The day on which he was taken ill, he went out in the morning, to preach before the judges at Serjeant's-inn; and there was seized with a pain in his side, which made it impossible for him to perform the office he was called to, and became quickly so violent, that he was obliged to be carried home. He went to bed, and thought himself so much better in the afternoon, that he would not allow himself to be bled; against which remedy he had entertained strong prejudices. But the pain returning very violently about two the next morning, made the advice and assistance of a very able phys sician absolutely necessary; who after twice bleeding him, and other applications, thought him, as he also thought himself, to be out of all danger; and so continued to think till the saturday morning following; when to the inexpressible surprise of all about him, the pain removed from his side to his head, and after a very short complaint, took away his senses, so as they never returned any more. He continued breathing till between seven and eight in the evening of that day, and then expired.

He married Catherine, the only daughter of the reverend Mr. Lockwood, rector of Little-Massingham, in Norfolk; by whom he had seven children; two of them died before him, and one a few weeks after him. Since his death, have been published, from his original manuscripts, by his brother, Dr. John Clarke, dean of Sarum," An Exposition on the Church Catechism;" and ten volumes of sermons.

The Exposition contains those lectures he read every thursday morning, for some months in the year, at St. James's church. In the latter part of his life he revised them with great care, and left them completely ready for the press. The first edition of them was in 1729.

This performance of Dr. Clarke's was immediately animadverted upon by a very learned divine, (Dr. Waterland, head of Magdalen. college, Cambridge), under the title of, Remarks upon Dr. Clarke's Exposition to the Church Catechism," This produced "An answer to the Remarks upon Dr. Clarke's Exposition of the Church Catechism. By Dr. Sykes, dean of Burien.”

The author of the Remarks replied in a piece, entitled, “The Nature, Obligation, and Efficacy, of the Christian Sacraments, considered; in reply to a pamphlet, entitled, An Answer, &c.

as also the comparative value of Moral and Positive Duties distinctly stated and cleared." The Answerer rejoined, in "A Defence of the Answer, &c. wherein the Difference between Moral and Positive Duties is fully stated; being a Reply to, &c." This occasioned a Supplement to the Treatise, entitled, "An Answer, &c. wherein the Nature and Value of Positive institutions is more particularly examined, and Objections answered. By the same Author." Then followed the Answerer's Reply, entitled, “The true Foundations of Natural and Revealed Religion asserted; being a Reply to the Supplement, &c." which being animadverted upon by the Remarker, in the Poscript to his Second Part of Scripture vindicated, produced "An Answer to the Poscript, &c. wherein is shewn, that if Reason be not a sufficient Guide in Matters of Religion, the Bulk of mankind, for a thousand years, had no sufficlent Guide at all in Matters of Religion.”

The particulars of Dr. Clarke's character, with which we shall close our account of this learned and conscientious divine, are con cisely drawn by the masterly hand of Dr. Hare, bishop of Winchester, author of "Difficulties and Discouragements which at tend the Study of the Scripture, in the way of private judgment." What he says, in respect to the character of our author, is as fol lows:

"Dr. Clarke is a man who has all the good qualities that can meet together to recommend him, He is possessed of all the parts of learning that are valuable in a clergyman, in a degree that few possess any single one. He has joined to a good skill in the three learned languages, a great compass of the best philosophy and mathematics, as appears by his Latin works; and his English ones are such a proof of his own piety, and of his knowledge in divinity, and have done so much service to religion, as would make any other man, that was not under the suspicion of heresy, secure of the friendship and esteem of all good churchmen, especially of the clergy and to all this piety and learning, and the good use, that has been made of it, is added, a temper happy beyond expression; a sweet, easy, modest, inoffensive, obliging behaviour adorn all his actions; and no passion, vanity, insolence, or ostention appear either in what he writes or says; and yet these faults are often incident to the best of men, in the freedom of conversa

tion, and in the writing against impertinent and unreasonable adversaries, especially such as strike at the foundation of virtue and religion.

"This is the learning, this the temper of the man, whose study of the scriptures has betrayed him into a suspicion of some hereti. cal opinions."

THE LIFE OF

SIR JAMES THORNHILL.

[A. D. 1676, to 1732]

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To one of those incidental circumstances produced by the vicissi tudes of human affairs, England stands indebted for the noble ductions of this great master in the art of history painting. He was the son of a gentleman, claiming descent from an ancient family in Dorsetshire, and was born there in the year 1676. His father enjoyed a competent landed estate, but by ill-management and dissipation, he involved himself in such difficulties, that he was obliged to sell it. This situation of their domestic affairs, obliged the son to think of applying himself to some profession, to which he might be enabled to support himself in a manner suitable to his birth, and to the expectations he had formed before his father's misfortunes.

An early taste for drawing suggested to him the idea of study. ing the polite art of painting; and in this view he went to London, where he was protected and encouraged in his design by that eminent physician Dr. Sydenham.

At this period, there were no very famous masters in England; Sydenham was therefore obliged to place his nephew under the direction of a painter of so little eminence, that not even the merit of having had such a pupil as Thornhill, could preserve his name from oblivion. The genius of our young artist supplied the de fects of his instructor; being left to his own taste, judgment, and application, the force of his imagination was called forth by this very circumstance; and his industry keeping pace with his inge

nuity, he made a rapid progress, and gradually rose to the highest reputation.

His generous patron, as soon as he found him capable to form a judgment of the works of the great masters of the Flemish and Italian schools, enabled him to travel through Holland and Flanders; from the latter he passed into France, where he bought several good pictures; amongst others, a "Holy Virgin;" by Annibal Caracci, and the "History of Tancred;" by Poussin. Unfortunately he did not pursue his travels; and great as his merit was, the best judges are of opinion, that had he studied at Rome and at Venice only a short time, he would have acquired greater correctness at the one, and a more exact knowledge of the perfection of colouring at the other, than he possessed; and his works would in that case, it is thought, have been superior to the first painters amongst the moderns.

As it was, he excelled in historical and allegorical compositions, and in portrait, perspective, and architecture; he had fertile invention, he sketched his designs with great ease and spirit, and he executed them with a free and firm pencil.

His merit in his own country was unrivalled, and it soon attracted the attention of the patrons of the fine arts, who were indeed but few in number, in his time; but they were such as thought no rewards too great for exellence like his. Queen Anne set the example, by appointing him to be state-painter, and employing him to paint the history of St. Paul, in the dome of St. Paul's cathedral; it is executed in a noble and beautiful taste, on eight pannels, in two colours relieved with gold. He afterwards executed several other public works, particularly at Hampton-courtpalace; where he painted an apartment, in which the queen and her consort, prince George of Denmark, are represented in allegorical figures on the cieling; and by contemporary writers, the portraits are said to be the most striking resemblances of the royal pair the same subject is executed in another taste on the walls. The other paintings in that palace were done by Antonio Verrio, a Neapolitian.

These great works having established his reputation, he soon acquired a fortune sufficient to enable him to re-purchase the family estate; and both wealth and honors were the fruits of his

happy genius. He was chosen knight of the shire for Devonshire and in that capacity sat several years in parliament. The queen likewise conferred upon him the honor of knighthood.

The last great undertaking of a public nature, and which is esteemed his master-piece, was the paintings in the refectory and saloon of Greenwich-hospital; a work which at this time is the daily subject of admiration to the numerous visitors of this magnificent building, and which on that account, merits a particular description.

The passage to this refractory is through a vestibule, where sir James has represented, on the cupola, the four winds; and ou the walls, are boys supporting pannels, with inscriptions of the names of the benefactors to the hospital. From thence, you ascend by a flight of steps to the refectory, which is a very lofty noble gal.ery; in the middle of which king William and queen Mary are represented allegorically in a sittting posture, attended by the emblems of Love, and the Virtues, who support the sceptre: the monarch appears to be giving peace to Europe. The twelve signs of the zodiac surround the great oval in which he is painted; the four seasons of the year are seen above; and Apollo in the chariot of the sun, drawn by four horses, making his tour through the zodiac. The painter has represented the four elements in the angles; and colossal figures support the balustrade, where the portraits of those able mathematicians, Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, and Newton, who considerably improved the art of navigation, are finely painted.

The cieling is all by his own hand; but he employed a Polander to assist him in painting the walls, which are adorned with representations of the Virtues, expressive of the design of the institution; such as Liberality, Hospitality, and Charity. The saloon is not so beautiful as the cieling; you ascend to it by several steps. The cioling represents queen Anne, and prince George of Denmark, surrounded by the heroic Virtues; Neptune and his train are offering their marine presents, and the four quarters of the world are in different attitudes admiring them.

King George I. is painted, on the wall facing the entry to the saloon, sitting with all his family around him. On the left you have the landing of king William, and on the right of George I.