ve long
since tired of their flowery truisms and mellifluous inanities; and,
partly from impatience of the copyists, the reading republic has nearly
ostracized the glowing and gifted original.

OTHER FRIENDS.

Gladly would we introduce the reader to a few others of Dr. Doddridge's
friends; such as Dr. Clarke, his constant adviser and considerate
friend, whose work on "The Promises" still holds its place in our
religious literature; Gilbert West, whose catholic piety and elegant
taste found in Doddridge a congenial friend; Dr. Watts, who so shortly
preceded him to that better country, of which on earth they were among
the brightest citizens; Bishop Warburton, who in a life-long
correspondence with so mild a friend, carefully cushioned his formidable
claws, and became the lion playing with the lamb; and William Coward,
Esq., with cramps in his legs, and crotchets in his head--the rich
London merchant who was constantly changing his will, but who at last,
by what Robert Baillie would have termed the "canny conveyance" of Watts
and Doddridge, did bequeath twenty thousand pounds towards founding a
dissenting college. At each of these and several others we would have
wished to glance; for we hold that biography is only like a cabinet
specimen when it merely presents the man himself, and that to know him
truly he must be seen _in situ_ and surrounded with his friends;
especially a man like Doddridge, whose affectionate and absorptive
nature imbibed so much from those around him. But perhaps enough has
been already said to aid the reader's fancy.

The sole survivor of twenty children, and with such a weakly frame, the
wonder is that, amidst incessant toil, Doddridge held out so long.
Temperance, elasticity of spirits, and the hand of God upheld him. At
last, in December, 1750, preaching the funeral sermon of Dr. Clarke, at
St. Albans, he caught a cold which he could never cure. Visits to London
and the waters of Bristol had no beneficial effect; and, in the fall of
the following year, he was advised to try a voyage to Lisbon. His kind
friend, Bishop Warburton, here interfered, and procured for his
dissenting brother a favor which deserves to be held in lasting
memorial. He applied at the London Post-office, and, through his
influence, it was arranged that the captain's room in the packet should
be put at the invalid's disposal. Accordingly, on the thirtieth of
September, accompanied by his anxious wife and a servant, he sa