VICESIMUS KNOX, D. D. THIS learned divine, whose rank in the republic of letters has long been pre-eminent, was born at Newington-green, in Middlesex, about the year 1753. His father, the Rev. Vicesimus Knox, LL.B. a fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, and a master of Merchant Taylors' school, was a respectable scholar, a truly worthy man, and in the exercise of his clerical functions, possessed the high esteem of several large congregations in London, who for many years enjoyed the advantage of his instruction. Mr. Knox died at the early age of forty-nine. His only son, the subject of this memoir, became a member of the college in which his father had preceded him, where he pursued his studies with successful diligence, and in due time was elected to a fellowship. He went through a course of reading, which comprehended all the best Greek and Roman classics, and imitated the style of each, in verse and prose, with great felicity. His early compositions in Latin were numerous, and much admired in the college for wit, humour, taste, and purity of diction. The president of St. John's, a man of considerable learning, Dr. Dennis, soon discovered in Mr. Knox those indications of superior genius which were hereafter to shed lustre upon his college. He took every occasion of encouraging him in his studious pursuits, and, as a mark of honourable distinction, together with the other heads of houses, appointed him a L14 speaker, speaker, with Mr. Bragge, the Earl of Dartmouth, Sir George Shuckburgh Evelyn, and others, at the Encania, when Lord North first presided in person as chancellor of Oxford. Upon that occasion it will be recollected by many that Mr. Knox met with great applause, as well from the manner in which he delivered a copy of Latin verses, as from the merit of the verses themselves, which (contrary to what usually takes place) were known to be the speaker's composition. It was here that he gave an early specimen of those talents of elocution, that have gained him the reputation of one of the first pulpit orators of the age, and of that taste which has placed him among the most celebrated of our belles lettres writers. Before he left the university, and previous to his bachelor's degree, he composed several essays as college exercises, for the sake of improvement;, and (as we are informed in the preface) when they accumulated to a number sufficient to make a volume, he debated a moment whether he should commit them to the flames, or send them (as a present) without a name to a London publisher. The last deliberation prevailed; the collection was transmitted to Mr. Edward Dilly, by whom the volume was published anonymously in 1777, under the title of "Essays Moral and Literary," royal octavo. The success of this volume was great, but unquestionably not more than its desert. A second edition was soon called for, and the author was induced not only to add another volume, but also to prefix his name. These essays, written in a forcible and elegant style, formed on the finest models of ancient Greece and Rome, contain most valuable di rections rections for the cultivation of the understanding, and the conduct of life. What serves also to recommend them still more to many, is the rich fund of classical and miscellaneous entertainment they afford. It is unnecessary to enter into a copious detail of the great merits of this work; the public opinion having been so decidedly expressed in its favour, that few books are more generally known and approved. The style is masterly, and if (sometimes) a little Johnsonian, yet an accurate judge will perceive that it has the nerve of Johnson without the pomposity. There is a happy mixture of the best style of our English writers with those of Plato, Xenophon, and Cicero, in whose writings the author appears to have been daily conversant during the most susceptible part of life. Notwithstanding the long interval that has elapsed since the first publication, and the consequent general diffusion of the essays, still the book circulates widely, and a large impression has lately been printed in three volumes 12mo. which completes the fifteenth edition. They have besides been reprinted in Ireland, and have gone through many editions in various European languages. From college, after having regularly taken the degrees of bachelor and master of arts, Mr. Knox was elected in the year 1778 master of Tunbridge school, over which seminary he continues to preside, and from which he has sent to various parts of the world many learned, virtuous, and highly esteemed members of society. About this time he married a lady, distinguished by her superior understanding and pe culiar elegance of manners, the daughter of Mr. Miller, a surgeon of great respectability at Tunbridge, and thus vacated his fellowship at Oxford. His family consist of two sons and a daughter. His eldest son is a student of the Inner Temple, and will shortly be called to the bar; his younger is a member of Brazenose College, at present so famous for its wellregulated discipline. Shortly after his marriage he accepted the degree of doctor of divinity, conferred upon him by diploma from Philadelphia, without solicitation, in the handsomest manner, as a compliment for the benefit America had derived from his incomparable Essays, which were very popular there. Dr. Knox next appeared to the world as an author, by publishing his celebrated treatise on "Liberal Education;" a subject which, of course, must at this period have much engrossed his attention. It is not easy to determine whether this treatise or the Essays conferred most honour upon the author: its reception was equally favourable in this and in foreign countries. It is certain, however, that this truly excellent work displays a depth of learning, an ingenuity of argument, and a soundness of judgment, not equalled in any other work upon the exhausted subject of education. The writings of contemporary authors, and of literary journals at home and abroad, abound in eulo giums of its merit. In this treatise, however, Dr. Knox evinced that independence of sentiment which, though highly honourable to his character, has contributed through life to the injury of his worldly interests. In pointing out the glaring defects in the education education of youth, he could not consistently pass over the gross abuses in the discipline of his university. Abuse at Oxford had taken such fast hold by long continuance, that it required the strongest exposition to effect any reformation; Dr. Knox, therefore, arraigned it with all the force of ridicule, learning, and argument combined, and did not content himself with adducing merely general charges, but entered with a minute precision of enquiry into the sources of the corruptions which prevailed, so injurious to the whole nation. Whether in his ardent zeal for the promotion of learning, and the improvement of the rising generation, he might not have been hurried in one or two instances beyond the strict limit of candour, is now not worthy of enquiry, since beyond all question the public at large, as well as the university itself, lie under infinite obligations to him for having caused many improvements, which, since his representations were published, have been made in the discipline of Oxford. This work was universally read, and the Oxonians were extremely galled by the celebrity with which it was received, not only in Britain, but through Europe and America. In a subsequent edition the author subjoined a letter to Lord North, chancellor of the university of Oxford. Being hopeless of doing any good in his place as a member of the academical senate, the author adopted this mode of address, with a view of exciting the chancellor's attention to the abuses which he there enumerated. The evils specified in this letter were so palpable, that it is surprising any thing like an apology for them should |