wifhed harm to any mortal. Yet his character was by no means of the infipid kind: he had much of the humour and fpirit of his elder brother; had a like talent for preaching; and was well attended to as often as he appeared in the university pulpit."

"The youngest brother, the reverend William Horne, was educated at Magdalen College in Oxford, and is the present worthy rector of Otham, in which he fucceeded his father, as alfo in the more valuable rectory of Brede in the county of Suffex.

"Mr. Horne, the father of the family, was of fo mild and quiet a temper, that he ftudioufly avoided giving trouble upon any occafion. This he carried fo far, that when his fon George was an infant, he ufed to awake him with playing upon a flute; that the change from neeping to awaking might be gradual and pleasant, and not produce an outcry; which frequently happens when children are awakened fuddenly. What impreffion this carly cuftom of his father might make upon his temper, we cannot fay but certainly, he was remarkable, as he grew up, for a tender feeling of mufic, efpecially that of the church.

"Under his father's tuition, he led a pleasant life, and made a rapid progrefs in Greek and Latin. But fome well meaning friend, fearing he might be spoiled by ftaying fo long at home, advifed the fending of him to fchool. To this his good father, who never was given to make much refiftance, readily confented; and he was accordingly placed in the fchool at Maidstone, under the care of the reverend Deodatus Bye, a man of good principles, and well learned in Latin, Greek and Hebrew; who,

when he had received his new scholar and examined him at the age of thirteen, was fo furprifed at his proficiency, that he asked him why he came to fchool, when he was rather fit to go from fchool? With this gentleman he continued two years; during which, he added much to his flock of learning, and among other things a little elementary knowledge of the Hebrew, on the plan of Buxtorf, which was of great advantage to him afterwards. I am a witnefs to the high respect with which he always fpoke of his mafter; whom he had newly left, when my acquaintance first commenced with him at University College, to which he was fent when he was but little more than fifteen years of age. When fervants speak well of a mafter or a mistress, we are fure they are good fervants : and when a fcholar fpeaks well of his teacher, we may be as certain he is, in every fenfe of the word, a good fcholar."

"While Mr. Horne was at fchool, a Maidstone scholarship in Univerfity College became vacant; in his application for which he fucceeded, and, young as he was, the mafter recommended his going directly to college.

"Soon after he was fettled at University College, Mr. Hobson, a good and learned tutor of the house, gave out an exercife, for a trial of kill, to Mr. Horne and the prefent writer of his life, who was alfo in his first year. They were ordered to take a favourite Latin ode of Boëtius, and present it to the tutor in a different Latin metre. This they both did as well as they could: and the conteft, instead of dividing, united them ever after, and had alfo the effect of infpiring them with a love of the lyric poetry of that author; which feems not to be fuf

ficiently

ficiently known among fcholars, though beautiful in its kind. The whole work was once in fuch efteem, that king Alfred, the founder of Univerfity College, and of the English conftitution, tranflated it. "His ftudies, for a time, were in general the fame with thofe of other ingenious young men; and the vivacity of his mind, which never was exceeded, and made his converfation very defirable, introduced him to many gentlemen of his own ftanding, who refembled him in their learning and their manners, particularly to Mr. Jenkinfon (now lord Hawketbury), Mr. Moore, (now archbishop of Canterbury), Mr. Cracherode, Mr. Benfon, the honourable Hamilton Boyle, fon of lord Orrery, the late reverend Jafper Selwin, and many others. Mr. Denny Martin (now Dr. Fairfax, of Leeds Caftle, in Kent) was from the fame fchool with Mr. Horne, and has always been very nearly connected with him, as a companion of his ftudies, a lover of his virtues, and an admirer of his writings.

"To fhew how high Mr. Horne's character stood with all the members of his college, old and young, I need only mention the following fact. It happened about the time when he took his bachelor's degree, that a Kentish fellowship became vacant at Magdalen college; and there was, at that time, no scholar of the house who was upon the county. The fenior fellow of Univerfity College, having heard of this, faid nothing of it to Mr. Horne, but went down to Magdalen College, told them what an extraordinary young man they might find in Univerfity College, and gave him fuch a recommendation as difpofed the fociety to accept of him. When the day of

election came, they found him fuch as he had been reprefented, and much more, and accordingly made him a fellow of Magdalen College."

"If we return now to the account of his studies, we fhall there find fomething elfe falling in his way which he never fought after, and attended with a train of very important. confequences. While he was deeply, engaged in purfuit of oratory, poetry, philofophy, hiftory, and was making himself well acquainted with the Greek tragedians, of which he was become a great admirer, an accident, of which I fall relate the account as plainly and faithfully as I can, without dif guiling or diminishing, drew him into a new fituation in refpect of his mind, and gave a new turn to his ftudies, before he had arrived at his bachelor's degree. I may indeed fay of this, that it certainly gave much of the colour which his character affumed from that time, and opened the way to most of his undertakings and publications; as he himself would witness if he were now alive.

"It is known to the public, that he came very early upon the stage as an author, though an anonymous one, and brought himself into fome difficulty under the denomination of an Hutchinfonian'; for this was the name given to thofe gentlemen who ftudied Hebrew, and examined the writings of John Hutchinfon, efq. the famous Mofaic philofopher, and became inclined to favour his opinions in theology and philofophy.

"About the time I am speaking of, there were many good and learned men of both univerfities, but chiefly in and of the university of Oxford, who, from the reprefentation given to the public, fome years before, by the right honour

able Duncan Forbes, then lord prefident of the court of fethon in Scotland; and from a new and more promifing method of ftudying the Hebrew language, inde.pendent of Jewish error; and from a flattering profpect alfo of many other advantages to the general interefts of religion and learning, were become zealous advocates in favour of the new scheme of Mr. Hutchinfoa. Mr. Horne was led into this enquiry, partly by an accident which had happened to myfelf.

"An attachment to fome friends, then well known in the univerfity for their abilities in mufic, of whom the principal were, Mr. Phocion Henley of Wadham College, Mr. Pixel of Queen's, and Mr. Short of Worcester, drew me often to Wadham College; which fociety has two Hebrew fcholarfhips, on one of which there was a gentleman, a Mr. Catcott of Briftol, whofe father, as I afterwards understood, was one of thofe authors who firft diftinguished them felves as writers on the fide of Mr. Hutchinfon, who poffeffed a very curious collection of fofils, fome of which he had digged and fcratched out of the earth with his own hands at the hazard of his life; a pit near Wadham College, which would have buried him, having fallen in very foon after he was out of it. This collection I was invited to fee, and readily accepted the invitation, out of a general curiofity, without any particular knowledge of the fubject. This gentleman, perceiving my attention to be much engaged by the novelty and curiofity of what he exhibited, threw out fo many hints about things of which I had never heard, that I requested the favour of fome farther converfation with

him on a future occafion. One conference followed another, till I faw a new field of learning opened, particularly in the department of natural hiftory, which promised me fo much information and entertainment, that I fell very foon into the fame way of reading. Dr. Woodward the phyfician, who had been a fellow labourer with Hutchinfon, and followed very nearly the fame principles, had made the natural history of the earth, and the diluvian origination of extraneous foffis, fo agreeable and fo intelligible, that I was captivated by his writings: and from them I went to others; taking what I found, with a tafte and appetite, which could not, at that time, make fuch distinctions as I may have been able to make fince. In the fimplicity of my heart, I communicated fome of the novelties, with which my mind was now filled, to my dear and conftant companion Mr. Horne, from whom I feldom concealed any thing; but found him very little inclined to confider them; and I had the mortification to fee that I was lofing ground in his eítimation. Our college-lectures on geometry and natural philofophy (which were not very deep) we had gone through with fome attention, and thought ourfelves qualified to fpeak up for the philofophy of Newton. It was therefore fhocking to hear, that attraction was no phyfical principle, and that a vacuum never had been, and never would be, demonstrated. Here therefore Mr. Horne infifted, that if fir I. Newton's philofophy should be falfe in thefe principles, no philofophy would ever be true. How it was objected to, and how it was defended, I do not now exactly remember; I fear, not with any profound kill on either fide;

but