racter for regular attendance upon divine worship, and for the seriousness and devotion which are observed during the time of service. The charge of levity is so completely without foundation, that I thought few would know to what congregation it was intended to apply; and, therefore, I did not consider it worth while to trouble you or your readers on the subject; but finding that it is generally known in different parts of the kingdom to be written by a member of the Unitarian society which assembles in Lewin's Mead, I must request you to insert the following remarks in your next, lest by letting it pass unnoticed the justice of the charge should seem to be acknowledged.

It has, confessedly, not been in the power of the writer till within the last few months to attend regularly upon public worship, and should not this circumstance have suggested the propriety of waiting till opportunity had been afforded of comparing our society with others? Had this comparison been made, it is probable that, instead of being stigmatized "with strange and reprehensible levity," it might have appeared to be deserving of being held up as an example of seriousness and devotion. The writer says, “I can conceive nothing more unconsonant, more distressing to pious feelings, than to hear a solemn address to the Deity drowned by the noise and bustle which is unavoidable when many persons enter:" now, let me ask, what impression would be made upon the minds of those unacquainted with Lewin's Mead, by reading this sentence? Certainly that the noise and bustle are 30 great as to drown the voice of the preacher. I can only say, that the Zealous Unitarian" must be most unfortunately situated; for in that part of the meeting where I sit there is never any noise or bustle" which could interrupt a person who was not more under the influence of nervous irritation than of that " pure devotion," and those " delightful aspirations" of which the writer speaks. I have often heard it remarked by those who have been accustomed to other congregations, that no where do the attendants enter in so quiet and orderly a manner. I have myself had frequent opportunities of attending other places of worship in London and various parts

of the kingdom, and I would not be understood to intend any reflection upon the members of any of these different societies, when I say, that on my return to Lewin's Mead I am always struck with the quietness and attention which prevail there. That there are generally some who come in after the service is begun, must be confessed, and in some instances this might be, and certainly ought to be, avoided; but from the variations in clocks, and other causes too numerous to be mentioned, I believe it will scarcely ever be found that several hundred people can assemble at precisely the same time, especially when, as is the case here, many of them live at a considerable distance, and some several miles from the chapel. If there be any who are habitually late, I would not be understood to offer any apology for them. Respecting the charge of levity, I must say that it is as unjust and unfounded as the whole accusation is hasty and injudicious.

Your zealous Correspondent might reasonably anticipate much religious improvement and gratification from attending upon the ministry of our able and highly respected pastors, but it would be well to remember that those who expect "unmingled gratification," must meet with disappointment in this world; it is no where to be found; no, not even among Unitarians; nor are we justified in allowing our disappointment to evaporate in peevish complaints against others, because they do not come up to our ideal standard of perfection.

Persons unacquainted with our society might be led to suppose, that those who, from their opulence and worldly station, have greater opportunities of spiritual improvement than their poorer brethren, are situated nearer the speaker, while the latter are placed where they are more liable to interruption, and where their attention must be "distracted by the figures which are moving around them." I must here observe, that if your Correspondent had taken the trouble to gain information on the subject; which might easily have been done by application to any of the older members of the congregation, and which ought in common justice to have been done before the animadversions of which I complain were published; it would

have been found that this is not the fact. A bench immediately under the pulpit is appropriated to the use of the inhabitants of our Almshouse, and the seats in its immediate neighbourhood are certainly not occupied by the most wealthy or most learned.

If your Correspondent observed any habitual irregularities in the conduct of some individuals, would it not have been better to endeavour to become acquainted with those persons, and in private to have represented to them the impropriety of their conduct; or, if this were not practicable, to have requested either of our ministers to do so, and their admonitions would, no doubt, have been received with the respectful attention they deserved, and have proved more effectual than the indiscriminate censure of an anonymous writer, which is more calculated to produce irritation than amendment. Instead of pursuing this line of conduct, which appears to me the most obvious as well as the most in conformity with the Christian precept, "Do unto others as you would they should do unto you," the Zealous Unitarian holds up to public reprehension onefifth of this highly respectable congregation; a congregation which, in point of numbers, liberality, unanimity and zeal, is surpassed by none and equalled but by few. Zeal your Correspondent too has manifested, but it is zeal which in this instance is not tempered with due discretion.

I would willingly believe that the paper which has called for these remarks was written hastily; and I cannot but think that the writer must, upon reconsidering the subject, see the injustice and impropriety of censuring so large a part of our society, after having been a member of it for only a very few months, and without having ascertained whether or not the charges brought against it are well founded.

B.

DERMIT me to bring under the notice of your readers a paragraph relating to the Unitarians, which appeared in the Congregational Magazine for December 1819, p. 756. Although it certainly must be very disagreeable just now to have such a shabby infidel (Mr. Carlile) claiming kindred with them; yet they will find

it difficult to deny the relationship, when they remember what Dr. Priestley said of Mr. Jefferson, the infidel: 'he is generally considered as an unbeliever: if so, however, he cannot be far from us.''

I say nothing of the style or spirit of the passage: I wish only to expose the gross mis-statement which it contains. Any reader would suppose that Dr. Priestley represented Mr. Jefferson as not far from Unitarians, because he was an unbeliever. This the "Congregational" writer evidently meant to be understood. Now then, Sir, for the fact.

Dr. Priestley sent Mr. Jefferson a copy of his pamphlet, entitled "Socrates and Jesus compared ;" the object of which was, I need scarcely say, to shew the vast superiority of our Lord to the mere philosopher. The President acknowledged the present in a letter which expresses his high admiration of the character of Jesus, and his regret that, through the errors of Christians and the corruptions of Christianity, “the unthinking part of mankind" should be induced" to throw off the whole system in disgust, and to pass sentence as an impostor on the most innocent, the most benevolent, the most eloquent and sublime character that ever has been exhibited to man." This letter Dr. Priestley transmitted to Mr. Lindsey, with a few remarks. Speaking of the writer, the Doctor says, " He is generally considered as an unbeliever if so, however," (that is, if he be really an unbeliever, which the Doctor seemed disposed, as well he might, to question,) "he cannot be far from us, and I hope in the way to be not only almost, but altogether what we are. He now attends public worship very regularly, and his moral conduct was never impeached." The plain sense of this is, that Dr. Priestley had the strongest hopes of Mr. Jefferson's avowing himself an Unitarian Christian, notwithstanding his reputed unbelief, in consequence of his expressing himself so emphatically in admiration of the character of Christ, of his return to public worship, which he had probably for a time disused, and of his unimpeachable moral character. And

Belsham's Memoirs of Lindsey, Appendix, p. 540.

is not a good man, who puts himself in the way of Christian means, and expresses himself as an ingenuous inquirer, very likely to find the truth? What more, in fact, does Dr. Priestley say than our Lord himself said, viz. that "If any man would do the will of God, he should know of his doctrine"?

Bigotry alone could affect to derive from the passage a confession that Unitarians and Unbelievers are near one to another; and I really am ashamed that any publication supported by Protestant Dissenters should be used for such purposes as this, which would disgrace the Anti-Jacobin Review. It is reported that Dr. J. P. Smith, and Mr. Chaplin, of Bishop Stortford, and other gentlemen of character and honour, are engaged in the Congregational Magazine, and it surely becomes them to disavow a passage which contains a virtual falsehood, and breathes an evil mind.

AN INDEPENDENT.

GLEANINGS; OR, SELECTIONS AND REFLECTIONS MADE IN A COURSE OF GENERAL READING.

No. CCCLX.

To make a probable Conjecture of Tempers and Dispositions by the Modulation of the Voice in ordinary. Conversation.

Sitting in company, and having been a little before musical, I chanced to take notice that in ordinary discourse words were spoken in perfect notes, and that some of the company used 8ths, some 5ths, and some 3rds, and that those were most pleasing, whose words, as to their tone, consisted most of concords, and where of discords, of such as constituted harmony: and the same person was the most affable, pleasant, and the best natured in the company. And this suggests a reason why many discourses which one hears with much pleasure, when they come to be read, scarcely seem the same thing.

From this difference in the music of speech, we may also conjecture that of tempers. We know the Doric mood sounds gravity and sobriety; the Lydian, freedom; the Eolic, sweet still

ness and composure; the Phrygian, jollity and youthful levity; the Ionic soothes the storms of disturbances arising from passion. And why may we not reasonably suppose that those whose speech naturally runs into the notes peculiar to any of these Moods, are likewise in disposition? So also from the Cliff, as he that speaks in Gamut, to be manly; C Fa Ut, may shew one to be of ordinary capacity, though good disposition. G Sol Re Ut, to be peevish and effeminate, and of a weak and timorous spirit; Sharps, an effeminate sadness; Flats, a manly or melancholic sadness. He who has a voice in some measure agreeing with all cliffs, seems to be of good parts, and fit for a variety of employments, yet somewhat of an inconstant nature. Likewise from the Times; so Semibrefs may bespeak a temper dull and phlegmatic; Minims, grave and serious; Crotchets, a prompt wit; Quavers, vehemency of passion, and used by scolds; Semibref rest may denote one stupid, or fuller of thoughts than he can utter; Minim rest, one that. deliberates; Crotchet rest, one in a passion, so that from the natural use of Mood, Note and Time, we may collect dispositions.

Phil. Trans. XII. 414.

No. CCCLXI. Fool-Doctors.

None are greater fools than they who set up for fool-doctors in the grand hospital of incurables, the principal districts and partitions of which are, Europe, Asia, Africa, America, with a fifth towards the South Pole, not yet discovered. The first degree of folly is to think one's self wise; the second is to profess one's self wise; and the third is to pretend to reform the world, and to cure others of their folly. To attempt such a cure, a man must be a fool and a half. So moralizes a certain philosopher, who, methinks, judgeth rather too severely of his fellow-creatures. In the spacious hospital of which he speaks, there are always some patients who may be cured, or, at least, much relieved. Let every one, therefore, contribute all that he can towards mending others, not forgetting himself.

Jortin's Erasmus, 8vo. II. 305.