though he was the only clergyman in Scotland by whom the church of England liturgy was read, he conciliated the Presbyterian party.

Revering his profession, he was anxious to redeem it from the obloquy which it had justly incurred by the secular spirit of its ministers. With this view he published a memorial, in which he contrasted the doctrines and disciplines of the primitive church with the practice of modern times. In his zeal for reformation, he spared not his own blameless life; and he resolved to secede from mixed company, to pursue a rigid course of study, and adopt such an ascetic regimen as actually impaired his constitution.

During his residence at Saltoun he was employed in negotiation between the Episcopal and Presbyterian parties. But this coalition, so often attempted during the reigns of Charles and James, was never effected. The ability which Mr. Burnet discovered in the negotiation, procured his nomination to the chair of divinity at Glasgow; and in 1669 he entered on that arduous vocation; but his integrity did not shield him from reproach, and he provoked persecution by his efforts to allay the heat of party. He was stigmatized by the Presbyterians for liberality, and detested by the Episcopalians for moderation.

In 1673, he again visited England; and having gained great credit with the Episcopalians for his vindication of ecclesiastical authority in Scotland, he was well received at court, appointed one of the king's chaplains, and often adpitted by Charles the second and the duke of York to private conference. By the artifices of the duke of Lauderdale, however, a prejudice was excited against him; and the king not only erased his name from the list of chaplains, but, on his seeking a settlement in London, obstructed his nomination to any clerical office; and it was not without difficulty that he was at length appointed chaplain of the Rolls, and lecturer of St. Clement's.

son.

The magnificence of Newton's discoveries was not obvious to popular apprehension; the truths he had promulg. ed were neither immediately nor universally diffused; but they were imbibed by the scientific mind, and transmitted through the philosophic eye.

A vestige of sir William Temple's classical enthusiasm appears in his will, in which he directs that his heart should be inclosed in a silver box, and buried under the sun-dial in his garden, opposite the window at which he had been ac customed to sit with his sister the accomplished lady Gifford, the companion of his literary and philosophical pursuits.

Gilbert Burnet, descended from parents eminent for probity and piety, was born at Edinburgh in 1643; he received his education at the college of Aberdeen, and applied to his studies so assiduously, that he obtained the distinction of Master of Arts before he had completed his fifteenth year. Originally he had a predilection for the study of law, but soon abandoned it for the clerical profession. In 1663 he visited England, when he became personally known to Mr. Cudworth, Dr. Pococke the orientalist, Dr. Wallis the mathematician, Mr. Boyle, and the most distinguished prelates of the age. From England he proceeded to the conti nent, travelled through France and Holland, and diligently seized every opportunity of extending his acquaintance with

men and manners.

On his return to Scotland, he was regularly inducted to the living of Saltoun, and resided five years on that cure, discharging his pastoral duties with the zeal and simplicity of a primitive apostle. He did not confine his ministerial functions to the service of the church; he visited his parishioners at their own houses, examined them on the doctrinal and practical points of christianity-admonished them as a friend, and watched over their temporal and spiritual interests with truly paternal affection. His piety, however strict, was so tempered by benignity, that he was universally beloved; and

though

though he was the only clergyman in Scotland by whom the church of England liturgy was read, he conciliated the Presbyterian party.

Revering his profession, he was anxious to redeem it from the obloquy which it had justly incurred by the secular spirit of its ministers. With this view he published a memorial, in which he contrasted the doctrines and disciplines of the primitive church with the practice of modern times. In his zeal for reformation, he spared not his own blameless life ; and he resolved to secede from mixed company, to pursue a rigid course of study, and adopt such an ascetic regimen as actually impaired his constitution.

During his residence at Saltoun he was employed in negotiation between the Episcopal and Presbyterian parties. But this coalition, so often attempted during the reigns of Charles and James, was never effected. The ability which Mr. Burnet discovered in the negotiation, procured his nomination to the chair of divinity at Glasgow; and in 1669 he entered on that arduous vocation; but his integrity did not shield him from reproach, and he provoked persecution by his efforts to allay the heat of party. He was stigmatized by the Presbyterians for liberality, and detested by the Episcopalians for moderation.

In 1673, he again visited England; and having gained great credit with the Episcopalians for his vindication of ecclesiastical authority in Scotland, he was well received at court, appointed one of the king's chaplains, and often admitted by Charles the second and the duke of York to private conference. By the artifices of the duke of Lauderdale, however, a prejudice was excited against him; and the king not only erased his name from the list of chaplains, but, on his seeking a settlement in London, obstructed his nomination to any clerical office; and it was not without difficulty that he was at length appointed chaplain of the Rolls, and lecturer of St. Clement's.

In that age the spirit of party was omnipotent. Burnet having published his History of the Reformation at a moment when the popular rage against popery was most violent, suddenly became the idol of the people, and received the thanks of both houses of parliament for his work. His reputation thus established, he was reinstated in his former privileges at court, but the only use he made of them was to remonstrate with the king on his immoral life.

During the popish plot, Burnet, so lately celebrated as the protestant champion, offended his partisans by the sentiments of lenity and humanity which he acknowledged for the persecuted papists. His popularity sudden. ly subsided. The king, mistaking his moderation for lukewarmness, made efforts to gain him to his side; but, neither provoked by persecution nor seduced by blandishment, Burnet preserved both his equanimity and integrity, and, retiring from public life, devoted himself to literary and philosophical avocations. On the trial of lord John Russel he gave such unequivocal demonstrations of attachment to that unfortunate nobleman, as wholly alienated the king's friendship, and by a royal mandate he was interdicted the

clerical functions.

On the accession of James, his residence in England appearing unsafe, he took the opportunity of visiting France, italy, and Switzerland; having received an invitation fron the Stadtholder, repaired to the Hague, where he contributed essentially, by his counsel, to direct the prince to that line of conduct which terminated in the revolution. It was at his suggestion that the princess of Orange made to William that concession of her personal pretensions, which secured to him the dignity and independence of the crown. On the mission of Dyckwelt to England, it was Mr. Burnet who furnished his private instructions. The distinction which he enjoyed at the Hague was not unobserved at home; the publication of his Travels, in which he had exposed all the

absurdities

absurdities of the Romish faith, as exemplified in the manners of catholic countries, having given great offence, the king thought it not unworthy of him to require that he should be excluded from his son-in-law's court. In deference to this requisition, Mr. Burnet absented himself from the palace, but still communicated with the prince and princess of Orange through the medium of their confidential mi

nisters.

Perceiving the malice of his enemies, he now procured an act of naturalization from the States General; and a prosecution having commenced against him in Scotland, he repelled the charge, on the pretext that his allegiance was now due to the States. Sentence of outlawry was in consequence pronounced against him, and the surrender of his person, as a criminal, formally demanded by the English envoy. To this imperious mandate the states replied, that Mr. Burnet, in becoming one of their citizens, had acquired a legal claim to their protection, that for whatever crimes he had committed, he was now amenable to their laws, and might be arraigned by their judicatures. In the expedition to England Burnet attended the prince, who continued to treat him with confidence and respect.

The see of Salisbury becoming vacant, Burnet, who, though he neither sought nor coveted preferment, scrupled not to ask for his friends such favours as he would have declined for himself, and recommended Mr. Loyd as a proper person to fill that bishopric, the king replied that he had another person in view for it; and the next day Mr. Burnet found himself invested with the episcopal dignity. In his high prelatical station he was no less scrupulous than he had been in the cure of Saltoun; and so sacred did he hold his obligations to his diocese, that, on being appointed preceptor to the duke of Gloucester, he announced his intention of resigning his see: The king refused the bishop persisted-finally the matter was compromised by his majesty's giving him permission to devote ten weeks in the year to residence, and the care of his clergy.

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