was fortunate indeed in being the first adventurer to investigate a region so delightful. . . . He has displayed in the execution of his task much sound judgment and research. All the notes he has selected are of sterling value; and those which are the results of his own investigations exhibit originality and learning.-CHEEVER, GEORGE BARRELL, 1830, Lowth's Hebrew Poetry, North American Review, vol. 31, pp. 366, 367, 375.

If you have not read Bishop Lowth's "Prælections on Hebrew Poetry," let me commend its perusal to you. It opened to me, some years ago, quite a new view of the beauties of the prophetical and poetical part of the Old Testament.WEBSTER, DANIEL, 1844, Letter to Mrs. Paige, March 27; Private Correspondence, vol. II, p. 186.

In the year 1753 the Clarendon Press

at Oxford brought out, in a splendid quarto with all the honours of typography, the series of Lectures which Lowth had delivered during his ten years' occupancy of the chair of poetry in that University. It was not the externals only of the volume of which the University was proud. It was no less remarkable for its matter. It was the first sign of the awakening of Oxford from that torpor under which two generations had now lain, under the besotting influence of Jacobite and highchurch politics. The Lectures "De Sacra Poesi Hebræorum" seemed to combine the polish of a past generation, long gone, with the learning of a new period to come. The lore of Michaelis was here dressed not in Latin as classical as, and more vigorous than, that of Addison. Kocher has indeed shown that Lowth's Hebrew skill was not equal to his pretensions; and Parr has pointed out that the professor was capable of writing poterit after ut. Still the effect of the Lectures was great. The Jacobite University had at last produced a work which might vie in solidity with anything that proceeded from Hanoverian Göttingen, and with the finished. style of which Göttingen had nothing to compare. The "classic elegance of Lowth" became a standard phrase, and continued to be so till into the present century; and German Hebraists occupied themselves in refuting the temerity of his numerous emendations of the Hebrew text. -PATTISON, MARK, 1863-89, Life of

Bishop Warburton, Essays, ed. Nettleship, vol. II, p. 135.

Lowth's lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews (1753) encouraged the study of the Old Testament from the purely literary point of view, and opened up anew all the grandeur and imagery of Hebrew poetry. The critical side of his work helped also in forming true ideas on the nature of poetry. His chapter on "Poetic Imagery from the Objects of Nature" must have been especially suggestive in those days.-PHELPS, WILLIAM LYON, 1893, The Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement, p. 172.

GENERAL

A sublime and admirably-executed version ["Isaiah"].-HORNE, THOMAS HARTWELL, 1818-39, A Manual of Biblical Bibliography.

pressed the meaning and spirit of the No former translator ["Isaiah"] has exevangelical prophet so felicitously as Lowth. . Lowth is, perhaps, too partial to conjectural criticism, and the version is too highly wrought for common use; but it is a valuable specimen of sacred criticism, and indispensable to the interpretation of Isaiah.-ORME, WILLIAM, 1824, Bibliotheca Biblica.

The reflections are sparing ["Life of William of Wykeham"] and the style is languid. Even in antiquarian lore there is a dearth of intelligence; but the subject was not suited to the taste, habits, and learning, of Lowth.-DIBDIN, THOMAS FROGNALL, 1824, The Library Companion, p. 523.

He gave to England the first regular grammar of his native tongue [?]. We are somewhat surprised that Murray's grammar, which is but an enlarged copy of Lowth's, should so generally have occupied its place; and that, too, with little acknowledgment to the individual, from whom were derived its plan and most of its materials. Although Lowth's treatise was written so early as the year 1758, yet we doubt whether there is at the present day a single work of equal excellence in the same compass.-CHEEVER, George BARRELL, 1830, Lowth's Hebrew Poetry, North American Review, vol. 31, p. 377.

The writings by which Bishop Lowth is most known are, "A Short Introduction to English Grammar," for many years a

text-book in the schools and colleges in England and in this country; his "Translation of the Prophet Isaiah," with a large body of valuable notes; and his "Lectures on the Poetry of the Hebrews." The latter is a work which unites a depth of learning to a discriminating criticism and a refined taste, in a very unusual degree; and while it is of inestimable value to the professed Biblical student, it affords equal pleasure and instruction to the general reader. CLEVELAND, CHARLES D., 1848, A Compendium of English Literature, p. 673.

In polished dexterity of argument, tinged, and not more than tinged, with the raillery of one who knows exactly what is due both to himself and his antagonists, this short piece has perhaps never been

surpassed in literary warfare. At that period of paper ruffianism, when the courtesies of legitimate warfare were unpractised and unknown, such moderate language, combined with such superiority of demeanour, was wholly new. Even the mere English composition of the "Letter" was an event which opened a new era in writing, and made the public wonder that it could ever have admired the lame sentences and clumsy English of Warburton and his followers.-PATTISON, MARK, 1863-89, Life of Bishop Warburton, Essays, ed. Nettleship, vol. II, p. 139.

Although an excellent critic of poetry, had no creative gift. PHELPS, WILLIAM LYON, 1893, The Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement, p. 72.

PERSONAL

Here lies a little ugly nauseous elf,
Who judging only from its wretched self,
Feebly attempted, petulant and vain,
The "Origin of Evil" to explain.

A mighty Genius at this elf displeas'd,
With a strong critick grasp the urchin
squeez'd.

For thirty years its coward spleen it kept, Till in the dust the mighty Genius slept; Then stunk and fretted in expiring snuff, And blink'd at Johnson with its last poor puff.

-BOSWELL, JAMES, 1778? Epitaph Prepared for a Creature not quite Dead Yet.

Mr. Soame Jenyns, who died a few days ago, had (as Mr. Wm. Gerard Hamilton, who sat for six years at the Board of Trade with him, informed me) no notion of ratiocination, no rectitude of mind; nor could he be made without much labour to comprehend an argument. If however there was anything weak, or defective, or ridiculous in what another said, he always laid hold of it and played upon it

with success. He looked at everything with a view to pleasantry alone. This being his grand object, and he being no reasoner, his best friends were at a loss to know whether his book upon Christianity was serious or ironical. He twice endeavoured to speak in the House of Commons, and every one was prepared with a half-grin before he uttered a word; but he failed miserably. He had a most inharmonious voice, and a a laugh scarcely human. He laughed all his life at patriotism and public spirit; and supposed all oppression of the people by those in power was merely imaginary.-MALONE, EDMOND, 1787, Maloniana, ed. Prior, p. 375.

He was a man of great mildness, gentleness, and sweetness of temper, which he manifested to all with whom he had concerns, either in the business of life or its social intercourse. His earnest desire, so far as possible, was never to offend any person; and he made such allowances for those whose disposition differed from

his own, that he was rarely offended with others. He was strict in the performance of religious duties in public, and a constant practiser of them in private. His conversation among his equals was most amiable and engaging; for he possessed a well informed mind, accompanied by an uncommon vein of the most lively, spirited, and genuine wit, which always flowed copiously, but was ever tempered by the most perfect kindness. To his inferiors. he was most kind and courteous, not only in his expressions and behaviour, but in assisting them in all their wants and distresses, ever considering his poor neighbours in the country as part of his own family; and that he might give them his care and protection, he spent his summers on his estate, saying, "I can do more good in my own parish at that time than in any other situation." It is also no ordinary or misplaced eulogium which we read in the obituary of that parish:"Decr. 18, 1787, Soame Jenyns, Esq., in the eighty-third year of his age, one of the most amiable of men and one of the truest Christians, in whom was united one of the finest understandings to one of the best hearts."-COLE, CHARLES NELSON, 1790, ed., The Works of Soame Jenyns, Life.

He was the man who bore his part in all societies with the most even temper and undisturbed hilarity of all the good companions, whom I ever knew. He came into your house at the very moment you had put upon your card; he dressed himself to do your party honour in all the colours of the jay; his lace indeed had long since lest its lustre, but his coat had faithfully retained its cut since the days. when gentlemen wore embroidered velvets with short sleeves, boot cuffs, and buckram shirts. As nature had cast him in the exact mould of an ill-made pair of stiff stays, he followed her so close in the fashion of his coat, that it was doubted if he did not wear them. BeBecause he had a protuberant wen just under his poll, he wore a wig that did not cover above half his head. His eyes were protruded like the eyes of the lobster, who wears them at the end of his feelers, and yet there was room between one of these and his nose for another wen, that added nothing to his beauty; yet I heard this good man very innocently remark,

when Gibbon published his history, that he wondered any body so ugly could write a book. Such was the exterior of a man, who was the charm of the circle, and gave a zest to every company he came into; his pleasantry was of a sort peculiar to himself; it harmonised with everything; it was like the bread to our dinner; you did not perhaps make it the whole, or principal part, of your meal, but it was an admirable and wholesome auxiliary to your other viands. Soame Jenyns told you no long stories, engrossed not much of your attention, and was not angry with those that did; his thoughts were original, and were apt to have a very whimsical affinity to the paradox in them: he wrote verses upon dancing, and prose upon the origin of evil, yet he was a very indifferent metaphysician, and a worse dancer; ill-nature and personality, with the single exception of his lines upon Johnson, I never heard fall from his lips; those lines I have forgotten, though I believe I was the first person to whom he recited them; they were very bad, but he had been told that Johnson ridiculed his metaphysics, and some of us had just then been making extemporary epitaphs upon each other.- CUMBERLAND, RICHARD, 1806, Memoirs Written by Himself, vol. 1, p. 336.

His appearance, dress, manner, and conversation, were very eccentric, and those of his wife, who generally accompanied him on his visits, were no less so. The lady here alluded to was his second wife, who entertained so exalted an idea of her husband's accuracy and propriety of conversation, that she acquired the habit of always repeating the last sentence of any thing he said. Thus when the gentleman observed, we had a disagreeable journey to town, the roads were bad, we were sadly jolted, the lady would immediately repeat the observation "Yes, as Mr. Jenyns says, we were sadly jolted." -BELOE, WILLIAM, 1817, The Sexagenarian, vol. II, p. 214.

Soame Jenyns appears to have been an amiable country gentleman, rather bigoted in his political tendencies, but not without. acuteness and elegance of style. He could write pretty verses after the model of Prior; that he " of Prior; that he "gave his days and nights to the study of Addison" was inferred from two or three papers contributed to the "World"; and he is said to

have been the charm of every social circle which he entered -STEPHEN, LESLIE, 1876, History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century, vol. 1, p. 385.

Soame Jenyns once expressed a wonder that anybody so ugly as Gibbon could write a book; the real marvel would have been if that monumental work, the "Decline and Fall," had been produced by a handsome man. The remark was still stranger, coming, as it did, from one who was himself a writer of books, and of good

books too, although he was disfigured by

an immense wen under his head, and had eyes protruding like a lobster's, yet allowing room for another wen between them and his nose.-MATHEWS, WILLIAM, 1887, Men, Places and Things, p. 242.

Here lies poor Jenyns, whose good taste and wit

In Johnson emphasized the "cough and spit," Held cheap the sweetness of that monarch mind,

And found delight in mocking at the rind;
Rude was the Doctor, yet in kindly wise;
In Jenyns, sooth, the case is otherwise,
For he, whom Jenyns rudely called a "brute"
Is all that makes important this dispute;
Well had it been for Jenyns, if his art
Supplied such lack of manners with such
heart!

-MAHANY, ROWLAND B., 1891, On Soame
Jenyns, Life, Apr. 30.

INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF THE
CHRISTIAN RELIGION

A work of very considerable shrewdness and ingenuity, in which many striking views of Christianity are adduced in support of its heavenly origin.-ORME, WILLIAM, 1824, Bibliotheca Biblica.

The last and best work of Mr. Jenyns, was the dissertation on "the Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion." The literary history of this work is not without interest. Originally impressed with deep convictions of the truth of Christianity, its author allowed himself to be seDeism. Renewed inquiry re-established duced into doubts, and finally settled in

Im

his mind in a rational faith. He subsequently endeavored to arrange in this treatise the arguments and considerations which had most weight in his case. mediately on its first appearance, it became popular with all parties, and yet every party in religion and literature expressed the most decided dissatisfaction with some particular portion of the argument, or some special view of the author. Such has continued to be its reception up to the present hour. As a whole, it is admitted to be the best treatise, in its particular range, yet given to the world, but in some respect-differing according to the source whence the censure comesthe disapproval of its individual doctrines and reasonings is almost universal. We have hinted that the circumstances of the author may be pleaded as offering at once an apology and a distinction in favour of his work. They go far also to account for this mixed estimate of its merits. With a more experienced theology, he would have conducted his argument more technically, and without the reckless admissions which offend divines; but, at the same time, he might thus have rendered his treatise less popular with ordinary readers. Let the man of the world, again, who turns away from the evangelical seriousness, and scriptural earnestness of other parts, remember, that these are the sentiments of one who, amid the gay literature and selfish business of the world, thus felt, and thus recommends the power of Christianity.-MEMES, JOHN S., 1849, ed., Christian Literature: Evidences, Prefatory Memoirs, p. 18.

GENERAL

I have read the little wicked book about Evil, that settled Mr. Dodsley's conscience in that point, and find nothing in it but

absurdity.-GRAY, THOMAS, 1757, Letter to Rev. William Mason, April 23; Works, ed. Gosse, vol. II, p. 310.

When specious sophists with presumption

scan

The source of evil hidden still from man;
Revive Arabian tales, and vainly hope
To rival St. John, and his scholar Pope:
Though metaphysicks spread the gloom of
night,

By reason's star he guides our aching sight; The bounds of knowledge marks, and points the way

To pathless wastes, were wilder'd sages stray;

Where, like a farthing link-boy, Jenyns stands,

And the dim torch drops from his feeble hands.

-COURTENAY, JOHN, 1786, A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the Late S. Johnson.

His poetry does not rise above mediocrity: indeed, it scarcely deserves the name; but the style of his prose is smooth and lucid, his turns of thought are neat and unexpected; and when he sports in irony, in which he apparently delights to indulge, he is uncommonly playful and airy. Jenyns has evidently a predilection for paradoxical opinions; and why, he might reasonably urge in his defence, should a

man address the Public, who has nothing

new to offer to it?-GREEN, THOMAS, 1779-1810, Diary of a Lover of Literature.

In a literary point of view he obtained a considerable degree of temporary celebrity, occasioned principally by the bold and paradoxical nature of his disquisitions. . To any distinguished rank as a poet he has no claim; it may be said, however, that his versification is smooth, and sometimes elegant, though deficient in vigour; and that several of his smaller productions effervesce with humour and well chosen satire. As a writer in prose, he is entitled to more estimation, whether his matter or manner be considered.-DRAKE, NATHAN, 1810, Essays, Illustrative of the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler, vol. II, p. 286.

His poems were published collectively in the volumes of Dodsley, and whoever pleases, may judge of their value.

But

they excited no great interest when originally written; they excite less at the present period, and will probably glide down the stream of time, till, with the

mob of gentlemen who write with ease, they sink into the waters of oblivion. BELOE, WILLIAM, 1817, The Sexagenarian, vol. II, p. 215.

We venture to assert, that there are few books in the language, of the same size as the little volume before us, containing more acute and ingenious reasoning, abounding in more lively illustration or more elegant and polished composition. To those who do not possess this little volume we fearlessly recommend. them to procure it, and unhesitatingly promise them a rich, though small, store of instruction and entertainment. The first Essay, on the chain of universal being, is chiefly remarkable for the complete and elegant manner in which this mysterious connection is shewn to exist. The reasoning in it is of that sort which carries conviction, by the method of stating and setting forth the bearings of the question. called the reasoning of development, question. It may, perhaps, be not unfitly which requires nothing more than an unveiling or disclosing of the hidden link of circumstances, and not an invention of arguments, but a mere opening of the eyes to the nature of things.-SOUTHERN, H., 1820, Soame Jenyns's Disquisitions, Retrospective Review, vol. 2, pp. 291, 292.

Read the works of Soame Jenyns and of Locke. Would not both of these men, for instance, while they retained their integrity, have been seen always on the opposite sides of any question that could affect the constitution and government of a free country.-SMYTH, WILLIAM, 1840, Lectures on Modern History, Lecture XXIV.

Some divines rejoiced that Jenyns had discarded his early scepticism and embraced orthodoxy; others questioned his sincerity and disliked his ingenious paradoxes. . . . Jenyns's prose style was regarded by his contemporaries as a model of ease and elegance. It was highly commended by Burke, and Boswell allowed that "Jenyns was possessed of lively talents

. . and could very happily play with a light subject." His metaphysical speculations were not profound, and his political views were short-sighted; but he wrote some agreeable essays (though Charles Lamb entered his works on the list of "books which are no books").-BULLEN, A. H., 1892, Dictionary of Nationol Biography, vol. XXIX, p. 333.