dying, he refused the medicines which the physicians had prescribed; and I (says Mr. Bowdler) was desired to prevail on him to take them, which I did with the usual argument, " do it to oblige

me;" but in vain; for he still refused: at last I was going to say, "It is your duty to God to do "what you can to preserve your life:” but when I had uttered only the six first words, he seized the cup, and drank it to the dregs, and laying hold of my hand, (adds Mr. Bowdler) said with great earnestness several times, "my dear friend, my "dear friend!" as if wishing to express, not only his affectionate regard to this excellently good man, but his gratitude for recalling him to his duty to God, at that moment, when, as our excellent Liturgy in most impassioned language in the burial service, teaches us to pray, that God will not suffer us in our last hour for any pains of death to fall from him. Not long before he expired, Mr. Bowdler asked him, after he waked from a calm sleep, whether he should repeat a prayer: the dying Christian assented. Mr. Bowdler repeated the collect from the order for the visitation of the sick, beginning with these words: "O Lord, look "down from heaven, &c." when he had said, "Give him comfort and sure confidence in thee," Mr. Stevens said very calmly and distinctly, Amen! but as he did not repeat it at the end of the col

lect, it is presumed his mind was exhausted. When the clock struck three in the morning, he said to the servant, " My time is come. Oh dear, good "God!" and fell asleep without a struggle or a groan.

The remains of this valuable man were deposited on the 14th of February in Otham churchyard, in the county of Kent, which, though not the place of his nativity, yet, from being the parish of his maternal relations, he had always regarded as his home; and in the church-yard of which he had always expressed his desire to be buried. Indeed to the church of Otham he had, during his life time, been a great benefactor, having laid out about £600 in repairing and adorning it. The following Epitaph, written by a friend, is placed upon a marble tablet in the church; and is the best and truest summary of the character of this extraordinary man that could possibly have been given:

Sacred to the Memory of

WILLIAM STEVENS,

Late of Broad-street, in the City of London, Hosier, And many years Treasurer of Queen Anne's Bounty; Whose remains, by his own desire, were deposited near this Church,

Which he delighted to frequent as the place of his devotion,

And which he repaired and adorned by his munificence.

Educated, and during his whole life engaged, in trade,

He yet found time to enrich his mind

With English, French, Latin, Greek, and especially Hebrew Literature;

And connected by blood and affection With many of the most distinguished Divines of his Age, He was inferior to none,

In profound knowledge, and steady practice, Of the doctrines and discipline of the Church of England: Austere to himself alone, charitable & indulgent towards others, He attracted the young by the cheerfulness of his temper, The old by the sanctity of his life;

And tempering instructive admonition with inoffensive wit, Uniting fervent piety towards God

With unbounded good-will and well regulated beneficence towards men,

And illustrating his Christian Profession by his own
consistent example,

He became the blessed means, by divine grace,
Of winning many to the ways of righteousness.

He finished his probation, and entered into his rest,
On the 7th day of February, A. D. 1807,

On Sunday, the 15th day of February, the day after Mr. Stevens's burial, his intimate and affectionate friend, the Rev. Mr. Prince, in the chapel of the Magdalen Hospital, of which charity Mr. Stevens had acted on the Committee for many years, on the text of St. Paul, "That ye sorrow "not even as others, which have no hope," in

troduced into his sermon a very just and affecting eulogium upon the religious character and conduct of his dear, departed friend: and, as is usual with that excellent person, he endeavoured to enforce upon his hearers the necessity of following the steps of this bright example in the paths of virtue and holiness. He thus concludes this animated discourse:

"His body is at peace, and his spirit returned "unto God who gave it: he is gone to his grave, " like as a shock of corn cometh in its season. It " is our's, who knew, and loved, and revered him, "to imitate, far as we are able, the pattern he “ hath left behind; by a life of faith and holiness, "of piety and charity, and of active, cheerful "benevolence; discharging the duties of our re"spective stations well; using this world, as not abusing it; doing justly, loving mercy, and walk

ing humbly with our God. So, whensoever it "shall please the Almighty to call us hence, Death “will not find us unprepared; but we shall have

hope in our death: and when the Lord himself "shall descend from Heaven, with a shout, with "the voice of the archangel, and with the trump " of God, we shall ever be with the Lord. "Wherefore comfort one another with these "words!"

It may be supposed that a man of such extensive

benevolence, and whom Providence had greatly blessed with temporal prosperity, would, being a bachelor, by his will have left large sums for charitable uses. But no such thing. All his conduct was formed upon principle: and he had often said, and acted upon that opinion, that charity is a personal grace; and that if a man has exercised that virtue during his life, and also carries on his benefactions by will, he deprives his successors of the means of exercising those virtues as he has done; and thus prevents them from shewing themselves to be good stewards of the bounties of heaven. Accordingly, except two legacies, one of four thousand pounds stock, and another of two hundred pounds sterling, one of which lapsed by the death of the individual before him, he left the whole of his fortune to his first cousin, the Rev. William Horne, Rector of Otham, in the county of Kent, the brother of the venerable Prelate so often referred to in the course of this work.

I have now completed, though not in a manner equal to my own wishes, or to the deserts of the inimitable person whose life is recorded, what I had determined with myself to perform: namely, to give a true and accurate account of a person, as extraordinary for virtuous attainments, as any that has ever presented itself to public observa