fessed to translate it freely; but he thought
that they abused the privilege of free translation, that they
misrepresented his meaning, that their style was affected, and that the
devotional cast which he had labored to give the original, was wholly
lost in their translation. The editor has heard that a translation of it
was begun in the Spanish and Italian languages, but he has seen no such
translation. Dr. Kennicot spoke loudly of our author's readiness and
disinterested zeal to oblige. Even the stern Mr. Hollis mentions him in
his memoirs with some degree of kindness. No person was more warmly
attached to his friends. With his affectionate and generous disposition,
no one was more sensible of unkindness than he was; but none forgave it
more readily. It was his rule to cultivate those who were inimical to
him by every mark of attention and act of kindness; and rather to seek
than avoid an intercourse with them. His incessant attention to his
studies frequently made him absent in society: this sometimes produced
whimsical incidents.

Whatever delight he found in his literary pursuits, he never sacrificed
his religious duties to them, or permitted them to trespass on _his
exercises of devotion_. Huet, whom, from his resemblance to our author
in unremitted application to study, the editor has often had occasion to
mention, laments his own contrary conduct in {040} very feeling terms:
"I was entirely carried," says he, (_De Rebus ad eum Pertinentibus_,
174,) "by the pleasure found in learning: the endless variety which it
affords had taken up my thoughts, and seized all the avenues of my mind,
that I was altogether incapable of any sweet and intimate communication
with God. When I withdrew into religious retirement, in order to
recollect my scattered thoughts, and fix them on heavenly things, I
experienced a dryness and insensibility of soul by which the Holy Spirit
seemed to punish this excessive bent to learning." This misfortune our
author never experienced. A considerable portion of his time was devoted
to prayer. When it was in his power, he said mass every day; when he
travelled, he rose at a very early hour, that he might hear it: he never
neglected the prayer of the _Angelus_, and, when he was not in the
company of strangers, he said it on his knees. He recommended a frequent
approach to the sacrament of the altar: some, under his spiritual
direction, communicated almost every day. The _morale severe_ of the
Janse