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    [ wliere he had a v \\\ % , ] and It has been recently prefixed by that well-knowu printer to a 12 mo edition of Shafcspeare ^ s Works . Born of an old family of provincial geutry , which inay be traced back for four centuries , according to Mr . Fenton ,

    the historiographer of that county , and in the hospitable house of an English gentleman of the old school , at a time when classes were more unmixed , and before a spirit of commerce had blended all ranks in the spirit of adventure and enterprize , " some of the leading traits of

    his character may be traced to that circumstance . Though never , perhaps , has a greater change taken place in any country than in this in the last thirty or forty years , yet he retained the stamp and character of the age when he was born , and appeared more to belong to the earlier times of the last centurv ,

    than to the preseut . Charitable , humane , open-hearted , unsuspicious , and confiding , he preserved to an advanced age the raciuess of a youthful character ; his defect was , that he was to a fault inapt for business , and neglectful of his worldly interests ; indeed the whole frame of his character was unfitted for

    the common competition of life . He was a votary of pleasure in the insidious shape of literary leisure , which Euripides feelingly calls < r % aX ^ repirvov yccmov Naturally timid and retiring , he never was very fond of general society ; but liis conversation was , with those who

    knew him , eminently agreeable and instructive , being a remarkably well-informed man , and well read in history , theology , and all the best writers and divides . As a Clergyman of the Church of England , he was sincerely attached to its doctrine , and practised ifs

    religion without any tincture of morose ness or ostentation . Being naturally of a delicate and sensitive fibre , humanity and charitableness formed leading features of his character ; he never could hear of distress or witness cruelty without having his pity excited , or

    indignation roused : his love of doing good was of such a nature , that , though inactive in his own affairs , he was always active in those of others , sedulous in applying for relief for the distressed , at the Literary Fund , * and , in many inatance . s , in other quarters , obtaining situations for

    * Dr . Symmons wa 9 one of the Registrars , and a zealous supporter of that admirable Institution , the Literary Fund ., promoted its interests by many efficient services , and occasionally favoured it with poetical contributions for recital at the Anniversary . —Edit . Gent . Mag ,

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    individuals which have made their provisions forjife . He was bo unworldly , that at a superficial glaace he was likely to be , and pro * bably was , misunderstood by the -world but not so by his family , his friends , and his neighbours ;^ they saw the nobleness

    simplicity and innocence of his character . Being of an ardent disposition , he felt strongly , and expressed himself frequen tly in terms that by no means corresponded with fclve real gentleness of his nature . Allusion is here made to some expressions of asperity used by him in his Life of Milton . But in truth all

    such feeliug was so foreign to his heart , that he really was unconscious of the force of his expressions , and did not consider how much they would weigh with those who too often cloak real malignity ia the guise of urbanity ; and the error resolves itself into a fault of style , which

    had nothing to do with , the heart . The same defeuce might be made for Dr . Symmons that Luther made for himself ( as cited by Milton in bis Apology for Smectymnuus ) , " That he was of an ardent disposition , and could not write a dull style . " To illustrate the truth of

    this : the late Mr . Boswcll , who had more reason than any other to complain of him , the idol of whose father , Dr . Johnson , and whose personal friend , Mr . Malone , he had treated , to say the least , very unceremoniously in his writings , always regarded him with the greatest respect and affection .

    His politics ( for every Englishman of the old school had his politics ) were really of the most harmless and inoffensive description , more belonging to the period of his earlier days , than to the times we live in , more theoretical than

    practical , and exactly such as he professes them , of the school of Locke and of Somers . But whatever they were , he always steadily maintained them , and siucerely avowed them , without any re * ference to his own interests . But he

    never was , nor never could have been , an active politician in the real sense of the word ; that is , a man trading in opinions , and struggling for advancement ; his proper sphere was in retirement and the bosom of his family , where he was a kind and affectionate husband and father , and a most indulgent master .

    in his habits , he was remarkable for the regularity of his hours , his movements being always guided by a favourite chronometer , aud he invariably rose at five o ^ clock in the morning , winter and summer . He had enjoyed from his temperate habits ( being a Rechabite wita regard i ; o wine ) , a long course of health , and maintained a hale and florid loo *

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    428 Obituary . —Dr . Summon * .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1826, page 428, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2550/page/48/