addressed to the Clergy of the different Islands a circular letter, earnestly exhorting them to take the condition of the Negroes in their respective parishes into their consideration, and to instruct them in the principles of the Christian Faith.

On the 23d of April in the following year 1789, in obedience to the King's express command, he preached at St. Paul's on the day of public thanksgiving for His Majesty's recovery. The subject which he chose was, "Trust in God,"

and he enforced it with all that warmth and spirit and energy which the peculiar circumstances of the case, and a scene so uncommonly grand and striking could hardly fail to inspire. That part of his discourse, which bears more immediately upon the occasion, is touched with great delicacy and judgment. There

There is no elaborate eulogy, no overcharged description; but he stated simply and strongly, what he knew upon indubitable authority to be true, that "the heart of his Sovereign was deeply impressed with the conviction, that in God was his help; and that throughout the whole of his severe trial his trust in God had never forsaken him." Of the reality of this declaration, I believe, out of all that vast assembly, there was not an individual present who entertained the slightest doubt. It came home to every one's feelings, and called up one united thanksgiving to the Great Disposer of events, for having preserved and restored to them a Monarch, not more illustrious for his high station, than revered and beloved for his many private virtues.

More than two years had passed from the time of his taking possession of the

See

See of London before the Bishop held his primary visitation; but the cause of the delay arose, as he himself observes, "from a wish to collect all the information he could from various quarters, and more particularly from the answers to the several queries which had been some months before circulated through the diocese."

With these materials before him, he was enabled to select such topics for his Charge as appeared the most important; and accordingly he insisted principally on the necessity of more constant residence*, an increase of salaries to curates,

* The residence of the beneficed Clergy on their cures was one of the objects, connected with the discipline and good order of the Church, which the Bishop was unceasing in his endeavours to promote; and the following extract from a most useful and able Charge delivered by Mr. Archdeacon Cambridge in 1808, to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Middlesex, is an honourable and convincing proof how successfully

curates, and the improvement of our parochial psalmody. In regard to the

last

fully those endeavours were exerted." It will now," he says, "be expected, that I should make some report of the state and condition of the Parsonage Houses, which it was a part of my duty to inspect; but it was with real pleasure I found, that the difficulty and trouble, which may readily be supposed to attend the due performance of this delicate branch of our official inquiry, were considerably lessened, and the duty in a great measure anticipated by the unwearied exertions of our excellent Prelate, whose constant endeavour it has been, ever since he presided over this important diocese, to establish resident clergy on every preferment where it was possible to accomplish it; an endeavour, in which he had most meritoriously and successfully persevered for many years previous to the late Act for enforcing the Residence of the Parochial Clergy. Of this, his first concern, the repair and improvement of the parsonage house, in which the incumbent was required to reside, formed an essential and often a preliminary part. And it is now with infinite satisfaction I can state, that with the exception of a very few cases, where accidental circumstances have occasioned delays in the accomplishment of the wishes and directions of the Bishop, on almost every living, the income of which is sufficient to supply the means of maintaining a decent residence for the incumbent, this important object is already attained."

last of these subjects, he states the following reasons for pressing it on the attention of his clergy.

"Of all the Services of our Church, none appear to me to have sunk to so low an ebb, or so evidently to need reform, as our parochial psalmody; more especially, as Dr. Burney, in his History of Music, had very injudiciously taken great pains to ridicule and discredit the use of psalmody in our churches, and to introduce in the room of it cathedral music. In consequence of this, many churches and chapels in London had already adopted his ideas; and at their charity sermons, professional singers, both male and female, were brought from various places of public entertainment to sing hymns and anthems for the benefit of the children. Nay, in one or two churches there had been musical

entertainments