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served some time before the Bishop of Exeter him the living of Manaccan. On the subject of divinity he has published two volumes of discourses, and some single sermons; but though he is master of a clear and even of an elegant style, yet we are of opinion that these compositions want strength, pathos and energy. Mr. Polwhele has also figured a little in theological controversy, against the Rev. Dr. Hawker, a beneficed clergyman of Plymouth. The Doctor, it seems, gave offence to our author by preaching at several churches during an excursion into the west of Cornwall, in 1779, where his talents as an orator brought him many hearers. This circumstance, in addition to his high Calvinistical sentiments, procured him the honour of a warm expostulatory letter from the vicar of Manaccan, who charged him both with want of orthodoxy and regularity. It does not appear, however, that the Doctor preached in fields, barns, or meeting-houses; and as to his doctrinal sentiments, it would require some considerable skill to prove them at variance with the articles and homilics of the church. If he exhibited zeal in his tour into Cornwall, and took the advantage of his popularity to "preach in season and out of season," we are humbly of opinion that he is more worthy of commendation than of censure: he encroached not upon any man's field of action, and it has not been proved that he intruded into Mr. Polwhele's parish.

Dr. Hawker replied in a temperate and truly Christian manner the Cornish vicar rejoined in a more

severe tone than before; and we are sorry to add, that the dispute at length became personal.

Mr. Polwhele has since published a pamphlet, which we cannot but disapprove as a very unseasonable performance, entitled, "Anecdotes of Methodism," selected from the long-forgotten work of Dr. Lavington, Bishop of Exeter. No good is likely to be done by such publications, which seem more calculated to make sceptics and libertines than serious Christians.

The following is, we believe, a pretty correct list of the author's works :

1. The Fate of Lewellyn; or, the Druid's Sacrifice: a legen dary tale.

2. The Genius of Karnbre: a poem.

3. The Spirit of Fraser to General Burgoyne: an ode.

4. The Death of Hilda: an American tale.

5. An Ode to Mrs. Macaulay, on her Birth-day.

6. The Castle of Tintadgel; or, the Captive Princess of Den mark: an ode.

7. The Isle of Poplars: an ode. (Published in Rack's Essays.) 8. Pictures from Nature, in twelve Sonnets, and the Lock transformed: an elegy.

9. The English Orator: a didactic poem, in four Books. 10. The Idyllia of Theocritus, Bion and Moschus, and the Ele gies of Tyrtæus; with Dissertations and Notes, 2 vols. 8vo. 11. Two Volumes of Discourses on different Subjects. 8vo. 12. A Discourse preached December 30, 1792.

13. Historical Views of Devonshire. Vol. I.

14. The History of Devonshire. Vol. I. Part I. and Vol. II. folio.

15. Biographical Memoirs of Mr. Rack, in Collinson's Somerset. 16. A Discourse preached at Manaccan, August 27, 1797. 17. A Letter to Dr. Hawker.

18. A fecond Letter to Dr. Hawker.

19. Anecdotes of Methodism, &c.

20. A Letter to a College Friend. Svo,

21. The Influence of Local Attachment with respect to Home; in feven books: odes, and other poems: 2 vols. 8vo.

22. The Old English Gentleman: a poem. 8vo.

23. Sketches in verse, with prose Illustrations. 8vo.

24. The Unsexed Females: a poem, addressed to the Author of the Pursuits of Literature. Svo.

25. Grecian Prospects: a poem. Svo.

26. Sir Aaron; or, the Flights of Fanaticism: a poem in the spirit of Anti-jacobinism, for 1800.

27. An Assize Sermon, preached at Bodmin, Aug. 4, 1801.12mo. 28. Scripture Characteristics. 8vo.

THOMAS HARRIS, ESQ.

THIS gentleman was born in the year 1749; and, after receiving a good classical education, was bred by his father to an extensive line of business, in which the good sense, conduct, and judgment, that he has manifested in more difficult and trying circumstances, must have ensured eminence and success, had not a more powerful bias seduced him to other objects. His filial duty, however, adjoined to an early and invariable probity, prevented him from following the bent of his inclinations by any sacrifices of his honour in quitting the path which an indulgent parent had chalked out. In the brief annals of his commercial engagements, there is nothing upon record that can throw a blush over the history of his youth: a cir'cumstance not very usual, where one employment, uncongenial to the mind, is left by a stripling for a self-chosen, and favourite pursuit.

The British Theatre was, perhaps, in the fullest

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blaze of its lustre and glory about the time that young Harris was in preparation for the character of a British merchant.

Garrick, its grand luminary, and surrounded by some of the brightest stars that ever shone upon the stage, was then in the zenith of his reputation, and of the talents which produced it; and the junior Harris was just at the point of age when the magic of such a constellation, with the unrivalled sun in the centre, beamed most powerfully upon his fancy. Borne away on the wing of enthusiasm, hẹ broke through the cold ordinary forms of gradual advance, and introduced himself to the private acquaintance of those whose public displays of a singular and happy genius had excited his plaudits and won his heart. Of a glowing fancy, amiable manners, and gentle address, such a youth did not find it difficult to gain the notice of the lovers of the drama, who, like himself, had paid nightly homage at the shrine of the British Roscius and his satellites.

There is, perhaps, nothing so full of charm for a warm, juvenile heart; nothing that so kindles imagination into its richest glow, as the representations of the theatre. We transfer the generous actions and great atchievements of the hero and heroine from the supposed real and original actors, to a person who only studies them by rote, as so many lessons to be performed. We are disposed to believe, that those who can attractively pronounce sentiments so elevated, and deliver themselves in language so eloquent, must be the very models of perfection. We can, in

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early life, scarcely persuade ourselves that such gifted beings are of mortal mould: their very robes, their looks, their attitudes, become consecrated; and when we are first admitted to the delights and distinctions of conversation with those high and privileged orders, we feel ourselves alternately enlarged and diminished in their presence; we experience, perhaps, a sensation somewhat similar to his, who, for the first time, is unexpectedly granted the indulgence of a private audience with the mighty potentates of the earth, after having seen them adorned with all the insignia of royalty, and seated on their thrones in a magnificent apartment.

Under such influences, young Harris followed his favourite demi-gods of the scene, from their public exbibitions, to their private societies, Tom's coffee house, the Shakespeare tavern; and the club-rooms were more endeared to him on account of his finding there the great objects of his research and admiration, than if he had been permitted to associate with the aforesaid real emperors and kings-yea, with all their pageantry and pomps about them; and the mock monarchs, who assumed the regal honours. for the evening, reigned more completely paramount in his vivid imagination. But his scenic passions were chiefly absorbed in that great centre of attraction, Garrick himself. The performances of this astonishing man drew him, almost exclusively, from the contemplation of every other. He had the taste to fecl, and the discernment to perceive, that this was the august luminary who was the unrivalled lord of the theatrical ascendant;

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