by his departure, is yet unhealed; and the chasm, which he has left in our affections, will not soon be closed. I mean not to wrong Parental anguish by pretending to share it; Nature has given it a

to the University. I cannot but be solicitous to record some memorial of his mind: to those, therefore, who have the candour to excuse the defects of a juvenile trifle, I offer the following Inscription, supposed to be intended for a statue of our immortal statesman, Mr. PITT. I might have selected a more favourable specimen of my lamented Pupil's talents: but the present is recommended by its brevity, by the interest of its subject, and by its being his last attempt in Greek composition. It was written in December 1806; and it is printed exactly as it was found among his papers.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΠΙΤΤΟΥ 'ΑΓΑΛΜΑ.

\ Μῶν, ὦ γάθ', αὐχεῖς ̓Αγγλικός πεφυκέναι;
βαιόν γ' ἐπισχών ̓Αγγλίας σωτῆρ ̓ ὅρα.
βροντὴ γὰρ ὡς ἥστραπτεν ἧς γλώσσης σθένος,
ὀργάς τ' ἔθελξεν αἱμύλος μύθων χάρις
πυκναῖς δὲ βουλαῖς τοῦδε, γῆς Εὐρωπίας
ἔπτηξ' αλάστωρ, ἠδ ̓ ἄγρας ἡμάρτανεν
οὐ γὰρ δόλοισι ΠΙΤΤΟΣ ἐσφάλη ποτέ,
ἀλλ ̓ ἄκρον ως πύργωμα τῆς μοναρχίας
ἔστη, θρόνους τ ̓ ὤρθωσε τοὺς ἐρειψίμους·
ψυχῆς δὲ μᾶλλον ἠγάπησε πατρίδα,
πάντων τ ̓ ἄναξ (ὦ θαῦμα) τέθνηκεν πένης.
θρήνων ἀπλήστων λήγετ ̓, ὦ ΠΙΤΤΟΥ φίλοι,
γοώμενοι μάταια· κάλλιστον γέρας

οἱ πρόσθεν ἐχθροὶ προσφέρουσ ̓ ἀκουσίως,
θανόντος ἔργα καὶ λόγους μιμούμενοι.

character of its own; it is a Sacred Sorrow, which is profaned by the intrusion of affected sympathy. You will concede, however, that mine is a case of no common disappointment, and you will allow me to indulge in expressions of grief, which well may be sincere. Your second Son, from the completion of his sixth year, had been committed to my sole tuition and with daily opportunities of observing his character and of witnessing his conduct, not to have loved him would have evinced an insensibility, which I hope does not exist. While the qualities of his heart engaged my esteem, the endowments of his mind commanded my admiration. To simplicity ever unsuspicious, to warmth and generosity of feeling, to a temper the most docile and affectionate, to the habitual yet unconscious exercise of native benevolence, and to firm faith in the truths of our Religion, he added a quick and clear apprehension, a lively and creative fancy, much acuteness of discrimination, and a power which is rarely possessed in youth, that of directing all the energies to a given subject. Of his attainments I should not speak without great hesitation, if less partial judges had not inferred from them the certainty of his future distinction: I was encouraged to hope, that Cambridge would number him among her illustrious sons; and I anticipated the grateful and repeated tidings,

ὅτι οἱ νέαν

κόλποισι παρ' εὐδόξοιο Πίσας
ἐστεφάνωσε κυδίμων ἀέθλων
πτεροῖσι χαίταν.

Thus prematurely is dissolved a connexion of more than thirteen years' continuance. At a crisis so interesting, I have solicited permission to prefix your name to the following Volume. The merits of the performance may not entitle it to your zealous patronage; but its design, and the circumstances in which it has been produced, lead me to hope that you will not regard it with total indifference. It is, I trust, strictly within the line of our Profession; it was written in intervals of relaxation from duties originating in your partiality; and I cannot suppose that here Association will suspend its wonted influence on the feelings, though it may not bias your judgment.

I have now, Sir, to take my leave of you with fervent prayers for your own happiness and for that of your Family. I am shortly to withdraw from polished and literary society, from friendships endeared to me by similarity of pursuits and by uninterrupted habits of kindness and confidence, to exercise the obscure, but important, function of a Village Pastor I am to seek other companions, to form

DEDICATION.

new connexions, to engage in fresh projects: but whatever be my destiny, I cherish the belief that your good wishes will attend me, and that if ever your good opinion can avail to my welfare, you will not withhold it.

I am,

My dear Sir,

With sentiments of unfeigned

Gratitude and respect,

Your obedient and faithful Servant,

THOMAS FANSHAW MIDDLETON.

Norwich, 1st Jan. 1808.

PREFA CЕ.

THE Student in Theology cannot fail to have remarked, that the exposition of various passages of the New Testament is by Commentators made to depend on the presence or the absence of the Article in the Greek original. He has observed, that on this ground frequently they have attempted to correct mistranslation, to strengthen what they thought too weak, or to qualify what was deemed too strong. Criticisms of this kind he probably regarded as being at least plausible, till he perceived that they sometimes degenerated into refinements not having any visible foundation in truth; that distinctions were made, which were not warranted by the general tenor of Scripture; that the examples, by which it was sought to establish the proposed exposition, were not always strictly parallel; and that Critics instead of accurately investigating the laws of the Greek idiom, were not unfrequently content to argue from the practice in their own.

These charges, however, even if we admit them in their full extent, detract nothing from the general value of Grammatical Interpretation as applied to the Sacred Volume: they tend only to shew, that a particular philological question has not hitherto been sufficiently examined. To the Grammatical Interpretation of the N. T. every sensible and unbiassed Christian will give his strenuous support.