ERRATA. Page 34. line 4. for "Valchenaer," read " Valckenaer." 119. 12. for "1792," read " 1791." 1. for "autumn of 1829," read "autumn of 1828." In the particulars given of St. David's College, it ought to have been stated that it is incorporated by a royal charter. The "St. David's College Calendar," published by Rivingtons, will best convey any addi tional information that may be desired respecting it. DOCTOR THOMAS BURGESS, late Lord Bishop of Salisbury, was born on the 18th of November, 1756, at Odiham, near Basingstoke, in Hampshire. His father was a respectable grocer of that place, a man of excellent understanding and sincere piety, who was the object of his son's devoted respect and affection, and whose memory he so tenderly cherished, that even to the latest period of his life he could hardly mention his name without emotion. There was so strong a likeness between them, that a picture of the father, by Opie, with a wig somewhat of the episcopal cut, which hung in the Bishop's library at Salisbury, might readily have been mis B taken for a portrait of himself. His mother's maiden name was Harding, and her connexions were highly respectable. Their family consisted of three sons and three daughters. The Bishop was the youngest brother. The eldest, who was a man of great natural talent, inherited a property of several hundreds a year in land from his maternal grandmother. John, the second son, was apprenticed in London, and by his steadiness of conduct and ability, established himself in a good business, and acquired a considerable fortune. Of the three daughters, the eldest married Mr. Pinkerton, a gentleman of literary celebrity, whose name is well known as the author of a work on geography, and of other useful publications. Thomas was sent when a little boy to a dame's school, kept by a Mrs. Fisher, who seems to have been the very counterpart of Shenstone's schoolmistress. In his visits to Odiham, after he had distinguished himself, he never failed to call upon his old mistress, who was exceedingly proud of having had him at her school, and used to call him "her scholar." He was seven years old when he was sent to the grammar school of Odiham. Though living in the same town with his parents, they denied themselves the pleasure of having him home except at the regular holydays, that he might not become unsettled, and inattentive to his studies. As his mother doated on him, this was a great trial to her, especially when she saw him on Sundays, at church, among the train of his schoolfellows; but she repressed her feelings for her child's good. His own feelings, it is scarcely needful to add, were not a little excited on these occasions. Much pains were taken by this worthy couple to imbue the minds of their children with religious principles. The inscription on the monument to their memory, erected by the Bishop conjointly with his brother John, in Odiham church, expresses in beautiful terms their high estimation of the pains bestowed by them on the education of the family, and of the sacrifices of personal comfort which they had cheerfully made for this purpose. This wise and faithful discharge of parental duty was peculiarly rewarded in the subject of this memoir. There is every reason to believe that the good seed thus early cast into his mind, germinated, by the divine blessing, at a very early period, and that through the restraining influence of the "fear of the Lord," so justly denominated by the sacred penman "the beginning of Wisdom," he passed through the dangerous ordeal of a public school, and of college, uncontaminated. He was one of the most dutiful and affectionate of sons, both to his father and mother. The latter was a great invalid, and it was his delight whenever he came home to pass much of his time in her sick-room, and to devise every means in his power to solace and amuse her. |