He Was Tried For The Offence, And It Was Evident The
Judge Thought Him Guilty Of Murder; But The Jury
Declared him guilty
only of manslaughter; and on this verdict he was burnt in the hand,
if that may be
Called burning which is done with a cold iron; this
being a privilege which the nobility and clergy enjoy above other
murderers.
Yesterday week, after I had preached for Mr. Wendeborne, we passed
an English church in which, we understood the sermon was not yet
quite finished. On this we went in, and then I heard a young man
preaching, with a tolerable good voice, and a proper delivery; but,
like the English in general, his manner was unimpassioned, and his
tone monotonous. From the church we went to a coffee-house opposite
to it, and there we dined. We had not been long there before the
same clergyman whom we had just heard preaching, also came in. He
called for pen and ink, and hastily wrote down a few pages on a long
sheet of paper, which he put into his pocket; I suppose it was some
rough sketch or memorandum that occurred to him at that moment, and
which he thus reserved for some future sermon. He too ordered some
dinner, which he had no sooner ate, than he returned immediately to
the same church. We followed him, and he again mounted the pulpit,
where he drew from his pocket a written paper, or book of notes, and
delivered in all probability those very words which he had just
before composed in our presence at the coffee-house.
In these coffee-houses, however, there generally prevails a very
decorous stillness and silence. Everyone speaks softly to those
only who sit next him. The greater part read the newspapers, and no
one ever disturbs another. The room is commonly on the ground
floor, and you enter it immediately from the street; the seats are
divided by wooden wainscot partitions. Many letters and projects
are here written and planned, and many of those that you find in the
papers are dated from some of these coffee-houses. There is,
therefore, nothing incredible, nor very extraordinary, in a person's
composing a sermon here, excepting that one would imagine it might
have been done better at home, and certainly should not have thus
been put off to the last minute.
Another long walk that I have taken pretty often, is through Hanover
Square and Cavendish Square, to Bulstrode Street, near Paddington,
where the Danish ambassador lives, and where I have often visited
the Danish Charge d'Affaires, M. Schornborn. He is well known in
Germany, as having attempted to translate Pindar into German.
Besides this, and besides being known to be a man of genius, he is
known to be a great proficient in most of the branches of natural
philosophy. I have spent many very pleasant hours with him.
Sublime poetry, and in particular odes, are his forte; there are
indeed few departments of learning in which he has not extensive
knowledge, and he is also well read in the Greek and Roman authors.
Everything he studies, he studies merely from the love he bears to
the science itself, and by no means for the love of fame.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 37 of 104
Words from 18747 to 19292
of 53881
