most convinced that the gold stick in waiting at St. James's was borrowed from the Choabdar, or staff-bearer of an Indian Behudar, who, as he says, 'carries a baton of silver;' and it is nearly certain with him, that our Christmas Boxes travelled all the way from Persia, because there the word Bakshish signifies a gift. We are heartily weary of such fooleries, which answer no other purpose than to bring into contempt what little of value may be discovered among the remains of antiquity in Hindostan.

FROM THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE.

The works of the right Rev. Beilby Porteus, D. D. late Bishop of London: with his Life. By the Rev. Robert Hodgson, A. M. F. R.S. Rector of St. George's, Hanover-square, and one of the Chaplains in Ordinary to his Majesty. In six volumes, 8vo. 21. 8s.

MR. HODGSON, the author of this publication, is a nephew of Mrs. Porteus. He was, for some years, chaplain to the Bishop, and was presented by his venerable patron to the living of St. George's, Hanover-square. Nobody could be better qualified to write the Bishop's life. No other person knew so well the different occurrences of it, or could so properly form an estimate of his lordship's character. Mr. Hodgson's task, however, has been considerably lightened, and the value of his book much increased, by having in his possession several manuscript volumes, in Bishop Porteus's own hand-writing, containing a great variety of facts and observations on the principal incidents of his life. From these volumes we are favoured with many extracts.

The Bishop was certainly a very sincere, worthy prelate. He had a great desire to do good, and spared no pains in the prosecution of his object. He was a man of superior abilities and attainments and will ever be revered as an ornament of the Bench. He seems to have done his duty without fear or favour, and always to have remembered that he had a labour to perform for the advantages which he enjoyed. He was never inattentive to the offices of his sacred function. On some occasions, his zeal was manifested with apostolical intrepidity.

The Bishop was born at York, in the year 1731, and was the youngest but one of nineteen children. His parents were natives of Virginia, who removed to England, with a small fortune, in 1720. He was sent to a private school at Ripon, and afterwards to Christ's College, Cambridge. When he took the degree of A. B. his name appeared upon the tripos as tenth wrangler; and

the chancellor's prizes for classical merit having been just at that time instituted, he obtained the honour of the second. He was chosen fellow of his college, and ordained at the age of twentysix. Soon after ordination, Mr. Seaton's prize was adjudged to Mr. Porteus's poem on Death: a composition which has been long and justly admired. In the year 1762, Archbishop Secker appointed him one of his domestic chaplains, and he quitted college, where he had lived for fourteen years, to reside at Lambeth. In 1765, Mr. Porteus married Miss Hodgson, of Ashbourne, in Derbyshire; and in the same year he was presented by the Archbishop, to the two small livings of Rucking and Wittersham, in Kent, which he afterwards resigned for the rectory of Hunton, in the same county, in addition to a prebend at Peterborough, which had been given him by his Grace before. Upon the death of Dr. Denne, 1767, he obtained the rectory of Lambeth, and, soon after this, took the degree of D. D. In 1769, he was appointed king's chaplain; and, shortly after, was made master of the hospital of St. Cross, near Winchester. In 1776, he kissed his Majesty's hand on his promotion to the see of Chester; a preferment, says Mr. Hodgson, on his own part, perfectly unsolicited, and so entirely unlooked-for, that, till a short time before it happened, he had not the smallest expectation of it. He now very honourably resigned the living of Lambeth, which he had permission to retain, that he might be able to give an undivided attention to his episcopal duties. On the death of Bishop Lowth, in 1787, Dr. Porteus was translated to the see of London. He received on this occasion the following letter from Mr. Pitt:

MY LORD,

"In consequence of the death of the Bishop of London, which took place yesterday, I lost no time in making it my humble recommendation to his Majesty, that your lordship might be appointed to succeed him. I have this moment received his Majesty's answer, expressing his entire approbation of the proposal, and authorizing me to acquaint your Lordship with his gracious intentions.-I have peculiar satisfaction in executing this commission, and in the opportunity of expressing the sentiments of high respect and esteem, with which I have the honour to be,

"My Lord,

"Your Lordship's most obedient,
and most humble servant,
"W. PITT."

"This important communication," Mr. Hodgson observes," made in such flattering and gracious terms, was most gratifying to the Bishop's feeling: but yet the high station to which he was raised did not for a moment carry his thoughts from the great and only Disposer of all earthly good. Much as he felt the honour conferred upon him by

his sovereign, he looked beyond this world, up to Him, who is the King of kings; for, subjoined to a copy of the preceding letter, are written in his own hand the following words: I acknowledge the goodness of a kind Providence, and am fully sensible that nothing but this could have placed me in a situation so infinitely transcending my expecta. tions and deserts.'

"This appointment, like all that he had before filled, was, on his own part perfectly unsought-for and unsolicited. So far, indeed, from being desirous of a change of station, he had, on the contrary, many substantial reasons for wishing to retain the bishopric of Chester. During his residence in that city, the attention he had uniformly showed to all ranks of people; the ease and affability of his whole deportment; his kindness to all who needed his assistance; the warm interest he took in the affairs of his clergy; his endeavours to promote in every way the cause of religion, and the good of those committed to his charge; all this had placed him high in public estimation, and rendered him in every part of his diocese respected and beloved. It was not therefore without much regret, and a hard struggle with his own feelings, that he quitted a situation to which he was most sincerely attached, to enter upon another, where the duties were more burthensome, and the responsibility greatly increased.

"In addition to this, he was under the necessity, by accepting the see of London, of giving up his living at Hunton; that calm, delightful retreat, where he had spent so many years of happiness, and which, I am persuaded, no accession of dignity, no increase of revenue, would have ever induced him to resign, had it not been for the high and honourable principal, which in all circumstances governed him through life-the relinquishment of private enjoyment for the sake of public usefulness. To those who knew him well, as it was my privilege to do, it is superfluous to say, that he quitted this favourite residence with infinite regret. His own words will best express what he felt upon

the occasion.

"When I took my leave of Hunton early in the morning, and cast a parting look on the rich vale below (the sun shining gloriously upon it, and lighting up all the beauties of that enchanting scene), my heart sunk within me; and as I went slowly up the hill, I could not forbear repeating and applying to myself those exquisite lines of the Min strel,

"O! how canst thou renounce the boundless store
Of charms, which Nature to her vot'ries yields;
The warbling woodland, the resounding shore,
The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields;
All that the genial ray of Morning gilds,

And all that echoes to the song of Even;

All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields,

And all the dread magnificence of heaven;

O! how canst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiv'n !"

"It was, indeed, a long time before I could forgive myself. But various circumstances rendered this sacrifice necessary; and, by de grees, custom reconciled me to a scene very different from that to which I had been so long accustomed, and which it cost me no small pain to renounce.”

Bishop Porteus had much at heart the improvement of the condition of the negro slaves employed in the cultivation of the West India islands, and their instruction in christian knowledge. We are informed, and we believe, that "he did all that the most active and unwearied zeal could do, to advance in every possible way" this great object. As the ecclesiastical superintendant of the colonies, he, at various times, and in the most earnest manner, impressed the necessity of attention to the religious instruction of the negroes, on the governors and proprietors of the different islands. His benevolent mind was much interested in the abolition of the slave trade; and when this happy event was brought about in the year 1807, his sentiments and feelings were thus expressed on paper:

"The Act," he says, "which has just passed, has at length put a period, in this country, to the most inhuman and execrable traffic that ever disgraced the Christian world; and it will reflect immortal honour on the British parliament and the British nation. For myself I am inexpressibly thankful to a kind Providence, for permitting me to see this great work, after such a glorious struggle, brought to a conclusion. It has been for upwards of four-and-twenty years the constant object of my thoughts; and it will be a source of the purest and most genuine satisfaction to me during the remainder of my life, and above all at the final close of it, that I have had some share in promoting, to the utmost of my power, the success of so important and so righteous a measure. It ought to be remembered, however, in justice to a most worthy man, no less remarkable for his modesty and humility, than for his learning and piety, I mean Mr. Granville Sharp, that the first publication which drew the attention of this country to the horrors of the African trade, came from his pen; and that at his own expense, and by his own personal exertions, he liberated several negroes from a state of slavery, who were brought over by their masters to England, with an intention of carrying them back again to the West Indies.

"Upon the whole, long and severe as this conflict has been, the labour of it is amply repaid by the immense magnitude of the benefit obtained by it. It is nothing less than a total change in the condition of one quarter of the habitable globe, containing many millions of inhabitants; a change from the lowest abyss of human misery, to ease, to freedom, and to happiness. What a glorious work for this country to have accomplished! and what a contrast is there between the conduct of the common Enemy of mankind, and that of the English Government the former desolating, enslaving, and deluging with blood the Cou

tinent of Europe the latter giving liberty, not merely political liberty, but real, substantial, personal liberty, to the continent of Africa!* "It was said by Mr. Pitt, that the slave trade was the greatest practical evil that ever afflicted the human race: and, if this be true, the annihilation of that trade is the greatest practical good that can be conferred on man: and so I firmly believe that it will prove to be. There never was, I am persuaded, from the beginning of the world to this hour, a single instance, in which so great a quantity of evil was ever exterminated from the earth, and so great a quantity of good produced, as by this one act of the British legislature. It will call down up. on us the blessing of millions, not only now in existence, but of millions yet unborn: and, what is still more important, it will draw down upon our arms the blessings of Heaven; and be the means of securing to us the favour of that Being, whose hand outstretched in our defence can alone carry us safely through the dangers that surround us!

"Of the conduct of Mr. Wilberforce, in the prosecution of this great cause, I cannot express my admiration in adequate terms. The applause he received was such, as was scarcely ever before given to any man sitting in his place in either House of Parliament: but, had it been even greater than it was, he would have deserved it all, for the unceasing efforts, the firm, unshaken, intrepid perseverance, with which he maintained, and finally brought to a successful issue, the most glorious battle that ever was fought by any human being."

The following is the Bishop's interesting account of a visit which he paid, in autumn 1801, at the residence of the Princess Charlotte of Wales:

"Yesterday the 6th of August, I passed a very pleasant day at Shrewsbury House, near Shooter's Hill, the residence of the Princess Charlotte of Wales. The day was fine; and the prospect extensive and beautiful, taking in a large reach of the Thames, which was covered with vessels of various sizes and descriptions. We saw a good deal of the young Princess. She is a most captivating and engaging child, and, considering the high station she may hereafter fill, a most interesting and important one. She repeated to me several of her hymns with great correctness and propriety; and on being told, that when she went to South-End, in Essex, as she afterwards did for the benefit of sea-bathing, she would then be in my diocese, she fell down on her knees and begged my blessing. I gave it her with all my heart, and with my earnest secret prayers to God, that she might adorn her

* "How perfectly applicable to this country, with a few slight alterations, is that eloquent eulogy of the Greeks upon the Roman people. The former exclaimed with ecstacy. "Esse aliquam in terris gentem, quæ sua impensa, suo labore ac periculo, bella gerit pro libertate aliorum; nec hoc finitimis, aut propinque vicinitatis hominibus, aut terres continenti junctis præstet: maria trajiciat, ne quod toto orbe terrarum injustum imperium sit, et ubique Jas, Fas, Lex potentissima sint." Liv. 1. xxxiii. c. 33.