entire number only amounted at last to about two hundred and fifty. It cannot be doubted that this short list comprised but a small portion of those who felt themselves aggrieved by the present system, and would gladly have seen a relaxation of it. But the majority were cautious and timid, unwilling to commit themselves, desirous to put it off to a more convenient season; and others, after making fair promises, hesitated and drew back at the last moment. Of too many, their subsequent conduct constrains us to say, that though they would have had no objection to step into the enjoyment of liberty through the virtuous toils of others, they had a much stronger attachment to the praise of men and the good things of this world. Among those who did sign, we find however a noble band, whose names deserve to be held in lasting remembrance,-of some of whom the world was not worthy.

The petitioners decided to address themselves in the first instance to the House of Commons, where their petition was presented by Sir W. Meredith, and after a long debate, in which Sir G. Savile particularly distinguished himself, was rejected by 217 to 71. All things considered, the minority was as large as had been expected even by the friends of the measure; and its supporters had so decidedly the advantage in the debate, that there seemed little reason to doubt that by perseverance and 'agitation,' the voice of truth and justice would at length be heard. Unhappily more timid counsels prevailed; the application was not renewed in the succeeding session; and thus the question

was allowed to fall to the ground. After a lapse of nearly seventy years, it is but too probable that neither the public at large, nor the ruling powers in church or state, would now be even as well prepared as they were then, to listen with favour to a similar proposition. Indeed it is very doubtful whether among the aggrieved party as many as even two hundred and fifty could now be prevailed on to put their names to such a petition.

When Mr. Lindsey opened his chapel in Essex-street, he was desirous of obtaining the services of Dr. Robertson, as a colleague; and in the beginning of 1778, when this venerable confessor was already upwards of seventy-two years of age, he was on the point of removing to town for that purpose. But having been informed that some persons, with more zeal than knowledge, were about to institute a prosecution against him for teaching without a license, he, with the spirit of a young warrior, determined to stand his ground and abide the event. As it happened, this illiberal scheme came to nothing. A popish seminary of some consequence was established in the neighbourhood, and it appeared that a prosecution could not be carried on with any decency against the one, without being also instituted, on the same principles, against the other,-which they knew would be very unacceptable to the ruling powers; and thus the Unitarian found himself safe under the protection of popery!

After this period, Dr. Robertson spent the short remainder of his life in the settlement which had been provided for him at Wolver

hampton, continuing to discharge the laborious duties of his office as long as health and strength remained, and living in the greatest harmony with all classes. He was accustomed to express great thankfulness for the lot in life which it had pleased Providence to appoint for him; though he had certainly met with severe trials, and, in the last few years of his life more especially, much affliction and sorrow; having been bereaved of the whole of his once numerous family, and left in his old age a solitary pilgrim, to pursue, in a land of strangers, his journey to the grave. By him, however, this heavy dispensation was received in that meek submission. and cheerful trust, which is the portion of those only who can look forward, with a fixed and abiding faith, to the regions where the holy and good shall meet to part no more. He died at Wolverhampton, May 28, 1783, in the seventyseventh year of his age.

25

THEOPHILUS LINDSEY.

THE name we have now inscribed is on many accounts the most distinguished in the list of worthies whom it is our present object to commemorate. This arises, not merely from the talents and acquirements of this eminent person,-qualities in which he was equalled, if not surpassed, by some others,-but from the circumstances which attracted to his case a larger share of the public attention; from the manner in which he became instrumental in establishing the first permanent religious society avowedly formed on Unitarian principles; but, above all, from the singular purity and excellence of his character, adorning the doctrine he professed with all the most amiable and attractive graces of the Christian life. Unbending integrity and a strict regard to truth and principle were in him so tempered by a guileless simplicity, by a warm and active but unostentatious benevolence, and by a fervent but rational piety, that even those who most disapproved his opinions were compelled, not only to admire the sacrifice he had made on their account, but to acknowledge that in the midst of what they called heresy, there reigned the spirit of Christ, the genuine marks of the true Christian disciple.

Theophilus Lindsey was born at Middlewich,

in Cheshire, June 20, 1723. His father, Mr. Robert Lindsey, was extensively engaged in the salt works which are carried on in that neighbourhood. He was at one time a person of some opulence; but suffered considerably by the imprudence of an elder son by his first wife, whom he had admitted to a share in the business. His second wife was a Spencer, distantly related to the Marlborough family, who had resided for many years with Frances, Countess of Huntingdon. The youngest of her three children was named after his godfather, Theophilus, Earl of Huntingdon, the son of this lady, and husband of the celebrated Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, afterwards so well known as the zealous and liberal patroness of Mr. Whitfield and the Calvinistic Methodists. Theophilus was taken under the more particular patronage of Lady Betty and Lady Ann Hastings, who remarked at an early period his promising talents and serious spirit. These excellent ladies were not less distinguished for their genuine piety and extensive benevolence, than for their high station; and at their house, where he constantly spent his vacations, he had the rare opportunity of profiting by the most cultivated and highly-polished society, separated in a great measure from the false maxims and delusive expectations with which it is too generally associated. Under the direction of his kind patronesses, he was committed to the tuition of the Rev. Mr. Barnard, Master of the Free Grammar School at Leeds, near which town they at that time resided. To this gentleman his grateful pupil was afterwards wont to