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    the records of Dr . DotfdHdge ' s innocent gallantries shottlct afford amusement ; but bad 1 suppressed these ebullitions of a ynrtrthftrl heart , with what an air of specious solemnity would that very circumstance have been pronounced a proof that touch letters were of an improper nature , for their existence was kuotvn :

    and in this view , how great is the satisfaction I feel rn having placed the reputation of Dr . Doddridge beyond the reach of his enemies ! Love is an old theme , and if the matter alluded to is amusing , it ' hi Instructive too ; and were old Mortality * himself to moralize upon it , he coula * not express himself more pertinently than by quoting the following lines :

    " When wise men love , they love to folly ; When blockheads love , they ' re melancholy ; When coxcombs love , they love for fashion , And quaintly call it * the belle passion . '"

    Now , serrously , unless the Eclectic Bevfewers are advocates for celibacy , they will make their election from the two latter Characters ; for who would venture to charge them with folly ? They are next astounded that I should have cam pared the Letters , of Doddridge with those of Pope , in point of style and gaiety of expression ; and here they talk about the " erotic gallantry of the

    correspondent of Lady Mary Wortley Montague , " in a way which curiously indicates the nature of their private studies , but has nothing to do with the work in question . They next run a tilt at the Editor ; and finding they can make no flair impression , gay no less , than that the publication was made ' for the avow * ed purpose of rescuing the character of the reverend writer from the odium of

    too great sanctity . " Now , so far from this being the fact , I have , in the Preface , avouched directly the contrary , as the following extract wttl attest : " Nor am I unconscious of the important influence which the thrilling fervour of his private devotions , as they stand recorded rn his Diary , will exert . These are circumstances which cannot fail of

    interesting the heart ; and that heart which thus , a « it were , cements a personal friendship with Dr . Doddridge , will have obtained a lasting advantage . " The next specimen of their dexterity occurs in the way of insinuation . I have stated in the Preface that a considerable number of the tenets in the two first

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    volumes , and Borne in the third ( perhaps five or six ) , were transcribed from the Doctor ' s shorthand . On this point onr candid Reviewers dilate in the following strain :

    " The obscurities and ambiguities inevitably attaching to such a manuscript must afford considerable scope fox ingenuity of conjecture , if not for a di $ cre < tionary use of the imagination , in deciphering it ; and there is no reason to suppose that , for the sake of rendering them the more piquant , the fullest use would not be made of any latitude thus afforded . "

    Who would imagine that all the parti - culars relative to this short-hand manuscript had been explained to them ; and that they wrote this slander with a knowledge that a great part of it was written out in long hand , many years ago , by that excellent man the late Rev . Thomas

    Stedman ;* and that Obadiah Toraalin , Esq ., the gentleman who transcribed the remainder , is expressly thanked in the preface for the scrupulous care he had devoted to the task , and which enabled him to produce a strictly f aithful copy of the original ! The system of short-hand , indeed , being Rich ' s , every person acquainted with it knows that it conveys every expression , and indeed every word in a full and literal manner . Both the

    original and transcript have been seen by many individuals , aud may be examined by any one who applies in a proper way for the purpose . I have shewn this insinnation to be most unfair ; but they soon recur to a more simple mode of attack . " Mr . Humphreys , " exclaim our recreant knights of the brazen visor , ' * announce * his intention to follow up these two volumes with we know not

    how many more , transcribed from th ^ remaining part of the MS . documents V ' Who would suspect that this passage was written with the following contradiction staring them full in the face : " It appears almost unnecessary for me to observe that the great mass of matter from which this work has been printed are family documents , ( i . e . letters ) in my possession . To these , however , have been added a considerable number of

    original papers which were the property of the late Rev . Job Orton , and which have been most liberally contributed by my highly esteemed friend , Heury James Sttfdinan , Esq . " To > exhibit their talent * in another light , it may be remarked that they are

    * Late Vicar of St . Chads , Shrewsburv , and editor of Rome valuable works .

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    0 < 5 Miscellaneous Correspondence .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1830, page 66, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2580/page/66/