practice of universal charity, which regards the whole human race but as members of one common family, as the children of one universal parent, equally the subjects of his providence and the candidates for his fa

vour.

Such were the maxims upon which Mr. Walker regulated his public conduct, and in conformity with them he may appear at times to have adopted politics hostile to the interests of his country. Throughout the whole of the American war, and during the commencement of the war with France in 1793, notwithstanding as an Englishman he felt the shame of national defeat and humiliation, yet in contests so unjust he deprecated the success of his country's arms. But, though his patriotism could not in his opinion supersede the unalterable laws of right, no one ever felt a purer or more ardent attachment to his native soil. He gloried in the name of Briton; he loved his country, because he regarded it as the seat of liberty, of sacred law and justice, of science, of arts,

of

of civilization. To preserve this proud pre eminence, to transmit unimpaired to future generations these distinguishing advantages, which he had received as the fairest portion of his inheritance, was with him a sacred duty, for which he held himself accountable to God, to his country, and to posterity. And though it was his fate through life, to pursue a thankless and a fruitless office in struggling against the vicious establishments of civil society, the corrupt and destructive policy of a selfish world, yet this did not relax his exertions, or abate the ardour of his zeal.

His talents however were not calculated merely for public life. Few men were more eminently gifted with all those qualifications, that enable an individual to shine and interest in society. To the circle in which he moved his habitual cheerfulness of disposition, his lively and animated conversation, a good-natured pliancy of mind, that, where the great interests of religion and morality were not concerned, would accommo

date

date itself to the various tastes and understandings of those with whom he mixed, rendered him at all times a welcome guest. At one period of his residence at Nottingham, he was singularly fortunate in his society. A kind of literary club, composed of a few select individuals, was accustomed to meet alternately at each other's house. The members of this club were generally of a description superior to what most provincial towns are capable of affording, men of cultivated understandings, and of great moral worth. By a singular fatality, most of these his early associates, though considerably his juniors in age, were removed from the stage before him.

There were yet remaining several, to whom, from long habits of intimacy, from a real regard for the excellence of their characters, and from a feeling of gratitude for personal kindnesses, he was sincerely attached. To relinquish these friends, who were endeared to him from so many considerations; to resign the regular exercise of a profession,

profession, to which he was warmly de voted; to quit a congregation, of which he had been the respected pastor for twentyfour years; and, at an age that most would deem a sufficient plea for an exemption from the active duties of life, to undertake the management of an institution, that required unceasing vigilance and great mental exertion, to which his whole time and attention must necessarily be devoted, and in which he must forgo many personal comforts, evinced a vigour of mind, and a sacrifice of private feelings to public good, that perhaps few individuals under similar circumstances would have displayed. In this however he merely acted conformably to the tenour of his whole life; for never perhaps has there been a man, whose conduct was less influenced by a regard to self. Anxiety for the welfare of an institution, to the success of which he was taught to believe his personal services were necessary, alone dictated his removal to Manchester. The salary that was promised him there, as theological pro

fessor,

fessor, was not more than he was receiving as minister at Nottingham; and even this, from an insufficiency in the funds of the college, he never received. For the last two or three years of his continuing in this situation, he had also the additional charge both of the mathematical and classical department; so that the whole burden of the institution rested upon himself; and to this his advanced age and declining health were unequal, as he has himself acknowledged in the following letter to a friend.

"It is in respect to your letter, which required more than a common reply, that I "have delayed my answer. I am every day so "harassed and exhausted by having for this

year imposed upon me the whole duty of "three tutors, that I seldom retire in the "evening with strength or spirit to en"counter the least exertion. My present "labours are fitter for a Hercules in his “youth than for an old man. Though I "have never lived an idle life, all my former " employment was but as amusement in 66 compa