Norwich, and Hatton, whither he successively removed, he obtained distinguished reputation and spent the greater portion of his life.

Dr Parr never attained to high promotion in the church. To this his well known liberality on all questions of religion and government, and his great boldness of utterance, were insuperable obstacles. He lived for thirtynine years, and died, in the comparatively obscure condition of curate of Hatton; and though, like his correspondent, Bishop Watson, whom in many points of opinion and character he greatly resembled, he sought great things for himself, and was perfectly satisfied that be deserved them, yet the dispensers of ecclesiastical power could never be persuaded to entrust much to a man, who not only thought as he pleased, but fearlessly declared what he thought. The prebend of St Paul's, for which he was indebted to the kindness of Bishop Lowth, was indeed, for the few last years of his life, a source of independence and affluence. But in its earlier periods, Parr, in common with multitudes of illustrious men, was no stranger to perplexities and straits. He suffered a severe disappointment in the failure of his election to the head mastership at Harrow, to which he had many claims, and where he had ably served as an assistant; and in opening a new establishment for himself at Stanmore, whither, we are told, he went without a penny, he writes to a friend, how impossible it was to describe the anguish of his honest and ingenuous mind, when he had been forcibly driven away from the place where he had drawn his first breath, in which he had formed the most endearing connexions, and in which he had faithfully discharged the most important duties.' Yet such, even at this time, was the confidence in his integrity, that a friend voluntarily loaned him two thousand pounds, which, after several years, was faithfully repaid. Dr Parr retained through life the deepest sense of this kindness; and on the paper enclosing his bond for this obligation, is written, 'My account with my benefactor, very sacred, and to be most carefully preserved.'

We love to dwell on such incidents; for we count it one of the best uses of biography to record the struggles of eminent men in their progress to usefulness and fame; to show us how their strongest and noblest virtues may have sprung out of their adversity; and that a career, which, regarded only in its results, would seem to the world triumphant, may have been commenced in obscurity and poverty, and perhaps for years and years have been pursued amidst mortifications, discouragements and straits.

As a village pastor and a parish priest, the character of Dr Parr may be contemplated with great satisfaction. He had lofty conceptions of the dignity and the duties of his office; and his love of authority not seldom betrayed itself in his familiar and friendly intercourse. But both his biographers agree in presenting him in the most amiable light as the friend and brother, the patron and father of his flock. His long residence among them made him perfectly acquainted with their characters and wants; and the poorest and the humblest were encouraged freely to come to him, that he might impart to them, as their circumstances required, of his counsel or protection, his sympathy or his purse. We happen to have heard some touching anecdotes of this kind from an occasional visiter at bis parsonage.

From the beginning to the end,' says Dr Johnstone, 'he was generally on the best terms with all his parishioners. He visited them all; he attended their clubs; he went into their cottages, and smoked his pipe with the meanest of them.'-'His manner of instructing them was affectionate and familiar, and well adapted to the meanest capacity. He explained as he went along; and if any particular occurrence in regard to morals or discipline, had taken place during the week, he was sure to notice it.'-'In the more atrocious cases he even mentioned the parties by name, and always designated them and the fault that had been committed, in such a way that the picture could not fail of being recognized.' pp. 828, 829.

His celebrity as a preacher frequently attracted strangers from Warwick and the neighbouring watering-place to his church; and we remember hearing from one of his delighted auditors, that after the service, while his people were waiting in their pews for their minister, as was formerly the custom in our churches in New England, he would slowly pass down the aisle, cordially shaking hands with those whom he could reach, and kindly inquiring for those of their families whom he perceived to be absent.

'It may be said with truth,' remarks Mr Field, 'that never was the liturgy of the church read with more exact propriety, or with more impressive energy, than by the officiating minister of Hatton. The most careless hearer could scarcely fail to be roused to attention, and struck with awe, when, with his majestic air, his devout looks, his deep and solemn tones, he repeated such admirable prayers as the confession, the general supplication, and the general thanksgiving; or when he recitee that beautiful and animated, though not wholly unexceptionable form, thd litany; or when, from the communion table, he delivered the decalogue, with a voice which seemed to speak his sense of that high and holy authority, under which it was originally promulgated.'-Vol. ii. p. 327.

Those, however, who judge of pastoral integrity only by the

standard prescribed by the usage and opinions of our own country, will be surprised to learn, that

'Except on particular occasions, Dr Parr seldom wrote sermons, or delivered those of his own composition from the pulpit. His usual method of preaching was, to read select passages from the printed sermons of eminent divines; of whom his favorites were Barrow, Clark, Balguy, Pierce, Jortin, among those of the English Church; and, [let it be taken for a token of his liberality,] Fawcett, Rees, G. Walker, and Zollikoffer, members of other churches. But, in the course of his reading, he always introduced his own observations; which not unfrequently, indeed, formed the largest portion of the whole; and from the justness and value of the thought, from the felicity and energy of the expression, and from the solemn earnestness of the delivery, these unpremeditated observations never failed to fix on the hearers the most powerful impressions.'-'It was his custom to comment on the lesson, or the collect, of the day; and his explanatory remarks were always instructive to the highest, and usually intelligible to the lowest, of his hearers. If, indeed, a clerical friend happened to be present, he would occasionally [as he seldom sought, or accepted assistance in the services,] introduce critical observations, with this notice, that they were intended, not for the congregation generally, but for his learned brother in particular, by whom only, he would add, they could be fully understood.'—Field, vol. ii. pp. 330 and 327.

It was a singular circumstance, that the rector and the curate of Hatton, on the great controverted points of theology, held opinions diametrically opposite. The annual visitations therefore, and the sermons for a month, which, by law, were required to be delivered by the rector, who was of the Evangelical school, were the sources of much uneasiness and vexation to his curate, who willingly would have been subject to no one. On these occasions, we are told that Dr Parr generally contrived to be absent, or, if at home, he never attended the services of the church. But, fearful for his charge, lest they should receive another gospel, and like Sir Roger de Coverly, who was landlord to the whole congregation and not willing that any should go wrong but himself, on resuming his public duties, upon the departure of the rector, he frequently addressed his people to the following effect; My dear parishioners! if, during my absence, any dark, abstruse, unintelligible notions of religion have been held up to your view-think of them no more-forget them-reject them!'

This characteristic anecdote, with all its strangeness and indecorum, is justly adduced by his Dissenting biographer, as one among the thousand proofs, that the Church of England, in aiming to establish uniformity, even on important points, attempts an impossibility. Can anything indeed exhibit in a more convincing light, the absolute futility of all such efforts? Here are two clergymen, colleagues as we should call them, fellow laborers at

least in the same field, who have voluntarily become the spiritual guides of the same flock, subscribed the same articles, professed allegiance to the same ecclesiastical authority, and deriving, moreover, their livings from the same source, absolutely at points on the great subjects of their faith and preaching, the one seizing the earliest opportunity he could find, to warn his people, and that publicly, against the errors of the other. The articles of the Church of England have been called by Paley and other moderate defenders, 'articles of peace;' by which, if anything, must be meant, that under a general assent and abstinence from direct opposition, there may exist wide diversities of belief. But the example of Parr, and of others that might be mentioned, shows us, that not even peace is secured. And when, notwithstanding the high veneration and praise which are due to the illustrious names, both of past and present days, of which that church can triumphantly boast-the learning, piety, and zeal, which would have graced the company of the apostles-we still see such opposition in its professed teachers, and find the most conflicting doctrines inculcated from the same pulpits, the conviction is clear and inevitable, that there is no power-nay, that there is not even a tendency, in articles and subscriptions, to produce uniformity of faith. Nor is this the greatest evil. Who can doubt that a solemn assent to a creed not believed, must impair the integrity of conscience, and weaken the moral principle? That many great and excellent men have submitted to this yoke, is no evidence that it is not grievous, or that it may not be safe; and we are only left to lament the process, by which such men as Clarke, Law, Paley, Watson, Parr, and a numerous host of wise and good, laymen as well as clergy, can approve for others, and vindicate for themselves, a course, which, after all that can be conceded to venerable usage, illustrious examples, liberal interpretation, and public acquiescence, is still the testifying to what is not true, and a solemn declaration of what is not believed.

The advice of Dr Paley to an anxious father, who had solicited his counsel respecting the conscientious scruples of his son on the subject of subscription, is familiar to many of our readers. Under the pretence of satisfying the original intention of the legislature, who imposed the subscription, we find that excellent writer contending for a latitude, or a secret reservation, as to articles absolutely disbelieved, irreconcilable, at least, if not revolting, to an unsophisticated conscience. But the strongest illustration of what we intend, appears in the following letter of Dr Bennett, the Bishop of Cloyne, the cherished friend

of Dr Parr, and certainly one of the purest, most enlightened, and exemplary prelates that ever adorned the English Church. Yet who can read without compassion and surprise, the wretched sophistry it would recommend? What stronger evidence can be adduced, of the corrupting influence of all such requirements, even upon the noblest and purest minds? 'And what,' inquires Mr Field, must be thought of the law, requiring subscription to numerous, unintelligible, inexplicable articles,' that need these miserable evasions? The letter is addressed to that eminent scholar, but unfortunate politician, Gilbert Wakefield.

'You have doubts on the subject of our articles; and where is the man who has not? At least, I should have a very bad opinion of the sense and the heart of the man who has not. And do you really think that every man who subscribes, is guilty of perjury, but the very few who understand them literally? Perjury perhaps is too harsh a term; subscribing that a thing is true, being very different to swearing to the truth of it. But you, at least, think us guilty of gross prevarication; and here remains the difficulty, whether you think the possession of the comforts, and what some think the honors of life, worth such a prevarication, or not? This, my dear Wakefield, you only can determine. "Fecerunt alii et multi et boni." But, I own, authority is a very bad argument against conscience. If it were not, I would mention, in particular, your fellow collegian, Jortin. He professed himself a doubter about the trinity, yet he subscribed repeatedly. I do not see why we need scrupulously inquire, in what sense the articles were originally, or are now imposed. If I can make the declaration, that I believe them to be truetake the word truth as you please-I have done enough; but I fear I shock you,' &c. &c.—Field, vol. ii. pp. 292, 293.

It was the opinion of Dr Parr, that the propriety of continuing in the church, when conscientious scruples exist in the mind, will depend upon personal circumstances, which must be different with different men, and upon general principles, about which the best scholars, and the best Christians, are not wholly agreed.' In his own case, he was undoubtedly aided by the force of early attachments and a fondness for ecclesiastical parade, which, as we believe he has somewhere confessed, might, under other influences, have carried him back to the Church of Rome. He delighted strangely in the gown and the cassoc, the church bells and the painted windows, and in all the pomp of the cathedral service, and he would gladly have seated himself on an Episcopal throne. But notwithstanding this, he was the devoted friend of civil and religious liberty. He contended nobly for the rights of conscience. He exposed on all occasions the weakness and the misery of an intolerant spirit. He was the friend and patron of every measure suited to diffuse