In the summer of 1785 he left London, and resided, for the remainder of his life, principally at Southwell, of which church he became, in 1788, vicar-general. He died May 28th, 1795. To the preceding list of Dr Heathcote's works, we may add that, at the request of Mr Whiston, he wrote the life of Dr Thomas Burnet, the learned master of the Charter house, prefixed to the edition of his works printed in 1759. In 1767 he published a letter to Horace Walpole, concerning the dispute between Hume and Rousseau. He also published an 'Assize Sermon,' and a pamphlet called 'Memoirs of the late contested election for the county of Leicester,' 1775. His Irenarch' and the dedication and notes, he scattered up and down, but without alteration, in a miscellaneous work, published in 1786, entitled Sylvia, or the Wood;' an entertaining collection of anecdotes, &c., which was printed in 1788; and in 1789 he had begun another volume of miscellanies, including some of his separate pieces, and memoirs of himself.

Henry Venn.

BORN A. D. 1725.-died a. D. 1797.

THIS learned and exemplary divine was descended from ancestors who were clergymen, in a direct line, from the time of the Reformation. The misfortunes of one of them, on account of his attachment to Charles I. during the civil wars, are well-narrated in Dr Walker's Account of the Sufferings of the Clergy.' His father, the Rev. Richard Venn, rector of St Antholin's, London, distinguished himself as a noted polemic in his day, particularly, in conjunction with Bishop Gibson, in opposing the promotion of Dr Rundle to a bishopric, on account of a conversation in which the doctor had expressed sentiments rather favourable to deism. Mr Venn also assisted Dr Webster in writing the Weekly Miscellany,'-a periodical publication which, under the venerable name of Richard Hooker, laboured zealously in defence of high church principles. He died in 1740, and a volume of his sermons and tracts was published by his widow, the daughter of a Mr Ashton, who was executed in the reign of William III. for being concerned in a plot to bring back the Stuart family.

Henry Venn was born at Barnes in the county of Surrey, in the year 1725. He was educated partly under Dr Pitinan, at Market-street, and partly under the Rev. Mr Catcott, rector of St Stephen, Bristol, -a Hutchinsonian divine of great ingenuity and learning, the author of a curious treatise on the deluge, and a volume of excellent sermons. In 1742 Venn was admitted of Jesus college, Cambridge, where he proceeded to the degree of B. A. in 1745, and to that of M. A. in 1749. There being no fellowship vacant in his own college, the fellows of Queen's unanimously elected him a member of their society, in which he continued till his marriage in 1757. The lady to whom he became united was daughter of Dr Bishop of Ipswich, author of an exposition of the creed, and a volume of sermons preached at Lady Moyer's lecture in 1724.

At this period Mr Venn was curate of Clapham, where he was

greatly beloved by the inhabitants, and contracted a close friendship with those eminently good men, Sir John Barnard, and John Thornton, Esq. By way of exhibiting his gratitude to his parishioners, he published and dedicated to them, in 1759, on his resignation of the curacy, a volume of sermons. In that year he was presented to the vicarage of Huddersfield in Yorkshire. Before this removal he had embraced the Calvinistic system, and distinguished himself as one of the heads of Methodism, as it was called, in the establishment.

While at Huddersfield he laboured with unwearied assiduity in his vocation, and his memory will long be cherished with affection and veneration in that extensive parish. His zeal, however, carried him beyond his strength. By his earnest and frequent preaching, in the course of ten years he had materially injured his constitution, and brought on a cough and spitting of blood which rendered him incapable of officiating any longer in so extensive a sphere. He therefore accepted, in 1770, the rectory of Yelling in Huntingdonshire, a crown-living, which was presented to him by his friend the lord-chief-baron Smythe, then one of the commissioners of the great seal. During his residence at Huddersfield he published The Complete Duty of Man,' which has gone through seven large editions, including those printed in Ireland and America. The great object of this book is to counteract the principles of the celebrated work which bears the same title.

He continued to reside at Yelling until the month of December, 1796, when, in consequence of a paralytic stroke, which not only shook his bodily frame but his intellect, he removed to the house of his son, the rector of Clapham, where he died in June following. Mr Venn's talents were of some note in his profession.

Joseph Milner.

BORN A. D. 1744.-DIED A. D. 1797.

JOSEPH MILNER was born in the neighbourhood of Leeds, on the 2d of January, 1744. Mr Moore, usher of the grammar-school of Leeds, and afterwards head-master, was his classical instructor till he went to the university. His talents discovered themselves at a very early period. His memory was unparalleled, and retained its strength to the end of his life; for though he himself used to say that it was not so retentive as it had been, nobody else perceived any decay or alteration in that faculty. His tutor, when explaining the Latin or Greek authors, used to apply to Milner's memory in cases of history and mythology. He used to say, "Milner is more easily consulted than the dictionaries or the pantheon; and he is quite as much to be relied on." He told so many and almost incredible stories of his pupil's memory, that a respectable clergyman, at that time minister of St John's church in Leeds, expressed some suspicion of exaggeration. Moore instantly offered to give satisfactory proof of his assertions: "Milner," said he, "shall go to church next Sunday, and without taking a single note at the time, shall write down your sermon afterward. Will you permit us to compare what he writes with what you preach?" The clergyman accepted the proposal; and expressed his astonishment at the event of

this trial of memory: "The lad," said he, “has not omitted a single thought or sentiment in the whole sermon; and frequently he has got the very words for a long way together."

At eighteen years of age, Milner obtained means to enter himself of Catherine hall, Cambridge; and, in spite of many disadvantages, he carried away both the chancellor's medals, in the year 1766. "Milner's strength and excellence, as a classical scholar, consisted," says his brother, "in the soundness of his understanding, the extensiveness of his reading, and the retentiveness of his memory, which enabled him to enter into the spirit of an author, and to develop the meaning of the most obscure and difficult expressions. Similar passages and similar constructions perpetually occurred to his mind, and assisted him in untying knots which were above the art of persons of more confined reading or of less penetration. In the above contest for the medals, most of the candidates had possessed the advantage of being educated at some of the great public schools; and, probably, were much superior to Milner in the knowledge of pronunciation. For besides that the knowledge of the quantity of syllables is usually less attended to in country-schools, the Yorkshire boys are well-known to bring along with them a most unpleasant accent."

Notwithstanding his success, young Milner was unable to maintain himself long at college. He was fortunate enough, however, to obtain the head-mastership of the grammar-school of Hull, with an afternoonlectureship in the town. Under his auspices, the school, which had dwindled almost to nothing, through the negligence of the former master and assistant, soon acquired very considerable celebrity, which it retained for many years. Isaac Milner has borne honourable and affecting testimony to the kindness of his brother in taking charge of him and furnishing him with the means of prosecuting his studies as soon as his own limited finances enabled him to do so. "Under Providence," says

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he, he owes his present honourable and elevated situations as dean of Carlisle and master of Queen's college, and professor of mathematics in the university of Cambridge-indeed, he owes all he has to the kindness of this same brother; and he here willingly acknowledges the obligation with tears of gratitude and affection. He made' Isaac 'glad with his acts, and his memorial is blessed for ever.' "1 The duration of Mr Milner's serious and active ministry is to be reckoned from about the 27th year of his age to his 54th. Not only at Hull, but throughout the kingdom, a very considerable revival of practical religion took place during these years, particularly among the poor and the middle ranks of society. The Methodists had sounded the alarm; and the clergy of the establishment were roused. The scriptures were examined and searched "whether these things were so." The name of Methodist, when applied to such persons as Mr Milner, ceased in a great measure to be disgraceful with thinking people. Some of the bishops even, who had conceived great prejudices against every thing connected with that term, saw abundant reason to alter their judgment. Great numbers of the poorer and of the middle classes of society became truly religious in practice; and almost all persons affected to approve Mr Milner's way of stating the truths of the gospel. In fact, the sentiments which he

'Life of the Rev. Joseph Milner.

defended and explained in the pulpit, became so fashionable, that no clergyman was well-received at Hull who opposed or did not support them.

Mr Milner just lived to receive a very ample and decisive testimony of esteem which was shown to him by the mayor and corporation of Hull. Upon the decease of the Rev. T. Clarke, he was chosen vicar almost unanimously. But he survived that event only a few weeks. He died November 15th, 1797.

His brother says he never met with any person who resembled him in two points, an extreme ignorance of the ways and manners of mankind in their ordinary intercourse with each other, and, an utter and absolute rejection of disguise in all its shapes. There have lived, perhaps, very few men who appeared so perfectly and so exactly what they really were as Mr Milner did. All his likings and dislikings appeared at once: he practised no temporising measures with any one, but commended and blamed without reserve, and without much consulting the feelings of those who heard him. Whatever he did he did with all his might. Greek, Latin, history, and poetry, chiefly employed the former part of his life; practical religion, or subjects connected with it, the latter. One of the most popular and instructive publications of Mr Milner, is a pamphlet called Some remarkable Passages in the Life of William Howard.' His answer to Gibbon's attack on Christianity, though well-known to studious persons, and though highly commended by two learned bishops, has not been so generally dispersed as it deserves. His essays on the Influence of the Holy Spirit' were exceedingly well-received, and have been of great service in the church. The most arduous and important undertaking of Mr Milner is his History of the Church of Christ,' which, in spite of the dislike manifested to it by a certain party in the church of England, will continue to be read with pleasure and advantage by serious Christians of every denomina

tion.

Hon. W. B. Cadogan.

BORN A. D. 1751.-DIED A. D. 1797.

THE honourable and reverend W. B. Cadogan was the second son of Lord Cadogan, who married the only daughter of Lord Montfort. He was born January 22d, 1751, and was placed at Westminster school, July 7th, 1757. He distinguished himself by obtaining several prizes, and was for some time what is termed captain of the school.

In the year 1769 he left Westminster to enter Christ church college, Oxford. "It is reported," says his biographer Cecil, "that he was considered one of the first scholars in his college; and it is certain that he received different sets of books as prizes in literary contests; that he was the reverse of those who are properly termed loungers at the university, I have full evidence; for besides what appeared in his ministry, his private papers are a strong proof of his early industry. When Mrs Cadogan imposed this task upon me, she opened his escrutoire, in order to examine if he had left any thing that it might be proper to add to what had bee already printed; and I confess I was surprised at the

quantity of papers covered with his university studies. These occupied much room, besides that which contained a great number of written sermons, and what are called skeletons of sermons, as he, latterly, did not read his discourses. When I say I was surprised at this, it was not so much from observing how greatly his character had differed from that of many, who go to universities merely as a necessary introduction into a particular profession, and pay little regard to other advantages which such seminaries afford; but because, after a long intimacy with him, I had remarked his indisposition to converse on those branches of science which I now found he had so laboriously cultivated. I had imputed the indisposition rather to his having never deeply pursued such subjects, than to what I afterwards found to be the real motive, namely, an habitual delight in, and eager pursuit after, sublimer objects; for latterly he counted all things but dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord."

In the year 1774 Mr Cadogan was presented-though not yet ordained to the living of St Giles's, Reading. Earl Bathurst was at that time chancellor, and used to dress so very plainly that those who did not know his person could have no suspicion of his rank in life. When the living of St Giles's became vacant, the chancellor called one morning upon the present Lord Cadogan, then Mr Cadogan, at his house in London. Being informed that Mr Cadogan was not at home, he desired to leave a line for him. The servants kept him in the hall while he wrote a note, politely expressing his intention of presenting Mr Cadogan's son, who he had heard was intended for orders, to the living of St Giles's, as being near the family seat. The note being brought to Mr Cadogan, he opened it with surprise, and inquired of his servants how it came to be written on such dirty paper? They said that they had given the first piece which presented itself to a man who called, and wished to leave his business. "Do you know," replied he in vexation, “that that man is the lord-high-chancellor of England?" It is needless to say that the servants were thunderstruck, and that every proper apology was immediately made to the chancellor.

Soon after Mr Cadogan had entered upon his regular duties, he experienced a remarkable change of religious views. He became, in short, what was called, in derision, a Methodist. Cecil records the following conversation which Cadogan soon after this period had with a nobleman of his own acquaintance: "What," said my lord, "do you mean to do? You have made, or rather marred your fortune, indeed; all hopes of preferment are quite gone!" A stall I believe at Westminster was promised Mr Cadogan and just then given to another, to which his lordship was supposed to allude. Cadogan replied: "I am endeavouring, my lord, to gain preferment in another world, where no one fails who attempts it. All worldly preferment is uncertain; we cannot hold it long, nor secure it one hour. I will therefore endeavour to secure a treasure where no moth corrupts, and where no thief can steal.'" "As to that world," replied his lordship, "I know no more about it than others who never were there!" Cadogan answered: "I never saw it, my lord; I know likewise but little about it; but my Bible tells me that there remaineth a rest for the people of God;' I believe that book to be divine, its evidence appears to me irresistible,-I am determined. therefore, to stake my fortune upon what God hath promised in his