held in high esteem by her relatives and friends, as a person of excellent disposition and considerable abilities. Joseph died some years since at Luffnan, in Rutlandshire: his son Benjamin is a student at Wymondly. William, an agriculturist at Bourne Heath, near Bromsgrove, died 1808, aged 47. Three brothers and a sister still survive, of whom George is father of Dr. Lant Carpenter, of Exeter.

THE REV. B. CARPENTER received his elementary instruction at a school in Kidderminster, and was afterwards placed under the tuition of the Rev. Joseph Baker, of Cradley, who often spoke of the moral character of his -pupil, and of his diligent application and rapid progress in learning, in terms of high approbation.

Hence, he proceeded in 1768, to the Academy at Daventry, over which Dr. Caleb Ashworth then presided as theological tutor, and where the Rev. Noah Hill delivered lectures in the mathematical and classical depart

ments.

Whilst at this seminary, his tutors observed with satisfaction, and bore honourable testimonies to, his exemplary conduct, and to the indefatigable diligence and eminent success with which he prosecuted his various studies.

Having completed his academical course, towards the close of the year 1773, he officiated as minister to a congregation of Protestant Dissenters at Bloxham, in Oxfordshire, continuing however for a few months to deliver lectures on the classics to the students at Daventry.

He was soon afterwards ordained at the Dissenting chapel at Banbury.† His subsequent removals were to West Bromwich, 1775; Stourbridge, 1778; Clapham, where he was copastor with the Rev. Thomas Urwick, 1795. After three years, he retired to the neighbourhood of Stourbridge, and preached for some time to the congregations at Kenelworth and Bromsgrove alternately, and then at Bromsgrove only.

In 1807, he resumed his ministerial office at Stourbridge, and continued till the close of his life to

+ Funeral Sermon by Rev. James Scott.

officiate at that place, and at Cradley alternately in connexion with the Rev. James Scott.**

He departed this life, Saturday, Nov. 23, 1816, having on the Wednesday preceding had an apoplectic seizure.

It may justly be observed concern. ing our departed friend and brother, that though the nature of his disorder was such as to deprive his family and congregation of the benefit which they might otherwise have derived from his counsels and exhortations in the near prospect of dissolution; yet his cour tenance and demeanour fully indicated the resignation and serenity of his mind, and the peace which he enjoyed. And we may contemplate with advantage the diligent preparation which he had previously made for his great change, and his anxious desire and earnest endeavours to leave some useful impressions upon the minds of his intimate associates in the ministry, and the people of his charge, before he should be taken from them.t

to

"The candid and peaceable disposition of the deceased was well known, and generally acknowledged by Christians of every denomination," which it may be added, that he was highly respected in the several vicinities in which he at different times resided. Mr. Carpenter soon after his first settlement at Stourbridge, married Eliza, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Wright, of Oundle: his second wife was Ann, daughter of the Rev. James Hancox, of Dudley: and during his residence at Clapham, he married Sophia, daughter of Mr. Wells, silk mercer, Ludgate Hill, London, and widow of John Lewis, Esq. in the East India service, who survives him. Mr. Carpenter published

Two Volumes of Sermons on the Present and Future State of Man.

Four Sermons on Conformity to the World.

Two Volumes of Lectures on the Works of Creation and Doctrines of Revelation.

Various single Sermons, as, Difference of Sentiment no Objection to

* See succession of ministers subjoined. +Funeral Sermon.

+ Ib.

the Exercise of Mutual Love, preached at Dudley Lecture, 1780; Funeral Discourses for his Mother and Mrs. Swaine; on Early Rising; on the Harvest, 1812, the Fading Leaf. A Liturgy, with Family Prayers, 2nd ed. 1816.

For the use of Schools.

A Short Abridgement of the Bible, 4th ed.

Selections from the book of Job, Proverbs, &c. &c.

Succession of ministers in several congregations with which the Rev. Joseph Carpenter and Rev. B. Carpenter were connected.

Worcester, Angel Street (date of
chapel, 1708).

1. Rev. Thomas Badland or Baldwin.
2. Chewning Blackmoor, son of W. B.
Palmer, died 1742.

9. Joseph Carpenter, from Warwick, about 1746, died Jan. 29, 1758, aged 67. Buried in Bromsgrove churchyard.

4. Francis Blackmoor, son of Chewning, died 1761.

5. Dr. Allen, from 1759 to 1764, died 1774, aged 73.

11. George Osborne from West Bromwich, 1784, died Nov. 12, 1812, aged 54.

West Bromwich, Staffordshire. 1. Rev. Mr. Pearce, afterwards Dr. P. settled 1718, removed to Chalwood.

2. Richard Wilton, 1720 or 1721, died 1765, aged 82.

3. Thomas Robins, 1762, removed to Daventry, 1776.

4. Benjamin Carpenter, 1775, removed to Stourbridge, 1778.

Chapel built 1788.

3. Benjamin Carpenter from June, 1778, to December, 1795.

4. Herbert Jenkins, June, 1796, to Oct. 1806.

- Benjamin Carpenter a second time, died Nov, 23, 1816, aged 64. 6. James Scott, co-pastor, from March, 1807, to 1816, minister also of Park Lane Chapel, Cradley. Bm sgrove. (dute of chapel, 1693.) 1. Rev. John Spilsbury ejected from this place, died 1699, aged 71.

2. James Thompson, died 1729. 3. Francis Spilsbury, grandson of John, as above, from 1729 to 1734.

* Mr. Flower was educated under Mr. Woodhouse, at Sheriff Hales, Staff.; he was chaplain to Philip Foley, Esq. of Prestwood Hall: he was buried at Burton upon Trent, his native town.

+ Mr. Edge, a native of Cauldwell, near Kidderminster, studied at Bridgnorth under Mr. Fleming: he was buried in the family tomb of the Spilsburys, in Kidderminster churchyard.

At Webb Heath, near Bromsgrove, several ancestors of the family of Kettle once resided, who were members of this congregation. Mr. W. Kettle removed to

Joel Maurice from Stretton, 1797, died Dec. 27, 1807, aged 67.

The families of Spilsbury and Twamley were long resident in and near Bromsgrove.

1. Joseph Fownes from 1735 to 1748, removed to Shrewsbury, died 1789, aged 75.

3. Noah Jones, 1748 to 1762, removed to Walsall, died 1785, aged -, buried at Walsall.

4. Joseph Baker from Newtown, from

buried at Cradley.

5. James Scott, 1789 to 1807, sole-pastor, co-pastor with

6. Benjamin Carpenter, from 1807 to

1816.

THE

Park Lane Chapel built 1796.

Gregoire, Bishop of Blois. HE Courier, as a palliative, has given to his readers a list of the persons who voted for the death of Louis XVI. copying it, most probably, from some list published by one of the many libellist partizans, always ready to add to the flame of kingly vengeance. He therein includes the name of the benevolent Gregoire, constitutional Bishop of Blois, thus repeating a calumny which in France his enemies have in vain sought to affix to his name.

Gregoire, at the time of the death of Louis XVI. was absent, as one of the four envoys sent to Savoy; and on its being known that, in the letter sent to him, he had expunged the word death, he was accused to the club of the jacobins, in 1793, for not having voted for the death of the king. In the speech he had pronounced as early as 1792, he had demanded that the penalty of death should be abolished, and that Louis, as the first to enjoy the benefit of the law, should be condemned "a l'existence." Thus the papers of that ame, and principally the Journal des Amis, &c. (No. 5, Feb. 2, 1793) took great care to inscribe his name among those deputies who had not voted for the infliction of capital punishment. Gregoire's enemies, nevertheless, inscribed his name among those who had voted for the king's death; and although he treated the calumny with contempt, when the bishops were assembled in Paris to celebrate their second national council, in 1801, as the calumny was extremely prevalent, they commissioned Morse, Bishop of St. Claude, to ascertain the facts and make a report. This was perfectly satisfactory, and by order of the coun

sion to his flatterers to manifest their odium against Gregoire, and again repeat the falsehood which had been previously destroyed. His friends then reprinted the report laid before the council, with a small preface, and this served fully to establish the innocence of the accused.

How peculiar is the situation of this venerable man. The jacobins accused him for not having voted the king's death, and the anti-jacobins reproved him for having done it! The purchasers of negroes accused him, in the convention, of being a friend and partizan of the English, because he sought to destroy so illegal a trade; and now an English paper, without examining the facts, re-echoes the calumny of his enemies. In the convention he was publicly reproached for seeking to Christianize France, (Moniteur, an. 2, No. 57), and the incredulous and jacobins besieged him in his own house, and kept his life in jeopardy during 18 months, for having sustained his character and upheld religion in the session of 17 Brumaire, (an. 2), notwithstanding the cloud of enemies with whom he had to contend, (vide Annual Register, 1793, page 201, 202), whilst the Catholics have since persecuted him as a heretic. He was avowedly the principal support of religion in France, when it would have been extinguished by the flight of the greatest part of the clergy, and the apostacy of others; and when terror was still the order of the day, from the tribune he demanded the freedom of worship, and eventually was the cause of 80,000 churches being opened. It was he who obtained the freedom of the miserable priests crowded into the hulks at Rochefort (Moniteur, an. 3, No. 81, seance du 18 Frimaire), and priests are now his chief calumniators. When Bonaparte returned from the Island of Elba he exeluded him from the Chamber of Peers (though he was formerly a senator), undoubtedly, because he claimed and defended the rights of the people in his eloquent little tract," De la Constitution Française de l'an. 1814,"

as well as in the vote with which he opposed the constitution sent by the senate to Louis XVIII. and as a reward, the latter has now also excluded him from the number of his peers! By these events, however, Bishop Gregoire had finished, as it were, his political career, and for the last year, has been entirely absorbed in his efforts in favour of religion, humanity and letters. Why then is he again to be disturbed? His virtues, in France, it is well known, are proof against all calumnies, and in England this same character, in union with his being the friend and defender of Protestants, Anabaptists, Jews, Negroes, Mulattos, in short, of the oppressed, ought to have shielded him from the taunts and designing statements of an editor of a daily paper.-Morn. Chron.

Some Account of the Rev. Dr. Lucas.

R. RICHARD LUCAS was

Dthe son of Richard Lucas, of

Presteigne, in Radnorshire, and born in that county about the year 1648. After a proper foundation at school, he was sent, in 1664, to Jesus College, Oxford, where, after taking both his degrees in Arts, at the regular times, he entered into holy orders about the year 1672, and was for some time master of the free school at Abergavenny; but being much esteemed for his talents in the pulpit, he was chosen vicar of St. Stephen's, Coleman-street, London, and lecturer of St. Olave, in Southwark, in 1683. In 1691, he took the degree of Doctor in Divinity, and was installed prebendary of Westminster in 1696. His sight began to fail him in his youth, but he lost it totally about this time, and lived many years after this misfortune. He died on the 29th of June, 1715, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, but there is no stone or monument there to point out the place of his inter

inent.

It is somewhat remarkable that so few particulars should have been prcserved of the life and character of a divine of such distinguished merit. We are only told in general that he was greatly esteemed for his piety and learning; and indeed that he was a most excellent man may be justly inferred from his writings, which are exceedingly valuable, and will pre

serve his fame to late posterity. His principal performance is, "An Inquiry after Happiness," in two volumes, octavo, which has passed through several editions, and is justly held in high estimation. He also published, 1st," Practical Christianity,

or an Account of the Holiness which the Gospel enjoins, and the Remedies it proposes against Temptations," 8vo. 2d, "The Morality of the Gospel." 3d, "Christian Thoughts for every Day in the Week." 4th," A Guide to Heaven."

5th, "The Duty of Servants." 6th, Several Sermons, in five volumes, some of which were published by his son, who was of his own name, and survived him, and who' was bred at Sidney College, Cambridge, where he took his Master of Arts degree. Dr. Lucas also translated into Latin the Whole Duty of Man, which was published in 1680, in 8vo. British Biography, Vol. VI. page 122,

in a Note to the Life of Mr. Howe. :

Among other respectable writers, of whom we have but a very slender account, is Dr. Richard Lucas, author of several volumes of sermons, which possess considerable merit, and of an Inquiry concerning Happiness, which has passed through, at least, eight editions. He was the son of Richard Lucas, of Presteign, in Radnorshire, and born in that county about the year 1648. In 1664, he was sent to Jesus College, Oxford; and after taking both the degrees in Arts, he entered into holy orders about the year 1672. For some time he was master of the free school at Abergavenny; but in 1683, he became vicar of St. Stephen's, Coleman-street, and was also chosen lecturer of St.. Olave, in Southwark. He took the degree of Doctor in Divinity in 1691, and was installed prebendary of Westminster in 1696. About this time he lost his sight, but lived many years after that misfortune. He wrote his

Inquiry after Happiness" after he became blind, or nearly so. He was the author of several theological pieces. besides those which have been already mentioned. He died in 1715, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, but no stone has been placed there to point out the place of his interment.→ Monthly Magazine.