Many as have been the blessings showered down upon me by an all gracious Being, yet is there none which I look back upon with more devout and humble gratitude, than my having been placed in a situation, which afforded me such abundant opportunities and means, for active and useful employment. That my endeavours were rendered productive of that good, which I sought for, and which you assure me they did accomplish; this, my Reverend Brethren, was, in a great degree, owing, under Divine Providence, to your friendly assistance, your kind and zealous co-operation. Judge then, at this moment of separation, what must be the regrets of a mind, not insensible to kindness. But, though my official connection with you here terminates, yet be assured of my never ceasing respect and affection: and accept all that I can now offer, my most ardent hope and prayer, for your welfare and happiness, temporal and eternal.

GEO. H. BATH and WELLS.

Newbury District Committee. THE Tenth Anniversary Meeting of the Newbury District Committee, of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, was held on Wednesday, July 21, and we are happy to add, that the interest which this excellent Institution has excited, so far from declining, is, if we may judge from the attendance on Wednesday, evidently increasing. The company assembled at the Mansion house at breakfast, was more numerous than upon any former occasion: almost every family resident in the neighbourhood honoured the meeting with their presence; and accompanied by the Mayor and Corporation, the Bishop of Bristol, the Archdeacon of Berks, and the Stewards, (J. A. Houblon, Esq. G. H. Cherry, Esq. M.P. the Rev. Dr. Penrose, and G. Porcher,) proceeded in a body to the Church, where the Bishop of Bristol delivered a most judicious and appropriate Liscourse. At the conclusion of

The Bishop, attended by the company, then adjourned to the National Schools, where his Lordship examined the children, aud distributed rewards, accompanied with a suitable address, amongst the most deserving.

At four o'clock a very large party met the Bishop, at the Pelican Inn, at dinner; J. A. Houblon, Esq. taking the chair: and every one present expressed the highest satisfaction at the proceedings of the day. Upon the health of the Rev. S. Slocock, the Secretary, being given from the chair, that gentleman rose and made the following reply.

Mr. Chairman, my Lord, and
Gentlemen,

I should be formed of very impene trable materials, did I not sensibly feel the honour which I have just received at your hands. During the last ten years, this expression of your approbation has been many times repeated: and the only diminution of the complete gratification which I should otherwise experience, is occasioned by the apprehension that my services may not have deserved the distinction, by which you, of your kindness, have been pleased to mark them :—at all events, no greater stimulus than your commendation will be required to animate my future exertions.

:

It affords me unfeigned satisfaction to be enabled to inform you, that the receipts of that excellent Institution, of which you have this day proved yourselves to be such generous and efficient supporters, have exceeded by no less a sum than nearly three thousand pounds those of the year preceding the income of the Society, at Lady Day, 1823, having been 57,714. 198. 11d., while at the corresponding period in the present year, it had reached 60,6071. 48. 2d. This statement cannot fail to be received with the purest satisfaction by those who are aware of the close and intimate alliance of this Society, with the Church, and who take an interest in the prosperity of the established religion of our country.

congratulate ourselves on the degree of

Nor have we less powerful reasons to

success which has hitherto attended our anniversary meetings: and while, as upon the present occasion, the Prelates and Dignitaries of the Church condescend to

honour us with their patronage, and, even at the expence of great personal inconvenience, to develope, and recommend our claims; while we continue to be distinguished by the countenance and support of so large a majority of our neighbours; we may, without presumption, consider ourselves no inefficient auxiliaries, no de generate descendants of our venerable parent.

Yet amidst the many subjects of grateful recollection to which, at the present moment, we cannot but revert, there is one of melancholy, and of regret, which will force itself upon the notice, and awaken feelings of no ordinary painfulness. You will anticipate my allusion, before I can pronounce the mournful occurrence, -the death of one, of honoured name, and honoured memory,-of one, who, two years since, ably and energetically pleaded that cause, which has this day found so enlightened an advocate in the distinguish ed Prelate now present*,—I mean the death of Mr. Rennell.

His removal, especially at a time when almost every day produces some fanciful experiment in science, or some extravagant speculation in religion, (evidencing the lamentable aberrations of the human intellect, rather than substantial improvement in knowledge, or advancement in genuine piety,) must be considered as a most afflictive calamity, not only to the Church of England, but to the Church uni versal. For whether the perversions and artifices of Unitarianism were to be exposed; the monstrous theories of Materialism to be refuted ; the andacious attacks of open and avowed Infidelity to be repelled; the rights of our Church, and the character of our Clergy to be vindicated and defended ; or the wildness and pruriency of Enthusiasm to be repressed and corrected, he was ever at hand, the unshrinking and able champion of truth.

In offering this most imperfect tribute of respect to his memory, I have confined myself to the notice of that distinguished and acknowledged reputation, which his valuable writings have so fully established.

*The Bishop of Bristol.

+ See "Animadversions on" (what is insidiously and most untruly called) “an Improved Version of the New Testament."

See "Remarks on Scepticism as it is connected with Organization and Life.” § See Proofs of Inspiration," &c. See "A Letter to Henry Brougham, Esq. M.P."

REMEMBRANCER, No. 68.

now

What he was in his earlier years, those who were his associates at the illustrious seminary in which he received his educa. tion, can more correctly describe. How brilliant his career at the University to which he afterwards removed, the Right Reverend and Reverend Professors before me, and his contemporaries, can more satisfactorily testify. What he was in domestic life, his afflicted relatives can feel, but cannot venture to detail.-" Cura leves loquuntur, ingentes stupent." In familiar intercourse, how unassuming, how single-hearted and sincere, those who enjoyed his society are alone competent to relate. What he was as a minister, how indefatigable, how ardent, how tender, and conciliating, his attached and sorrowing flock can most gratefully explain. What he was as a Christian, that awful day will disclose, when springing from the shackles of the grave, and shaking off the defilements of mortality, he shall stand in the presence of Him whose religion he had so conscientiously embraced, and so courageously defended, and in whose faith and fear he lived and died.

Only eleven months have elapsed, since he occupied, though on a different occasion t, the chair which I now so unworthily fill, apparently in the full possession of health, and strength unimpaired, and with the prospect of length of days before him. His course has been short indeed, but in its progress it was illustrious, and its close was gilded with the brightest tint of departing day.

I request you to accept my thanks for the patience with which you have endured this interruption; and at the same time I beg to express my sincere and undissembled regret, that the task, which I have perhaps so presumptuously undertaken, and which I have so inadequately discharged, had not devolved upon one more highly gifted; for a subject of more affecting interest than the premature and lamented removal of this burning and shining light, cannot engage the attention of his surviving brethren.

Address from the Vestry of St. Martin-in-the-Fields to the Venerable the Archdeacon of London.

THE following Address was unanimously voted by the Churchwardens and Vestrymen of the Parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, to the above distinguished individual, upon his resignation of that Living, in consequence of his preferment to the Vicarage of Kensington. The value of this testimony will be better appreciated, when we state that among those who signed it as Vestrymen, were the Earl of Liverpool, the Duke of Northumberland, Sir Edmund Antrobus, Sir Coutts Trotter, Mr. A. B. Drummond, Mr. R. H. Cox, &c. It was presented by a Deputation on the 13th July. As a further proof of their regard and esteem, the Vestrymen unanimously voted him a piece of plate of the value of One Hundred guineas :"To the Venerable Joseph Holden Pott,

A.M. Archdeacon of London, and Vicar of the Parish of St. Martin-inthe-Fields.

"We, the Churchwardens and Vestry men of the Parish of St. Martin-in-theFields, are most anxious, before yon depart from among us, to express the strong feelings of admiration, respect, and affection, which every part of your conduct, since you have held the Living of this Parish, has excited in our breasts. Regarding you, Sir, as we do, we are bound to rejoice at any event which may tend to your advantage and increase your happi

ness; but when we recollect the highly exemplary manner in which you have, for nearly twelve years, discharged the many arduous and important duties of your sacred function-the zeal with which you have promoted, and the liberality with which you have supported, every plan to afford instruction and assistance to the poor-your unwearied exertions in visiting the sick, consoling the friendless, and relieving the distressed-in a word, your truly paternal and benevolent conduct to all your Parishioners-we cannot but deeply, most deeply, lament our loss. While we thus, Sir, express what we know must be the sentiments of every individual in the Parish, we, who have been fortunate enough to enjoy frequent, indeed constant, opportunities of personal intercourse with you, are particularly called upon to offer you our grateful acknowledgments for the kind attention and uniform courtesy, which we have, upon all occasions, experienced from you; and allow us, Sir, to add, that our regret for the loss of so excellent a Pastor is greatly heightened by the consideration that we are each of us at the same time deprived of a most invaluable friend. These, Sir, are not expressions of form-this is not the language of flattery -we speak the genuine feelings of our hearts-feelings which we should be insensible if we did not possess, and unjust if we did not avow.

"And now, Sir, while we perform the painful task of bidding you farewell, we can most truly assure you, that your memory will always be cherished among us with veneration, and with the warmest affectiou; and that our most fervent prayers will constantly be offered up for your happiness.

"Vestry Room, July 13, 1824."

grandfather, on the mother's side, was the celebrated Judge Blackstone. His father, whose bitter portion it is to be the survivor of so excellent a son as few fathers are blessed with are blessed with *, is the present

* One is here reminded of the noble

strain in which an ancient Roman, while he complains of the same hard lot, consoles himself, however, with the same hope of a blessed re-union, by which the Christian father, on far surer grounds, is supported. "O præclarum diem, cùm ad illud divinum animorum conciliom

venerable and eminent Dean of Winchester, and Master of the Temple. Under the care of such a parent, and of a mother (also his sad survivor) every way worthy of her father and her husband, the great natural talents of their eldest son had no ordinary advantages of direction and encouragement. When therefore, following his father's steps, he was sent at an early age to Eton, and placed upon the foundation there, he immediately assumed that high place among his con. temporaries, which he ever afterwards maintained. The memory of his name and honours is still fresh in that famous and flourishing nursery of learning and many are they who can well remember what vigour of conception and rapidity of execution even then marked his efforts; and how often his exercises were selected from the rest for the first rewards and distinctions of the school. That remembrance, indeed, is now embittered with pain and regret; but yet there is a pride in having been the school-fellow and competitor of Rennell, which they who have a claim to it, will cherish till the generation which has been so soon deprived of his society and services, shall have passed away.When he was high in the school, though there were yet many in it his seniors, two prizes were proposed by Dr. Claudius Buchanan to Eton, among other places of education, for the best compositions in Greek and Latin verse, on subjects

cætumque proficiscar, et cùm ex hâc turbà et colluvione discedam! proficiscar enim non ad eos solùm viros, de quibus antè dixi, sed etiam ad Catonam meum, quo nemo vir melior natus est, nemo pietate præstantior: cujus a me corpus crematum est; quod contra decuit ab illo meum. Animus verò non me deserens, sed respectans, in ea profectò loca discessit, quò mihi ipsi cernebat esse veniendum. Quem ego meum casum fortiter ferre visus sum; non quod æquo animo ferrem; ipse consolabar, existimans non longin. quum inter nos digressum et discessum fore."-Cato apud Cic. de Senect.

sed me

relating to our possessions and prospects in the East. On this occasion the Greek prize was adjudged to Rennell, for a Sapphic Ode on the Propagation of the Gospel in India, which left the performances of his rivals far behind; and which, even in the field of academic competition, might have been not less successful. One more of his school compositions seems to demand notice, since its subject, Pallentes Morbi,' will now give it a melancholy interest with those who may happen to possess copies of it, for a few were printed for private circulation among his friends. It exhibits in highly classical and poetical colours, the most remarkable characteristics of the various maladies which are principally instrumental in bringing man to his long home.' Little did he who now offers this very unworthy tribute to the me mory of an old and most faithful friend, think, when first he read the following description, that not many years would elapse, before it would be realized in its author.

that, considered as the production of boys, which it exclusively was, it is a striking evidence of early genius and acquirements; and that the papers in particular, which the letter affixed to them marks as Rennell's, exhibit a strength of intellect, and an elevation of thought, far beyond his years. It was in

deed the manliness of his understanding and taste by which, at this period of his life, he was chiefly characterized. In this respect it may be said of him, that he was never a boy. His views and no. tions, whether intellectual or moral, were not boyish; the authors who were his chosen favourites and mo. dels, were not those whom boys in general most admire and imitate: every thing, in short, indicated that early ripeness which too often, as in his case, is found to be the forerunner, and as it were the compensation, of early decay. Nor was he less exemplary in conduct than eminent for talents and proficiency in learning. Deeply impressed from his very childhood with sentiments of genuine and practical piety, he was habitually virtuous upon religi. ous principles, and exhibited in his life lucid proof that power of mind finds its best ally in purity of heart, and that genius and licentiousness have no natural union with each other.

In 1806 Mr. Rennell was removed, in the regular course of succession, from Eton, to King's College, Cambridge; and here the excellent gifts and qualities which had already more than begun to open themselves, found ampler space for expansion and luxuriance. He brought with him indeed from school the somewhat questionable advantage of a very high reputation: but his course in the University only proved how well he had earned his title to it.

Αἰὲν ἀριστεύειν, καὶ ὑπείροχον ἔμμεναι ἄλλων,

Μηδὲ γένος πατέρων αἰσχυνέμεν,

was still his motto and his practice: still whatsoever things are true,

whatsoever things are venerable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, in these things' it was his habit and delight to think upon' and pursue. In 1808 Sir William Browne's annual medal for the best Greek ode was adjudged to Mr. Rennell's beautiful composition on Veris Comites: in which he has touched, with exquisite simplicity and pathos, upon man's mortal and uncertain state, in allusion to the recent and untimely death of Lord Trafalgar, the heir of the family of Nelson, a student in the same University with himself. In himself alas! the passage has now been most affectingly verified. During the period of his residence at Cambridge, and occasionally afterwards, he was also a contributor to the Museum Criticum,' published at irregular intervals by some eminent scholars of the University. He was, in a word, unceasingly active, always engaged in honourable and useful pursuits. But all his studies had a tendency to that sacred profession for which he ever entertained a strong predilection, and to which, from a wellgrounded conviction of his fitness for it, he had long determined to devote himself.

Accordingly, soon after taking his Bachelor of Arts degree, he entered into holy orders, under a deep sense of the heavy responsibility which he was incurring; and firmly resolved, by the Divine Grace, to do the full work of an Evangelist, and give up his time and talents unreservedly to the ministry-a resolution which God enabled him strictly to fulfil. He was then immediately appointed by his father to the office of Assistant Preacher at the Temple, for which he was singularly qualified, and in which he acquitted himself in a manner altogether equal to the expectations which had been formed of him, and worthy of the eloquence which his