in such terms only as the occasion would justify, I should mortify, instead of gratifying. In truth, reviewing, at the request of particular friends, is a snare for the conscience. I never wished any person to review for me.

XLII.

TO THE REV. DR. FLETCHER OF BLACKBURN,

NOW OF STEPNEY.

Dear Sir,

Leicester, Feb. 21, 1815.

I duly received the five-pound bill which your friend has been so kind as to appropriate to the Baptist Mission. He may depend upon its being faithfully applied to the purpose for which it is intended; and you will be so good as to thank him in my name for it.

I most sincerely beg your pardon for not having replied to your kind letter: the truth is, not sitting down to reply to it immediately, the impression I had upon my mind afterwards was, that you did not wish or expect me to reply. I recollected only that it contained a pretty pressing remonstrance with me for not publishing more; a subject on which I have often been urged much to my concern and vexation. It pains me, my dear Sir, to be condemned and reproached upon a subject which is sometimes a source of more internal uneasiness than is generally supposed. I am far from being satisfied with my own conduct in this particular,

but know not how to remedy it. It is not indolence, I can truly say, which prevents me; but a certain fastidiousness and difficulty of being pleased, which really rises to the magnitude of a mental disease.

I feel myself, in all my performances, so short of that standard which I have formed in my own mind, that I can truly say, I contemplate my little productions with a kind of horror. If I could dismiss this feeling, I should much oftener try the patience of the public. That what I have written meets with your approbation cannot fail to encourage me; it is "laudari a viro laudato:" but permit me to express my surprise, that you should express yourself in terms so extremely disproportioned to my merits.

I shall be happy to hear from you, whenever you are disposed to write; and remain,

Dear Sir, with high esteem,

Your affectionate Friend,

ROBERT HALL.

XLIII.

TO THE REV. DR. FLETCHER.

Dear Sir,

Leicester, May 26, 1815.

With respect to Mr. Fuller's last moments, I have very little to communicate. His complaint was of a nature that left him very little opportunity of conversing with ease and composure. He was

oppressed with a prodigious load of corporeal misery. He said, I believe, more than once, misery centres in me, and I cannot die." In a letter he dictated to Dr. Ryland a few days before his death, he expressed himself thus:-" My state of mind is, in one word this; no despondency, no raptures." He said to his friends, he felt that trust in Christ, that he could plunge into eternity. He was a prodigious sufferer during his last illness. He said to Dr. Ryland, "I have written much, and said much, against the abuse of the doctrine of grace; but that doctrine is all my support in the prospect of eternity. I have no hope of being saved, but through the free sovereign grace of God, flowing through the atonement of Christ." I recollect nothing very particular respecting his first introduction into the ministry. Dr. Ryland will, I believe, compile a pretty extensive memoir of him. He has been strongly urged so to do. He was in many respects the most memorable man it has ever been my happiness to know; and his loss will be deplored as irreparable. He possessed good sense in a more perfect degree than any person I ever knew, embraced every object with a clearness, facility, and precision, almost peculiar to himself. He certainly possessed genius in a very high degree; but it was more a modification of intellect than a vigour of imagination; though in the latter faculty he was not defective. I loved and esteemed him more than I can express; and how his loss can be supplied in the mission, I am

at an utter loss to conjecture. But God is allsufficient. Let me entreat your prayers to God that he would provide. I feel much gratified at your intention of improving the death of our most lamented and venerable friend. Wishing you much of the blessing of God in your important engagements, and begging to be remembered to Mrs. F., though unknown,

I am sorry you should continue to importune me about that wretched oration, which it is my unalterable resolution never to print. It was not fit to be delivered, much less to be presented from the press. I may be mistaken: but I always conceive that it is a respect due to the public, whenever we appear before them, to do our best; and not to put them off with a weakly, or more deformed part, of our intellectual progeny. I laboured under an extreme depression of spirits; I was perplexed, between an imperfect written composition, a sort of funeral sermon delivered the last Sunday, and an attempt at extempore speaking. It would neither

be respectful to Mr. Fuller nor to the public, nor justice to myself, to publish such a wretched piece of inanity. In delivering the oration at all, I performed a service for which scarce any money would have bribed me; but to have the publication of it demanded, under pain of the displeasure of Mr. Fuller's friends, is intrenching rather too much upon the independence of private judgement. Do not understand me, my dear Sir, as at all displeased with you for urging the matter: I am speaking only upon the supposition that Mr. Fuller's family or friends demand the publication.

As you have intimated a willingness to publish memoirs, I would strongly recommend publishing neither the sermon nor the oration. They are utterly unnecessary, if the memoirs are published; not only so, but they would stand in each other's way. When a biography is promised, it is not, I think, usual for the same person to publish a funeral sermon previously. It is slaking the public curiosity prematurely. If you persist in your intention of publishing memoirs, I should feel no objection to taking an opportunity of testifying my profound esteem and friendship for dear Mr. Fuller, in some form which you may deem most eligible; but let me, my dear Sir, hear no more of the oration. My resolution is unalterable upon that subject.

As far as my acquaintance with sober calvinists extends, they do not object to