Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/424

 S8 A T T E R B U R Y. The proceedings continued above a week; and'on Saturday Mav n, the Bifhop was permitted to plead for himfelt; hich I.e did in a very eloquent fpeech [yj. On Monday the ijih, h>.- was carried for the laft time, from the Tower, to hear the reply of the king's counfel to his defence [zj. On the 1 5th, the bill was read the third time; and, -after a long and warm debate, palled on the i6th, by a majority of eighty-three to forty-three. On the 2yth the King came to the houfe, and confirmed it by his royal a/lent. June 18, 1723, this eminent Prelate, having the day before taken leave of his friends, who, from the time of palling the bill againft him, to the day of his departure, had free accefs to him in the Tower [A], embarked on board the Aldborough man fnce, vol. p. 1-5. Tp'flobry [ T ] This memorable fpeech was for Correfpond- tr| e ^ r ^ ''"^ fjithrully given to the pub- .'icj > n 1783, as the lighted compari- lon w' 1 ' 1 'hat erroneoufly printed in the " State Trials" will evidently fhew. This fpeech the bifhop feelingly open?, by C' mplaining of the uncommon feve- rity he had experienced in the Tower ; v,hich was carried to fo great a length, that not even his fon-in-law, Mr. Mo- rice, was permitted to fpeak to him in any nearer mode thin flanding in an open area, whilft ihe bifiiop looked cut of a two pair of flairs window. After a folemn protcftation of his innocence, and an appeal to the Searcher of Heait?, for the truth i.f what he had faid, he concludes thus : " If, on any account, " therr dial! ftill be thought by your " lordft.ip:, to be any feeming nrength <( in t!:c rr. ols agair.ft me; if, by " y -ur io:d,Tii^s jurigc ments, fpringing " Jrom unknown motives, I fhail be " thought to be f,uilty ; if for any " reafons, or netcfiity cf ftate, of the " wifdom and jufiice of which I am no ' con.pttent jurlje, your 1 :]i a ;l prosccd to pafs :i.is bill againft me; ' I ftuil difpv,!e myHf ruietly and ta- 14 titly to fubmit to what you do; " Goj's will be done : Naked came I " nui of n>y mt ther's womb, and naked ' (hall I return ; and, whether he gives " or takes away, blciied be the name " ofth.- Lord !" r] Mr. Rrcve and Mr. Wearg were .ij.e and faga- ..inljw, but of difui-cr.t talents in '. .r ipeeches on ili it eccaton were made public j and they feem to have formd their " Re- " plies," defignedly, in a different way. The former flicks clofe to the matter in evidence, and enforces the charge againil the bifhop with great ftrength and perfpicuity : The latter anfwers all his objections, and refutes the argu- ments brought in his defence, in an eafy, foft, manner, and with great fim- pl'city of reafoning. Mr. Reeve i> wholly employed in fac"h, in comparing and uniting together circumstances, iu order to corroborate the proofs of the bifhop's puilt : Mr. Wearg is c'.iefly taken up in iilencing the complaints of the bifhop and his counfel, and replying to every thing they advance, in order to invalidate the allegations of his in- nocence. The one, i,i fhort, pufll-iiVa the minds of the lords v. "th lirong con- vicliona againft the bifhop ; The other difpofiefT-'s them of any favourable im- preffion, that might polfibly be made upon them by the artifice of his defence. And accordingly Mr. Reeve is ftrore nervous, and enforcing ; but Mr. VVearg, fmooth, eafy, and insinuating^ both in the manner of his ejfpreliion, and the turn of his periods. Mr. Wearcj p-ivs the higheft compliments to the bifliop's eloquence: but, at the fame- time, reprefents it as employed to im- pofe upon the reafon, and mifguidethe judgement of his hearers, in proportion as it artecied their paflions ; and he en- deavours to ft rip the bifhop's defence of all its ornaments and colours of rhe- toric. [A] The following anecdo'e was full communicated to the public by the late