persuasive eloquence. In this capacity he was, indeed, truly great; and his greatness received additional lustre from his humility. Although followed by numbers, and courted by persons and superior rank and station, and admired by those of all persuasions, the applause, which his eminence justly acquired, did not exalt, but evidently tended to make him humble. He was a person of an enlarged mind, zealous without bigotry, and a steady promoter of universal charity. In his sermons, it was evident to all his intelligent hearers, that he deeply felt the force of those solemn truths he delivered; and his manner of displaying them was so justly emphatical, that none but the insensible or obdurate could withstand their force, or remain unaffected by them. He travelled much, from the most disinterested motives, among his friends in Great-Britain, Ireland, and the American Colonies, for the promotion of piety and Christian virtue, and for the advancement of that faith
and
223] An important Historical Fact corrected.
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and religion in which he most surely believed, and was so eminent an example.

During the latter part of his life he was much indisposed in his health; but (as I have heard from the best authority) perfectly happy and easy in his mind, having an evidence in himself, that he was approaching that state and felicity which is prepared for the righteous. This evidence supported him through the remains of a painful life, and was his unfailing hope in the awful hour of death, which (when near his end) he declared "had no terrors, nor would the grave have an victory:" and also added, that "as he had lived, so he should close with the most unshaken assurance, that he had not followed cunningly-devised fables, but the pure living and eternal substance." -Such was his exemplary life!-Such his triumphant death! -A life so spent is truly honourable-and such a death unspeakably glorious!
A Lover of Truth and Justice.

Mr. Urban,
In Sir John Dalrymple's Appendix to his Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland, part 1. p. 71. are two letters, which enable us to clear up not only some aspersions of Bishop Burnet on the Earl of Dartmouth and the Duke of York, but also a mistake or two of Dr. Campbell in Biographia Britannica, vol. ii. p. 1335, note C. The Bishop tells us, that "the Duke, when he was shipwrecked [in the Gloucester frigate, in May 1682], got into a boat, and took care of his dogs and some unknown persons, who were taken, from that earnest care of his, to be his priests. The long-boat went off with very few in her, though she might have carried off above eighty more than she did. One hundred and fifty persons perished: some of them men of great quality. But the Duke took no notice of this cruel neglect, which was laid chiefly to Legge's charge." On this Dr. C makes the following remark: "What blame feel upon Legge, or who this Legge was, is not easy to determine; for as to Colonel Legge, the Master of the Ordnance, and aPrivyCounsellor, afterwards Lord Dartmouth, and Admiral of the Fleet, he was visiting the fortress of the kingdom at this time by his Majesty's command." For this he quotes Collins's Peerage, vol. iii. p. 107. Colonel Legge, it is true, had a commission in 1682, for viewing
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all the forts and garrisons in England; but that he was the Legge whom the Bishop mentions, and unjustly blames, appears from the following letter of his son, (communicated by the present E. of Dartmouth) which you would do well to insert at large, as it clears up an interesting fact, and exculpates both the Duke and him, of this imputed charge of insensibility, too natural to the Duke on most other trying occasions:

Earl of DARTMOUTH to Erasmus
Lewis, Esq.
Sandwell, Jan. 25, 1723-4.
Sir,
"This is only in answer to the last paragraph of yours of the 21ft. My father was on board the Gloucester, but so little deserved to have the drowning 150 men (which the Bishop has so liberally bestowed upon him) laid chiefly to his charge, that it was in great measure owing to him, that any escaped after the ship had struck. He several times pressed the Duke to get into the boat, who refused to do it, telling him, that if he were gone, nobody would take care of the ship, which he had hopes might be saved, if she were not abandoned. But my father finding she was ready to sink, told him if he stayed any longer they should be obliged to forced him out: upon which the Duke ordered a strong box to be lifted into the boat, which, besides being extremely weighty, took up a good deal of time, as well as room. My father asked him with some warmth, if there was any thing in it worth a man's life. The Duke answered, that there were things of so great consequence both to the King and himself, that he would hazard his own rather that it should be lost. Before he went off, he enquired for Lord Roxborough and Lord Obrian, but the confusion and hurry was so great that they could not be found. When the Duke, and as many as she would hold with safety, were in the boat, my father stood with his sward drawn to hinder the crowd from oversetting of her, which I suppose was what the Bishop esteemed a fault; but the King thanked him publickly for the care he had taken of the Duke; and the Dutchess, who was not apt to favour him much upon other occasions, said upon this, that the thought herself more obliged to him than to any man in the world, and should do so as long as she lived.
I can-

Transcription Notes:
Please note the difference between the form of f and s in this typeface. The long S lacks the crossbar. The modern s shape is used at the end of a word. ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-05-11 23:53:32