able instance of the hasty and unfeeling judgment with which man is prone to condemu his fellow man, and of that rancorous misrepresentation in particular, with which writers are accustomed to attack and revile eath other.

It is indeed little to the credit of the boasted dignity of human reason and human intellect, that even the profession of the purest principles of charity and love cannot teach men to look with pity and compassion, instead of anger and reproach, upon the errors, and mistakes, and faults of those around them.

If any one principle can be selected more contrary than all others to true religion, and more detrimental to human happiness, it is that so unhappily prevalent in the present day, both in the political and religious world, of applying to men's conduct motives which they themselves deny and disavow, when such conduct will admit of a more charitable interpretation, and may be accounted for without such evident trespasses upon justice and candour. That David Williams imbibed, and in some instances avowed, a disregard to principles which you and I, Mr. Urban, esteem as of the highest possible importance to our happiness, and productive to us of the most rational consolation and hope, we cannot but consider as the greatest misfortune of his life, and a subject of deep concern, rather than a cause of opprobrious insult and angry aver. sion. And this impression would be the stronger upon our minds when we observed, what every person that was long acquainted with him could not but observe, that his ruling passion, the general bent of his disposition, and the ultimate end he proposed in all his exertions, was to benefit his fellow creatures, to lessen the sum of human misery, and to diffuse comfort, harmony, and peace over all the dwellings of men. That he proceeded upon what we think erroneous and imperfect principles is a reason why we should endeavour to shew the inefficiency and defect of such principles; but it can be no just reason to brand his character with harsh and calumnious aspersions.

David Williams was born at a village near Cardigan, in 1738, and after receiving the rudiments of education, was placed in a school or college at Carmarthen, preparatory to the Dissenting Ministry; which profession he entered upon in obedience to parental authority, but very contrary to his own inclination. His abilities and acquirements even then appeared of a superior order; but he has often in the latter part of his life stated to the writer of these lines, that he had long considered it as a severe misfortune, that the most injurious impressions were made upon his youthful and ardent miud by the cold, austere, op

pressive, and unamiable manner in which the doctrines and duties of religion were disguised in the stern and rigid habits of a severe Puritanical master. From this college he took the office of teacher to a small congregation at Froome, in Somersetshire, and after a short resi dence was reinoved to a more weighty charge at Exeter. There the eminent abilities and engaging manners of the young preacher opened to him the seductive path of pleasure; when the reproof that some elder members of the society thought necessary, being administered in a manner to awaken resentment rather than contrition; and the eagle eye of anger discovering in his accusers imperfections of a different character indeed, but of tendency little suited to a public disclosure, the threatened recrimination suspended the proceedings, and an accommodation took place, by which Mr. Williams left Exeter, and was engaged to the superintendence of a Dissenting congregation at Highgate. After a residence there of a year or two, he made his first appearance in 1770, as an author, by a Letter to David Garrick, a judicious and masterly critique on the actor, but a sarcastic personal attack on the man, intended to rescue Mossop from the supposed unjust displeasure of the modern Roscius: this effect was produced, Mossop was liberated, and the Letter withdrawn from the booksellers. Shortly after appeared "The Philosopher, in three Conversations," which were much read, and attracted considerable notice. This was soon followed by "Essays on Public Worship, Patriotism, and Projects of Reformation;" written and published upon the occasion of the leading religious controversy of the day; but though they obtained considerable circulation, they appear not to have softened the asperities of either of the contending parties. The Appendix to these Essays gave a strong indication of that detestation of intolerance, bigotry, and hypocrisy which formed the leading character of his subsequent life, and which had been gradually taking possession of his mind from the conduct of some of the circle of associates into which bis profession had thrown him.

He published two volumes of "Sermons," chiefly upon Religious Hypocrisy, and then discontinued the exercise of his profession, and his connection with the body of Dissenters. He now turned his thoughts to the education of youth, and in 1773, published "A Treatise on Education," recommending a method founded on the plans of Commenius and Rousseau, which he proposed to carry into effect. He took a house in Lawrence street, Chelsea, married a young lady not distinguished either by fortune or connection, and soon found himself

himself at the head of a lucrative and prosperous establishment. A severe domestic misfortune in the death of his wife blighted this prospect of fame and fortune: his fortitude sunk under the shock; his anxious attendance upon her illness injured his own health, the internal concerns of the family became disarranged, and he left his house and his institution, to which he never again returned.

During his residence at Chelsea, he became a member of a select club of political and literary characters, to one of whom, the celebrated Benjamin Franklin, he afforded an asylum in his house at Chelsea during the popular ferment against him, about the time of the commencement of the American war. In this club was formed the plan of public worship intended to unite all parties and persuasions in one comprehensive form. Mr. Williams drew up and published, "A Liturgy on the universal principles of Religion and Morality;" and afterwards printed two volumes of Lectures, delivered with this Liturgy at the chapel in Margaret-str. Cavendish-square, opened 7th April, 1776. This service continued about four years, but with so little public support, that the expence of the establishment nearly involved the Lecturer in the loss of his liberty. As the plan proposed to include in one act of public worship every class of men who acknowledged the being of a God, and the utility of public prayer and praise, it necessarily left unnoticed every other point of doctrine; intending, that without expressing them in public worship, every man should be left in unmolested possession of his own peculiar opinions in private. This, however, would not satisfy any of the various classes and divisions of Christians; it was equally obnoxious to the Churchman and to the Dissenter; and as even the original proposers, though consisting only of five or six, could not long agree, several of them attempting to obtain a more marked expression of their own peculiar opinions and dogmas, the plan necessarily expired and Mr. Williams has himself of late expressed his own surprise that he should not even then have formed a more accurate estimate of the present imperfection of human nature. Mr. Williams now occupied his time and talents in assisting gentlemen whose education had been defective, and in forwarding their qualifications for the senate, the diplomacy, and the learned professions. In this employment he prepared, and subsequently published, "Lectures on Political Principles," and "Lectures on Education," in 3 vols. His abilities also were ever most readily and cheerfully employed in the cause of friendship and benevolence; and many persons under injury and distress

have to acknowledge the lasting benefit of his energetic and powerful pen.

During the alarm in 1780, he published a tract, intitled "A Plan of Association on Constitutional Principles ;" and in 1782, on occasion of the County meetings and associations, he gave to the public his "Letters on Political Liberty;" the most important perhaps of all his works; it was extensively circulated both in England and France, having been translated into French by Brissot, and was the occasion of its author being invited to Paris, to assist in the formation of a constitution for that country: had Mr. Williams's temperate and rational advice been followed, what torrents of human blood, might have been spared! He continued about six months in Paris; and on the death of the king, and declaration of war against this country, took leave of his friends of the Girondist party, with an almost prophetic intimation of the fate that awaited them. He brought with him on his return a letter from the Minister of War, addressed to Lord Grenville, and intended to give Mr. Williams, who was fully and confidentially entrusted with the private sentiments and wishes of the persons then in actual possession of the government of France, au opportunity of conveying those sentiments and wishes to the British Ministry. Mr. Williams delivered the letter into the hands of Mr. Aust, the Under Secretary of State, but never heard, from Lord Grenville on the subject. Some further curious circumstances relating to this transaction are detailed in a page or two, corrected by Mr. Williams himself, in Bisset's History of George III.

Previously to receiving this invitation he had removed from Russell-street to Brompton, for the purpose of executing an engagement he had formed with Mr. Bowyer, to superintend the splendid edition of Hume, and write a continuation of the History; but after his return from France he found himself in an extraordinary situation, for at the very time he had been denounced in France as a Royalist, he had been branded in his own country as a Democrat; and he was informed that his engagement respecting the History of England could not be carried into effect, in consequence, as it was stated, of an intimation having been given that the privi lege of dedication to the Crown would be withdrawn if he continued the work. About this time he published the "Lessons to a young Prince," and engaged in, and afterwards executed, the " History of Monmouthshire," in one vol. 4to. with plates by his friend the Rev. John Gardnor.

With regard to the circumstance upon which he always seemed inclined to rest his fame, and which was most dear to his heart-the establishment of the Literary

Fund,