In the middle of the last century, hard by a church dedicated to St.
Mary――on a spot at that time considered somewhat rural in appearance,
but since absorbed by the even then very populous town of Leeds――stood
an humble, unornamented cottage, the outer door of which was studded
with nails, like that of an ancient peel or a modern prison-house; and
there a Yorkshire weaver, of the name of Milner, lived in comparative
poverty. He is stated to have been characterized by sagacity, industry,
and self-denial, but nevertheless had not proved particularly
successful in the trade he followed; having besides, like many persons
of a higher rank, suffered severely from the effects of the rebellion
of 1745. Though not blessed with much intellectual culture, he had,
as is common with his class, a full appreciation of the manifold
advantages of a sound education; and vowed that he would not shrink
from personal sacrifices that his children might at all events enjoy
that invaluable possession. He was already the father of two boys,
one of whom afterward attained worthy celebrity, when, on the 11th of
January, 1750, Isaac Milner, the third of the family, first saw the
light.
So many of those famous personages whose illustrious footprints have
been traced in the foregoing pages, with a view to the encouragement
of youths aspiring to excellence, could boast of gentle lineage and
hereditary associations, that it is impossible not to experience
something like a sensation of relief, and to feel the charm of variety,
in turning to the career of a man without any such pretensions――not
incited by the ambition of adding to a name that had been feared or
respected in another day, and whose position in early life was not
rendered easy by wealth, or “shone upon from the past.” Cradled under
the roof of a cottage, apprenticed during seven years as a factory boy,
and clutched from the loom by fraternal partiality, to be employed as
usher in a provincial school, he raised himself by intellectual vigor
and perseverance to places of honor and importance; and he was extolled
among his great, learned, and reverend contemporaries, in his various
characters of academic, historian, divine, and philosopher.
From infancy, or, in any case, as far back as his memory would go,
Milner was animated by a strong affection for his elder brother, author
of the well-known “Church History,” who, in pursuance of their sensible
parents’ laudable resolution, had been placed at the grammar-school
of the town. Doubtless, by one so closely united to him in bonds of
tenderness and relationship, the future dean would in childhood be
taught to read, and inspired with that restless and singular love of
knowledge which rendered him, in later days, so peculiarly eager and
ardent in the pursuit, acquisition, and investigation of any subject
which circumstances brought under his notice or chance cast in his
way, no matter how unconnected ordinary mortals might deem it with the
regular duties and avocations pertaining to the station he occupied.
The elder brother, originally intended to pursue his father’s trade,
soon became so distinguished in the school, that one of the teachers
was in the habit of recommending his pupils to apply to Joseph Milner’s
memory in regard to questions of history and mythology, observing
that he was more easily consulted than dictionaries, or the Pantheon,
and quite as much to be relied on. The natives of the hamlet speedily
began to gaze at him as a “marvelous boy,” and testified their respect
by calling him “the learned lad.” Nor at the fireside of the family
cottage did he lack encouragement. The earnest artisan manifested the
utmost desire that the young scholar should have every aid within their
reach to promote his improvement in learning, and one Saturday night
astonished the little circle by the tidings that he had just spent the
money which ought to have purchased a joint of meat on a Greek book
for his son, being unable to procure both out of the slender earnings
of the week. The brothers forced their way together through great
difficulties; each arrived at distinction in his sphere of labor;
and perhaps few more pleasing instances of brotherly love continuing
could be cited than that which they, from first to last, exhibited.
As early as his sixth year, little Isaac was led by the hand of his
future benefactor to school, whither he continued to trudge daily for
some years under the same guidance and protection. His progress in
juvenile studies was most rapid and satisfactory: he soon learned to
translate Ovid and Sallust with tolerable correctness; and he, in due
time, commenced taking lessons in Greek, under auspices which must have
delighted his father’s heart, and tempted his imagination, however
calm, to indulge in visions of a golden future for the hopeful boy.
In the ninth year of his age, Milner’s young mind had the advantage
of being opened and impressed by a visit to the mighty metropolis,
though how, at that date, he happened to be taken on such a journey
unfortunately does not appear. However, he is related to have been in
London when news of the capture of Quebec by General Wolfe arrived. It
was bawled through the streets by watchmen at the midnight hour, and
bonfires blazed in triumph; and then he was told, for the first time,
about grim-visaged war and the odious French. Assuredly he heard enough
of them before the close of his long life, in that age of great and
portentous events.
About this period the father of the Milners was cut off amidst his
efforts to educate his offspring and promote their welfare; and thus
seemed to be defeated all the wishes and hopes which the cleverness of
the traveled little lads had created in the bosoms of their friends.
It was necessary, indeed, to make the best of matters; and the elder
brother being otherwise disposed of, it was deemed prudent to put Isaac
out to a trade. The town being one of the greatest markets for woolen
cloth in the kingdom, the inhabitants of the surrounding villages were
employed in the manufacture. Accordingly, Milner was sent to work at
and be initiated into the mysteries of a factory, which, in his case,
must have been sadly against the grain. Kirke White, when placed in
a situation somewhat similar, complained of being most unhappy, and
of wanting something to occupy his brain. And Milner, doubtless, had
little more relish than the boy-poet of “Clifton Grove,” who perished
in his youthful fame, for the trade to which he was now apparently
doomed for life. To a youth conscious of great abilities, and whose
extraordinary faculties had been already recognized by teachers, such
an occupation must have been almost worse than the labor of a slave;
for, praiseworthy as aspirations after success, arising from the
practice of such honest industry, may generally be, they were not of
the kind to call forth those talents which subsequently made their
possessor president of a college, vice-chancellor of a university,
professor in the chair that had been occupied by Newton, dean of a
cathedral, and one of the most fascinating conversers of his generation
in the country that produced him, and also one of the most celebrated
mathematicians and philosophers of his day. He studied, during hours
not devoted to work, Greek and Latin books; probably perused on Sundays
the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” which was always a source of real pleasure to
his spirit; and perhaps even gained some acquaintance with the works
of Shakspeare, Milton, and other great English authors, with which
he was familiar in his advanced years. He was soon to have larger
opportunities and a fitter scene for the refreshment and cultivation of
his powerful mind, thirsting for knowledge.
[Illustration: MILNER RESCUED FROM THE LOOM.]
The rector of the grammar-school had manifested much interest in the
young Milners; and they were not quite unaided in their hour of need.
By the generous exertions of several kind friends, and the well-timed
liberality of others, Joseph, the elder brother, had been sent to
Cambridge, and had there so conducted and distinguished himself,
that when he left the university the head-mastership of the Hull
grammar-school was conferred upon him, principally by the influence
of the grandfather of Wilberforce, an appointment which led to a
friendship not unimportant in its results to the gentle philanthropist,
and to the success of the views he held. And now the heart of Joseph
Milner was turned toward the prospects of his brother, and he pondered
what could be done to promote his welfare and happiness. He therefore
requested one of the clergymen in Leeds to examine the lad, in order
to ascertain and report as to his qualifications for becoming usher in
the school. The reverend gentleman thus commissioned proceeded to the
factory, where he found Milner seated at work with a classical author
on each side. An examination fully proved, that though removed for
a considerable time from school, his diligence and love of learning
had, in the mean time, amply supplied the place of instruction, and
that he was quite competent to undertake with propriety, and discharge
with credit, the tutorial duties in question. There still remained the
important part of the business, which consisted in obtaining to the
youth’s leaving the factory the consent of the owner, who, however,
does not appear to have been so severe a taskmaster as the imaginary
Wodgate Bishop. In any case, after a brief negotiation, he agreed to
forego the remaining years of the apprenticeship; and entering the
work-place, he made the heart of young Milner leap with joy and rejoice
at the magic words, “Isaac, lad, thou art off!” In after years, he did
not forget the comrades by whose side he had toiled and spun. He was
ever really and unaffectedly humble; ready to acknowledge his original
companions, and to minister to their necessities if they were poor. He
was never ashamed of his juvenile employment, nor had he reason to be
so; and when he encountered those who had known or labored with him in
obscurity, it was with the same frankness, courtesy, and cordiality,
but at the same time with the shrewdness, animation, and intrepidity,
with which he met lordly guests at Rose or Lowther Castle. In this way
he showed his rare nobility of soul.
Being happily freed from the manual labor which was unsuited to his
abilities, Milner repaired straightway to Hull, and proved a most
efficient assistant in the institution presided over by his brother.
His department in the establishment was the instruction of the younger
pupils, among whom he found Wilberforce, who was a lad of spirit,
though delicate, and considered so remarkable for his powers of
elocution, that it was customary to place him on a table and make him
read aloud for the benefit of the other boys. Milner had, years before,
besides constructing a sundial, given evidence of a decided bias toward
mathematical studies; and he was now, while striving to accomplish
himself in the classics, formally initiated into the elements of the
science with so much profit, that when the scholars were engaged
with lessons in algebra, and any difficulty occurred, the usher was
immediately called upon to solve the problem, which he usually did with
a promptness and facility not unworthy of one destined to be seated
in the Lucasian chair. Joseph Milner had no cause to repent of having
saved the talents of his brother from being lost amid the dust, noise,
and wheels connected with the preparation of woolen cloth for Russian
and German merchants; and he acted toward his gifted relative with
exemplary and beneficent kindness. The keen and steady energy with
which the latter pursued any object of inquiry that was presented
to his attention――a characteristic that sometimes even exposed him
to ridicule――was calculated to impart confidence to any attempt made
toward his promotion in life; and it was determined that he should,
in the year 1770, go to the university at which the reputation of his
brother had been formed.
It seems that the elder Milner accompanied the embryo President of
Queen’s College to his destination. Their circumstances, as well
as economical considerations, led them to adopt, on their long
journey, that mode of traveling much more pleasant to contemplate
than experience, with which we are in some degree familiar, from the
descriptions of those great novelists who flourished in the reign of
the second George, and who left such interesting pictures of life and
manners as exhibited at the period. They accomplished the distance from
Hull to Cambridge on foot, with occasional lifts by the way in a wagon,
to recover from fatigue. On their arrival, Isaac was entered at Queen’s
College as a sizar, at a time when the privilege, in a pecuniary point
of view, which he enjoyed as such, entailed the disagreeable necessity
of performing various menial but by no means humiliating duties. Among
these was ringing the chapel bell, and serving up the first dish to the
fellows at dinner. On one occasion, when so busied, he was luckless
enough to overturn a mess of soup on the floor, instead of placing it
on the board, and was sharply rebuked for his awkward clumsiness;
whereupon he excited much derisive laughter by exclaiming, in the
dialect of his native country――“When I get into power, I’ll do away
with this nuisance!” The threat, thus expressed on the spur of the
moment by the modest and diffident sizar, was more religiously executed
than most promises uttered in such a frame of mind; and when raised to
academic dignity, he altogether abolished the services of which that he
had been rendering formed so irksome and invidious a part.
Notwithstanding the ungrateful and troublesome tasks thus devolved
upon him, Milner’s success at the University was great. He enjoyed
one advantage――not always granted to men springing from so humble an
origin――in a personal appearance which could not fail to prepossess
beholders. His form, above the usual height, was cast in admirable
proportions, and his presence striking; and his regular and handsome
features expressed the talent of his brain, the benevolence of his
mind, the kindness of his heart, the serenity of his temper, and the
frankness of his disposition. His mental faculties were, as time passed
on, placed beyond question by the brilliant success he achieved; and
the fulness and variety of his colloquial powers rendered him the
soul of the circles he frequented, either in Cambridge or London, and
his listening audiences comparatively subservient. His mind became
so marvelously comprehensive in its grasp, that it could master the
details of any subject; and so universal was his information, that
there were few trades on which he could not enlighten those who made
them the business of their lives. He was, perhaps, a little more
zealous than discreet in collecting his vast stores, and he was in the
habit of reflecting from them with a pen in hand to take notes.
One very singular instance is given of his zeal in the acquirement of
apparently uncongenial knowledge. Late in life, when his portrait,
by Kerrick, was engraved, and his friends were anxious to have his
coat-of-arms on the print, the then dean, on being applied to, at
once declared that he had, of course, no armorial bearings, but he
entertained no objection to be furnished with such as had nothing
ridiculous about them. It was, however, a constant maxim with him that
any knowledge which comes in one’s way is worth gathering, and his
attention being thus attracted toward heraldry, he procured books, and
succeeded in gaining much curious information on the subject in which
he had no natural interest.
Throughout his earthly existence, Milner was distinguished by piety,
purity, and integrity; and though ready enough to converse on other
subjects with sportive levity, he never alluded to that of religion
without the utmost sincerity and the most becoming seriousness. On
entering the University he studied indefatigably, and with a result
which must have been highly gratifying to his anxious relatives.
In 1774 he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and that year the
moderators not only assigned him the dignity of senior wrangler, but
likewise the title of _Incomparabilis_. On attaining this distinction,
Milner ran off, in the pride of his heart and intellect, to indulge
in the extravagance of ordering a seal, with the head of his immortal
predecessor, Sir Isaac Newton, engraved on it.
He was now admitted as a member of the Hyson club, which had been
formed in 1758, and could boast of several names known to fame. About
the same period, the appointment of tutor to a Polish prince was
placed within his acceptance, but declined; and his reputation as a
mathematician was so unquestioned, that the papers he made out for the
use of his pupils were much prized; and there even occurred an instance
of a bed-maker being bribed to procure some of them by stealth, to
be copied by a student belonging to another college. Yet it was not
merely with mathematics that his attention was now occupied. Various
philosophical subjects were subjected to his learned faculties; his
intellectual performances had secured him friends, and he had shown
the independence of spirit by standing alone, among the students of
the college, in a refusal to attach his name to a petition against
subscription to the Articles of the Church. To this fact he referred
with satisfaction in later days, in his encounter with the Bishop of
Peterborough, whose denunciation of the sin and danger of giving people
the Bible to read, unaccompanied by the Prayer-book, had brought him
into the controversial arena.
At the age of twenty-six Milner was ordained deacon, and next year was
admitted to priests’ orders, having in the interval been elected a
fellow of his college, of which he became tutor in 1777. At that date
he took the degree of Master of Arts. He got into the habit of now
and then assisting his friends by officiating in country churches in
the neighborhood; and he was presented to the rectory of the parish
of St. Botolph. Milner had already contributed several papers to
the “Transactions of the Royal Society,” of which he, in due time,
became a fellow; and he was led to embark, with all the ardor which
characterized him, on the study of chemistry. Eminently successful in
this pursuit, he proceeded to deliver public lectures on the science.
It appears, however, that the experiments he made considerably impaired
his health; and this unfortunate circumstance prevented him from
undertaking much public labor in his clerical capacity; but he studied
scripture and theology with critical interest, and thus laid the
foundation of his extensive knowledge of divinity. He was in the habit
of going to spend part of the Cambridge long vacation with his brother,
in whose house now resided their aged mother, a woman of mental vigor
and activity, and to whose shrewd and talkative humor several amusing
anecdotes bear witness. When at Hull, in this way, Milner disdained
not to return to his duties as usher. To the boys he could be gay
and frolicsome, and they relished alike his playful manner and the
clearness with which he explained what they could not understand
without such assistance.
In 1784, Milner was chosen Jacksonian Professor of Natural and
Experimental Philosophy; and in the same year took part in the
institution of a society for the advancement of philosophy and general
literature, which only enjoyed a brief existence.
When Wilberforce was living in the house of an aunt, who held
Methodistical views of religion, and was suspected of being impressed
with such doctrines, his rich and sapient grandsire delivered himself
of this alarming and oracular saying: “Billy shall travel with Milner
when he is of age; but if Billy turns Methodist, he shall not have
a sixpence of mine.” It did come to pass that, after Wilberforce
was elected member for his native shire, and his acquaintance with
Milner was renewed, he requested the company of his former instructor
on a Continental tour. Accordingly they started on their excursion
in the autumn of 1784, accompanied by the young, wealthy, and
eloquent senator’s female relatives. It is related that, during this
expedition, the travelers being on one occasion in imminent danger of
being dashed over the brink of a precipice, from the weight of their
vehicle overpowering the horses, Milner leaped out, and, grasping
the wheels, exerted his great physical strength so effectually,
that the danger was obviated. During their wayfarings they met, in
Switzerland, the celebrated Lavater, in whose conversation Milner was
much interested. Shortly afterward Milner visited his friend at Bath,
when “the volatile representative of the county of York” was attacked
by a serious illness, and subsequently at his temporary residence in
Westmoreland, which being filled with guests of distinction, furnished
the divine with a fair field for the display of his wonderful power and
versatility. He held conversations with his host on religious subjects,
and exercised no slight influence on the mind and opinions of the great
philanthropist, in whose schemes for the freedom and welfare of the
human race he warmly sympathized.
In the year 1786 Milner took his degree of Bachelor of Divinity, and
about the same time was an active member of the Board of Longitude,
instituted for the purpose of considering and reporting to government
any discoveries calculated to mitigate the perils of navigation. He was
regarded as one of the most talented men at Cambridge, where he was
considered as an excellent lecturer. As Jacksonian professor he gave
alternate courses on chemistry and experimental philosophy, the former
of which were especially well attended; and he continued to occupy the
chair till his preferment to ecclesiastical dignity.
About his thirty-eighth year he was elected President of Queen’s
College; and in this capacity he is reported to have aimed at affording
encouragement to learned men belonging to the foundation, and
introducing such improvements in the reformation of abuses, and other
means, as were calculated to conduce to the welfare of the students,
and the honor of the university. Four years later he took the degree of
Doctor of Divinity, on being appointed to the deanery of Carlisle, of
which he took formal possession by reading prayers in the cathedral.
As a preacher he was most effective: his voice, in which he took
pride, was sonorous and magnificent; his eloquence was, on the whole,
dignified and impressive; and when it was known that he was to preach,
as he was in the habit of doing almost every Sunday during his periodic
residence, in the cathedral of the ancient city, the aisles and every
part of the building were thronged with people of all religious
persuasions. Indeed it was remarked, that on such occasions you might
walk on the heads of the crowd; and even those who did not entirely
agree with his doctrines, admitted the ability with which they were
urged, and the striking light in which they were placed. Nor did he
court popularity by the brevity of his discourses; for we read, that on
an Ash Wednesday he preached to a thronging congregation in the chapel
of Whitehall, on “the one thing needful,” for no shorter space than an
hour and twenty minutes.
Milner’s presentation to the deanery was closely followed by his
election to the Vice-chancellorship of the University, of which he
was so distinguished a resident; and in 1809 he was unexpectedly
re-elected to the office: having, in the mean time, been called to fill
the mathematical chair, which a century earlier had been occupied by
the ever-illustrious Newton.
The ties which, amidst all his triumphs, had hitherto been instrumental
in binding the Dean of Carlisle to the world, were about this period
weakened by domestic losses. His mother had already gone to her grave;
and in 1797 his brother, who had just been appointed to the vicarage
of Hull, breathed his last. The latter bereavement touched Milner’s
heart to the core; he began to feel less concern with earthly affairs,
to exhibit greater earnestness in his professional duties, and to set
his affections more steadfastly on things above. His life, indeed,
was far from being without its enjoyments and consolations. He looked
upon his summer residence at Carlisle as, in some measure, a period
of relaxation, associated on terms of intimacy with the families in
the vicinity, and derived pleasure from the hospitalities that were
practiced, and the company that assembled at the mansions of Lord
Lonsdale and the bishop of the diocese. He was prepared to converse
with those whom he met on the subjects with which they were most
familiar, in a style joyous, jocund, or grandiloquent. “He talked,
also, to his chosen and intimate friends,” it has been said, with
power, “but not in the same fitful strain. To them, from the abundance
of the heart, he spoke on the theme which engages the latest thoughts
of all men, the retrospect and the prospect; the mystery within, and
the dread presence without; the struggle, and the triumph, and the
fearful vengeance; and whatever else is involved in the relations which
subsist between mortal man and the eternal source of his existence. To
search into those relations, and into the duties, and hopes, and fears
flowing from them, was the end which Isaac Milner still proposed to
himself, under all his own ever-varying moods.”
Milner, with affectionate devotion to the memory of his deceased
brother, repaid the essential obligations which in youth he had
incurred, by editing and improving the “Church History,” written
to disseminate the theological views he held; and added thereto a
biographical sketch of the author. Nor, in the midst of affluence and
reputation, did he forget the wants of his more humble relatives; to
whose necessities, as to those of the poor of his native place, he
ministered with a bountiful hand. In Carlisle, also, he contributed
toward the various objects of public charity; he was ever anxious to
serve those who, in private, applied to him for assistance; and he
subscribed liberally toward the erection of the new churches, which
were rendered necessary by the large population of the old Border city.
In 1819, having previously been introduced to Dr. Chalmers, Milner
wrote to the magistrates of Edinburgh, urging the claims to the
Professorship of Natural Philosophy in their gift, and then vacant,
of that eminent Scottish divine, whom he described as “a man of great
genius, varied talents, and sound principles, both religious and civil.”
After attaining the age of threescore and ten years, this distinguished
man died on the 1st of April, 1820, and was buried in the chapel of
that college of which by intellectual industry he had risen to be the
head.