perhaps he intended as a reproof to his rider for being ready to pronounce a judgment against his character upon so short an acquaintance. Had he even known that I was under the necessity of composing part of a sermon while upon his back, he could not have been more sedate and obsequious. I should certainly have taken a great deal of care of him on his mistress's account, but such a sense of personal obligation made it still more impossible for me to neglect him. I have ordered him the best accommodation, and intend myself the honour of a visit, as soon as I have finished this important dispatch.

I delivered your ladyship's message to Mr. Some as soon as I could find him, and I am sure I delivered it perfectly well, because it was precisely as I had received it from your ladyship's mouth. He gives his humble service to you, and desires me to inform you that his son is much as he was when he saw you last, and that he intends to wait upon you early on Monday morning, if nothing more than ordinary prevent it.

I had the pleasure to perceive I was welcome to my friends at Harborough, and I doubt not but that my bringing the news of Lady Russell's health contributed something towards making me so.

My most humble acknowledgments wait upon your ladyship, for the many favours I have received from you, and particularly for the engaging and obliging manner in which you treated me during my late visit. After I had been entertained with so

much magnificence, and what I value a great deal more, with such hearty kindness, for a whole week together, nothing was further from my thoughts than a moid'or. I cannot but thank your ladyship for so generous a present, but you must pardon me, madam, if I tell you that such deserts as these must not be customary, for if they should, they will entirely deprive me of that freedom with which I should otherwise be ready to offer you my services. And when I call on the Lord's day evening, which in such a case must be but very seldom, such a profusion of kindness would injure me in one respect while it might relieve me in another; for I assure you, madam, that the pleasure I find in any of these occasional visits to you is in proportion to the degree in which it may appear that they are entirely disinterested, and proceed wholly from that esteem, gratitude, and affection, with which I am

Your Ladyship's

Most obliged and most obedient Servant

and Chaplain,

PHILIP DODDRIDGE.

FROM THE REV. SAMUEL CLARK.

DEAR SIR,

St. Albans, March 21, 1727.

Nor having any other opportunity, I think it necessary to send you this by the post without delay, to complain of your keeping in your place of public worship such stumbling-blocks and superstitious customs as are offensive to your Christian brethren!

It is no wonder you are thought a legal preacher when you have the Ten Commandments painted upon the walls of your chapel; besides, you have a clerk, it seems, so impertinent as to say Amen with an audible voice! O tempora! O mores! that such a rag of popery should ever be tolerated in a congregation of the faith and order of the Congregational Brethren! and, to complete all, you, the minister, conclude your prayers with a form called the Lord's prayer!—Do you know what mischief you have done, what a blot you have brought upon yourself by such offensive practices?

It may be, that you are surprised at this grave preface. In a few words then, Mr. Chandler, of Bedford, being on his return home, at Mr. Ecles's, desired him, upon my motion, to write to Hertford, to recommend you to them, in his name, as a very sound man, and very fit to be their minister. Upon this Mr. Crouch, and another of the deacons of that church, went over the other day to Kibworth to hear you; but, no sooner did they come into the place, but they found themselves disappointed, and what they heard at the close confirmed them so much in their prejudice that they thought it needless to say

any thing of their intention to you. Going to preach last Lord's day at Ware I heard all this, and afterwards at Hertford. I cannot but pity their weakness, and do not know but that it is happy for you that

your

you are not to encounter such odd humours: but, for their sakes, I heartily wished settlement among them, and also for my own, that I might more frequently have had the pleasure of your company. They have no particular individual in view, and some of the people are angry that two persons should take upon themselves to judge for the whole congregation. Old Mr. Hughes being so often disabled, the people at Ware are come to a resolution to subscribe forty pounds a year for an assistant, and, if possible, to procure one who might succeed Mr. Hughes in case of his death. They have invited his son, who is at Staplehurst, but they hardly expect that he will come.

If you have not seen Mr. Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel History, I recommend it to your society as well worth their reading. He has, from several passages in Josephus, Philo, and other contemporary writers, very happily illustrated the several facts related or referred to in the New Testament, and said a great deal to place the whole in a more clear and convincing light. I can add no more at present but humble service to Mrs. Jennings, Mr. Some, and all other friends; from, Dear Sir,

Your affectionate Friend and Servant,

S. CLARK.

DEAR SIR,

TO MR. RICHARDS.

March 21, 1727.

WHEN I received your letter I was so charmed, and so edified, that I resolved to answer it very shortly that I might the sooner have the pleasure of receiving such another. This resolution I kept in my mind constantly for almost two months, and still something or other happened to prevent me from fulfilling it. Shall I honestly tell you what I now imagine to be the true reason, though I did not apprehend it even while it determined me, as it is a very common thing to be governed in graver affairs by arguments to which the mind has never given a formal hearing. There was so much wit and good sense in your letter that I could not hope to equal it, and so I avoided writing, though I had on many other accounts the greatest inclination to do so. I own the conclusion was ridiculous, though the premises were solid enough. Thus did my pride insinuate, though it spoke so very softly that it could hardly be heard, and disguised its voice so that one might have mistaken it for humility. I here then acknowledge my fault, and will express my sincerity by an immediate amendment. Nay, I will further tell you that I have espoused the bold resolution, that, let your genius appear as superior as it may, I will answer you, letter for letter, with the utmost exactness, for I had much rather you should have new proofs of that weakness, to which you are already no stranger, than that you