and the worldliness, which he saw to pervade those services, and all the evils which he beheld them bringing in their train: he frequently inveighed against the neglect of the study of divinity in those intended for the church; nor did any member of the church more honour the bright exceptions to these faults, existing in some of his most intimate and most valued clerical friends.[1] He marked the close of every year, in the books in which he kept an account of the fees he had received in the course of it, by a Latin prayer; and these affecting compositions, which I have been permitted to see since his death, contain the sentiments of a pure and grateful heart, relying on the Creator in all that befell him, submissive in trial, and thankful for benefits and support.
On the less serious subject of his political opinions, I shall say little. I have long wondered to see men and neighbours divided into hostile parties, seeking, with eagerness, to destroy the fame of those whose opinions on the best form of government differ from their own; forgetting, it would seem, the possibility of two persons, with equally honest intentions, forming very different judgments, on a subject concerning which men are only beginning to discern any
- ↑ It may here, perhaps, be permitted to me to mention the intimacy subsisting between my late friend and the Rev. Mr. Hook, of Coventry, for whom he entertained the highest respect; and, also, to introduce the name of the Rev. Mr. Moore, of Alrevas, near Lichfield, to whom Dr. Darwall had been known from his youth, and whom he greatly regarded. It might wound the delicacy of these truly excellent clergymen if I were to say more on this subject: but their esteem for Dr. Darwall has been most affectionately evinced since his death; and, on the other hand, Dr. Darwall was never more animated than when dwelling on the support given by the talents and example of such men to the Church which he wished to prosper.
