Mild, pious, good, and amiable, beneficent almost beyond example, candid
in the construction of error, lenient even to those whose conduct he
disapproved, but strenuous, firm, and courageous, in his vindication
of the causes of religion and loyalty; extensively, if not profoundly,
learned himself, but vigilant in discovering merit, anxious and generous
in the universal encouragement of science; active in promoting the cause
of benevolence, steady in his friendships, constant in his engagements,
extremely cautious of inspiring hopes which it was not his determined
purpose to gratify—such was Bishop Porteus; such is the impression of
his character and virtues in the breast of one who knew him, if it may
be permitted so to say, with great intimacy for twenty years; saw him
under different circumstances, which put his judgment, discernment, and
temper to the proof, and who never knew him in the least defective in
those essential qualities which ought to characterize a Christian Bishop.
Yet as all have their infirmities and failings, he was not without his.
He was timid with respect to the general opinion, and was sometimes
diverted from his purpose, by an impudent paragraph in a newspaper, or
by an anonymous letter. Altercation and dispute were so abhorrent from
his nature, that he has on certain occasions compromised his dignity,
to avoid them. But let that pass—he had no other weakness. Nothing so
delighted him as the communication of happiness, and the exercise of
benevolence. He who writes this, had on various occasions the high honour
of being his almoner; and it is really difficult to imagine, the remote
situations, and various circumstances of indigence, to which the stream
of his bounty was directed.
His situation as Metropolitan Bishop, exposed him to a prodigious
number of applications, from the poorer order of clergymen. London is
the point to which all direct their way, when matters have gone wrong
in the provinces, either from misfortune, misconduct, or disappointed
speculation. He attended to all, and relieved most. One peculiarity he
had, which his successors, however amiable, or deserving they may be,
would do well to imitate. He considered every clergyman as entitled to
personal respect and attention; nor did he ever permit any letter to
remain for more than a day unanswered. If he could not comply with the
solicitation, he tempered his refusal with kindness and complacency.
Nothing more highly gratified him, than an opportunity of indulging his
wishes and intentions with respect to those whom he allowed to look to
him with expectation.
In many instances he conferred preferment unexpected and unsolicited. The
present D. of C. had never been introduced to him, when he received a
letter, offering him the living of St. James’s, Westminster. He gave in
the same manner, one of the best Prebends of his Cathedral Church to Dr.
Paley. He was solely influenced, as he often said, in the first instance,
by the deserved reputation of Mr. A. as a preacher, and in the second by
the excellence and utility of Dr. Paley’s writings.
He demonstrated the very high estimation in which he held the venerable
Mrs. Carter, by bestowing preferment upon her nephew; and he marked the
great value which he put upon Mrs. Trimmer’s meritorious exertions and
literary labours, by conferring a similar favour upon her son. His noble
behaviour and generous intentions towards Dr. Beattie, are sufficiently
detailed in the life of that amiable man, and excellent writer, by
Forbes. He gave, with a very slight personal knowledge of the individual,
a considerable benefice to Mr. Twining, the learned Translator of
Aristotle’s Poetics, from no other inducement than his esteem for his
talents and erudition.
As a reward for protracted, active, and useful service, in the
laborious office of Curate of Fulham, he bestowed a valuable living
upon ⸺, the Secretary of the Bible Society. Many, a great many other
instances of the kind, might easily be specified; indeed it was very
obvious to all who knew him, that having provided for those to whom
the ties of consanguinity and relationship, gave claims upon him, his
earnest employment was to seek out those, who for their piety, their
usefulness, or their learning, were suitable objects of his patronage.
There is probably no example, at least in modern times, of any Prelate’s
distinguishing, with such solid marks of kindness, so great a number of
literary characters.
His last act of beneficence of this kind, was that perhaps which most of
all occasioned his judgment to be called in question; but his motives
were as pure, and his intentions as laudable, as in any instance,
in which he had ever been called upon to exercise his discretion. He
had often and seriously lamented, that Oriental literature was not
sufficiently cultivated by those who were destined for the ministerial
office in the church, and he always wished for an opportunity of
demonstrating his wishes and feelings on this subject.
About the year 1808, a person was introduced to him who had been born in
Prussia, educated in Koningsberg, and had a licence for preaching granted
him according to the ecclesiastical ceremonies of that country. He was
afterwards elected by the people of Dantzick to the situation of Pastor
to the Evangelical German Community settled at Smyrna.
Here he employed his leisure in the study of the Oriental languages, and
here also he learned English; and having occasionally been permitted
to perform the duty in English, at the chapel of that nation, he was
afterwards appointed to that office by the Levant Company. From Smyrna
he visited Egypt, from thence went to Syria and Jerusalem, and the more
memorable places specified in Scripture. He next visited Damascus,
Balbec, and the monastery of St. John. From thence he travelled to
Tripoli and Aleppo, and visiting some of the Islands in his way,
returned to Smyrna by sea. Having resided here some time, he went to
Constantinople, and indulging his curiosity with respect to all the
Greek islands of repute, he again returned to Smyrna. In 1795, he was
introduced to Mr. Wilbraham, in whose company he examined the site of
ancient Babylon, and crossing the Euphrates and the Tigris, visited
Bagdad. From Bagdad the travellers made a journey through Hamedan, the
ancient Ecbatana, to Ispahan, and to Persepolis and Shiraz. From the
last place they went to Bussorah, and crossing the desart, after various
deviations in different directions, once more took up his abode at Smyrna.
His subsequent adventures were not a little extraordinary. A dreadful
insurrection of the Turkish mob compelled him to leave Smyrna, from which
place he departed with two pupils, on his way to Europe, on board an
Imperial ship. They had hardly entered the Adriatic gulph, before they
were taken by a Tripoline corsair, and carried to Modor. At Modor he and
his pupils were released by an English renegado, who had the command of
the Tripoline squadron, and who remembered having seen them at Smyrna.
From Modor, therefore, they took their departure for Zante; but the
French, who were then masters of the Seven Islands, detained them as
prisoners of war. They were carried before General Chabot at Corfu,
who treated them with civility, and gave them permission to proceed to
Venice; thence they got to Vienna, Berlin, Hamburgh, and finally to
England.
At this point, and not without reason, the individual, from whose short
account of himself, printed at the Bishop’s expence, and distributed to
his friends, this is taken, emphatically exclaims,
“How happy was I to see that most enviable country!”
In England he had recommendations from the Levant Company to the Bishop
of London.
The sequel is very short. In this person the good and amiable Bishop
thought he had found the very man he wanted, viz. one who was well versed
in the Oriental languages, and who, with suitable encouragement, would
devote his time and knowledge to the elucidation of Scripture.
He did not perhaps consider that other qualities are indispensably
necessary for this high and important office, than the mere knowledge
of Arabic, with some acquaintance with Syriac, in addition to having
personally visited many of the places described in Scripture. Be this
as it may, the most desirable living in his diocese becoming vacant,
one which had been filled at different times by some of the greatest
ornaments of the church, he gave it to this same personage. It would
be invidious to enter into any discussion on the merits of the person
who was thus distinguished; but it may be observed, that the good
Bishop’s views do not appear to have been altogether answered. Two
things are certain:—first, that no publication has yet appeared from
this quarter, illustrative of the Sacred Writings, or demonstrative of
intimate acquaintance with the Oriental languages; and secondly, that
much discontent was excited by this proceeding among the clergy of the
diocese, who very naturally suggested the enquiry, whether there was not
among those who were personally known to the Bishop; whose services to
the church had been conspicuous, their utility manifest, their talents
exercised, and their merits proved, any one, upon whom this mark of
favour would not have been more consistently and more properly bestowed.
It must be perfectly unnecessary to enter into any critical discussion
of the Bishop’s merits as a writer. His works have been long before
the public, and universally admired for their force and elegance. As a
preacher he was incomparable, and so evidently felt every syllable he
uttered, that he could not fail, nor did he ever fail, to make the most
strong and lasting impression on his hearers. For other and more detailed
particulars of his life, the reader is referred to the Biographical
Sketch of Archdeacon Hodgson. One or two things present themselves to
the recollection, which, as they have not a place in that volume, may be
admitted here. They were communicated, it seems, to the Sexagenarian by
the Bishop himself.
When at Cambridge, and just after being admitted into orders, he made
several efforts to obtain a curacy, but in vain. He used with much
good humour to relate the circumstance, which it did not become him,
he observed, to forget, that there was a time when he did not possess
interest enough to obtain a curacy. At length, it was proposed to him to
read prayers to the family of the Maynards, at Easton Lodge. This was
a considerable distance from Cambridge, but he was so pleased with the
appointment, that, to use his own words used to say, “I thought I had got
a Bishopric.”
After having been Bishop of Chester for many years, in which interval he
used laughingly to say, he had never interest enough to procure a good
Cheshire cheese, he was appointed to the Bishopric of London, not only
without any solicitation on his own part, or on that of his friends, but
without the most remote expectation of such an event. He was sitting
after tea in the garden with Mrs. Porteus, at his favourite place of
retirement in Kent, when a letter arrived from Mr. Pitt, notifying the
appointment.
Notwithstanding the obligation which he always avowed to the Queen,
whose Bishop he was customarily, and perhaps not improperly called,
he certainly, on one occasion at least, had the firmness to refuse
compliance with a Royal recommendation, in favour of an individual, who
was not in his judgment adequate to fulfil the duties of the situation
required.
Much more was said in the Manuscript on the subject of this excellent
personage, but as it appeared to be rather expressive of private feeling
and individual attachment, than to comprehend further and interesting
anecdotes, it is here omitted.
END OF VOL. I.
_Printed by R. & R. Gilbert, St. John’s Square, London._
FOOTNOTES
[1] It must not be forgotten that this was long since written.
[2] In allusion to the Bacchanalian women, who struck every one they met
with a Thyrsus;—oppose them, they will hit the oftener.
[3] _Aliter._
Leave in the sacred retreats of science some shelter to wise and good
men, disgusted with the view of surrounding crimes, and alarmed at the
prospect of impending woes.
_Or thus_,
Leave some shelter to the contemplative scholar and the dispassionate
philosophist.
[4] It is to be remembered that these memoranda were written in
some situation remote from the metropolis, and some time after the
Sexagenarian had lived in obscure retirement.
[5] The reader is again reminded, that the manuscript which speaks thus,
was written many years since.