?/ 
 
 FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D. 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 SectioQ 
 
H.KslieL- ^ua& Ci- ATig;i,i829. 
 
1931 ^ 
 
 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND CHARACTER, 
 
 LITERARY, PROFESSIONAL, AND RELIGIOUS, 
 
 OF THE LATE 
 
 JOHN MASON GOOD, M.D. 
 
 F. R.S. F. R.S. L. MEM. AM. PHIL. SOC. AND F. L. S. OF PHILADELPHIA, 
 ETC. ETC. ETC. 
 
 BY OLINTHUS GREGORY, LL.D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS IN THE ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY, 
 ETC. ETC. 
 
 Nemo vir maguus sine aliquo afflatu divino unquam fuit. Cicero. 
 
 LONDON: 
 HENRY FISHER, SON, AND CO. 
 
 38, NEWGATE STREET. 
 
 1828. 
 
H. riSIIEU, PRINTER. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In undertaking the Work which is now laid before the public, 
 I yielded with reluctance to the solicitation of esteemed friends, 
 whose judgment I preferred to my own. From the commence- 
 ment to the close I have had to struggle with the apprehension, 
 that in assuming the labours of a biographer, I have aimed to 
 accomplish that for which I am unduly qualified ; and the pre- 
 vailing state of ill health under which the whole has been carried 
 forward, has at once augmented this feeling, and tended, I fear, 
 to prove its correctness. 
 
 On looking over the sheets as the printing has approached its 
 termination, I have noticed many things which ] could wish 
 altered, and a few which I believe had been better omitted : but 
 all must now remain. Yet, if I hence approach the public with 
 weaker anticipations of success, than I have on some former 
 occasions indulged, I am not entirely without hope that the 
 Memoirs of my deceased Friend, which are thus presented, will, 
 notwithstanding their many imperfections, by the delineation of 
 a character of far from ordinary occurrence, and of more than 
 ordinary value, serve to stimulate the activity of some, and to 
 confirm the best principles of others. 
 
 The Memoirs are divided into three Sections : in the First of 
 which I have traced the leading incidents in Dr. Good's life, 
 and endeavoured to shew their influence in the formation of his 
 intellectual, literary, and professional character ; in the second, 
 I have given analyses of greater or less fulness, according to the 
 nature and interest of the subjects, of his principal published 
 Works, as well as of two which are yet unpublished ; in the third, 
 I have endeavoured to mark the changes in his religious senti- 
 ments, and to trace, so far as I have been able, the connexion 
 between the circumstances in which he was successively placed, 
 the trains of emotion which they occasioned, and their permanent 
 issue in the avowal of sentiments which have been always found 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 powerfully influential upon the conduct, and evinced their com- 
 plete and undisputed energy upon his. 
 
 In extracting from the Works of Dr. Good in the Second Sec- 
 tion, I have been guided principally by motives of utility. A few 
 quotations will be found connected with matters of taste ; but the 
 greater proportion of them are devoted to purposes of instruction. 
 The diversity of pursuits towards which Dr. Good directed his 
 powerful talents, has enabled me, without neglecting to do justice 
 to my Friend, to present a corresponding variety in the passages 
 selected ; and several of them will, I trust, be read with consider- 
 able interest and profit. I have drawn most largely from the 
 works which, from their magnitude and nature, seemed least 
 likely to have met with a very general perusal. I should, how- 
 ever, have quoted more from the Medical works, which are as 
 entertaining, as I am assured they are instructive and valuable, 
 were it not that I was afraid of giving wider scope to a judgment, 
 of necessity ill-informed upon topics of medical science and 
 practice. I shall be thankful, if, in the little which I have ven- 
 tured to say on these subjects, I may have given no cause to 
 Dr. Good's numerous medical friends to complain that his pro- 
 fessional character has been incorrectly pourtrayed : that it has 
 been sketched inadequately, notwithstanding the suggestions 
 with which I have been favoured, I am quite aware. 
 
 The extent of my quotations from Dr. Good's preliminary 
 dissertation to his Translation of the Book of Job, will probably 
 be regarded by some as of questionable propriety. Yet his 
 account of the nature, scope, and intention of this most curious 
 portion of Sacred Writ, seemed at once so valuable and so un- 
 susceptible of satisfactory abridgment, that I thought it better 
 to present it with slight omissions, than to run the risk of ren- 
 dering it useless by an imperfect abstract. It has this peculiar 
 advantage, that it will serve equally well as an instructive intro- 
 duction to any translation of the book of Job ; its references not 
 being necessarily restricted to Dr. Good's own translation.* 
 
 * Since the following sheets were printed, I perceive that the Editors of the " Encyclo- 
 paedia Metropolitana," in their account of Jo6, have quoted more fully than I have, from 
 Dr. Good's Preliminary Dissertation. It is gratifying to have my estimate of its value thus 
 confirmed by theirs ; and I do not think that the circumstance of the similarity of their 
 extracts to those which I have made, in works of such different magnitudes, and designed 
 for such different classes of readers, need occasion any regret. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 While I have been anxious to do justice to the intellectual 
 and literary character of my deceased Friend, and [to invite the 
 young and the aspiring to an imitation of his varied excellencies in 
 these respects ; I have kept in view another object, which to me 
 seems infinitely higher. If the right direction of the mental 
 powers be momentous, the right direction of the heart and the 
 affections is greatly more momentous ; and the world will never 
 be so happy as it is capable of becoming, nor, in my judgment, 
 the intellectual powers so completely exfoliated, or so extensively 
 applied, as they are susceptible of being, until this great truth 
 is felt, and reduced to universal operation. Tlie verities of 
 things are fixed, and many of them so positively and irrevocably 
 fixed, that no station can be found, on which to invent or to 
 declare a supposed intermediate truth. The alternatives must 
 be taken, whether we will or not. Either there is a God, or 
 there is no God: — Either man is fallen from his primitive state, 
 or he is not : — Either our souls are immortal, or they are not : — 
 Either human creatures are accountable, or they are not : — 
 Either the Scriptures constitute a revelation from God, or they 
 are impostures : — Either we must believe and obey them, or we 
 must take all the consequences of a deliberate rejection : — Either 
 religion is supreme in the heart, or it has not produced 
 its announced effect, and we have no right to anticipate its 
 announced rewards and privileges, either here or hereafter. 
 The Bible presents itself as God's Book : of which, amongst 
 others, there is this evidence, that it tells us, with a consistent, 
 rational authority, what He is doing, has been doing, and 
 will do, and for what purpose ; — what we must do, what we 
 must believe, nay, whom we must believe, and on whom we must 
 alone rely ; where we must look for strength and consolation ; 
 and what is the necessary, the inevitable consequence of reject- 
 ing that which abounds, which glows, with proofs that it is a com- 
 munication from heaven for man's good. On these, and many 
 connected points, we submit to a voluntary descent below the 
 dignity of reasonable beings, if we remain content in a state of 
 fluctuation, or in any thing short of that position of stability, 
 which, by the grace of God, every man may attain. Wide as 
 are the excursions of intellect, rich as are the discoveries and 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 conquests of genius, and delightful as are the fruits and flowers 
 that may be gathered in the fields of literature and science ; still 
 it is a man's own fault, if he does not know more of what it is 
 essential for him to know with regard to religion, than he can of 
 any subject of merely human research ; and if he does not arrive 
 at a more exalted as well as more durable enjoyment. The 
 sooner he is convinced of this, the wiser and the happier he 
 will be. 
 
 From these considerations, and others which are intimately inter- 
 woven with them, I have given greatest prominency to that which 
 appeared to me of paramount interest, by tracing the religious 
 character of my deceased Friend : I have not attempted to em- 
 body it in a single sketch ; but have aimed to mark its most 
 striking features, and have nciade his own language, as preserved 
 in numerous letters and other papers, throughout subservient to 
 the delineation. As I have proceeded, I have unhesitatingly 
 avowed my own opinions on this most important of all subjects ; 
 being fully persuaded, that in a matter of such immense moment, 
 candour is especially desirable. The reader will the more 
 readily determine how much or how little the sentiments of the 
 author may have affected his narrative ; or how far, with a pre- 
 vailing desire to be sincere, correct, and faithful, he may deserve 
 entire credit. 
 
 On three or four occasions I have entered into disquisition : 
 not, however, I hope, in a way that will draw the thoughts of the 
 reader from the topics which have respectively suggested 
 the inquiries ; but rather with a view to invite attention (even 
 where I may not have been so fortunate as to scatter any fresh 
 light) to subjects of importance, in reference to which serious 
 errors have prevailed. If, by the perusal of these Memoirs, a 
 single individual who has been careless as to intellectual or 
 religious improvement, shall be excited to the appropriate love 
 and pursuit of knowledge in its various departments, valuing 
 most, and most ardently pursuing, that which is most elevated 
 and transforming, I shall not have written in vain. 
 
 Olinthus Gregory. 
 Royal Military Academy, 
 January 29th, 1828. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Section I. Memoirs of the Life 
 
 of Dr. J. M. Good, 1 
 
 J. M. Good's family, 2 
 
 His fatlier's ordination and mar- 
 riage, 4 
 
 Early concun-ing circumstances 
 in the formation of J. M. Good's 
 
 character, 7 
 
 Put apprentice to a surgeon at 
 
 Gosport, 11 
 
 Exti-acts from his early Com- 
 mon-place-book, 13 
 
 Attends the London Hospitals, 22 
 Settles as a surgeon at Sudbury, 23 
 
 His first marriage, &c 24 
 
 Becomes acquainted with Dr. 
 
 Drake, 25 
 
 Poem addressed to Dr. Drake, 27 
 Mr. Good's second marriage, . . 32 
 He becomes involved in pecu- 
 niary embarassments . . . their 
 
 effect, 32 
 
 Poems published in "the World" 34 
 
 Essay on Providence, 38 
 
 Remark on our Lord's Miracles, 56 
 Mr. Good removes to London, . .57 
 Address to the Evening Star, . 58 
 Verses to a Bath Stove (left be- 
 hind) at Sudbury, 59 
 
 New perplexities and trials, . . Gl 
 Account of the Pharmaceutic 
 
 Association, 63 
 
 Ignorance of many country 
 
 Druggists in 1794, 63 
 
 Mr. Good's translations from 
 
 Clementi Bondi, 66 
 
 First introduction to Dr.Geddes, 67 
 Translations from Dante, Klop- 
 stock, Khakani, Sadi, &c. . . . 69 
 His generalizing study of lan- 
 guages, 75 
 
 Contributes to the Critical and 
 
 other Reviews, 80 
 
 Mr. Good loses his only son, . . 81 
 Commences his translation of 
 
 Lucretius, 84 
 
 Translation effected during his 
 professional walks, 85 
 
 Page 
 United with Dr. Gregory and 
 Mr, Bosworth in the Panto- 
 
 logia, 88 
 
 Delivers Lectures at the Surrey 
 
 Institution, 91 
 
 Occasional poetry : Another 
 Trifle, Birdbrook Parsonage, 
 The Wish, On the Death of 
 the Princess Charlotte, &c. . . 95 
 Mr. Good contributes to the 
 
 British Review, 108 
 
 Takes the degree of M. D., . . 109 
 Writes his System of Nosology, 111 
 
 Study of Medicine, , 111 
 
 Publishes the Book of Nature, 111 
 His declining health, and anti- 
 cipations of death, 112 
 
 Extracts from letters to Drs. 
 
 Walton and Drake, 113 
 
 Death, us 
 
 Brief character, by Mr. Ro- 
 berts, &c., 121 
 
 Appendix to Sect I. Miss Pey- 
 to's Record of Self-dedication, 125 
 Section II. Review of the prin- 
 cipal publications of Dr. Good, 
 and an account of two impor- 
 tant works yet unpublished, . 128 
 Diseases of Prisons, &c., .... 130 
 
 Histoiy of Medicine, 132 
 
 Excellencies and defects of the 
 authorized version of Scripture, 
 and inquiry into the expediency 
 
 of a new translation, 134 
 
 Translation ofthe Song of Songs, 151 
 Memoirs of Dr. Geddes, .... 157 
 Refutation of one of his errors, 160 
 Translation of Lucretius, .... 162 
 Sketch of the System of Epicu- 
 rus, 169 
 
 Exposure of some of its errors, 173 
 Specimens of the translation, . 176 
 
 of the notes, .... 183 
 
 Anniversary Oration : Medical 
 
 Society, 190 
 
 Essay on Medical Technology, 191 
 Illustrative table of do., .... 196 
 Translation of the Book of Job, 200 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Dr. Good's account of its nature 
 and contents, 203 
 
 Translation of Job xix 225 
 
 Comparative specimens from 
 Mr. Scott, Dr. Smith, &c., . . 227 
 
 Specimen of Dr. Good's trans- 
 lation in heroic verse, .... 230 
 
 Physiological Nosology, .... 232 
 
 Outline of Dr. Good's system, . 239 
 
 Table of proposed affixes and 
 suffixes, 242 
 
 Study of Medicine, 245 
 
 Quotation, on distortion of the 
 spine, 251 
 
 Another, on Paropsis Cataracta, 255 
 
 Opinions of Medical Journal- 
 ists, 2G4 
 
 The Book of Nature, 266 
 
 Extract, on the varieties of the 
 human race, 271 
 
 Translation of the Book of 
 Proverbs, 286 
 
 Extract from Introductory Dis- 
 sertation, 288 
 
 Translation of the Psalms, ... 306 
 
 Extracts from Dr. Good's His- 
 torical Outline, 311 
 
 Specimens of the translation, 
 and comparisons with other 
 translations, 317 
 
 Summary of Dr. Good's in- 
 tellectual character, 333 
 
 Section III. A development of 
 Dr. Good's religious character, 337 
 
 Preliminary remarks on the 
 superiority of the religious to 
 the intellectual principle, . . . 338 
 
 On the law of reputation, and 
 our responsibility for our 
 opinions, 341 
 
 To what extent is infidelity pre- 
 valent among medical men ? . 345 
 
 Whether changes of opinion 
 fairly imply a want of prin- 
 ciple ? 347 
 
 Dr. Good adopts Socinian sen- 
 timents, 354 
 
 Notes extracted from his inter- 
 leaved Bible, 357 
 
 His slow escape from specula- 
 tive error, 362 
 
 391 
 
 393 
 
 Page 
 
 Metrical translation of Psalm 
 xlii 364 
 
 Correspondence with his mi- 
 nister, on his separation from 
 the Socinians, 366 
 
 Becomes acquainted with Rev. 
 S. Marsden, 372 
 
 Extract from an essay on Hap- 
 piness, 375 
 
 Verses on entering his 50th year, 379 
 
 The Daisy, a short poetical 
 effusion, 381 
 
 The Resting Place, 381 
 
 More notes from his interleaved 
 Bible, 383 
 
 Effect of the alarming illness of 
 his two daughters, 387 
 
 Illness and death of his son-in- 
 law, the Rev. Cornelius Neale, 
 
 Fac-simile of Dr. Good's signa- 
 ture, 
 
 Specimens of his devotional 
 poetry, 393 
 
 Selections from his Occasional 
 Thoughts :— Enoch, 406 
 
 On, My kingdom is not of this 
 world, 406 
 
 Form of Prayer, 412 
 
 On, The Way Everlasting, ... 414 
 
 On, Be of good cheer : it is I ; 
 be not afraid, 418 
 
 On, And they heard the voice 
 of the Lord God walking in 
 the garden in the cool of the 
 evening, 422 
 
 On, And as he reasoned of 
 righteousness, temperance, and 
 judgment to come, Felix trem- 
 bled, 427 
 
 On, Let us now go even unto 
 Bethlehem, and see this thing 
 which is come to pass, which 
 the Lord hath made known 
 unto us, 434 
 
 Dr. Good's last letter, 446 
 
 Account of his last illness and 
 death, 449 
 
 Appendix to Sect. III. Dr. 
 Good's Sketch of the Charac- 
 ter and Laboxirs of the Rev. 
 Samuel Marsden, 463 
 
MEMOIRS, 
 
 ETC. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF DR. JOHN MASON GOOD, ILLUSTRATED BY 
 VARIOUS EXTRACTS FROM HIS UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS, OR FROM 
 THOSE THAT WERE PUBLISHED ANONYMOUSLY. 
 
 1 HE attempt to sketch the biography of a deceased 
 friend is at once delightful and difficult. It is delight- 
 ful to retrace those characteristics of mind and heart, 
 which excited our admiration, and kept our affection 
 alive: but it is difficult so to accomplish this as to 
 avoid the charge of partiality ; and an apprehension 
 of this difficulty, experienced by one, who, whatever 
 was his attachment to the deceased individual, wishes 
 only to be just in his appreciation of character, occa- 
 sions a feeling of restraint which is unfavourable to 
 the due execution of the task he has undertaken. 
 
 In delineating, however, the intellectual and moral 
 portrait of Dr. John Mason Good, the subject of 
 these memoirs, the difficulty to which I have here 
 adverted is considerably diminished ; because the pa- 
 pers, which have been preserved with unusual care, in 
 a tolerably connected series, from his earliest youth, 
 will furnish the principal materials for the picture; 
 
2 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and thus will free me in great measure from the temp- 
 tation, either to overcharge the likeness, or to intercept 
 its exhibition by placing myself before it. 
 
 If it be true, as has been often affirmed, that there 
 has rarely passed a life of which a faithful and judi- 
 cious narrative would not be interesting and instruc- 
 tive ; it will surely not be unreasonable to hope that 
 advantage may result from even an imperfect develop- 
 ment of the circumstances that contributed to the for- 
 mation of a character of no ordinary occurrence ; one 
 which combined successfully the apparently incongru- 
 ous attributes of contemplation and of activity ; where 
 memory evinced with equal energy its faculties of 
 acquisition, of retention, and of promptness in repro- 
 duction; and where, in consequence, the individual 
 attained an extraordinary eminence, not merely in one 
 department of literature or science, but in several ; and 
 proved himself equally expert in the details of practice, 
 and in the researches of theory ; allowing neither the 
 fatigues of the one, nor the absorptions of the other, 
 permanently to extinguish that thirst after the chief 
 good which is the noblest characteristic of true great- 
 ness of mind. 
 
 In attempting this development, I shall not wander 
 from the proposed point, if I commence with a short 
 account of Dr. Good's family. This fomily was highly 
 respectable, and had for several generations possessed 
 property at Tlomsey, in Hampshire, and in the neigh- 
 bouring parish of Lockerley. The shalloon manufac- 
 ture, now greatly on the decline, had for ages been car- 
 ried on to a considerable extent at Romsey, and the 
 family of the Goods long ranked amongst the most suc- 
 cessful and opulent of the proprietary manufacturers. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 3 
 
 Inscriptions over the ashes of several of them, for two 
 or three centuries back, may be seen in the aisles of 
 the venerable abbey church, some with the cautious 
 monumental designation of " gentleman and alderman 
 of this town." The grandfather of John Mason Good, 
 who was actively engaged in this manufacture, had 
 three sons, William, Edward, and Peter : of these the 
 eldest devoted himself to the military profession, and 
 died young ; the second succeeded his father as a shal- 
 loon manufacturer, and possessed the family estates at 
 Romsey and Lockerley ; the third, evincing early indi- 
 cations of piety, was devoted to the ministry of the 
 gospel among the Independent or Congregational class 
 of Dissenters. To qualify him for this, he was first 
 placed under the care of the Rev. W. Johnson, then 
 the minister of a flourishing congregation at Romsey ; 
 from whom he was, after he had finished Jiis prepara- 
 tory studies, removed to the Congregational academy 
 at Ottery-St.-Mary, in Devonshire, then under the 
 charge of a very eminent scholar, the Rev. Dr. Laven- 
 der. Here he made considerable proficiency in the 
 Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, and acquired a 
 love for general literature and its application to Bibli- 
 cal criticism and explication, which he never lost. 
 
 Having terminated his academical course, and esta- 
 blished a reputation for learning and piety, he was 
 invited to take the pastoral charge of an " Independent 
 church and congregation" at Epping in Essex. His 
 ordination took place on Thursday the 23d of Septem- 
 ber, 1760, and the celebrated John Mason "delivered 
 the charge" on that occasion. It was an interesting 
 and instructive composition, peculiarly characteristic 
 of its author, which I have read with great pleasure. 
 
4 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 in the Rev. Peter Good's common-place-book; though 
 I believe it has never been published.* 
 
 About a year after his establishment at Epping, 
 Mr. Good married Miss Sarah Peyto, the daughter 
 of the Rev. Henry Peyto, of Great Coggeshall, Essex, 
 and the favourite niece of the Rev. John Mason. This 
 Mr. Mason acquired a lasting and distinguished repu- 
 tation, as the author of the universally known Trea- 
 tise ON SELF-KNOWLEDGE;f and was the grandson 
 
 * The following " Certificate of Ordination,"' which I transcribe from the 
 same common-place-book, will serve at least to shew that fasting, which 
 has since, I beheve, sunk into disuse on such occasions, was then practised. 
 
 "Epping, Sept. 23d, 1760. 
 " This is to certify, all whom it may concern, tiiat the Rev. Peter Good 
 was, this day and at this place, solemnly set apart to the office of the Chris- 
 tian Ministry among Protestant Dissenters, by Fasting, Prayer, and Imposi- 
 tion of hands, by, and in the presence of, us whose names are hereunto sub- 
 scribed: viz. — 
 
 "Thomas Cawdwell, Hatfield Broad Oak. 
 
 John Mason, A. M., Cheshunt. 
 
 Thomas Towle, B. D., London. 
 
 John Angus, A. M., Bishop's Stortford. 
 
 Samuel Baldwin, Dunmow. 
 
 John Author, Waltham Abbey. 
 
 William Johnson, Chelmsford. 
 
 John Stantial, Chertsey. 
 
 William Whitaker, Leeds, Yorkshire. 
 
 John Nottage, Potter's Street." 
 They who take an interest in such inquiries, may be informed that Mr. 
 Good's predecessor, at Epping, was the Rev. Zechuriuh Hubbard, afterwards 
 of Long Melford, Suffolk ; his immediate successor, the Rev. Samuel Saun- 
 ders, who continued pastor of the church until his death in 1780. 
 
 f He wrote and published several other valuable works. In one of them, 
 "A Plain and Modest Plea for Christianity," published in 1743, he com- 
 pletely exposed and refuted the pernicious sophistry, then producing a most 
 baneful effect, diffiised in a treatise entitled, " Christianity not founded on 
 Ai-gument." Among his publications are, "The Student and Pastor; or 
 Directions how to attain to eminence and usefulness in those respective 
 characters ;" an " Essay on the Power and Harmony of Prosaic Numbers ;" 
 An " Essay on the Power of Numbers and the Principles of Harmony in 
 Poetical Compositions ;" An " Essay on Elocution," which was long em- 
 ployed as a text-book at Oxford ; and four octavo volumes of sermons, 
 published in 1754, under tlie title of "The Lord's-Day Evening Entertain- 
 ment." Most of these still retain an undiminished reputation. Mr. Mason 
 died in 1753, aged 58 years. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 5 
 
 of another John Mason, rector of Water Stratford in 
 Buckinghamshire, a man of great genius as well as 
 piety, who died in 1694, and who left a little collection 
 of devotional aphorisms, published by the recommen- 
 dation of Dr. Watts, and entitled " Select Remains of 
 the Rev. John Mason, A.M." This little book con- 
 tinues, most deservedly, to receive a wide circulation. 
 It is constituted principally of short, but sententious 
 and weighty reflections on the most momentous topics 
 in reference to the Christian life ; and it is defaced 
 with fewer conceits than most works of the same age, 
 devoted to a similar purpose. 
 
 Miss Peyto resided almost from her infancy with her 
 uncle Mr. Mason, and derived, both with regard to the 
 cultivation of her understanding and of her heart, all 
 the advantages which, under the blessing of God, so 
 enviable a situation could supply. At the time of her 
 marriage she was noted for the elegance and solidity 
 of her acquisitions, the soft and gentle fascinations of 
 her manners, and for the most decided piety.* 
 
 Mr. Good and Miss Peyto were married in 1761 ; 
 but their union was not of long continuance. She 
 died on the 17th of February, 1766, at the early age of 
 29, four days after the birth of her youngest child. 
 She left three children, William, born Oct. 19th, 1762 ; 
 John Mason Good, the subject of these memoirs, born 
 May 25th, 1764; and Peter, born Feb. 13th, 1766. 
 William and Peter are still living, and reside, one at 
 Bath, the other in London. 
 
 Within two years of the death of his first wife, the 
 Rev. Peter Good married a second, the only daughter 
 
 * She early devoted herself to God, by a formal act, perpetuated by a 
 \vTitten document still extant, which I shall venture to preserve in a note at 
 the end of this section. 
 
6 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 of Mr. John Baker, an opulent tradesman, residing in 
 Cannon Street, London. Slie was a woman of great 
 piety and extensive information, and discharged the 
 duties which devolved upon her with so much pru- 
 dence, affection, and delicacy, that many years elapsed 
 before John Mason Good discovered, with equal sur- 
 prise and regret, that she was not actually his mother. 
 She had one child, a daughter, who is still living, and 
 resides at Charmouth. 
 
 Shortly after his second marriage, Mr. Good was 
 invited to take the pastoral charge of a congregation 
 at Wellingborough, in Northamptonshire, to which 
 place he in consequence removed with his family. 
 But he did not remain there much more than a year. 
 His elder brother John dying unmarried, and without 
 having made a will, the patrimonial property and the 
 business at Romsey passed, by that event, into his 
 hands ; so that it became necessary for him to quit 
 Wellingborough, and reside in Hampshire. His first 
 thoughts were to carry on the shalloon manufacture, 
 with the assistance of his late brother's superintendent 
 of the works, until one of his sons should be old enough 
 to take the business. But he soon found that this 
 class of occupations drew him too much from his 
 favourite pursuits ; and disposed of " the concern" to 
 some individual accustomed to business, and able to 
 conduct it advantageously. 
 
 He then resolved to devote his time to the education 
 of his own children : no sooner was this determina- 
 tion known, however, than he v/as earnestly impor- 
 tuned by relatives and friends, and by many of the 
 gentlemen, clergy, and other ministers in the neighbour- 
 hood, to associate their children with his. After much 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 7 
 
 deliberation, he at length determined to engage an 
 assistant of extensive knowledge and sound principles, 
 and to take the general superintendence of a few pupils, 
 fixing the maximum at sixteen in number, including his 
 own sons. Thus, a desire to preserve his children 
 from the more obvious evils of public schools, and to 
 supply them with the advantage of select associates, 
 placed him in a sphere of employment, but not of 
 heavy or anxious labour, with a happy competency, 
 and in the immediate vicinity of the sweetly variegated 
 scenery of the New Forest ; fond of rural enjoyments, 
 fond of domestic life, fond of acquiring and of commu- 
 nicating knowledge, fond of select and intelligent so- 
 ciety, fond of benevolent exertion, blest with the con- 
 fluence of these streams of delight, and to a high degree 
 proving that the elegant delineation of the author of 
 the "Seasons" is as exquisite in real life as it is 
 touching in poetry. 
 
 Oh ! speak the joy, ye whom the sudden tear 
 Surprises often, while ye look around, 
 And nothing meets your eye but sights of bhss ! 
 A moderate sufficiency, content. 
 Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, 
 Ease, and alternate labour, useful life, 
 Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven ! 
 
 This piece of family detail will not, I trust, be 
 thought incongruous with my general narrative, since 
 it shews that the subject of it commenced his studies 
 in a seminary conducted by his father. Here he, in 
 due time, made a correct acquaintance with the Latin, 
 Greek, and French languages; and soon evinced a 
 remarkable desire to drink deeply of the springs of 
 
O MEMOIRS OF 
 
 knowledge and pleasure which they laid open to him. 
 Among the books placed in the hands of the boys, 
 besides those usually employed in classical instruction, 
 were most of the publications of Mr. Mason, mentioned 
 in a preceding note : and it was a great object with 
 Mr. Good, not merely to excite in the minds of his 
 pupils a fondness for general reading, but to explain 
 to them the best modes of abridging and recording, in 
 common-place-books, upon the plan recommended by 
 Mr. Locke, the most valuable results of their daily 
 researches. His own common-place-book, to which I 
 have already adverted, is an excellent proof of the 
 utility of these repositories ; and those of his son, from 
 some of which I shall have occasion to make extracts, 
 serve equally to shew how successfully his pupils 
 adopted the plan. 
 
 They who remark in how many instances apparently 
 slight circumstances give the essential determination to 
 character; who recollect, for example, the fact that 
 both the father and the husband of Michael Angela's 
 nurse were stone-masons, and that the chisel which 
 she often put into his infant hands as a plaything, 
 served to create the bent of genius which issued in the 
 sculptures of that admirable artist — or who are aware 
 how much the poetic inspiration of the excellent Mont- 
 gomery was nurtured by the early perusal of Cowper's 
 Poems, the only work of taste and imagination which 
 he was allowed to read while at Fulneck school — will 
 not fail to notice what various particulars concurred 
 in the arrangements for John Mason at this suscep- 
 tible age, to implant in his mind those principles of 
 thought, and feeling, and action, which, ultimately ex- 
 foliated, produced that character in maturity which it 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 9 
 
 is our object to pourtray. From Mr. Mason's " Rules 
 for Students," and from the example of his father, he 
 learnt that these " five things are necessary : a proper 
 distribution and management of his time ; a right me- 
 thod of reading to advantage ; the order and regulation 
 of his studies ; the proper way of collecting and pre- 
 serving useful sentiments from books and conversation ; 
 and the improvement of his thoughts when alone :" 
 from Mr. Mason's Essays on " the Principles of Har- 
 mony," the illustrations in which are selected with 
 much taste and judgment, he early acquired a relish, 
 for easy and mellifluous versification : from the ex- 
 ample of his parents, and from that of Mr. Mason, 
 which they taught him to contemplate with veneration, 
 he imbibed the persuasion that universal knowledge 
 did not obstruct the road to eminence in any one pur- 
 suit ; and a conviction equally strong, though not so 
 invariably in operation, that true piety was susceptible 
 of a happy union with talent and genius : and, super- 
 added to all this, the localities of Romsey enkindled in 
 his bosom a love for rural scenery and rural pleasures, 
 which he never lost. 
 
 Thus, in one of his poems, written a few years after 
 he quitted the domestic dwelling and the neighbouring 
 regions, productive of so much genuine happiness, — after 
 describing the sweet-flowing river, the bridge then new, 
 the lawns, and glens, and vistas of Lord Palmerston's 
 seat at Broadlands, the ecstacy with which he engaged 
 in the game of cricket and other athletic exercises, he 
 exclaims, with that sigh of retrospection which is often 
 as natural to an individual just starting into manhood 
 as to one who feels himself sliding into the vale of 
 years,-— 
 
10 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Ah ! scenes belov'd ! to purer days decreed,. 
 When first, iinskill'd, I touch'd the Dorian reed. 
 Tho' many a sign has roll'd its chequer'd hours, 
 Since, rude of hfe, I left your tranquil bowers ; 
 And heaven has now my devious lot assign'd, 
 Far from your thickets I'ough, or groves refin'd — 
 Think not that time or space can e'er suppress 
 Thro' my fond heart, your wonted pow'r to bless : 
 Erase the soft delights, 'twas yours to prize, 
 Or make my soul those soft delights despise. 
 No — while that heart with circling life shall beat. 
 While swells that soul, or memory keeps her seat : 
 Tho' heav'n should doom me to some desert shore, 
 Where never human exile trod before; 
 Still fancy's pen should sketch your prospects true. 
 Give all your charms, and every joy renew ; 
 Still paint your plains, and academic shade. 
 Where Hoyle* at times, at times where Horace sway'd. 
 That felicitous alternation of study and exhilarating 
 exercise, however, to which our young aspirant here 
 adverts, was not, in the first instance, at all congenial 
 with his own taste and wishes. Such was the delight 
 with which he pursued his studies of every kind, that 
 it occasioned an entire absorption of thought ; so that 
 when he was little more than twelve years of age, his 
 habit of hanging over his books had produced a curva- 
 ture in his back, equally unfavourable to his growth 
 and his health. His father, anxious to remove this 
 evil, earnestly besought him to join with his fellow 
 students in their various games and sports ; and ere 
 long he engaged in these also with his characteristic 
 ardour, and became as healthful, agile, and erect, as 
 any of his youthful associates. 
 
 * The writer who first digested tlie laws of the game of cricket. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. H 
 
 As the season approached in M^hich it would be 
 proper for Mr. Good to put his sons into more imme- 
 diate training for the professions which they respec- 
 tively selected, he gradually diminished the number of 
 his pupils, in order that when they had quitted home, 
 he should only retain two or three students, and they 
 of more mature age. His eldest son William was, at 
 fifteen years of age, articled to an attorney, at Ports- 
 mouth; John Mason, at about the same age, was 
 apprenticed to Mr. Johnson, a surgeon-apothecary at 
 Gosport, son of the Rev. W. Johnson of Romsey, 
 before-mentioned ; and the youngest son, Peter, was 
 placed in a commercial house at Portsmouth. The 
 father being now at liberty fully to resume the pastoral 
 duties, (having, indeed, continued to preach frequently 
 at Romsey,) acceded to the invitation of a congregation 
 at Havant ; to which place he removed in the year 
 1779 or 1780. Here he was within a few miles of all 
 his sons, and kept alive an intimacy between them and 
 his two remaining pupils ; one a son of Sir John Carter, 
 of Portsmouth, the other a son of the Rev. J. Renaud, 
 then rector of Havant. This latter I specify as an 
 indication of the catholic spirit which actuated these 
 two ministers of the gospel of different persuasions. 
 They seem to have imbibed the happj'^ sentiment re- 
 commended by Matthew Henry : "Herein a Christian 
 commendeth his love, when he loves those who differ from 
 him, and joins in affection to those with whom he 
 cannot concur in opinion." 
 
 Our young friend quitted the paternal roof under the 
 influence of all the emotions that are usually excited 
 on such an occasion : 
 
 " Some natural tears he dropt ; but wip'd tliem soon :" 
 
12 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the buoyancy and hilarity of youth, and the direction 
 of his ardent and aspiring mind into fresh channels of 
 research, soon rendered him happy in his new situation. 
 There is no difficulty in conceiving with what jocund 
 activity he would go through the varied employments 
 and amusements of an apprentice to a country surgeon. 
 He quickly acquired and discharged the pharmaceutic 
 functions ; he studied the Clinical Guide, and the Dis- 
 pensaries of that day, with old Quincy, and other books 
 recommended to him by Mr. Johnson ; he now and then 
 snatched an evening hour to give to his beloved cricket, 
 and the exercise of fencing ; and often did he recreate his 
 spirits by the study of music, and in playing the Ger- 
 man flute, an instrument in the use of which he became 
 a very respectable proficient. But these, though they 
 evidently occupied much of his time, he did not sutler 
 to engross the whole ; for even at this early age he 
 began to exercise his powers in original composition, 
 as well as to digest plans for the augmentation of his 
 literary and scientific stores. At the age of fifteen he 
 composed a " Dictionary of Poetic Endings," and seve- 
 ral little poems. He also drew up "An Abstracted 
 View of the Principal Tropes and Figures of Rhetoric, 
 in their Origin and Powers," illustrated by a variety 
 of examples, original and collected. Shortly after- 
 wards he made himself master of the Italian language, 
 thus becoming enabled to cull the sweets of Ariosto, 
 Tasso, Dante, and the devotional Filicaja, whose works 
 he perused with the most enthusiastic avidity : and 
 simultaneously he reduced into active operation the 
 plan of common-place-books, so incessantly recom- 
 mended by his father. These he threw into separate 
 classifications, and, commencing with a series of books. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 13 
 
 each of a convenient size for a coat-pocket, he made 
 one or other his constant companion ; and thus, vvhere- 
 ever he went, and could get access to a book, he was 
 prepared to select from it, and add to his own stores.* 
 The evidences of these early labours now lie by me ; 
 and I know not that I can do better than empower the 
 reader to judge of the variety of his research, and the 
 correctness of his taste, at this immature age, than by 
 transcribing a few passages from one of these pocket 
 volumes, compiled between his fourteenth and his eigh- 
 teenth year. It is entitled Extracta ex Autoribus cli- 
 versis, and relates principally to such topics as would 
 interest a lover of poetry and the belles lettres ; but 
 the spare corners are most amusingly interspersed with 
 gleanings of professional lore, under the heads of 
 Spt. Menderer., Vin. Vermifug., Vin. Antimon., Vitr. 
 Cerat. Antimon. &c. The following are a few of the 
 subjects illustrated in this juvenile collection. 
 
 BRITAIX. 
 
 Happy Britannia ! where the queen of arts 
 Inspiring vigor, liberty abroad, 
 Walks through the land of heroes unconfin'd, 
 And scatters plenty with unsparing hand. Thomson. 
 
 " Courier-like, we come posting to your shores, upon pinions of 
 the swiftest gales that ever blew." East Indian: Speaker, p. 204. 
 ''Well; here am I in England, at the fountain-head of pleasure, 
 in the land of beauty, of arts, and elegancies. My happy stars 
 have given me a good estate, and the conspiring winds have 
 blown me hither to use it." West Indian : Speaker, p. 202. 
 
 * Most auspiciously for him, at this spring-tide of his intellectual faculties, 
 his father had recommended him to the watchful eye of the Rev. Dr. Wren, 
 then resident at Gosport, with whom he always spent his Sunday evenings, 
 and to whose valuable library he had free access. 
 
14 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Time was when it was praise and boast enough, 
 
 In ev'ry clime, and travel where one might, 
 
 That we were born her children : praise enough 
 
 To fill th' ambition of a private man, 
 
 That Chatham's language was his mother tongue. 
 
 And Wolfe's great name compatriot with his own. 
 
 Farewell those honours, and with them farewell 
 
 The hope of such hereafter : they have fall'n 
 
 Each in his field of glory ; one in arms. 
 
 And one in council. Cowper : Task, Book 
 
 What can preserve my life, or what destroy? 
 An angel's arm can't snatch me from the grave; 
 Legions of angels can't confine me there. Young. 
 
 " Many, many are the ups and downs of life, and fortune must 
 be uncommonly gracious to that mortal who does not experience 
 a great variety of them : though perhaps to these may be owing 
 as much of our pleasures as our pains. There are scenes of 
 delight in the vale as well as on the mountain ; and the inequa- 
 lities of nature may not be less necessary to please the eye, than 
 the varieties of life to please the heart." Sterne s Letters. 
 
 Oh ! piteous lot of man's uncertain state ! 
 
 What woes on life's unhappy journey wait : 
 
 When joyful hope would grasp its fond desire, 
 
 The long-sought transports in the grasp expire. 
 
 By sea, what treacherous calms, what rushing storms, 
 
 And death attendant in a thousand forms. 
 
 By land, what strife, what plots of secret guile, 
 
 How many a wound from many a treach'rous smile ! 
 
 O where shall man escape his num'rous foes, 
 
 And rest his weary head in safe repose? Camoens. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 15 
 
 This is the state of man ; in prosperous fortune : 
 A shadow, passing light, throws to the ground 
 Joy's baseless fabric : in adversity 
 Comes malice with a sponge moisten'd in gall. 
 And wipes each beauteous character away. 
 
 Potters Mschylus. Agamem. 
 
 LIBERTY. 
 
 " O Nomen dulce libertatis ! O jus eximium nostrse civitatis ! 
 O Lex Portia legesque Sempronia ! O graviter desiderata et 
 aliquando redita plebi Romanae. Tribunitia potestas !" 
 
 Cic. ad Verr. 
 
 MAN. 
 
 "To survive the ruins of one woi'ld, and to enjoy God: to 
 resemble Him: to be filled with his fulness. What a happiness — 
 what an inestimable happiness is this ! Yet this is thy privilege — 
 barter it not for trifles of an hour — this thy glorious privilege, 
 O man !" Hervey. 
 
 APPLAUSE. 
 
 O popular applause ! what heart of man 
 Is proof against thy sweet seducing charms ? 
 The wisest and the best feel urgent need 
 Of all their caution, in thy gentlest gales : 
 But swell'd into a gust — who, then, alas ! 
 With all his canvass set, and inexpert, 
 
 And therefore heedless, can withstand thy pow'; 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 WIT HUMOUR. 
 
 " It is not in the power of every one to taste humour ; how- 
 ever he may wish it. It is the gift of God ; and a true feeler 
 always brings half the entertainment along with him. His own 
 ideas are only called forth by what he reads, and the vibrations 
 within him entirely correspond with those excited. 'Tis like 
 reading himself, and not the book." Sterile' s Letters. 
 
16 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 DELICACY. 
 
 " La Delicatesse est toiit-a-fait digne des Hommes : elle n'est 
 produit que par les bonnes qualites et de I'esprit et du coeur : on 
 se salt bon gre d'en avoir ; on tache a en acquerir quand on n'en 
 a pas. Cependant la delicatesse diminue le nombre des plaisirs 
 et on n'en a point trop. Elle est cause qu'on les sent moins 
 vivement, et d'euxmemes ils ne sont point trop vifs. Que les 
 hommes sont k plaindre ! Leur condition naturelle leur fournit 
 pen de cboses agreables, et leur raison leur apprend a en gouter 
 encore moins." Fontenelle. 
 
 Night, sable goddess, from her ebon throne. 
 
 In rayless majesty now stretches forth 
 
 Her leaden sceptre o'er a slumb'ring world. 
 
 Silence how dead, and darkness how profound ! 
 
 Nor eye, nor list'ning ear, an object finds ; 
 
 Creation sleeps. Young. 
 
 •All but the wakeful nightingale 
 
 She all night long her amorous descant sung ; 
 Silence was pleas'd. — Now glow'd the firmament 
 With living sapphires, Hesperus that led 
 The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon, 
 Rising in clouded majesty, at length 
 Apparent queen, unveil'd her peerless light 
 And o'er the dark her silent mantle threw. 
 
 Milton. Par. Lost. Book IV. v. 605. 
 
 Night is fair virtue's immemorial friend : 
 
 The conscious moon, through every distant age. 
 
 Has held a lamp to wisdom. 
 
 Nifjht Thoughts. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 17 
 
 TEMPESTUOUS, 
 
 Vox quoque per liicos vulgo exaudita silentes 
 Ingens ; et simulacra modis pallentia miris 
 Visa sub obscurum noctis. 
 
 Virg. Georg. I. v. 478. 
 
 Solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo 
 Ssepe queri, et longas in fletum ducere voces. 
 
 Virg. Mn. IV. v. 463. 
 
 There dwells a noble pathos in the skies, 
 Which warms our passions, proselytes our hearts. 
 How eloquently shines the glowing pole ! 
 With what authority it gives its charge, 
 Demonstrating great truths in style sublime. 
 
 Night Thoughts. 
 
 Era la notte, e il suo stellato velo 
 
 Chiaro spiegava e senza nube alcuna ; 
 
 E gia spargea I'ai luminosi, e gelo 
 
 Di vive perle la sorgente luna. 
 
 L' inuamorata Donna iva co'l cielo 
 
 Le sue fiamme sfogando ad una ad una : 
 
 E secretari del suo amore antico 
 
 Fea i muti campi, e quel silentio amico. 
 
 Gerus. Liber. Cant. 6. sta. 103. 
 
 This is followed by Homer's celebrated night-piece, 
 from which Tasso has evidently borrowed ; and by 
 Pope's almost equally celebrated translation — 
 
 The silver moon, refulgent lamp of night. 
 O'er heav'ns clear azure spreads her sacred light, &c. 
 c 
 
18 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 " Next to the knowledge of ourselves, most valuable is the 
 knowledge of Nature ; and this is to be acquired only by attend- 
 ing her through the variety of her works : the more we behold 
 of these, the more our ideas are enlarged and extended ; and the 
 nobler and more worthy conceptions we must entertain of that 
 Power who is the Parent of universal being." 
 
 Solyman and Almena. 
 
 " We are so accustomed to consider the Aloe as a bitter, be- 
 cause of the medical drug of that name, that we are hardly pre- 
 pared to receive an allusion (as in Solomons Song) to the deli~ 
 cious scents of this plant. But that it justly possesses a place 
 among the most fragrant aromatics, we are well assured, and let 
 the following extract testify : — ' This morning, like many of the 
 foregoing ones, was delicious ; the sun rose gloriously out of the 
 sea, and the air all around was perfumed with the effluvia of the 
 Aloe, as its rays sucked up the dew from the leaves.'" Travels 
 in Spain. Letter xii. 
 
 These selections from the "Extracta" will shew 
 with what taste, as well as diligence, the collector aug- 
 mented his literary stores. In the little volume from 
 which I have here quoted, he has laid nearly a hundred 
 authors, Greek, Latin, Italian, French, English, under 
 contribution. In others his quotations relate more to 
 chemistry, or the broader outlines of natural philo- 
 sophy. But at this early period I trace no indications 
 of his having begun to explore and classify the profu- 
 sion of bounty and beauty poured before us in the 
 vegetable world, the sublime and impressive pecu- 
 liarities of the mineral kingdom, or even the touching 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 19 
 
 and instructive varieties and resemblances which the 
 animal world exhibits ; except so far as these latter 
 fell under his notice in the professional study of com- 
 parative anatomy. 
 
 Before our young surgeon had completed his eigh- 
 teenth year, Mr. Johnson's health became so indifferent,* 
 that he was obliged to engage a gentleman of skill and 
 talent to conduct his business. For this purpose he 
 selected Mr. Babington, then an assistant-surgeon at 
 Haslar Hospital, and since well known as a physician 
 of high reputation in London. Mr. Babington was 
 older by a few years than Mr. Good ; but the disparity 
 was not such as to prevent their forming for each 
 other a cordial esteem. Since the death of Dr. Good, 
 Dr. Babington, on being asked by a friend of mine, as 
 to the impression which he retained of his early dis- 
 position and habits, replied, that when he first became 
 acquainted with him at Gosport, he was not, he thinks, 
 quite seventeen years of age ; that he was of excellent 
 character, both for moral and intellectual qualities ; 
 that he was a lively, quick youth, of very ready appre- 
 hension, and with a mind even then fully imbued with 
 more than the elements of classical literature ; that his 
 professional ardour was considerable, and his capacity 
 and taste for scientific acquirements rapidly developing 
 themselves. This gratifying testimony, which I am 
 
 * Since the above was written, I have ascertained from an authentic 
 source, that even before the subject of this narrative had completed his sLv- 
 teenth year, the bad health of Mr. Johnson caused to be thrown upon his 
 apprentice an unusual weight of responsibility for one so young. He had to 
 prepare the medicines, to enter an account of them in the several books, to 
 send them to the respective patients, &c. almost entirely witliout superin- 
 tendence. All this, however, served but to consolidate and establish the 
 habits of order and regularity in which he had been trained ; and thus sup- 
 plied another link in the chain of circumstances which operated in the forma- 
 tion of his character. 
 
 c2 
 
20 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 permitted to record, amply confirms the evidence fur- 
 nished by the preceding extracts. 
 
 Satisfactory plans for the efficient co-operation of 
 these two individuals had scarcely been formed, when 
 the death of Mr. Johnson, and opening prospects of 
 another kind for both, prevented them from being re- 
 duced into action. A favourable opportunity present- 
 ing itself at this juncture for Mr. Good's reception into 
 the family of a surgeon of great skill and extensive 
 practice at Havant, where his father then resided, he 
 removed thither ; and thus was permitted, though only 
 for a few months, again to enjoy the full advantages, 
 which he had long known how to value, of the paternal 
 advice. A few occasional visits to his grandfather, 
 Mr. Peyto, still living at Coggeshall, prepared the way 
 for his entering into partnership with a Mr. Decks, a 
 reputable surgeon at Sudbury, in the neighbouring 
 county. To qualify himself as far as possible for the 
 duties he was about to undertake, he spent the autumn 
 and winter of the year 1783, and the spring of 1784, in 
 London ; attending the lectures of Dr. George Fordyce, 
 Dr. Lowder, and other eminent professors of the various 
 departments of medical science and practice ; taking 
 down those lectures very accurately in short-hand 
 (which he wrote with great neatness and facility) and 
 afterwards transcribing them fully into larger books, 
 with marginal spaces, on which he might record subse- 
 quently the results of his reading, as well as of his 
 professional experience. The greater portion of the 
 papers and memoranda he thus collected, were carefully 
 preserved, and are still extant. 
 
 Though he probably quitted home, on this occasion, 
 with a heart eager in expectation and buoyant with 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 21 
 
 hope, he was too much influenced by the sensibilities 
 enkindled by domestic life, and too fully aware of the 
 evils to which he might be exposed, to leave the scenes 
 and the associations of so many happy years without 
 a pang. We need not conjecture what his feelings 
 were, for thus did he depict them. — 
 
 THE FAREWELL. 
 
 Ye sweet, dewy dales, where but late 
 My fond childhood delighted to stray ; 
 
 Ye woods, in whose umbrage I sate, 
 And defied the red heat of the day. 
 
 O yet let me once more retrace 
 
 Your green mazes, so oft trod before ; 
 
 O yet let me share your embrace : 
 Shall I never, alas ! share it more ? 
 
 For peaceful no longei", and still, 
 
 Is the path that is destin'd to me ; 
 Just launch'd, without practice or skill. 
 
 On the bosom of life's changeful sea. 
 
 All frail is the bark, and though now 
 
 Only smiles dimple over the deep. 
 Each wave may soon wear a rough brow. 
 
 And the hurricane wake from his sleep. 
 
 O'er quicksands in doubtful career. 
 
 Shoals and whirlpools the stoutest that shake, 
 
 'JMid rocks, wrecks, and pirates I steer, 
 And more than my life-blood's at stake. 
 
 Yet save me, ye powers that dispense 
 
 Your monitions unseen through the heart, 
 
 From such ills, O save me, or hence 
 Let me never, no never depart. 
 
TZ MEMOIRS OF 
 
 And when to these shades I return, 
 
 If heav'n to return should allow, 
 O then let my bosom still burn, 
 
 With a heart no less simple than now.* 
 
 On his arrival in London, he found a few associates 
 of kindred minds ; and amongst them a Mr. Godfrey, 
 son of a surgeon at Coggeshall, and devoted to the 
 same profession. With them he ardently pursued his 
 theoretical and practical inquiries, not merely attending 
 the lectures, and going assiduously through the hospital 
 practice, but becoming an active member of a society 
 for the promotion of natural philosophy, as well as 
 medical science, then existing among the students at 
 Guy's Hospital. Such an institution lay so naturally 
 in the current of his investigating intellect, that he 
 soon distinguished himself by the discussions into 
 which he entered, and the essays which he prepared. 
 One of these, "An Investigation of the Theory of Earth- 
 quakes" is now on my table. It is a closely written 
 manuscript, on 44 quarto pages, full of ingenuity and 
 research, but employed in defending what all philoso- 
 phers now regard as an erroneous theory. I refer to it 
 simply for the purpose of recording, at the same time, 
 that it yields unquestionable evidence of his having 
 consulted, previously to writing it, (at first-hand, and 
 not through the intervention of synopses or histories,) 
 all that fairly bore upon the inquiry, in the works of 
 Pliny, Seneca, Lucretius, Sim. Fortius, Pontoppidan, 
 Nollet, Amontons, Bertrand, Beccaria, Stukely, Mitchell, 
 Franklin, Priestley, Hamilton, Henley, Williams, &c. 
 The style of this juvenile essay is good ; but it is not 
 
 * This little effusion is not presented as a specimen of beautiful poetry, 
 hut as a natural and pleasing expression of genuine sentiment. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 23 
 
 distinguished (nor indeed would it be natural to expect 
 it) by the ease, freedom, and spirit which marked its 
 author's later productions. 
 
 Having terminated his winter and spring course at 
 the hospitals, and spent tlie earlier part of the summer 
 in collecting such professional information as London 
 then supplied, he commenced his duties at Sudbury, 
 in July or August, 1784, that is, shortly after he had 
 completed his twentieth year.* At so early an age 
 many obstacles to his gaining the confidence of the 
 inhabitants would naturally present themselves. But 
 he had the advantage of strong recommendations from 
 his hospital friends, with the most eminent of whom he 
 laid a plan for regular correspondence on professional 
 topics ; and he had the farther advantage of great pro- 
 fessional activity, cheerful and engaging manners, and 
 a soul ready to evince the liveliest sympathy in cases 
 where it was most needed. 
 
 Some striking proofs of his surgical skill, which 
 occurred shortly after his establishment at Sudbury, 
 gave, however, an extent and solidity to his reputation 
 which could not have been anticipated. The result 
 was, that, in a few months, Mr. Decks left the business 
 entirely in his hands. By the time he was twenty-one 
 
 * About the same time, or shortly afterwards, the Rev. Peter Good re- 
 moved from Havant to Bishop's Hull, near Charmouth, where he continued 
 to discbar;^e the pastoral duties over a respectable church and congregation, 
 until death put a period to his useful labours in the year 1805 or 1806. 
 He was doubtless a man of rich intellectual qualifications ; and from several of 
 his manuscvijit papers, which I have been permitted to read, it appears that 
 his rehgious sentiments were correct, and his spirit truly catholic and liberal; 
 such as in " the olden time" was evinced by Mr. Howe, and a few others, 
 who, as that great man expresses it, were animated " by a generous love, 
 not to Christians of this or that party only, but to all in whom the true essen- 
 tials of Christianity are found ;" a spirit which, in proportion as it prevails, 
 will " make religion a more lively, powerful, awful, amiable thing, more 
 grateful to God, more sweet, influential, tranquillizing, and elevating to men." 
 
24 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 years of age, his thoughts aspired to a partnership of a 
 more endearing kind. His frequent visits to Cogges- 
 hall had brought him into habits of intimacy with the 
 family of his friend Mr. Godfrey, already mentioned, 
 and had taught him that there were emotions of a 
 higher order, and a livelier glow, than any which he 
 had hitherto experienced. Miss Godfrey, the sister of 
 that friend, is described, by those who still recollect 
 her, as a young lady of accomplished mind and fas- 
 cinating manners. Before she had completed her 
 nineteenth year she was married to Mr. Good, who 
 was then just twenty-one. Enjoying all the happiness 
 which youth and virtue can taste at such a season, and 
 ardently predicting a long continuance of his bliss, he 
 thus expressed himself. — 
 
 PyVRADlSE. 
 
 When first in Eden's balmy bow'rs 
 Man pass'd his solitary hours 
 
 hi bliss but half complete : 
 To heav'n he rais'd his anxious pray'r, 
 And sought some gentler form to share 
 
 The rich luxuriant seat. 
 
 That gentler form immediate rose ; 
 The sire of man with rapture glows, 
 
 He weds the lovely prize : 
 Ah ! doom'd to changes too perverse— 
 His very blessing proves a curse — 
 
 His Eden instant flies. 
 
 Not thus for me this lot of woe, 
 Which Adam first sustain'd below ; 
 The partial fates decree 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 25 
 
 That bridal state — those genial hours, 
 Which lost him Eden's balmy bow'rs, 
 Give Eden all to me. 
 But, alas! "a worm was in the bud of this sweet 
 rose." In little more than six months after his mar- 
 riage his youthful bride died of consumption ; and he 
 learnt, from sad experience, how correct was the pre- 
 sentiment that dictated these lines of a brother poet : — 
 
 " Dearly bought, the hidden treasure, 
 Finer feelings can bestow ; 
 Chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure 
 
 Thrill the deepest notes of woe." Buryis. 
 
 Nearly four years from this event Mr. Good remained 
 a widower. His professional occupations, however, 
 which now began to extend themselves into the sur- 
 rounding villages, together with the soothing influence 
 of time and of cheerful society, in a few months re- 
 stored to his spirits their native buoyancy. At this 
 period of his life I have reason to believe that he did 
 not bend his mind to any regular course of study : he 
 perused with the utmost eagerness every thing that 
 was new to him, and he continued his early acquired 
 habit of recording all that he thought striking, or use- 
 ful, or essentially original, in one or other of his com- 
 mon-place-books ; but his reading was desultory, and 
 without any fixed object. 
 
 Early in the year 1790, Mr. Good had the happiness 
 to become acquainted with a gentleman of the same 
 profession, and in many respects of a kindred mind. 
 Dr. Nathan Drake,* well known to the public as 
 
 * Dr. Drake, at the commencement of this intimacy, lived at Sudbury ; 
 but in little more than a year removed to Hadleigh, in Suffolk, where he has 
 ever since resided. 
 
26 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the accomplished and amiable author of "Literary 
 Hours," " The Gleaner," and other esteemed works, 
 devoted to the illustration of tasteful and elegant litera- 
 ture. Their congeniality of sentiment, and similarity of 
 pursuits, laid the basis of a warm and permanent friend- 
 ship ; which continued without interruption or remission, 
 until it was closed by death. Each stimulating the 
 other to an extended activity of research, and each fre- 
 quently announcing to the other the success which at- 
 tended his exertions, or each as frequently exhibiting to 
 the other some new acquisition of knowledge, some fresh 
 specimen of poetic composition, either original or trans- 
 lated; and all this in the may-day of life, when, with re- 
 gard to both, the buds and blossoms of thought, and the 
 varied foliage of imagination, were starting forth with a 
 vigorous exuberance, — could not but be productive of 
 the most beneficial eflects. Mr. Good greatly enlarged 
 his acquaintance with the writers of Greece and Rome, 
 at the same time he took a more extensive view of the 
 poetry and literature of France and Italy ; and, as 
 though these were not enough to engage all tlie powers 
 of his mind, he commenced the study of Hebrew, a 
 language of which he soon acquired a clear and critical 
 knowledge. 
 
 Dr. Drake, who has done me the favour to communi- 
 cate some interesting particulars relative to his early 
 friend, as well as several of his letters and of his poeti- 
 cal compositions, enables me to lay before the reader 
 the following spirited eflusion, indicative of his state 
 of thought and feeling at this period. The Doctor truly 
 characterizes it as '■' an excellent imitation of the Hora- 
 tian epistolary style and manner, affording at the same 
 time a striking proof of the just estimate which, even 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 27 
 
 at that early season of life. Dr. Good had formed as to 
 the proper pursuits and rational enjoyment of our being 
 here." 
 
 TO MY FRIEND DR. DRAKE. 
 
 Non accepimus brevem vitam, sed fecimus : nee inopes ejus sed prodigi 
 suinus. Quid de reaim natura querimus ? vita, si scias uti, longa est. 
 
 Seneca. 
 
 Is life a point ? a fleeting shade ? 
 A dream whose scenes for ever fade ? 
 Then be it ours that point to prize, 
 To watch the shadow as it flies ; 
 And, through the restless dream, pursue 
 Those objects least that cheat the view. 
 
 But is this life the fates bestow. 
 From race to race, on man below, 
 That empty, despicable thing 
 Which S9ges say, and poets sing? — 
 
 Yes — 'tis to him whose vagrant soul 
 Flies, void of aim, from pole to pole ; 
 Who hugs this hour, by choice perplext, 
 The form of bliss he spurns the next ; 
 And still who calls, and still who flings 
 The boon, disgusted, as it springs. 
 
 Yes, 'tis to him, more stupid still. 
 Alike devoid of good or ill, 
 For torpid shade and idle ease 
 Alone to heaven who bends his knees, 
 Nor cares what others think or say, 
 Who rule the world, or who obey. 
 If, undisturb d, he still may keep 
 His dormouse dulness, and his sleep. 
 
 Yes, to the wretch who heaps his pelf 
 By starving that poor shade — himself; 
 A ghost while living, and with itch 
 Insanely stung of dying rich. 
 
28 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 And boasting, when all boast is vain, 
 How vast his folly and his gain. 
 
 Yes, to the man who hunts till death 
 The bubble of the people's breath ; 
 Hunts, yet perceives that bubble foil 
 At last, perchance, his utmost toil ; 
 And sinks half curtail'd of his hours, 
 The martyr of misguided pow'rs. — 
 To such, when quick the pulses fly, 
 When wan the cheek, and dim the eye, 
 To such, existence well may seem 
 A point, a shadow, or a dream. 
 
 But say, my friend, for bounteous heaven 
 To thee the power to say has given, 
 And much thy meditative youth 
 Has trod th' inspiring shades of truth. 
 Say, are the countless sons of earth 
 Alike disgusted with their birth ? 
 Has God to all, with pow'r perverse, 
 Instead of blessing, dealt a curse ? 
 A gift that will not bear the touch. 
 That solid seems, but ne'er is such ? 
 An ignis fatuus that decoys 
 Alone with semblances of joys? 
 Or, if substantial once they prove. 
 That instant from the grasp remove ; 
 Fly from the wretch, and in their flight 
 Behold him plung'd to endless night ? 
 Say, could th' eternal Sire bestow 
 Such vanity of life below ? 
 Or is it man, with aim perverse. 
 Who turns the blessing to a curse ? 
 The solid boon assign'd forsakes. 
 And makes the void the shadow makes ? 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 29 
 
 'TIs man, Drake, 'tis man alone. 
 And Heaven the charge may well disown ; 
 'Tis man himself who renders vain 
 This day of grace the fates ordain ; 
 Who, thoughtless, to secure its flight. 
 Dreams 'tis but noon at dead of night, 
 And wakes abrupt, and starts to find 
 A blank of being all behind. 
 And all, where'er he turns before, 
 A boundless deep, devoid of shore. 
 
 True, life is short, but many a flow'r 
 Springs, if we search, within our pow'r ; 
 And, though not long its compass, still 
 It lasts our duties to fulfil. 
 Ask you in what those duties rest ? — 
 Let man, my friend, consult his breast; 
 And learn that science which, below, 
 It most concerns his race to know. 
 Say, to what end does heav'n impart 
 This sensibility of heart ? 
 This wondrous faculty to feel 
 For other's woe and other's weal ; 
 Till soul, throughout, combin'd with soul. 
 The whole is self, and self the whole ? 
 Say — wherefore lavish o'er our eyes 
 This harmony of earth and skies ? 
 This beauteous universe prepare, 
 Type of the Great, the Good, the Fair ? 
 Why but, through ev'ry crowded land, 
 To raise the mind, the heart expand ? 
 To call from envy, sloth, and pride. 
 Ambition's foul and feverish tide, 
 To virtue, wisdom, truth, refin'd, 
 And active love of human kind ? 
 
30 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Nor let the vain, th' illiterate say 
 That learning leads the soul astray ; 
 Contracts the social stream that flows, 
 And chills the breast with Zembla's snows. — 
 Look round the world, from east to west. 
 Thro' tribes that roam, and tribes that rest, 
 Does man most sentimental seem 
 Where science most withholds her beam ? 
 Are Afric's swarthy crowds, or those 
 Whence Afric' draws her list of woes. 
 Of purer skin, but quite as blind 
 To letters, and a cultur'd mind — 
 Are these, of all mankind, imprest 
 With sympathies beyond the rest ? 
 With cheeks to glow, and nerves to feel 
 For human nature's varying weal ? 
 Or, first o'er ignorance and night, 
 When learning threw her struggling light, 
 Illum'd the walls, the lovely views 
 Of Paraclete or famed Vaucluse — 
 Or where Lorenzo's genial sway 
 Led up the dawn to brighter day — 
 Say — with the sacred flood that spread. 
 Did malice loftier lift her head. 
 Pride, envy, avarice, and crimes. 
 Surpass the curse of former times ? 
 No : 'tis the philosophic page, 
 The beam of science, soft and sage, 
 That chief th' untutor'd heart inspires 
 With generous views, and social fires ; 
 That to itself itself unveils, 
 And fills with love that never fails. 
 
 O Drake! the man who thus has join'd 
 The virtues of the heart and mind, 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 31 
 
 Who sees, where'er his sight extends, 
 In each a brother and a friend, 
 Explores with eyes that never tire, 
 The wonders of one common sire, 
 And rises from his native sod 
 Through "nature up to nature's God," 
 Drop when he may this mortal stuff. 
 His ample soul has liv'd enough ; 
 No dream to him, no empty shade. 
 No viewless point has life display 'd ! 
 
 In culture, then, of heart and mind 
 Man's duty and his bliss we find. 
 But though his active love to each 
 With undissembled hand he reach. 
 Though still his heart to all expands, 
 With some he lives in closer bands, 
 And owns the union hence that flows. 
 The happiest gift that heaven bestows. 
 
 To thee, my friend, whose ardent toil, 
 Has watch'd so oft the midnight oil, 
 To thee I write not to inspire 
 Thy soul with learning's liberal fire — 
 No, I but ask thee to impart 
 And pledge once more the social heart; 
 Come, then, with wonted kindness share 
 Our cheerful home, our humble fare; 
 Come, and our subject and discourse 
 Shall flow with freedom and with force, 
 Chance shall the varying topic choose, 
 Or science, painting, or the muse ;- — 
 Deny me not — howe'er profuse, 
 I must not brook the best excuse : 
 'Tis friendship calls, and who delays 
 The generous breast when friendship sways? 
 Sudbury: Saturday Morning, 1791. 
 
32 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Almost three years previously to the date of this 
 poem, Mr. Good had rendered his home " cheerful" by 
 a second marriage. The object of his choice was a 
 daughter of Thomas Fenn, Esq. of Ballingdon Hall, an 
 opulent and highly respectable banker at Sudbury. 
 The experience of thirty-eight years amply proved with 
 what success the refined friendship of domestic life 
 " redoubleth joys, and cutteth griefs in sunder." Here, 
 however, I must, though with reluctance, check ray 
 pen. Of the six children who were the result of this 
 marriage, only two survive, both daughters ; and I am 
 conscious that I cannot more fully accord with the 
 wishes and feelings of these my esteemed friends, (each 
 of whom evinces as great a solicitude to avoid praise 
 as to deserve it) than by mentioning their names as 
 little as possible during the progress of this narrative. 
 
 Some time in the year 1792, Mr. Good, either by be- 
 coming legally bound for some friends, or by lending 
 them a large sum of money, under the expectation that 
 it would be soon returned, but which they were unable 
 to repay, was brought into circumstances of consider- 
 able pecuniary embarrassment. Mr. Fenn most cheer- 
 fully stepped forward to remove his difficulties, and 
 lent him partial aid, an aid, indeed, which would have 
 been rendered completely effectual, had not Mr. Good 
 resolved that perplexities, springing from what he re- 
 garded as his own want of caution, (though in no other 
 respect open to censure,) should be removed principally 
 by his own exertions. Thus it happened that a pecu- 
 niary loss, from the pressure of which men with minds 
 of an ordinary cast would have gladly escaped as soon 
 as assistance was offered, became with him the perma- 
 nent incentive to a course of literary activity, which. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 33 
 
 though it was intercepted repeatedly by the most 
 extraordinary failures and disappointments, issued at 
 length in their complete removal, and in the establish- 
 ment of a high and richly deserved reputation. And 
 thus, by the sombrous vicissitude of his providential 
 dispensations, the heavenly 
 
 " Husbandman 
 
 Prepar'd the soil ; — and silver-tongued Hope 
 Promis'd another harvest." 
 
 Mr. Good's exertions, on this occasion, were most 
 persevering and diversified. He wrote plays ; he made 
 translations from the French, Italian, &c. ; he com- 
 posed poems ; he prepared a series of philosophical 
 essays : but all these efforts, though they soothed his 
 mind and occupied his leisure, were unproductive of 
 the kind of benefit which he sought. Having no ac- 
 quaintance with the managers of the London theatres, 
 or with influential men connected with them, he could 
 not get any of his tragedies or comedies brought for- 
 ward ; and being totally unknown to the London book- 
 sellers, he could obtain no purchasers for his literary 
 works : so that the manuscript copies of these produc- 
 tions, which in the course of two or three years had 
 become really numerous, remained upon his hands. 
 Yet nothing damped his ardour. He at length opened 
 a correspondence with the editor of a London news- 
 paper, and became a regular contributor to one of the 
 Reviews : and though these, together, brought him no 
 adequate remuneration, they served as incentives to 
 hope and perseverance.* 
 
 * Several of the manuscripts are still in existence, and 1 shall throw into 
 this note the titles of such of them as I have read • — 
 
34 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Mr, Good's newspaper connexion was with "The 
 World," the Morning Post of that day, conducted by 
 Captain Topham, a man whose character was too noto- 
 riously marked to need any delineation now. The 
 communications of our " Rural Bard," as he was usu- 
 ally denominated in "The World," ornamented its 
 poet's corner : two of them alone are inserted here, as 
 specimens. 
 
 ODE TO HOPE, 
 
 O gentle Hope ! whose lovely form 
 The plunging sea-boy, midst the storm, 
 
 Sees beckoning from the strand, — 
 If yet thy smile can chase the sighs 
 From love and adverse fate which rise, 
 
 O view this lifted hand ! 
 
 " History of Alcidalis and Zelida," translated from a fragment of Voifure. 
 
 " Ethelbert, a Tragedy ;" some portions of it written with great spirit. 
 
 " The Revohition, a Comedy ;" composed in Hvely, easy dialogue ; but 
 not possessing enough of ludircous incident to excite the 'broad grin,' which 
 seems essential to the success of modern comedy. 
 
 " The Female Mirror, a Didactic Poem ; to which are added, a Transla- 
 tion of two Odes of Horace, lately discovered in the Palatine Library at 
 Rome; and an Elegy on SensibiUty of Mind." Some passages in this 
 latter poem are truly elegant and expressive. 
 
 "A Poetical Epistle on the Slave-trade." This, I believe, received some 
 corrections from the hand of Dr. Drake ; but was never published. 
 
 " The Summer Recess, or, a View of the World at a Distance." This 
 poem is in three books, and was evidently composed with Virgil's Georgics 
 in tlie autlior's eye. Several of its descriptions of rural scenery, and of rustic 
 occupations and amusements, are highly picturesque. 
 
 Ten Essays. 1. On the Being of a God. 2. On the Origin of Evil. 
 3. On Liberty and Necessity. 4. On Providence. 5. On a Future State. 
 6. On the Credibility of Revelation. 7. On the Homogeneity of Animal 
 Life. 8 and 9. On the Social Offices and Affections, 10. On Happiness. 
 Most of these Essays are well written ; but the subjects are treated more in 
 the strain of philosophy than of theology, and several of them are tinged 
 with sentiments wliich their author, in maturer life, most cordially disap- 
 proved. One, however, which I think Mr. Good would have preserved^ 
 will be inserted in the text. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 35 I 
 
 J 
 Thro' dire despair's tremendous shade, I 
 
 Supported by thy secret aid, 
 
 The troubled spirit flies. 
 Thy sight sustains his drooping pow'rs, i 
 
 Thy finger points to brighter hours, 
 
 And clears the distant skies. 
 
 Then haste thee, Hope, and o'er my head, 
 While yet impervious tempests spread. 
 
 Obtrude thy magic form : ; 
 
 O give me, ere gay youth decline. 
 To view the fair Zelinda mine. 
 
 And I'll despise the storm. \ 
 
 \ 
 
 HYMN REHEARSED AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE FUNERAI ^ 
 
 OF GENERAL LA HOCHE. 
 
 Les Femmes. i 
 
 Du haut de la vo6te eternelle, i 
 
 Jeune heros, recois nos pleurs. 
 Que notre doleur solemnelle 
 T'offre des hymnes et des fleurs. 
 
 Ah ! sur ton ume sepulcrale \ 
 
 Gravons ta gloire et nos regrets ; ! 
 
 Et que la palme triumphale 
 S'eleve an sein de tes cypres. < 
 
 Les Viellards. ^ 
 
 Aspirez a ses destinees, j 
 
 Guerriers, defenseurs de nos lois, ' 
 
 Tons ses jours furent annees ; "^ 
 
 Tons ses faits furent des exploits. j 
 
 d2 
 
3(5 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 La mort, qui frappa sa jeunesse, 
 Respectera sou souvenir; 
 S'il n'atteignit point la vieillesse, 
 II sera vieux dans I'avenir. 
 
 Les Guerriers. 
 
 Sur les rochers de I'Armorique, 
 II terrassa la trahison ; 
 II vainquit I'hydre fanatique, 
 Semant la flam me et le poison. 
 La guerre civille etoufFee 
 Cede a son bras llberateur ; 
 Et ce'st-la le plus beau trophee 
 D'un heros pacificateur. 
 
 Oui, tu seras notre modele ; 
 Tu n'as point terni tes lauriers. 
 Ta voix libre, ta voix fidelle, 
 Est toujours presente aux guerriers 
 Aux champs d'honneur ou vit ta gloire, 
 Ton ombre, au milieu de nos rangs, 
 Saura captiver la victoire, 
 Et punir encor les tyrans. 
 
 TRANSLATION OF THE PRECEDING, 
 
 • Women. 
 
 From heaven's high vault with stars o'erspread, 
 
 Hero ! accept the tears we shed : 
 
 And let the incense of our sighs 
 
 To thee like hymns and flowers arise, 
 
 Ah ! round thine urn our griefs be train'd, 
 
 Mixt with the glories thou hast gain'd ! 
 
 And let full many a cypress tree 
 
 Spring round the laurel rear'd to thee ! 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 37 
 
 Old Men. 
 
 Warriors ! the Laws' brave guardians ! — aim 
 To rival his immortal fame. 
 His days were ages — and each deed 
 Claim'd from the world a hero's meed. 
 The scythe of death, that struck his prime, 
 Still spares his name to endless time ; 
 And though with ancients not enroU'd, 
 Posterity shall see him old. 
 
 Warriors. 
 O'er Armorica's rocks he flew 
 When Treason rous'd the rebel crew : 
 There, spreading poison, spreading fire. 
 He triumph'd o'er the hydra dire. 
 The strife subdued, through all the land 
 He scatter'd blessings from his hand : 
 Then shone the godlike Hero most; 
 For Peace is chief the Hero's boast. 
 
 Yes— we will draw our lives from thee ! 
 
 Thy brow no tarnish 'd laurels bound ; 
 Thy faithful voice, thy voice most free, 
 
 Through ev'ry soldier's ear shall sound. 
 In thine own fields, where glory led, 
 
 Thy shade, amidst our ranks of war, 
 Shall give us conquests as we tread, 
 
 And fell the tyrants we abhor. 
 
 Among the Essays composed by Mr. Good in the 
 midst of these varied exertions, that which is devoted 
 to the defence of a particular providence, is, in my 
 judgment, one of the best. He does not seem, however, 
 to have attended to the discussions relative to " the 
 
38 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 spring of action in Deity," in which Balguy, Bayes, 
 and Grove, each defended a separate theory. Balguy, 
 as many will recollect, refers all the Divine actions to 
 rectitude, Eayes to benevolence, and Grove to ivisdotn. 
 Yet both Grove and Balguy acknowledge that the 
 communication of happiness is so noble an end, that 
 the Deity unquestionably keeps it always in view; 
 while the wisdom adduced in Grove's theory differs 
 very little from the rectitude assumed as the basis of 
 Balguy's. Had Mr. Good been acquainted with the 
 different branches of this controversy, the commence- 
 ment of his own disquisition would probably have 
 been somewhat modified : and if, instead of starting 
 from a doubtful position, he had simply reasoned from 
 a proposition in which all agree, viz. that God always 
 does that which is right and good, the general strain of 
 his reasoning would have been the same, while the 
 exposure of Hume's sophistry, would, I think, have 
 been more complete. 
 
 ON PROVIDENCE. 
 
 " Whatever arguments may be adduced in proof of the existence 
 of a Deity, may likewise be adduced in proof of the existence of 
 a general and particular providence. If it be true, and no one, 
 I believe, will be disposed to doubt it, that every power we 
 meet with in the universe ought originally to be attributed to the 
 great First Cause of all things, it follows inevitably that this 
 great First Cause must itself be all-active and all-powerful. 
 And if, again, it be true, as I have endeavoured to demon- 
 strate on another occasion, that the principal, not to say the 
 only motive by which the Deity could be excited in the crea- 
 tion of any order of beings, was their own individual happi- 
 ness, it follows, moreover, that the constant exertion of this 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 39 
 
 power and activity must be employed in the promotion and 
 continuance of that happiness. It follows therefore, again, 
 that the Creator must, of necessity, be employed in a course 
 of general and uninterrupted providence. But ' we cannot con- 
 ceive, (as Dr. Price justly observes,) any reasons that can in- 
 fluence the Deity to exercise any providence over the world, 
 which are not, likewise, reasons for extending it to all that 
 happens in the world.'f A providence that neglects or forsakes 
 individuals is incomplete, and inadmissible ; because incompetent 
 to the conception of a perfect being. The providence, therefore, 
 which is a general, must, at the same time, be a particular one. 
 "Whether indeed the constant harmony and regularity ob- 
 servable in nature, with all the various events that occur 
 around us, be the effect of original appointment at the first 
 formation of the universe ; foreseen, and predetermined ; or 
 the result of one continued energy incessantly protracted — is 
 not, perhaps, fully to be decided, and is, moreover, totally 
 irrelevant to our present purpose. Every individual circum- 
 stance that has since occurred, both in the moral and physical 
 departments of creation, must, even on the first hypothesis, 
 have been clearly represented to a Being of universal prescience : 
 and without obtaining his approbation could never have taken 
 effect. However, therefore, philosophers may differ in their 
 ideas on this subject; and though the doctrine of incessant 
 interposition must, on many accounts, appear the most plausible ; 
 yet each may contend with nearly equal propriety for the ex- 
 istence of a providence. 
 
 " Such considerations, however, have not been allowed their 
 due Aveight and importance by all philosophers. Some have 
 totally denied the existence of any providence at all; while 
 others, acknowledging the existence of a general providence, 
 have denied that it is in any instance particular, or exerts any 
 influence over individuals. 
 
 f Dissertation on Providence. 
 
40 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 " I know of but three objections that can be fairly urged 
 either by the one side or the other, in opposition to the doc- 
 trine in dispute. The first is, that the Deity is incapable 
 of exercising such a power : the second, that it would be 
 derogatory to him : the third, that its exertion must be incon- 
 sistent with the liberty of moral election. 
 
 "Tliere is no author I am acquainted with, who has ad- 
 vanced the first objection with so much success and authority 
 as Mr. Hume :* and it will be to his writings, therefore, I 
 shall direct myself more particularly in my reply. The position 
 he so much labours to demonstrate appears to be this : that 
 even allowing a Deity, he does not seem to have been, and 
 Ave have no reason to suppose he was, possessed of more 
 than just that determinate quantity of power which was re- 
 quisite to produce the creation ; the exertion of which obliged 
 him to sink into rest through mere debility, and leave his 
 scarcely finished undertaking to itself and its own imperfect 
 powers of mutual dependence. 
 
 " In support of this extraordinary proposition, the arguments 
 he adduces are the following. 
 
 " ' Causes are, at all times, proportioned to their consequent 
 effects, and ought not to be supposed to possess any qualities 
 but Avhat are exactly sufficient to produce them, A body of 
 ten ounces raised in any scale may serve as a proof that the 
 counterbalancing weight exceeds ten ounces; but can never 
 afford a reason that it exceeds a hundred. The same rule holds 
 true universally, whether the cause assigned be brute uncon- 
 scious matter, or a rational intelligent being. No one, merely 
 from a sight of one of Zeuxiss pictures, could know that he 
 was also a statuary or architect, and was an artist no less skilful 
 in stone or marble than in colours. The talents and taste 
 displayed in the particular work before us, these and only these 
 we may safely conclude the workman to be possessed of. 
 
 * Vide Sect. 11. On a Particular Providence and a Future State. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 41 
 
 " ' The chief or sole argument for a divine existence is derived 
 from the general order of nature ; which is an argument drawn 
 from effects to causes. Every argument, therefore, deduced 
 from causes to effects must be a gross sophism, since it is im- 
 possible to know any thing of the cause but what has been 
 antecedently, not only inferred, but discovered to the full in the 
 effect. — On the same account, we cannot, according to the rules 
 of just reasoning, ascend from the effect to the cause, and 
 thence return back from that cause with any new inference ; or, 
 making any addition to the effect as we find it, establish any 
 new principles of conduct and behaviour. 
 
 " ' Though, from a knowledge of the actions and sentiments 
 of the human species, we may, with propriety, infer more than 
 the simple appearance of objects presented to us would other- 
 wise give us a right to infer: as, for instance, from a half- 
 finished edifice, and the materials for building scattered around 
 it, we might presume that such an edifice would soon be com- 
 pleted, and receive all the further improvements which art could 
 bestow upon it ; yet we are not allowed the same liberty of 
 ascending from the effect to the cause, and thence descending 
 from the same cause to infer other effects, in any of our argu- 
 ments respecting the Deity ; since the Deity is only known to us 
 by his actual productions, and since we are ignorant of the 
 motives by which he is actuated, and the sentiments by which 
 he is governed.'! 
 
 " It is not strictly true, however, in the first place, that the 
 sole or even the chief argument in proof of the existence of a 
 Divine Being is derived from the general order of nature. The 
 
 f "Since he is a Being, as Mr. H. continues, who discovers himself only 
 by some faint traces or outlines, beyond which we have no authority to 
 ascribe to him any attribute or perfection ; and a Being respecting whom 
 what we imagine to be a superior perfection may really be a defect." 
 
 In the delineation of these arguments, though I have been under the 
 necessity of contracting and condensing them from the original, I am not 
 conscious of having injured their strength ; and I have used Mr. Hume's 
 own expressions as often as I could possibly introduce them. 
 
42 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 existence of man alone is sufficient to prove the existence of a 
 Deity, and to demonstrate his perfections. And this simple 
 fact, without any addition whatsoever, has been successfully 
 selected by Mr. Locke for this very pui-pose ; and been made 
 the means of deducing a proof of such an existence, equal, as he 
 himself expresses it, 'to that of mathematical certainty.'^ 
 Wherever a human being exists, if in the possession of his 
 reason, he must have an undoubted perception and certainty of 
 his existence ; he must, moreover, be certain that nothing could 
 possibly proceed from nothing, and he must be therefore certain 
 there must be something uncreated and eternal. That which is 
 uncreated and eternal must, again, possess all the powers, and 
 that in an infinite degree, as being devoid of opposition or 
 obstruction, which can possibly be traced in the being that is 
 finite and created. It must be, therefore, omnipotent, and all- 
 intelligent. From the possession of which intelligence it is easy 
 to deduce every other attribute, whether moral or physical. The 
 argument ci priori must, at all times, be at least equal to that 
 deduced from effects to causes. 
 
 " But, acceding to the position, that all our arguments for a 
 divine existence are derived from the 'general order of nature, 
 and the display of objects around us ; and that this general 
 order and display of objects is the eflPect, and the Deity 
 himself the cause; it is far from being a necessary conclusion, 
 and by no means invariable, that the cause in this instance is 
 adjusted precisely to the effect exhibited, and possesses no power 
 or property whatsoever but what is therein displayed. 
 
 " In brute conscious matter, it is true, the experienced train 
 of events shews us there is a constant proportion observed 
 between the cause and the effect, however variegated : but it is 
 an obvious error to contend that the same law obtains among 
 rational and intelligent beings ; and it is an error proceeding 
 from the belief of a doctrine we have before animadverted upon 
 
 X Essay on Human Understanding, b. i. ch. 10. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 43 
 
 — the doctrine, I mean, that maintains the same species of 
 absolute necessity to subsist among moral as among physical 
 agents. Hercules did not, on all occasions, put forth the 
 utmost quantity of his strength; norCiCEKO nor Demosthenes 
 exert the whole of their doquence. They found themselves at 
 full liberty, and not subjected to the same inflexible laws that 
 actuate mere incogitative atoms. It is acknowledged that no 
 one, merely from the sight of a picture of Zeuxis in ancient 
 times, or of Salvator Rosa in more modern, could determine 
 that the former was also a statuary and an architect, and the latter 
 a poet and musician, whose satires and harmonic compositions 
 fell but little short of his skill in the art of colouring. But 
 what is the reason that we are here incapable of determining ? 
 Plainly this : that there is no necessary connexion between these 
 different arts and sciences whatsoever. They may be conjoined 
 in the same subject ; but they may subsist by themselves : and 
 he who is the best musician may be the worst painter, and the 
 best poet may be the worst statuary. 
 
 "The case is very different with respect to the perfections of 
 intelligent beings, and especially the perfections of the Deity; 
 through the whole of which there is a natural link subsisting 
 so obviously, that, from the demonstration of one or two, the 
 rest seem to follow of inevitable necessity. The Being, who is 
 eternal and all-powerful, must be all-intelligent : he who is all- 
 powerful and all-intelligent, must be infinitely happy : he who is 
 infinitely happy in himself, can only be actuated in what he does 
 by motives of benevolence. 
 
 " Yet how are we capable of determining at all on the Deity 
 which is the cause, if we can only reason respecting him from a 
 full knowledge of the creation, which is the effect ? This crea- 
 tion is extended around us on every side : let us confine ourselves 
 alone to the proofs of power it exhibits. Are we acquainted 
 with its unfathomable dimensions ? Have we penetrated into 
 the whole system of laws by which it is regulated ? Can we 
 develop the causes of gravitation, magnetism, or muscular 
 
44 MKMOIRS OF 
 
 motion? Is nothing obscure, nothing mysterious, conceale.. 
 from our view? If to inquiries like these we can return a 
 satisfactory reply — then, but not till then, let us think of deter- 
 mining our idea of the great original Cause by the effect alone 
 which he has thus exhibited. But if this Ave cannot do — if, 
 here we are obliged to acknowledge our ignorance and incapa- 
 city, does it not evince the grossest presumption to set bounds 
 to the power of a Being who has thus magnificently manifested 
 himself? a power that defies the calculations of science, and 
 overwhelms the conceptions of the most daring ? 
 
 " Yet if we are not adequate to the comprehension of his 
 power, why should we attempt J:o fix bounds to any other attri- 
 bute or perfection of which the Deity may be possessed ? That 
 the exertion of power in the works of creation surpasses the 
 limits of human conjecture, is what the most hesitating sceptic 
 must allow. As far, however, as we have been able to discover, 
 an order and disposition, uniform and similar, prevail throughout 
 the whole. But order and disposition must be the result of 
 intelligence. Is the display of power then illimited and incom- 
 prehensible ? so is that of wisdom and intelligence. Is the same 
 all-powerful and intelligent Being, who is the former of this 
 portion of the universe on which we reside, the Creator of the 
 viniverse at large ? the same motives must actuate him, and a 
 conduct not inconsistent be exhibited. That he may possess 
 qualities and energies with which we are totally unacquainted, will 
 readily be granted ; yet this must for ever remain mere hypothesis, 
 since we have no data on which to found our judgment of them. 
 Yet be they what they may, they cannot be incongruous with 
 those which are developed to our notice in the present world ; 
 much less can any of them which he has exhibited, and which 
 reason has taught one class of intelligent beings to deem perfec- 
 tions, be ever regarded by another as defects. 
 
 " To confine therefore our ideas of the Deity by the general 
 appearance of objects and events in the present world, or any 
 part of that section of the universe, the mere threshold of 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 45 
 
 creation, with which we are acquainted; or to bound those attri- 
 butes we cannot but allow him by deductions drawn from so 
 limited a scene — is both inconsistent and unphilosophical : in- 
 consistent, because we have no reason to conceive that an active 
 intelligent Being should at all times exert himself to the utmost 
 of his power; unphilosophical, because we have the clearest 
 reasons for believing that a scene so limited bears not the pro- 
 portion to the general system of the universe that a grain of 
 sand does to the Pyrenees, or a drop of water to the ocean. 
 And we may, therefore, with the strictest propriety suppose the 
 Divine Being possessed of a greater degree of perfection in all 
 his various attributes than the present situation of things will 
 immediately demonstrate to the view : and this without advancing 
 from the effect to the cause, and thence descending to infer other 
 effects which are totally unconnected with their original. The 
 reason being, that the limited capacities of the human species 
 are not adequate to a comprehension of the effects themselves ; 
 and if they cannot fully comprehend the effect, how is it possible 
 they should be able fully to comprehend the cause ? 
 
 " I cannot, however, forbear to notice in this place, that the 
 ascending from an effect to a cause, and thence descending from 
 the same cause to infer other effects which we were ignorant of 
 before, is a liberty which is often taken by philosophers. And 
 that not only in researches which refer to man, or any other 
 animal with which they are intimately acquainted, but which 
 refer to the works of the Deity himself. And it is a liberty, 
 indeed, without which science could no longer exist. The 
 general laws of nature with which we are acquainted will most 
 of them afford us a proof of the truth of this assertion. A close 
 attention to a few particular facts has commonly been the mode 
 in which they have been deduced : and when thus deduced as 
 causes of those facts, they have been afterwards applied to the 
 explanation of other occurrences, which before appeared per- 
 fectly unaccountable. The laws of gravitation, which have since 
 been so successfully applied to every point of the heavens, were. 
 
46 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 as is known to every one, at first determined from the most 
 trifling event possible. And thus, in optics, from a few observa- 
 tions on some of the phenomena of hght are inferred the general 
 laws of refraction and reflexion : which, when in this manner 
 once obtained, are applied to the solution of a variety of other 
 phenomena, which would, otherwise, remain inexplicable para- 
 doxes. 
 
 " But suppose we make a farther concession still ; and 
 allow — what, indeed, we find every hour in every day conti- 
 nually contradicting — that the same proportion and adjustment 
 between cause and effect obtains among rational and intelli- 
 gent beings, as among brute,^ unconscious matter; and that 
 the power or capacity of exertion, which is the cause, is never 
 superior to the operation, which is the effect: even by this 
 concession, the argument urged against us, so far from ob- 
 taining the least additional force, would, on the very principles 
 of Mr. Hume himself, prove the means of its own refutation. 
 
 "All our knowledge, even according to his own system, with 
 respect to matters of fact and existence, we derive from ex- 
 perience ; and every event, that takes place in opposition to this 
 grand criterion of our judgment, must bring with it proofs 
 that will more than counterbalance the observations of every 
 day, before a philosopher can assent to its truth. It is this 
 constant and unremitted experience which shews us the con- 
 tinual coherence subsisting between cause and effect. Not 
 that the first bears any analogy to the second, or exerts any 
 sensible influence over it; but only, by long habitude, we have 
 accustomed ourselves to expect the second as the necessary 
 result of the first. For had causes any analogy to their effects, 
 or exerted any known energy over them ; immediately on the 
 appearance of a cause, however singular, and however impossi- 
 ble to be classed under any determined species, we should be 
 able, very nearly, to decide at once what effect it might pro- 
 duce, or to invert the whole : were an effect equally singular 
 and unparalleled, to be presented to our view, we should, with 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 47 
 
 the same facility, be enabled to interpret its cause. Yet in all 
 such cases, on the present constitution of things, we should 
 certainly find ourselves at a loss for an answer. 
 
 " It is owing, therefore, entirely to the constant conjunction 
 of occurrences, as established by the laws of nature, that we are 
 capable of inferring one object from another, or of predicting 
 one event from a preceding. — If we examine the miiverse at 
 large, we shall find it an effect absolutely unparalleled ; and 
 which cannot be comprehended under any species with which 
 we are acquainted. And as we cannot, prima facie, infer any 
 effect from a presented cause, or any cause from a given effect, 
 we find ourselves obliged to hesit^ate about what the cause of 
 such an extraordinary effect may be ; or whether, in reality, we 
 are capable of conceiving any cause at all. Yet, taken collec- 
 tively, the arguments for the existence of a cause are so potent 
 and convincing, that even in the present age of speculation and 
 refinement, and amongst those who have indulged themselves in 
 the largest latitude of conjecture, there is no philosopher what- 
 ever who has been bold enough to controvert them : or rather 
 who has not stood forward as the champion and espouser of a 
 truth so obvious and incontestable: a truth to which Mr. Hume 
 himself submits with the most cordial acquiescence,* which 
 is completely assented to by Lord BoLiNCxBROKE,t and 
 imagined to be self-evident by the late royal philosopher of 
 Sans Souci-I This mode of arguing, therefore, is obviously 
 fallacious ; is destructive of principles acknowledged to be in- 
 
 * " The whole frame of nature bespeaks an intelhgent author ; and no 
 rational inquirer can, after serious reflection, suspend his belief a moment 
 with regard to the primary principles of genuine Theism and Religion." 
 Hume on the Natural History of Religion. 
 
 t " I know, for I can demonstrate, by connecting the clearest and most 
 distinct of my real ideas, that there is a God ; a first, intelligent cause of all 
 things, whose infinite wisdom and power appears evidently in all his works, 
 and to whom therefore I ascribe, most rationally, every other perfection, 
 whether conceivable or not conceivable by me." 
 
 Bolingbroke's Works, vol. iii. 
 
 X Le monde entier prouve cette intelligence. II ne faut qu' ouvrir les 
 yeux pom- s'eu convaincre. Les fins que la nature Test proposces dans ses 
 
48 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 controvertible ; and if pursued, would lead us into endless mazes 
 of error and perplexity. — Hume himself was sensible of the con- 
 sequences which must necessarily result from the continuation 
 of such an argument, and drops it, therefore, abruptly, without 
 pressing it forward to its extreme ; * lest it should lead us, as he 
 observes, into reasonings of too nice and delicate a nature.' 
 
 " But the Deity being allowed to possess a capability of exert- 
 ing a providential care over his creatures, it has at times been 
 contended that such an exertion would be derogatory to his 
 infinite greatness and majesty. A mean and contracted 
 idea! and unworthy of a philosopher to entertain for a 
 moment. However it may be respecting ourselves, in the 
 view of the Deity nothing can, properly speaking, be either 
 great or small; and nothing unworthy the notice of him 
 who created it. If the Deity did not degrade himself by the 
 formation of his creatures, much less can he do so by super- 
 intending them after they are formed : for an existing being 
 must at all times be superior to non-existence ; and though they 
 may have claims upon his bounty and his protection at present, 
 it is certain they could have no claim at all anterior to their 
 actual creation. 
 
 " I have, moreover, observed already, that the Creator is a 
 being of infinite benevolence ; and that the principal motive he 
 could possibly be actuated by in the formation of any order of 
 beings, must be their own essential felicity. If it did not 
 degrade him, then, to exert himself in providing for this felicity 
 at first, it cannot degrade him in the superintendence and 
 direction of it afterwards ; and as a being all active, and all 
 powerful, he cannot possibly resist such a conduct. 
 
 "■ In effect, such a superintendence and unremitted exertion 
 seems fully proved both from the continued operation of the 
 
 ouvrages, se manifestent si evidemment, qu' on est force de reconnaitre une 
 cause souveraigne et superieurement intelligente qui y preside necessaire- 
 ment. Pour pen qu' on soit de bonne foi, il est impossible de se refuser a 
 cette verite. 
 
 Heflexions da Roi de la Prusse stir la Religion. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 49 
 
 laws of nature ; the powers entrusted to mankind ; and the 
 various and unexpected events which often arise to confound 
 the policy of the most artful, and baffle the strength of the 
 mighty. Were it not so, material bodies must be possessed of 
 an innate and essential power of mutual gravitation : a doctrine, 
 as Sir Isaac Newton observes, too absurd to be credited by any 
 man in his senses ;* and few events in nature would take place 
 contrary to our expectations, or at any time excite our surprise. 
 
 " It appears singular and unaccountable, that after acknow- 
 ledging his belief in the existence of such a general providence, 
 and, indeed contending for its truth, Lord Bolingbroke should, 
 nevertheless, deny the extension of this providence to individuals. 
 That the same volume which declares that ' when the immorality 
 of individuals becomes that of a whole society, then the judg- 
 ments of God follow, and men are punished collectively in the 
 course of a general providence,'! that this same volume should 
 almost in the same page inform us that ' it is plain from the 
 whole course of this providence, God regards his human creatures 
 collectively , and not individually ; how worthy soever every one 
 of them may deem himself to be a particular object of the divine 
 care ; and that there is no foundation in nature for the belief of 
 such a scheme as a providence thus particular.'! Is not then 
 every collection and society of beings composed of individuals ? 
 or is it possible for such a society or collection to be interested 
 in providential interpositions, and yet for the individuals that 
 compose it to remain uninterested and unaffected thereby ? Is 
 it from a view of the derogation we have before remarked 
 upon, or of fatigue, or of incapacity, that the Deity should 
 thus restrain himself? or what precise number of individuals 
 can constitute a society capable of demanding the full atten- 
 tion of Providence, the abstraction of a single member from 
 which would immediately render it unworthy of any further 
 notice or regard ? 
 
 * Letters to Dr. Bentley. f Vol. .5. Quarto edit. 
 
50 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " Miserable indeed must have been the situation of Cadmus 
 or Idomeneus, wandering, as they were, from chmate to 
 climate, in pursuit of an unknown region ; and attended, 
 perhaps, by too few associates to induce the interference and 
 benediction of Providence upon their attempts. And still 
 more miserable the fate of a Philoctetes, or a Robinson 
 Crusoe, cut off, by the most desert solitude, from the plea- 
 sures of social communication, and, by the same solitude, 
 deprived of the assistance of the Deity. And Sophocles 
 had more reason than has generally been imagined, when he 
 makes the former exclaim, 
 
 'Q Siavarf., ^avars. tt&q ad KaXufisvoQ 
 'OvT(o KUT 'tjnap, bv Svvt] fioXtlv Trortf. ' 
 
 " In fact, every order of created beings whatsoever, and every 
 station in every various order, must be equally the object of 
 the attention and care of the Supreme Being. While Solomon 
 was noticed by him, in all his glory, he did not forget the ' lily 
 of the field,' in its humbler and more modest array. And what- 
 ever difference there might have appeared to the dazzled eyes of 
 mortals, between the situation of David or Cincinnatus, when 
 engaged in the lowlier employments of agriculture and rural 
 economy, and when advanced to the first dignities of their dif- 
 ferent nations, and leading forward their exulting armies to vic- 
 tory and renown — in the grand survey of the great Creator of all 
 things, such differences and distinctions must shrink into nothing, 
 and every gradation of life alike enjoy his common protection. 
 
 " If the race of man did actually proceed, according to either 
 the Mosaic history or the fabulous accounts of the Greeks, from 
 one single pair, or family — it is plain, according to this doctrine, 
 that Providence could have little to do with the world, either at 
 its first creation, or immediately after the deluge : and it would 
 form a curious inquiry, and one, I fear, not easily resolved, at 
 
 * O Death, where art thou, Death ?— so often called, 
 
 Wilt thou not listen ? wilt tliou never come ? Francklin. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 51 
 
 what period, from either of these grand epochs, were mankind so 
 multiplied as to become proper objects of providential notice? 
 
 " Pope, who is often the mere echo of Bolingbroke, who was 
 ' formed by his converse,' as he expresses it himself, and had, 
 ' in his little bark, attended his triumph and partaken the gale' 
 so far, that he was often ignorant of his own latitude — has, never- 
 theless, dared to differ from his noble patron on this subject, 
 and discovers a manly independence in thinking for himself. 
 The providence of God, according to him, extends alike to every 
 being, the most lowly as well as the most exalted, the peasant as 
 well as the prince. 
 
 ' And sees, with equal eye, as God of all, 
 A hero perish, or a sparrow fall : 
 Atoms or systems into ruin hurl'd, 
 And now a bubble burst, and now a world.'* 
 A noble and philosophic sentiment, whose beauty is only propor- 
 tioned to its truth. 
 
 " But it has, farther, been alleged, and in that part of the 
 allegation which regards individuals Lord Bolingbroke unites 
 in opinion, — that no providence or divine interposition, either 
 general or particular, can ever exist without infringing on the 
 liberty of moral election. 
 
 " Now it is possible, and indeed nothing is more common, 
 than for influences and interpositions to subsist between man 
 and man, and yet for the liberty of the person who is acting to 
 remain as free and inviolate as ever. Such are often the result 
 of the remonstrances of friendship, — such, of the counsels of wis- 
 dom and experience. We consent to desist from one particular 
 mode of conduct, and to pursue its opposite, whenever the first 
 is demonstrated to us to be unjust or deleterious; and the second 
 to be advantageous, or consistent with rectitude. We act under 
 the influence of the representations of our friends, but we per- 
 ceive not, in thus acting, and in reality, do not submit to, any 
 infringement on our liberty of choice. 
 
 * Essay on Man. 
 
52 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " Shall we, then, allow the existence of such an imperceptible 
 power in man, and yet maintain that it cannot possibly exist in 
 the Supreme Being ? If the man of address, from a superficial 
 knowledge of our character and opinions, is so far capable of 
 insinuating himself into our favour, as often to influence and 
 direct our ideas and our actions to the very point he has in 
 view — must not a Being who is all-powerful and all-active, who 
 is acquainted with the deepest recesses of the soul, who views 
 every thought as it arises, and knows by what motives it may 
 most assuredly be influenced, must not such a Being be capable 
 of directing, with infinitely more ease, the train of its ideas ; 
 and, at pleasure, either subtract from, or make addition to, the 
 force of the motives that govern it? However impossible this 
 may be on the doctrine of moral necessity, and supposing the 
 same severity of fate to subsist throughout the ideas and actions 
 of intelligent beings, that is ever to be met with in the physical 
 department of creation — far from any such impossibility of con- 
 duct resulting from the opposite doctrine, it is a conduct that 
 appears perfectly natural to the Almighty Creator, and which, in 
 fact, he must unavoidably pursue. 
 
 " The poetry of Tasso, therefore, is not more sublime than his 
 philosophy is just, when, in his description of the glories of 
 heaven, and the magnificence of the eternal throne, he adjoins 
 ' Sedea cola, dond' egli, e buono e giusto. 
 
 Da legge al tutto : e' 1 tutto orna, e perduce ; 
 
 Souvra i bassi confin del mondo angusto, 
 
 Ove senso, 6 ragion non si conduce.* 
 " I grant that the belief of a providence thus particular has 
 been the source of a thousand errors and extravagant conceits in 
 the minds of the enthusiastic and the superstitious. But, not to 
 
 * Gerusalemme Liberata, cant. 9. sta. 56. — 
 
 'Tis there he sits, the just the good Supreme ; 
 Propounds his laws, and harmonizes all : 
 And leads the tribes of this diminish 'd orb 
 Thro' scenes where sense or doubting reason fails. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD, 53 
 
 urge that right reason can never admit the doctrine of a general 
 providence, without, at the same time, including that of a ■parti- 
 cular, — it does not follow that a proposition must be false be- 
 cause some visionary adherents to it pretend to deduce conse- 
 quences which are not necessarily involved in it, and with which, 
 in reality, they are by no means connected. I am not contend- 
 ing for the inspiration of De Serres,* or the wandering tribe of 
 prophets who united themselves to him on the mountains of the 
 Cevennes, at the period of the revocation of the edict of Nantz ; 
 nor for the invisible interposition to which the excellent but too 
 credulous Baxter attributed it, that ' his small linen, when hung 
 out to dry, was caught up in an eddy, and carried out of sight, 
 over the church steeple :'t but there are, nevertheless, a thousand 
 events occur, as well in the lives of individuals, as in what relates 
 to society at large, which — though they cannot be said to violate 
 the established laws of nature — we are by no means led to expect; 
 and, indeed, the very reverse of which we have been secretly 
 predicting. 
 
 " That Charles the Eighth, or Francis the First of France, 
 men who had devoted the earliest and most vigorous hours of 
 their lives to illicit amours and continual debaucheries of every 
 kind, should complain, towards the advance of age, of pains and 
 debilities, and a constitution totally broken and worn out ; and, 
 at length, fall victims to their own irregularities and miscon- 
 
 * II y avoit deja long terns que dans les montagnes des Cevennes et du 
 Vivares 11 1' elevait des Inspires et des prophetes. Un vieil huguenot, 
 nomme de Serres, avait tenu ecole de prophetie. II montrait aux enfans les 
 paroles de 1' ecriture qui disent " quand trois ou quatre sont assembles en 
 mon nom, mon esprit est parmi eux ; et avec un gi'ain de foi un transportera 
 des montagnes." Ensuite il recevait 1' esprit : il etait hors de lui-meme : 11 
 avait des convulsions : il changeait de voix : il restait immobile, egare, les 
 cheveux herisses, selon 1' ancien usage de toutes les nations, et selon ces 
 regies de demence transmises de siecle en siecle. Les enfans recevoient ainsi 
 le don de prophetie : et s'ils ne transportaient pas des montagnes, c'est qu'ils 
 avaient assez de foi pour recevoir I'esprit, et pas assez pour faire des miracles : 
 ainsi ils redoublaient de ferveur pour obtenir ce dernier don. — Siecle de 
 Louis 14:. pur. M. de Francheville, torn. 2. 
 
 f World of Spirits. 
 
54 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 duct : or that Louis the Eleventh, or others, men who never 
 hesitated to employ either artifice or murder for the accpmplish- 
 ment of their purposes, should, at length, become fearful of their 
 own personal safety, be perpetually haunted by the horrors of 
 their own imaginations, and the lawless deeds they had committed ; 
 and at last sink into an early grave through mere distrust and 
 disquietude of spirit; — that men thus abandoned or dishonest 
 should in this manner, in due time, meet with the very punish- 
 ments they so richly deserved, may not particularly excite our 
 surprise, as being merely the obvious consequences of causes 
 equally obvious and natural. But when we behold the Dauphin, 
 who was afterwards Charles the Seventh of France, pursued with 
 resistless impetuosity by the victorious Henry the Fifth of Eng- 
 land — a wretched fugitive in a country he was afterwards des- 
 tined to sway with so much eclat — incapable of providing himself 
 and his family with the common necessaries of life; — his father, 
 the reigning monarch, disordered in his intellects ; his mother, 
 the flagitious and unnatural Isabelle, consulting to save herself 
 by marrying her daughter to the young conqueror, in exclusion 
 of the dauphin, apparently for ever ; — when we survey the nation 
 vanquished in every part, and the victor, exulting in the mighty 
 deeds he had achieved, advancing towards Paris with all the 
 pomp of royalty and success ; there to be crowned, unanimously, 
 sovereign of the conquered country: — when we survey these 
 things, and learn that at this eventful moment the successful 
 Henry expires abruptly in the bloom of youth and vigor, and 
 leaves his victorious armies to save themselves, in their turn, by 
 a disgraceful retreat : — or when, in later times, we read the his- 
 tory of the memorable armada of Spain, destined for the conquest 
 of this country, which Philip the Second had almost ruined him- 
 self and his people to complete, and which Sixtus the Fifth, the 
 reigning Pope, had consecrated, and bestowed his benediction 
 upon ; when we survey this mighty armament pressing on the 
 very shores of Great Britain with all the insolence of conscious 
 triumph, and mark it defeated by a force far inferior to itself. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 55 
 
 and wrecked, by the most opportune tempests, on the very coasts 
 it had a few moments before so insolently menaced :— when 
 reverses of fortune like these are occurring around us, so abrupt 
 and decisive — the vulgar may stare and keep silence, — the man 
 of science may pretend to account for them, and resolve the 
 whole into different, though capricious, combinations of natural 
 causes and effects : but the true philosopher, the man of real 
 reflection, even while he acknowledges the presence and energy 
 of natural causation, and contends not for any miraculous inter- 
 position, traces, nevertheless, throughout the whole, the secret 
 direction of an invisible and superior power : — a power to whom 
 every element submits, and who superintends, at pleasure, the 
 complicated concerns of mankind : a power, who alike amidst all 
 the fluctuating fortunes of individuals or of kingdoms, still 
 
 ' Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm.' 
 Such has been the situation of things in all ages; such the 
 recurrence of the peripetia in the grand drama of human life : 
 and such the sentiments by which every nation has, at all times, 
 been actuated. Hence altars have been erected, temples dedi- 
 cated, and vows profused, without number ; hence the wrath of 
 the presiding deity has been deprecated, or his benediction 
 coveted and besought. — Can we, then, influenced by considera- 
 tions like these — by rational arguments and the sanction and 
 testimony of every nation and climate under heaven — can we do 
 otherwise than conclude, in the words of the Roman orator, — 
 ' Deos esse, et eorum providentia mundum administrari ; — eos- 
 demque consulere rebus humanis; nee solium universis, veruni 
 etiam singulis?'"* 
 
 About the same time that the Essay on Providence 
 was written, Mr. Good prepared for a Review (I be- 
 lieve, the Analytical,) a critique of a work on Miracles, 
 in which several of the sophisms of Rousseau were 
 
 * Cicer. 1 Divin. n. 117. 
 
56 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 refuted. The work itself, however satisfactory in point 
 of reasoning-, did not advance any thing that was 
 essentially new. But the Reviewer makes one obser- 
 vation, which, if it has not the air of perfect novelty, 
 is so important, and has, notwithstanding, been so 
 little regarded, that I make no apology for transcribing 
 
 " The miracles recorded in the Gospel are not of the momen- 
 tary kind, or miracles of even short duration ; but they were 
 such as were attended with permanent effects. The flitting ap- 
 pearance of a spectre, the hearing of a supernatural sound, may 
 each be regarded as a momentary miracle : the sensible proof is 
 gone, when the apparition disappears, or the sound ceases. But 
 it is not so, if a person born blind be restored to sight, or a 
 notorious cripple to the use of his limbs, or a dead man to life ; 
 for in each of these cases a permanent effect is produced by 
 supernatural means. The change, indeed, was instantaneous, 
 hut the proof- continues. The subject of the miracle remains: 
 the man cured is there : his former condition was known, and 
 his present condition may be examined and compared with it. 
 Such cases can, by no possibility, be resolved into false percep- 
 tion, or trick ; and of this kind are by far the greater portion of 
 the miracles recorded in the New Testament." 
 
 Early in the year 1793 Mr. Good was cheered with 
 the prospect of surmounting his difficulties, by remov- 
 ing to London. He received a proposal to go into 
 partnership with Mr. W.,* a surgeon and apothecary 
 of extensive practice in the metropolis ; and having, 
 also, an official connexion, as surgeon, with one of the 
 prisons. Circumstances seemed auspicious; though 
 
 * I suppress all but the initial, designedly. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 57 
 
 it appears from a letter of Mr. Good's to his friend 
 Dr. Drake, bearing date January 17th, 1793, that his 
 intended partner was not ignorant of the art of driving 
 a hard bargain. " I have at length (says he) settled 
 the matter between Mr. W. and myself, after having 
 conceded to his own terms ; which, though more severe 
 than I expected, will, I hope, answer in the end. — 
 I have agreed to' connect myself with him at Lady- 
 day ; so that then, or soon afterwards, we must leave 
 the country." 
 
 Another passage in the same letter, serves to ac- 
 quaint us with the manner which he usually pursued 
 in the composition of his smaller pieces. " Some (says 
 Johnson)f employ, at once, memory and invention, and, 
 with little intermediate use of the pen, form and polish 
 large masses by continued meditation, and write their 
 productions, only when, in their own opinion, they 
 have completed them." Such was, in great measure, 
 the process adopted by Mr. Good ; with this addi- 
 tional peculiarity, that by meditating about himself, 
 or the circumstances in which he was placed, he 
 often seemed to forget himself; or instead of thinking 
 of himself as the being over whose perplexities he 
 was cogitating in sober sadness, he transformed him- 
 self into the subject of a poem, either grave or lively 
 as the presiding muse dictated : thus causing reverie 
 to triumph over reality. Whether walking or riding, 
 taking a larger or a shorter journey, travelling by 
 day or by night, in fair or in tempestuous weather, 
 in pursuit of pleasure or aiming to free himself from 
 pain ; his elastic intellect was uncoiling itself, and, 
 by an appropriate effort, accomplishing its assigned 
 
 t Life of Pope. 
 
58 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 task. In every variety of circumstances he exercised 
 the power of composition ; and often, as will be seen, 
 with great success. 
 
 Speaking of his journey to London, in the letter 
 already quoted, he says — 
 
 " The sun shone a little at first, but soon disappeared. I was 
 too early for the moon, and began to contemplate nothing but a 
 gloom of solid darkness, only interrupted by the aurora borealis : 
 when fortunately for me, and for my feelings, the evening star 
 broke through the clouds, and continued to emit a brilliant 
 though slender light during the rest of my journey. I was so 
 much amused by its society, that on my road, as I travelled, I 
 could not avoid composing the elegy beneath." 
 
 TO THE EVENING STAR. 
 
 Composed during a Journey. 
 
 Bright star o? Love ! that pour'st thy steady light. 
 While all around is darkness and dismay; 
 
 Companion mid the solitude of night. 
 
 Right art thou nam'd, and blessed be thy ray. 
 
 Sunk is the sun, the moon is far estrang'd. 
 
 Clouds rise, and many a treacherous meteor sweeps ; 
 
 But thy true lamp, unchanging and unchang'd. 
 Still o'er the gloom its heavenly guidance keeps. 
 
 Emblem of friendship seldom found on earth, 
 Where change alike, and treachery, are bred ; 
 
 And many a wretch, all reckless of their birth, 
 Sees them and feels them bursting o'er his head. 
 
 Yes, many a wretch, who, first, his blithe career, 
 Like me, in smiles and cloudless skies begun ; 
 
 High flush'd with hope, with carol and good cheer, 
 Wlio hail'd his lot, and loitered in the sun : 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 59 
 
 Like me, deceiv'd ; and doom'd too soon to try, 
 A different scene that all his soul appals : 
 
 Friends, flatterers fail, — rude whirlwinds ride the sky, 
 And a long night of woe before him falls. 
 
 Taught by thyself, should fortune's cruel spite 
 A wretch thus hopeless, e'er to me disclose, 
 
 Then will I, too, uplift my little light. 
 To soothe the traveller amidst his woes. 
 
 Small are my means, and humble is my birth ; 
 
 But thou hast prov'd, thus glimmering o'er the road, 
 'Tis not the extent of aid that stamps its worth, 
 
 But the nice hour in which that aid's bestow'd. 
 
 The subjoined jeu d'esprit, composed at the time of 
 his quitting Sudbury, serves also to illustrate the 
 peculiarity of mind to which I have adverted. 
 
 VERSES TO A BATH STOVE, 
 
 On leaving it behind, in a House from which I removed. 
 
 Here rest, O Stove ! the fondest friends must part, 
 
 Whate'er the sorrow that subdues the heart ; 
 
 Here rest, a monument to all behind, 
 
 Of the chief virtues that enrich the mind. 
 
 For thrice three years Fve known thee, and have found 
 
 Thy service clean, thy constitution sound. 
 
 Amidst a world of changes, thou hast stood 
 
 Fixt to thy post, illustriously good ; 
 
 Unwarp'd, inflexible, and true, whate'er 
 
 Thy fiery toils, — and thou hast had thy share ; 
 
 For never Stoic of the porch has felt 
 
 A frame more firm, or less disposed to melt ; 
 
 And sooner than o'er thine, mankind might seek 
 
 For iron tears o'er Pluto's marble cheek. 
 
60 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Yet hast thou shewn, in fulness and in want. 
 Virtues that ne'er in rugged bosoms haunt ; 
 Grate-full when loaded, and when empty seen 
 With a still fairer and more beauteous mien : 
 For polished is thy make, and form'd to impart 
 Light to the mind, and solace to the heart. 
 When numb'd by vapours, or a frowning sky, 
 When deadly gloom has weigh'd down every eye, 
 When dark my views, or doubtful my career, 
 I've sought thy radiance, all has soon been clear ; 
 Nature her face has hasten'd to resume. 
 Each doubt decamp'd, and glee succeeded gloom. 
 
 But chief at friendship's call, thy generous make 
 Has prov'd its powers, and rous'd for friendship's sake, 
 Warm in her sacred cause, and ever found 
 Warmest when all is cold and languid round ; 
 Then most provok'd, — while every bitter blow 
 But stirs thy bowels to a keener glow. 
 Howe'er aspers'd or injur'd in his pride. 
 Let but the sufferer reach thy sheltering side, 
 Quick he forgets the numerous ills that swarm. 
 Nor heeds " the pelting of the pitiless storm." 
 
 Farewell ! -and may the virtues that are thine. 
 Shine through the land, in thy own lustre shine. 
 I go — for such my lot, and I am free, 
 But thou art fixt, and canst not follow me, 
 Fixt to thy station, and .forbid to rove ; 
 So fare thee well, thou pure and polish'd Stove. 
 
 In April 1793, at the age of 29, Mr. Good, pursuant 
 to his agreement with Mr. W. removed to London. 
 He was then full of health and spirits, ardently devoted 
 to his profession, and anxious to distinguish himself 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 61 
 
 in the new sphere of action in which he was placed. 
 His character soon began to be duly appreciated 
 amongst medical men ; and on the 7th of November 
 the same year, he was admitted a Member of the 
 College of Surgeons. But a change of scene only 
 carried with it a change of perplexities. His partner 
 in a short time became jealous of his talents, and of 
 his rising popularity ; and had recourse to the basest 
 means of injuring his reputation. If Mr. Good pre- 
 scribed one course of treatment of a private patient, 
 Mr. W. would in the next visit prescribe one that was 
 diametrically opposite. If Mr. Good made an entry 
 in the prison books, Mr. W. in the succeeding entry 
 would contradict it. If Mr. Good rose obviously in 
 the estimation of a private patient, or his relatives, 
 Mr. W. would set himself, by paltry insinuations, to 
 excite doubts of his judgment or skill. And so on 
 from day to day. The result may at once be antici- 
 pated. The business failed; the partnership was dis- 
 solved ; Mr. W. died in the Fleet prison ; and Mr. 
 Good was again generously assisted by his afiectionate 
 relative at Ballingdon Hall. Mr. Good, however, as 
 before, shrunk from the full reception of the aid offered 
 him by Mr. Fenn, though he gratefully received essen- 
 tial help. He disguised the entire magnitude of his 
 embarrassments from Mrs. Good and her family, and 
 resolved to surmount them principally by his own 
 exertions. I do not mention this determination for the 
 sake of commending it, but for the sake of again marking 
 its result upon his general character. An increasing 
 family, project after project defeated, the frequent 
 occurrence of unforeseen vexations, served but as new 
 incentives to his professional activity, and to the most 
 
62 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 extended literary research. Thus circumstanced, for 
 three or four years he concealed his anxieties from 
 those he most loved, maintained a cheerful demeanour 
 among his friends, pursued his theoretical and practi- 
 cal inquiries into every accessible channel; and, at 
 length, by God's blessing upon his exertions, sur- 
 mounted every difficulty, and obtained professional 
 reputation and employment, sufficient to satisfy his 
 thirst for fame, and to place him in what are usually 
 regarded as reputable and easy circumstances. 
 
 Eager to obtain distinction amongst medical men, 
 he as eagerly availed himself of every opportunity to 
 accomplish that object. In March 1794, Dr. Lettsom, 
 an active and benevolent member of the '^ Medical 
 Society," (meeting in Bolt Court, Fleet Street,) offered, 
 through the medium of that useful and truly respect- 
 able institution, a premium of twenty guineas for the 
 best dissertation on the question — "What are the 
 diseases most frequent in workhouses, poorhouses, and 
 similar institutions, and what are the best means of 
 cure and of prevention?" The prize was to be 
 awarded in February 1795. Mr. Good was one of the 
 competitors, and had the satisfaction, when the time 
 of announcing the result arrived, to learn that his 
 dissertation was successful, and to receive the request 
 of the counsel, that he " would publish the said disser- 
 tation as soon as possible." With a request so grati- 
 fying to his best feelings, he immediately complied.* 
 
 * The " Dissertation'' was published in the course of the year 1 795, 
 with a supplementary description of "a singular case of preternatural 
 foetation," which Irad occurred in his practice at Sudbury. For an account of 
 these disquisitions, the reader may turn to the second section of these 
 Memoirs, which I propose devoting to the analysis of all our author's pub- 
 lished works. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 63 
 
 From this time Mr. Good continued, as a member of 
 the Medical Society, often as a member of its council, 
 and for two or three years as one of its secretaries, to 
 promote its interests. He also became an active 
 member of a society, constituted in the year 1794, 
 under the title of " The General Pharmaceutic Associa- 
 tion ;" whose main design was to preserve the distinc- 
 tion between the apothecary and the druggist, which 
 had for so many ages prevailed, and which, from recent 
 circumstances, it was apprehended would be merged 
 and lost, unless some special efforts were made to 
 prevent it. Not only in London, but in almost every 
 town in Great Britain, men of the most illiterate cha- 
 racter and habits, ignorant of the science of medicine, 
 of the formulae of prescription, of the theory and prac- 
 tice of chemistry, ignorant, often, even of the English 
 language, obtained extensive business as druggists, 
 and not unfrequently connected with that the occupa- 
 tions of bleeding, tooth-drawing, and bone-setting. 
 In various instances, country grocers had practised 
 actively in these kindred departments ; and the mis- 
 chief, as may easily be conjectured, was immense. 
 A man practised surgery and pharmacy, no farther 
 from London than the village of Beckenham, whose 
 whole medical education consisted in having been 
 *' stable-boy, for two years, to a surgeon in that neigh- 
 bourhood." At Uckfield there were three "grocer- 
 druggists" who prescribed, and in cases of difficulty 
 applied to their London drug-merchant for help. 
 Some " drug-dealing grocers, at Marlow," substituted 
 (for want of better knowledge) arsenic for cream of 
 tartar, tinctures of opium and jalap for those of senna 
 and rhubarb, and nitre for glauber's salts ; thus ruining 
 
64 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 instead of restoring the healths of those who were 
 unfortunate enough to consult them. A druggist at 
 Croydon, after labouring hard to ascertain the precise 
 meaning of the words " cucurbita cruentia," discovered 
 at length, with the kind aid of an equally learned 
 disciple of iEsculapius, that they denoted " an electric 
 shock." A medical gentleman at Worcester prescribed 
 for his patient as follows : — " Decoct. Cascarillae 
 5 vij. Tinct. ejusdem 5 j." This prescription was 
 sent to a druggist in that city to be made up. The 
 shopman who had the principal care of the business, 
 having sought in vain for a phial labelled Tinct. 
 ejusdem, sent to the shops of other druggists to procure 
 it : but the search was fruitless, there was no Tinct. 
 ejusdem to be procured in the city of Worcester, and 
 the prescription was actually returned to the physician 
 with an earnest request that he would substitute some 
 other ingredient for this scarce tincture ! Another 
 blunder, but, unfortunately, of serious consequence, 
 occurred in the year 1795 in the same city. A physi- 
 cian being requested to prescribe for a boy of 10 years 
 old, the son of a poor woman, labouring under a dysp- 
 noea, directed this draught to be given him at bed-time : 
 "R. Syr. Papav. Alb. 5 j. Tinct. Opii Camph. 5 ij. 
 Aq. Distill. 5 vm." It was prepared by a druggist's 
 shopman, who had not heard of the new name for 
 Paregoric Elixir, and therefore made it with 5 ij of 
 Tinct. Opii : he advised the mother to give the child 
 only /<«//■ of the draught, but that proved sufficiently 
 strong to deprive him of life in about twenty-four 
 hours. 
 
 These are only a few of the numerous instances, 
 some ludicrous, others horrible, of the ignorance of 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 65 
 
 druggists in town and country, which were then noto- 
 rious, and universally spoken of. The objects of the 
 Pharmaceutic Association were, to expose and remove 
 these evils, to get the business of druggist placed under 
 certain restrictions, and the practice of medicine freed 
 from the odium which ignorance thus notorious was 
 calculated to produce. At the request of some of his 
 colleagues in the Association, Mr. Good drew up 
 "A History of Medicine, so far as it relates to the pro- 
 fession of the Apothecary, from the earliest accounts to 
 the present period." The work was published in 1795, 
 and served, in conjunction with the labours of the 
 Association, to call the general attention of medical 
 men, and of the intelligent portion of society, to the 
 ignorance above adverted to, and its baneful effects. 
 The institution was not able to accomplish all that 
 it projected, but it occasioned the first step in a desir- 
 able reformation ; so that druggists are now, in general, 
 men of liberal education, who run little or no risk of 
 blundering in the disgraceful manner of their prede- 
 cessors. 
 
 Engaging very warmly in the objects of this Associa- 
 tion, and in others connected with the science and 
 practice of medicine, still Mr. Good continued to pursue 
 his literary inquiries ; and, as heretofore, to soothe his 
 mind by the delights of poetry. The poets of France 
 and Italy seemed now most to employ him ; and seve- 
 ral of his translations, in the years 1793, 1794, and 
 1795, are naturally marked with a thoughtful tinge. 
 Such, for example, are the following elegantly pensive 
 lines. — 
 
(yQ MEMOIRS OF 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 From Clemente Bondi of Parma. 
 (In Parnasso degl' Italiani Viventi.) 
 
 Oft have I said that death should close 
 This life of darkness and despair ; 
 
 But Hope as oft would interpose, 
 And say ''To-morrow 'twill be fair." 
 
 To-morrow came, alike unkind, 
 Yet Hope alike refus'd to fly; 
 
 Still, still I see her — nor can find 
 A heart to suffer or to die. 
 
 SONNET TO PEACE. 
 
 Translated from the same. 
 
 Peace, born of heav'n ! O tell me where to attain. 
 Mid wretched mortals, thine unsullied rest. 
 Thee the proud tyrant, and his golden crest, 
 Thee, mid his flock, the shepherd seeks in vain. 
 
 Gold cannot buy thee, nor plum'd honours gain. 
 Too vile a price for so rever'd a guest : 
 Gay sports thou fliest, — and every joy possest 
 Palls without thee, or changes into pain. 
 
 In crowded cities, or the hermit shade. 
 
 Rove we abroad, or rest at home secure, 
 Nor art nor skill can give thee to our aid : 
 
 Where may I find thee, then? — ah ! well I know — 
 In heav'n alone thou dwell'st, serene and pure : 
 Fool that I was ! to seek thee here below. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. G7 
 
 By this time, however, the rich diversity and extent 
 of Mr. Good's talents and acquirements began to be 
 known, and literary men evinced as great an eagerness 
 to cultivate his acquaintance, as he did to avail himself 
 of theirs. Fond of society, and peculiarly fitted to 
 shine in it, he had no difficulty in receiving and im- 
 parting the appropriate gratification. Besides several 
 of the leading men in the medical profession, he num- 
 bered among his frequent associates at this period, Drs. 
 Disney, Rees, Hunter, Geddes, Messrs. Maurice, Fuzeli, 
 Charles Butler, Gilbert Wakefield, and others whose 
 names do not now occur to me ; most of them indi- 
 viduals of splendid talents and recondite attainments, 
 but belonging to a school of theology, which though he 
 then approved, he afterwards found it conscientiously 
 necessary to abandon. 
 
 Mr. Good's description of his first interview with 
 Geddes, so aptly designates the habits of that extraor- 
 dinary man, that I shall here insert it. 
 
 " I met him accidentally at the house of Miss Hamilton, who 
 has lately acquired a just reputation for her excellent Letters on 
 Education : and I freely confess, that at the first interview I was 
 by no means pleased with him. I beheld a man of about five feet 
 five inches high, in a black dress, put on with uncommon negli- 
 gence, and apparently never fitted to his form : his figure was 
 lank, his face meagre, his hair black, long, and loose, without 
 having been sufficiently submitted to the operations of the toilet, 
 and his eyes, though quick and vivid, sparkling at that time 
 rather with irritability than benevolence. He was disputing with 
 one of the company when I entered, and the rapidity with which 
 at this moment he left his chair, and rushed, with an elevated tone 
 of voice and uncourtly dogmatism of manner, towards his oppo- 
 nent, instantaneously persuaded me that the subject upon which 
 f2 
 
68 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 the debate turned was of the utmost moment. I listened with all 
 the attention I could command ; and in a few minutes learned, 
 to my astonishment, that it related to nothing more than the 
 distance of his own house in the New Road, Paddington, from 
 the place of our meeting, which was in Guildford-street. The 
 debate being at length concluded, or rather worn out, the Doctor 
 took possession of the next chair to that in which I was seated, 
 and united with myself, and a friend who sat on my other side, in 
 discoursing upon the politics of the day. On this topic we pro- 
 ceeded smoothly and accordantly for some time; till at length 
 disagreeing with us upon some point as trivial as the former, he 
 again rose abruptly from his seat, traversed the room in every 
 direction, with as indeterminate a parallax as that of a comet, 
 and loudly and with increase of voice maintaining his position at 
 every step he took. Not wishing to prolong the dispute, we 
 yielded to him without further interruption ; and in the course 
 of a few minutes after he had closed his harangue, he again 
 approached us, retook possession of his chair, and was all play- 
 fulness, good humour, and genuine wit." 
 
 In the year 1797, as appears from a letter to Dr. 
 Drake, Mr. Good commenced his translation of Lucre- 
 tius. He says, " I have been much urged to persevere 
 by many of my most respectable friends of real taste ; 
 and especially by Gilbert Wakefield, who, by the bye, 
 is now collating- a most superb Latin edition of Lucre- 
 tius." Of this labour, which employed much of our 
 author's time and thoughts for many years, I shall 
 speak more fully in another place. 
 
 The undertaking stimulated Mr. Good to the study 
 of various other languages, at first, in order to the suc- 
 cessful search of parallel passages, but ere long with 
 much more enlarged views. In another letter to Dr. 
 Drake, dated October, 1799, he says, " I have just begun 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 69 
 
 the German language, having gone with tolerable ease 
 through the French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese." 
 In a few months afterwards he sent specimens of his 
 translations, especially of pieces of elegant poetry, to 
 the Doctor and other friends. In December, 1800, he 
 informs him that he had been sedulously studying the 
 Arabic and Persian ; and in a short time he gave proofs 
 of his acquisition of those languages, both by private 
 communications to his friends, and by articles in some 
 of the Reviews.* A few of the shorter poetical trans- 
 lations will, I am persuaded, be read with interest. 
 
 PARAPHRASE OF THE LORd's PRAYER. 
 
 {From Dante s Purgatorio. Canto XI.) 
 
 Father of all ! who dwell'st above ; 
 Of boundless power, and boundless love ; 
 From world to world, diffusing free 
 The tide of life and jubilee. 
 
 Prais'd be thy Name through time and space, 
 By every tongue of every race ; 
 Prais'd in loud hymns of deathless fame, 
 Worthy thy Great and Glorious Name. 
 
 On earth may every eye survey 
 
 Thy Kingdom come with conquering sway, 
 
 Till earth in sacred rest shall vie 
 
 With the pure mansions of the sky. 
 
 As all in heav'n obey thy will. 
 And every mouth hosannas fill ; 
 Here, too, be sung hosannas loud, 
 And every will to thine be bow'd. 
 
 * The Russian, Sanscrit, Chinese, and other languages, engaged his atten- 
 tion at no very remote period. 
 
70 MEMOIRS OF I 
 
 This day, once more with daily bread j 
 
 Be both our souls and bodies fed ; j 
 
 Else through this vale of want and woe, \ 
 
 Go how we may, we vainly go. 
 
 i 
 The ills we suffer, while we live, j 
 
 From others, teach us to forgive ; 
 And O ! do thou, benignant, thus 
 O'erlook our sins, and pardon us. ' 
 
 Lead us not, ever prone to yield, I 
 Into temptation's dangerous field ; 
 
 But rather from the tempter's power ' 
 
 Be thou our shield, and covering tower. i 
 
 For thine is wisdom in its height, 
 
 All glory, majesty, and might ; 
 
 From age to age extends thy throne, i 
 
 And thou art God, and God alone. 
 
 TRANSLATION OF A PASSAGE FROM KLOPSTOCk's MESSIAS. ' 
 
 (Inserted in a letter to Dr. Drake, Jan. 22d, 1800, suggesting a 
 
 comparison with Milton's " Hail Holy Light," &c.) ; 
 
 Once more I hail thee, once behold thee more, 
 Earth ! soil maternal ! thee whose womb of yore ] 
 
 Bore me ; and soon beneath whose gelid breast, 
 These limbs shall sink in soft and sacred rest. j 
 
 Yet may I first complete this work begun ' 
 
 And sing the covenant of the Eternal Son. I 
 
 O ! then these lips, his heavenly love that told. 
 These eyes that oft in streams of rapture roU'd, 
 Shall close in darkness ! — o'er my mould'ring clay 
 A few fond friends their duteous rites shall pay, < 
 
 And with the palm, the laurel's deathless leaf, I 
 
 Deck my light turf, and prove their pious grief. .' 
 
 1 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 71 , 
 
 There shall I sleep, till o'er this mortal dust, 
 
 Spring's, long announc'd, the morning of the just; J 
 
 Then fresh embodied in a purer mould, • 
 
 Triumphant rise, and brighter scenes behold. | 
 
 Thou ! muse of Sion ! who with potent spell , 
 
 Through hell hast travers'd, and return'd from hell, ' 
 
 Still shuddering at the voyage ; — thou whose eye | 
 
 Can oft the thoughts of God himself descry, I 
 And thro' the frown that veils his awful face. 
 
 Read the fair lines of love and heavenly grace, i 
 Shine on this soul ! — that trembles at the sight 
 Of her own toils, with pure, celestial light ; 
 
 Raise her low pow'rs, that yet, with loftier wing, j 
 
 The best of men, the Saviour-God, she sing. ] 
 
 I 
 
 TRANSLATION FROM KLOPSTOCk's " DER ZURCHERSEE." ^ 
 
 (Sent to another friend about the same time.) ^ 
 
 i 
 Reizvoll klinget des Ruhms lockender silberton 
 In das schlagende herz, und Unsterblichkeit 
 
 1st ein Gendanke, ^ 
 
 1st des schweisses der edlen werth ! &c. 
 
 I 
 Sweet are the thrills, the silver voice of fame, 
 
 Triumphant through the bounding bosom darts ! 
 And IMMORTALITY ! how proud an aim ! 
 
 What nobler toil to spur the noblest hearts ? ' 
 
 By charm of song to live through future time, 
 
 To hear, still spurning death's invidious stroke ; ' 
 
 Enraptur'd choirs rehearse one's name sublime, 
 
 E'en from the mansions of the grave invoke : 
 Within the tender heart e'en then to rear i 
 
 Thee, Love ! thee, Virtue ! fairest growth of Heaven ! 
 O ! this indeed is worthy man's career : 
 
 This is the toil to noblest spirits given. 
 
72 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Doubtless these lines are finely descriptive of the 
 almost instinctive desire of future fame : but they need 
 a qualification ; and if their author could now supply 
 it, he would probably exclaim, in the language of a 
 sublimer inspiration, kuI etl kuO' vwspfioXiiy 6c6y vjxiv ceikwiii — 
 " The Way Everlasting," upon which he impressively 
 expatiates in an essay which will be inserted near the 
 end of this volume. 
 
 SONNET TO TRUTH. 
 
 (From the Spanish of Lope de Vega.) 
 
 Charm of all nature, mid the golden age, 
 
 All white and lovely who on earth didst dwell, 
 Hence chas'd by falsehood, imp deform'd and fell 
 In these base times of error, strife, and rage : 
 O holy Truth, o'er heaven's ethereal stage 
 
 Thy glories burn, thy peerless praises swell ; 
 Thou best th' eternal wars of man canst quell, 
 His richest treasure, and his choice most sage. 
 Chaste, naked maid ! of virtue fairest fruit, 
 
 Whom force, rank, fortune, never can seduce ; 
 Glass thro' whose lens God's rays of mercy shine. 
 Life of all feeling, language of the mute, 
 
 All good, all lovely, dwells in thee profuse. 
 Yes — thou art God himself, O Truth Divine ! 
 
 TO A NAMELESS FAIR. 
 
 ( Translated from Khakanir ) 
 
 Who art thou? say — with cypress shape, 
 
 Soft jasmine neck, but flinty heart, 
 Tyrant ! from whom 'tis vain t' escape, — 
 
 O tell me who thou art ? 
 
 * The original may be seen in our author's notes to his translation of the 
 Song of Songs. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 73 
 
 I've seen thy bright, narcissus eye, — 
 
 Thy form no cypress can impart : 
 Queen of my soul ! I've heard thee sigh, — 
 
 O, tell me who thou art ? 
 
 Through vales with hyacinths bespread 
 I've sought thee, trembling as the hart : 
 
 O rose-bud-lip'd ! thy sweets were fled — 
 Tell, tell me who thou art? 
 
 Wine lights thy cheeks — thy steps are snares, 
 
 Thy glance a sure destructive dart ; 
 Say, as its despot aim it bears. 
 
 What fatal bow thou art ? 
 
 Thy new-moon brow the full-moon robs, 
 
 And bids its fading beams depart : — 
 Tell, thou for whom each bosom throbs ! 
 
 What torturer thou art? 
 
 Drunk with the wine thy charms display. 
 
 Thy slave Khakani hails his smart ; 
 I'd die to know thy name — then say 
 
 What deity thou art ? 
 
 A HYMN, 
 
 From the ^^ILJ^ or Bed of Rose^, of Sadi : — 
 A Persian poet, who was bom at Shiraz in the yeai' 1175. 
 
 lj-«JSi X^ j^\ >JuJ5> <l£3 
 
 IL^ i\jj I^U j^Jc^^ruJ 
 l j».^ \ya J j1 j^ jj Iks- 
 
74 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED. 
 
 O Power benign ! thy grace supply, 
 
 From vanity defend ; 
 Here in her toils enslav'd we lie, 
 
 With thee alone our friend. 
 
 Thou art the all-sufficient source 
 
 Of mercy to mankind ; 
 Transgressors who forsake their course 
 
 Thy sure forgiveness find. 
 
 O ! from the paths of sin preserve, 
 From folly set us free ; 
 
 And let us press, with every nerve, 
 To hohness and Thee. 
 
 THE DUTY OF THANKSGIVING. 
 
 (From the same.) 
 
 Whate'er thy wealth, if gratitude be thine 
 
 New wealth shall flow, — new splendour round thee shine. 
 
 Should'st thou to Heaven thy thanks incessant pay. 
 
 Till the last trumpet wake the judgment day, 
 
 Ne'er covild thy tongue the thousandth part recount 
 
 Of daily mercies from the Eternal Fount. 
 
 Yet from thanksgiving cease not : to the skies 
 
 Free from thy heart for ever let it rise. 
 
 Praise is religion's crown — perpetual praise 
 
 Forms the pure stream thro' Paradise that strays. 
 
 Whenever an individual distinguishes himself by 
 acquiring a correct knowledge of several languages, we 
 cannot but feel desirous to ascertain at least the out- 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 75 
 
 lines of the plan which he pursued. Elementary in- 
 struction in languages has hitherto been made almost 
 entirely to depend upon the faculty of memory, without 
 an adequate regard to the reflective and the associating 
 principles of the mind ; and yet nothing can be more 
 obvious than the essential difference between a series 
 of positive unconnected efforts of memory, and another 
 series which shall be connected by some law of asso- 
 ciation. If, for example, a student of natural phi- 
 losophy be informed that the hydrostatic pressure of 
 rain or river water upon a square inch at the deptii of 
 5 feet is equal to 2 pounds and f ths avoirdupois, the 
 truth, however important, can only be fixed in the 
 mind by a frequent repetition of both numbers ; and, 
 even then, there is risk of their sliding from the thoughts 
 after a short time, from the want of an obvious connexion 
 between the numbers 5 and 2f. But if the student 
 be informed that at the depth of thirty feet the pressure 
 upon a square inch is equivalent to thirteen pounds, 
 and it be, at the same time, impressed upon his mind 
 that the first syllable of the words thirty and thirteen 
 is the same, the law of association tends to render the 
 impression permanent ; and the scientific truth will 
 recur to his thoughts whenever it is needed. So again, 
 the numbers 1 and 3*141593, which express the relation 
 of the diameter to the circumference of a circle, having 
 no natural connexion, can only be remembered posi- 
 tively after frequent repetition ; and this would also be 
 the case with the numbers 113 and 355, which express 
 the same relation, unless it should be explained to the 
 student that these numbers are together constituted of 
 repetitions in pairs of the first three odd numbers, 
 1, 1 ; 3, 3 ; 5, 5 ; when it will really become as difficult 
 
76 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to forget the ratio of 113 to 355, as, without a marked 
 reference to this peculiarity in the sequence of the 
 figures, it would be found to remember it. Now, if this 
 universal attribute of intellect had been understood 
 by our standard grammarians, would they compel the 
 youths who study their works to get by rote five very 
 bad hexameter verses, in an unknown language, in 
 order that they might learn, what all but the veriest 
 dunces knew before, that the names of gods and men 
 are masculine, while those of goddesses and women are 
 of the feminine gender ? Or, would they, for the pur- 
 pose of teaching that the nownsfiinus and sponsalia are 
 seldom used in the singular number, compel them to 
 learn " Funus justa petit, petit et sponsalia virgo," to 
 learn, that is, in plain English, that "a funeral requires 
 solemnities, and a virgin requires espousals." — to learn 
 seven Latin words in order that he may recollect two ? 
 Certainly, no man who understands many languages 
 ever acquired them thus. 
 
 When that extraordinary youth, Barretier, learned 
 the French, German, and Latin, at a very early age, 
 he was not, says Dr. Johnson, " taught in the common 
 way by a multitude of definitions, rules, and excep- 
 tions, which fatigue the attention, and burden the 
 memory, without any use proportionate to the time 
 which they require, and the disgust which they create," 
 but he learned them all in the same manner, and almost 
 at the same time, by conversing in them indifferently 
 with his father. "The other languages of which he 
 was master, he learned by a method yet more uncom- 
 mon. The only book which he made use of was the 
 Bible, which his father laid before him in the language 
 that he then proposed to learn, accompanied with a 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 77 
 
 translation, being taught by degrees the inflections of 
 nouns and verbs." This latter method, although open 
 to objection, has the advantage of being founded upon 
 the principle of association. 
 
 Mr. Good seems early to have caught, and steadily 
 to have pursued and applied, the same principle. 
 Before he was twenty-four years of age, I have every 
 reason to believe that he had attentively studied, and 
 reduced to an intellectual classification, the results 
 collected by Chamberlayne in his " Oratio Dominica in 
 omnium fere gentium linguas versa." From the perusal 
 of the first volumes of the "Asiatic Researches," he 
 derived a confirmation of his own conjecture, that all 
 languages have a common origin. It was but natural 
 to a spirit so fond of generalizing, of tracing analogies 
 and resemblances, as his, to work out this idea. He 
 sought, and thought that he found, a general unity of 
 principle ; that the common divisions and rules of one 
 language are the common divisions and rules of the 
 whole ; that, hence, every national grammar is, in a 
 certain sense, a universal grammar ; and that there is 
 often a uniform employment of the very same terms, in 
 a great variety of languages, to express the very same 
 ideas. This being completely established in his mind, 
 the principle of association was brought into full 
 exercise ; and his classified store, which was augment- 
 ing almost daily, served greatly to diminish the labour 
 of studying a new language; and indeed, as may 
 naturally be expected, rendered the attainment of every 
 fresh language easier than that of the preceding. He 
 believed that certain terms which served to mark the 
 relation of man with things about him, or of man with 
 man, as those indicative of earth, sky, death. Deity, 
 
78 MRMOIRS OF 
 
 father, brother, man, &c. would be nearly the same 
 under every change of time, or variety of climate ; and 
 he found it so. He was hence led to classify the words 
 which express the numerals, the ordinals, common 
 nouns, the declension of nouns, of adjectives, the con- 
 jugations of verbs, &c. and detected affinities and re- 
 lations which would not fail to surprise those who 
 have not engaged in such pursuits ; but many of which, 
 however, are now rendered familiar to men of reading, 
 by the works of Colebrook, Townsend, Aclehmg, &c. 
 Fearful of rendering an inquiry dry, which I have not 
 the power to make instructive, I shall only present a 
 few of the examples selected by Mr. Good himself, 
 assuming the Sanscrit as the common parent. 
 
 The following is the present tense of the verb sub- 
 stantive : 
 
 Sanscrit 
 
 . Asmi 
 
 . asi 
 
 . asti — smah 
 
 . st'ha 
 
 . santi. 
 
 Greek 
 
 . eafxi 
 
 . Ecrcri 
 
 . eari — Ec/zev 
 
 . £0T£ 
 
 . £i(n or eiTi. 
 
 Russian 
 
 . esni 
 
 . esi 
 
 . est — esmui 
 
 . esti 
 
 . sut. 
 
 Latin 
 
 . sum 
 
 . es 
 
 . est — sumus 
 
 . estis 
 
 . sunt. 
 
 Persian 
 
 . am 
 
 . ai 
 
 . ast — aim 
 
 . aid' 
 
 . and. 
 
 Welsh 
 
 . wyv 
 
 • wyt 
 
 . oes — ym 
 
 . ych. 
 
 • ynt. 
 
 English 
 
 . am 
 
 . art 
 
 . is — are 
 
 . are 
 
 . are. 
 
 This verb is defective in many languages. In Latin 
 and in Welsh several tenses are formed from an old 
 verb, which only survives in the Sanscrit in a tolerably 
 perfect form. This is Bhavami, bhavasi, bhavati, &c. 
 answering to the German ich bin, du bist, &c. The 
 preter tense of this verb in Latin, Fui, fuisti, fuit, coin- 
 cides with the Welsh Bum, buost, bu ; and the Latin 
 fuissem, fuisses, fuisset, &c. with the Welsh Buaswn, 
 buasit, buasai, buasem, buasech, buasent. The future 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 79 
 
 in the Russian agrees with the Welsh, as Budu, biidesh, 
 budet— budem, &c. which, in Welsh, is Byddav (pro- 
 nounced budhav,) byddi, bydd — byddwm, byddwch, 
 byddant. 
 The verb to eat coincides ulmost as closely : 
 
 Sanscrit. 
 
 Admi 
 
 . atsi 
 
 . atti 
 
 — admas 
 
 . att'ha adanti. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Edo 
 
 . edis, 
 
 . edit, 
 
 — edimus 
 
 . editis edunt. 
 
 
 
 es 
 
 . est 
 
 
 estis 
 
 Greek. 
 
 £^W 
 
 iEeiQ 
 
 . icei 
 
 fOO/X£J/ 
 
 . £0£re Icoyri (iEol.) 
 
 Russian. 
 
 iem . 
 
 iesh 
 
 . iest 
 
 — iedim 
 
 . iedite iedyat. 
 
 German. 
 
 esse . 
 
 issest 
 
 . isst 
 
 — essen 
 
 esset essen. 
 
 Some Sanscrit verbs coincide most with the Greek, 
 others the Latin, 
 
 as Jivami jivasi jivati — jivamah jivathah jivanti, 
 with Vivo vivis vivit — vivimus vivitis vivunt. 
 
 Dadami, dadasi, dadate, with SiECjfAi, BiSioQ, Eicwai, &c. 
 
 Possessing such means of exfoliating the affinities of 
 language, and growing collections of classified facts, 
 Mr. Good turned to the study of a new language 
 with delight. A dictionary, a standard grammar, 
 his own tables, and an excellent memory, enabled 
 him to set to work upon one or two of the best 
 authors in the language selected. Perhaps he made 
 but little progress at first ; but so soon as he had un- 
 veiled enough of the structure and genius of the lan- 
 guage to apply to it his principles of generalization and 
 association, the remaining task was comparatively 
 easy, and he soon accomplished his wishes. This 
 process, it is true, did not make him critically master 
 of every language to which he directed his attention ; 
 but it gave him the capacity of detecting and relishing 
 the beauties of the best authors in those which he was 
 
80 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 most anxious to explore ; and it supplied him with 
 views of the general analogies of language, as well 
 as of the diversities and peculiarities which prevented 
 those general analogies from becoming universal, more 
 comprehensive and more practical than any other 
 person (except he were a linguist merely) whom I 
 have had the happiness to know. 
 
 But it is time I should pursue my narrative. From 
 the year 1797 to 1803 or 1804, Mr. Good contributed 
 largely to some of the Reviews and other periodical 
 publications. The Analytical and Critical Reviews 
 were those in which his productions usually appeared : 
 though there are a few very interesting specimens of 
 his taste and erudition in the British and the MontJily 
 Magazines. Thus, in the latter magazine for August 
 for 1800, there is a paper on German Literature, with 
 two translations from Klopstock's Messias. And in 
 the number] for January 1801, there is an elegant com- 
 munication on the resemblance of Persian and Arabic 
 poetry to the Greek and Roman, with several spirited 
 versions. Bat, during greater part of this, and even a 
 longer period, his principal communications were to 
 the Critical Review ; of which, indeed, he was for some 
 time the editor, and the labour of preparing the most 
 elaborate articles often devolved upon him. It has not 
 been in my power to obtain a list of these ; so that I 
 am only able to specify the critiques upon Hindlei/s 
 Persian Lyrics, Allwood's Literary Antiquities of Greece, 
 and of some poems by Sir B. Burgess and 3Irs. Cowley. 
 In the beginning of 1803 his labours were still more 
 multifarious. He was finishing his translation of 
 Solomon's " Song of Songs," carrying on his life of Dr. 
 Geddes, walking from twelve to fourteen miles a day 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 81 
 
 that he might see his numerous patients : nor was this 
 all. In a letter to Dr. Drake, (dated Jan. 29, 1803,) 
 after speaking of these engagements, and adverting 
 with thankfulness to the state of his business as a sur- 
 geon, (which then produced more than £1400 per 
 annum,) he proceeds thus : 
 
 " I have edited the Critical Review, besides writing 
 several of its most elaborate articles — I have every 
 week supplied a column of matter for the Sunday 
 Review — and have for some days had the great weight 
 of the British Press upon my hands ; the Committee 
 for conducting which having applied to me lately, in 
 the utmost consternation, in consequence of a trick put 
 upon them by the proprietors of other newspapers, and 
 which stopped abruptly the exertions of their editor 
 and several of their most valuable hands." 
 
 So great a variety of occupations would have thrown 
 most men into confusion : but such was the energy of 
 Mr. Good's mind, such his habits of activity and 
 order, that he carried them all forward simultane- 
 ously, suffering none to be neglected, left in arrear, 
 or inadequately executed. 
 
 Towards the end of this busy year, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Good were called to sustain a heavy trial, in the 
 death of their only son ; a child who evinced a most 
 cheerful and amiable disposition, manners that were 
 remarkably fascinating, with precocious, yet con- 
 stantly aspiring intellectual powers. Mr. Good, for a 
 season, sunk under the pressure of his affliction, in a way 
 that greatly alarmed his friends. He felt all the agony 
 that such a stroke was likely to inflict on an affec- 
 tionate heart ; a stroke whose magnitude can only be 
 duly estimated by those who have sustained it ; but 
 
82 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 neither in his own judgment, nor in that of his family, 
 did he derive from it the salutary lesson, even as to 
 the precarious tenure of earthly blessings, which it 
 was calculated to impart; and long indeed was it 
 before he could acquiesce in the Divine dispensation, 
 and adopt the language, " It is well."* Nearly eight 
 years afterwards, it pleased the Supreme Disposer of 
 events to visit the writer of these pages with a similar 
 affliction: and among the letters of condolence and 
 sympathy which he received on that mournful occasion, 
 was the following from his valued friend Mr. Good, 
 which presents the most striking evidence of the state 
 of deep feeling with which he, even then, contemplated 
 his own loss. 
 
 Caroline Place, May 7th, 1811. 
 
 " My very dear Friend, 
 
 " With no common feeling do I sympathize with 
 you. Your letter has touched upon a string which 
 vibrates with so much agony through ray heart and 
 brain, and I fear ever will continue to do so, that I fly 
 
 * The following is the Inscription which the weeping father prepared for 
 the tomb of his beloved child : 
 
 Sacred to the Memory of 
 
 John Mason Good, 
 
 only surviving: son of 
 
 John Mason and Susanna Good, 
 
 of Guilford Street in this Parish : 
 
 Who died of a violent fever, Nov. 26th, 1803, 
 
 in the 1 3tli year of his age ; 
 
 having equally captivated and surprised all who knew him, 
 
 by the possession of 
 
 Talents the most extraordinary 
 
 And disposition the most amiable : 
 
 Early, bright, transient, chaste, as morning dew. 
 
 He sparkled and exhaled, and went to heaven. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 83 
 
 from it upon all occasions like the stricken deer from 
 the hunter. You have indeed conjectured right, and 
 the similarity of our trials is peculiarly remarkable. I, 
 like you, had every thing I could wish for in one — one 
 only. I enjoyed the present, I feasted on the future; — 
 at the age of twelve, the same fatal disease made its 
 attack — the result was the same — and my arms, like 
 yours, formed a pillow during the last gasp : there was 
 the same sense of piety while living, and the same 
 prominent shoot of genius. The master of the Charter 
 House, in a letter to me on the occasion, bewailed the 
 loss of one of their most promising blossoms ; and a 
 variety of little effusions both in prose and verse found 
 in the well-known hand afterwards, but never shewn to 
 any one, and written for personal amusement alone, 
 seemed sufficiently to justify the opinion so generally 
 entertained. 
 
 *'But here, my dear friend, I am afraid I must drop 
 the parallel : for in the weakness of my heart I freely 
 confess I have not yet acquired that strength of duty 
 which you are already enabled to manifest. 
 
 " I dare not examine myself as to what I should 
 wish for, if it were in my power — all I have hitherto 
 been able to say is, 'Thy will be done!' 
 
 " Mr. L was with us when your letter arrived : 
 
 we were listening to a new and most sweetly impres- 
 sive anthem, ' My song shall be of judgment and of 
 mercy ! to thee, O Lord, will I sing.' What could be 
 more appropriate, even if we had been aware of the 
 melancholy fact, and could have foreseen your dis- 
 tressing communication? It struck us forcibly, — and 
 we dwelt upon the coincidence. — The judgment is un- 
 questionable : but is not the mercy, my excellent friend, 
 g2 
 
84 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 equally visible? Your own pious reflections will 
 suggest a thousand proofs that it is : I will only repeat 
 the remark that was most obvious to ourselves ; that 
 had this affliction happened about a year and a half 
 ago, when you were living alone, and had no such affec- 
 tionate nurse to have co-operated with you, — no such 
 bosom comforter to have supported you, — severe as it is, 
 it must have been of a character far severer still. There 
 are a few gracious drops intermixed with every cup of 
 bitterness— or how could man at times endure the 
 draught ? You have them from this source : you have them 
 from the recollection of having sown the good seed, at an 
 early hour, in the best of seasons, and in a propitious 
 soil : but, most of all, you have them in the harvest that 
 has already been produced, — in the safe deposit of the 
 grain in its imperishable garner. It is accomplished : 
 the great task intrusted to you is executed — the object 
 of life is rendered secure — the gulf is forded : the haven 
 of happiness has hold on the anchor. 
 
 " We will certainly see you in a short time : Mrs. 
 Good intends herself to write to-morrow, or next day. 
 In the mean while, give our affectionate regards to Mrs. 
 Gregory, for whose health we are very anxious, 
 accept our best wishes and prayers, and believe me, as 
 ever, yours, 
 
 "J. M. Good." 
 
 I have already mentioned that Mr. Good commenced 
 his translation of Lucretius in the year 1797. This 
 work he undertook partly at the entreaty of his literary 
 friends ; but principally, as I have more than once 
 heard him state, that he might bring himself under 
 something like the urgency of a moral necessity to 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 85 
 
 become thoroughly acquainted with the utmost possible 
 variety of subjects, upon which men of literature, 
 science, and investigation, had been able to throw any 
 light. For this purpose he could not, probably, have 
 made a happier selection than that of Lucretius " On 
 the Nature of Things," in which the topics are as 
 greatly diversified as the general title of the poem 
 seems to indicate. The translation itself was finished 
 in October 1799, having been carried through in a way 
 very unusual with works of such magnitude : it was 
 composed in the streets of London during the translator s 
 extensive walks, to visit his numerous patients. His 
 practice was to take in his pocket two or three leaves 
 of an octavo edition of the original (I believe, that of 
 Marxhetti's,) the text being corrected by collation with 
 Wakefield's ; to read over a passage two or three times 
 as he walked along, until he had engraven it upon his 
 ready memory ; then to translate the passage, meditate 
 upon his translation, correct and elaborate it, until he 
 had satisfied himself Having accomplished this, the 
 bare sight of the original brought to mind his own 
 translation, with all its peculiarities. In the same 
 manner would he proceed with a second, third, and 
 fourth passage ; and after he had returned home, and 
 disposed of all his professional business, he would go 
 to his standing desk, and enter upon his manuscript so 
 much of the translation as he had been able to prepare 
 satisfactorily. While he was carrying on the transla- 
 tion, he was also levying his contributions towards the 
 notes ; a part of the work, however, which called for 
 much more labour, and occupied far more of his time. 
 The translation was not published until 1805, and 
 scarcely a day passed in the six previous years, in 
 
86 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 which he did not either add to the notes, or in his own 
 estimation give greater accuracy and elegance to some 
 parts of his version. He obtained access to the 
 British Museum, and other public libraries in the 
 metropolis, and, by fully availing himself of these 
 advantages, considerably enriched the running com- 
 mentary upon his favourite author. The avidity with 
 which he embraced every opportunity to render his 
 translation correct, will appear in the subjoined extract 
 from a letter to his literary friend at Hadleigh, bearing 
 date September 1798. 
 
 " I do not know whether among the extracts you 
 have done me the honour to select from my version,* 
 you have made choice of that which I have given as a 
 specimen in my Prospectus — I mean the little episode 
 on the sacrifice of Iphigenia. There is an error which 
 has crept into the last line but one of my translation, 
 owing to my having forgotten the actual state of the 
 Grecian fleet at the time the sacrifice was demanded, 
 and to my not having had an opportunity of consulting 
 the Iphigenia of Euripides upon the subject. Having, 
 however, obtained of late a perpetual admission into 
 the reading-rooms of the British Museum, among other 
 books, I have been again reading this part of the 
 dramas of the Greek poet — and I find that on the 
 demand of Chalchas the fleet was not in a storm, which 
 such a sacrifice was necessary to extricate it from, 
 but absolutely lying without wind in the harbour at 
 Aulis, and so totally becalmed that it could not possibly 
 proceed to sea. It was to obtain a breeze, therefore, 
 and to get liberated from this imprisonment, that 
 
 * That is, for the purpose of insertion in "Tlie Literary IIovu-s." 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 87 
 
 Chalchas insisted upon the death of Iphigenia ; and 
 the verse to which I refer, instead of being 
 
 " Of Grecian navies rescued thus from storms," 
 should be corrected 
 
 " Of Grecian navies favour'd thus with gales." 
 
 The Latin of Lucretius will apply equally to both, 
 whether a happy escape from port, or from tempests : — 
 " Exitus ut classi felix faustusque daretur." 
 
 It is interesting, however, to remark, since it serves 
 to shew how completely Mr. Good's translation was 
 his own, and how little he was beholden to his precur- 
 sors in the same region of labour, that in the free trans- 
 lation given in what is usually called Guernier's edition 
 (publisl*ed in 1743,) the verse in question is rendered 
 
 " Only to beg a kind propitious gale for Grecian ships," 
 agreeing in spirit with Mr. Good's amended line. 
 
 Mr. Good continued thus for several years to devote 
 a portion of almost every day to this great undertaking : 
 nor was the incessant assiduity with which he pursued 
 it, together with the extensive range of his professional 
 exertions, sufficient to stifle his ardour, or to weigh 
 down and oppress his then inexhaustible activity. 
 Other regions of inquiry invited his curiosity, and cor- 
 responding occupations demanded their share of his 
 time and his powers.* I shall here present a mere 
 catalogue of the publications which engaged his atten- 
 tion for a few years, reserving my analysis of the prin- 
 cipal of them, as indeed of all his works, to the second 
 section of these memoirs. 
 
 * Indeed, his practical maxim was akin to that of another eminent indivi- 
 dual of indefatigahle application, the late Dr. B-B. Clarke, who said, "I have 
 lived to know that the great secret of human happiness is this :• — Never suffer 
 your energies to stagnate. Tiie old adage of * Too many irons in the fire,' 
 conveys an abominable lie. Vou cannot have too many; poker, tongs, and 
 all — keep them all going." 
 
88 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Second Address to the Members of the Corporation 
 of Surgeons of London, 1800. 
 
 Song of Songs, or Sacred Idyls, 1803. 
 
 Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Dr. Geddes, 
 1803. 
 
 Dissertation on the best means of Employing the 
 Poor in Parish Workhouses, 1805. 
 
 Translation of Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, 1805. 
 
 Anniversary Oration delivered before the Medical 
 Society of London, 1808. 
 
 Essay on Medical Technology, 1810. 
 
 Translation of the Book of Job, 1812. 
 
 New Edition of Mr. Mason's Treatise on Self- Know- 
 ledge, with Memoirs of the Author, and Translations of 
 those portions of the notes which are in Greek, Latin, 
 and other foreign languages. 
 
 Pantologia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, 
 and Words : in conjunction with Mr. Newton Bos worth, 
 (then of Cambridge) and myself. This work, which 
 was published in 12 thick and closely printed volumes, 
 royal 8vo., occupied much of Mr. Good's time from the 
 end of 1804 to the end of 1812.* 
 
 The Pantologia was commenced by Mr. Bosworth 
 and myself in 1802. On my removal to Woolwich in 
 January 1803, another gentleman was associated with 
 us, who, however, in consequence of an unexpected 
 accession of property, retired from the labour in about 
 
 * In the year 1800 there appeared an anonymous satirical poem in three 
 cantos, entitled the Millennium, which has been generally ascribed to our author. 
 For some years he contributed largely to Dodslei/'s Annual Register ; 
 taking, I believe, the entire departments of Natural History and Philosophy, 
 of general literature, and of Poetry, and Belles-lettres. He also assisted Mr. 
 Woodfall in the arrangement of the materials in his edition o{ Junius' s Letters, 
 published in 1812, and in investigating and balancing the claims of different 
 individuals to the authorship of those extraordinary productions. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 89 
 
 twelve months. Shortly afterwards a speculating book- 
 seller, who had ascertained that this Universal Dic- 
 tionary was in preparation, with a view to anticipate 
 us both in object and name, commenced the publication 
 of a new Cyclopeedia, of which Dr. George Gregorij 
 was announced as the editor, while, in fact, the late 
 Mr. Jeremiah Joyce was the principal, if not the only, 
 person engaged upon the work. This manoeuvre sug- 
 gested the expediency of new arrangements, as w ell as 
 of a new title, for our Encyclopedia ; and Mr. Good 
 having recently published his " Song of Songs" at 
 Mr. Kearsley's the bookseller, who was the chief pro- 
 prietor of the new undertaking, his high reputation for 
 erudition, and for punctuality in the execution of his 
 engagements, induced us to look to him as an admirably 
 qualified individual to co-operate with us in our im- 
 portant enterprise. Some time elapsed before we could 
 overcome his objections to the placing his name first 
 on the title-page of a work, of which he was not to take 
 the general superintendence : but at length the scruple 
 was removed ; and from 1805, when our joint prepara- 
 tions commenced, to the spring of 1813, when the task 
 was completed, he continued with the utmost prompt- 
 ness, regularity, and versatility of talent, to supply the 
 various articles and treatises that were comprehended 
 in the extensive portion of the Dictionary which he 
 undertook to compose. 
 
 From the very date of this arrangement I felt de- 
 sirous to cultivate a warmer intimacy with my new 
 associate than was absolutely necessary to promote 
 the objects of our literary coalition. I soon found that 
 he was as estimable in domestic and social life, as he 
 was eminent in the walks of literature : that as a 
 
90 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 husband and father he was uniformly affectionate and 
 attentive, as a friend cordial and sincere, as a compa- 
 nion remarkably entertaining and instructive, equally 
 enjoying and promoting " the feast of reason and the flow 
 of soul." His ordinary deportment was marked by a 
 suavity and hilarity that were peculiarly engaging. His 
 buoyancy of spirits led him to join with vivacity in con- 
 versation, which he greatly enriched from his copious 
 intellectual stores. He would sometimes take a part in 
 animated discussions ; yet the usual position of his 
 mind was at the utmost possible remove from a spirit 
 of disputation, and he very rarely (so far as I recol- 
 lect) adverted to theological or political topics of dis- 
 pute. Although in conversation he usually contributed 
 his full share, yet he evinced no desire to lead, but 
 was as ready to listen as to speak. He made no eifort 
 to shine ; and was seldom tempted to ornament his 
 discourse with scraps and patches from the learned 
 languages ; regarding that art as very poor, in which 
 any person may become an adept by devoting a week 
 to the study of the " Dictionary of Quotations." What 
 was far better, when the conversation took a literary 
 or scientific turn, he would, with almost unfailing 
 promptness, enliven and adorn it by those appropriate 
 facts and illustrations which his comprehensive ac- 
 quaintance with the general range of human knowledge 
 enabled him at once to supply. It was only in the 
 comparison of parallel passages from writers of different 
 ages and countries, that he was wont to indulge in 
 quotations ; and then he often produced them with a 
 felicitous exuberance which they who have read the 
 notes to his " Lucretius," " Song of Songs," and " Book 
 of Job," may easily conceive. Cheerfulness, activity. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 91 
 
 frankness, acuteness of intellect, and kindness of heart, 
 were so obviously the main ingredients in his character, 
 that before I had known him a month, I could not but 
 say of him, as Mr. Burke of one of his friends — " Cer- 
 tainly he is a man formed to be admired and loved." 
 
 An individual of ordinary character, with such a 
 variety of pursuits as occupied the attention of Mr. 
 Good from 1800 to 1812, would inevitably have neg- 
 lected some of them. But with him this was never 
 allowed to happen. He was then blessed with the full 
 maturity of all his powers bodily and mental, and 
 delighted in nothing so much as constant employment. 
 He has frequently remarked to me, that when he began 
 to be a little weary of one pursuit, the mere transition 
 to another would annihilate the sense of fatigue ; and 
 thus he could pass to five or six distinct topics of 
 interesting research within the compass of twelve hours, 
 and enter upon each with as much freshness and vigour 
 as though he had just arisen from a good night's sleep. 
 Thus, with him every new undertaking was, by a con- 
 stant progress, advancing to its maturity without any 
 apparent interruption ; and no sooner was one brought 
 to a successful termination, than another took its place ; 
 the mental mechanism moving onward with a constancy 
 and uniformity analogous to that which we sometimes 
 witness in complex machinery urged by material 
 agents. 
 
 In the autumn of 1810 Mr. Good was invited to 
 deliver a series of lectures at the Surrey Institution, 
 ** on any subject, literary or scientific, which would be 
 agreeable to himself." He acceded to the request of 
 the Directors, and delivered his first course in the 
 ensuing winter, to a crowded audience, who were so 
 
92 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 highly gratified and instructed, that he was entreated to 
 persevere. This led to the delivery of a second and a 
 third series, in the two succeeding winters. The First 
 Series, in fifteen lectures, treated of the " Nature of the 
 Material World ; and the scale of unorganized and 
 organic tribes that issue from it :" The Second Series, 
 in thirteen lectures, developed the " Nature of the 
 Animate World ; its peculiar powers and external rela- 
 tions ; the means of communicating ideas ; the forma- 
 tion of society ;" and the Third, in fifteen lectures, was 
 devoted to the " Nature of the Mind ; its general facul- 
 ties and furniture." 
 
 This plan is sufiiciently extensive, but would have 
 been rendered still more so in subsequent years, had 
 not an augmented sphere of professional duties com- 
 pelled Mr. Good, notwithstanding the most urgent 
 persuasions to the contrary, to relinquish the occu- 
 pation of a lecturer. In this mode of imparting in- 
 struction, however, he was equally qualified to com- 
 mand attention, and to ensure success. His delivery 
 was good ; he had the most entire self-possession, and 
 was always master, not only of his subject but of his 
 lecture. Although his manuscript notes lay before him, 
 he seldom referred to them more than by a glance ; so 
 that, instead of merely reading, a practice which is as 
 much calculated to neutralize the efibrts of the lecturer 
 (and indeed of every public teacher) as it would be to 
 destroy those of the legal advocate at the bar, he 
 gave to his lectures all the correct expression of well- 
 studied addresses delivered from memory, but en- 
 riched with those extemporaneous additions which 
 spontaneously occur to a speaker of sentiment and 
 feeling, when surrounded bv a numerous and attentive 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 93 
 
 auditory.* Instead of poring with monotonous dul- 
 ness over his papers, his eyes passed incessantly over 
 the entire assembly ; — and thus, when the countenance 
 of an auditor indicated a want of comprehension of the 
 subject, the lecturer, either by amplification, or repeti- 
 tion with slight variety, removed the defect. His lan- 
 guage and manner, always good, at times assumed a 
 tone of impassioned eloquence which was deeply im- 
 pressive. 
 
 With these qualifications, and with the rich variety 
 of topics he introduced, it was natural that his lectures 
 should be popular. His success was highly gratifying 
 to himself, and on the conclusion of the first course, 
 he thus speaks in a confidential letter to a literary 
 friend : — " Upon the whole, I may say that I have had 
 crowded audiences throughout, though the lecture-room 
 held 500 persons — the usual English greeting on enter- 
 ing and retiring — and complimentary annotations inter- 
 spersed. What is of more consequence, we have thus 
 
 * After the experience of many years, I need not hesitate to say, that my 
 views, as to this point, accord most fully with those of Professor Jardnie, as 
 exhibited in his "Outlines of Philosophical Education," pp. 261 — 269. 
 I will not quote any portion of his judicious observations ; but most earnestly 
 recommend the whole work to the attentive perusal of all who have the 
 charge of instructing youth. 
 
 A letter from the celebrated Baron Cuvier, which I have recently perused, 
 communicates similar opinions in a brief, but instructive passage, which I 
 shall here subjoin. 
 
 " Je crois que la plupart des professeurs de Londres lisent leurs lemons. 
 Rien n'est plus froid ; rien n'est moins encourageant, moins excitant pour la 
 Jeunesse. Quils ayent un abrege imprime des principes de leurs sciences, 
 abrege que chaque eleve aura en main ; mais quils le developpent d' abon- 
 dance ; quils improvisent les exphcations les examples ; quils sachent en un 
 mot animer leurs elfeves du meme feu qui les penetre. C'est une condition 
 essentielle d'une bonne Universite. A Paris, un Professeur qui lit n'a pas 
 vingt elfeves ; celui qui improvise, pourpeu quil ait de facilite, on voit ac- 
 courir des centaines. L'amour de la science, cette passion sans la quelle on 
 reste toujours mediocre, veut etre inculque comme tons les autres sentimens. 
 L'imagination doit soutenir la raison lui preter sa vie et son mouvement." 
 
94 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 proved that scientific lecturing may be made sufficiently- 
 attractive to excite general attention and command 
 personal attendance, without the exhibition of any 
 pretty pictures, or even without the aid of illustrative 
 machinery ; though I would by no means disparage the 
 introduction of either on suitable occasions." 
 
 Notwithstanding the importance and multiplicity of 
 Mr. Good's occupations, professional and literary, he 
 continued to indulge through life, his early-formed 
 habit of expressing his feelings in short poetical 
 effusions. The commencement of a new pursuit, the 
 recurrence of a birth-day, the departure of a friend 
 who had been visiting his family, a hasty visit of his 
 own to a friend in the country, the perusal of a book, a 
 striking political event, every thing, in short, which, 
 while it produced a new train of thought, tended to 
 excite his feelings, was calculated to give birth to a 
 metrical essay. Sometimes the effort would be 
 sprightly, sometimes burlesque and humorous, and, as 
 he advanced in life, usually pious and devotional. The 
 reader is here presented with a very few of these little 
 pieces, which I select, not because of their poetical 
 excellency, but because they assist in unfolding the 
 entire character of the author's mind, and evince the 
 facility with which he could express his sentiments in 
 pleasing verse.* Those poetical compositions which 
 tend principally to mark the development of his reli- 
 gious character, are intentionally reserved for the 
 third section of these Memoirs. 
 
 * Making an adequate allowance for the difference between a spon- 
 taneous effort to express one's own feelings, or to gratify friends, without 
 any view to publication, and a more elaborate production intended to excite 
 the admiration of the world, and therefore composed for the public eye ; 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 95 
 
 Written on the back of a Title-page of a Collection of Poems 
 published by the Rev. Charles Stuart, under the title of 
 " Trifles inVerse." 
 
 ANOTHER TRIFLE. 
 
 If, thinking wit or worth to view, 
 
 This book throughout you rifle ; 
 You'll only find the title true, 
 
 Which says 'tis all a Trifle. 
 
 But though a truth, this title-page 
 
 'Twere better, sure, to stifle, 
 Tlian boast, at forty years of age, 
 
 I've only lived to trifle. 
 
 the following remarks of Dr. Johnson are more or less applicable to all 
 occasional poetry, and may serve to moderate the expectation of often 
 meeting with what is splendid or sublime in this class of composi- 
 tions. — • 
 
 " In an occasional performance no height of excellence can be expected 
 from any mind, however fertile in itself, and however stored with acquisi- 
 tions. He, whose work is general and arbitrary, has the choice of his 
 matter, and takes that which his inclination and his studies have best 
 qualified him to display and decorate. 
 
 " The occasional poet is circumscribed by the narrowness of his subject. 
 Whatever can happen to man has happened so often, that little remains for 
 fancy or invention. We have been all born ; we have most of us been 
 married ; and so many have died before us, that our deadis can supply but 
 few materials for a poet. In the fate of princes, the public has an interest ; 
 and what happens to them of good or evil, tlie poets have always considered 
 as business for the muse. But after so many inauguratory gratulations, 
 nuptial hymns, and funeral dirges, he must be highly favoured by nature, or 
 by fortune, who says any thmg not said before. Even war and conquest, 
 however splendid, suggest no new images. 
 
 " Not only matter, but time is wanting. Tlie poem must not be delayed 
 till the occasion is forgotten. The lucky moments of animated imagination 
 cannot be suspended ; elegances and illustrations cannot be multiplied by 
 gradual accumulation ; the composition must be despatched while conversa- 
 tion is yet busy and admiration fresh ; and haste is to be made, lest some 
 other event should lay hold upon mankind. 
 
 " Occasional compositions, however, may secure to a writer the praise of 
 learning, of elegance, and facility ; for they cannot be the effect of long 
 study, and must be furnished immediately from the treasures of the mind." 
 
 Life of Dry den. 
 
96 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 THE WISH. 
 
 To Miss Lindoe, on her Journey into Devonshire. 
 
 Amidst the Wishes wished by all 
 
 And truly wish'd, no doubt, 
 I too some favourite Wish would call, 
 
 T' attend thee through thy route. 
 
 But since, so numerous are thy friends. 
 
 So large the love of each. 
 There's scarce a gift th' Almighty sends, 
 
 Now left me to beseech. 
 
 I wish thee, Margaret, from my heart, 
 Throughout thine envied course, 
 
 Each richest Wish thy friends can start 
 Confirm'd in all its force. 
 
 BIRDEROOK PARSONAGE, IN ESSEX,* 
 
 August 15th, 1805. 
 
 Form'd by himself, this house, these shades, 
 
 May Walton long adorn ; 
 And gather, in their peaceful glades, 
 
 The " rose without a thorn." 
 
 * Dr. Walton, rector of Birdbrook, was a highly esteemed relative of Dr. 
 Good, Mrs. Walton and Mrs. Good being sisters. Whenever Dr. Good 
 could snatch a few days of leisure from his multifarious engagements, it was 
 his great delight to visit Birdbrook Parsonage, and his valued friends Mr. 
 and Mrs. Walker of Gestingthorpe Hall, the subject of the next Uttle effusion. 
 The sentiments excited in these hasty visits, were often expressed in a verse 
 or two, written cur rente calamo, and left on liis dressing table. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 97 
 
 May heav'n his sacred toils approve ; 
 
 His flock their priest revere ; 
 And Judith, with perpetual love, 
 
 Each blameless hour endear. 
 
 GESTINGTHORPE, ESSEX, 
 
 1806. i 
 
 Sweet shades ! where peace and virtue dwell, : 
 
 And heav'n an altar finds, ' 
 
 And science scoops his hermit cell, 
 x4nd taste his wild walk winds : 
 
 Sweet, lovely scenes ! as Eden fair, 
 
 As Eden free from taint ; 
 Whose flowers perfume th' ambrosial air, 
 
 Th' enamell'd landscape paint : 
 
 Mansion ! where ready Friendship turns 
 
 His hospitable hinge ; ■ 
 
 Welcomes the London guest — but spurns 
 
 The London bow and cringe : • I 
 
 Sick of the world's fantastic sway, j 
 
 Its nonsense and its noise, — 'j 
 
 O ! for one solitary day, j 
 
 Be mine your gentler joys ; j 
 
 Here let me cool my maddening brain, ) 
 
 Here purify my heart ; ^ 
 
 Though short my stay — in dreams again 
 I'll meet you when we part. 
 H 
 
98 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 TO MY DEAR SUSANNA ON HER BIRTH-DAY, 
 
 i 
 
 March 26th, 1808. ^ 
 
 ] 
 Just nineteen years ago I first survey'd 
 
 Thy baby form, and felt myself a sire ; ' 
 
 Faintly thy mother own'd her pangs o'erpaid, ] 
 
 Clasp'd thy fresh limbs, nor ask'd a transport higher. \ 
 
 Though fill'd with present pleasure, fancy wild. 
 
 Oft as my busy knee to hush thee strove, 
 
 Would still unlock the future of my child, ' 
 
 And, from the baby to the woman, rove : ' 
 
 And, warm with hope, would from the rainbow steal 
 Each precious tint to deck thy growing hours ; 
 
 A gentle form, beloved by all, reveal 
 
 A heart well-tun'd, a mind of active powers. i 
 
 Fancy and Hope ! delusive, dangerous pair ! : 
 
 To sapient age delusive, as to youth — I 
 
 Accept my thanks — for flatterers as ye are, ; 
 
 Through nineteen years ye then foretold me truth. j 
 
 MAY-DAY, 1811. i 
 
 From the egg of yonder cloud 
 
 What is this that bursts to day ? 
 
 Nature wakes, as fresh endowed — , 
 
 'Tis the infant-form of May. | 
 
 ■I 
 
 Suns return, and tempests sleep, ] 
 
 All is carol, dance, and play ; j 
 
 Earth and ether and the deep J 
 
 Hail the infant-form of May. j 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 99 
 
 DIE FRUKLINGSFEYER, FROM KLOPSTOCK : 
 THE VERNAL ECSTACY. 
 
 I will not plunge me in th' abyss of worlds ; 
 Around the first-born sons of radiant light 
 1 will not hover, jubilant who bend, 
 Adoring bend, in ecstacies entranced. 
 
 Only around this earth. 
 Drop of the bucket, only earth around 
 I'll rove adoring. — Hallelujah ! earth. 
 Drop as it is, the Godhead too created. 
 
 When from th' Almighty hand 
 
 Forth shot the vaster planets — the young light 
 
 Rushed in bright streams — the seven-fold stars were born ; 
 
 Thou, drop ! then trickledst from th' Almighty hand. 
 
 When rushed the day-streams, and the sun uprose, 
 
 And floods of radiance poured, as from the hills 
 
 Th' o'erwhelming tempest, and Orion girt. 
 
 Thou, drop ! then trickledst from th' Almighty hand. 
 
 Wliat are the countless crowds, the myriads all 
 That tread it, or have trod ? — Ah ! what am I ? 
 Hosanna to th' Almighty ! — more than stars. 
 Than floods of light, than constellations more. 
 
 But thou on green-gold wings, 
 That flutter'st near me, beetle of the spring ! 
 
 Thou livest too — but not. 
 
 Ah ! haply not immortal : 
 
 I left the world t'adore — 
 
 Why weep I ? — O ! forgive. 
 Forgive these tears a flittering insect draws, 
 
 Thou ! who for ever art. 
 
 TI 9 
 
100 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 'Tis thine alone each rising doubt to solve, 
 
 O, thou ! who through the vale of death's dark shade 
 
 Wilt safely guide me : 1 shall then discern 
 
 If, too, this gilded worm a soul 
 
 Art thou hut moulded dust. 
 Child of the spring? — The changeful dust may still 
 Resume thy being, or new being give, 
 
 As wills th' Almighty sire. 
 
 Flow fresh my eyes ! 
 In tears of rapture flow. 
 My harp ! 
 Praise thou the Lord. 
 
 Wreath 'd is my harp again. 
 
 With palm leaves, wreath'd : — I sing the Lord of life. 
 Here stand I — all around 
 Is wonder — all omnipotence around. 
 
 With shuddering awe I gaze upon creation, 
 For Thou ! 
 The nameless Thou ! 
 Gav'st it a being. 
 
 Soft breezy airs that round my glowing cheeks 
 Wave your cool freshness, grateful to the heart — 
 He sends you forth, ye wonder-working powers, 
 The Lord, th' Eternal. 
 
 But now scarce breathe they : — all is dead repose; 
 
 Hot, sultry, grows the morn ; 
 
 Deep spread the clouds o'er heaven ; 
 He comes, to sight revealed — th' Almighty comes. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 101 
 
 Now sweep, rush, whirl the winds, 
 Rends all the forest, heaves the torrent flood ; 
 Seen as thou canst be, seen to mortal eyes, 
 
 Now art thou seen, dread Spirit ! 
 
 Deep bends the wood, the torrent raves, — but I 
 Why sink I not ? why fall not on my face ? — 
 Lord ! God supreme ! — compassionate and kind ! 
 Thou coming power ! O look with mercy on me ! 
 
 Art thou offended, Father of mankind ! 
 
 That night thus veils thy face ? 
 Yet is this night with blessings big to earth — 
 Father of all ! — offended thou art not. 
 It comes commission'd, o'er the fattening corn, 
 The heart-reviving vineyard, — comes to shed 
 
 The treasures of thy love. 
 
 Father of all ! — offended thou art not. 
 All before thee is still, approaching Power ! 
 All still before thee — e'en this gilded worm 
 Looks round, as conscious of a present God. 
 Has it a soul then ? May it be immortal ? 
 
 O that my heart could praise thee as it would ! 
 Still wider, wider now thy glory spreads ! — 
 Deeper the midnight round thee — deeper still. 
 More richly burdened. 
 
 See ye the signals of his march ? the flash 
 Wide streaming round ? — the thunder of his voice 
 Hear ye? Jehovah's thunder? the dread peal 
 Hear ye, -that rends the concave ? 
 
 Lord God supreme ! 
 
 Compassionate and kind ! 
 
 Praised be thy glorious name ! 
 Prais'd and ador'd ! 
 
102 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 How sweeps the whirlwind! leader of the storm ! 
 How screams discordant ! and, with headlong waves. 
 
 Lashes the forest ! All is now repose 
 
 Slow sail the dark clouds slow. 
 
 Again new signals press; — enkindled broad, 
 See ye the lightnings ? hear ye from the clouds. 
 The thunder of the Lord ? — Jehovah calls — 
 Jehovah — and the smitten forest smokes. 
 
 But not our cot : 
 Our heavenly Father bade 
 
 Th' o'erwhelming power 
 Pass o'er our cot, and spare it. 
 
 And, now, abruptly, now 
 Rush heav'n and earth in floods of bounteous rain : 
 
 Earth, O, how parch'd ! exults ; 
 And heav'n unloads the blessings it contain'd. 
 
 Now comes no more Jehovah clad in storms : 
 In soft still murmurs now 
 Jehovah comes ; 
 And broad beneath him bends the bow of peace. 
 
 LONDON INSTITUTION.^ 
 
 On its being first opened in King's Arms Yard, Coleman Street, under a 
 Committee chiefly composed of Bankers and Bank Directors. 
 
 When the 'Change and the Bank seiz'd the seat of Apollo, 
 The world stood on tiptoe to see what would follow ; 
 Away flew their cash — and they threaten'd to store 
 Ev'ry wharf on the Thames with a cargo of lore ; 
 
 * This little satire was composed after a conversation, in which the author 
 had remarked that it was easy to turn into burlesque the best designed pro- 
 jects ; as he would prove. Far from being disposed to ridicule this useful 
 Institution, he was for some years an active member of its committee, and 
 on more than one occasion composed odes, &c. for recitation at its anni- 
 versaries. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 103 j 
 
 While Cam and old Isis, thus robb'd of their right, I 
 
 Cried the one to the other — Sweet Cousin, good night ! ■ 
 
 For their glades and their cloisters these traders in truth 
 
 Chose a deep recluse warehouse —the scene of their youth, 
 
 Where the wings of the breezes that wafted them knowledge, 
 
 Flow'd one half from Bedlam, one half Gresham college. 
 
 All the books, and all instruments under the sun, 
 
 Prints, charts, men and maids — were laid in by the ton ; j 
 
 Gallant6-shows, telescopes, pumps, weavers' looms, i 
 
 Urns, fish-kettles, warming-pans, pots, mops, and brooms ; , 
 
 All these, as professors were soon to be made, | 
 
 Were provided as wares to illustrate their trade : j 
 
 And at top was design'd, could the cash but hold out, 
 
 A glass-dome, where its founders might look round about, 
 
 Learn how far their example had rous'd other earths, 
 
 Mark weathercocks, comets, and calculate births ; , 
 
 And an order was given, as no spy-glass they found 
 
 Could pierce the gross fumes that a city surround, i 
 
 For a set of experiments boldly to try I 
 
 To drive off the vapours, and clear up the sky. j 
 
 But Apollo, who saw what sad work they were making, 
 Descended from heav'n in a terrible taking. 
 And drove them all home with a taste of his whip, 
 From Newton to Crocker, from Science to Scrip. '■ 
 
 July, 1814. 
 
 PEACE TO THE WORLB OR, 
 
 THE BRITISH SONG. 
 
 Peace to the world ! — the deed is done 
 The field is fought, the battle won ; 
 The Scourge of man his hour has run, 
 And foaming bites the ground. 
 
104 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Sons of the Seine, the Rhine, the Po ! 
 Shake off your chains, your sighs forego ; 
 True was the blow, th' associate blow. 
 And Heaven the union crown'd. 
 
 Peace to the world ! — to France be peace : 
 A liberal grant, and free release. 
 Such as the brave, when tumults cease, 
 
 May of the brave implore : 
 Fall'n is the foe, the foe of all ; 
 When fight the brave, 'tis ne'er t' enthrall ; 
 Bourbon obeys his country's call. 
 
 And France is France once more. 
 
 Peace to the world, and mutual love ! 
 And mutual bonds, by wisdom wove, — 
 Vows sworn below, and seal'd above 
 
 The concord guarantee : 
 This be the pledge — With equal hand 
 To uphold the rights of every land. 
 To guard the weak, the strong withstand. 
 
 And let the world be free. 
 
 Peace to the world ! But let the world. 
 Where breeze has ever sail unfurl'd, 
 Where human blood has ever purl'd, 
 
 Enjoy its equal claim : 
 O, shame to Europe ! should the race. 
 Whose sufferings load her with disgrace, 
 Should Afric's sons not find a place, — 
 
 To Christian Europe shame. 
 
 Peace to the world ! — Be France the first 
 To echo round the general burst ; 
 France heaviest bound, and most accurst : 
 But should she prove untrue ; 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 105 
 
 Just freed from Slavery, should she rave 
 Herself to ravage and enslave, 
 Or, to fetter others cross the wave, 
 Soon will her plagues renew ! 
 
 Peace to the world ! — be this our prayer. 
 But every ill may Britain dare, 
 Rather than yield her generous care 
 
 For Afric's helpless throng : 
 Peace to the world— good will to all, 
 And free as Britain be the Ball ; 
 We ask but this your coasts t' im thrall ; 
 
 Then join the BRrxisH Song. 
 
 MARGARETTA TO REBECCA. 
 
 January \st, 1817. 
 
 The year is gone ! — another year. 
 
 With all its changeful hours : 
 But, through each change, we still are here, 
 
 And every wish is ours. 
 
 The year is come ! — another year — 
 
 As changeful as the last ; 
 O ! may the hand still guide us here 
 
 That led us through the past. 
 
 Change through all being there must be ; 
 
 For such is nature's law : 
 But nature's self must change, should we 
 
 Our early love withdraw. 
 
106 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ON THE DEATH OF THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF WALES. 
 
 November 1817. 
 
 There was a star whose opening eye 
 Mid vapours rose o'er Britain's sky : 
 Yet clear'd the vapours as it pass'd, 
 And soon a peerless lustre cast. 
 
 It was a star whose influence shed 
 The balm of hope o'er every head : 
 The nation eyed it from afar, 
 And bless'd that young and rising star. 
 
 Amid the train of yesternight 
 I saw that gem of purest light : 
 To-night I sought its lucid car — 
 I sought, but there was no such star. 
 
 It is not fallen : — O rather say. 
 Onward it shoots its shining way : 
 It is not fallen — 'tis only given 
 To radiate in a brighter heaven. 
 
 TO MY LITTLE GRANDSON, J 
 
 071 his Jirst noticing and being riveted by the appearance of 1 
 the Moon, llth December, 1818. y 
 
 Infant sage ! still gaze above ; , 
 
 They are realms of peace and love : 
 
 Let the Moon's aerial dance \ 
 
 All thy little powers entrance ; 
 
 And while young wonder fills thine eyes, 
 
 I will, too, philosophize. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 107 ^ 
 
 Thou, like her, art new to earth. 
 Still rejoicing in thy birth : I 
 
 With silver front and eye of glee, 
 Fair, and fresh, and pure as she ; 
 Sent a little space to cheer 
 
 With thy light our humble sphere. 
 
 I 
 
 Long, O ! long, sweet babe, as now. 
 May no gloom o'ercast thy brow : I 
 
 No star malignant, from above, 1 
 
 Eclipse that purple light of love ; \ 
 
 Nor earth's low clouds, or storms, defile 
 The lustre of that heavenly smile. 
 
 And when thy course beneath the sun 
 (For thou must wax and wane) is run, 
 
 Soft mayst thou sink to rest, and rise ^ 
 
 Still lovelier, shap'd in fairer skies, * 
 
 Where God's own beams the noontide pour, | 
 
 And suns and moons are known no more. i 
 
 Written and left behind at Buxton, on passing through it, 
 September 9th, 1823. 
 
 Where is the Spirit that bestows 
 
 This healing in the spring ? 
 Gives back the faded cheek its rose, 
 
 And makes the cripple sing? 
 
 Where is the Power that piles the hills. 
 
 Or splits their marble sides ? 
 With secret fires their caverns fills, 
 
 And leads their sparry tides? 
 
108 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 O ye, who in propitious hour 
 Your course have hither bent — 
 
 He is that Spirit — his the Power 
 Your tottering steps that sent. 
 
 Behold his mercy and his might ; 
 
 Pause, tremble, and adore : 
 And let his love your praise excite, 
 
 And tempt his wrath no more ! 
 
 Many of those who have watched the progress of our 
 periodical literature during the present century, will 
 have traced the history, and regretted the extinction, of 
 "The British Review;" which, from the beginning 
 of 1811 to nearly the end of 1822, was published quar- 
 terly, under the able superintendence of Mr. Roberts, 
 the author of the "Looker On" To this Review 
 Mr. Good, who had long cherished habits of the closest 
 intimacy with Mr. Roberts, contributed several articles ; 
 of which, however, I have not been able to obtain a 
 complete list. I need not hesitate to assign to him 
 A Review of the Physiognomical System of Drs. Gall 
 and Spurzheim, in No. 11. — An Account of Townsend's 
 Character of Moses ; and of Professor Adelung's Mi- 
 thridates, or History of Languages, in No. 12. — A Re- 
 view of Dr. Marshman's Chinese Grammar; and another 
 of Sismondi on Spanish Literature, in No. 13. Several 
 other articles were jointly contributed by these literary 
 friends ; but I am not able precisely to specify them, 
 and feel no temptation to deal in conjecture. 
 
 In the year 1820, Mr. Good, pursuant to the advice 
 of several medical friends, and the earnest entreaty 
 of others, entered upon a more elevated department 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 109 
 
 of professional duty, that of a physician. His diploma 
 of M. D., which was from Marisclial College, Aberdeen, 
 is dated July lOth in that year, and is expressed in 
 terms of peculiar honour, differing from the usual lan- 
 guage of that class of formularies. He was also 
 elected an honorary member of the Medical and Chi- 
 rurgical Society of Aberdeen, November 2d, 1820. The 
 news of this election was communicated to him from 
 Aberdeen by his friend Sir James M'Grigor, Inspector- 
 General of the Army Medical Board, who characterizes 
 this Society " as the principal medical institution 
 in the north of Scotland, including among its members 
 the most able professional men in that part of the 
 empire ; a society of which he had been a member for 
 30 years."* 
 
 Dr. Good announced to his friend Dr. Drake, about 
 this time, that he might be regarded as " having begun 
 the world afresh ; but he hoped with good omens and 
 a fair breeze." In February 1821, after speaking of 
 various professional topics, in another letter to the 
 same gentleman he adds, in the frank confidence of 
 friendship — 
 
 " I have now tried my new fortune for nearly six 
 months, and only wish I had felt it prudent to have 
 
 * Dr. Good was a member of several other learned and scientific bodies, 
 at home and abroad. The dates of admission, so far as I have been able to 
 ascertain them, I shall specify in this note. 
 
 Member of the College of Surgeons (as before-mentioned) Nov. 7th, 1793 : 
 Ceased to be such, October 11th, 1824. 
 
 Fellow of the Royal Society, 1805 or 1806. 
 
 LinnjEan Society of Philadelphia, April, 1810. 
 
 New York Historical Society, Oct. 26th, 1813. 
 
 Literary and Philosophical Society of New York, May 9th, 1816. 
 
 Permissio Medicorum CoUegii Regalis, Lond. Jun. 25, 1822. 
 
 Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, April, 1824. 
 
 New York Horticultural Society, Sept. 7th, 1824. 
 
110 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 commenced earlier, for it has succeeded beyond my 
 best expectations. All my old circle of patients are in 
 turn patients still, without a single exception, so far as 
 I know; and I have added very considerably to the 
 number, as well as have to reply to a tolerably exten- 
 sive range of advice from the country ; so that my 
 hands are pretty full still. I have also the satisfaction 
 of finding that my late partner is gratified with his 
 prospects. . . . You will be surprised to learn that 
 almost the first patient I had, on entering on my new 
 department, was Sir Gilbert Blane, who paid me this 
 compliment, as I feel it to be, from mere friendship." 
 
 Indeed, the new direction of Dr. Good's medical occu- 
 pations scarcely for a single week produced any dimi- 
 nution of his labour; and after a very short interval 
 his judgment was more sought, and his professional 
 engagements more numerous, than at any preceding 
 period. 
 
 From the period of Dr. Good's assuming the practice 
 of a physician, he did not cease* to study, but gave to 
 his leading literary occupations an appropriate direc- 
 tion. Probably indeed, looking forward to this, he laid 
 down the general plan of a system of Nosology so early 
 as the year 1808. The work, however, impeded as it 
 of necessity was by the author's other pursuits, and 
 receiving occasional modifications in minutioe as he 
 
 * In this respect his judgment and his habits accorded fully with what has 
 been recently expressed by a scientific medical writer, (I believe Dr. A. T. 
 Thomson,) in " Thoughts on Medical Education," addressed to the Council 
 of the University of London. " I am of opinion (says he) that the moment 
 a practitioner ceases to be a student, he is no longer worthy of the confidence 
 of the public ; and that the life of a physician can only be truly useful and 
 honourable, when it is unremittingly employed in study, in determining the 
 tmth of theoretical opinions by observation, and in proving the value of prac- 
 tical suggestions by the test of experience." 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. Ill 
 
 advanced, was not published until the end of the year 
 1820, when it made its appearance in a thick octavo 
 volume, under the title of " A Physiological Sijstem of 
 Nosology, with a corrected and simplified Nomencla- 
 ture." 
 
 No sooner was this work issued from the press, than 
 its indefatigable author commenced a still more exten- 
 sive, elaborate, and valuable performance, which was 
 given to the world in 1822, in four large volumes octavo, 
 entitled " Tlie Study of Medicine." The object of the 
 author in this great work was to unite the different 
 branches of medical science, which had usually been 
 treated separately, into a general system. His success 
 was as remarkable as the attempt was bold. He re- 
 ceived the most lively and gratifying panegyrics from 
 Sir Henry Halford, Sir James M'Grigor, Sir John Webb, 
 Sir Gilbert Blane, Drs. Perceval (of Dublin,) Baillie, 
 James Johnson, Duncan (of Edinburgh,) and others 
 among the most eminent physicians in Great Britain ; 
 from Drs. Hosack and Francis, of New York, and 
 several men of considerable eminence on the continent 
 of Europe. The sale of the volumes was very rapid ; a 
 circumstance which stimulated the author to prepare 
 an enlarged and improved edition, which issued from 
 the press in 1825, in five volumes octavo. His own 
 copy of this edition contains several notes and im- 
 provements, condensed, however, into the smallest pos- 
 sible space, with a view to a third edition. 
 
 In the spring of 1826, Dr. Good found time to publish 
 the lectures which he delivered at the Surrey Institution. 
 They are contained in three volumes, entitled " The 
 Book of Nature ;" of the contents of which, as well as 
 of their author's other publications, I shall present 
 
112 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 accounts in a chronological succession. Other literary 
 pursuits, which still more engaged his heart and affec- 
 tions, he carried on simultaneously ; but the results 
 of these he did not live to lay before the world. 
 
 During the greater part of his life his health had been 
 remarkably good ; the cheerfulness of his disposition 
 and the activity of his habits, having I think contri- 
 buted to the preservation of a tone of constitution 
 naturally robust. But, if I do not mistake, (on a point 
 indeed where it may be presumptuous in me to offer 
 an opinion,) the change of his habits, when he ceased to 
 visit his patients on foot, was too sudden to be other- 
 wise than injurious. At the same time, his incessant 
 application to the two great works of which I have just 
 been speaking, augmented the evil ; and his friends 
 soon saw with concern, what I am persuaded he nearly 
 as soon felt, that the corporeal vigour which had car- 
 ried him, almost unconscious of fatigue, through so 
 much labour, was now beginning to give way. He 
 had for some time learnt, however, that the correct 
 manner of estimating the duration of human existence 
 was, "not to compute by the course of the sun, but by 
 the zodiac and circle of a man's occupations and his 
 virtues." By the grace of God he had rendered scien- 
 tific and literary knowledge subservient to a knowledge 
 of a higher order ; he had sought for intelligence at the 
 Great Fountain of Intellect, and had found Him " whom 
 to hiow is life eternal:" so that, though he contemplated 
 the dissolution of nature and an exchange of worlds 
 with deep solemnity, it was, happily, upon the best of 
 principles, unmingled with dread. He did not, like one 
 of the most celebrated of the ancient philosophers, 
 speak of death as of all frightful things the most 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 113 
 
 frightful* but as that which cures not only infirmity 
 but mortality itself; firmly believing that, through the 
 strength of Him who " giveth them the victory," the 
 saints conquer death by suffering it. 
 
 A few extracts from letters written to his valued 
 relative Dr. Walton, and his early friend Dr. Drake, 
 between the year 1821 and the time of his death, will 
 shew with what steadiness and permanency he antici- 
 pated the approach of that great change, and with 
 what christian correctness of sentiment he prepared 
 for it. 
 
 Thus, in a letter to Dr. Walton, bearing date April 
 15th, 1822, he says — " I have indeed been very poorly 
 for several weeks, and during a part of that time some- 
 what seriously ill. Too much mental excitement in a 
 work I have long been engaged upon, and which I 
 cannot now finish till June, if I should be able even 
 then, though I have laboured to do so with all my 
 might, has thrown me off the balance of firm health 
 with which I have hitherto been so highly favoured, 
 and given me a severe fit of gout, accompanied with a 
 considerable degree of fever. There is, however, a 
 better and far more instructive way of viewing all 
 such evils, and which I am very desirous to adopt on 
 the present occasion ; and that is, as a providential 
 chastisement for much that has been wrong, and a pro- 
 vidential warning as to the future. In both respects 
 I hope I have contemplated it ; and though not with 
 
 * The language of Aristotle, Ilavrwv tujv tpo(3epwv (po^tpwrarov, has 
 always seemed to me to furnish one of the most affecting commentaries upon 
 St. Paul's description, Eph. ii. 12, " Having no hope, and without God in 
 the world," that has ever been penned : for what hope can any thinking man 
 cherish through life, who looks upon its close as thus terrible, either in itself 
 or in its consequences ? 
 
114 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 all the good it ought to produce, yet I humbly trust it 
 has not been sent altogether in vain. The great error 
 is, that as we get better, and the discipline becomes 
 lighter, the impression is too apt to wear ofF. I trust 
 it will not, now, do so altogether ; but I know and feel 
 the danger; and would infinitely rather suffer again, 
 than that I should lose the important lesson." 
 
 In the same letter, having mentioned Dr. Drake's 
 publications, "Winter Evenings," and "Evenings in 
 Autumn," he remarks — "Two more seasons remain for 
 him. — The grand point is, to have the life close well at 
 last ! But the last may be nearer than we expect : 
 and hence he only can hope, and hope liumhhj too, 
 who endeavours to improve every season and every 
 hour. 
 
 ' Carpe diem quam minime credula postero,' — 
 
 is a noble motto at all times ; but how truly ennobled 
 when raised from the dust of paganism into the sub- 
 limer atmosphere of revealed religion," 
 
 Writing to Dr. Drake, to thank him for the same 
 books. May 5th, 1822, after speaking with much plea- 
 sure of the moral and devotional spirit which pervades 
 some of the papers, he proceeds — "These latter feel- 
 ings and subjects are as they should be : and I am 
 exceedingly rejoiced to behold your views so consonant 
 with my own. The great objects for which we were 
 sent into the world, and the great duties we have to 
 perform here, are too apt to be forgotten in the hey-day, 
 and amidst the distractions, of youth ; though there is 
 no period in which the 'heart' requires to be 'kept with 
 so much diligence :' but happy is he who is led to take 
 a correct view of himself in time, and who grows sober 
 in the sober ' Evenings of Autumn,' rightly estimating 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 115 
 
 the world, duly prizing the means of grace which the 
 bible unfolds to him, and preparing himself for another 
 and a better state of being. I lament greatly the spirit 
 of atheism which is abroad, and especially among the 
 professors and practitioners of medicine ; and I am 
 glad to see you taking a stand against the unholy tribe 
 of scoffers." 
 
 In another letter to the same, dated August 21st, 
 1822, after speaking of " gout, and dyspepsy, and head- 
 ache, and feverish nights," which he imputes to the 
 labour and confinement occasioned by his " Study of 
 Medicine," he says — " On Friday I purpose to set off 
 for Matlock, with my dear wife and daughter, for about 
 ten days, for the purpose of recreation. You, 1 appre- 
 hend, are still as busy as ever, and will no doubt travel 
 farther in your easy chair, and probably over still more 
 picturesque and romantic landscapes, than we shall do 
 in our chariot. May you never travel over any but 
 may administer to you solid delight and satisfaction, — 
 tranquillizing or elevating the animal spirits, and read- 
 ing a useful lesson to the mind ! In one sense, and 
 that the most important, we are all travellers and pil- 
 grims, journeying to an unknown country, and at a 
 rate we cannot check, though we may precipitate it. 
 May we, my dear friend, be enabled to finish our course 
 with joy, and to enter into the rest that remaineth, 
 and ' remaineth' alone 'for the people of God.' " 
 
 January 31st, 1823 : on recovering from a " very 
 severe attack of gout in both hands and feet," he writes 
 to Dr. Walton thus : — By the goodness of God I am 
 now much better, and I hope, by care, and a greater 
 degree of attention to myself than I have hitherto 
 given, to attain shortly to a firmer degree of health 
 I 2 
 
1]6 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 than I have enjoyed for many months. The important 
 point is, to regard all these reverses as corrective visi- 
 tations, which most of us (and I am sure I can speak 
 for myself) stand repeatedly in need of, to wean us 
 from this world, and quicken us in our preparation for 
 another : to empty us of ourselves, and to fill us, by 
 the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit, with an 
 humble trust in the merits of Him who is the sacrifice 
 and propitiation for the sins of the whole world : and 
 should it accomplish this — then indeed will the cloud 
 we are made to pass through descend upon us in a 
 fruitful and refreshing rain, and amply answer its 
 purpose." 
 
 Again, in a letter to Dr. Drake, December 11th, 1824, 
 after expressing his gratification that the Doctor should 
 have thought so highly of his recent work, and exerted 
 himself to make its value known to others, he adds — 
 " But I know the danger of even honourable reputation, 
 and I fear the Circean cup. The richest pearl in the 
 Christian's crown of graces is humility ; and when I 
 look back upon myself, and examine my own heart, 
 and see how little progress I have made in that which 
 it most imports us to study, I am sure there is no man 
 breathing who has more cause, not only for humility, 
 but for abasement, than myself: for how often have I 
 neglected the cistern for the stream, and have been 
 pursuing a bubble, instead of giving up all my feeble 
 powers and possessions in purchase of 'the pearl of 
 great price.' What a mercy not to have been allowed 
 to persevere in that neglect !" 
 
 On Sept. 19th, 1825, he writes thus to Dr. Walton :— 
 " I have reason to be greatly thankful that I am much 
 better ; and if the complaint should not shift into any 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 117 
 
 other quarter (and I trust it will not do so) 1 may hope 
 to be well in a day or two : and if so — (still an if!) — 
 and who would wish it to be otherwise ; — who, that 
 knows any thing of things as they are — would wish to 
 be the arbiter of his own life ?" 
 
 In August, 1S2G, his health having been greatly 
 shaken, and that of Mrs. Good being very indifferent, it 
 was thought expedient that they should go to Leaming- 
 ton. On this occasion he again addresses his esteemed 
 relative at Birdbrook. " August 25th, 182().— The die 
 is cast, and we are going to Leamington. May a gra- 
 cious Providence render its breezes balmy and its waters 
 healthful ! And, above all, direct me how best to de- 
 vote whatever time may be yet allotted me, to the 
 glory of God and the good of myself and others. I 
 have trifled with time too much already ; it is high 
 time to awake and be sober, and to prepare to leave it 
 for eternity! Every moment ought to be precious." 
 
 On his return from Leamington he wrote to me in a 
 similar strain, earnestly entreating an early meeting of 
 our respective families, reminding me of the lapse of 
 time with regard to both of us, and pathetically ex- 
 pressing his own persuasion that our remaining inter- 
 views would be few. In October we met ; but it was 
 in a large party, on a public occasion. We contrived, 
 however, to sit together ; and his conversation was, as 
 usual, vivacious and full of information. When we 
 parted, there was in his manner an unusual mixture of 
 cheerfulness and solemnity. He again urged me to see 
 him again soon ; but we separated to meet no more on 
 earth. 
 
 During the last three months of his life, his strength 
 declined rapidly, exciting much solicitude in the minds 
 
118 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of Mrs. Good and his family, but no alarm of imme- 
 diate danger. On the arrival of the Christmas holi- 
 days, Dr. Good, by whose short but affectionate visits 
 to his beloved daughter Mri^. Neale,* and her children, 
 he received and imparted delight, expressed a more 
 than usual anxiety to go thither again ; although he 
 was so much indisposed before he commenced his 
 journey, as to occasion serious apprehensions of his 
 inability to go through it. He reached his daughter's 
 house in a state of great exhaustion ; but, after a short 
 time, rallied sufficiently to distribute amongst his grand- 
 children, who, as usual, gathered round him, the books 
 and other appropriate presents, which his affection, 
 watchful and active to the end, had assigned to each. 
 He then retired to his chamber, not for repose and 
 recovery, but to experience the solemnities of the last 
 awful scene, and the transition from his growing infir- 
 mities to the regions where there is "no more pain," 
 the world of pure and happy spirits. The touching 
 but instructive circumstances attending the death-bed 
 of my friend, consistently with the arrangement which 
 I have prescribed to myself, I shall connect with the 
 development of his religious character in the third sec- 
 tion of these memoirs. Let it suffice to say, now, that 
 his last illness, an inflammation of the bladder, was 
 short, but exceedingly severe, and that it terminated 
 his valuable life, on Tuesday, the 2d of January, 1827, 
 in the 63d year of his age. 
 
 Only three days previously to his death, a young 
 lady who was alarmingly ill, but then capable of being 
 moved from one place to another, was desirous to have 
 
 * Residing at the village of Sheppeitoii in Middlesex, about 18 miles 
 from London. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 119 
 
 the benefit of his medical advice. Dr. Good's mind 
 had evinced some aberrations on account of the fever 
 and the intense pain which he suffered ; but at the 
 time this request was made known to him, he experi- 
 enced less pain, and was tolerably composed. He 
 therefore agreed to see her, with Mr. Cooper, one of his 
 own medical attendants. The young lady was accord- 
 ingly conducted to his bed- side, and after he had made 
 the usual inquiries, with his wonted acumen, considera- 
 tion, and kindness, he conferred with Mr. C. on her 
 case. He proposed a complete, and, as the event 
 proved, for a season, a very beneficial change in the 
 treatment : he wrote a prescription, which bears the 
 usual character of his hand-writing, and I am assured 
 is marked by the peculiar elegance which always distin- 
 guished his pharmaceutic formulae. 
 
 Those habits of order, the formation of which consti- 
 tuted a part of his education, and the consolidation of 
 which was so greatly aided by the circumstances of 
 his apprenticeship, were evinced through life. The 
 arrangements of his wardrobe, his books, his accounts, 
 his papers, his manuscripts, his time, all bore the 
 stamp of this peculiarity. Giving, as he did, from 
 principle, to his medical engagements his first thoughts 
 and chief care in the arrangements of each day, and 
 finding, from the very nature of the profession, that 
 it presented hourly interruptions to his best-formed 
 schemes ; still he had the power of smoothing down 
 the irregularities thus incessantly occurring, and of 
 carrying on his various pursuits with the order to 
 which I have more than once adverted. After his 
 decease, the effects of this love of method and orderly 
 arrangement were more than ever evinced. For though 
 
120 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 his professional and other occupations continued to 
 employ him daily, until the very eve of his journey to 
 Shepperton ; yet, when his papers came to be examined, 
 they were found with labels and indorsements, describ- 
 ing the nature of each packet, — which was of little, 
 which of much, which of immediate, which of remote 
 consequence, which related to his profession, which to 
 his banker, which to the concerns of his daughter 
 Mrs. Neale, which to any of his friends, which to pro- 
 posed new editions of some of his works, which to a 
 work just ready for the press — as completely assorted, 
 described, and specified, as if for the last six months 
 of his existence he had neglected every thing else, and 
 acted with unremitting reference to the injunction — 
 " Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die and not 
 live." 
 
 The happy effects of his love of order, and delight in 
 occupation, and of his cheerful flow of spirits, were 
 indeed uniformly and almost constantly manifest, and 
 especially in his deportment in domestic life. Many 
 men of great research cannot experience interruption 
 of any kind without obvious discomposure and irrita- 
 tion ; but this was never the case with Dr. Good. For 
 though occupation was his element, and he was always 
 remarkable for the diligent employment of every minute 
 which he could devote to literature or to the study and 
 practice of medicine ; yet from these he always passed 
 to social enjoyments, whether with his friends or the 
 members of his family, with the utmost facility, and a 
 corresponding relish. With this ability to free himself 
 from incessant absorption of thought, his society was 
 usually productive of pleasure to those who enjoyed 
 his acquaintance ; but most of all to Mrs. Good and 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 121 
 
 his daughters, with whom he delighted to engage in 
 instructive cheerful conversation, and to whom he 
 would often (much more often, indeed, than they who 
 knew the variety and the pressure of his engagements 
 would think possible) read any new and interesting 
 work which they were anxious to know, expatiating 
 upon its beauties or defects as he proceeded. 
 
 But, without trusting myself to enter into minutiae, 
 I shall assist the reader in forming his estimate of the 
 private character of my deceased friend, by inserting a 
 few passages from a letter which I have received from 
 his eldest daughter, Mrs Neale. 
 
 "You will doubtless have learnt much from my 
 mother and sister, of my dear father's affectionate 
 deportment in his family, and especially of his parental 
 kindness ; yet I cannot avoid mentioning one way in 
 which, during my childhood, this was frequently mani- 
 fested towards myself. My dear father, after a hurried 
 meal at dinner, occupying but a very few minutes, 
 would often spend a considerable portion of what 
 should have been his resting time, in teaching me to 
 play at battledore, or some active game, thinking the 
 exercise conducive to my health." 
 
 " I never saw in any individual so rare a union as he 
 possessed, of thorough enjoyment of what are usually 
 termed the good things of this life, with the most per- 
 fect indifference respecting them, when they were not 
 within his reach. In the articles of food and drink 
 he always took, with relish and cheerfulness, such deli- 
 cacies as the kindness of a friend, or accident, might 
 throw in his way ; but he was quite as well satisfied 
 with the plainest provision that could be set before 
 him ; often, indeed, seeming unconscious of the difi'er- 
 
122 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ence. His love of society made him most to enjoy his 
 meals with his family, or among friends; yet as his 
 employments of necessity produced uncertainty in the 
 time of his return home, his constant request was to 
 have something set apart for him, but on no account to 
 wait for his arrival. 
 
 '• I perhaps am best qualified to speak of his extreme 
 kindness to all his grandchildren. One example will 
 serve to shew that it was self-denying and active. 
 My fourth little one, when an infant of two months old, 
 was dangerously ill with the hooping-cough. My father 
 was informed of this. It was in the beginning of a cold 
 winter, and we were living sixty miles from town, in a 
 retired village in Essex. Immediately on receiving the 
 news of our affliction, my father quitted home ; and 
 what was our surprise, at eleven o'clock on a very dark 
 night, to hear a chaise drive fast up to thfe door, and to 
 see our affectionate parent step out of it. He had been 
 detained, and narrowly escaped an overthrow, by the 
 driver having mistaken his way, and attempting to 
 drive through rough ploughed fields. We greatly feared 
 that he would suffer severely from an attack of the 
 gout, to which he had then become seriously subject, 
 and which was generally brought on by exposure to 
 cold and damp, such as he had experienced ; and we 
 urged, in consequence, the due precautions ; but Jiis 
 first care was to go at once to the nursery, ascertain 
 the real state of the disease, and prescribe for the 
 infant. 
 
 "Strangers have often remarked to me, that they 
 were struck with the afiectionate kindness with which 
 he encouraged all my dear children to ask him ques- 
 tions upon any subject, and the delight which he 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 123 
 
 exhibited when they manifested a desire to gain know- 
 ledge. Indeed I do not once remember to have heard 
 them silenced in their questions, however apparently 
 unseasonable the time, in a hasty manner, or without 
 some kind notice in answer. He never seemed annoyed 
 by any interruption which they occasioned, whether 
 during his studies, or while he was engaged in that 
 conversation which he so much enjoyed. Whenever he 
 silenced their questions by the promise of a future 
 answer, he regarded the promise as inviolable, and uni- 
 formly satisfied their inquiries on the first moment of 
 leisure, without waiting to be reminded by themselves 
 or others, of the expectations which he had thus excited. 
 These are simple domestic facts ; not perhaps suited to 
 every taste. But as they serve to illustrate character, 
 I transmit them, to be employed or not, as you may 
 think best." 
 
 Having presented these outline sketches from the 
 hand of a daughter, I cannot better terminate this por- 
 tion of my labour than by introducing another from the 
 hand of a friend.* 
 
 " I had long the happiness and honour of being 
 ranked among Dr. Good's intimate friends ; but our 
 intercourse was distinguished by no occurrences of 
 importance enough to be recorded. During our inti- 
 macy he was always busily engaged in some intellectual 
 or active employments for the benefit of humanity, 
 without neglecting any of the hourly calls upon his 
 friendship, his feeling, and his courtesy. I hardly 
 believe there has existed the person who, in the midst 
 of studies so severe, has maintained so kind a temper, 
 
 * Mr. Roberts, Editor of the British Review, &c. 
 
124 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and so constant a good nature. I have visited him 
 when laboriously occupied in mind, and when suffering 
 in body ; I have been with him at moments when his 
 temper has been exercised by ill treatment ; but I have 
 never witnessed in him any other frame of mind than 
 that of benevolent cheerfulness and christian compo- 
 sure. I shall carry the remembrance of him to my 
 grave, as of one in whose society some of my happiest 
 hours have passed, and whose example and conversa- 
 tion have afforded me many lessons of wisdom and 
 virtue." 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 125 
 
 Appendix to Section I. 
 
 In Richard Baxter's Instructive Memoirs of his Wife, there is 
 recorded a striking example of the formation and renewal of her 
 Covenant with God ; and from that time, until about the last fifty 
 years, solemn acts of self-dedication were very common among 
 persons of piety on their commencement of a religious course : 
 the advantages of such a mode of surrender, when deliberate, 
 cheerful, and cordial, having been forcibly depicted by several 
 writers, and especially by Dr. Doddridge, in the seventeenth 
 chapter of his " Rise and Progress ;" where also a specimen cf 
 such an instrument is exhibited. But of late the practice has, 
 1 apprehend, fallen almost entirely into disuse, except amongst 
 the Wesleyan Methodists. The specimen drawn up by Miss 
 Peyto, (note, page 5.) may therefore prove interesting to some 
 of the readers of this work. — 
 
 " O most merciful God ! For the sake of thy Son, I beseech 
 thee accept of me thy poor creature, now prostrating myself at 
 thy footstool. I have fallen from thee by mine iniquity, and am 
 by nature a child of death : but, of thine infinite grace, thou 
 hast promised grace to me in Christ, if I will but turn to thee with 
 all my heart. Therefore, upon the call of thy Gospel, I am now 
 come to submit myself to thy mercy. And because thou requirest, 
 as the condition of my peace with thee, that I should put away 
 my idols, and be at defiance with all thine enemies, which I ac- 
 knowledge I have wickedly sided with, against thee; I here, from 
 the bottom of my heart, renounce them all, firmly covenanting 
 with thee, not to allow myself in any known sin, but conscienti- 
 ously to use all the means that I know thou hast prescribed, for 
 the utter destruction of all my corruptions. And whereas I have 
 formerly inordinately and idolatrously let out my affections upon 
 the world, I do here resign my heart to thee that madest it, 
 humbly protesting before thy glorious Majesty, that it is the firm 
 resolution of my heart, and that I do unfeignedly desire grace 
 from thee, that when thou shalt call me hereunto, I may practise 
 this my resolution, through thy assistance, to forsake all that is 
 
126 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 dear unto me in this world, rather than to turn from thee into 
 the ways of sin ; and that I will watch against all its temptations, 
 whether of prosperity or adversity, lest they should withdraw my 
 heart from thee; beseeching thee also to help me against the 
 temptations of Satan, to whose wicked suggestions I resolve, by 
 thy grace, never to yield myself a servant. And because my own 
 righteousness is as nothing, I renounce all confidence therein, 
 and acknowledge that I am of myself a hopeless, helpless, un- 
 done creature, without righteousness or strength : and for as 
 much as thou hast of thy boundless mercy offered most gra- 
 ciously to be again my God, through Christ, if I would accept 
 of Thee : I call heaven and earth to record this day, that I do 
 here solemnly avouch thee for the Lord my God ; and with all 
 possible veneration, bowing the neck of my soul to thy most 
 Sacred Majesty, I do here take thee, Lord Jehovah, Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost, for my portion and chief good ; and give 
 up myself, body and soul, to be thy servant, promising and 
 vowing to serve thee in holiness and righteousness all the days 
 of my life. And since thou hast appointed the Lord Jesus 
 Christ the only means of coming unto thee, I do here, upon the 
 bended knees of my soul, accept of him as the only new and 
 living way, by which sinners may have access to thee ; and do 
 hereby solemnly join myself in covenant to him. O blessed 
 Jesus, I come to thee hungry, poor, wretched, and miserable, and 
 blind, and naked ; a guilty, condemned malefactor, and do here, 
 with all my power, accept thee for my head, and embrace thee 
 in all thy offices : I renounce my own worthiness, and do here 
 avow thee to be the Lord my righteousness : I renounce my own 
 wisdom, and do here take thee for mine only guide : I renounce 
 mine own will, and take thy will for my law : and since thou 
 hast told me that I must suffer if I will reign, I do here covenant 
 with thee to take my lot as it falls, with thee; and, by thy grace 
 assisting, to run all hazards with thee; verily supposing that 
 neither life nor death shall part between thee and me. And 
 because thou hast been pleased to give me thy holy laws as the 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 127 
 
 rule of my life, and the way in which I should walk to thy king- 
 dom, I do here willingly set my shoulder to thy burden, and, 
 subscribing to all thy laws, as holy, just, and good, I solemnly 
 take them as the rule of my life, of my words, thoughts, and 
 actions ; promising that though my flesh contradict and rebel, 
 yet I will endeavour to order and govern my whole life according 
 to thy directions, and will not allow myself in the neglect of any 
 thing that I know to be my duty. Only, because through the 
 frailty of my flesh I am subject to many failings, I am resolved 
 humbly to protest that unallowed miscarriages, contrary to the 
 settled bent and resolution of my heart, shall not make void this 
 covenant; for so thou hast said. Now, Almighty God, searcher 
 of hearts, thou knowest that I make this covenant with thee this 
 day, without any known guile or reservation, beseeching thee 
 that if thou espiest any flaw or falsehood therein, thou wouldst 
 discover it to me, and help me to do it aright. And now. Glory 
 be to thee, O God the Father, whom I shall be bold from this 
 day forward to call upon as my God and Father, that ever thou 
 shouldst find out such a way for the recovery of lost sinners : 
 Glory be to thee, O God the Son, who hast loved me and 
 washed me from my sins in thine own blood, and art now become 
 my Saviour and Redeemer : Glory be to thee, O God the Holy 
 Ghost, who by thine almighty power hast turned my heart from 
 sin to God! O dreadful Jehovah, the Lord God Omnipotent, 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ! Thou art now become my cove- 
 nant friend, and I, through thine infinite grace, am become thy 
 covenant servant : Amen ; so be it : and the covenant which I 
 have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. 
 
 " Sarah Peyto. Feb. 11, 1757." 
 
 " I do this day renew my covenant to be tlie Lord's, and to take him for 
 my only portion. "Sarah Peyto. April 14, 1739." 
 
 " I do again this day solemnly renew my covenant to be the Lord's ; begging 
 that by his grace I may continue faithful unto the end. 
 
 "Sarah Good. Feb. 6. 1762." 
 
 She died Feb. 17, 1766, as before mentioned, aged 29; so that she drew 
 up this striking document in the 20th year of her age. 
 
SECTION II. 
 
 REVIEW OF THE PRINCIPAL PUBLICATIONS OF :DR, GOOD, WITH ILLUS- 
 TRATIVE QUOTATIONS; ALSO AN ACCOUNT OF TWO IMPORTANT 
 WORKS WHICH HE HAD PREPARED FOR THE PRESS. 
 
 The circumstances and incidents which make a man 
 an author, are often widely diflferent from those which 
 make him a successful author. Necessity, vanity, 
 love of money, love of fame, and various other opera- 
 tive principles, may induce an individual to solicit the 
 public attention to his literary labours ; but unless he 
 possess in a greater or less degree the power to 
 instruct or to amuse, it is only by an extraordinary 
 coincidence of counter probabilities that he can obtain 
 even a moderate degree of the attention which he 
 solicits. Talent, knowledge, perseverance, and skill, 
 must be sedulously and successfully combined, in 
 order to the attainment and the preservation of literary 
 or scientific distinction. 
 
 " Qui cupit optatem cursu contingere metam, 
 Multa tulit fecitque puer." Hor. 
 
 It has frequently been remarked, since the time ot 
 Lord Bacon,* that to read, write, and converse, in due 
 proportion, constitutes the great art of success in a man 
 of letters. The learning of a recluse too often fails 
 
 * " Reading makes a full man, conversation a ready man, and writing 
 an exact man." Bacon's Essays. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 129 
 
 him, because, for want of converse with men, he knows 
 not how to allow for the difficulties of ignorance. 
 Thus, Boerhaave remarked that most of the writers on 
 chemistry before his time, were unintelligible to the 
 bulk of students, because they presupposed their 
 readers to possess degrees of knowledge which they 
 had not acquired. It often happens, too, with such, 
 that having thought too much in one train, they are 
 like persons acquainted with only one road, who soon 
 become bewildered when taken into a new path. On 
 the other hand, he whose delight is chiefly in society, 
 and whose great aim is to cultivate the arts of conver- 
 sation or of debate, soon acquires a distaste for the 
 employments of the study, and probably seeking rather 
 to shine than to convince or to instruct, he becomes 
 loose as a reasoner, or satisfies himself with that 
 which may perhaps have silenced others. Thus the 
 copiousness and facility resulting from mere conversa- 
 tion, or from oral dispute, may too naturally be often 
 found at the utmost distance from accuracy and 
 truth. 
 
 An accomplished author, then, will be anxious, not 
 only to possess correct sentiments on the subjects 
 which he proposes to treat, but the power of express- 
 ing them with efficiency at least, if not with elegance ; 
 that he may most agreeably impart and widely diffuse 
 the knowledge which he has acquired. In order to 
 this, while he will have sought to profit by frequent 
 intercourse with men of varied talents and degrees of 
 information, he will not have failed to attend to the 
 art of composition : and if, as was the case with our 
 author at the commencement of his course, he shall 
 have written many pages and many essays apparently 
 
 K 
 
130 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 in vain, he will have the satisfaction to know, in after 
 life, that while others have entirely failed, in conse- 
 quence of being either "full without readiness, or 
 ready without exactness," his own productions have 
 been appreciated by the public at their due value, and 
 have served to improve the taste, extend the know- 
 ledge, or confirm the nobler principles, of those who 
 have attentively perused them. 
 
 Dr. Good's earlier productions which met the public 
 eye, except some of the pieces of lighter poetry which 
 I have specified in the former part of this work, were 
 political. Of these I have not been able to obtain 
 copies : but I understand that they were written to 
 serve a temporary purpose, and would excite little, if 
 any, interest among readers of the present day. 
 
 DISEASES OF PRISONS, &C. 
 
 In the year 1795 he published tw o medical essays, 
 which were exceedingly well received by the pro- 
 fession, and served, as I have before remarked, to 
 make him known as a man of talent and research. 
 
 The first of these, " A Dissertation on the Diseases of 
 Prisons and Poor- Houses," was published at the 
 request of the Medical Society of London, having 
 obtained their prize. It is printed in duodecimo, and 
 divided into three sections, which contain, 1st. Pre- 
 liminary Observations, and a short sketch of the 
 history of prisons and poor-houses, and of the chief 
 defects in their structure, economy, and discipline. 
 2dly. A history of the diseases most frequently ob- 
 served to occur in such places, with their remedies 
 and general mode of treatment. 3dly. An account of 
 the best plans to be adopted for preventing the recur- 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 131 
 
 Fence of snch diseases in future. Many of the details 
 in this little volume are very instructive, and well 
 deserved the attention both of magistrates, and of the 
 medical visitors of gaols and workhouses., at that time. 
 But the benevolent exertions of the great Howard, 
 and of others who have happily caught something of 
 the same spirit, have led to such considerable im- 
 provements during the last thirty years, (to which, 
 indeed, the hints of our author not a little contributed,) 
 that there is now no necessity to dwell upon the facts 
 which he enumerates. 
 
 The following quotation, however, will be read with 
 interest by all who look beyond the mere point of 
 health, important as it is, and especially by those 
 whose admiration has been excited by the pious 
 exertions of Mrs. Fry, and other benevolent ladies, 
 the advantages of which are here not incorrectly 
 depicted by a long anticipation. 
 
 " I cannot, in this place, avoid mentioning, though it 
 is not altogether connected with a medical treatise, the 
 propriety there is in the appointment of an officiating 
 clergyman, in all prisons at least. To a mind simply 
 humane, there is something extremely indecorous in 
 permitting a criminal to live and die without either 
 religious reproof or consolation. But there is some- 
 thing more than indecorous in the case of penitentiary 
 houses, there is something radically v/rong and im- 
 politic. If the criminal be sentenced to a confinement 
 here for four or five years, and that with daily and 
 regular returns of labour, and if these returns of 
 labour be supposed insufiicient to reclaim him, and 
 introduce into his future life a habit of industry 
 and honest exertion, how much more probable is it 
 k2 
 
132 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 that he will be reclaimed, when the additional and 
 more energetic power of principle is added to that 
 of habit? when, for the same jjeriod of time, the 
 effect of religion has been regularly and duly tried, 
 and superadded to the effect of regular and constant 
 employment ? 
 
 "Above all, more especially in the cases of poor- 
 houses and charity-schools, I could wish the ladies 
 in the country would more warmly and frequently 
 interest themselves. The claim of benevolence, and 
 every soft affection of the heart, is peculiarly their 
 own : and wherever they have thus acted, consi- 
 derable benefit has, in every instance, accrued. It 
 has done so at Frankfort ; it has done so at Dunbar ; 
 and, above all, at the village of Cardington, in Bed- 
 fordshire, to which I have already adverted with 
 much satisfaction : and, in fine, it has done so, and 
 will do so, wherever their friendly interposition is 
 exercised ; the institution will flourish, the concerns 
 of morality and religion will prevail, the grand object 
 of this dissertation will be attained, and the poor 
 will be cheerful and happy." 
 
 An appendix to this volume contains a " Case of 
 Preternatural Fcetation, with some observations on 
 the phoenomena." This case occurred at Sudbury; 
 but the technical description of it I omit, as it would 
 be principally interesting to medical men ; for whom 
 the author himself has given an abridged account in 
 his " Study of Medicine," vol. v. p. 31. 2d edition. 
 
 HISTORY OF MEDICINE. 
 
 I have already (p. 64, &c.) detailed the principal 
 circumstances which occasioned the formation of the 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 133 
 
 "Pharmaceutic Association" and of Dr. Good's 
 " History of Medicine, so far as it relates to the profes- 
 sion of the apothecary." This work is in duodecimo, 
 and is comprised in 255 pages. It is divided into 
 four sections. 
 
 In Section I. tlie author treats of the state of medi- 
 cine, in reference to the apothecary, among the Greeks, 
 Romans, Arabians, the earlier ages of France, Italy, 
 and Germany. The immediate occupation of the apo- 
 thecary in those several countries at the respective 
 periods spoken of, and the rank which he obtained 
 among the different branches of the medical profes- 
 sion. The existence of any such occupation as that 
 of the modern druggist, is investigated and denied, 
 and the quarter is traced from whence the apothe- 
 cary was supplied with the drugs of which he stood 
 in need. 
 
 Section II. is devoted to the origin of medicine, and 
 especially of the profession of the apothecary in Great 
 Britain. The different charters and acts of parliament 
 which have successively been obtained relative to 
 medicine, are traced ; and the knavery and ignorance 
 exposed, of multitudes of medical practitioners, from 
 the universal incompetency of those public edicts, &c. 
 to prevent abuses. The origin of the occupation of 
 the druggist is investigated, as well as the source 
 from whence apothecaries previously derived their 
 drugs. 
 
 In Section III. the author explains the necessity of 
 the profession of the apothecary to the nation at large, 
 and the evils to which the profession and the public 
 were then exposed. The origin of the General Phar- 
 maceutic Association is traced, and an entertaining 
 
134 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 account is given of its correspondence with medical 
 men in all parts of the kingdom, and of several of the 
 monstrous evils thus brought to light. 
 
 Section IV. contains observations on the principles 
 of action adopted by the Pharmaceutic Association, 
 and a vindication of them, as consistent with general 
 justice and policy, and essentially calculated to pro- 
 mote the welfare of the nation generally, by preventing 
 the profession of medicine from sinking into contempt, 
 and giving to that department of it which depends 
 upon the genuineness and purity of its drugs, greater 
 efl&cacy and certainty. 
 
 The work, though comparatively small, exhibits 
 strong evidences of the author's activity and powers 
 of research. Though it was obviously drawn together 
 in haste, to meet the exigencies of a particular occa- 
 sion, it contains many proofs of extensive reading, 
 even in that early period of Dr. Good's progress. 
 Much of the information comprised within its pages 
 was then known but to few even of the most active of 
 medical men ; but the substance of it has since been 
 frequently introduced into our Cyclopaedias, and other 
 repositories of general knowledge, and now constitutes 
 a part of that rich stock of theoretical and practical 
 truth, which is possessed by the very numerous 
 liberally educated men, who, in this age of intellectual 
 impulse, adorn the medical profession. 
 
 TRANSLATION OF THE SONG OF SONGS. 
 
 In endeavouring to ascertain the expediency of a 
 new translation of the Holy Scriptures, or of any 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 135 
 
 portion of them, into the English language, some 
 inquiry must be made as to the purity and accuracy of 
 the Authorized Version, which has obtained such 
 general currency throughout the British realms, and, I 
 believe, every part of the world where the English is 
 the vernacular tongue. This is a question of grave 
 and even solemn import, which ought to be examined 
 with the utmost sobriety and caution, and without 
 prejudice. Now, in reference to this inquiry, we may, 
 at once, advert to a very curious fact ; whicli is this : 
 Between the year 1535, the epoch of the original publi- 
 cation of the English Bible, and 1611, the date of pub- 
 lication of the Authorized Version under the sanction 
 of King James I., the public version received at least 
 jive revisions, that is, in the course of 76 years ; while, 
 from the year 1611 to the present time, an interval of 
 more than 215 years has elapsed, without any autho- 
 rized attempt at farther revision. Are there sufficient 
 reasons, in the nature of things, in the reverence due 
 to scripture, or flowing from a love of truth alone, to 
 account for this interesting anomaly? Were our 
 ancestors more desirous to possess a correct trans- 
 lation than we are? Or did their frequent revisions 
 involve great changes ? Or, is our present version so 
 free from error, as to supersede all farther attempts at 
 revision or improvement ? 
 
 We need not go into a minute history of the seve- 
 ral translations ; but may specify a few particulars. 
 Tyndairs New Testament was completed by the as- 
 sistance of John Fnjtli, and published at Antwerp in 
 1526. Miles Coverdale, one of Tyndall's coadjutors, 
 published the whole Bible, at Zurich, in 1535. This is 
 
136 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 the first printed English Bible* In 1537, Rogers, 
 another of Tyndall's associates in this momentous 
 labour, published an edition of 1500 copies, at Ham- 
 burgh. This is called Matthewe's Bible, that being the 
 feigned name affixed to it, from an apprehension of the 
 opposition which the name of Tyndall would excite. 
 Soon after these appeared the "Great Bible," in 
 1539. In 1540, " Cranmer's Bible" with his correc- 
 tions, and a preface by that eminent man. The trans- 
 lation of the " Psalms" still retained in the Book of 
 Common Prayer, is from this by Cranmer. "The 
 Geneva New Testament" was published in 1557, and 
 the " Geneva Bible" in 1560, being printed by Rowland 
 Hill. Thirty editions of this Bible were published 
 between 1560 and 1616. The "Bishops' Bible," as it 
 was called, being a revision made by several bishops, 
 at the instance of Archbishop Parker, was published 
 in 1568, and ordered by Queen Elizabeth to be read in 
 the churches. "KingJames's translators" were expressly 
 ordered, in their revisal, to follow the Bishops' Bible, 
 which they were to alter as little as the original neces- 
 sarily demanded ; but, when they came closer to the 
 original, they were to use the translations of Tyndall, 
 Coverdale, Matthewe, Whitchurch, and the Geneva 
 Bible. So that, correctly speaking, the Authorized 
 Version, notwithstanding the extraordinary pains 
 taken to render it correct, must rather be regarded as 
 an admirable revision of former versions, than as a new 
 translation. 
 
 * WicUfs translation of the Bible was completed about 1380. Tliis 
 being before the invention of printing, men of piety and benevolence, to 
 promote its cii'culation, caused select portions of it to be ^\Titten in small 
 volumes. These little books, or libels as they were called, are often men- 
 tioned as prohibited, in the bishops' registers of those days. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 137 
 
 A brief comparative view of a passage, as it stands 
 in four of these revisions, may not be uninteresting to 
 the general reader. The passage selected is St. Mat- 
 thew ii, 7, 8. 
 
 GREAT BIBLE, GENEVA BIBLE, BISHOPS' BIBLE, K. JAMES's BIBLE , 
 1539. 1560. 1568. 1611. 
 
 Then Ilerode when he 7. Then H erode pri- T.ThenHerode, when 7. Then llerode when 
 had prively called the Tily called the wise- he had privilye called he had privily called 
 wyse men, he enquyr- men, and diligently in- the wyse men, inquired the wise men. enquir- 
 ed of them diligently quired of them the of them diligently what ed of them diligently, 
 what time the starre time of the starre that time the starre appear- what time the starre 
 appered ; and he bad appeared. ed. appeared, 
 
 them go to Bethleem, 8. And sent them to 8. And he sent them to 8. And he sent them 
 andsaid.Goyoure way Bethlehem, saying, go, Bethlehem, and sayde, to Bethlehem, and said, 
 thyther, and search di- and searche diligently go and search diligent- goe, and search dill- 
 ligently for ye chylde. for the babe ; and when ly for the young childe, gently for the young 
 And when ye have ye have founde him, and. when ye have child, and when ye 
 founde him, bring me bring me word againe, founde hym, bryng me have founde him, bring 
 word againe, that I that I may come also, worde againe, that I me word again, that I 
 may come, and wor- and worship him. may come, and worship may come, and worship 
 
 shyp hym also. hym also. him also. 
 
 In various parts of the successive versions, it must 
 be confessed that the diversities are greater than 
 appear in the above specimen. Yet it is a fact too 
 remarkable to be omitted in a candid inquiry, that 
 scarcely any of them furnish greater varieties than 
 those two, of which portions are appointed for general 
 use in the Episcopalian church ; I mean Cranmer's 
 rendering of the Psalms, as preserved in " The Com- 
 mon Prayer," and the translation of the Psalms given 
 in the Authorized Version. I shall select only a few 
 passages. 
 
 CRANMER S, OR PRAYER BOOK AUTHORIZED VERSION UNDER 
 
 VERSION. KING JAMES. 
 
 Ps. ii. 12. Kiss the son, lest he Kiss the son, lest he be angry, 
 
 be angry, and so ye perish from the and ye perish from the way, when 
 
 right way : if his wrath be kindled, his wrath is kindled but a little, 
 
 (yea, but a little,) blessed are all Blessed are all they that^ put their 
 
 they that put their trust in him. trust in him. 
 
 vii. 12. God is a righteous God judgeth the righteous, and 
 
 j udge, strong and patient : and God God is angry with the wicked 
 
 is provoked every day. every day. 
 
 xxii. 31. My seed shall serve him. A seed shall serve him. 
 
138 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 CRANMERS, OR PRAYEr. BOOK 
 VERSION. 
 
 xxvii. 1. The Lord is my delight 
 and my salvation. 
 
 xxix. 1. Bring unto the Lord, O 
 ye mighty, bring young rams unto 
 the Lord : ascribe unto the Lord 
 worship and strength. 
 
 XXX. 13. Therefore shall eveiy 
 good man sing of thy praise without 
 ceasing. 
 
 xxxvii. 38. Keep innocency, and 
 take heed to the thing that is right : 
 for that shall bring a man peace at 
 the last. 
 
 xliii. 6. The help of my coun- 
 tenance. 
 
 xlv. 5. Good luck have thou 
 with thine honour : ride on, because 
 of the word of truth. 
 
 Iviii. 8. Or ever your pots be 
 made hot with thorns : so let indig- 
 nation vex him, even as a thing that 
 is raw. 
 
 Ixxi. 6. I am become, as it 
 were, a monster unto many. 
 
 Ixxxiv. 5, 6. Blessed is the 
 man whose strength is in thee : in 
 whose heart are thy ways. 
 
 Who going through the vale of 
 misery use it for a well : and the 
 pools are filled with water. 
 
 cv. 28. And they were not obe- 
 dient unto his word. 
 
 AUTHORIZED VERSION UNDEIl 
 KING JAMES. 
 
 Tlie Lord is my light and my 
 salvation. 
 
 Give unto the Lord, O ye miglity, 
 give unto the Lord glory and 
 strength. 
 
 To the end tliat my glory may 
 sing praise unto thee, and not be 
 silent. 
 
 jNIark tlie perfect man, and be- 
 hold the upright : for the end of 
 that man is peace. 
 
 The health of my countenance. 
 
 And in thy majesty ride prospe- 
 rously, because of truth. 
 
 Before your pots can feel the 
 thorns, he shall take them away as 
 with a whirlwind, both living, and 
 in Ids wrath. 
 
 I am as a Vvonder unto many. 
 
 Blessed is the man whose strength 
 is in thee ; in whose heart are the 
 ways of them. 
 
 Who passing through the valley 
 of Baca make it a well, the rain 
 also fiUeth the pools. 
 
 And they rebelled not against his 
 word. 
 
 No instance can be produced in the history of Sacred 
 Literature, of greater honesty and circumspection than 
 were evinced by the forty-seven learned men to whom 
 the revision authorized by King James was consigned. 
 And so far as the advantages which they possessed 
 Avould enable them to advance towards perfection in 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 139 
 
 their labour, so far their accuracy, caution, and fidelity, 
 carried them. But they had the most liberal and en- 
 larged views of the importance of their task, and were 
 well aware that in such an undertaking, perfection, if 
 ever attainable, can only be reached by repeated ellbrts, 
 at suitable intervals; as the progress of knowledge, 
 and especially of Biblical knowledge, should be the 
 means of shedding new light upon this most interesting 
 department of inquiry. The beautiful and instructive 
 preface attached to their work, in the earlier editions, 
 may, unhesitatingly, be quoted in illustration of the 
 spirit which ought to actuate the translators of the 
 Bible. 
 
 They cite, with approbation, St. Augustine's senti- 
 ment, that " variety of translations is profitable for 
 finding out the true sense of Scripture," and remark, 
 with equal piety and feeling — " Translation it is that 
 openeth the window, to let in the light ; that breaketh 
 the shell, that we may eat the kernel ; that putteth 
 aside the curtain, that we may look into the most holy 
 place ; that removeth the cover of the well, that we may 
 come by the water." " Indeed, without translation 
 into the vulgar tongue, the unlearned are but like 
 children at Jacob's well (which was deep) without a 
 bucket or something to draw with : or as that person 
 mentioned by Esay, to v/hom, when a sealed book was 
 delivered, with this motion. Read this, I pray thee, he 
 was fain to make this answer, J c«wmo^, /or it is sealed." 
 
 With regard to former translations, they say, " We 
 are so far from condemning any of their labours that 
 travelled before us in the same kind, either in King 
 Henry's time, or in King Edward's, or in Queen Eliza- 
 beth's, of ever renowned memory, that wc acknowledge 
 
140 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 them to have been raised up of God, for the building 
 and furnishing of his church, and that they deserve to 
 be had of us, and of posterity, in everlasting remem- 
 brance. Therefore blessed be they, and most honoured 
 be their names, that break the ice, and give the onset 
 upon that which helpeth forward to the saving of souls. 
 And what can be more available thereto, than to de- 
 liver God's book unto God's lieople, in a tongue which 
 they understand ? Yet, for all that, as nothing is begun 
 and perfected at the same time, so if we, building upon 
 their foundation that went before us, and being holpen 
 by their labours, do endeavour to make that better 
 which they left good, no man, we are sure, hath cause 
 to mislike us ; they, we persuade ourselves, if they 
 were alive, would thank us." Again, "Many men's 
 mouths have been open a good while (and yet are not 
 stopped) with speeches about the translation so long in 
 hand, or rather perusals of translations made before, 
 and ask, what may be the reason, what the necessity, of 
 the employment ? Hath the Church been deceived, say 
 they, all this w hile ? hath her sweet bread been mingled 
 with leaven, her silver with dross, her wine with water, 
 her milk with lime ? We hoped that we had been in 
 the right way, that we had had the Oracles of God 
 delivered unto us, and that though all the world had 
 cause to be offended, and to complain, yet we had 
 none !" — " We will answer them briefly, with St. 
 Hierome : * Damnamus veteres ? Minime, sed post 
 priorum studia in dorao Domini, quod possumus, 
 laboramus.' That is. Do we condemn the ancient ? In 
 no case; but after the endeavours of them that were 
 before us, we too take the best pains we can in the house 
 of God." — " How many books of profane learning have 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 141 
 
 been gone over and over again by the same translators, 
 and by others? Of one and the same book of Aristotle's 
 Ethics, there are extant not so few as six or seven 
 several translations. Now, if this cost be bestowed upon 
 the gourd, which afFordeth us a little shade, and which 
 to-day flourisheth, but to-morrow is cut down ; what 
 may we not bestow, nay, what ought we not to bestow 
 on the vine, the fruit whereof maketh glad the con- 
 science of men, and the stem whereof abideth for ever ? 
 And this is the word of God which we translate. What 
 is the chaff to the wheat ? saith the Lord ; therefore let 
 no man's eye be evil, because his majesty's is good ; 
 neither let any be grieved that we have a prince that 
 seeketh the spirital wealth of Israel ; but let us rather 
 bless God from the ground of our heart, for working 
 this religious care in him, to have the translation of 
 the Bible maturely considered and examined. For by 
 this means it cometh to pass, that whatsoever is sound 
 already, the same will shine as gold more brightly, 
 being rubbed and polished ; also, if any thing be halting 
 or superfluous, or not agreeable to the original, the 
 same may be corrected, and the truth set in its place." 
 Could these learned and upright men be aware of 
 the additional helps to correct translation which have 
 been collected in the course of the last two centuries, 
 nothing, certainly, would astonish them more than 
 that their authority should be employed to prevent 
 that farther revision upon which thetj would be the 
 foremost to bend their attention. Their revised 
 translation is indeed excellent; but it has many 
 defects, and why should we shut our eyes against the 
 truth ? Bishop Lowth has affirmed, and has in many 
 instances proved, that " the Scriptures might be placed 
 
142 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 in a more advantageous and just light." Dr. Blayney 
 asserts that " the common version has sometimes mis- 
 taken the sense of the original text." Bishop Marsh 
 says, " We cannot possibly pretend that our authorized 
 version does not require amendment." And Arch- 
 bishop Newcome strongly urges an improved English 
 version of the Scriptures. " The reasons (says he) for 
 its expediency are, the mistakes, imperfections, and 
 many invincible obscurities, of our present version ; 
 the accession of various helps since the execution of 
 that work; the advanced state of learning, and our 
 emancipation from slavery to the Masoretic points." 
 Similar, indeed, to this is the decided testimony of 
 numerous promoters of sacred literature during the 
 last sixty years. With regard to the Old Testament, 
 an anonymous writer, who has treated the subject with 
 considerable ability, remarks, that "The last two 
 hundred years have done more towards enabling 
 Hebrew scholars to give a right interpretation to the 
 Holy Volume, than the whole flood of time which 
 rolled between the age of the Apostles, and that of the 
 Reformation. Consequently, if there be any person 
 who contends that the text of the common version will 
 not admit of improvement, he must first have persuaded 
 himself to account as nothing, all the mass of biblical 
 illustration which has been collected in various ways 
 since it was edited. * It will be found,' says Park- 
 hurst, in his preface to his Hebrew and English 
 Lexicon, 'that not only the lexicographers and verbal 
 critics, but the more enlarged philologists, the Vv^riters 
 of natural and civil history; travellers into the eastern 
 countries, and even the poets ; have been made to draw 
 water for the service of the sanctuary, or to contribute 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 143 
 
 their quotas to the illustration of the Hebrew 
 Scriptures.' " 
 
 The necessity for some revision, then, of the transla- 
 tion of the Old Testament, will scarcely be disputed : 
 and with respect to that of the New Testament, it may 
 be safely referred to the judgment of any competent 
 Greek scholar, whether he ever compares the original 
 and the translation of a single chapter, without being 
 pressed with the necessity of attempting one or more 
 emendations. 
 
 It would be invidious to dwell upon the imperfec- 
 tions of what may, notwithstanding, bear the palm of 
 excellence, as a whole. Yet a few errors may, without 
 impropriety, be specified. 
 
 Gen. iv. 15. " The Lord set a mark upon Cain,"' 
 should be, " Jehovah gave a sign or token to Cain." 
 
 Gen. vi. 3. " My Spirit shall not always strive with 
 men," is erroneous. Some of the versions give it, 
 " My spirit shall not always abide or dwell in man." 
 Boothroyd translates, " My Spirit shall never pronounce 
 judgment on men unwarned." Some very strange 
 theological fancies have been founded upon the inac- 
 curate rendering of the verb. 
 
 Exodus xi. 2 ; xii. 35. God directed the Israelites 
 to asic or demand, not hoi-row, (as in the authorized 
 version,) of the Egyptians. The mistaken rendering 
 has furnished infidels with an objection. 
 
 Numbers xiv. 34. " My (that is, God's) breach of 
 promise." This is highly improper, and is the more 
 extraordinary, since in the " Great Bible" the passage 
 is rendered, " Ye shall know my displeasure." Geddes 
 and Boothroyd have aversion and indignation; but 
 nothing like breach of promise. 
 
144 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 1 Kings ii. 9. The dying charge of David to Solo- 
 mon, relative to Shimei, has been often censured by 
 sceptics, but their censure is founded upon an erroneous 
 translation. The Hebrew vt^ord should be read dis- 
 junctively, and then we have, "Now, therefore, neither 
 hold him guiltless, for thou art a wise man ; nor his 
 hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood." 
 Let this rendering be compared with the history in the 
 latter verses of the same chapter. 
 
 Job xxxix. 12. **Wilt thou believe him (i. e. the 
 unicorn, or rhinoceros,) that he will bring home thy 
 seed, and gather it into thy barn ?" should be rendered, 
 "Wilt thou trust him, that he may bring home thy 
 grain, and gather in thy harvest?" The substitution 
 of believe for trust or confide in, arises from a mistake 
 analogous to that which will be noticed in its order, 
 relative to John xiv. 1, &c. 
 
 Prov. xix. 18. "Chasten thy son while there is 
 hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying." This 
 is a most harsh and unnatural translation, of which, 
 indeed, those employed upon this part of the authorized 
 version are aware. Their marginal reading, which, 
 unfortunately, is not in every copy, is, " Let not thy 
 soul cause him to die." The meaning of the Hebrew 
 is, " Thou shalt not lift up thy soul for his death." 
 Dr. Good's rendering, in a translation of the Proverbs, 
 not yet published, is, " Let not thy soul bear the burden 
 of his destruction." 
 
 Isaiah xiv. 22. " Son and nephew," should be " son 
 and son's son ;" as in the translation of Gen. xxi. 23. 
 
 Isaiah xliv. 18. " He hath shut their eyes that they 
 cannot see, and their hearts that they cannot under- 
 stand." This should be, "Their eyes are closed up, 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 145 
 
 that they cannot see, and their heart that they cannot 
 understand." See Lowth and Boothroyd, in loc. 
 
 So again, Isaiah Ixiii. 17. " O Lord, why hast thou 
 made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart 
 from thy fear ?" should be, " Why hast thou suffered us 
 to err from thy ways, to harden our hearts against the 
 fear of thee ?" 
 
 Many erroneous translations akin to these, have led 
 some crude speculatists to circulate highly dangerous 
 opinions as to the Divine conduct. 
 
 Thus Jerem. xx. 7. " Lord, thou hast deceived me," 
 should be," Thou hast allured me, or overpersuaded me." 
 
 Luke xxiii. 32. " There were also two other male- 
 factors led with him to be put to death." This trans- 
 lation, which implies that our blessed Lord was a 
 malefactor, is the more extraordinary, insomuch as it 
 is a deviation from the " Bishops' Bible," not warranted 
 by the original. " There were two others, who were 
 evil-doers, led with him to be slain." In some recent 
 editions of Oxford and Cambridge Bibles, this error 
 has been corrected ; in others it remains, the correction 
 being made without due ecclesiastical authority. 
 
 John ii. 4. The harsh rendering of our Lord's reply 
 to his mother, "Woman, what have I to do with 
 thee ?" is not warranted by the original, of which the 
 literal translation is, " What to me and thee ?" 
 
 John xiv. 1. "Ye believe in God, believe also in 
 me;" would be better rendered, "Ye trust in God, 
 trust also in me." 
 
 So also Acts xvi. 31. should be, "Trust in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And 
 Acts XX. 21. " Repentance towards God, and trust in 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 L 
 
146 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 It is, indeed, important to observe, that in the New 
 Testament the words ttl'^lq and Trt^fuw are never used to 
 express belief in any fact that is not fitted to excite 
 confidence in God, or in Christ. Out of more than 
 130 instances of their occurrence, there is only one that 
 is at all doubtful. This is momentous, as it serves 
 to prove that faith goes far beyond mere assent or 
 belief, and confirms, as Dr. Watts remarks, "the 
 constant sentiment of our Protestant divines, in their 
 opposition to the Papists, that^rfe* est fiducia." 
 
 1 Cor. xiii. Charity occurs throughout, instead of 
 love. The term was rendered love in Coverdale's, and, 
 indeed, most of the versions that preceded this under 
 King James. The mistranslation serves as the foun- 
 dation of a gross theological error, 
 
 2 Thess. i. 12. " According to the grace of our 
 God and the Lord Jesus Christ," should be rendered, 
 " According to the grace of Jesus Christ, our God and 
 Lord." 
 
 1 Tim. V. 21. " Before God, and the Lord Jesus 
 Christ," ought to be, " Before Jesus Christ, the God 
 and Lord." 
 
 Titus ii. 13. " The glorious appearing of the great 
 God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ," should be, *' The 
 glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, 
 Jesus Christ."* 
 
 Heb. ix. 15. The word Siadr]Kr], which in this and 
 the five following verses is rendered testament, ought, 
 doubtless, to be covenant, as it is in the preceding 
 chapter. This simple correction removes much of the 
 
 * Eph. V. 5, 2 Pet. i. 1 and Jude 4, require an analogous rendering, 
 altogether much augmenting the body of evidence in favour of the divinity 
 of our Lord. Vid. Sharp on the Greek article, pp. xxix. xl. 1—56. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 147 
 
 difficulty which some have found in interpreting the 
 apostle's reasoning in this portion of his epistle. 
 
 Rev. xi. 7. "When they (the two witnesses) shall 
 have finished their testimony," should be rendered, 
 "Whilst they shall perform their testimony;" as 
 Daubuz shews, and as Grotius, More, Mede, and others, 
 admit. This view of the passage, it is evident, may 
 greatly affect the interpretation of the prophecy. 
 
 Rev. xvi. 1. " Go your ways, and pour out the 
 vials of the wrath of God," should have been rendered 
 bowls or basins, and so wherever the word occurs in 
 that and the succeeding chapter. " We have proved 
 (says Daubuz,) that (pia'Kri, the word here used, is a 
 bowl or basin, proper for libations, to pour the liquor 
 contained all at once." " A (piaXr] is supposed by all 
 interpreters, (says Vitringa,) to have certainly had the 
 shape of a cup." The Seventy usually employ the 
 same word to signify a basin or bowl. And the term 
 in the Revelations is now generally understood to 
 indicate that the several divine judgments, in reference 
 to which it is employed, will be rapidly executed.* 
 
 * That this correction may not be regarded as of little moment, I may- 
 shew how strangely the word has been misapplied, even by that eminent 
 individual, Jeremy Taylor. In one of his Sermons on " The Miracles of 
 the Divine Mercy," he says, *' When God sent an angel to pour plagues 
 upon the earth, (Apoc. xv. 7.) there were in their hands golden phials :" 
 for the death of man is precious and costly, and it is an expense that God 
 delights not in : but they were pitiuh, that is, such vessels as out of them no 
 great evil could come at once ; but it comes out with difficulty, sobbing 
 and troubled as it passeth forth ; it comes through a narrow neck, and the 
 parts of it crowd at the port to get forth, and are stifled by each other's 
 neighbourhood, and all strive to get out, but few can pass ; as if God did 
 nothing but threaten, and draw his judgments to the mouth of the phial 
 with a full body, and there made it stop itself." Works, vol. vi. p. 217, 
 edition of 1822. 
 
 Doubtless nothing can exceed the mercy of God, as made known to us 
 in the Gospel dispensation. But the above is far from a con-ect repre- 
 sentation of it ; and one cannot but regret that it should seem to receive any 
 colour from an erroneous rendering in the established version, 
 
 l2 
 
148 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 It would be easy to extend this list of mistrans- 
 lations considerably. But from what is already 
 adduced, we may, I think, ask, without presumption, 
 whether it is expedient in itself, honourable to God, or 
 safe towards the souls of men, to allow errors to 
 remain in a translation of the Scriptures universally 
 circulated by public authority, which lead to inaccurate 
 conceptions of the character of the Supreme Being, and 
 of his dealings towards his creatures, yield mistaken 
 representations of the conduct of " his people," of the 
 nature of faith and of charity, of the media of God's 
 judgments, and of the anticipatory description of future 
 events ; and do not give their natural force to several 
 passages that confirm the doctrine of our Lord's 
 Divinity ? Or, whether it should not be regarded as 
 an indispensable duty, without delay to undertake at 
 least a cautious revision, in which every thing theo- 
 logically erroneous, or inconsistent with the " analogy 
 of faith," may be most scrupulously expunged? 
 
 But, on the supposition that a revision were under- 
 taken, ought it merely to include the correction of 
 errors, such as those to which I have ventured to 
 advert, or should it make decisive inroads upon the 
 style and language of the present Authorized Version ? 
 With the exception of the instances of grossness and 
 vulgarity, which sometimes thrust themselves upon 
 our notice, it is generally acknowledged that the style 
 of this version has a simple dignity, a chaste elevation, 
 and a flowing harmony, which are truly remarkable : 
 and hence, since the language itself has taken posses- 
 sion of our memory, our ear, and our taste, becoming 
 more venerable by its growing antiquity, many argue 
 that it is better to tolerate the errors which it contains 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 149 
 
 than to violate the feelings of sanctity with which we 
 are disposed to contemplate it. Yet, surely, this must 
 be received with some abatement; that, I mean, 
 which will be made on recollecting, that though a 
 translation may excite our veneration more, as it 
 becomes older ; yet, as Biblical knowledge will most 
 probably increase with the lapse of years, the reason 
 why the translation should remain untouched would 
 in that case increase at the same time that the ne- 
 cessity for a change would be shewn with increasing 
 evidence. 
 
 Nor is this all : a distinct consideration being evi- 
 dently due to those portions of Sacred Writ, which in 
 the original are poetical, and of which some are found 
 even in the Pentateuch,* and other historical books ; 
 besides the avowedly poetical books of Job, the 
 Psalms, the Canticles, the Proverbs, &c. and most of 
 the writings of the Prophets. Now, with regard to 
 these, the observations of Lowth are peculiarly appli- 
 cable. " It is incumbent on every translator to study 
 the manner of his author, to mark the peculiarities of 
 his style, to imitate his features, his air, his gesture, 
 and, as far as the difference of language will permit, 
 even his voice ; in a word, to give a just and ex- 
 pressive resemblance of the original. If he does not 
 carefully attend to this, he will sometimes fail of enter- 
 ing into his meaning ; he will always exhibit him 
 unlike himself, in a dress that will appear strange and 
 unbecoming to all that are in any degree acquainted 
 
 * As in Genesis, chap. iv. 23, 24 ; ix. 25—29 ; xxvii. 28, 29, 37—40; 
 xlix. 1 — 27; Exod. xv. 1 — 21 ; various chapters in Deuteronomy; Judges, 
 chap, v.; 1 Sam. ii. 1—10; 2 Sam. i. 19-27; xxii, xxiii. 1—7; 2 Kings 
 xix. 21—34; 1 Chron. xvi. 8—36, &c. 
 
150 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 with him." Thus it happens that no man of taste 
 feels satisfied with a prose translation of Homer, or 
 Virgil, or Horace ; but regards as singularly flat and 
 insipid, so marked a deviation from the native manner 
 of the respective originals. And if disappointment be 
 experienced when a profane author is thus treated, 
 why should it not be felt in the case when the author 
 is really divine ? If, in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit 
 who dictated the Scriptures, considerable portions of 
 them exhibit a rhythmical construction, abound in 
 artificially composed acrostic stanzas, and in "pa- 
 rallelisms synonymous, antithetic, and constructive," 
 serving to make a more vivid impression upon the 
 imagination and memory, and thus facilitating the 
 recollection of the momentous verities which they con- 
 tain ; are w^e shewing adequate reverence for this 
 Great Source of Inspiration, while we continue satisfied 
 with a version in which comparatively few vestiges 
 of these peculiarities are to be traced ? so satisfied, at 
 least, as to fancy it almost a species of heresy to hint 
 at the possibility of improvement? An attention to 
 the artificial structure of the Hebrew original, has in 
 many instances, as Lowth and others have shewn, 
 suggested the true reading, where the text in our 
 present copies is faulty ; and a like attention to the 
 structure, in the business of translation, has also in 
 many instances given to the sacred writings a force 
 and beauty of which the unlearned reader previously 
 knew not. Why should not his mental pleasure and 
 his religious benefit be augmented, when it may be 
 safely accomplished, by simply doing justice to the 
 Sacred Scriptures, and dealing as scrupulously with 
 the translations of them as we are wont to do with the 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 151 
 
 translations of the books which have been transmitted 
 to us from Greece and Rome? 
 
 The preceding strain of observation may perhaps be 
 considered by some as unduly protracted, by others as 
 altogether superfluous and out of place : it will, how- 
 ever, have answered the designed purpose, if it incline 
 reflecting men to admit, that, at a period when the 
 general current of opinion runs counter to the expedi- 
 ency of an authoritative revision of the received version 
 of the Scriptures, they ought, notwithstanding, to ac- 
 cept candidly, and, when a due combination of learning 
 and integrity are evinced, to encourage liberally, every 
 fresh translation of those portions of the Bible, namely, 
 the poetical and the prophetical, which critics and 
 commentators unanimously allow to admit of improve- 
 ment. 
 
 Solomon's " Song of Songs," of Dr. Good's transla- 
 tion of which I must now speak, has from the earliest 
 ages of its existence been regarded as genuine and 
 authentic ; yet it would be wrong to deny that great 
 differences of opinion have existed amongst the wisest 
 and best expositors of Scripture, as to its inspiration. 
 The authority of this book was expressly allowed by 
 Melito, in the second century ; and several of the Chris- 
 tian fathers, as Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyprian, 
 Augustine, and Jerome, wrote commentaries upon it, 
 or upon select portions of it. The father of English 
 literature. Venerable Bede, wrote six books upon this 
 Song : and in later ages, Alsted, Mercer, Bossuet, and 
 Gill, have done much to elucidate its nature and object. 
 There have been published several translations into the 
 English language, of which the best known are those 
 of Dr. Percy, in 17G4 ; of Miss Francis, in 1781 ; of 
 
152 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 Mr. Green, in the same year ; of Mr. Hodja^son, in 1785 ; 
 of Doderlein, in 1795 ; and of Williams, in 1801. It 
 would not seem that Dr. Good had an opportunity 
 of examining all these : to those of Green, Percy, and 
 Hodgson, he acknowledges himself indebted ; as well 
 as to the Spanish version of Luis de Leon, and 
 the Italian of Melesigenio. He frequently also ex- 
 presses his obligations to Lowth, whose sentiments, in 
 reference to the character of the book, he adopts ; and 
 whose circumspection, with regard to minutiae of inter- 
 pretation, he seems closely to have followed.* 
 
 The opinions of learned men have differed greatly 
 as to the precise nature of the " Song of Songs," con- 
 sidered as an artificial composition, and of course as 
 to the subdivisions to be traced in its structure. Bos- 
 suet regarded it as a regular drama, divided into seven 
 portions, corresponding with the seven days of the 
 Jewish marriage festivals ; and Lowth, Percy, and 
 Mr. Williams adopted this sentiment ; but Jahn, Sir 
 W. Jones, and our author, with some others, regard it 
 as a series of sacred Idyls, the number of which Jahn 
 supposes to be eight, while Dr. Good traces twelve. 
 
 With regard to the language, Dr. Good remarks, that 
 in no translation which he has seen, is the rendering 
 
 * " Concerning the explanation of this allegory, (says the bishop, Led. 
 xxxi.) I will only add, that in the first place we ought to he cautious of car- 
 rying the figurative application too far, and of entering into a precise expli- 
 cation of eveiy particular. Again, I would advise that this production be 
 treated according to the established rules of allegory in the sacred writings, 
 and that the author be permitted to be his own interpreter. In this respect 
 the errors of critics and divines have been as numerous as they have been 
 pernicious. Not to mention other absurdities, they have taken the allegory, 
 not as denoting the universal state of the church, but the spiritual state of 
 individuals ; than which nothing can be more inconsistent with the very nature 
 and groundwork of tlie allegory itself, as well as with the general practice 
 of the Hebrew poets on these occasions." 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 153 
 
 presented with all the delicacy of diction to which the 
 original is fairly entitled : this main defect, in his 
 opinion, has resulted from close 'verbal renderings of 
 Hebrew terms being given, when they ought to have 
 been translated equivalently ; and in the plan pursued 
 by himself, we therefore find our cool northerly taste 
 less frequently oflended. He exhibits two translations 
 in opposite pages, one of them resembling, as closely 
 as the idioms of the respective languages will allow, 
 the rhythmical structure of the original, the other in 
 heroic verse. 
 
 In the preface, he sketches his own views of the 
 nature of Solomon's (or, as he assigns reasons for 
 spelling it, Soloman's,) Song : from this preface, there- 
 fore, I shall select a passage, and then present a short 
 specimen of each of his versions. 
 
 " It has been a question in all ages, whether the 
 literal and obvious meaning of these sacred amorets be 
 the whole that was ever intended by the royal bard ? 
 or, whether they aftbrd not at the same time, the veil 
 of a sublime and mystical allegory, delineating the 
 bridal union subsisting between Jehovah and his pure 
 and uncorrupted church? Upon this subject we have 
 no sufficient data to build a decisive opinion. To 
 those who disbelieve the existence of such an allegory, 
 they still afford a happy example of the pleasures of 
 holy and virtuous love ; they inculcate, beyond the 
 power of didactic poetry, the tenderness which the 
 husband should manifest for his wife, and the deference, 
 modesty, and fidelity with which his aff'ection should be 
 returned ; — and, considered even in this sense alone, 
 they are fully entitled to the honour of constituting a 
 part of the sacred scriptures. 
 
154 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 " To myself, nevertheless, I unite in the opinion of the 
 illustrious Lowth, and believe such a sublime and mys- 
 tic allegory to have been fully intended by the sacred 
 bard. Regarded in this view, they afford an admirable 
 picture of the Jewish and Christian churches ; of Jeho- 
 vah's selection of Israel, as a peculiar people, from the 
 less fair and virtuous nations around them ; of his fer- 
 vent and permanent love for his elder church, so fre- 
 quently compared by the Hebrew prophets to that of a 
 bridegroom for his bride ; of the beauty, fidelity, and 
 submission of the church in return ; and of the call of 
 the Gentiles into the pale of his favour, upon the intro- 
 duction of Christianity, so exquisitely typified under 
 the character of a younger sister, destitute, in conse- 
 quence of the greater simplicity of its worship, of those 
 external and captivating attractions which made so 
 prominent a part of the Jewish religion." 
 
 ROYAL BRIDE, ATTENDANT VIRGINS. 
 
 Royal Bride. 
 Ch. 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; 
 For thy love is dehcious above wine. 
 
 3. Like the fragrance of thy own sweet perfumes 
 Is thy name — a perfume poured forth ; 
 
 For this reason do the virgins love thee. 
 
 4. ' Still thus' attract me--we would follow * thy perfumes. 
 The king hath led me into his apartments. 
 
 Virgins. 
 We will exult in thee and rejoice : 
 Thy love will we celebrate above wine ; 
 Thou art every way lovely. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 155 
 
 Royal Bride. 
 
 5. Brown am I, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem ! 
 
 As the tents of Kedar, as the tapestries of Soloman. 
 S. ' Yet' despise me not because I am brown, 
 
 For the sun hath discoloured me. 
 
 My mother's children were severe with me ; 
 
 They made me keeper of the vineyards. 
 
 My own vineyard have I not kept. 
 7. Tell me, O thou! whom my soul loveth. 
 
 Where thou feedest ' thy flock,' 
 
 Where thou leadest it to rest at noon. 
 
 For why should I be as a wanderer 
 
 Among the flocks of thy companions ? 
 
 Virgins. 
 
 3. If thou know not, O thou fairest among women ! 
 Go forth in the footsteps of the flock ; 
 And leave thy kids to feed 
 Beside the tents of the shepherds. 
 
 IDYL I. 
 ROYAL BRIDE, ATTENDANT VIRGINS. 
 
 Royal Bride. 
 O LET him kiss me with those lips of bliss ! 
 For more than nectar dwells in every kiss. 
 Rich thy perfumes ; but richer far than they 
 The countless charms that round thy person play : 
 Thy name alone, more fragrant than the rose, 
 Glads every maid, where'er its fragrance flows. 
 Still let it draw me ! — with attraction sweet 
 Still sway our hearts, and guide our willing feet! — 
 Daughters of Salem ! tell through every grove. 
 The partial monarch crowns me with his love. 
 
156 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 Virgins. 
 
 We share thy bliss — and, with triumphant voice, 
 More than o'er wine, o'er costliest wine, rejoice. 
 Fair is thy form, well worthy of its lot, 
 
 matchless excellence ! and void of spot ! 
 
 Rotjal Bride. 
 
 Not such, ye maids of Salem, my renown ; 
 My form is comely, but my face is brown : 
 Comely as tapestry where the king frequents, 
 But brown as Kedar's tawny-tinctur'd tents. 
 Yet scorn me not though thus of humbler hue,- — 
 'Twas from the sun the sultry tint I drew. 
 My mother's children, with unkind commands, 
 In servile toils employ'd my infant hands : 
 
 1 kept their vineyards through the blazing day, 
 And hence my own unprun'd and desert lay. — 
 
 Tell me, O thou ! for whom my spirit pines. 
 Where now beneath the noon thy flock reclines? 
 There let me seek thee : — for, devoid of home. 
 Why mid the flocks of strangers should I roam ? 
 
 Virgins. 
 
 If, O thou fairest of the female race ! 
 His devious flock thou know not where to trace. 
 Go — mark their footsteps — follow where they guide. 
 And leave thy kids the shepherds' tents beside. 
 
 In the preface, our author delivers his opinion as to 
 the probable age of Solomon when he composed these 
 " Idyls," and endeavours to collect what he candidly 
 denominates "a few detached and unsatisfactory anec- 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 157 
 
 dotes" relative to " the beautiful and interesting per- 
 sonage" on whose marriage with the Israelitish king 
 they were written. 
 
 The notes, which occupy about 150 pages, are ex- 
 ceedingly elegant and amusing. Those, however, who 
 turn to them for theological information, will be disap- 
 pointed. They are intended to elucidate, not so much 
 the language of religion as that of love, and to present 
 examples in which the phraseology, imagery, and gene- 
 ral sentiment of Solomon, in " these sacred amorets," 
 have been accidentally or intentionally imitated. The 
 parallel passages are drawn together from a great va- 
 riety of authors, Persian, Arabic, Greek, Latin, Spanish, 
 Italian, and are, most of them, very tasteful and pleasing. 
 Altogether, indeed, they may be regarded as constitut- 
 ing a beautiful anacreontic garland, of flowers gathered 
 from every clime ; but of which a few are too strongly 
 scented to be fully relished here, being the produce of 
 such exotics as have never yet flourished in an " English 
 garden." To most of the passages thus quoted, trans- 
 lations are appended, of which several are by Dr. Good 
 himself, and given with great spirit and vivacity. 
 
 MEMOIRS OF DR. GEDDES. 
 
 Dr. Good's " Memoirs of the Life and Writings of 
 Dr. Alexander Geddes," were published in 1803, in an 
 8vo. volume of nearly 600 pages. This extraordinary 
 individual was born in Banftshire, in September 1737, 
 and died in London, February 26th, 1802. He was an 
 indefatigable writer, being the avowed author of 35 
 publications on different subjects connected with poli- 
 tics, and with sacred and profane literature ; besides a 
 
158 ACCOUNT OP THE WORKS OF 
 
 great number of pamphlets published anonymously. 
 His principal work was a translation of the Bible, 
 of which, however, he only published a few of the 
 earlier books ; the boldness of his speculations, and 
 the rashness of many of his proposed emendations, 
 having excited such an opposition to his undertaking 
 that he could not possibly proceed with it. He was a 
 man of profound and extensive erudition, of deep re- 
 search, and of unwearied application ; an enthusiastic 
 propagator of his particular opinions respecting the 
 Scripture historians : but as these are justly reckoned 
 not only erroneous, but even dangerous, by the ma- 
 jority of Christians, it is no wonder that his publica- 
 tions on such subjects diminished that respect which 
 all men of learning would otherwise have entertained 
 for him. 
 
 The memoirs are written in a lively, pleasing style, 
 and convey much amusing information, not only rela- 
 tive to Dr. Geddes, but to many of his associates 
 in the literary world ; men who took an active part in 
 the literature and the politics of that stormy period, 
 from the commencement of the French Revolution until 
 about 1800, when political and theological rancour 
 were at their height, and when nothing was more 
 difficult than for an individual to steer his course 
 quietly through the world without becoming a par- 
 tisan. The biographer says, " I have freely com- 
 mended, and I have freely blamed— I have deviated 
 from Dr. Geddes's opinions where I have seen reason 
 for dissent, and I have vindicated him in instances 
 where I have conceived the motives of his conduct to 
 have been misrepresented or misunderstood." The 
 truth, however, need not be concealed, that at that 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 159 
 
 time the opinions of the biographer and of his hero 
 accorded pretty nearly on most points ; although but a 
 few years passed away before Dr. Good found himself 
 conscientiously impelled to abandon, as dangerous, 
 many notions which he had before thought, if not per- 
 fectly true, at least altogether harmless. 
 
 Among the singular and dangerous opinions held by 
 Dr. Geddes, one of the most revolting was that which 
 related to the character of Moses. He believed that 
 the great Jewish legislator was not inspired, but as- 
 sumed a pretended inspiration. " Indeed, (says he,) I 
 cannot conceive how Moses could have governed so 
 rude, so stubborn, so turbulent a nation — and made 
 them submit to such a code of laws as he devised for 
 them — without feigning an immediate intercourse with 
 the Deity, and ascribing to him every injunction laid 
 upon them. But although his communications with 
 God were frequent, and almost on every emergency, 
 he was particularly careful to keep the people at a 
 distance from the intercourse ; no one must approach 
 the mount while he is receiving the Decalogue, under 
 pain of death : no one must hear the responses given 
 from the oracle, but through him ; no one but he sees 
 God " face to face :" no one must reason against any 
 of his ordinances ; no one object to any of his deci- 
 sions : because his ordinations and decisions are all 
 from the mouth of God." 
 
 Now, in opposition to these preposterous sentiments. 
 Dr. Good remarks — 
 
 " It is an insuperable objection to this part of our 
 author's creed, that it is contradictory to itself. Dr. 
 Geddes admits his most ample belief in the divine 
 authority of Jesus Christ, " whose gospel is his religious 
 
160 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 code, whose doctrines are his dearest delight:" but 
 Jesus Christ uniformly avowed the inspiration of 
 Moses, by expressly adverting to such inspiration in 
 the delivery of one prediction fulfilled in his own 
 person. It is in every respect inconsistent and 
 illogical, therefore, to accredit the divine mission of 
 the author of the Christian faith, and yet to deny the 
 same authority to the Hebrew legislator. One prin- 
 cipal reason that operated upon our author in support 
 of this denial was, the many acts of cruelty which were 
 perpetrated at the instigation of Moses, and from 
 which he was anxious to exculpate the Deity ; and 
 particularly the total destruction and extermination of 
 the seven Canaanite nations, and the transfer of their 
 land and possessions to the Israelites. * I cannot 
 possibly believe, (says he,) that ever a just, benevolent 
 being, such as I conceive my God to be, gave such a 
 sanguinary order to Moses and the Israelites as in the 
 book of Deuteronomy is said to have been given.' 
 The explanation of this transaction, advanced by the 
 very liberal and learned Bishop of Llandaff, in his 
 Apology for the Bible, is known to every one, and is 
 satisfactory to most. But our author, not only ac- 
 knowledges himself not satisfied with it, but labours, 
 in a long and argumentative note, to prove its im- 
 potence and irrelevancy. He will not allow any simile 
 drawn from the phenomena of nature ; such as the 
 ravages of earthquakes, pestilences, or inundations, to 
 be coincident with this event, as recorded in the Bible. 
 *When the earthquake (says he,) swallows up, the 
 sea overwhelms, the fire consumes, the famine starves, 
 or the plague destroys ; we are totally ignorant by 
 what laws of nature, or concatenation of causes, the 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 161 
 
 desolating events happen; we see only the dismal 
 effects : and no consequence can rationally be deduced 
 from them, against the principle of moral equity. 
 From such events no one would derive an argument 
 for the lawfulness of dispossessing his neighbour, 
 either in his property or person; no argument for 
 the lawfulness of burying alive idolaters, drowning 
 heretics, starving atheists, &c.' 
 
 " I freely confess (proceeds Dr. Good,) I cannot see 
 the difference here contended for : and even Dr. Geddes 
 himself must have admitted the possibility of God's 
 predetermining and prognosticating, as well as imme- 
 diately operating the total extermination of a whole 
 people, or must have disbelieved the tremendous 
 history of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the pro- 
 pagation of his predicted curse upon the Hebrew race 
 to the present moment. Here I think the simile is at 
 least admissible ; and I am surprised that our modern 
 polemics have not occasionally adverted to it. If it be 
 consistent with the justice and benevolence of the 
 Supreme Being, that the Jewish nation, his own 
 peculiar people, should, on account of the enormity of 
 their sins, be in their turn attacked in their inheritance ; 
 be subjugated to a foreign power ; become the prey 
 and plunder of a long succession of capricious, cruel, 
 and avaricious tyrants ; have their city and temple at 
 length assaulted ; be loaded with every possible 
 calamity which pestilence, famine, and torture, their 
 own mutual treacheries and animosities, and the im- 
 placable enmity and ingenuity of their adversaries, 
 could invent, during the continuance of this tremendous 
 siege — if it be consistent with the same adorable 
 attributes, that upwards of a million of them should 
 
162 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 fall victims to so complicated a scourge, and that the 
 wretched remnant who escaped should be suffered to 
 wander about as outcasts and vagabonds over the 
 face of the whole earth, equally despised and derided 
 by every nation among whom they might acquire a 
 temporary abode — if it be consistent with these attri- 
 butes that this terrible visitation should be persevered 
 in for a period of at least eighteen centuries, thus 
 punishing, from age to age, the children for the sins of 
 their fathers — if the case before us, which we cannot 
 but believe, be consistent with the justice and benevo- 
 lence of the Deity — surely the case recorded (a case of 
 far inferior vengeance) demands no great credulity to 
 obtain our assent, nor strength of reasoning to reconcile 
 it with the moral perfections of the Supreme Being." 
 
 TRANSLATION OF LUCRETIUS. 
 
 Of the preceding works of our author I have, 
 designedly, said but little, that I might speak more 
 fully of the great work, which, as my readers will 
 already have seen, (pp. 84 — 87.) occupied so large a 
 share of several of the most active years of his life ; 
 the " Translation of Lucretius" which, having long de- 
 voted to it his head, his hand, and his heart, he pub- 
 lished in 1805, in two volumes quarto. 
 
 It is still a question with many, whether or not this 
 philosophical poet is worthy of all the pains which 
 have been bestowed upon him; and, probably, like 
 Epicurus, the great master of his system, he has re- 
 ceived a larger share of both praise and blame than 
 are fairly his due. It has been said, for example, that 
 as a philosophical poet, Lucretius is inferior to Homer. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 1G3 
 
 That he is decidedly inferior as a poet, no one will 
 question ; but they must view the character of Homer 
 through a very extraordinary medium, who regard him 
 as the poet of philosophy. There would be no diffi- 
 culty in shewing, from many of his beautiful similes, 
 that he was an accurate observer of natural pheno- 
 mena ; and it might be shewn, in like manner, from his 
 exquisite delineation of characters, that he was most 
 intimately acquainted with human nature : yet, as he 
 is not, on the latter account, classed with moralists, 
 so neither can he, on the former, be ranked with 
 philosophers. 
 
 The Roman poets, indeed, tinctured their sentiments 
 and language very deeply with the philosophy of the 
 Greeks. Thus Virgil adopts sometimes the notions 
 of the Stoics, sometimes those of the Platonists, at 
 others those of the Pythagorean and the Epicurean 
 systems. Horace breathes the Epicurean spirit 
 Ovid evinces his acquaintance with the Greek theo- 
 gonies : and Persius warmly advocates the morals of 
 the Stoics. Yet, by these and others, the doctrines 
 they adopted were introduced occasionally, and not 
 made the basis of their structure. Not so Lucretius. 
 In his poem, De Reruni Natura, he has with accuracy 
 of method, and clearness of conception, and usually 
 with great elegance of diction, entirely unfolded the 
 system of Epicurus : and the remarkable fact ought not 
 to be suppressed, that the inductive method of Bacon, 
 portions of the physics of the Newtonian school, and 
 of the chemical discoveries of the last forty years, have 
 been anticipated, both as to their principles and results, 
 in this elaborate production. Although I am by no 
 means inclined to admit so much in reference to these 
 M 2 
 
164 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 points as Mr. Dutens, in his " Enquiry into the Origin 
 of the Discoveries attributed to the Moderns," or even 
 as Dr. Good has done in his preface, and several of his 
 notes ; yet I am not reluctant to allow, that with respect 
 to nature, active and animated, to the corpuscular 
 philosophy, the constitution of the milky way, the 
 moon, the tides, the circulation of the blood, the 
 existence of the Fallopian tubes, the sexual system of 
 plants, the principles of sculpture, painting, and music, 
 and some of our metaphysical theories, the ancients 
 have preceded us by more than a mere adumbration ; 
 and that the perspicuous development of various trains 
 of inquiry, thought to have been peculiar to the 
 last century, in this great work of Lucretius, give to it 
 an interest possessed by no other production of Roman 
 genius, independently of that which is excited by its 
 poetical merit. 
 
 That it has poetical merit, however, and that of the 
 highest order, was declared by Cicero, Virgil, Horace, 
 Ovid, Gellius, and Cornelius Nepos, among the 
 ancients ; as well as by moderns of deserved reputa- 
 tion. Dr. Warton, especially, in his Dissertation on 
 the Life and Writings of Pope, says, "The Persians 
 distinguish the diiferent degrees of the strength of 
 fancy in different poets, by calling them painters or 
 sculptors. Lucretius, from the force of his images, 
 should be ranked among the latter. He is, in truth, 
 a sculptor - poet. His writings have a bold relief." 
 And again, in another dissertation, when devoting 
 himself to a more complete exfoliation of the character 
 and great production of this sculptor-poet, he says, 
 " I am next to speak of Lucretius, whose merit has 
 never yet been sufficiently displayed, and who seems 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 165 
 
 to have had more fire, spirit, and energy, more of the 
 vivida vis animi, than any of the Roman poets, not 
 excepting Virgil himself. Whoever imagines, with 
 Tully, that Lucretius had not a great genius, is desired 
 to cast his eye on two pictures he has given us at the 
 beginning of his poem : the first of Venus, with her 
 lover Mars, beautiful to the last degree, and more 
 glowing than any picture painted by Titian ; the 
 second, of that terrible and gigantic figure, the demon 
 of superstition, worthy the energetic pencil of Michael 
 Angelo. Neither do I think that the description that 
 immediately follows, of the sacrifice of Iphigenia, was 
 excelled by the famous picture of Timanthes on the 
 same subject, of which Pliny speaks so highly in the 
 35th book of his Natural History : especially the minute 
 and moving circumstances of her perceiving the grief of 
 her father Agamemnon, and of the priest's concealing 
 his sacrificing knife, and of the spectators bursting into 
 tears, and her falling on her knees. Few passages, 
 even in Virgil himself, are so highly finished, contain 
 such lively descriptions, or are so harmonious in their 
 versification, as where our poet speaks of the fruitful- 
 ness occasioned throughout all nature by vernal 
 showers, of the ravages committed by tempestuous 
 winds," &c. The Doctor then proceeds briefly, but 
 with commendation, to describe and select from the six 
 books, into which the poem is divided.* 
 
 * The sentiments of Dionysius Lambinus, the editor of the Paris 
 edition of 1563 — 70, (whom Eichstadt characterises as " vir exquisitissimte 
 doctrinse copiis, et singulari acumine proiditus,") being less known to the 
 Enghsh reader than those of Warton, may without impropriety be inserted 
 in this note. 
 
 " The poem of Lucretius, although he advances in it some opinions that 
 are repugnant to our religion, is, nevertheless, a most beautiful poem, dis- 
 tinguished, illustrated, and adorned, with all the brilliancy of wit and fancy. 
 
166 ACCOU>!T OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 With an admiration of his author not inferior to that 
 of Lambinus, and with a mind copiously imbued both 
 with classical knowledge, and with the results of the 
 arts and sciences of every polished nation. Dr. Good 
 devoted himself to the translation and commentary of 
 which I am now to speak. 
 
 A spirited preface, and a life of Lucretius, occupy 
 about 130 pages of the first volume. In these he 
 briefly adverts to preceding translations, and deduces 
 
 What, though Epicurus and Lucretius were impious in our views, are we 
 wlio read them therefore impious ?''. ..." Since we daily read many 
 things that are fabulous, incredible, and false, either to yield some respite to 
 our minds, or to make us the more constantly to adhere to such as are 
 true, what reason is there that we should despise Lucretius, a most elegant 
 and beautiful poet, the most polite and the most ancient of all the Latin 
 writers, from whom Virgil and Horace have, in many places, borrowed not 
 half, but whole verses ? When he descants upon the invisible corpuscles or 
 first principles of things, on their motion, their various configuration, on the 
 void, the images or tenuous membranes that fly off from the surface of all 
 bodies, the nature of the mind and soul, the rising and setting of the 
 planets, the nature of lightning, of the rainbow, the causes of diseases, and 
 of many other things, he is learned, wise, judicious, and elegant. In the 
 introductions to his books, in his similes, his examples, his disputations 
 against the fear of death, concerning tlie inconveniences and the harms of 
 love, in his account of sleep, and of dreams, he is copious, discreet, 
 eloquent, and often sublime. We not only read Homer, but even commit 
 his verses to memory, because, under the veil of fables, partly obscene, 
 partly absurd, he has in a manner included the knowledge of all natural 
 and human things. Why, then, shall we not hear Lucretius, who, without 
 the disguise of fables and such trifles, not always indeed truly, nor piously, 
 but plainly and openly, and in a style the most correct and pure, treats of 
 the principles and causes of things, of the universe, of its parts, of a happy 
 
 life, and of things celestial and terrestrial ?" " How admirably does he 
 
 discourse upon the restraining of pleasures, the curbing of the passions, and 
 the attainment of tranquillity of mind ! How wisely does he rebuke and 
 confute fliose who aflirm that nothing can be perceived, and nothing 
 known ! How beautiful are his descriptions ! How graceful, as the Greeks 
 call them, are his episodes ! How fine are his descriptions of colours, of 
 mirrors, of flie loadstone, and of the Averni ! How serious and impressive 
 are his exhortations to live continently, justly, temperately, innocently! 
 What shall we say of his diction, than which nothing can be imagined 
 more pure, correct, perspicuous, or elegant. I scruple not to affirm, that 
 in all flie Latin language, no author writes Latin better than Lucretius, and 
 that the diction, neither of Cicero nor of Caesar, is more pure." — Epistle 
 Dedicatory to Charles IX. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 167 
 
 from their imperfections the necessity of his own. He 
 also enters into an elaborate defence of the system of 
 Epicurus, and skilfully, though not with entire success, 
 defends him from the charge of atheism and irreligion. 
 From this portion of the work I shall select a few pas- 
 sages, as indicative both of Dr. Good's manner and of his 
 tone of thought, at the period in which they were written. 
 " In attentively perusing the poem before us, it is 
 impossible to avoid noticing the striking resemblance 
 which exists between many of its most beautiful 
 passages, and various parts of the poetic books of the 
 Scriptures : and the Abb6 de St. Pierre, as well as 
 several other continental writers, have hence considered 
 Lucretius to have been acquainted with them. The 
 idea, it must be confessed, is but little more than a 
 conjecture, but it is a conjecture which may easily be 
 defended. Virgil, who though considerably younger 
 than Lucretius, was contemporary with him, and 
 attained his majority on the very day of our poet's 
 decease, was indisputably acquainted with the pro- 
 phecies of Tsaiah ; and Longinus, who flourished during 
 the reign of Aurelian, quotes from the Mosaic writings 
 by name. It is not difficult to account for such an 
 acquaintance ; for different books of the Bible, and 
 especially those of the Pentateuch, appear to have 
 been translated into Greek by the Jews themselves, at 
 least three centuries anterior to the Christian sera, for 
 the use of their brethren, who at that time were settled 
 in Egypt, and other Grecian dependencies, and, residing 
 among the Greeks, had adopted the Greek language. 
 The Septuagint itself, moreover, was composed and 
 published about the same period, by the express desire, 
 and under the express patronage, of Ptolemy Phila- 
 
168 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 delphus ; who, convinced of the importance and 
 excellence of the Hebrew Scriptures, was desirous of 
 difiusing- a knowledge of them among the various classes 
 of men of letters, who, at his own invitation, had now 
 thronged to Alexandria from every quarter. Theocritus 
 was at this time among the number, and largely partook 
 of the liberality of the Egyptian monarch ; and Sanctius 
 seems fairly to have established it, that the labours of 
 the Grecian idyllist are deeply imbued with the spirit, 
 and evince manifest imitations of the language, of the 
 Song of Songs. Dr. Hodgson has, indeed, ascended 
 very considerably higher, and even challenges Anacreon 
 with having copied, in a variety of instances, from this 
 inimitable relic of the sacred poetry of Solomon. This 
 accusation may, perhaps, be doubtful ; but it would be 
 easy to prove, if the discussion were necessary in the 
 present place, that, during the dynasty of the Ptolemies, 
 not only the muses of Aonia were indebted to the muse 
 of Sion, but that the eclectic philosophy, which first 
 raised its monster head within the same period, incor- 
 porated many of the wildest traditions of the Jewish 
 rabbis into its chaotic hypothesis. The literary con- 
 nexion which subsisted between Rome and Alexandria 
 is well known ; and it is not to be supposed that 
 writings, which appear to have been so highly prized in 
 the one city, would be received with total indiiference 
 in the other. 
 
 " Be this, however, as it may ; be the parallelisms I 
 advert to, designed or accidental ; I trust I shall rather 
 be applauded than condemned, for thus giving a loose 
 to the habitual inclination of my heart. Grotius, Schul- 
 tens, Lowth, and Sir William Jones, have set me the 
 example, and, while treading in the steps of such 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 169 
 
 illustrious scholars, I need not be afraid of public 
 censure. Like them, I wish to prove that the sacred 
 pages are as alluring by their language, as they are 
 important in their doctrines ; and that, whatever be the 
 boast of Greece and Rome with respect to poetic 
 attainments, they are often equalled, and occasionally 
 surpassed, by the former. The man who, professing the 
 Christian religion, is acquainted with the ancient 
 classics, ought, at the same time, to be acquainted with 
 biblical criticism ; he has, otherwise, neglected his 
 truest interest, and lived but for little purpose in the 
 world. I delight in profane literature, but still more do 
 I delight in my Bible : they are lamps, that afford a 
 mutual assistance to each other. In point of impor- 
 tance, however, I pretend not that they admit of com- 
 parison ; and could it once be demonstrated that the 
 pursuits are inconsistent with each other, I would shut 
 up Lucretius for ever, and rejoice in the conflagration 
 of the Alexandrian library." Pref. p. xvii. 
 
 The following able sketch of the system of Epicurus 
 will be read with interest and advantage by the young 
 student of the philosophy of the ancients. 
 
 "In its mere physical contemplation, the theory of 
 Epicurus allows of nothing but matter and space, which 
 are equally infinite and unbounded, which have equally 
 existed from all eternity, and from different combina- 
 tions of which every individual being is created. These 
 existences have no property in common with each 
 other ; for, whatever matter is, that space is the reverse 
 of; and whatever space is, matter is the contrary to. 
 The actually solid parts of all bodies, therefore, are 
 matter ; their actual pores, space ; and the parts which 
 are not altogether solid, but an intermixture of solidity 
 
170 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 and pore, are space and matter combined. Anterior to 
 the formation of the universe, space and matter existed 
 uncombined, or in their pure and elementary state. Space, 
 in its elementary state, is positive and unsolid void : 
 matter, in its elementary state, consists of inconceivably 
 minute seeds or atoms — so small, that the corpuscles of 
 vapour, light, and heat, are compounds of them ; and 
 so solid, that they cannot possibly be broken, or made 
 smaller, by any concussion or violence whatever. The 
 express figure of these primary atoms is various : there 
 are round, square, pointed, jagged, as well as many 
 other shapes. These shapes, however, are not diver- 
 sified to infinity ; but the atoms themselves, of each 
 existent shape, are infinite or innumerable. Every 
 atom is possessed of certain intrinsic powers of motion. 
 Under the old school of Democritus, the perpetual 
 motions exhibited were of two kinds, — a descending 
 motion, from its own gravity ; and a rebounding motion, 
 from mutual concussion. Besides these two motions, 
 and to explain certain phenomena which the following 
 poem developes, and which were not accounted for 
 under the old system, Epicurus supposed that some 
 atoms were occasionally possessed of a third, by 
 which, in some very small degree, they descended in 
 an oblique or curvilinear direction, deviating from the 
 common and right line anomalously ; and hence, in 
 this respect, resembling the oscillations of the magnetic 
 needle. 
 
 " These infinitudes of atoms, flying immemorially in 
 such different directions, through all the immensity of 
 space, have interchangeably tried and exhibited every 
 possible mode of action, — sometimes repelled from each 
 other by concussion, and sometimes adhering to each 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 171 
 
 other from their own jagged or pointed construction, or 
 from the casual interstices which two or more connected 
 atoms must produce, and which may just be adapted to 
 those of other configurations, as globular, oval, or 
 square. Hence the origin of compound bodies ; hence 
 the origin of immense masses of matter ; hence, even- 
 tually, the origin of the world itself. When these 
 primary atoms are closely compacted together, and but 
 little vacuity or space intervenes, they produce those 
 kinds of substances which we denominate solid, as 
 stones and metals : v^fhen they are loose and disjoined, 
 and a large quantity of space or vacuity occurs between 
 them, they produce the phenomena of wool, water, 
 vapour. In one mode of combination, they form earth ; 
 in another, air; and in another, fire. Arranged in one 
 way, they produce vegetation and irritability ; in 
 another way, animal life and perception. Man hence 
 arises — families are formed — society multiplies, and 
 governments are instituted. 
 
 " The world, thus generated, is perpetually sustained 
 by the application of fresh elementary atoms, flying 
 with inconceivable rapidity through all the infinitude of 
 space, invisible from their minuteness, and occupying 
 the posts of all those that are perpetually flying oft'. 
 Yet, nothing is eternal and immutable but these elemen- 
 tary seeds or atoms themselves, the compound forms of 
 matter are continually decompounding, and dissolving 
 into their original corpuscles : to this there is no excep- 
 tion — minerals, vegetables, and animals, in this respect 
 all alike, when they lose their present configuration, 
 perishing from existence for ever, and new combinations 
 proceeding from the matter into which they dissolve. 
 But the world itself is a compound, though not an 
 
172 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 organized being ; sustained and nourished like organized 
 beings, from the material pabulum that floats through 
 the void of infinity. The world itself must, therefore, 
 in the same manner, perish : it had a beginning, and it 
 will eventually have an end. Its present crasis will 
 be decompounded ; it will return to its original, its 
 elementary atoms ; and new worlds will arise from its 
 destruction. 
 
 " Space is infinite, material atoms are infinite, but 
 the world is not infinite. — This, then, is not the only 
 world, or the only material system, that exists. The 
 cause whence this visible system originated is com- 
 petent to produce others ; it has been acting perpetually 
 from all eternity ; and there are other worlds and other 
 systems of worlds existing around us. In the vast 
 immensity of space, there are also other beings than 
 man, possessed of powers of intellect and enjoyment 
 far superior to our own ; beings who existed before the 
 formation of the world, and will exist when the world 
 shall perish for ever ; whose happiness flows unlimited 
 and unalloyed, and whom the tumults and passions of 
 gross matter can never agitate. These, the founder of 
 the system denominated gods ; — not that they created 
 the universe, or are possessed of a power of upholding 
 it ; for they are finite and created beings themselves, 
 and endowed alone with finite capacities and powers ; 
 — but from the uninterrupted beatitude and tran- 
 quillity they enjoy, their everlasting freedom from all 
 anxiety and care." p. cxi. 
 
 " Epicurus, in the opening of a letter addressed to a 
 favourite disciple, says, ' Believe, before all things, that 
 God is an immortal and blessed Being; as, indeed, 
 common sense should teach us concerning God. Con- 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 173 
 
 ceive nothing of him that is repugnant to blessedness 
 and immortality, and admit every thing that is con- 
 sistent with these perfections. 
 
 " He admitted, moreover, the existence of orders of 
 intelligences, possessed of superior powers to the 
 human race, whom, like the angels and archangels of 
 the Christian system, he conceived to be immortal 
 from their nature ; to have been created anterior to the 
 formation of the world, to be endowed with far ampler 
 faculties of enjoyment than mankind, to be formed of 
 far purer materials, and to exist in far happier abodes. 
 The chief difference which I have been able to discern 
 between the immortal spirits of the Epicurean system, 
 and of the Christian theologist, is, that while the latter 
 are supposed to take an active part in the divine 
 government of the world, the former are represented as 
 having no kind of connexion with it : since it was con- 
 ceived by Epicurus that such an interference is abso- 
 lutely beyond their power, and would be totally sub- 
 versive of their beatitude." p. Ixvi. 
 
 Gassendi, in his tractate " de Vita et Moribus Epi- 
 curi," has a similar observation. Yet the difference 
 to which both he and Dr. Good advert, is not secon- 
 dary and trifling, but primary, essential, and of the 
 utmost moment. If, as Epicurus taught, it was incon- 
 sistent with the nature and being, not merely of these 
 minor divinities but of the Supreme Deity, to give him- 
 self either diversion or disturbance by making the 
 world ; if he encumber not himself with the care and 
 government of it; if he dwell for ever in the extra- 
 mundane spaces, exercising no inspection over man- 
 kind, nor concerning himself about their actions and 
 affairs ; if in him neither anger nor favour, complacency 
 
174 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 nor displacency, have place ; where can scope be found, 
 in such a system, for the exercise of piety towards 
 God, of submission to his authority, resignation to his 
 will, or a regard to his favour and protection ? Inter- 
 preted correctly, therefore, this is a cold and comfort- 
 less theory, equally robbing God of his richest attri- 
 butes, and man of his most delectable privileges. It 
 takes away all intercourse, all communion, between 
 mankind and the Great Supreme: God cannot ''dwell 
 with man upon earth," man cannot dwell with God in 
 heaven ; and Deity becomes a mere speculation ; at 
 the utmost an object of veneration, but never the object 
 of love. 
 
 If virtue spring from such a source, (and it is right 
 to admit that Epicurus was, in many respects, a vir- 
 tuous man, gentle, kind, temperate, continent,) the 
 scheme of morality must be wrong at its very founda- 
 tion. The virtue which it prescribes is resolved into 
 a man's private convenience and advantage, indepen- 
 dently of reference to any Divine law, (for Divine law, 
 in truth, there could not be on such a system :) if Epi- 
 curus declaim against vice, it is because it would 
 expose the culprit to the penalties of human laws ; but 
 he declaims much more earnestly against the fear of 
 the gods, and the fear of death ; the former because the 
 gods regard not us, the latter because " whilst we live, 
 death is not ; and ivhen death is, ive are not." Against 
 injustice, ambition, envy, revenge, he levels several 
 excellent observations ; and many of them are wrought 
 out, with much beauty, by Lucretius ; yet, as a system 
 for the regulation of human conduct, and the real aug- 
 mentation of human happiness, experience, wherever it 
 was tried, evinced its total inefficacy. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 175 
 
 The same, however, may be affirmed of every human 
 system, ancient or modern. And it is solely to put 
 the young and ardent admirer of classical literature 
 upon his guard, that he may be watchful as to the 
 defects of every system but one, and set his eyes fully 
 upon the glories of that one, the system revealed to us 
 by God himself, that I have thought it right to present 
 these remarks. Had a new edition been called for 
 during the lifetime of my deceased friend, he would, I 
 am persuaded, most scrupulously have precluded the 
 possibility of mistake on this important subject. 
 
 But it is time we should proceed to the work itself; 
 on corresponding and opposite pages of which Dr. Good 
 has placed the original, (closely, but not slavishly, fol- 
 lowing Mr. Wakefield's edition,) and his own transla- 
 tion. In adopting blank verse as his vehicle, he seems 
 to have set at defiance the frequently quoted aphorism 
 of Johnson ;* but the truth is, that in thus deciding he 
 w^as much more likely to succeed in the happy trans- 
 fusion of the sentiments of Lucretius, than if he had 
 " condescended to rhyme." Freed from the restraints 
 of similar termination, the translator of a didactic and 
 philosophic poem has a far better chance of rendering 
 his author faithfully, without waste of words, than 
 those who confine themselves to the rhyming couplet. 
 Thus, in the translations of Creech, of Dryden, and of 
 Dr. Bushy, we meet with frequent and sometimes ridi- 
 culous redundancies ; and those who have compared 
 the translations of the Iliad by Pope and Cowper, will 
 have noticed the advantage, in point of terseness and 
 general accuracy, possessed by the latter translator. 
 
 * " He that thinks himself capable of astonishing may write blank verse ; 
 but those that hope only to please, must condescend to rhyme." 
 
176 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 Blank verse, in the hands of one who has a tolerable 
 command of diction, admits of a dignity and variety 
 in translation, which is seldom attained by him who 
 rhymes. The adoption of blank verse, therefore, in the 
 translation of Lucretius has, I believe been generally 
 approved. The characteristic of Dr. Good's poetry is 
 elegant variety. His versification is easy, his style 
 flowing, and usually harmonious ; and, in the philoso- 
 phical portions especially, the copious diction of modern 
 science has often been felicitously introduced. In the 
 pathetic and the awful, he has, I think, sometimes 
 failed ; but in these departments of his art, the Roman 
 poet exhibits a simple majesty, which, I am aware, it 
 is far more easy to admire than to imitate. 
 
 The reader, however, will form a more correct esti- 
 mate from a few specimens, than from any criticisms 
 which I can offer. 
 
 Let me first, then, present Dr. Good's version of the 
 far-famed exordium of the second book : — 
 
 Suave, mari magno turbantibus asquora ventis, 
 E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem : &c. 
 
 in which the beauty and elegance of the language and 
 imagery have excited universal admiration, and pro- 
 duced a host of imitators. 
 
 How sweet to stand, when tempests tear the main, 
 On the firm cliff, and mark the seaman's toil ! 
 Not that another's danger soothes the soul, 
 But from such toil how sweet to feel secure ! 
 How sweet, at distance from the strife, to view 
 Contending hosts, and hear the clash of war ! 
 But sweeter far on Wisdom's height serene. 
 Upheld by Truth, to fix our firm abode; 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 177 
 
 To watch the giddy crowd that, deep below, 
 For ever wander in pursuit of bhss ; 
 To mark the strife for honours and renown, 
 For wit and wealth, insatiate, ceaseless urg'd, 
 Day after day, with labour unrestrain'd. 
 
 O wretched mortals ! race perverse and blind ! 
 Through what dread dark, what perilous pursuits, 
 Pass ye this round of being ! — know ye not 
 Of all ye toil for, nature nothing asks 
 But for the body freedom from disease. 
 And sweet, unanxious quiet, for the mind ? 
 
 And little claims the body to be sound : 
 But little serves to strew the paths we tread 
 With joys beyond e'en Nature's utmost wish. 
 What, though the dome be wanting, whose proud walls 
 A thousand lamps irradiate, propt sublime 
 By frolic forms of youths in massy gold, 
 Flinging their splendours o'er the midnight feast : 
 Though gold and silver blaze not o'er the board, 
 Nor music echo round the gaudy roof? 
 Yet listless laid the velvet grass along 
 Near gliding streams, by shadowy trees o'er-arch'd, 
 Such pomps we need not; such still less when spring 
 Leads forth her laughing train, and the warm year 
 Paints the green meads with roseat flowers profuse. 
 On down reclin'd, or wrapp'd in purple robe, 
 The thirsty fever burns with heat as fierce 
 As when its victim on a pallet pants. 
 
 Since, then, nor wealth, nor splendour, nor the boast 
 Of birth illustrious, nor e'en regal state 
 Avails the body, so the free-born mind 
 Their aid as little asks. Unless, perchance, 
 The warlike host, thou deem, for thee array 'd 
 In martial pomp, and o'er the fiery field 
 Panting for glory; and the gorgeous fleet, 
 
178 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 For thee unmoor 'd, and ardent, — can dispel 
 Each superstitious terror ; from the breast 
 Root out the dread of death, and lull to peace 
 The cares, the tumults, that distract thy soul. 
 But if all this be idle, if the cares. 
 The TERRORS still that haunt, and harass man, 
 Dread not the din of arms, — o'er kings and chiefs 
 Press unabash'd, unaw'd by glittering pomp, 
 The purple robe unheeding — canst thou doubt 
 Man pants for these from poverty of mind, 
 Wand'ring in darkness, and through life misled? 
 For as the boy, when midnight veils the skies, 
 Trembles, and starts at all things, so, full oft, 
 E'en in the noon men start at forms as void 
 Of real danger as the phantoms false 
 By darkness conjur'd, and the school -boy's dread. 
 A terror this the radiant darts of day 
 Can ne'er disperse : to truth's pure light alone, 
 And wisdom yielding intellectual suns. I. 62. 
 
 The beautiful passage in the fifth book, in which the 
 poet manifests his superiority to some of the vulgar 
 superstitions, beginning with — 
 
 Nee pietas ulla est velatum ssepe videri 
 
 Vortier ad lapidem, atque omneis adcedere ad aras ; 
 
 has received this spirited, though rather free, ren- 
 dering. 
 
 No — it can ne'er be piety to turn 
 
 To stocks and stones with deep-veil'd visage ; light 
 
 O'er every altar incense ; o'er the dust 
 
 Fall prostrate, and, Avith outstretched arms, invoke 
 
 Through every temple, every god that reigns, 
 
 Soothe them with blood, and lavish vows on vows. 
 
 This, rather thou term piety, to mark 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 170 
 
 With calm untrembling soul each scene ordain'd. 
 
 For when we, doubtful, heaven's high arch survey, 
 
 The firm fixt ether, star-emboss'd, and pause 
 
 O'er the sun's path, and pale meand'ring moon, 
 
 Then superstitious cares, erewhile represt 
 
 By cares more potent, lift their hydra-head. 
 
 " What ! from the gods, then, flows this power immense 
 
 That sways, thus various, the bright host of stars ? — 
 
 (For dubious reason still the mind perturbs) 
 
 This wondrous world how form'd they? to what end 
 
 Doom'd ? through what period can its lab'ring walls 
 
 Bear the vast toil, the motions now sustain'd ? 
 
 Or have th' immortals fram'd it free from death, 
 
 In firm, undevious course empower'd to glide 
 
 O'er the broad ravage of eternal time?" V. 1243. 
 
 That portion of the fifth book, in which Lucretius 
 presents a description of primaeval life and manners, 
 and traces from thence the growth of civilization and 
 refinement, and the corresponding- modifications in the 
 habits and pleasures of man, has been regarded as 
 most happily characteristic of his best manner. I shall 
 quote another passage from this part of the poem, as 
 one in which the translator has caught much of the 
 spirit of his author. — 
 
 But nature's self th' untutor'd race first taught 
 To sow, to graft ; for acorns ripe they saw, 
 And purple berries, shatter'd from the trees. 
 Soon yield a lineage like the trees themselves. 
 Whence learn'd they, curious, through the stem mature 
 To thrust the tender slip, and o'er the soil 
 Plant the fresh shoots that first disorder'd sprang. 
 Then, too, new cultures tried they, and, with joy 
 Mark'd the boon earth, by ceaseless care caress'd, 
 N 2 
 
180 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 Each barbaroui? fruitage sweeten and subdue. 
 
 So loftier still and loftier up the hills 
 
 Drove they the woodlands daily, broad'ning thus 
 
 The cultur'd foreground, that the sight might trace 
 
 Meads, corn-fields, rivers, lakes, and vineyards gay, 
 
 O'er hills and mountains thrown ; while thro' the dales, 
 
 The downs, the slopes, ran lavish and distinct 
 
 The purple realm of olives ; as with hues 
 
 Distinct, though various still the landscape swells, 
 
 Where blooms the dulcet apple, mid the tufts 
 
 Of trees diverse that blend their joyous shades. 
 
 And from the liquid warblings of the birds 
 Learn'd they their first rude notes, ere music yet 
 To the rapt ear had tun'd the measur'd verse ; 
 And Zephyr, whisp'ring through the hollow reeds, 
 Taught the first swains the hollow reed to sound : 
 Whence woke they soon those tender trembling tones 
 Which the sweet pipe, when by the fingers prest. 
 Pours o'er the hills, the vales, and woodlands wild. 
 Haunts of lone shepherds, and the rural gods. 
 So growing time points, ceaseless, something new, 
 And human skill evolves it into day. 
 
 Thus sooth 'd they ev'ry care with music, thus 
 Clos'd ev'ry meal, for rests the bosom then. 
 And oft they threw them on the velvet grass. 
 Near gliding streams, by shadowy trees o'er-arch'd. 
 And void of costly wealth, found still the means 
 To gladden life. But chief when genial spring 
 Led forth her laughing train, and the young year 
 Painted the meads with roseat flow'rs profuse — 
 Then mirth, and wit, and wiles, and frolic, chief, 
 Flow'd from the heart ; for then the rustic muse 
 Warmest inspir'd them : then lascivious* sport 
 
 * "The term lascivia is often and elegantly made use of in poetry, and par- 
 ticularly by Lucretius, without intending to express any impurity of action." 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 181 
 
 Taught round their heads, their shoulders, taught to twine 
 
 Foliage, and flowers, and garlands richly dight ; 
 
 To loose, innum'rous (unmeasur'd)time their limbs to move, 
 
 And beat, with sturdy foot, maternal earth ; 
 
 While many a smile, and many a laughter loud, 
 
 Told all was new, and wondrous much esteem'd. 
 
 Thus wakeful liv'd they, cheating of its rest 
 
 The drowsy midnight ; with the jocund dance 
 
 Mixing gay converse, madrigals, and strains 
 
 Run o'er the reeds with broad recumbent lip : 
 
 As, wakeful still, our revellers through night 
 
 Lead on their defter dance to time precise ; 
 
 Yet will not costlier sweets, with all their art. 
 
 Than the rude offspring earth in woodlands bore. V. 1451. 
 
 But whatever may be the estimate of this work, 
 considered as a translation, it maj'^ justly claim a 
 considerably augmented value on account of the volu- 
 minous and extremely diversified collection of annota- 
 tions, which form a kind of running commentary to 
 the entire poem. These notes are printed in double 
 columns, with a type much smaller than the original 
 and translation ; and occupying, as they do on the 
 average, more than half of each page, comprise altoge- 
 ther a rich body of entertainment and instruction. 
 They consist of comments on the doctrines of the 
 poem, and of the sect of philosophers whose tenets 
 Lucretius espoused ; observations on the peculiarities 
 of other schools of philosophy, Indian, Grecian, Ro- 
 man, &c. ; correct sketches of the discoveries and 
 theories of the moderns, whether devoted to chemistry 
 or physics ; developements of striking facts in natural 
 history ; and allusions to many extraordinary antici- 
 pations of discoveries supposed to be modern. Our 
 
182 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 annotator also expatiates, with taste and feeling, upon 
 the beauties of his author, and collects numerous 
 obvious or imagined imitations of him in several poets 
 of earlier and later times. His extensive attainments as 
 a linguist, and that indefatigable industry to which I 
 have more than once adverted, enabled him to enrich 
 this department of his undertaking with an almost 
 boundless profusion ; and to present resemblances, 
 parallelisms, allusions, and probable copies of his text, 
 from Arabic, Persian, Greek, Latin, Spanish, Portu- 
 guese, Italian, French, German, English, and other 
 poets, from various parts of the Holy Scriptures, and 
 from every work of taste or knowledge that could, 
 without unnatural straining, contribute to his purpose. 
 In cases where he could not at once select good 
 English renderings of the authors quoted in these 
 illustrations, he has introduced translations of his 
 own ; and these, together with his criticisms, and his 
 reasonings on the utmost diversity of topics, evince a 
 union of learning, taste, feeling, and judgment, such as 
 has very rarely been found. Sometimes, indeed, it 
 must be admitted that his admiration of his author 
 and his theories carry him beyond the limits of sober 
 interpretation ; yet, on the whole, these notes possess 
 a rich and permanent value ; and may be generally 
 consulted, by one who guards against this tendency, 
 with the utmost safety,* as well as advantage and 
 pleasure. To facilitate the reader's application to them, 
 a comprehensive and judicious index of the several 
 
 * It is a matter of sincere and deep reji-et, tliat tlie translator did not, by- 
 expunging, instead of translating, some very objectionable passages near the 
 end of the fourth book, insure for this his elaborate work an unqualified 
 commendation. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 183 
 
 subjects treated both in the poem and in the notes, is 
 placed at the end of the second volume. 
 
 Looking back upon the space which has been already 
 devoted to these volumes, I feel the expediency oi 
 checking myself; and shall, therefore, only select two 
 or three specimens from Dr. Good's interesting com- 
 mentary. 
 
 On turning to an exquisite passage in the 3d book, 
 beginning. 
 
 Nam jam non domiis adcipiet te Iseta, neque uxor 
 Optuma, nee dulces obciirreiit osciila natei 
 Praeripere, et tacita pectus dulcediue tangent: 
 
 we find a very characteristic note, which, with the 
 simple omission of the Greek, Latin, and German 
 originals, cited by the annotator, I shall now in- 
 troduce. 
 
 "Thy babes belovVI, 
 
 Whose haste half-met thee, emulous to snatch 
 The dulcet kiss " 
 
 " I must not here forbear to quote a beautiful passage 
 of Homer, towards which, as Lamljinus has justly 
 observed, Lucretius appears to have thrown his eye, in 
 this exquisite delineation, and whence, perhaps, he 
 drew the rudiments of one of his most pathetic traits : 
 
 Know thou, whoe'er with heavenly power contends. 
 
 Short is his date, and soon his glory ends. 
 
 From fields of death, when late he shall retire, 
 
 No wfaiit on his knees shall call him sire. Pope. 
 
 " But though Lucretius may, perhaps, with respect to 
 one idea, be a copyist of Homer, Virgil is a far closer 
 
184 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 copyist of Lucretius. Yet he has written, as Dr. War- 
 ton judiciously asserts, with less tenderness and effect: 
 
 He feels the father's and the husband's bliss, 
 
 His infants climb, and struggle for a kiss ; 
 
 His modest house strict chastity maintains, 
 
 Warton. 
 " Our own language boasts of a variety of imitations 
 of this elegiac and exquisite passage ; of which several 
 are possessed of great feeling and simplicity. The 
 following is from the pathetic muse of Gray: 
 
 For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, 
 
 Or busy housewife ply her evening care ; 
 
 No children run, to lisp their sire's return, 
 
 Or climb his knees, the envied kiss to share. 
 
 " The two last lines are very nearly a verbal transla- 
 tion. The next imitation, to which I shall refer, is by 
 Thomson ; it is freer than that of Gray, but executed 
 with equal felicity. It occurs in his Winter, to which 
 season it particulary adverts : 
 
 In vain for him th' officious wife prepares 
 
 The fire fair-blazing, and the vestment warm : 
 
 In vain, his little children, peeping out 
 
 Into the mingled storm, demand their sire 
 
 With tears of artless innocence. Alas ! 
 
 Nor ivife, nor children, more shall he behold. 
 
 Nor friends, nor sacred home. Ver. 311. 
 
 " It is not unlikely that Thomson, rather than Lucre- 
 tius, has been copied in this delineation by Klopstock, 
 in the following verses, which comprise a part of the 
 meditations of the repentant Abadonna : 
 
 Come, let me see the man that yonder lies 
 Dying, and wrung with anguish as he dies ; 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 185 
 
 And mark his gory wounds. In dead of night 
 Haply he hasted, with a sire's delight, 
 To clasp his babes, that round their mother's knee, 
 Lisp'd his dear name. These never shall he see ! 
 By ruthless ruffians murder'd ! — 
 
 " Equally in point, with both these citations, is the 
 following, by Collins ; aflbrding a picture which yields 
 to neither of them in tenderness or beauty. It com- 
 prises a part of his well-known description of the 
 Kelpie, or Water-fiend : 
 
 For him, in vain, his anxious wife shall wait, 
 Or wander forth to meet him on his way; 
 For him, in vain, at to-fall of the day. 
 
 His babes shall linger at th' unclosing gate. — 
 Ah ! ne'er shall he return ! — 
 
 " I add the following from Dyer, because, though it 
 offers a parallel, if not a copied image, it directs to a 
 happier purpose. The poet is representing the agricul- 
 tural province of a worthy cottager with whom he was 
 acquainted, and who never suffered the growth of use- 
 less trees about the few acres he occupied : 
 
 Only a slender tuft of useful ash, 
 And mingled beech, and elm, securely tall, 
 The little smiling cottage warm embower'd : 
 The little smiling cottage, where at eve 
 He meets his rosy children at the door. 
 Prattling their welcomes, and his honest wife, 
 With good brown cake, and bacon slice, intent 
 To cheer his hunger after labour hard. 
 
 Fleece, book I. 
 
 " Of a purport precisely similar, and pregnant with 
 similar imagery, is the ensuing address of a cottager to 
 
186 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 his beloved wife, from the Idyls of Gessner, with which 
 I shall conclude this note. It occurs in his Herbs t- 
 morgen : 
 
 *'When seated by thee, let the pent-up winds put 
 forth their rage ; let the snow-storm cover the face 
 of the earth ; then chiefly feel I that thou art every 
 thing to me. May the fulness of my prosperity be the 
 lot of yourselves, ye lovely children! adorned with 
 every grace of your mother, which l)lossoms as a 
 blessing upon us both ! The first syllable she taught 
 you to lisp was to let me know that ye loved me. As 
 I return from the field or the flock, joyfully ye throng 
 together, and call to me from the sill of the door; and, 
 clinging round my knees, receive, with childish rapture, 
 the little presents I bring you — O how does your pure 
 
 and innocent happiness transport me!" Vol. I. 
 
 page 502. 
 
 In adverting to the poetic representations of death 
 and its harbingers, some observations occur which are 
 not unworthy the attention of biblical critics : 
 
 "The personification of Death, in the act of execut- 
 ing the divine commands, is exhibited with great dif- 
 ference, both as to features and character, amongst 
 different nations. Perhaps the most mean and insig- 
 nificant delineation is the common monkish one of a 
 skeleton with a dart in one hand, and an hour-glass in 
 the other, ghauntly striding towards the victim of his 
 attack : while one of the most terrible and best defined, 
 is that of the Scandinavian poets, who represent him 
 as mounted on horseback, fleeing, in the dead of niglit, 
 with inconceivable rapidity, over hedges and ditches, 
 valleys, mountains, and rivers, in pursuit of his prey, 
 meagre in flesh, wan in colour, and horrible in aspect. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 187 
 
 the horse possessing the same character as the rider. 
 Many of the German ballads, and especially those of 
 BUrger, have, of late, made a free use of this personi- 
 fication ; and it has been contended that the picture is 
 altogether of Scandinavian origin, and peculiar to the 
 bards of that country : yet what will such antiquarians 
 say to the following parallel passage in the Apoca- 
 lypse, ch. vi. 8. which, while it evinces every charac- 
 teristic feature of the foregoing imagery, adds a variety 
 of collateral circumstances of the utmost sublimity and 
 terror, unknown to Runic poetry, and iniinitely supe- 
 rior to its proudest and most energetic specimens : 
 * And I looked, and behold ! a ghastly horse, and the 
 name of his rider was Death ; and Hell followed him. 
 And they were empowered to exterminate a fourth 
 part of the earth with sword, and with famine, and 
 with pestilence, and with the wild beasts of the earth.' 
 The word here translated ghastly, ■x^wpog, is pecu- 
 liarly expressive in the original. It is more generally 
 rendered pale, but this is still less adequate to its real 
 spirit ; it means that green-sick, wan, and exanimate 
 hue which is pathognomicaily descriptive of the dis- 
 ease termed chlorosis." — Vol. II. page 585. 
 
 Again, in the very next page, while commenting upon 
 that "daring dithyrambic expression," 'We change the 
 covering of the skies,' Dr. Good remarks, tliat the 
 sacred writings furnish many similar examples, and 
 quotes ilie originals of Psalm cii. 25, 2G, and of Isaiah 
 xl. 21 — 23. Rendering the latter part of the citation 
 from the Psalm thus, 
 
 " Even as a garment shall they be worn out, 
 
 And when thou dioosest to change diem they shall be changed. 
 
188 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 I shall be forgiven for inserting the remainder of the 
 note. 
 " Have ye not known ? have ye not heard ? 
 
 Hal-h it not been published to you from the be2:inning ? 
 
 Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth ? 
 
 He who sitteth upon the circle of the earth, 
 
 And to whom its inhabitants are as grasshoppers; 
 
 Who unfoldeth the heavens as a curtain, 
 
 And spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in ; 
 
 Who reduceth magistrates, yea, monarchs, to nothing — 
 
 Can dissolve the earth itself into emptiness ? 
 
 "The arrangement here presented, of this sublime 
 passage of the original, is different from that afforded 
 by any modern version with which I am acquainted, 
 yet I have no doubt that it is what was intended by 
 the prophet himself. It gives a sense far more magni- 
 ficent than that in common acceptation ; is more con- 
 sonant with the context, and prevents the necessity 
 of arbitrarily supplying the verb it is, at the opening 
 of verse 22, for which there is no authority in the 
 Hebrew. Upon turning to the Septuagint, I find, also, 
 that I am countenanced in this rendering by the trans- 
 lation there offered, which, in ver 23, runs as follows : 
 
 'O Ci^ovQ ap'^ov-ag wc ovcsi> ap-^eiv, 
 
 THN AE THN 'ilS OYAEN EHOIHSEN. 
 
 "The word curtain, in ver. 22. which I have continued 
 from our standard version, is rendered awning by 
 Dr. Stock, who justifies the change by a note cited 
 from bishop Lowth, as occurring in Shaw's Travels. 
 With due deference to these very excellent authorities, 
 I still think the standard rendering preferable. The 
 kind of curtain, immediately referred to, is that which 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 189 
 
 was suspended in Greece, Rome, and Asia, (in which 
 last region the same custom still prevails) over theatres 
 and pleasure-gardens, to screen them from the heat of 
 the sun, and which was drawn or undrawn at option. 
 For a fuller account of which, the reader may turn to 
 the Note on Book IV. ver. 80. of the present Poem : 
 and especially to my translation of the Song of Songs, 
 Idyl IX. Note 12. 
 
 "The beginning of ver. 24, obviously refers to the 
 graven images in ver. 19, 20 ; and, in bold metaphori- 
 cal language, delineates their utter impotence and 
 vanity : 
 
 No — they shall not be planted ; no — they shall not be sown ; 
 No — their stock shall not take root in the ground : 
 But he shall blow upon them, and they shall wither, 
 And the whirlwind shall scatter them like stubble. 
 
 "The particle «]«, which means either yea, or no, 
 according to its position, verilij, surely, omnino, is here 
 rendered, with much more force, negatively, than ajfir- 
 matively, as in our common versions : and it is in this 
 sense, also, that it is understood by the Septuagint." — 
 Vol. II. p. 587. 
 
 It is with considerable effort that I restrain myself 
 from quoting many instructive passages, exfoliating 
 the principles of taste in the fine arts, and the history 
 of practical science, as well as of metaphysical specu- 
 lation, which I had marked for insertion. But no one 
 who wishes to acquire general knowledge, need hesi- 
 tate to consult these volumes from an apprehension 
 that he may consult them in vain. 
 
190 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 AMNIVERSARY ORATION. 
 
 In March, 1S08, Dr. Good delivered before the Me- 
 dical Society of London, of which he was then the 
 senior secretary, the "Anniversary Oration, on the 
 general structure and physiology of plants, compared 
 with those of animals, and on the mutual convertibility 
 of their elements." He was unexpectedly called to 
 the task, and had but a short time for its preparation ; 
 but the attempt was cordially received, and the Oration 
 was published at the unanimous request of the Society. 
 Though only constituting a pamphlet of 56 pages, it 
 was regarded as truly valuable. 
 
 The author commences in examining the general 
 structure of the vegetable system, by first noticing 
 the seed of the plant, which he denominates its e%^ ; 
 he examines the structure and component parts of 
 this vegetable e^g, in what manner the root issues 
 from one part of its central organ (its corticle or 
 heartlet,) and the trunk from another part: then he 
 traces the respective structure of these derived 
 organs, and the means by which, in several plants, 
 the one may be made interchangeably to assume the 
 functions of the other : he next unfolds, so to speak, 
 the substances of which the trunk consists ; elucidates 
 the process of its annual growth and lignification ; 
 treats of the number and nature of the different 
 systems of vegetable vessels, and investigates the 
 questions of vegetable circulation, irritability, and 
 contractibility. 
 
 The author proceeds, in the second place, to point 
 out a few of the resemblances of vegetables to the 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 191 
 
 economy or habits of animals ; such as that of 
 their production — that the Ijlood of plants, like that 
 of animals, is compound — that as in animal, so in 
 vegetable life, the very same tribe, or even individual, 
 which, in some of its organs, secretes a wholesome 
 aliment, in other organs secretes a deadly poison — 
 that vegetables as well as animals are subject to the 
 classification of locomotive or migratory, and fixed or 
 permanent — that plants, like animals, have a wonder- 
 ful power of maintaining their common temperature, 
 whatever be the temperature of the surrounding 
 atmosphere — that both are capable of existing in 
 very great degrees of heat and cold — and that both 
 admit of the division into terrestrial, aquatic, am- 
 phibious, and aerial. 
 
 Lastly, the author discusses the question of conver- 
 tibility, and shews that vegetable matter can only be 
 assimilated to animal by parting with its excess of 
 carbon, and receiving a supply of its deficiency of 
 azote. Then, to complete the circle, it is shewn that 
 by means of putrefaction, the radical elements of 
 animal matter return to their original affinities. 
 
 Every part of this physiological disquisition, gives 
 indications of various reading, extensive research, 
 cautious experiment, and impressive deduction. But, 
 as several of its facts and reasonings have been 
 brought forward, in a more mature shape, in some of 
 the author's later publications, this brief outline of 
 its general nature and principal features may suffice. 
 
 MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY. 
 
 Pursuing the chronological order, I have next to 
 speak of Dr. Good's essay, " On Medical Technology" 
 
192 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 which appeared in 1808, in the Transactions of the 
 Medical Society of London; that scientific body 
 awarding to the author "the FotJiergillian medal" in 
 testimony of their approbation of his labour. And 
 here it will not be expected that I should characterize 
 the essay with a decision akin to that which might be 
 assumed by a medical critic ; but that I should simply 
 present such a view as may be taken by one who has 
 not been indiflerent to the subject of nomenclature or 
 technology in general. 
 
 With regard to most of the liberal arts and sciences, 
 great improvements in technology, it is well known, 
 have been introduced during the last fifty years. The 
 nomenclature of chemistry, especially, has undergone 
 a complete transformation ; and if any one wish to 
 convince himself thoroughly of the vast influence of 
 names upon things, and the facilities given by accurate 
 philosophical language to invention and discovery, he 
 need only to study carefully the history of that depart- 
 ment of science. Medical technology, however, has 
 not derived such advantages from this circumstance as 
 might have been expected ; nor even has pharmacy 
 been so purified from its jargon, as every one who uses 
 medicine, as well as every one who prescribes medi- 
 cine, might naturally wish. 
 
 The ordinary vocabulary of medicine still remains 
 an ill-assorted mass of terms from numerous lan- 
 guages, and numerous systems, alike destitute of 
 precision and simplicity. " We have (says Dr. Good) 
 Hebrew and Arabic terms ; Greek and Latin ; French, 
 Italian, Spanish, German, English, and even Indian, 
 African, and Mexican; often barbarously and ille- 
 gitimately compounded, fanciful in their origin, and 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 193 
 
 cacophonous in pronunciation." Tlie sources of the 
 inadequacy and perplexity of medical language, he 
 traces, 1st. To the intermixture of different tongues 
 that have no family or dialectic union. 2dly. To the 
 want of a common principle in the origin or appro- 
 priation of terms. 3dly. To the introduction of a 
 variety of useless synonyms. 4thly. To imprecision 
 in the use of the same terms. 5thly. To a needless 
 coinage of new terms. His examples in illustration 
 are often really curious, at least to an unprofessional 
 reader. Sometimes, similarity of colour has suggested 
 the name, sometimes the order of time, at others 
 natural history, at others the names of persons and 
 places. Among the specimens furnished under the 
 third class, are fames canina, rabies canina (dog- 
 hunger, dog-madness :) cynanche (dog-choak ;) boulimia 
 (ox-maw ;) pica (magpie-longing ;) hippus and liippo- 
 pyon (horse-twinkle, and horse-blotch ;) elephantiasis 
 (elephant-skin ;) scrophula (swine-evil ;) vitiligo (calf- 
 skin ;) ichthyosis (fish-skin ;) &c. 
 
 As a remedy for the numerous evils occasioned by a 
 vague, unsettled, and irregular nomenclature. Dr. 
 Good proposes, simply, to discard all equivocal terms 
 as much as possible, to create as few new words as 
 possible, and to limit the vocabulary as much as 
 possible to one language alone. He gives some 
 cautions, however, as to the employment of such 
 Greek terms as have reached us through the Latin ; 
 and specifies, as a most important rule in conferring 
 due simplicity and precision upon the nomenclature, 
 that a scrupulous attention be paid to the sense in 
 which the affixed and suffixed particles are employed, 
 in compound terms, to express the peculiar quality of 
 
194 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 the disease denoted by the theme or radical. He 
 adverts to some striking anomalies which have pre- 
 vailed in the use of the particles ; and then prescribes 
 a few general regulations. As these, together with the 
 tabular illustration which follows them, exhibit the 
 primitive development of their author's ideas on a 
 subject of interest both to the medical student and to 
 the general reader, I shall insert them here. 
 
 *' To reduce the anomalies, thus pointed out, to some 
 degree of regularity, to make them intelligent to the 
 student, and practically useful to the adept, I beg 
 leave to submit the following regulations : 
 
 *' 1. Let the particle a (a) express alone the idea of 
 total privation ; as in amentia, agalactia, amenorrhcea. 
 
 " 2. Let dys (cvc) express alone the idea of deficiency, 
 as its origin cvyw or ^voji most naturally imports, and as 
 we find it employed to express in dijs-pncea, dys- 
 cinesia, and dys-phagia. 
 
 " 3. As an opposite to dys, let en (er) be employed 
 as an augmentive particle, as we have it in en-harmonic, 
 en-telechia, and en-ergetic. En is not often, indeed, a 
 medical compound, nor do I recollect its being employed 
 in more than two instances ; encephalon, in which it 
 has the sense of interior (a word, indeed, that has 
 been long falling into disuse,) and enuresis, in which it 
 imports excess, and is consequently used as now 
 recommended. Thus restricted, ev and cvq will have 
 the force of virsp and kcitw, but will be far more manage- 
 able in the formation of compounds. 
 
 "4. Let agra («ypa) be restrained to express the 
 idea of simple morbid afiection in an organ, synony- 
 mously with the Latin passio, or the ^^' (herh) of the 
 Arabians. 
 
DR. MASOl^ GOOD. 195 
 
 " 5. Let itis (i^tiq) express alone the idea of inflam- 
 matory action, as in cephalitis, gastritis, nephritis. 
 
 " 6. Let algia (aXyia) express alone the idea of pain 
 or ache, to the banishment of such useless synonyms 
 as odyne and copos, or copus. 
 
 " 7. Let rhagia (from |0?;cro-w, rumpo) be confined to 
 express a preternatural flux of blood. 
 
 " 8. Let rhcea (from peo), fliio) express a praeternatural 
 flux of any other kind. 
 
 " By adopting these few regulations, which, instead 
 of innovating, only aim at reforming, our technology, 
 if I mistake not, would be in many respects equally 
 improved in simplicity, in elegance, and in precision ; 
 the student would easily commit it to memory, and the 
 practitioner have a real meaning in the terms he makes 
 use of. To prove the truth of these assertions, the 
 subjoined table will be sufficient, which may be easily 
 extended to any length by the use of other particles or 
 prepositions, or the introduction of other themes or 
 radical terms of the medical vocabulary ; a vocabulary 
 at present equally confused and redundant, but which, 
 when thus simplified, and cleared of the numerous 
 synonyms and equivalents that overload it, might be 
 reduced to at least a third part of its present length, 
 and be rendered as much more conspicuous as it would 
 be more concise. The adoption, moreover, of some 
 such regulations as those now proposed, could not be 
 more beneficial to our nomenclature than to our 
 systems of nosology — a branch of medical literature, 
 which, whether contemplated under the best synoptic 
 or the best methodic arrangements of the day, stands 
 in need of almost as much correction as our language. 
 
19(J 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 1 
 
 Rlenorr/idg-ia. 
 Uterine Iloe- 
 morrhage. 
 Menorrhagia 
 rubra. Cul. 
 Haemorrhagia 
 uterina Morten. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 :l 
 
 
 Cephalitis. 
 Inflammation 
 of the brain. 
 Cephalitis Sauv 
 Siriasis. Hipp. 
 Apoplexiapuru- 
 \enta. Morgugni 
 Inflammation 
 de cerveau. 
 De Mezerey. 
 
 
 
 
 
 till |i f 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 1 311 
 
 '^ o S « 
 
 1 III S 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 ^ i ^ 
 .! .1 -1 
 
 i 
 1 
 
 
 
 Q1^ Q 
 
 
 iii-j.i 
 
 aj tu « o • S-. 
 
 1 
 
 
 . 
 
 illPil 
 
 
 -5 
 
 nil 
 
 
 
 1 i 
 
 ^" 1 
 
 a^ 1 
 
 > 
 
 . ill 
 
 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 
 
 197 
 
 Gastrorrhagia. 
 Vomiting of 
 Blood from the 
 Stomach. 
 Hoematemesis. 
 Alitor. 
 
 Pneumonor- 
 rhagia. 
 Discharge of 
 Blood from the 
 Lungs. 
 
 Haemorrhagia. 
 Vog. 
 Hsemoptoe. 
 
 Aliiyr. 
 
 
 Enterr/iag-ia. 
 Intestinal Dis- 
 charge of 
 Blood. 
 
 Profusio. Lin. 
 Hsemorrhagia, 
 Vog. Boerh. 
 Melasna. 
 
 Alior. 
 
 
 Pneumonor- 
 
 Purulent dis- 
 charge from the. 
 Lungs. 
 Anacatharsis 
 phthisica. Sauv- 
 Vomica. Alior. 
 Tussis purulenta. 
 
 
 Enter?-/ia?a. 
 
 Purging and 
 Vomiting, 
 Cholera. Cul. 
 Diarrhoea cho- 
 lerica. 
 
 Cholera Mor- 
 bus. 
 
 Gastritis. 
 Inflammation of 
 the Stomach. 
 Gastritis. 
 
 Cut. Sauv. 
 
 Pneumonitis. 
 
 Inflammation of 
 the Lungs. 
 Pneumonia. 
 
 Cul. 
 
 Pulmonaria. 
 
 Alpini. 
 
 Enteritis. 
 Inflammation of 
 the Intestines. 
 Enteritis. Sauv. 
 Cul. Lin. 
 Intestinorum 
 Inflam. Boerh. 
 
 
 .2 =? ceo 
 
 n 1 
 
 Pneumona/^ia. 
 
 Painful respi- 
 ration. 
 Orthopncea. 
 
 Aut. 
 
 Dyspnoea. 
 
 Anxietas. 
 
 EnteraZg-ia. 
 
 Colica. Cul. 
 Flatulentia. 
 
 Sauv. 
 
 
 Gastragra. 
 
 Morbid aflfec- 
 tion of the Sto- 
 mach generally. 
 
 Pneumonugra. 
 
 aiorbid affec- 
 tion of the 
 Lungs gene- 
 rally. 
 
 Enterag-ra. 
 
 Morbid affec- 
 tion of the ca- 
 nal generally. 
 
 
 Engastria. 
 Stomach mor- 
 bidly or preter- 
 aaturally en- 
 larged. 
 Gastrocele.S'uui' 
 
 
 
 Enenteria. 
 
 Looseness. 
 DiarrhcEa. Aut. 
 
 Passio Coeliaca. 
 Lienteria. 
 
 Dj/sgastria. 
 
 Contracted 
 Stomach. 
 
 Di/spneumonia 
 
 Imperfect Con- 
 formation of the 
 Lungs. 
 
 
 D)/senteria. 
 Feces small in 
 quantity, and 
 discharged with 
 violent strain- 
 
 Dysenteria. 
 
 Aut. 
 
 ^gastria. 
 
 Stomachless : 
 applied to 
 monsters tlius 
 born. 
 
 ^pneumonia. 
 
 Lungless : ap- 
 plied to mon- 
 sters thus born. 
 
 
 .5 li^ 
 
 2 it 
 
 i 11 
 
 -1 OO 
 
 G aster. 
 
 The Stomach. 
 The digestive 
 Organ. 
 
 2 ^ 
 1 ^ 
 
 £ 1 
 
 Entera, 
 
 The Intestines. 
 The fecal 
 Organ. 
 
 Enteria, 
 
 the fecal 
 Function. 
 
198 
 
 r 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 .5 
 
 1 
 
 Urir?7iag-fa. 
 
 Bloody Urine. 
 Hoematuria. 
 Sauv. Cul. 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 i: 'si 
 
 5 ChCh' 
 
 
 Ophthalmir- 
 rlicea. 
 
 Flux of the 
 lachrymal 
 Humour. 
 Epiphora- .SVna'- 
 Cul. Lin 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 OphthalmitJs- 
 
 Inflammationof 
 the Eye-ball- 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 Ophthalma/g-iu. 
 
 Ache of the 
 Eye-ball. 
 
 1 
 
 Uragra. 
 
 IMorbid Flux of 
 Urine gene- 
 rally. 
 
 Morbid Sight 
 
 generally. 
 
 Myopia. 
 
 Presbytia. 
 
 Pseudoblepsis. 
 
 Ophthalmagra. 
 
 IMorbid affec- 
 tion of the Eye- 
 ball generally. 
 
 03 
 
 E/iuria. 
 Involuntary 
 Flux of Urine. 
 Enuresis. Sav. 
 Lin. Cul. 
 Paresis. j4rfftei/s 
 
 Enopia. 
 Sight morbidly 
 acute. 
 
 Oenopia lAut. 
 Oxyopia ^ CirCEC 
 Visus acrior, 
 Darwin. 
 
 Enopthalmia. 
 
 Protuberant 
 
 Eye-ball.. 
 
 Prolapsus Oculi 
 
 Buphthalmia, 
 
 Ecpiesmus. 
 
 Aut. Gr. 
 Staphyloma. 
 
 -a 
 
 Di/.suria. 
 Dl^fficult Dis- 
 charge of Urine. 
 Dysuria. Cut. 
 Sauv. Lin. 
 Stranguria .AL 
 
 D_iy .sopia. 
 VVeakness of 
 Sight. 
 
 Dysopia. Cul. 
 Amblyopia. 
 Sauv. Sag, 
 
 Dt/sopthalmia. 
 
 Contracted or 
 Pig-eye. 
 
 si 
 
 24nuria. 
 
 Suppression of 
 Urine. 
 
 Ischuria, Cul. 
 Sauv. et al. 
 
 ^4nopia. 
 Sightlessness. 
 Caligo. Sauv. 
 Vog. 
 Cataracta. Lin. 
 Amaurosis. 
 Vog. Sag. 
 
 li 
 
 
 l 1 
 
 (^ps, Opos, 
 
 the Sight. 
 The Sense 
 of vision. 
 
 Ophthalmos, 
 the Eye. 
 
 The Organ of 
 Vision. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 
 
 199 
 
 
 
 
 
 Othrhwa. 
 
 Morbid Dis- 
 charge from the 
 Ear. 
 
 
 III 
 
 
 Otitis. 
 
 Inflammation of 
 the Ear. 
 Otitis. Vog. 
 
 
 Poditis. 
 Acute Parox- 
 ysm of the 
 Gout- 
 
 
 Otalgia. 
 
 Ear-ach. 
 Otalgia. Sauv. 
 
 
 Podalgia. 
 
 Chronic Gout- 
 pains. 
 
 
 Otagra 
 
 Morbid Affec- 
 tion of the Ears 
 generally. 
 
 Acusa^ra. 
 Morbid Affec- 
 tion of Hearing 
 generally. 
 Paracoe. 
 
 Hippocr. 
 Paracusis. 
 
 Sauv. 
 
 Oh O 
 
 
 Ejiotia. 
 Long Ears. 
 Ass's Ears. 
 Proptoma auri- 
 cularum. Sauv. 
 A Montvosity 
 common to the 
 Siamese. 
 
 Enacusia 
 Hearing acutely 
 strong. 
 
 Oxyca^a. Sauv. 
 
 Auditus acrior- 
 
 Darwin. 
 
 
 
 Dysotia.. 
 
 Ears preter- 
 naturally small 
 or defective. 
 
 Di/sacusia. 
 Difficulty or 
 Hardness of 
 Hearing. 
 Dysecaea, Sauv. 
 Paracusis. Cul. 
 Auditis dilhci- 
 lis. Hoffman. 
 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 Enacusia. 
 Deafness. 
 Cophosis. Sauv. 
 Dyseca;a. Cul. 
 Surditas Aut. 
 Lat. 
 
 
 
 Otis, 
 the Ear. 
 
 The Organ 
 
 of Hearing. 
 
 Acoues, 
 Hearing. 
 
 The Si-.NSE 
 of Hearing. 
 
 Pons, podos, 
 the Foot. 
 The common 
 Seat of the 
 Gout. 
 
 
200 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK OF JOB. 
 
 It is a striking fact in the history of letters, that the 
 most ancient book is also one of the most sublime. 
 "The whole book of Job, (says Mr. Pope*) with 
 regard both to sublimity of thought, and morality, 
 exceeds, beyond all comparison, the most noble parts 
 of Homer." And Dr. Good, in a eulogy on this noble 
 composition, as just as it is elegant, says, "Nothing 
 can be purer than its morality ; nothing sublimer than 
 its philosophy ; nothing more majestic than its creed. 
 It is full of elevation and grandeur ; daring in its con- 
 ceptions ; splendid and forcible in its images ; abrupt 
 in its transitions ; and, at the same time, occasionally 
 interspersed with touches of the most exquisite and 
 overwhelming tenderness." 
 
 This was denominated by Gregory Nazianzen, one 
 of the^t'e metrical books, and, as such, it is placed in 
 our Bibles, with the other four, namely, the Psalms, 
 Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Canticles, between 
 the historical and the prophetical books. Biblical 
 critics, and others, have collected and contributed a 
 large store towards the illustration of this valuable 
 portion of Scripture : yet, notwithstanding, many 
 questions may be raised, relative to the reality of Job's 
 person, the time and region in which he lived, the 
 author of the book, its precise object, &c. ; to all of 
 which it is not easy to furnish decisive replies. If, as 
 has been often imagined, the narrative part of this 
 book is comprehended in the first two chapters, and 
 
 * Pope's translation of the Odi/ssei/, book x\i. the last note. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 201 
 
 the last eleven verses of the concluding chapter, while 
 all the rest is devoted to the poem, then we may notice 
 this curious fact, that in the said narrative portion, 
 the word Jehovah, the Lord, occurs twenty-six 
 times, while in the poem itself, we find it only in chap, 
 xii. 9 ; xxxviii. 1 ; xl. 1, 3, 6 ; and chap. xlii. 1. Why 
 is it, that this sacred name is so frequently employed 
 in the narrative, and so sparingly introduced in the 
 dialogue? This, however, though a curious question, 
 is one of minor importance, unless, which I am incom- 
 petent to say, its full discussion should tend to throw 
 some light upon the object and structure of the entire 
 composition. 
 
 Dr. Good, who through the greater part of his life 
 paid a very marked attention to "the five metrical 
 books," and has, indeed, given several spirited trans- 
 lations from them in the notes to his Lucretius, 
 devoted portions of the Sunday mornings and even- 
 ings, for some years, to a translation of the Book of 
 Job ; which he published in 1812, with an introductory 
 dissertation and numerous notes, constituting together 
 a thick octavo volume. 
 
 The preliminary dissertation is divided into five 
 sections, in which the author inquires successively 
 into the scene of the poem, its scope, subject, arrange- 
 ment, language, author, aera, and the doctrines which 
 it is intended to teach. In the course of these in- 
 quiries, he assigns the principal reasons from which he 
 infers that Job was a real person, a chieftain of great 
 power and influence, dwelling in Idumea, Ausitis, or 
 Uz, and that all the other persons named, Eliphaz, 
 Bildad, &c. were Idumaeans, or, in other words, 
 Edomite Arabs, chieftains or governors of the respective 
 
202 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 cities or districts to which their names are prefixed. 
 From the peculiarities of the style of this sublime 
 composition, from its author's extensive acquaintance 
 with the astronomy, natural history, and general 
 science of the age, and from oiher circumstances 
 specified in the dissertation. Dr. Good concludes that 
 the author must have been a Hebrew by birth and 
 native language, an Arabian by long residence and 
 local study, and must have lived subsequently to 
 Abraham, but before the Israelitish Exodus from 
 Egypt: in short, that he could have been no other 
 than Moses, and that he composed it during some 
 part of his forty years' "residence in Midian. Dr. Good 
 aims farther to prove that the poem is a regular 
 Hebrew epic, founded upon facts which occurred long 
 before ; and that, besides the instructive lessons 
 derivable from the character, prosperity, trial, afflic- 
 tions, and restoration of Job, the book was also in- 
 tended to teach us the patriarchal religion, as it 
 existed before the introduction of the Mosaic in- 
 stitutions.* 
 
 Some of t ese positions have been controverted by 
 other Biblical critics. Yet, on the whole, the opinion 
 
 * Dr. J. P. Smith, a writer alike distinguished for his erudition and his 
 candour, speaking of Dr. Good's Introductory Dissertation, says, " The 
 verity of the history, the patriarchal antiquity of the poem, and its high 
 rank in the series of the divine dispensations, are here, in my opinion, 
 established with much sobriety of criticism, and with solidity and copious- 
 ness of proof." Smltlis Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, vol. i. p. 209. 
 In a preceding passage, he mentions the " happy and next to demonstrable 
 emendation," by which Dr. Good has restored perspicuity to a hitherto 
 inextricable clause in chap. xix. 26. 
 
 Dr. Adam Clarke, also, in his Commentary on the Book of Job, fre- 
 quently mentions Dr. Good's work, and uniformly with high respect. 
 " INIr. Good (says he) is a gentleman of great knowledge, great learning, 
 and correct thinking; and whatever lie says or writes is entitled to respect. 
 If he have data, his conclusions are most generally consecutive and solid." 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 203 
 
 that the book of Job is an epic poem, founded upon 
 previous facts,f and written by Moses, is at least as 
 tenable as any which has been advanced. The ob- 
 jections to a later author than the great Jewish legis- 
 lator, appear to me, I confess, insurmountable. And, 
 if the author preceded Moses, who was he? If the 
 author was not an Hebrew and a reputed prophet, 
 how came the book to be received into the canon of 
 the Jewish Scriptures ? Nothing is less probable than 
 that a nation so jealous of their religious privileges as 
 the Jews, should have enrolled in their depository of 
 sacred books, a poem written in reference to a 
 foreigner by a foreigner. 
 
 Dr. Good, guided in this respect, if I do not mistake, 
 principally by the suggestions of Schultens and Grey, 
 supposes the book to be divided into six parts. 
 These he sketches with considerable vivacity and 
 ability, in his Introductory Dissertation ; from which, 
 as it serves to throw new light upon a book, which by 
 many is very imperfectly understood, I shall present a 
 copious extract. 
 
 "The natural division, and that which was un- 
 questionably intended by its author, is into six parts 
 or books ; for in this order it still continues to run, not- 
 withstanding all the confusion it has encountered by 
 sub-arrangements. These six parts are, an opening 
 or exordium, containing the introductory history and 
 decree concerning Job — three distinct series of argu- 
 ments, in each of which the speakers are regularly 
 allotted their respective turns — the summing up of 
 
 t Dr. Hales fixes the time of Job's trial, at about 184 years before the 
 birth of Abraham, and 689 before the Exodus from Egypt. 
 
204 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 the controversy — and the close or catastrophe, con- 
 sisting of the suffering hero's grand and glorious ac- 
 quittal, and restoration to prosperity and happiness. 
 Under this view of it, I shall proceed to offer the fol- 
 lowing analysis ; 
 
 "Part I. constituting the opening or exordium, 
 comprises the first two chapters in the ordinary 
 division, and is full of incident and transition. It 
 commences with a brief narrative of the principal 
 personage of the piece, his place of residence, rank in 
 life, and inflexible integrity. It then suddenly changes 
 to a scene so transcendently lofty and magnificent, that 
 the grandest descriptions of the most daring poets 
 sink before it ; and nothing can be put in comparison 
 with it, but a few passages in Paradise Lost, derived 
 from the same source. The tribunal of the Almighty 
 is unveiled — the hosts of good and evil spirits, in 
 obedience to his summons, present themselves before 
 him, to give an account of their conduct. The views 
 of Satan are particularly inquired into : and the un- 
 swerving fidelity of Job, though a mortal, is pointedly 
 held up to him, and extolled. The evil spirit insinu- 
 ates that Job is only faithful because it is his interest 
 to be faithful ; that he serves his Creator because he 
 has been peculiarly protected and prospered by him ; 
 and that he would abandon his integrity, the moment 
 such protection should be withdrawn. To confound 
 him in so malicious an imputation, the Almighty 
 delivers Job into his hands, only forbidding him to 
 touch his person. 
 
 " Satan departs from the celestial tribunal ; and, 
 collecting the fury of his vindictive power into one 
 tremendous assault, strips the righteous patriarch, by 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 205 
 
 the conjoint aid of hostile incursions, thunder-storms, 
 and whirlwinds, on one and the same day, and that a 
 day of domestic rejoicing, of the whole of his property 
 and of his family, despatching messenger after messen- 
 ger with a separate tale of woe, till the whole tragedy 
 is completed. But the patriarch continues inflexible. 
 He feels bitterly, but he sins not, even in his heart — 
 instead of murmuring against his Creator, 
 
 Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, 
 And fell on the ground, and avorsiiipped, and said, 
 " Naked came I forth from my mother's womb. 
 And naked shall I return thither ! 
 Jehovah giveth, and Jehovah taketh away ; 
 Blessed be the name of Jehovah !" 
 
 " The celestial session returns. The supreme Creator 
 again assumes the judgment-seat; and the hosts of 
 good and evil spirits are once more arranged before 
 him, for his commands. The unswerving fidelity of 
 Job is again pointed out to Satan, and the futility of 
 his malice publicly exposed. The evil spirit, though 
 foiled, still continues unabashed, and insinuates that 
 he had no liberty to touch his person. The Almighty 
 surrenders his person into his hands, and only com- 
 mands him to spare his life. 
 
 " Satan departs from the presence of Jehovah : — 
 and in the same moment Job is smote from head to 
 foot with a burning leprosy ; and, while agonized with 
 this fresh affliction, is tauntingly upbraided by his 
 wife with the inutility of all his religious services. 
 The goad passes into his soul, but it does not poison 
 
206 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 it. He resists this additional attack with a dignity 
 as well as a firmness of faith that does honour to 
 human nature : 
 
 As the talk of one of the foolish, is thy talk. 
 Shall we then accept good from God, 
 And shall we not accept evil ? 
 
 " The part closes with what is designed to introduce 
 the main subject of the poem — a preconcerted visit to the 
 suffering patriarch of three of his most intimate friends. 
 And in the simple narrative of their first seeing him, 
 there is a pathos that beggars all description, and 
 which cannot fail to strike home to every bosom that 
 is capable of feeling: 
 
 For they had appointed together to come, 
 
 To mourn with him, and to comfort him. — 
 
 And they lift up their eyes from afar, and knew him not : 
 
 And they raised their voices and wept ; 
 
 And rent every one his mantle ; 
 
 And cast dust upon their heads, towards heaven. 
 
 And they sat down with him, on the ground, 
 
 Seven days and seven nights : 
 
 And no one spake to him a word, 
 
 For they saw that the affliction raged sorely. 
 
 " This part is peculiarly distinguished by simplicity, 
 sublimity, and fine feeling. In its diction it exhibits 
 a perfect contrast to that of the great body of the 
 poem; and, in conjunction with the diction that 
 follows, affords proof of a complete mastery of style 
 and language ; a mastery unequalled, perhaps, in any 
 other part of the Hebrew Scriptures, and altogether 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 207 
 
 unknown to every other kind of Oriental composition. 
 It is characteristic, however, of the writer of this 
 transcendent poem, — a fact well worthy of being re- 
 membered, as one mean of determining who he was, 
 —that he uniformly suits his ornaments to the occa- 
 sion ; that, as though influenced by the rules of the 
 best Greek critics, he seldom employs a figurative 
 style where the incident or the passion is capable of 
 supporting itself,* and reserves his boldest images 
 and illustrations for cases that seem most to require 
 them. 
 
 " Part II. extends from the beginning of the third 
 to the end of the fourteenth chapter ; and comprises 
 the first colloquy, or series of argument. Job, com- 
 pletely overwhelmed, and believing himself abandoned 
 by his Creator, gives a loose to all the wildness of 
 despondency ; and, in an address of exquisite force 
 and feeling, laments that he ever beheld the light, and 
 calls earnestly for death, as the only refuge of the 
 miserable. This burst of agony is filled with the 
 boldest images and imprecations ; and might, perhaps, 
 be thought, in some parts of it, too daring, but that it 
 appears to have been regarded as a masterpiece by 
 the best poets of Judaea, and is imitated, in its boldest 
 flights, by king David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel ; 
 of which the reader will meet with sufiicient specimens 
 in the notes to this volume. 
 
 " To this cry of despondency, Eliphaz ventures 
 upon the first reply: and the little that was wanting 
 to make the cup of agony brim-full, is now added to it. 
 
 * This is just as obvious in the description of the apparition, chap, 
 iv. 12 — 16, as in the present part: and other passages will readily occur 
 to the recollection of the reader. 
 
208 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 The patriarch's friends, stimulated unquestionably by 
 the secret impulse of Satan, have agreed upon the 
 false principle, that in the uniform dealings of Provi- 
 dence, happiness and prosperity are the necessary 
 marks and consequence of integrity, and pain and 
 misery of wickedness — and hence the grand argu- 
 ment on their part consists, first, in charging the suf- 
 ferer with the commission of sins which he ought to 
 confess and repent of; and next, in accusing him of 
 pride and hypocrisy, because he will not consent to 
 such confession. Eliphaz, however, is, from natural 
 habit, the mildest of the accusers; and his speech 
 begins with delicacy, and is conducted with the most 
 artful address. After duly apologizing for breaking in 
 upon the sufferings of his friend, he proceeds to point 
 out the inconsistency of a good man's repining under 
 a state of discipline ; and the absurdity of his not 
 bearing up, who had so often exhorted others to for- 
 titude. He remarks, that the truly good are never 
 utterly overthrown ; but that the ways of Providence 
 are wrapped in inextricable mystery, and that nothing 
 can be more arrogant than for so weak, so ephemeral, 
 so insect-like a being as man is, to impeach them ; a 
 position which is illustrated by the most powerful 
 picture of an apparition that ever was drawn by the 
 pen of any writer in any age or country, — disclosed to 
 the speaker for the express purpose of inculcating this 
 solemn maxim. He concludes with observing, that as 
 neither man nor angel, without the consent of the 
 Almighty, can render Job any assistance, wrath and 
 violence are folly ; and that nothing remains for 
 him, but to seek unto God, and commit the cause 
 into his hands : whose correction will then be 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 209 
 
 assuredly succeeded by a new series of happiness 
 and prosperity. 
 
 " Job replies to Eiiphaz, but is overborne by the bit- 
 terness of his remonstrance ; and under his accumulated 
 trials once more wishes to die. He reproaches his 
 friends for their severity ; and, in a most beautiful and 
 appropriate simile, compares the consolation he ex- 
 pected from their soothing intercourse, and the cruel 
 disappointment he had met with, to the promise of a 
 plentiful supply of water held out to a parched-up 
 caravan, by the fall of floods of rain, surveyed at a 
 distance, but which, on arriving at the place of their 
 descent, are found to have entirely evaporated, or to 
 have branched out over the sands, and become lost. 
 
 What time they wax warm, they evaporate ; 
 
 And, when it grows hot, they are dried up in their place : 
 
 The outlets of their channel wind about. 
 
 They stretch into nothing, and are lost. 
 
 The companies of Tema search earnestly, 
 
 The caravans of Sheba pant for them : 
 
 They are consumed — such is their longing ; 
 
 They arrive at the place, and sink away. — 
 
 Behold ! ye also are as nothing ; 
 
 Ye see my downcasting, and shrink back. 
 
 *' Suddenly he feels he has been too acrimonious ; 
 apologizes, and entreats their further attention ; but is 
 instantly hurried away by a torrent of opposite pas- 
 sions ; now, once more longing for death as the termi- 
 nation of his sufferings, and now urged on by the 
 natural desire of life. He expostulates warmly, and 
 at length unbecomingly, with the Almighty ; and at 
 
210 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 once growing sensible of the irreverence, humbly con- 
 fesses his offence, supplicates forgiveness, and implores 
 that his affliction may cease. 
 
 "It is now Bildad's turn to speak; who commences 
 with bitter and most provoking cruelty. He openly 
 charges the whole family of Job with gross wickedness, 
 on no other ground than their destruction by the whirl- 
 wind ; and throws suspicions against the patriarch 
 himself, in consequence of his being a sufferer in the 
 calamity. Like Eliphaz, he also exhorts him to repent, 
 and to look to God for a restoration to prosperity, and 
 never more to depend on himself— observing, in the 
 language of an apt and exquisite proverbial saying 
 of the long-lived, perhaps the antediluvian ages, that 
 the most succulent plants are soonest withered, and 
 that the reliance of the hypocrite is a cobweb. 
 
 " Job, in the beginning of his reply to this speech, 
 shews that he has once more recovered himself, and is 
 superior to the acrimony of its assault. He acknow- 
 ledges that all power is w ith God, w ho alone has created 
 whatever exists ; but maintains, that, as to his moral 
 government, we are grossly ignorant, and can account 
 for nothing that takes place ; and that the good and 
 the wicked suffer indiscriminately. At one moment, 
 under the influence of acute agony, he longs earnestly 
 to plead his cause with God, and to defend his habi- 
 tual integrity ; but awed suddenly by new ideas of the 
 divine power and purity, and aware that from both 
 causes he must be overwhelmed, he shrinks from so 
 daring a task ; and concludes with an affecting address 
 to the Almighty, in which he ventures to expostulate 
 with him, as his creator and preserver. He grows 
 warmer as he proceeds; is roused to desperation at 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 211 
 
 the thought that God is become his enemy and perse- 
 cutor ; and once more vehemently calls for a termina- 
 tion of his miseries by death. 
 
 " Zophar now takes his turn in the argument ; and 
 commences, like Bildad, with violent and rough invec- 
 tive. He condemns Job severely, for continuing to 
 assert his innocence before God. He contends, that 
 the ways of Providence are obvious, and that it is only 
 his own iniquity that makes them appear dark and 
 mysterious. Like the preceding speakers, he exhorts 
 him, in fine and figurative language, to ' put away his 
 iniquity,' and lift up his hands to the Almighty ; and 
 promises that he shall then soon lose all trace of his 
 present calamity, — 
 
 " As waters passed by, shalt thou remember it," 
 and that his late prosperity and happiness shall be 
 redoubled upon him. But if not, he denounces his 
 utter and irremediable ruin. 
 
 "Job is stimulated by this repetition of so unjust and 
 opprobrious an accusation, and for the first time vents 
 a sarcasm on his part. In return for the proverbial 
 sayings of his companions, he retorts upon them say- 
 ings of a similar kind, many of them possessed of far 
 more force and appropriation. He then commences a 
 direct attack upon their own conduct ; and charges 
 them with declaiming on the part of God, from the 
 base and unworthy hope of propitiating him. He 
 grows still warmer as he advances ; and under a con- 
 sciousness of general innocence, demands to be put to 
 the bar, and to stand his trial with the Almighty : he 
 boldly summons his accusers, entreats the Supreme 
 Judge not to overwhelm him with his power or his 
 awfulness ; and, realizing the tribunal before him, at 
 
212 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 once commences his pleading, in an address which, 
 according to the feeling of the moment, is vehement, 
 plaintive, argumentative, full of fear, of triumph, of 
 expostulation, and at last of despondency ; now repre- 
 senting the Creator, in all his might and supremacy, as 
 demolishing a driven leaf, and hunting down parched 
 stubble; next exhibiting doubts of a future state; then 
 exulting in the belief of it ; and, finally, sinking into 
 utter gloom and hopelessness. 
 
 "Part III. comprises the second series of contro- 
 versy, and extends from the fifteenth to the close of 
 the twenty-first chapter. Eliphaz opens the discus- 
 sion, in his regular turn : he accuses Job of vehemence 
 and vanity; asserts that no man is innocent; and 
 pointedly observes to him, that, in regard to himself, 
 his own conduct is sufficient to condemn him : con- 
 cluding with a train of highly forcible and figurative 
 apophthegms of great beauty and antiquity, calculated 
 to prove the certain and irrevocable misery of the 
 wicked and unrepentant. 
 
 " Job replies to him, and once more complains bitterly 
 of the reproaches and contumelies so unjustly heaped 
 upon him, but consoles himself in again appealing to 
 the Almighty, upon the subject of his innocence. He 
 accuses his companions of holding him up to public 
 derision, and entreats them to leave him, and return 
 home : he again pathetically bemoans his lot, and looks 
 forward to the grave with scarcely a glimmering of 
 hope, and an almost utter despair of a resurrection 
 from its ruins. 
 
 " Bildad next enters into the debate with his charac- 
 teristic virulence and violence, at the same time ex- 
 horting Job to be temperate. The whole speech is a 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 213 
 
 string of generalities, and parabolic traditions of the 
 first ages concerning the fearful punishments in reserve 
 for the wicked ; all exquisitely sublime and beautiful 
 in themselves, but possessing no other relevancy to 
 the present case, than that which results from the false 
 argument, that Job must be a great sinner because he 
 is a great sufferer. 
 
 "The reply of the patriarch to this contumelious 
 tirade, contained in the nineteenth chapter of the com- 
 mon division, is one of the most brilliant parts of the 
 whole poem, and exhibits a wonderful intermixture of 
 tenderness and triumph. It commences with a fresh 
 complaint of the cruelty of his assailants. The meek 
 sufferer still calls them his friends ; and in a most 
 touching apostrophe implores their pity in his deep 
 affliction. He takes an affecting survey of his hopeless 
 situation, as assaulted and broken down by the Al- 
 mighty for purposes altogether mysterious and un- 
 known to him ; and then suddenly, as though a ray of 
 divine light and comfort had darted across his soul, rises 
 into the full hope of a future resurrection and vindica- 
 tion of his innocence ; and, in the triumph of so glorious 
 an expectation, appears to forget his present wretched- 
 ness and misery. 
 
 " Zophar now takes the lead, but merely to recapitu- 
 late the old argument under a new form. Job has not 
 yet confessed the heinous sins for which he is suffering ; 
 and hence, in bold and terrific pictures, chiefly, as oii 
 many preceding occasions, derived from the lofty say- 
 ings of ancient times, he alarms him with the various 
 punishments reserved for the impenitent. 
 
 Job, in answer to Zophar, appears to collect his 
 whole strength of argument, as though resolved :it one 
 
214 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 and the same time to answer all that has been ad- 
 vanced upon the subject by each of his opponents. 
 He boldly controverts their principle, that present 
 prosperity is the lot of the good, and present misery 
 that of the wicked. He asserts, even while trembling 
 at the thought of so mysterious a providence, that here 
 the reprobate, instead of the righteous, are chiefly 
 triumphant — that this is their w^orld — that they riot in 
 it unrestrained, and take their full of enjoyment. They 
 may, perhaps, continues he, be reserved against a day 
 of future judgment and retribution ; but where is the 
 man that dares attack their conduct to their face ? who 
 is there that does not fall prostrate before their power 
 and overwhelming influence ? even in death itself they 
 are publicly bemoaned, and every individual attends 
 upon their obsequies. — Thus concludes the third part 
 of the poem ; and it could not possibly conclude 
 better. 
 
 " Part IV. comprises the third and last series of 
 controversy, and reaches from the twenty-second 
 to the close of the thirty-first chapter. Eliphaz, as 
 usual, commences ; and, roused by the cogent and 
 argumentative eloquence of the preceding speech, is 
 himself incited to a stricter and closer discussion of 
 the subject than he had hitherto aimed at ; and pours 
 forth his whole spirit into one grand efi"ort of confuta- 
 tion. His argument is full of art, but it is, in a great 
 degree, the art of the sophist. He charges Job, in 
 spite of his own guarded declarations to the contrary, 
 with being an advocate for the wicked, by connecting 
 wickedness and prosperity in the manner of cause and 
 eflect ; and of course as being, in his heart and pro- 
 pensities, a party to all the iniquities of the antedi- 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 215 
 
 luvians, that brought the deluge upon the world. With 
 the most accomplished subtilty, he dwells upon this 
 signal judgment, for the purpose of adverting to the 
 single delivery of the family of righteous Noah, their 
 great progenitor, as a proof that God neither does nor 
 will suffer the wicked to escape punishment, nor the 
 righteous to pass without reward. In addition to 
 which, he proceeds also to instance the striking rescue 
 of Lot and his family from the conflagration that 
 devoured the cities on the plains ; thus sophistically 
 opposing two special and miraculous interpositions to 
 the general course of divine providence. He con- 
 cludes, as on various former occasions, with exhorting 
 Job to confess and abandon his iniquities ; and beauti- 
 fully depicts, in new and forcible imagery, the happi- 
 ness that he will then find in reserve for him. 
 
 " The placid sufferer does not allow himself to be 
 turned off his guard. In his rejoinder, he again be- 
 moans the mercilessness of those around him, and once 
 more longs earnestly to find out and plead before the 
 Almighty. But all around him, he observes, is gloom 
 and obscurity: yet gloom and obscurity as it is, he still 
 beholds him in nature, and in every part of nature ; 
 and, in direct opposition to the opinion of his com- 
 panions, doubts not that the present affliction is dealt 
 to him as a trial ; and, rejoicing in the recollection of 
 his past submission to the divine will, ventures to hope 
 he shall yet issue from it as pure gold. He then 
 returns to the argument, and perseveres, to the silen- 
 cing, if not to the conviction, of his opponents. He 
 shews, from a multiplicity of examples, drawn both 
 from the privacy of retired life and the publicity of 
 crowded cities, that every thing is suffered to take 
 
216 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 place at present in a mysterious and unexplained 
 manner; that, admitting a variety of exceptions, the 
 wicked are still generally successful, and prosecute 
 their course uncontrolled ; that even the unsinning 
 embryon in the womb expires, not unfreqiiently, as 
 soon as created, as though neglected or despised by its 
 Maker ; and that the lonely widow is, in like manner, 
 left to pine in want and misery. He allows, neverthe- 
 less, that nothing can be more precarious than the 
 pleasures and prosperity of vice ; that God has his eye 
 at all times upon the wicked ; and that often, though 
 not generally, they are overthrown in a moment, and 
 reduced, from the utmost height of splendour, to the 
 lowest abyss of beggary and ruin. 
 
 " Bildad, to whom it belongs next to reply, is com- 
 pletely confounded. He is compelled to admit that 
 the present state of things proves the Deity to work 
 with absolute sway, and in an incomprehensible man- 
 ner. But, though driven from his former position, he 
 still maintains that Job must be wicked, since every 
 man is wicked and altogether worthless in the sight 
 of God ; all which, in order to give the greater weight 
 to his observations, he confirms, by delivering them in 
 the words of ancient and proverbial maxims. 
 
 " Job, in reply to Bildad, is indignant at his not 
 openly retracting an opinion which, it was obvious, he 
 could no longer maintain. He is particularly irritated 
 at his pretending once more to quote the proverbial 
 maxims of past times, as though to enlist the wisdom 
 of the ancients against him ; and sarcastically follows 
 him up by a string of other traditions of a similar kind, 
 possessing still more magnificence, and at least as 
 much general connexion. And, having thus severely 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 217 
 
 reproved him, he returns to the argument, in chap, 
 xxvii. and asserts that, distressed as he is, and for- 
 saken of God, habitual innocency has ever belonged to 
 him, and ever shall ; and on this very account he 
 secretly encourages a hope that he shall not be ulti- 
 mately forsaken ; and forcibly points out the very 
 different situation of the wicked when they also are 
 overtaken by calamity ; their ruin being, on the con- 
 trary, utter and irreversible, and even entailed on their 
 posterity. Under the disappointment their visit had 
 produced, and the proofs of feebleness and folly it had 
 exhibited where wisdom and consolation were to have 
 been expected, he proceeds to a highly figurative and 
 exquisite description of the value of genuine wisdom, 
 and the difficulty of searching out its habitation ; con- 
 cluding, as the result of his inquiry, that it alone 
 resides in and issues from the Creator, and is only 
 bestowed upon those who sincerely fear him and 
 depart from evil. He closes with a detailed and 
 deeply interesting examination into every department 
 of his life, — an examination that ought to be studied 
 and copied by every one. He investigates his conduct 
 in the full sunshine of prosperity, as a magistrate, as a 
 husband, as a father, as a master ; and, in all these 
 characters, he feels capable of conscientiously justify- 
 ing himself. In the course of this historical scrutiny, 
 he draws a very affecting contrast between his past 
 and his present situation ; the period in which all was 
 happiness and splendour, and that in which all is 
 trouble and humiliation. He challenges his com- 
 panions, and the world at large, to accuse him publicly 
 and expressly of a single act of injustice or oppres- 
 sion ; declares that, so far from shrinking from such 
 
^18 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 an accusation, he would wear it as a frontlet upon his 
 shoulder and his turban ; that, like a witness on the 
 side of his accuser, he would furnish him with all the 
 evidence in his power; and pants earnestly to be put 
 to the bar, and abide the decision of his country. 
 
 "Zophar should now have replied in rotation ; but 
 he has already exhausted himself— and the argument 
 closes. 
 
 " Part V. contains the summing up of the contro- 
 versy ; which is allotted to Elihu, a new character in 
 the poem ; but who, though hitherto unnoticed, appears 
 to have entered before the commencement of the 
 debate, and to have impartially studied its progress. 
 The speech of Elihu commences with the thirty- 
 second chapter of the common arrangement, which 
 constitutes its peroration, and oflfers a fine specimen 
 of the art of bespeaking and fixing attention. He 
 first adverts to the general irrelevancy of the matter 
 that has been advanced against Job from every 
 quarter by which he has been attacked, and then 
 proceeds to comment upon the patriarch himself. 
 Tacitly admitting the general force of the reasoning 
 by which he had confounded his opponents, Elihu 
 no where charges him with former wickedness because 
 of his present afliiction ; but confines himself to his 
 actual conduct, and the tendency of his replies on the 
 existing occasion, both of which he reprehends with 
 considerable warmth. In various instances he repeats 
 his words literally, and animadverts upon them as 
 highly irreverent ; and observes, that the dispensations 
 of Providence, dark and mysterious as they commonly 
 appear to us, are always full of wisdom and mercy, 
 and that in many cases we are made sensible of this 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 219 
 
 even at this moment; being frequently, by such means, 
 warned and reclaimed, sometimes publicly, but still 
 oftener in secret, through the medium of dreams, 
 diseases, or otiier providential interferences. 
 
 "In chap, xxxiv. he attacks the position of Job, 
 that the present world is the portion of the wicked, 
 and that here prosperity is more frequently their lot 
 than that of the righteous ; and, with some degree of 
 sophistry and disingenuity, turns, like Eliphaz, this 
 position of the patriarch into a declaration that he 
 approves of the ways of wickedness as a mean of 
 prosperity, and has no desire to be righteous, unless 
 where righteousness has a like chance of advancing 
 his worldly views. Upon this point he attacks him 
 with great severity ; and in general terms, and general 
 but beautiful and highly figurative descriptions, adverts 
 to the frequent and visible interferences of the 
 Almighty to relieve the poor and the oppressed, and 
 to hurl down the tyrant and the reprobate. He 
 next exhorts Job to relinquish his present senti- 
 ments, and to confess his transgressions, in full 
 confidence of a return of the divine favour. Sub- 
 mission he asserts (chap, xxxv.) to be the only duty 
 of man, and the wisest course he can pursue ; that 
 God can derive neither advantage from his obedience 
 nor disadvantage from his rebellion ; that man alone 
 can profit from the one, and suffer from the other ; and 
 that, had Job sufi'ered more, he would have disputed 
 less. The remainder of this exquisite oration points 
 out, consecutively, in strong and glowing language, 
 full of sublimity and the finest painting, that God is 
 supreme ; that he is all in all ; and that every thing is 
 subject to him and regulated by him, and regulated in 
 
220 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 wisdom, goodness, and justice ; that hence, instead of 
 reviling, it becomes us to submit ; that the worst of 
 iniquities is, to wish for death, in order to escape from 
 a chastisement we are enduring and have deserved ; 
 and that, living or dying, it is in vain to fly from the 
 Creator, since all nature was formed by him, and is 
 the theatre of his power. The speaker closes with a 
 lofty and transcendent description of the might and 
 wisdom of the great Maker, in the works and wonders 
 of the creation ; the formation of rain, thunder, light- 
 ning, snow, clouds, clear sky, the return of spring, and 
 the general revolution of the seasons ; concerning all 
 which we know nothing, yet the whole of which is but 
 a faint and reflected light from him who ordained and 
 commands them : 
 
 Splendour itself is with God ! 
 
 Insufferable majesty ! 
 
 Almighty ! we cannot comprehend him — 
 
 Surpassing in power and in judgment! 
 
 Yet doth not the might of his justice oppress. 
 
 Let mankind, therefore, stand in awe of him : 
 
 He looketh all the wise of heart to nothing. 
 
 "Part VI. The trial of faith, resignation, and in- 
 tegrity, is now drawing to an end. The opponents of 
 Job, and, through them, the arch-demon by whom they 
 were excited, have been bafiled in their utmost exer- 
 tions ; yet, though silenced, they still sullenly refuse 
 to retract. The Almighty now visibly appears, to 
 pronounce judgment, and ' speaks to Job out of the 
 whirlwind :' and the address ascribed to him is a most 
 astonishing combination of dignity, sublimity, gran- 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 221 
 
 deur, and condescension ; -and is as worthy of the mag- 
 nificent occasion, as any thing can be, delivered in 
 human language. 
 
 " The line of argument pursued in the course of this 
 inimitable address is, that the mighty speaker is Lord 
 of all, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and 
 that every thing must bow down before him ; that he 
 is the God of providence; and that every thing is 
 formed by him in wisdom, and bespeaks a mean to an 
 end, — and that end, the happiness and enjoyment of 
 his creatures. In the development of this reasoning, 
 the formation of the world is first brought before us, 
 and described in language that has never been 
 equalled — the revolution of the heavenly bodies — and 
 the regular return of the seasons. The argument then 
 descends from so overwhelming a magnificence, and 
 confines itself to phenomena that are more immediately 
 within the scope and feeling of the sons of earth. It 
 is God who supplies the wants of every living crea- 
 ture : it is he who finds them food in rocks and wilder- 
 nesses ; it is his wisdom that has adapted every kind 
 to its own habits and mode of being ; that has given 
 cunning where cunning is necessary ; and, where un- 
 necessary, has withheld it — that has endowed with 
 rapidity of foot, or of wing, where such qualities are 
 found needful ; and where might is demanded, has 
 afforded proofs of a might the most terrible and irre- 
 sistible. The whole of which is exquisitely illustrated 
 by a variety of distinct instances, drawn from natural 
 history, and painted to the very life ; the following 
 impressive corollary forming the general close : — God is 
 supreme, and must be bowed to and adored : his 
 wisdom is incomprehensible, how vain then to arraign 
 
222 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OP 
 
 it : his power omnipotent, how absurd then to resist it : 
 his goodness universal, how blind then to deny it. 
 
 " This awful address is listened to with fearful con- 
 viction. The humiliated sufferer confesses the folly 
 of his arrogance and presumption, and abhors himself 
 for his conduct. 
 
 " The peripetia, or revolution, immediately succeeds. 
 The self-abasement of Job is accepted ; his three 
 friends are severely reprimanded for having formed a 
 dishonourable judgment concerning him, and having 
 taken a false and narrow view of the providence of 
 the Almighty, in contending that he never does or can 
 permit trouble but in cases of wickedness : a sacrifice 
 is demanded of them, and Job is appointed to be their 
 intercessor: upon the accomplishment of which, the 
 severely tried patriarch is restored to his former state 
 of enjoyment, and his prosperity is in every instance 
 doubled." p. xli. 
 
 To this masterly and often impressive summary, I 
 feel that I ought to annex the author's view of the 
 doctrines taught in the book. 
 
 " If we ask. What is the ultimate intention of the book 
 of Job ? and for what purpose is it introduced into the 
 Hebrew and Christian canons ? It will then appear, that 
 it is for the purpose of making those canons complete, 
 by uniting, as full an account as is necessary of the dis- 
 pensation of the patriarchs, with the two dispensations 
 by which it was progressively succeeded. It will 
 be seen, that the chief doctrines of the patriarchal 
 religion, as collected from different parts of the poem, 
 were as follow : 
 
 I, The creation of the world by one supreme and eternal In- 
 telligence, chap, xxxviii. — xli. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 223 
 
 II. Its regulation, by his perpetual and superintending provi- 
 
 dence. Passim. 
 
 III. The intentions of his providence carried into effect by the 
 ministration of a heavenly hierarchy. chap. i. 6, 7 ; 
 iii. 18, 19; V. 1. 
 
 IV. The heavenly hierarchy, composed of various ranks and 
 orders, possessing different names, dignities, and offices. 
 chap. iv. 18 ; xxxiii. 22, 23 ; v. 2 ; xv. 15. 
 
 V. An apostacy, or defection, in some rank or order of these 
 
 powers ; of which Satan seems to have been one, and per- 
 haps chief, chap. iv. 18 ; xv. 15 ; i. 6 — 12 ; ii. 2 — 7. 
 
 VI. The good and evil powers or principles, equally formed by 
 
 the Creator, and hence equally denominated " sons of 
 God," both of them employed by him, in the administration 
 of his providence ; and both amenable to him at stated 
 courts, held for the purpose of receiving an account of their 
 respective missions, chap. i. 6, 7 ; ii. 1. 
 
 VII. A day of future resurrection, judgment, and retribution, to 
 all mankind, chap. xiv. 13, 14, 15 ; xix. 25 — 29 ; xxi. 30 ; 
 xxxi. 14. 
 
 VII [. The propitiation of the Creator, in the case of human 
 transgressions, by sacrifices, and the mediation and inter- 
 cession of a righteous person, chap. i. 5 ; xlii. 8, 9. 
 
 " Several of these doctrines are more clearly de- 
 veloped than others ; yet, I think there are sufficient 
 grounds for deducing the whole of them." p. Ixv. 
 
 " It is curious to remark the different ground of 
 argument assumed in favour of a future state, in the 
 present poem,— and hence, perhaps, by the patriarchal 
 times generally, — and that assumed by the philoso- 
 phers of Greece and Rome, who assented to the 
 same doctrine ; the former appealing alone to a re- 
 surrection of the body, and appearing to have no 
 idea of a distinct immortality of the soul ; and the 
 
224 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 latter appealing alone to a distinct immortality of 
 the soul ; and appearing to have no idea of a resur- 
 rection of the body. It remained for that dispensa- 
 tion which has 'brought life and immortality to 
 light/ — the resurrection of the body, and the real 
 nature of the soul, — to reconcile the discrepancy, and 
 give to each ground of argument its proper force." 
 p. Ixxxiv. 
 
 In the main, this view of the doctrines exhibited 
 in the book of Job, has been allowed to be correct. 
 Yet, a qualification or two seem necessary to guard 
 the young theological student from mistake. Dr. 
 Good assumes, that the title " sons of God" is given 
 in the Scriptures, to evil powers or principles, as 
 well as good ones. But this is very questionable. 
 Satan is stated to have presented himself among the 
 sons of God, but that circumstance does not con- 
 stitute him one. And, although it cannot fairly be 
 questioned that the doctrine of a celestial hierarchy, 
 composed of various orders of angels, is taught in 
 Scripture ; still it may be doubted whether or not it 
 is fully deducible from the passages cited by our 
 author. Leaving these, however, as in some measure 
 open to discussion, the other particulars remain 
 untouched ; and it must surely impress the mind of a 
 reflecting reader with peculiar force, that in the 
 avowedly oldest book in the Jewish canon, doctrines 
 should be clearly unfolded, which Natural Religion in 
 its brightest epochs never attained ; while the same 
 book contains indisputable allusions to two, at least, 
 of the characteristic doctrines of the Christian dis- 
 pensation, that of the resurrection of the body, and 
 that of a Saviour from sin and its consequences, who 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 225 
 
 is unequivocally designated by the highest attributes 
 and titles of Deity. 
 
 Enough having now been said, I trust, to shew that 
 our author's Introductory Dissertation is at once eru- 
 dite and instructive, I will present a specimen of the 
 translation ; which shall be that of the 19th chapter, 
 containing the pious patriarch's noble testimony of 
 faith, worthy indeed to be engraven " on the rock for 
 
 JOB XIX. 
 
 1. Whereupon Job answered, and said, — 
 
 2. How long will ye afflict my soul, 
 And overwhelm me with words? 
 
 3. These ten times have ye reviled me ; 
 
 Ye relax not, ye press forward upon me. 
 
 4. And be it, indeed, that I have transgressed. 
 
 That my transgression hath harboured within me, — 
 
 5. Will YE, then, forsooth, triumph over me. 
 And expose to myself my own disgrace ? 
 
 6. Know, however, that God hath humiliated me ; 
 And that his toils have encompassed me about : 
 
 7. Behold ! I complain of the wrong, but am not heard ; 
 I cry aloud, — but no answer. 
 
 8. He hath fenced up my way so that I cannot go forward, 
 And hath set darkness in my paths. 
 
 9. He hath stript me of my glory, 
 
 And overturned the crown on my head : 
 
 1 0. He demolisheth me on every side — and I am gone ; 
 And he uprooteth my hope like a tree : 
 
 11. Yea, he kindleth his fury against me, 
 And accounteth me to him as his enemy. 
 
 Q 
 
226 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 12. His besiegers advance in a body, 
 And wlieel their lines around me, 
 And encamp about my dwelling. 
 
 13. My brethren hath he put aloof from nie, 
 And my familiars are quite estranged ; 
 
 14. My kinsfolk have forsaken me, 
 And my bosom friends forgotten me. 
 
 15. The sojourners in my house, 
 
 Yea, my own maid-servants, regard me as a stranger ; 
 I am reckoned an alien in their eyes. 
 
 16. I call to my man-servant, but he answereth not, 
 I intreat him to the very face. 
 
 17. My breath is scattered away by my wife. 
 
 Though I implore her by the offspring of my own loins. 
 
 18. Even the dependants spurn at me; 
 I rise up, and they hoot after me. 
 
 19. All my familiar friends abhor me; 
 
 Even they whom I loved are turned against me. 
 
 20. My bones stick out through my skin and my flesh ; 
 And in the skin of my teeth am I dissolved. 
 
 21. Piiy me! pity me! O ye, my friends! 
 For the hand of God hath smitten me. — 
 
 22. Why, like God, should ye persecute me, 
 
 And not rest satisfied with my flesh ? 
 
 23. O ! that my words were even now written down ; — 
 O ! that they were engraven on a table ; 
 
 24. With a pen of iron, upon lead ! — 
 
 That they were sculptur'd in a rock for ever ! 
 
 25. For " I know that my redeemer liveth, 
 And will ascend at last upon the earth : 
 
 26. And, after the disease hath destroyed my skin, 
 That, in my flesh, I shall see God : 
 
 27. Whom I shall see for myself, 
 
 And my own eyes shall behold, and not another's, 
 Thousrh my reins be consumed within me." 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 227 
 
 28, Then shall ye say, " How did we persecute him!" 
 When the root of the matter is disclosed concerning me. 
 
 29. O, tremble for yourselves before the sword ; 
 For fierce is the vengeance of the sword : 
 Therefore beware of its judgment. 
 
 For the sake of comparison, I will venture to subjoin 
 a few other translations of Job's memorable declaration 
 contained in this chapter. 
 
 MR. SCOTt's. 
 
 [From his spirited Translation of the Book of Job into heroic verse- 
 2d. ed, 1773.] 
 
 I know that he whose years can ne'er decay 
 Will from the grave redeem my sleeping clay. 
 When the last rolling sun shall leave the skies, 
 He will survive, and o'er the dust arise : 
 Then shall this mangled skin new form assume, 
 This flesh then flourish in immortal bloom : 
 My raptur'd eyes the judging God shall see, 
 Estrang'd no more, but friendly then to me. 
 How does the lofty hope my soul inspire ! 
 I burn, I faint, with vehement desire. 
 
 MR. SCOTt's literal VERSION. 
 
 [From the Appendix, No. III. to the same.] 
 
 For I know my Redeemer is the living one, 
 And he, the Last, will o'er the dust stand up : 
 And my skin, which is thus torn, shall be another^ 
 And in my flesh I shall see God, 
 Whom I shall see, even mine eyes shall behold 
 On my side, and not estranged : my reins 
 Are consumed within me. 
 q2 
 
228 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 DR. J. P. smith's. 
 [From his "Scripture Testimony," vol. i. p. 199.] 
 
 O that even now my words were recorded ! 
 
 that they were written in a memorial ! 
 With an iron point and lead ! 
 
 That they were engraven, for perpetuity, on a rock! 
 
 1 surely do know my redeemer, the living one : 
 And He, the last, will arise over the dust. 
 
 And, after the disease has cut down my skin, 
 
 Even from my flesh I shall see God : 
 
 Whom I shall see on my behalf ! 
 
 And mine eyes shall behold Him, and not estranged. 
 
 The thoughts of my bosom are accomplished. 
 
 The original passage presents considerable difficul- 
 ties, whence arises a diversity in the renderings : a 
 still farther diflerence is manifest in the translation of 
 Dr. Stock, and others, who have adopted the notion, 
 surely untenable,* that Job did not refer to a general 
 resurrection. Thus 
 
 DR. STOCK. 
 
 Still do I know that my vindicator liveth, 
 And in time to come over the dust he will rise up; 
 And after they shall have swathed my skin, even this, 
 Yet from out of my flesh shall I see God. 
 
 * See Peters on Job, p. 180, and good old Caryl's fine commentary on 
 the whole passage. They, also, who wish thoroughly to comprehend the 
 scope of the book of Job, cannot do better than read, in connexion with 
 Dr. Good's valuable Dissertation, Caryl's general Introduction, and his Sum- 
 mary, prefixed to chapters iv. v. vi. vii., either in the folio or tlie quarto 
 edition. The conductors of some of our periodical publications, might, with 
 great propriety, I presume to tliink, give insertion to these instructive 
 synopses. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 229 
 
 Dr. Good's original intention, with regard to the book 
 of Job, seems to have been to present a literal transla- 
 tion, and one in heroic verse, in opposite pages ; as 
 he had previously done with respect to the Song of 
 Songs. But after he had thus versified the first five 
 chapters, he relinquished the task ; adding to his spe- 
 cimen a note expressive of his inability to throw " the 
 many and exquisite beauties of the original" into a 
 translation in modern "measured verse." It is evident 
 that at the time of this attempt, he had not seen Mr. 
 Scott's version, from which I have just quoted. A 
 comparison of the two may, therefore, gratify the in- 
 quisitive reader : and I cannot present a better than is 
 supplied by the awful description of the vision in 
 chapter iv., where the midnight darkness, the deathlike 
 silence, the horror, the whirlwind followed by a sudden 
 stillness, the burst of light and glory, the supernatural 
 voice, each, in its degree, contributes to the production 
 of one of the most sublime pictures ever sketched. 
 
 MR. SCOTt's. 
 
 But hear the word divine, to me convey'd, 
 Than pearls more precious, in the midnight shade ; 
 Amidst th' emotions which from visions rise. 
 When more than nature's sleep seals human eyes. 
 Fear seiz'd my soul, the hand of horror strook 
 My shudd'ring flesh, and every member shook. 
 For a strong wind with rushing fury pass'd 
 So near, so loud, blast whh'ling after blast 
 That my hair started at each stifF'ning pore, 
 And stood erect. At once the Avild uproar 
 Was hush'd ; a Presence burst upon my sight 
 (T saw no shape) in majesty of light : 
 
230 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 Voice follow'd, and celestial accents broke, 
 Which in these terms their awful dictates spoke : 
 *' Is God arraign'd ? absolv'd man's sinful dust ? 
 Less pure his Maker ? and his Judge less just ? 
 Lo, he discerns, discern'd by him alone, 
 Spots in the sanctities around his throne : 
 Nor trusts his noble ministers of flame, 
 To yield him service unalloy'd with blame. 
 Yet, innocent of blame shall man be found ? 
 Tenants of clay, and reptiles of the ground ? 
 Crush'd like the moth, these beings of a day 
 "With unregarded waste are swept away : 
 Their honours perish, and themselves descend 
 Fools to the grave, and thoughtless of their end.*' 
 
 This, too, I've seen, this witness'd when alone 
 
 Breath'd o'er my ears, in hollow, whispering tone. 
 
 'Twas midnight deep — the world was hush'd to rest, 
 
 And airy visions every brain possess'd : 
 
 O'er all my frame a horror crept severe. 
 
 An ice that shiver'd every bone with fear : 
 
 Before my face a spirit saw I swim — 
 
 Erect uprose my hair o'er every limb ; 
 
 It stood — the spectre stood — to sight display 'd. 
 
 Yet trac'd I not the image I survey 'd : 
 
 'Twas silence dead — no breath the torpor broke — 
 
 When thus in hollow voice the vision spoke : 
 
 " Shall man his Maker's piercing ken endure ? 
 
 Before his God shall man be just and pure ? 
 
 Lo ! his own servants falter in his eyes, 
 
 His trustiest angels are not always wise. 
 
 What are the dwellers then, in tents of clay. 
 
 Sprung from the dust, that into dust decay ? 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 231 
 
 Before the moth they fail ; with easier strife 
 Beat down and plunder'd of their Uttle hfe ; 
 From morn to noon they perish' — to the ground 
 Unnotic'd drop, and quit their fluttering round ; 
 Their total sum of wisdom, when they die, 
 An empty boast, a mockery and lie." 
 
 The "critical and illustrative notes" subjoined to 
 Dr. Good's translation of Job, occupy 490 closely- 
 printed pages. As might be expected, they evince the 
 most extensive reading, and the author's peculiar faci- 
 lity in culling fruits and flowers from every region, 
 and presenting them to those whom he wished to 
 enrich and delight. While, however, they exhibit a 
 greater share of his characteristic excellencies than 
 some of his former publications, they are not free from 
 defects, of which that which a ciicumspect reader most 
 regrets to see, is the author's proneness to give the 
 reins to his imagination. Still these notes, many of 
 which are strictly theological, while others, whether 
 critical, poetical, geological, or philosophical, are as 
 strictly elucidatory, cannot but be read with advan- 
 tage by the biblical student.* My own total ignorance 
 of the Hebrew language, incapacitates me from offering- 
 any judgment upon the correctness of the translation. 
 To me, it has always appeared somewhat stiff and tech- 
 nical; while I have been inclined to regard the notes as 
 
 * The author's notes on the Behemoth and the Leviathan, I much regret 
 my want of room to insert. He proves, in my judgment, satisfixctorily, 
 that the behemoth cannot be either the hippopotamus or the elephant, as 
 many commentators have imagined ; and assigns his reasons for beheving 
 that it belongs to a genus allogether extinct, like the mastorhndonlon or 
 viammoth. The leviathan, he regards as no other than the crocodile. 
 "The general character of the leviathan seems so well to apply to tliis 
 animal, in modern as well as in ancient times, the terror of all the coasts 
 and countries about the Nile, that it is unnecessary to seek farther." 
 
232 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 too numerous. On my once hinting at these defects to the 
 author, in the frankness of friendship, he acknowledged 
 the justice of my remarks, and said he should hope, in 
 a new edition, to give greater freedom to some parts 
 of the translation, without impairing its general accu- 
 racy ; and that he should probably strike out nearly all 
 the notes, except those that were written to justify his 
 deviations from the authorized version. I ought, per- 
 haps, to say, in addition to the sentiments of Drs. Smith 
 and Clarke, already quoted, that, on my soliciting the 
 opinion of a very profound Hebrew scholar, as to this 
 translation and the notes, he replied, " The notes are 
 more numerous than was necessary ; but still the work 
 is truly valuable, and it is the farthest possible from 
 dry. I need not dwell upon specific differences ; but 
 in point of real utility to the theological student, I class 
 together Lowth, Blayneif, and Good." 
 
 PHYSIOLOGICAL NOSOLOGY. 
 
 Dr. Good's "Physiological System of Nosology, with 
 a corrected and simplified Nomenclature" was the result 
 of several years' extensive experience and sedulous 
 research. It was commenced in 1808, and partially 
 announced in the essay on Medical Technology , of 
 which I have already given an account ; but it was not 
 published until the year 1820. It is dedicated " to the 
 President and Fellows of the Royal College of Physi- 
 cians of London ;" " a copy of the work having lain for 
 public inspection upon the Censor's table" for nearly 
 two months, " and three other copies having been cir- 
 culated among the Fellows in rotation ;" after which 
 "the author's request was unanimously acceded to." 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 233 
 
 Indeed, the high reputation of Dr. Good for pro- 
 fessional zeal and industry, as well as for powerful 
 talents, unusual erudition, and a liberal spirit of inves- 
 tigation, produced a cordial welcome for this compre- 
 hensive volume, among all classes of medical men ; the 
 most able of whom felt themselves pleasingly " con- 
 strained to acknowledge that his intimate acquaintance 
 with almost all branches of science, literature, and the 
 arts, placed him in the very first rank of our learned 
 physicians."* The same professional critic speaks of 
 this System of Nosology, as having " been adopted as 
 a text-book in various medical schools, as well as by 
 individual writers. Like all new systems of nosology, 
 (says the same writer) it requires a new technology — 
 and that is unquestionably an evil. The arrangement 
 of Dr. Good we certainly prefer to every other, though 
 no nosological arrangement has yet appeared without 
 defects. To the nomenclature, too, we dare not object, 
 since it is exclusively taken from the Greek, as far as 
 regards his classes, orders, and genera — his authorities, 
 in general, being Celsus and Galen. When he happens 
 to wander farther, he usually supplies himself from 
 ^tius, Caelius Aurelianus, Diascorides, or Aristotle." 
 
 Having adduced this professional opinion of Dr. 
 Good's system from one of the first authorities, and 
 one whose judgment has been amply confirmed by 
 that of several medical friends ; I shall now proceed 
 to describe the work in the manner that may be 
 most interesting to a general reader; that is, prin- 
 cipally as a work of literary research and scientific 
 classification. In attempting this, I shall avail myself 
 
 * Johnson's Medico-Chinirgical Review, vol. iii. p. 574. 
 
234 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 of the masterly dissertation prefixed by the author to 
 his treatise. 
 
 The main objects of Dr. Good in the new system 
 here exhibited are, to connect the science of diseases 
 more closely than it has hitherto been, with the 
 kindred branches of natural knowledge ; to give it at 
 once a more obvious and intelligible classification, 
 and an arrangement more simple in principle, yet 
 more comprehensive in extent ; to correct its nomen- 
 clature, where it can be done without unnatural 
 force ; to trace its distinctive terms, both upwards to 
 their sources, and downwards to their modern syno- 
 nyms in various languages : thus producing " not 
 merely a manual for the student, or a text-book for 
 the lecturer, but a book that may stand on the same 
 shelf with, and form a sort of appendix to, our most 
 popular systems of Natural History ; and may, at the 
 same time, be perused by the classical scholar without 
 disgust at that barbarous jargon, with which the 
 language of medicine is so perpetually tesselated." 
 The attempt is evidently a bold one ; but it is through- 
 out conducted with a becoming spirit, both towards 
 the author's predecessors in the same region of inquiry, 
 and with regard to his own qualifications for the 
 arduous task. 
 
 In his preliminary dissertation, (occupying 100 pages) 
 he describes, with great perspicuity, the chief nosologi- 
 cal systems of modern times, the nomenclature in 
 actual use, and the general nature of the improvements 
 which he proposes to introduce. Speaking first of 
 nosological treatises, he regards all their modes of 
 arrangement as reducible to two classes, those of 
 synopsis and of system; and decisively prefers the 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 235 
 
 latter, on account of the facilities which it supplies 
 both with reference to study and to recollection. Of 
 systematic arrangements, he briefly describes the 
 alphabetic, that formed on the duration of diseases, 
 that on the anatomy of the animal frame, that which is 
 referred to the cause of diseases, denominated the 
 etiological method, the mixed modification which rests 
 on extent, sex, and infancy, conjointly, and then, the 
 system built upon the distinctive symptoms, or coinci- 
 dents* of diseases, — this latter being, in his opinion, 
 the only method which will generally hold true to itself, 
 and on which entire dependence can be placed. 
 
 He next presents characteristic sketches in succes- 
 sion of the nosological systems of Plater, Sauvages, 
 Linneeus, Vogel, Sagar, Cullen, Selle, Plouquet, Pinel, 
 Macbride, Crichton, Darwin, Parr, and Young ; and of 
 the limited arrangements of Plench, Willan, Abernethy, 
 and Bateman. In pointing out the nature, merits, and 
 defects, of the several systems which are thus made to 
 pass in review before him, he evinces a kind, courteous, 
 and liberal spirit, developing, with obvious pleasure, 
 the improvements which the author of one nosological 
 scheme has made upon those which preceded, and 
 marking those peculiarities which he has been able to 
 incorporate with systematic propriety in his own 
 arrangement. Several of the observations made by 
 Dr. Good in these concise delineations indicate great 
 logical acumen as well as philosophical research, and 
 cannot but be perused with benefit by the student of 
 medicine, or, indeed, of natural history. 
 
 cide 
 
 "EvfiTTTio^ara from avinr'nvTO}, " to fall in, happen together, or coin- 
 
236 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 Thus, when he notices Dr. Cullen's very extraordinary 
 confusion of genera and species, he remarks that many 
 other nosologists have fallen into similar mistakes. To 
 prevent their recurrence, he subjoins the following 
 instructive observations. 
 
 " A genus is not a disease, any more than it is an 
 animal, a vegetable, or a mineral ; but a group or 
 assemblage of any of these, possessing certain like 
 characters, and associated in consequence of such re- 
 semblance. The consenting characters being abstracted 
 and put together, constitute the generic definitions, and 
 apply to the whole ; while the subordinate characters 
 or coincidents, by which one differs from another, con- 
 stitute the specific definition, and distinguish 1 from 2, 
 and 2 from 3, of the same group or genus. A genus, 
 therefore, is a mere abstract term, a non-entity in 
 nature ; highly useful, indeed, in the chain of orders, 
 — but which can no more exist without species than a 
 regiment or a regimental company can exist without 
 soldiers. On this account it is that no man can ever 
 discover a genus, though he may combine generic signs, 
 and invent a generic name. The usual order is the 
 following : he first discovers an individual, whether a 
 plant, animal, or disease, possessing very peculiar 
 marks, so as to separate it distinctly from any known 
 individual, or groups of individuals. He may now, 
 therefore, be said to have found a new species ; and he 
 proceeds next to arrange it. He first separates from 
 it the most striking mark by which it is distinguished ; 
 and if this should be strictly singular, it constitutes 
 alone a sufiicient character for a new genus, and will 
 form what is called, from this very circumstance, its 
 essential generic character. If it be not strictly 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 237 
 
 singular, he must look for another striking character. — 
 a coincident or co-appearance, — or if necessary, in 
 order to render the distinction complete, a third ; and 
 the generic character will consist in the union of these 
 coincidents, in the combination of the marks that are 
 thus first detached from the individual, and then 
 brought into a state of combination. To this combina- 
 tion of detached or abstract signs he gives what name 
 he pleases ; and he thus obtains a generic name, as 
 well as a generic definition. He then proceeds to 
 select one, two, or more other marks, by which the 
 individual is peculiarly distinguished ; and these united 
 form his specific definition, to which, in like manner, 
 he adds a specific name. He has now discovered and 
 identified a species, and formed and denominated a 
 genus. His genus, indeed, consists at present but of a 
 single species ; and many genera never consist of more ; 
 but the genus is, nevertheless, formed upon a collective 
 principle; it presupposes that other individuals may, 
 hereafter, be detected, possessing the same generic 
 character, and consequently belonging to the same 
 banner; at the same time differing in several of its 
 subordinate marks from the individuals already 
 arranged under such banner; and which, in conse- 
 quence, will produce new species as long as other 
 individuals possessing such discrepancies shall be 
 traced out." p. xx. 
 
 The second section of the preliminary dissertation, 
 which is devoted to medical nomenclature, is taken 
 principally from the essay on " medical technology," 
 published in 1810. There are, however, some interest- 
 ing additions in reference to matters of etymology, the 
 precise original import of words, the extraordinary 
 
238 ACCOUNT OP THE WORKS OP 
 
 changes which some of them have experienced in the 
 lapse of time, and the radical absurdity involved in 
 some current phrases, such for example, as tonic 
 spasm, which is " literally extensible contractibility." 
 
 In the third section the author explains his main 
 design in the present work, which is to attempt im- 
 provement in the healing art in its two important 
 branches oi nosological arrangement and nomenclature. 
 He investigates the primitive and modified meanings 
 of several words from a great variety of languages, and 
 adverts to some of the evils which arise from their 
 loose and vague use. He then ascertains the import 
 of the common prefixes and suffixes employed in the 
 technology, and shews that they are too often so intro- 
 duced as to occasion confusion, where accuracy and 
 precision are above all things desirable. The general 
 inquiry, which he thus pursues into its several ramifi- 
 cations, is new, I think, not only in reference to medi- 
 cine, but in great measure, also, to Greek philology. 
 It cannot but be useful to the intelligent medical 
 student ; while it is, indeed, well calculated to gratify 
 the general reader. 
 
 The author next proceeds to unfold the principles 
 by means of which he endeavours to incorporate the 
 elementary study of animal diseases, with that of the 
 animal structure, or rather, with the animal economy. 
 He decides to erect his edifice upon a physiological 
 basis ; and then sketches the plan which he proposes 
 to himself and recommends to others. 
 
 The author had first to balance between two 
 schemes : that of Haller, who begins at the first and 
 simplest vestige of the living fibre, and pursues the 
 growing ens through all its stages of evolution; and 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 239 
 
 that of later physiologists, who take at once the animal 
 frame in its mature and perfect state, and trace it from 
 some one assumed function through all the rest. 
 
 He ''was soon led to a preference of the second 
 scheme. It is by far the simpler of the two, and 
 directly harmonizes with the fundamental princij)le, 
 which runs through all the systems of zoology;, 
 botany, and mineralogy, of forming the arrangement 
 and selecting the characters from the more perfect 
 individuals, as specimens. He decided, therefore, 
 upon taking the more prominent functions of the 
 animal frame for his primary or classific division, 
 and the more important of their respective organs for 
 his secondary or ordinal ; and without tying himself 
 to a particular distribution of the former in any 
 authorized or popular use at the present moment, to 
 follow what appears to be the order of nature in her 
 simplest and most intelligible march. 
 
 "To repair the exhaustion which is constantly taking 
 place in every part of the body from the common wear 
 and tear of life, it is necessary that the alimentary 
 canal should be supplied with a due proportion of 
 food, the procuration of which, therefore, constitutes, in 
 savage as well as in civil society, the first concern of 
 mankind. The food thus procured is introduced into a 
 set of organs admirably devised for its reception; and 
 its elaboration into a nutritive form constitutes what 
 physiologists have denominated the digestive func- 
 tion. The diseases, then, to which this function is 
 subject, will be found to create the first class of the 
 ensuing system. 
 
 "The food thus far elaborated has yet to be con- 
 veyed to the lungs, and be still farther operated upon 
 
240 ACCOUNT OP THE WORKS OF 
 
 by the atmosphere, before it becomes duly assimilated 
 to the nature of the fabric it has to support. The 
 FUNCTION OF RESPIRATION embraces this part of the 
 animal economy ; and the diseases to which this func- 
 tion is subject form the second class of the arrange- 
 ment. 
 
 "■ The blood, now matured and consummated, is re- 
 turned to the heart, and sent forth, in a circulating 
 course, to every organ of the body, as the common 
 pabulum from which it is to screen what it stands in 
 need of: the waste blood being carried back to the 
 fountain from which it issued. It is this circulatory 
 track that constitutes the sanguineous function ; 
 and the diseases by which it is characterized form the 
 third class of the ensuing pages. 
 
 "But the blood does not circulate by its own 
 power. From the brain, which it recruits and re- 
 freshes, its vessels (perhaps itself) receive a perpetual 
 influx of that sensorial energy which gives motion, as 
 the blood gives food, to the entire machine ; converts 
 the organized into an animal and intellectual system, 
 and forms the important sphere of the nervous 
 FUNCTION. This function, also, afl^ords scope for a 
 large family of diseases ; and hence we obtain a ground- 
 work for a fourth class. 
 
 " Such is the progress towards perfection in the life 
 of the individual. But man is not born to be an in- 
 dividual ; he is designed to perpetuate his species ; and 
 the last finish to his frame consists in giving full 
 development and activity to the organs which are sub- 
 servient to this purpose. We thus arrive at the 
 SEXUAL FUNCTION ; and obtain from the diseases by 
 which it is marked, a fifth class. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 241 
 
 ** As every part is thus receiving new matter from 
 the blood, it is necessary that that which is superseded 
 should be carried off by proper emunctories : as it is 
 also necessary that the antagonist processes of restora- 
 tion and detrition should maintain a fair balance. And 
 hence the minute secretory and absorbent vessels hold 
 the same relation to each other as the arteries and 
 veins, and conjointly create an excernent function ; 
 whose diseases lay a foundation for the sixth class of 
 our systematic attempt. 
 
 " It will yet remain to create a class for external 
 accidents, and those accidental misforniations which 
 occasionally disfigure the fetus. This will constitute 
 the seventh; and under these seven classes it will 
 possibly be found that all the long list of diseases may 
 be included which man is called to suffer, or the art of 
 medicine to provide for." p. Ixxx. 
 
 Consistently with the arrangement thus simply 
 deduced, our author divides his work (which comprises 
 546 closely printed 8vo. pages) into seven sections, 
 devoted to a series of seven classes and their subor- 
 dinate orders, thus : 
 
 Class I. Cceliaca. Diseases of the digestive function. 
 Order 1. Ent erica . . . affecting the alimentary canal. 2. 
 Splanchnica . . . affecting the collatitious viscera. 
 
 Class II. Pneumatica. Diseases of the respiratory func- 
 tion. Order 1. PAojzzca ... affecting the vocal avenues. 
 2. Pneumonica . . . affecting the lungs, their membranes, or 
 motive povs^er. 
 
 Class III, Hjematica. Diseases of the sanguineous func- 
 tion. Order 1. Pj/recfica ... fevers. 2. Phlogotica ... in^am- 
 mations. 3. Exanthematica . . . eruptive fevers. 4. Dysthe- 
 tica . . . cachexies. 
 
 R 
 
242 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OP 
 
 Class IV. Neurotica. Diseases of the nervous function. 
 Order 1. Phrenica . . . affecting the intellect. 2. ^sthetica . . . 
 affecting the sensation. 3. Cinetica . . . affecting the muscles. 
 4. Systatica . . . affecting several or all the sensorial powers 
 simultaneously. 
 
 Class V. Genetica. Order 1. Cenotica. 2. Orgastica. 
 3. Corpotica. 
 
 Class VI. Eccritica. Diseases of the excernent function. 
 Order 1. Meso^zca ... affecting the parenchyma. 2. Catotica 
 . . . affecting internal surfaces. 3. Acrotica . . . affecting the 
 external surface. 
 
 Class VII. Tychica. Fortuitous lesions or deformities. 
 Order 1. Apalotica . . . affecting the soft parts. 2. Stereotica . . . 
 affecting the hard parts. 3. Morphica . . .monstrosities of birth. 
 
 For the subordinate peculiarities of arrangement, the 
 work itself must be consulted. It abounds with ety- 
 mological, as well as physiological and nosological, 
 information. In order that the student may, without 
 difficulty, comprehend the nomenclature of the author, 
 he introduces a table of the principal Affixes and 
 Suffixes, with the senses in which they are employed. 
 That the reader may have an opportunity of comparing 
 this with the table subjoined to the dissertation on 
 medical technology, I shall here insert it. 
 
 table of the affixes and suffixes. 
 
 That chiefly occur in Dr. Good's Nomenclature, with the Senses in which 
 they are used. 
 
 AJtxes. 
 
 A (d) Diminution or loss of quality or 
 
 power. 
 Apo, ap, aph {uto, Iltt, iif) ... J For the most part iterative, du- 
 Cata, cat . , (mra, /car) .... 5 plicate, or augmented action : 
 but often indeterminate. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 
 
 243 
 
 Dia. 
 
 Dys. 
 
 (cia) . 
 
 1 
 
 , Separation ; secernment ; or se- 
 cretion. 
 
 . Morbid state or action generally ; 
 emphaticaljwhen accompanied 
 with distress or difficulty. 
 
 Out of ; outwards; over; above. 
 
 Ec, ex (£«:, 1^) . . . 
 
 Epi, ep, eph {tin, Ik, if),. .. 
 
 Hyper (vTrep) .. 
 
 En (ej/ ) Within ; below ; applied to 
 
 places. Superiority ; excess 
 or intensity ; applied to quan- 
 tity or quality. 
 
 Para (nnpa) Morbid state or action general- 
 ly ; and hence synonymous 
 with dys ; except in a few 
 terms derived from anatomy, 
 in which it imports apud, 
 " bordering on," as in paro- 
 titis, paronychia. 
 
 Peri (""^pO Circuit ; circumference. 
 
 Suffixes. 
 
 Algia (oXyia) Pain or ache. 
 
 Asmus, osmus(dff/xa, aff/ioe).. "^ Morbid action, power, or pos- 
 
 Esmus, ismus (Iffjuoc, lo-juoc).. \. session generally ; but mostly 
 
 Esis, osis. . . . (fffic, wffte). ... I very indeterminate. 
 
 lasis (lacric) Cutaneous eruption, unconnect- 
 ed with fever as its cause. 
 
 Itis ("■»?£) Organic inflammation. 
 
 Kele, cele . . , (/crjXjj) Covered protrusion of a soft 
 
 part. 
 
 Odes (w^Tjc) Like ; akin to. 
 
 Oma (w/xa) External protuberance. 
 
 Ptoma ...... (Trrwytia) Naked prolapse of a soft part. 
 
 r2 
 
244 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 RhcEa (poia) Preternatural flux of any fluid 
 
 except blood. 
 Rhagia (p«y«a) Preternatural flux of blood. 
 
 Igo Diffusive or migratory action 
 
 or motion. 
 
 Ilia, ula \ Simple diminutive termina. 
 
 Illaris, ularis 5 tions. 
 
 Osus Simple augmentive termination. 
 
 With a desire to render this work more extensively 
 useful, the author subjoins to the systematic name of 
 every disease, its chief technical and vernacular 
 synonyms ; confining, however, the vernacular syno- 
 nyms to the English, German, and French languages, 
 the technical ones, principally to the Greek, Latin, and 
 Arabic. In this department of research, his know- 
 ledge of the Oriental languages has enabled him to 
 proceed with firm steps over regions into which but 
 few of his predecessors in physiology have attempted 
 to make even an entrance. But, besides this pecu- 
 liarity, there is another, and a very prominent feature 
 in Dr. Good's treatise, which, I understand, served 
 more than every thing else to give it popularity. 
 
 " In order to afford relief to the dryness of technical 
 definitions, and verbal criticism, the author has digested 
 his notes into a running commentary, which he has 
 endeavoured to render replete with interesting cases, 
 valuable hints or remarks, and singular physiological 
 facts, gleaned from a pretty extensive perusal of the 
 most approved authorities, collective or individual, 
 ancient or modern; occasionally interwoven with 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 245 
 
 similar illustrations, as they have occurred to the wri- 
 ter in his own private walk and intercourse of life." 
 
 This " running commentary," is printed with a small 
 type, and occupies, on an average, more than half of 
 the page. A copious nosological index at the end of 
 the volume, greatly facilitates reference, and propor- 
 tionally augments the utility of the whole. 
 
 STUDY OF MEDICINE. 
 
 The first edition of Dr. Good's " Study of Medicine" 
 was published in 1822, in four thick 8vo. volumes. 
 It presented a fairly proportioned complete picture of 
 medical science, as it then existed. But, happily for 
 the world, neither the healing art nor the theoretic 
 considerations on which it so mainly depends, are sta- 
 tionary. They partake of the general intellectual 
 impulsion of the present times : so that, while the 
 principles experience extension and correction, the 
 practical applications become, in consequence, more 
 simple, powerful, and direct. Thus the exigencies of 
 the profession, and the success of this work (so well 
 calculated for their use) concurred in the production of 
 a new edition in 1825 ; in which, by modifications in 
 the substance in many places, and valuable supple- 
 mentary matter in others, the progressive improve- 
 ments have been duly recorded ; the whole being now 
 comprised in five volumes.* As the largest portion of 
 
 * In a letter addressed to Dr. Drake (bearing date December 11th, 
 1824.) Dr. Good gives the following account of the progress of the new 
 edition, and of tlie improvements which he proposed it to exhibit. 
 
 "I am now hard at work in printing off my second edition, — two 
 volumes at a time, — so that the whole will, I hope, be finished soon after 
 the end of March. Having completed, however, the entire range of its 
 
246 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 the new matter appertains to what in the former im- 
 pression constituted the second volume, the author has 
 effected his augmentations " by dividing this alone into 
 two volumes, and adding a little to the paging of the 
 next." 
 
 Dr. Good describes his object in this comprehensive 
 work to be to unite those different branches of medical 
 science, which, when carried to any considerable 
 extent, have hitherto been treated separately by most 
 writers, into a general system, such as may be con- 
 templated in a single view, and pursued under a com- 
 mon study. The branches thus united, are, 1. Phy- 
 siology, or the doctrine of the natural action of the 
 living principle. 2. Pathology, or the doctrine of its 
 morbid action. 3. Nosology, or the doctrine of the 
 classification of diseases. 4. Therapeutics, or the 
 doctrine of their treatment and cure. 
 
 In the nosological arrangement, the author has made 
 
 composition, I have nothing to do but to correct the press. But I have 
 bestowed a good deal of additional labour upon it, to meet some of the 
 hints that have been communicated to me. It will now form, as far as I 
 think it should, a record of all the opinions and methods of the continent 
 advanced in our own day ; which has rendered it necessary for me to 
 remodel the writing in some parts of most of the pages, as well as to wade 
 through an immensity of trash, in pursuit of a little sterling matter : and, 
 at the particular request of the Army Medical Board, and especially of the 
 Director General, it will a little enlarge on a few of the diseases of warm 
 climates, from documents of their own, which have not met the public eye. 
 There are also other subjects which remain to be brought forward, and have 
 either been started or have grown into importance since the first edition : — 
 as, Thomson's work on Varioloid Diseases, and the question it involves : 
 Willan's speculations on the same subject, published postiiumously : the 
 destructive inflammation that occasionally takes place on dissecting with a 
 punctured hand (Erythema anatomictmi ;) — the singular emaciation or 
 bloodlessness, described by some of the French writers (Marasmus 
 Anhivmia;) the Melanosis of Breschet and others; and the lateral curvature 
 of the spine, or spinal muscles (Entasia Rhachi/bia.) Then there is an 
 account to be given of Laennee's Stethoscope, &c. ; how far Syphilis may 
 be cured, or it ouglit to be attempted, without mercury ; many of the new 
 medicines lately imported from France, &c. You will hence perceive that 
 1 must have another volume." 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 247 
 
 slight alterations in the distribution of one or two of 
 the diseases, as compared with his " System of Noso- 
 logy;" to the first six classes of which, however, he 
 adheres, on the whole, throughout these volumes. The 
 first volume comprises, in 630 pages, the whole of 
 Class I, and the two first orders of Class II. — Vol. II. 
 in 662 pages, the remainder of Class II, and the two 
 first orders of Class III. — Vol. III. in 518 pages, is 
 devoted to the remaining orders, genera, and species 
 of Class III. — Vol. IV. in 688 pages, includes the whole 
 of Class IV. — And Vol. V. in 738 pages, comprehends 
 Classes V and VI. 
 
 The notes at the feet of the pages, consist principally 
 of references to other works of celebrity, British and 
 Foreign, on the same or connected topics ; and the 
 side margin of every page contains, in a smaller type, 
 a brief running abstract of the contents of the several 
 sentences on the page itself. Every distinct opening 
 of pages, too, exhibits an abbreviated reference to the 
 class, order, genus, species : thus conducing greatly to 
 a ready consultation of the appropriate portion of the 
 work to which a student may wish to turn. A copious 
 index of double columns on 30 pages, containing a 
 reference to any subject, as indicated by its Arabic, 
 Greek, Latin, or English name, in addition to the 
 other facilities just specified, gives to this work an 
 advantage which few other modern treatises, on either 
 the theory or practice of science, can boast of. 
 
 That an adequate judgment may be formed of the 
 nature of Dr. Good's classification, in reference, not 
 merely to its medical bearing, but to its technical ele- 
 gance and logical precision, I shall extract from his 
 introductory table all that relates to the first class. 
 
248 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 CLASS I. CCELIACA. Diseases of the digestive function. 
 
 Order I. Enterica. Affecting the alimentary canal. 
 
 Genus I. Odontia. Misdentition. Spec. 1. 0. Dentitionis. 
 Teething, 2. — Dolorosa. Tooth-ache. 3. — Stuporis. Tooth - 
 edge. 4. — Deformis. Deformity of the teeth. 5. — Edentula. 
 Toothlessness. 6. — Incrustans. Tartar of the teeth. 7. 
 — Excrescens. Excrescent gums. 
 
 Gen. II. Ptyalismus. Ptyalism. Spec. 1. P. Acutus. 
 Salivation. 2. — Chronicus. Chronic Ptyalism. 3. — Iners. 
 Drivelling. 
 
 Gen. III. Dysphagia. Dysphagy. Spec. 1. D. Constricta. 
 Constrictive dysphagy. 2. — Atonica. Atonic dysphagy. 3. — 
 Globosa. Nervous quinsy. 4. — Uvulosa. Uvular dysphagy. 
 5. — Linguosa. Lingual dysphagy. 
 
 Ge7i. IV. Dipsosis. Morbid thirst. Spec. 1. D. Avens. 
 Immoderate thirst. 2. — Expers. Tliirstlessness. 
 
 Gen. V. Limosis. Morbid appetite. Spec. 1. L. Avens. 
 Voracity. 2. — Expers. Long fasting. 3. — Pica. Depraved 
 appetite. 4. — Cardialgia. Heart-burn ; water-brash ; car- 
 dialgy. 5. — Flatus. Flatulency. 6. — Emesis. Sickness; 
 vomiting, 7. — Dyspepsia. Indigestion. 
 
 Gen. VI. Colica. Colic. Spec. 1. C. Ileus. Iliac pas- 
 sion. 2. — Rhachialgia. Colic of Poitou ; painters' colic. 
 3. — Cibaria. Surfeit. 4. — Flatulenta. Wind-colic. 5. — Con- 
 stipata. Constipated colic. 6. — Constricta. Constrictive colic. 
 
 Gen. VII. Coprostasis. Costiveness. Spec. 1. C. Consti- 
 pata. Constipation. 2. — Obstipata. Obstipation. 
 
 Gen. VIII. Diarrhoea. Looseness. Spec. 1. D. Fusa. 
 Feculent looseness. 2. — Biliosa. Bilious looseness. 3. — 
 Mucosa. Mucous looseness. 4. — Chylosa. Chylous looseness. 
 5. — Lienteria. Lientery. 6. — Serosa. Serous looseness. 7. — 
 Tubularis. Tubular looseness. 8. — Gypsata. Gypseous looseness. 
 
 Gen. IX. Cholera. Cholera. Spec. 1. C. Biliosa. Bilious 
 cholera. 2. — Flatulenta. Wind cholera. 3, — Spasmodica. 
 Spasmodic cholera. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 249 
 
 Gen. X. Enterolithus. Intestinal concretions. Spec. 1. 
 E. Bezoardus. Bezoar. 2. — Calculus. Intestinal calculus. 
 3. — Scybalum. Scybalum. 
 
 Gen. XI. Helminthia. Worms. Spec. 1. H. Alvi. Al- 
 vine worms. 2, — Podicis. Anal worms. 3. — Erratica. Erratic 
 worms. 
 
 Geyi. XII. Proctica. Proctica. Spec. 1. P. Simplex. 
 Simple proctica. 2. — Spasmodica. Spasmodic stricture of the 
 rectum, 3. — Callosa. Callous stricture of the rectum. 4, — 
 Tenesmus. Tenesmus. 5. — Marisca. Piles, 6. — Exania. 
 Prolapse of the rectum. 
 
 Ord. II, Splanchnica. Affecting the collatitious viscera. 
 
 Gen. I, Icterus. Yellow Jaundice, Spec. 1. I. Cholceus. 
 Biliary jaundice, 2, — Chololithicus. Gall-stone jaundice. 
 3. — Spasmodicus. Spasmodic jaundice. 4. — Hepaticus. Hepa- 
 tic jaundice, 5. — Infantum. Jaundice of infants. 
 
 Gen. II, Melcena. Helena, Spec. 1. M. Choloea. Black 
 or green jaundice. 2. — Cruenta. Black vomit. 
 
 Gen. III. Chololithus. Gall-stone. Spec. 1. C. Quiescens. 
 Quiescent gall-stone, 2, — Means. Passing of gall-stones. 
 
 Gen. IV, Parabysma. Visceral turgescence. Spec. 1 . P. He- 
 Paticum. Turgescence of the liver. 2. — Splenicum. Tur- 
 gescence of the spleen, 3, — Pancreaticum. Turgescence of 
 the pancreas, 4, — Mesentericum. Turgescence of the Mesen- 
 tery. 5. — Intestinale. Turgescence of the intestines. 6. — 
 Omentale. Turgescence of the omentum, 7. — Complicatum. 
 Turgescence compounded of various organs. 
 
 Dr. Good remarks, that a pretty active spirit of phy- 
 siology pervades the whole work. He has also availed 
 himself of the advantage so readily afforded by his 
 arrangement, of prefixing to every class a " Physiologi- 
 cal Proem," containing a summary of the most impor- 
 tant laws and discoveries in physiology, that tend to 
 elucidate the subjects comprehended in the class to 
 
250 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 which the proem belongs. '^The author has, also, occa- 
 sionally enriched these dissertations by a glance at the 
 more striking analogies of the animal, and even of the 
 vegetable world at large, wherever they could add to 
 the illustration." To me these " proems" seem to con- 
 stitute the most entertaining and instructive portions 
 of this highly entertaining and instructive work. I have 
 read some of them again and again, and always with 
 an increased gratification. If they are throughout cor- 
 rect, of which I need scarcely declare myself again an 
 incompetent judge, they would of themselves form an 
 interesting volume. But many regions of physiologi- 
 cal research, are as yet debateable ground ; and as 
 the author confesses that he has here indulged "a 
 pretty active spirit," it is not improbable that the pro- 
 perly qualified reader may not yield an entire assent to 
 every statement or deduction in these preliminary dis- 
 quisitions — however sound the author's general prin- 
 ciples, and however diversied and beautiful many of 
 his illustrations. 
 
 With a view to convey some idea of Dr. Good's 
 method of treating a disease, I select for an example 
 that which relates to Eritasia Racliybia, muscular dis- 
 tortion of the spine. After laying down a general 
 definition, he adverts to the various kinds, and dilates 
 upon that first described by Pott; scrofulous, and pro- 
 ducing caries. He then traces the rachetic source, and 
 remarks, that in these cases the disease is a primary 
 affection of the bones, producing angular distortion as 
 opposed to lateral. He next speaks of muscular, liga- 
 mentous, or cartilaginous distortion, the organs being 
 affected sometimes singly, sometimes jointly. Then he 
 adverts to the distinctions observed by the Greek 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 251 
 
 writers, viz. Lordosis, Cyrtosis, and Hybosis, distinc- 
 tions well discriminated by Pott. To these succeed 
 brief accounts of the views of the disease taken by 
 Baynton, Wilson, Lloyd, and Jarrold. The author 
 then observes, that the muscular is much more common 
 than the osseous distortion of the spine, and sketches 
 the different explanations of Grant, Harrison, and Dods. 
 He next shews the nature of the muscular distortion 
 now most common, assigns muscular debility as the 
 proximate cause, traces the commencement and pro- 
 gress of the disease, the augmentation of the evil by 
 the modern discipline of ladies' schools, and then de- 
 scribes the preventive and remediable means, as cupping, 
 shampooing, friction, advantageous position, couch, in- 
 clined plane, &c. ; adding, however, that, besides these, 
 pure air, sea-bathing, and every other kind of tonic, 
 whether external or internal, are of the utmost im- 
 portance. 
 
 Among the occasional causes of this diseased in- 
 curvation. Dr. Good includes the various contrivances 
 adopted to mould the female form into greater sym- 
 metry than it is supposed to have received from its 
 Creator. On this topic, his remarks are as important 
 as they are just. 
 
 " The greater frequency of the lateral distortion of 
 the spine in our own day, compared with its apparent 
 range in former times, together with the increased coer- 
 cion and complication of the plan laid down in many 
 of our fashionable schools for young ladies, seems 
 clearly to indicate that some part at least of its in- 
 creased inroad is chargeable to this source. 
 
 " The simple fact is, that the system of discipline is 
 carried too far, and rendered much too complicated ; 
 
252 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 and art, which should never be more than the hand- 
 maid of nature, is elevated into her tyrant. In rustic 
 life we have health and vigour, and a pretty free use 
 of the limbs and muscles, because all are left to the im- 
 pulse of the moment, to be exercised without restraint. 
 The country girl rests when she is weary, and in what- 
 ever position she chooses or finds easiest ; and walks, 
 hops, or runs, as her fancy may direct, when she has 
 recovered herself: she bends her body and erects it as 
 she lists, and the flexor and extensor muscles are 
 called into an equal and harmonious play. There may 
 be some degree of awkwardness, and there generally 
 will be, in her attitudes and movements ; and the great 
 scope of female discipline (as to the motions of the 
 body) should consist in correcting this. With this it 
 should begin, and with this it should terminate, whether 
 our object be directed to giving grace to the unculti- 
 vated human figure, or the uncultivated brute. We 
 may modify the action of muscles in common use, or 
 even call more into play than are ordinarily exercised, 
 as in various kinds of dancing; but the moment we 
 employ one set of muscles at the expense of another ; 
 keep the extensors on a full stretch from day to day, 
 by forbidding the head to stoop, or the back to be 
 bent ; and throw the flexors of these organs into disuse 
 and despisal ; we destroy the harmony of the frame, 
 instead of adding to its elegance ; weaken the muscles 
 that have the disproportionate load thrown upon them ; 
 render the rejected muscles torpid and unpliant ; sap 
 the foundation of the general health, and introduce a 
 crookedness of the spine instead of guarding against it. 
 The child of the opulent, while too young to be fettered 
 with a fashionable dress, or drilled into the discipline 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 253 
 
 of our female schools, has usually as much health, and 
 as little tendency to distortion, as the child of the pea- 
 sant: but let these two, for the ensuing eight or ten 
 years, change places with each other; let the young 
 heiress of opulence be left at liberty ; and let the pea- 
 sant-girl be restrained from her freedom of muscular 
 exertion in play and exercise of every kind ; and in- 
 stead of this, let her be compelled to sit bolt-upright, in 
 a high narrow chair with a straight back, that hardly 
 allows of any flexion to the sitting muscles, or of any 
 recurvation to the spine ; and let the whole of her 
 exercise, instead of irregular play and frolic gaiety, be 
 limited to the staid and measured march of Melan- 
 choly in the Penseroso of Milton : 
 
 With even step and musing gait ; 
 to be regularly performed for an hour or two every 
 day, and to constitute the whole of her corporeal re- 
 laxation from month to month, girded, moreover, all the 
 while, with the paraphernalia of braces, bodiced stays, 
 and a spiked collar ; — and there can be little doubt, 
 that, while the child of opulence shall be acquiring all 
 the health and vigour her parents could wish for, though 
 it may be with a colour somewhat too shaded with 
 brown, and an air somewhat less elegant than might 
 be desired, the transplanted child of the cottage will 
 exhibit a shape as fine, and a demeanour as elegant, as 
 fashion can communicate, but at the heavy expense of 
 a languor and relaxation of fibre that no stays or props 
 can compensate, and no improvement of figure can 
 atone for. 
 
 *' Surely it is not necessary, in order to acquire all 
 the air and gracefulness of fashionable life, to banish 
 from the hour of recreation the old rational amusements 
 
254 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 of battledore and shuttlecock, of tennis, trap-ball, or 
 any other game that calls into action the bending as 
 well as the extending muscles, gives firmness to every 
 organ, and the glow of health to the entire surface. 
 
 "Such, and a thousand similar recreations, varied 
 according to the fancy, should enter into the school- 
 training of the day, and alternate with the grave pro- 
 cession and the measured dance, for there is no occa- 
 sion to banish either; although many of the more 
 intricate and venturous dances, as the Bolero, should 
 be but occasionally and moderately indulged in ; since, 
 as has been sufficiently shewn by Mr. Shaw, ' we have 
 daily opportunities of observing, not only the good 
 effects of well-regulated exercise, but also the actual 
 deformity which arises from the disproportionate deve- 
 lopment that is produced by the undue exertion of par- 
 ticular classes of muscles.' " — vol. iv. p. 332. 
 
 Among our author's interesting treatises upon dif- 
 ferent diseases, that which relates to Leprosy is one 
 of the most elaborate and curious. He traces the 
 history of its technology, from the Hebrew, through 
 the Arabic and Greek languages ; and is thus enabled 
 to assign reasons for much of the vagueness and con- 
 fusion which have prevailed respecting this disorder. 
 The theologian, as well as the student of medicine, may 
 here derive benefit from his researches. I much regret 
 that their general result is presented too much at length 
 to allow of its insertion in these pages. 
 
 As another instructive proof, however, of the skill 
 with which Dr. Good could reduce the labour of varied 
 and extensive reading into comparatively a small space, 
 I shall present his account, by a medical friend charac- 
 terized as " admirable," of the Paropsis Cataracta. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 255 
 
 "PAROPSIS CATARACTA." 
 "CATARACT." 
 
 "dimness or abolition of sight, from opacity of the 
 
 CRYSTALLINE LENs" 
 
 "The cataract, as it is now called, was by old English writers 
 named pearl-eye, or pearl in the eye, and is so denomi- 
 nated by Holland, the faithful translator of Pliny. Catarracta, 
 as a Greek term, is usually derived from /carappao-o-w, ' to disturb, 
 destroy, or abolish.' Karappa/crjjg, or carapajcrj/e, however, was 
 employed by the Greek writers to signify a gate, door, or loop- 
 hole, and the bar which fastens it, and becomes the impediment 
 to its being opened. And it is probably from this last sense that 
 the term cataract was first applied to the disease in question, as 
 forming a bar to the eyes ; which were called the loop-holesT^or 
 windows of the mind, by various philosophers. Whence, perhaps, 
 Shakspeare in the speech of Richmond : — 
 
 'To thee I do commend my wakeful soul. 
 Ere I let fall the tcindows of mine eyes. 
 
 " The Greeks themselves, however, called this disease indiffer- 
 ently hypochyma, apochysis, and hypochysis. The earlier Latins, 
 suffusio: while catarracta seems first to have been made use of 
 by the Arabian writers, and was probably introduced into the 
 medical nomenclature by Avicenna. Yet the more common name 
 among the Arabians was gutta ohscura, as that for amaurosis 
 was gutta Serena ; the pupil, in this last species, being serene or 
 transparent. 
 
 " The Arabians, who had adopted generally the humoral patho- 
 logy of Galen, conceived both these diseases to be the result of 
 a morbid rheum or defluxion falling on a particular part of the 
 visual orb, in the one case producing blindness with obscurity, 
 whence the name of an obscure r/^eMW ox gutta ; and in the other 
 without obscurity, whence the contrary name of a transparent 
 
256 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 or serene rheum or gutta. But as various other diseases, and 
 particularly of the joints, were also supposed to flow from a like 
 cause, and were far more common, the terms gutta and rheuma 
 were afterwards emphatically applied, and at length altogether 
 limited, to these last complaints : whence the terms gout and 
 rheumatism, which have descended to the present day, as the 
 author has already had occasion to observe under arthrodia 
 PODAGRA. For gutta the Arabian writers sometimes employed 
 aqua ; and hence, cataract and amaurosis are described by many 
 of them under the names of aqua, or arqua, alone. For gutta 
 obscura the modern Germans have revived the terms onyx and 
 CERATONYX where the lens is peculiarly hard or horny.* 
 
 "The opacity producing a cataract may exist in the lens 
 alone, the capsule alone, or in both ; thus laying a foundation 
 for the three following varieties : 
 
 a Lenticularis. The opacity existing in the lens itself. 
 
 Lenticular Cataract. and confined to it. 
 
 ft Capsularis. The opacity confined to the capsule, 
 
 Capsular or membranous or membrane of the lens. 
 
 Cataract. 
 
 y Complicata. The opacity common to the lens and 
 
 Complicated Cataract. its capsule. 
 
 " We are told, moreover, by Richter,* of a cataract of the 
 humour of Morgagni, or the interstitial fluid which lies between 
 the capsule and the lens ; whence this has also been copied by 
 Plenck, Professor Beer, and Sir William Adams, into the list of 
 modifications ; but rather as a possible than an actual case ; for 
 none of these practitioners give a single example of such a 
 variety ever having occurred to them with certainty, though 
 Beer suspected it in one case.f 
 
 * See Langenbeck's Prufung der Keratonyxis, einer nener Methode, &c. 
 Gijtting. 1811, 8vo. 
 
 * Vonder Ausziehung des grauen Staars. Gott. 1773. 8vo. 
 f Lehre vonden Angenkrankheiter, band ii. sect. 56. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 257 
 
 " It is sometimes accompanied with a sac inclosing a small 
 body of pus or ichor, and is probably the result of the inflamma- 
 tion that produced it. In this case it forms the cataracta capsulo- 
 lenticularis cum bursa ichorem continente, of Schmidt* Beer 
 affirms that this sac is commonly seated between the lens and 
 posterior part of the capsule, and very rarely between the former 
 and the anterior part.f 
 
 " Professor Beer seems to have refined a little too much in his 
 divisions and subdivisions of cataract, for he not only assigns a 
 distinct place to the Morgagnian, and this pustular cystic, but to 
 a cystic form without pus, to a siliquose, and a trabecular; 
 while he further partitions the capsular into two separate forms, 
 according as it is before or behind in the capsular chamber ; thus 
 giving us a catalogue of nine distinct forms of what he calls the 
 true cataract ; while he allots four other subdivisions to what he 
 denominates the spurious cataract : meaning hereby some other 
 obstacle to vision, the seat of which is without the crystalline 
 capsule, between its anterior hemisphere and the iris, and conse- 
 quently constitutes a distinct disease, embracing several modifi- 
 cations of paropsis Glaucosis. 
 
 "Cataracts are of different colours and of different degrees 
 of consistency, from circumstances influencing the morbid action, 
 with which we are but little acquainted ; and as little with the 
 occasional causes of such action, though old age seems to be a 
 common predisposing cause. They are, therefore, black, white, 
 leaden-hued, ferruginous, green, amber; as they are also fluid or 
 milky, soft, firm, hard, horny, and even bony, for they have been 
 sometimes found of this last texture.J They are not unfrequently 
 the result of an hereditary taint, adhering to generation after 
 generation, and appearing either congenitally or by a very 
 general predisposition afterwards. 
 
 * Ueber Nachstaar und Iritis, &;c. Wien 1801. 
 t Lehre von der Augenkrankheiter, band ii. p. 301. 1813. 
 X Wenzel, Traite de la Cataracte avec des Obsei-vations. Paris, 1 786. 
 Guthrie's Lectures, &c. on the Eye, p. 208. 
 
 S 
 
258 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 " From the colour of the cataract, no conclusion, in the opmion 
 of that acute observer Mr. Pott, can be drawn in regard to its 
 consistence ; but he thinks that when the opake crystalline is 
 perfectly dissolved so as to form a soft cataract, it is somewhat 
 enlarged ; and that when such dissolution does not take place, 
 and a hard cataract is produced, the crystalline is in some 
 degree lessened. The hard cataract has also been distinguished 
 by the name of ripe, as the soft by that of u7iripe. ' But if we 
 would think and speak of this matter,' observes Mr. Pott, ' as it 
 really is, we should say that a dissolution or softening of the 
 crystalline lens is by much the most common effect, and that 
 seven times out of nine, when it becomes opake, and tends to 
 form a cataract, it is more or less softened : the softening some- 
 times extending through the v/hole range of the lens, and some- 
 times through only a part of it ; while, hov/ever, the part that 
 remains undissolved is rarely, if ever, so firm as the centre of the 
 sound crystalline.' Mr. Pott proposes it as a question, whether 
 cataracts, which have been found perfectly soft, have not in 
 general grown opake by slow degrees ; and whether those which 
 have been discovered to be firm have not become opake hastily, 
 and been preceded by, or accompanied with, severe and deep- 
 seated pain in the head, particularly in the back part of it ?* 
 
 " There is no opthalmologist, however, who has paid so much 
 attention to this subject as Professor Beer; and though his 
 divisions are perhaps a little too minute, yet the microscopical 
 accuracy with which he has followed up all the modifications 
 of the cataract are entitled to our most serious attention. He 
 agrees with Mr. Pott that a hard cataract is always comparatively 
 small, though he adds that every small cataract is not necessarily 
 hard. He is peculiarly minute in examining all the qualities 
 which the disease may exhibit of position, colour, shadow, shape, 
 range ; together with the mobility and degree of prominence of 
 the iris ; and till all these characters have been accurately weighed, 
 
 * Chirurgical Observations relative to the Cataract, &c. 8vo. 1775. 
 London. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD, 259 
 
 he hesitates to determine as to the variety of the cataract ; or, in 
 effect, whether it be a cataract at all. The shadow cast by the 
 iris constitutes his leading clue. If the lens in an opake state 
 maintain the size it possest when transparent, there is a manifest 
 shadow thrown back upon the surface of the cataract by the iris. 
 If the cataract be less than the natural lens, this shadow is 
 broader than usual. If the opake lens be swollen, no shadow is 
 present, as the capsule is pushed forward into contact with the 
 iris, and the posterior chamber is abolished. And by carefully 
 comparing all the signs that lie before him, he is able to indicate 
 with certainty, in every instance, the seat, the size, and the con- 
 sistence of the cataract. 
 
 " We have already observed that a cataract is occasionally the 
 result of an hereditary taint; in other instances it originates 
 spontaneously, or from causes we cannot trace. It has, however, 
 often followed upon convulsions, chronic head-ache, syphilis, 
 rheumatism, suppressed perspiration, and in a few instances 
 TRiCHOsis Plica, or matted hair.* It has also appeared as an 
 effect of inflammation produced by a thunder-storm. f 
 
 " The siliquose or bean-shaped cataract, is usually the result 
 
 of a wound or rupture of the capsule, through which the aqueous 
 
 humour is admitted to the lens. In children this mischief is 
 
 occasionally produced by those fits of convulsion to which they 
 
 are subject as soon as born, and during which the muscles of the 
 
 eye-ball are affected with violent spasms.J At this age the 
 
 opacity is a light gray, and evidently has its seat in the anterior 
 
 capsule, which is shrivelled and wrinkled. In adults the opacity 
 
 is chalky, when the capsule has been wounded ; otherwise it is 
 
 dusky or yellowish ; and the kernel of the lens usually remains, 
 
 while its surface and circumference are dissolved. The opacity 
 
 is flat ; and the shadow of the iris broad. From its occurring 
 
 occasionally in infants soon after birth, it is often confounded 
 
 with a genuine congenital cataract. 
 
 * De la Fontaine, Chirurg. Med. 
 
 f Richter, Chir. Bibl. band. vi. 158. J Beer, ut supra. 
 
 s2 
 
260 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 " Like PAROPSis Glaucosis, or humoral opacity, it has some- 
 times ceased spontaneously, or without any manifest cause;* 
 and Helwig gives an instance in which the cessation was not 
 only spontaneous, but sudden. f It has also, at times, been car- 
 ried off by a fever. I 
 
 "There is hence specious ground for conceiving that some 
 medicine might be discovered capable, by some general or specific 
 action, of producing a like change, and proving a remedy for the 
 disease ; and the more so, as we find ganglions and other acci- 
 dental deformities frequently removed from the extreme part of 
 the system by external or internal applications. But no such 
 remedy has hitherto been descried, or at least none that can be in 
 any degree relied upon, excepting in those cases of supposed, but 
 miscalled, cataracts, which have consisted in a deposition of lymph 
 from an inflammation of the iris and ciliary processes: for recourse 
 has been had to mercurial preparations, both external and inter- 
 nal, as well as almost every other metallic salt, aconite, the pasque- 
 flower, or Pulsatilla, to protracted vomiting, electricity, and 
 puncturing the tunics of the eyes, but without any certain advan- 
 tage.§ This is the more to be lamented, because whatever sur- 
 gical operation may be determined upon as most advisable, there 
 is no guarding, on all occasions, against the mischievous effects 
 which may result, I do not mean from the complication or 
 severity of the operation, for this, under every modification, is 
 simpler and less formidable than the uninitiated can readily 
 imagine ; but from the tendency which is sometimes met with, 
 from idiosyncrasy, habit, some peculiar acrimony, or other 
 irritable principle, to run rapidly into a state of ulcerative inflam- 
 mation, and in a single night, or even a few hours, in spite of the 
 
 * Haggendorn,,Observ. Med. Cent. i. Obs. 50. Franc. 1698. 8vo. Ludolf, 
 Misceli. Berol. torn. iv. 258. Walker, on the Tlieory and Cure of a Cataract. 
 
 t Observ. Physico. Med. 23, Aug. Viiid. 1680, 4to. 
 
 X Velschius, Episagm. 20. 
 
 § Beytrage zur Chirurgie und Augenheilkunst. Von Franz Reisinger, &c. 
 Gottingen, "^1814. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 261 
 
 wisest precautions that can be adopted, to endanger a total and 
 permanent loss of vision. I speak from personal knowledge, 
 and have, in one or two instances, seen such an effect follow, 
 after the operation had been performed with the utmost dex- 
 terity, and with every promise of success ; and where a total 
 blindness has taken place in both eyes, the operation having 
 been performed on both ; neither of them being quite opake 
 antecedently, and one of them in nothing more than an incipient 
 state of the disease, and the patient capable of writing and 
 reading with it. And hence it is far better, in the author's 
 opinion, to have a trial made on one eye only at a time, and 
 that the worst, where both are affected and one is still useful, 
 than to subject both to the same risk; for the sympathy between 
 them is so considerable, that if an inflammatory process, from 
 any constitutional or accidental cause, should shew itself in 
 either, the other would be sure to associate in the morbid 
 action. 
 
 "The usual modes of operating for the cure of a cataract 
 are three : that of couching or depression ; that of extraction ; 
 and that of what is called, absorption.* Tlie first was well 
 known to the practitioners of Greece and Rome ; and is ably 
 described by Celsus, who advises, in cases where the lens 
 cannot be kept down, to cut it into pieces with the sharp- 
 edged acus or needle, by which mean it will be the more 
 readily absorbed. And, from this last remark, we have some 
 reason for believing that even the third of the above methods, 
 that of absorption, was also known at the same time; as it 
 is probable, indeed, that the second, or the operation by ex- 
 traction, was likewise ; since we find Pliny recommending the 
 process of simple removal or depression, in preference to that 
 of extraction or drawing it forth ; ' squamniam in oculis 
 emovendam potius quam extrahendam,'t which Holland has 
 
 * Guthrie, Lect. on the Operative Surgery of the Eye, p. 184. 8vo, 1823. 
 t Nat. Hist. Ub. xxix. cap. 1 . 
 
262 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 thus honestly, though paraphrastically, translated, ' a cataract 
 or pearl in the eye is to be couched rather, and driven down 
 by the needle, than quite to be plucked forth.' 
 
 " In the East, however, both these plans appear to have been 
 pursued through a much longer period. Both are noticed by 
 the Arabian writers in general, and especially by Avicenna and 
 Rhazes ; and both seem tohave been practised from time immemorial 
 in India, and, according to the account of the cabirajas, with 
 Avonderful success. Dr. Scot was informed by one of the tra- 
 velling operators, who, however, spoke without a register, that 
 in the operation of depression this success was in the proportion 
 of a hundred who were benefited, to five who obtained no advan- 
 tage whatever. 
 
 " Upon the ordinary operation of depression, M. Willburg 
 seems to have made a considerable improvement, by pressing 
 the cataract backwards and downwards into a particular position, 
 where it is less likely to ascend or touch the retina ; and to this 
 mode of operation is given the name of reclination. 
 
 " The operation of extraction seems to have derived no small 
 improvement from the method of Sir William Adams, who, after 
 detaching the cataract, first passes it through the opening of 
 the pupil into the interior chamber by means of his needle, and 
 then extracts it by an opening on the outer side of the cornea, 
 instead of by one in its interior part. 
 
 " The simplest and least irritating of these operations, how- 
 ever, is that by absorption, as it is now commonly called, as it 
 was named precipitation by Maitre-jan,t on his first noticing 
 the disappearance of portions of the opake lens ; but which in 
 effect is neither absorption nor precipitation, but solution, or 
 dissolution, as Mr. Pott correctly described it. But it should 
 be known to the operator, that Avhile the solvent power of the 
 aqueous humour is wonderfully active, that of the vitreous is 
 weak and inconsiderable : and hence the solvent or absorbent 
 
 I Traite des Maladies de I'Oeil. edit. sec. Troyes. 1711. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 263 
 
 plan, first practised by Buckhorn, and since in our own country 
 by Sir William Adams, consists in dividing the cataract, after 
 its separation, into small fragments, and passing them with the 
 needle, by which they are thus divided, through the pupil into 
 the anterior chambev, which constitutes the seat of the aqueous 
 humour, apparently in perfect coincidence with the method first 
 practised by Gleize, and since recommended by Richter.* 
 The fragments thus deposited are usually dissolved in a few 
 weeks ; and where the cataract is fluid, they have often been 
 dissolved and absorbed in a few seconds ; and sometimes even 
 before the needle has been withdrawn. The division is here 
 made through the cornea, previously illined with belladonna to 
 dilate the pupil, and it is to this method of operating that 
 M. Buckhorn gave the name of CERAXONYXis.f The first 
 inventor, however, of the plan in its simplest state was Conradi of 
 Norheim." vol. iv. pp. 221—229. 
 
 I have already (p. 111.) alluded to letters from seve- 
 ral of the most distinguished physicians, and others, 
 at home and abroad, expressive of their high sense of 
 the value of Dr. Good's " Study of Medicine," and of 
 its tendency " to support and increase the reputation 
 he had so deservedly acquired, as one of the most 
 learned and most philosophical members of the medical 
 profession." It was once my intention to solicit the 
 permission of these gentlemen to publish their respective 
 letters, as honourable to themselves for their frank 
 and kind expressions of esteem, as to the individual 
 whom they panegyrize for the rich diversity of his 
 talents and attainments. But on farther meditation, I 
 feel it preferable to adduce the testimonies supplied by 
 
 * Chirurgische Blbliothek, band. x. 
 
 t Buckhorn de Keratonyxide. Haliie, 1806. 
 
2(>4 ACCOUNT OP THE WORKS OF 
 
 two or three of our medical journals. To Dr. John- 
 son, in whose Medico- Chiriirgical Review, vols. iii. and 
 iv. there is a very elaborate and copious analysis, 
 occupying 65 pages, I have already referred. But I 
 may, notwithstanding, present another extract. After 
 specifying a few defects in the first edition, which were 
 corrected in the second, the author of the analysis* 
 adds : 
 
 " With these trifling defects, we have no hesitation 
 in pronouncing the work, beyond all comparison, the 
 best of the kind in the English language. With the 
 naval, the military, the provincial, and the colonial 
 practitioner, the work before us, ought at once to 
 
 supersede the unscientific compilation of Dr. ■ ; 
 
 and it will do so." 
 
 In a note, the same professional critic observes, 
 " We have just heard a gentleman remark, that he was 
 rather disappointed in not finding minute information 
 on a particular subject, for which he consulted these 
 volumes. The complaint was unreasonable. For 
 minute information, we must consult monographs, or 
 distinct treatises. In a system like this, however ex- 
 tensive, we can expect no more than general informa- 
 tion, and references to other and more elaborate works, 
 on the particular subject discussed. "f 
 
 In ''Anderson's Quarterly Journal of the Medical 
 Sciences," vol. ii. No. 8. October, 1825, a full account 
 is given of the improvements in the second edition of 
 the Study of Medicine. The reviewer says, "We 
 
 * Usually imputed to Dr. Armstrong. 
 
 t It ought, however, to be observed, that the work abounds througliout, 
 with the statement of facts and the relation of cases ; the latter uniformly 
 given with graphic perspicuity, and, where they involved distressing or 
 fiital consequences, witii much sympathy and feeling. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 265 
 
 have already expressed our satisfaction at the re- 
 appearance of this valuable und accurate work in a 
 new edition. Of such a work, indeed, when we con- 
 sider it to be the composition of one man, we may say, 
 with truth, that the age of laborious diligence is not 
 past, and that there is still an individual among us 
 who can devour and digest whole libraries. This 
 would, no doubt, be surprising even in a man of a 
 retired life ; but it is doubly so in one who is a prac- 
 tical physician, and a poet of no mean fame. For 
 learning, for research, for original observation, where 
 is the practical system of the present day, we may 
 fearlessly ask, that can be compared to it?" "Dr. 
 Good is a universal scholar ; intimately acquainted 
 with the learned and Oriental languages; he writes 
 English with facility and elegance ; and we are sure 
 that every physician who is a man of taste and of 
 learning, will peruse his pages with avidity and 
 delight." 
 
 Again, the Editor of the " Edinburgh Medical and 
 Surgical Journal," in the No. for January, 1826, after 
 specifying the principal improvements in Dr. Good's 
 new edition, proceeds : 
 
 " Of the merits of this work, we formerly expressed 
 our opinion at considerable length ; and it is not now 
 requisite to resume the subject. Its good and bad 
 points we canvassed in the spirit of liberal criticism ; 
 but we trust without asperity. Though we still en- 
 tertain the same opinion of its defects, we must 
 confess, the oftener we read it, the more excellent it 
 appears. The information is copious, accurate, and 
 various ; the research and learning unrivalled ; the 
 style clear and precise ; and the language, when not 
 
266 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 too affected, is classical and pleasing. It certainly 
 contains the most comprehensive and correct view of 
 medical knowledge extant; and we know no work 
 from which the student will derive greater informa- 
 tion, and obtain it in a more interesting manner." 
 
 I need not apologize for collecting these critical 
 opinions from the most respectable professional 
 authorities, on a work respecting the scientific value 
 of which it would be the height of absurdity for me 
 to offer any judgment. I may, perhaps, without in- 
 curring the charge of invading the province of others, 
 remark, in addition to what has preceded, that Dr. 
 Good richly merits a distinct eulogium for having, 
 throughout these volumes, uniformly exerted himself 
 to check the influence of fashion in the introduction 
 and proscription of remedies, as well as in the practice 
 of medicine generally.* 
 
 THE BOOK OF NATURE. 
 
 This publication issued from the press early in 1826, 
 in three octavo volumes. It has, however, so infeli- 
 citous a title, that it conveys no adequate idea, I 
 might almost say, no idea, of the nature of the publica- 
 
 * Since the above was written, I have received a letter from my esteemed 
 friend, Dr. J. W. Francis, of New York, in which he says, "The death of 
 our mutual friend. Dr. Good, has produced a sensation among our medical 
 lirethren, that shews most satisfactorily how high he stood in the estimation 
 of the profession. His writings are well known among us, and no less 
 than th^ee editions of his ' Study of Medicine' have been printed for our 
 medical improvement. I intend, dear sir, to transmit you some account of 
 what we Americans have tliought of him ; and I rejoice to learn tjiat you 
 contemplate an account of his life and writings. Is it so ? I wish to say 
 a little of him, because of his vast renown in America, and the e\'?mplaiy 
 virtues of his private character." — This promised communicatioj ■ I much 
 regret to say, has not yet arrived. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 267 
 
 tion itself. These three volumes contain the lectures 
 which Dr. Good delivered, in three successive winters, 
 at the Surrey Institution. A few alterations and im- 
 provements have been introduced, of which the author 
 thus speaks : — 
 
 " The progress of time (since 1810) and the mental 
 activity with which it has been followed up, have 
 strikingly confirmed various hints and opinions which 
 he ventured to suggest as he proceeded, and have intro- 
 duced a few novelties into one or two branches of 
 science since the period referred to ; but the interval 
 which has hereby occurred has enabled the author to 
 keep pace with the general march, and to pay due 
 attention to such doctrines or discoveries, in their re- 
 spective positions of time and place." 
 
 The plan of these volumes evinces less logical acu- 
 men than is exhibited in some of his other publications ; 
 but this may probably have arisen from the author's 
 delineating the outlines of the first series of lectures, 
 without having in contemplation any subsequent train 
 of research beyond their immediate scope. Considered 
 all together, however, notwithstanding the minor defects 
 in arrangement, there is much, in the disquisitions thus 
 collected, to amuse, to instruct, and often to delight 
 and improve. The young in perusing them will find 
 their thirst for knowledge kept alive while it is gratified ; 
 and may yield themselves to this instructor without 
 any fear that their better principles will be sapped, or 
 their happiness endangered. The author's style is 
 vivacious, popular, and free from technical stiffness, in 
 a few cases perhaps too oratorical ; but he passes from 
 subject to subject, in his widely diversified course, 
 with that intellectual elasticity which was one of his 
 
268 ACCOUNT OP THE WORKS OF 
 
 most remarkable endowments, and which gave the 
 principal charm to his successive productions. 
 
 The volumes are devoted respectively to three series 
 of lectures. Of these the first is employed in unfolding 
 *'the nature of the material world, and the scale of 
 unorganized and organized tribes that issue from it." 
 This series comprises fifteen lectures, which treat of — 
 matter and the material world, — the elementary and 
 constituent principles of things, — the properties of mat- 
 ter essential and peculiar, — geology, — organized bodies, 
 and the structure of plants compared with that of 
 animals, — the general analogy of animal and vegetable 
 life, — the principles of life, irritability, and muscular 
 motion, — the bones, cartilages, teeth, hair, wool, silk, 
 feathers, and other hard or solid parts of the animal 
 frame, — the digestive function and its appropriate 
 organs, — diversities of food taken by different ani- 
 mals, — the circulation of the blood, — respiration, and 
 animalization, — the processes of assimilation and nutri- 
 tion, — and the external senses of animals. 
 
 The second series is employed in developing "the 
 nature of the animate world ; its peculiar powers and 
 external relations ; means of communicating ideas ; 
 and the formation of society." The subdivisions (in 
 13 lectures) relate to — zoological systems, and the 
 distinctive characters of animals — the varieties of 
 the human race — instinct — the distinguishing charac- 
 ters of instinct, sensation, and intelligence— sympathy, 
 and fascination — sleep, dreaming, reverie, and trance, 
 sleep-walking and sleep-talking — voice and language, 
 vocal imitations, and ventriloquism — the language of 
 animals, the language of man — legible language, imita- 
 tive and symbolical — the literary education of former 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 269 
 
 times, and especially that of Greece and Rome— the 
 dark or middle ages — the revival of literature. 
 
 The third series, in 15 lectures, is devoted to " the 
 nature of mind ; its general faculties and furniture." 
 The subordinate divisions relate to — materialism and 
 immaterialism — the nature and duration of the soul, as 
 explained by popular tradition, by various schools of 
 philosophy, and by revelation — the human under- 
 standing — ancient and modern sceptics — the "common- 
 sense" hypothesis — human happiness — the general fa- 
 culties and free agency of the mind — the origin, con- 
 nexion, and character of the passions — the leading 
 characters and passions of savage and of civilized life — 
 temperaments and constitutional propensities— pathog- 
 nomy, or the expression of the passions — physiognomy 
 and craniognomy — the language of the passions — on 
 taste, genius, and imagination. 
 
 In this wide range of subjects, philosophical, zoolo- 
 gical, metaphysical, literary, and moral, it would be 
 unreasonable to expect that there should be no mis- 
 takes in reasoning, no defects in principle, no infringe- 
 ments upon good taste. But deductions from the value 
 of the whole, on either of these accounts, are much more 
 seldom requisite than might have been expected, con- 
 sidering the great diversity of topics, and the difficulties 
 essentially involved in some of them. The chief viola- 
 tion of good taste which I have noticed, consists in the 
 employment of scriptural phrases* to illustrate other 
 than theological subjects. They are never employed 
 irreverently, or in badinage ; but in application to 
 some intellectual inquiry. They were introduced, I 
 
 * Such as, " the fulness of time," " regeneration," " rejoicing as a giant 
 to run his race," " the day-spring from on high," &c. 
 
270 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 conjecture, in the author's original composition of the 
 Lectures, and escaped his notice at the time of final 
 revision for publication ; a time when he had learnt 
 most scrupulously to abstain from every thing calcu- 
 lated to diminish the reverence due to Scripture. 
 
 What, however, is principally remarkable in these 
 volumes, is the judicious selection and grouping under 
 their proper heads, of a great variety of striking, curious, 
 and illustrative facts ; so brought together and exhibited 
 as to confirm most cogently the theory, or doctrine, or 
 verity, with a view to which they have been thus col- 
 lected. While the author skilfully adduces facts and 
 reasonings in favour of some theories, he proceeds 
 similarly with regard to the refutation of others, — espe- 
 cially of those, whether deduced from supposed physio- 
 logical or metaphysical verities and principles, which 
 militate against the statement of revealed truth. 
 
 Were it not for my persuasion that the " Book of 
 Nature" will be extensively read, so soon as its real 
 character is known, I should be tempted to quote 
 largely from its pages. But, with that conviction, I 
 shall simply present a part of our author's inquiry 
 into the varieties of the human race. This is a well- 
 known subject of sceptical triumph, because of its 
 assumed incompatibility with the Mosaic account of 
 the creation of the world. Blumenbach, Dr. Smyth of 
 America, and others, have most decidedly refuted the 
 infidel objection, drawn from the imagined incon- 
 sistency of existing facts with the primeval relation. 
 But there was still room for a popular and spirited ex- 
 hibition of the physiological arguments on this side of 
 the question, incorporated with those which flow from a 
 correct interpretation of the scripture narrative. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 271 
 
 Dr. Good delineates the principal varieties under the 
 denominations of the European race, the Asiatic race, 
 the American, the African, and the Australian ; agree- 
 ing nearly with the classifications of Blumenbach and 
 Gmelin. Then he places the objections above adverted 
 to, in their full force ; and after alluding to the hypo- 
 thesis of those who would refer the human and the 
 monkey tribes to one common stock, proceeds thus : — 
 
 " In order, however, to settle this question completely, let me 
 mention a few of the anatomical points in which the orang-otang 
 differs from the human form, and which cannot possibly be the 
 effect of a mere variety, but must necessarily flow from an 
 original and inherent distinction. More might be added, but 
 what I shall offer will be sufficient ; and if I do not touch upon 
 a comparison of the interior faculties, it is merely because I will 
 not insult your understandings, nor degrade my own, by bringing 
 them into any kind of contact. 
 
 " Both the orang and pongo, which of all the monkey tribes 
 make the nearest approach to the structure of the human skele- 
 ton, have three vertebree fewer than man. They have a peculiar 
 membranous pouch connected with the larynx or organ of the 
 voice, which belongs to no division of man whatever, white or 
 black. The larynx itself, is, in consequence of this, so peculiarly 
 constructed as to render it less capable even of inarticulate 
 sounds, than that of almost every other kind of quadruped : 
 and, lastly, they have no proper feet ; for what are so called, 
 are, in reality, as directly hands as the terminal organs of the 
 arms : the great toe in man, and that which chiefly enables him 
 to walk in an erect position, being a perfect thumb in the orang- 
 otang. Whence this animal is naturally formed for climbing: and 
 its natural position in walking, and the position which it always 
 assumes, excepting when under discipline, is that of all-fours ; 
 the body being supported on four hands, instead of on four feet 
 
272 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OP 
 
 as in quadrupeds. And it is owing to this wide and essential 
 difference, as, indeed, we had occasion to observe in our last 
 study, that M. Cuvier, and other zoologists of the present day, 
 have thought it expedient to invent a new name by which the 
 monkey and maucaco tribes may be distinguished from all the 
 rest; and, instead of quadrupeds, have called them quadru- 
 MANA, or QUADRUMANUALS ; by which they are at the same 
 time equally distinguished from every tribe of the human race, 
 which are uniformly, and alone, bimanual. 
 
 " But throwing the monkey kind out of the question, as in no 
 respect related to the race of man, it must at least be admitted, 
 contend the second class of philosophers before us, that the 
 wide differences in form, and colour, and degree of intellect, 
 which the several divisions of mankind exhibit, as you have now 
 arranged them, must necessarily have originated from different 
 sources; and that even the Mosaic account itself will afford 
 countenance to such a hypothesis. 
 
 " This opinion was first stated, in modern times, by the cele- 
 brated Isaac Peyrere, librarian to the Prince of Conde ; who, 
 about the middle of the last century, contended, in a book which 
 was not long afterwards condemned to the flames, though for 
 other errors in conjunction with the present, that the narration 
 of Moses speaks expressly of the creation of two distinct species 
 of man — an elder species which occupied a part of the sixth 
 day's creation, and is related in the first chapter of Genesis ; and 
 a junior, confined to Adam and Eve, the immediate progenitors 
 of the Hebrews, to whom this account was addressed; and 
 which is not referred to till the seventh verse of the second 
 chapter, and even then without any notice of the exact period 
 in which they were formed. After which transaction, observe 
 this writer and those who think with him, the historian confines 
 himself entirely to the annals of his own nation, or of those 
 which were occasionally connected with it. Neither is it easy, 
 they adjoin, to conceive, upon any other explanation, how Cain, 
 in so early a period of the world as is usually laid down, could 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 273 
 
 have been possessed of the implements of husbandry which 
 belonged to him ; or, what is meant by the fear he expressed, 
 upon leaving his father's family, after the murder of Abel, that 
 every one who found him would slay him ; or, again, his going 
 forth into another country, marrying a wife there, and building 
 a city soon after the birth of his eldest son. 
 
 " Now, a cautious perusal of the Mosaic narrative, will, I 
 think, incontestably prove that the two accounts of the creation 
 of man refer to one and the same fact, to which the historian 
 merely returns, in the seventh verse of the second chapter, for 
 the purpose of giving it a more detailed consideration ; for it is 
 expressly asserted in the fifth, or preceding verse but one, as 
 the immediate reason for the creation of Adam and Eve, that at 
 that ' time there was not a man to till the ground ;' while, as to 
 the existence of artificers competent to the formation of the first 
 rude instruments employed in husbandry, and a few patches of 
 mankind scattered over the regions adjoining that in which Cain 
 resided at the period of his fratricide, it should be recollected 
 that this first fall of man by the hand of man, did not take 
 place till a hundred aud twenty-nine years after the creation of 
 Adam ; for it was in his one hundred and thirtieth year, that 
 Seth was given to him in the place of Abel : an interval of time 
 amply sufficient, especially if we take into consideration the 
 peculiar fecundity of both animals and vegetables in their 
 primaeval state, for a multiplication of the race of man to ai 
 extent of many thousand souls. 
 
 "On such a view of the subject, therefore, it should seem that 
 the only fair and explicit interpretation that can be given to the 
 Mosaic history is, that the whole human race has proceeded 
 from one single pair, or, in the words of another part of the 
 Sacred Writings, 'that God hath made of one blood all 
 nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.'* The 
 book of Nature, is in this, as in every other respect, in union 
 
 * Acts xviii. 26. 
 T 
 
274 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 v/itli that of Revelation : it tells us that one single pair must 
 have been adequate lo all the purposes on which this class of 
 philosophers have grounded their objections : and it should be 
 further observed to them, that thus to multiply causes without 
 necessity, is not more inconsistent with the operations of nature, 
 than with the principles of genuine philosophy. 
 
 " But the question still returns : whence, then, pjoceed those 
 astonishing diversities among the different nations of mankind, 
 upon which the arrangement now offered is founded ? 
 
 " The answer is, that they are the effect of a combination of 
 causes ; some of which are obvious, others of which must be 
 conjectured, and a few of which are beyond the reach of human 
 comprehension — but all of which are common to other animals, 
 as well as to man ; for extraordinary as these diversities may 
 appeal", they are equally to be met with in the varieties of several 
 other kinds of animals, that can be proved to have been produced 
 from a single species, and, in one or two instances, from a single 
 pair. 
 
 " The chief causes we are acquainted with are the four fol- 
 lowing : climate, food, manner of life, and hereditary diseases. 
 
 " I. The influence which climate principally produces on 
 the animal frame is on the colour of the skin and on the extent 
 of the stature. All the deepest colours we are acquainted with 
 are^ those of hot climates ; and all the lightest those of cold 
 ones. In our own country we perceive daily, that an exposure 
 to the rays of the sun turns the skin from its natural whiteness 
 to a deep brown or tan ; and that a seclusion from the sun keeps 
 it fair and unfreckled. In like manner, the tree-frog (rana 
 arborea) while living in the shade is of a light yellow, but of a 
 dark green when he is obliged to shift from the shade into the 
 sun-shine. To the nereis lacustris, though v/hitish under the 
 darkness of a projecting bank, is red when exposed to the sun's 
 rays. And that the larves of most insects that burrow in the 
 cavities of the earth, of plants, or of animals, are white, from the 
 same cause, is clear, since being confined under glasses that admit 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 275 
 
 the influence of solar light, they exchange their whiteness for a 
 brownish hue. 
 
 " The same remark will apply to plants as well as to animals ; 
 and hence nothing more is necessary to bleach or whiten them, 
 than to exclude them from the light of day. Hence the birds, 
 beasts, flowers, and even fishes of the equatorial regions, are 
 uniformly brighter or deeper tinctured in their spots, their fea- 
 thers, their petals, and their scales, than we find them in any 
 other part of the world. And hence one reason at least for 
 the deep jet which, for the most part, prevails among mankind 
 under the equator ; the dark-brown and copper-colours found 
 under the tropics ; and the olive, shifting through every inter- 
 mediate shade to the fair and sanguine complexion, as we pro- 
 ceed from the tropic of Cancer northwards. Hence, too, the 
 reason why the Asiatic and African women, confined to the 
 walls of their seraglios, are as white as Europeans ; why Moorish 
 children, of both sexes, are, at first, equally fair, and why the 
 fairness continues among the girls, but is soon lost among the 
 boys. 
 
 " As we approach the poles, on the contrary, we find every 
 thing progressively whiten ; bears, foxes, hares, falcons, crows, 
 and blackbirds, all assume the same common livery ; while many 
 of them change their colour with the change of the season itself. 
 For the same reason, as also because they have a thinner mucous 
 web, the Abyssinians are less deep in colour than the negro 
 race ; for though their geographical climate is nearly the same, 
 their physical climate difi?ers essentially: the country stands 
 much higher, and its temperature is far lower, 
 
 " The immediate matter of colour, as I had occasion to ob- 
 serve more fully in a preceding lecture, is the mucous pigment 
 which forms the middle layer of the general integument of 
 the skin ; and upon this, the sun, in hot climates, appears to 
 act in a two-fold manner; first, by the direct aflfinity of its 
 colorific rays with the oxygene of the animal surface, in conse- 
 quence of which the oxygene is detached and flies oft"; and the 
 t2 
 
276 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 carbone and hydrogene being set at liberty, form a more or 
 less perfect charcoal, according to the nature of their union ; 
 and next, by the indirect influence which its calorific rays, 
 like many other stimulants, produce upon the liver, by exciting- 
 it to a secretion of more abundant bile, and of a deeper hue. 
 I have formerly remarked, that this second or colouring layer 
 of the general integument of the skin, differs (as indeed all 
 the layers of the skin do) in their thickness, not only in dif- 
 ferent kinds of animals, but very frequently in different species, 
 varieties, and even individuals. Thus, in our own country we 
 find it more abundant in some persons than in others ; and 
 wherever it is most abundant, we find the complexion also of 
 a darker, and coarser, and greasier appearance, upon a common 
 exposure to the solar light and heat ; and we find also, that 
 the hair is almost uniformly influenced by such increase of 
 colour, and is proportionally coarser and darker. 
 
 " It is of some consequence to attend to this observation ; 
 for it may serve to explain a physiological fact that has 
 hitherto been supposed of difficult elucidation. 
 
 " A certain degree of heat, though less than that of the 
 tropics, appears favourable to increase of stature ; and I have 
 already observed, that the tallest tribes we are acquainted 
 with are situated at the back of Cape Horn, and the Cape 
 of Good Hope. On the contrary, the most diminutive we are 
 acquainted with are those that inhabit the coldest regions or 
 the highest mountains in the world : such are the Laplanders 
 and Nova Zemblians in Europe, the Samoieds, Ostiacs, and 
 Tungooses in Asia, and the Greenlanders and Eskimaux in 
 America. Such, too, are the Kimos of Madagascar, if the 
 account of these pigmy people may be depended upon, whose 
 native region is stated to be the central and highest tracts of the 
 island, forming, according to Commerson, an elevation of not 
 less than sixteen or eighteen hundred fathoms above the level of 
 the sea. 
 
 " A multitude of distinct tribes have of late years been 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 277 
 
 discovered in the interior of Africa, in the midst of the black 
 tribes, exhibiting nothing more than a red or copper hue, with 
 lank black hair. And, in like manner, around the banks of 
 the Lower Orinoco, in Mexico, where the climate is much hotter, 
 there are many clans of a much lighter hue than those around 
 the banks of the Rio Negro, where it is much cooler; and 
 M. Humboldt has hence ventured to assert that we have here a 
 full proof that climate produces no effect upon the colour of the 
 skin. Such an assertion, however, is far too hasty; for he 
 should first have shewn that the thickness of the mucous web, 
 or colouring material, is equally abundant in all these instances. 
 For if it be more abundant (as it probably is) in the tribes that 
 are swarthiest, we have reason to expect that a swarthier colour 
 will be found where there is an equal or even a less exposure to 
 solar light and heat ; and we well know that the hair will vary 
 in proportion.* 
 
 "II. The effects of different kinds of food upon the 
 animal system are as extensive and as wonderful as those of 
 different climates. The fineness and coarseness of the wool or 
 hair, the firmness and flavour of the flesh, and in some degree 
 the colour of the skin, and extent of the stature, are all in- 
 fluenced by the nature of the diet. Oils and spirits produce a 
 peculiar excitement of the liver ; and like the calorific rays of 
 the sun, usually become the means of throwing an overcharge of 
 bile into the circulation. Hence the sallow and olive hue of 
 many who unduly addict themselves to vinous potation, and 
 who, at the same time, make use of but little exercise. And 
 hence also the dark and dingy colour of the pigmy people inha- 
 biting high northern latitudes, to whom we have just adverted, 
 and whose usual diet consists of fish and other oils, often rancid 
 and offensive. Though it must be admitted that this colour is 
 in most instances aided by the clouds of smoke in which they 
 sit constantly involved in their wretched cabins, and the filth 
 
 * See Essai Politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne, par Alexandre de Hum- 
 boldt, &c. pp. 84, 85. 4to. Paris, 1808, 1809. 
 
278 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 and grease with which they often besmear their skins. And 
 hence, also, one cause of their diminutive stature ; the food they 
 feed on being unassimilating and innutritive. Swine and all 
 other animals fed on madder-root, or that of gallium veruni, or 
 yellow-ladies-bed-straw, have the bones themselves tinged of a 
 deep red, or a yellow ; and M. Huber of Lausanne, who has of 
 late years made so many valuable discoveries in the natural 
 habits of the honey-bee, has proved himself able, by a difference 
 in the food alone, as indeed Debraw had done long before him,* 
 to convert what is commonly, but improperly, called a neuter 
 into a queen bee. 
 
 " III. It v;ould be superfluous to dwell on the changes of 
 body and perceptive powei's produced in the animal system by 
 
 a DIFFERENCE IN THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. We have 
 
 the most striking proofs of this effect in all the domesticated 
 animals by which we are surrounded. Compare the wild horse 
 with the disciplined ; the bison with the ox, which last is usually 
 regarded as the bison in a state of tameness ; and the Siberian 
 argali with the sheep, which is said to have sprung from it. 
 Compare the modern Romans v/ith the ancient ; the low cun- 
 ning and servile temper of too many of the Greek tribes of the 
 present day, that still bend to and kiss the Ottoman rod, with 
 the noble courage and patriotic enthusiasm of their forefathers, 
 who drove back the tyrant of Persia and his million of men 
 across the Hellespont, and dashed to pieces the proud bridge 
 with which he boasted of having conquered the billows. 
 
 " It is in reality from long and deeply rooted habit alone that 
 the black, red, and olive colour of the Ethiopian, American, 
 and Moguls, is continued in the future lineage for so many 
 generations after their removal into other parts of the world ; 
 and that nothing will, in general, restore the skin to its original 
 fairness, but a long succession of intermixtures with the Euro- 
 pean variety. It is a singular circumstance that the black 
 
 * See Phil. Trans, for 1777, p. lo. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 279 
 
 colour appeo.rs to form a less permanent habit than the red or 
 oHve ; or in other words, the colour chiefly produced by the 
 action of the sun's colorific rays, than that produced by the 
 action of its calorific rays : for the children of olive and copper- 
 coloured parents exhibit the parental hue from the moment of 
 birth ; but in those of blacks it is usually six, eight, or ten 
 months before the black pigment is fully secreted. We also 
 sometimes find this not secreted at all, whence the anomaly of 
 white negroes : and sometimes only in interrupted lines or 
 patches, whence the anomaly of spotted negroes ; and we have 
 even a few rare cases of negroes in America, who, in conse- 
 quence of very severe illness, have had the whole of the black 
 pigment absorbed and carried off, and a white pigment diffused 
 in its stead. In other words, we have instances of a black man 
 being suddenly bleached into a white man. These instances are 
 indeed of rare occurrence ; but they are sufficient to shew the 
 absurdity of the argument for a plurality of human stocks or 
 species, from a mere difference in the colour of the skin ; an 
 argument thus proved to be altogether superficial, and which we 
 may gravely assert to be not more than skin-deep. 
 
 " It is in consequence of this power in the system, of secreting 
 a dark-coloured pigment under particular circumstances, that 
 we not unfrequentiy see the skin of very fair women, when in a 
 state of pregnancy, changed to a deep tawny, and almost to a 
 black ; and it is hence that the black pigment of the eye is per- 
 petually maintained and replenished.* 
 
 " Dr. Wells gave a paper to the Royal Society, which was 
 read April 1, 1813, containing an account of a woman (Harriet 
 Tresh) ' whose left shoulder, arm, and hand, are as black as the 
 blackest African's, while all the rest of the skin is very white. 
 She is a native of Sussex, and the cause she assigns is, that her 
 mother set her foot upon a lobster during her pregnancy.' So 
 that we have not only instances of blacks being suddenly 
 
 * Camper's Lect. on Comp. Auat. in regard to the Art of Drawing. 
 
280 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 bleached, but of whites being made more or less black. In like 
 manner, confined birds sometimes become wholly black; and 
 are said to become so, occasionally, in the course of a single night. 
 So the male kestrel, from being barred on the tail feathers, 
 becomes wholly ash-coloured except at the end ; and the heron, 
 gull, and others, whose tail is white when matured, are for the 
 first two years mottled. 
 
 " IV. But it is probable that a very great part of the more 
 striking distinctions we have noticed, and almost all the subor- 
 dinate variations occasionally to be met with, are the result of a 
 
 MORBID AND HEREDITARY AFFECTION. The vast influence 
 
 which this recondite but active cause possesses over both the 
 body and the mind, are known in some degree to every one from 
 facts that are daily presenting themselves to us. We see gout, con- 
 sumption, scrofula, leprosy, propagated on various occasions, and 
 madness and fatuity, and hypochondriacal affections, as frequently. 
 Hence the unhappy race of Albinoes, and whole pedigrees of 
 white negroes; hence the pigmy stature of some families, and 
 the gigantic size of others. 
 
 " Even when accident, or a cause we cannot discover, has 
 produced a preternatural conformation or defect in a particular 
 organ, it is astonishing to behold how readily it is often copied 
 by the generative principle, and how tenaciously it adheres to the 
 future lineage. A preternatural defect of the hand or foot has 
 been propagated for many generations, and has in numerous 
 instances laid a foundation for the family name. The name of 
 Varus and Plautus among the ancient Romans afford familiar 
 exemplifications. Hence, hornless sheep and hornless oxen pro- 
 duce an equally hornless offspring; the broad-tailed Asiatic 
 sheep yields a progeny with a tail equally monstrous, and often 
 of not less than half a hundred pounds' weight; and dogs and 
 cats with mutilated tails not unfrequently propagate the casual 
 deficiency. 
 
 " There is a very peculiar variety of the sheep kind given in 
 the Philosophical Transactions for 1813, by Colonel Humphreys 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 281 
 
 of America, and which the American naturalists have called, 
 from its bowed or elbowy legs, ovis ancon : but the common 
 people the " otter-breed," from its resemblance to the general 
 form of the otter, and a rumour that it was at first produced by 
 an unnatural intercourse between individuals of the two distinct 
 kinds. Its size is small ; the full weight being about 451b. with 
 loose articulations, crooked fore-legs, and great feebleness of 
 power; whence it walks with difficulty, and is therefore quiet, and 
 not fond of rambling. Accident seems to have produced this kind 
 first, but the form has been most correctly preserved in the pro- 
 geny ; and so tenaciously, that if a common sheep and ancon sheep 
 of either sex unite, the young will be either a perfect ancon, or 
 have no trace of it ; and if two are lambed at the same time, 
 and one be of one variety and the other of the other, each is 
 found to be perfect in its way, without any amalgamation. 
 
 " In like manner, in all probability, from some primary acci- 
 dent resulted the peculiar shape of the head and face in most 
 nations as well as in most families ; and hence too those enor- 
 mous prominences on the hinder parts of one or two of the 
 nations at the back of the Cape of Good Hope, of which an 
 instance was not long since exhibited in this country with some 
 degree of outrage on moral feeling. 
 
 " Man, then, is not the only animal in which such variations 
 of form and feature occur ; nor the animal in which they occur 
 either most frequently or in the most extraordinary and extrava- 
 gant manner. 
 
 " M. Blumenbach, who has pursued this interesting subject 
 with a liveliness the most entertaining, and a chain of argument 
 the most convincing, has selected the swine genus from among 
 many other quadrupeds that would have answered as well, espe- 
 cially the dog and the sheep, in order to institute a comparison 
 of this very kind ; and he has completely succeeded in shewing 
 that the swine, even in countries where we have historical and 
 undeniable proofs, as especially in America, of its being derived 
 from one common and imported stock, exhibits, in its different 
 
282 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 varieties, distinctions not only as numerous and astonishing, but, 
 so far as relates to the exterior frame, of the very same kind as 
 are to be met with in the different varieties of the human 
 species. 
 
 " In regard to size, the Cuba swine, well known, as he observes, 
 to have been imported into that island from Europe, are at the 
 present day double the height and magnitude of the stock from 
 which they were bred. Whence we may well laugh at every 
 argument in favour of more than one human stock or species 
 drawn from the difference of stature in different nations of man. 
 In regard to colour, they display at least as great a diversity. 
 In Piedmont the swine are black ; in Bavaria reddish-brown ; in 
 Normandy white. Human hair, observes M. Blumenbach, is 
 somewhat different from swine's bristles ; yet in the present point 
 of view they may be compared with each other. Fair hair is 
 soft, and of a silky texture; black hair is coarser, and often 
 woolly. In like manner, among the white swine in Normandy, 
 the bristles on the body are longer and softer than among other 
 swine ; and even those on the back, which are usually stouter 
 than the rest, are flaccid, and cannot be employed by the brush- 
 makers. 
 
 " The whole difference between the cranium of a Negro and 
 that of an European is in no respect greater than that which 
 exists between the cranium of the wild boar and that of the 
 domestic swine. Those who are in possession of Daubenton's 
 drawings of the two, must be sensible of this, the first moment 
 they compare them together. The peculiarity among the Hindus 
 of having the bone of the leg remarkably long, meets a precise 
 parallel in the swine of Normandy, which stand so high on their 
 hind quarters, that the back forms an inclined plane to the head; 
 and as the head itself partakes of the same direction, the snout 
 is but a little removed from the ground. 
 
 " In some countries, indeed, the swine have degenerated into 
 races that in singularity far exceed the most extravagant varia- 
 tions that have been found among the human species. What 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 283 
 
 can differ more widely than a cloven foot and a solid hoof? 
 Yet swine are found with both ; the variety with a solid hoof was 
 known to the ancients, and still exists in Hungary and Sweden ; 
 and even the common sort, that were carried by the Spaniards to 
 the isle of Cuba in 1509, have since degenerated into a variety 
 with a hoof of the same solid kind, and of the enormous size 
 of not less than half a span in diameter. 
 
 " How absurd, then, to contend that the distinctions in the 
 different varieties of the human race must have proceeded from 
 a plurality of species, while we are compelled to admit that dis- 
 tinctions of a similar kind, but more numerous and more extra- 
 vagant, have proceeded from a single species in other animals. 
 
 " It may appear singular, perhaps, that I have taken no notice 
 of the wide difference which is supposed to exist in the intellec- 
 tual faculties of the different species of man. To confess the 
 truth, I have purposely omitted it, because of all the arguments 
 that have ever been offered to support the doctrine of different 
 species, this appears to me the feeblest and most superficial. It 
 may suit the narrow purpose of a slave merchant — of a trafficker 
 in human nerves and muscles — of a wretch, v/ho, in equal defi- 
 ance of the feelings and the laws of the day, has the impudence 
 to offer for sale, on the polluted shores of our own country, in 
 one and the same lot, as was the case not long since, a dead 
 cameleopard and a living Hottentot woman : — it may suit their 
 purpose to introduce such a distinction into their creed, and to 
 let it constitute the whole of their creed, but it is a distinction 
 too trifling and evanescent to claim the notice of a physiologist 
 for a moment. 
 
 " The variable talents of the mind are as propagable as the 
 variable features of the body, — how, or by what means, we know 
 not, — but the fact is incontrovertible. Wit and dulness, genius 
 and idiotism, run in direct streams from generation to generation ; 
 and hence the moral character of families, of tribes, of whole 
 nations. The understanding of the Negro race, it is admitted, 
 is in many tribes strikingly and habitually obtuse. It has thus, 
 
284 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 indeed, been propagated for a long succession of ages ; and till 
 the Negro mind receives a new turn, till it becomes cultivated 
 and called forth into action by some such benevolent stimulus as 
 that which is now abroad generally, and especially such as is 
 afforded it by the African Institution of our own country, (an 
 establishment that ought never to be mentioned without reve- 
 rence,) the same obtuseness must necessarily continue, and, by a 
 prolongation of the habit, may perhaps even increase. But let 
 the man who would argue from this single fact, that the race of 
 negroes must be necessarily an inferior species, distinct from all 
 the rest of the world, compare the taste, the talents, the genius, 
 the erudition, that have at different periods blazed forth in dif- 
 ferent individuals of this despised people, when placed under the 
 fostering providence of kindness and cultivation, with his own, or 
 those of the generality of his own countrymen, and let him blush 
 for the mistake he has made, and the injury he has committed. 
 
 " Freidig, of Vienna, was an excellent architect, and a capital 
 performer on the violin ; Hannibal was not only a colonel of 
 artillery in the Russian service, but deeply skilled in the mathe- 
 matical and physical sciences ; so, too, was Lislet, of the Isle of 
 France, who was in consequence made a member of the French 
 Academy ; and Arno, who was honoured with a diploma of doc- 
 tor of philosophy by the university of Wirtemberg, in 1734. 
 Let us add to these the names of Vasa, and Ignatius Sancho, 
 whose taste and genius have enriched the polite literature of our 
 own country : and, with such examples of negro powers before 
 us, is it possible to do otherwise than adopt the very just obser- 
 vation of a very quaint orator, who has told us that the ' Negro, 
 like the white man, is still God's image, although carved in 
 ebony V 
 
 " Nor is it to a few casual individuals among the black tribes, 
 appearing in distant countries, and at distant seras, that we have 
 to look for the clearest proofs of human intelligence. At this 
 moment, scattered like their own oases, their islands of beautiful 
 verdure, over the eastern and western deserts of Africa, multitudes 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 285 
 
 of little principalities of negroes are still existing, — multitudes 
 that have, of late years, been detected, and are still detecting, 
 whose national virtues would do honour to the most polished 
 states of Europe : while at Timbuctoo, stretching deepest towards 
 the east of these principalities, from the western coast, we meet, 
 if we may credit the accounts we have received, with one of the 
 wealthiest, perhaps one of the most populous and best governed, 
 cities in the world ; its sovereign a Negro, its army Negroes, its 
 people Negroes ; a city which is the general mart for the com- 
 merce of Western Africa, and where trade and manufactures 
 seem to be equally esteemed and protected.* 
 
 " We know not the antiquity of this kingdom : but there can 
 be no doubt of its having a just claim to a very high origin : and 
 it is possible that, at the very period in which our own ancestors, 
 as described by Julius Csesar, were naked and smeared over with 
 paint, or merely clothed with the skins of wild beasts, living in 
 huts, and worshipping the misletoe, the black kingdom of Bam- 
 
 * I follow Mr. Jackson's description, which is added to his " Account of 
 the Empire of Marocco," as by far the most circumstantial and authoritative 
 we have hitherto received. According to him "the city is situated on a 
 plain, surrounded by a sandy eminence, about twelve miles north of the 
 Nile El Abeade, or Nile of the Blacks ; and three days' journey (erhellat) 
 from the confines of Sahara ; about twelve miles in circumference, but with- 
 out walls. Tiie town of Kabra, situated on the banks of the river, is its 
 commercial depot or port. The king is the sovereign of Bambarra : the 
 name of this potentate, in 1800, was Woolo : he is a black, and a native 
 of the country he governs. His usual place of residence is Jiunie, though 
 he has three palaces in Timbuctoo, which are said to contain an immense 
 quantity of gold."— The present military appointments are, it seems, entirely 
 from the negroes of Bambarra : the inhabitants are also, for the most part, 
 Negroes, who possess much of the Arab hospitality, and pride themselves in 
 being attentive to strangers. By means of a water-carriage, east and west 
 of Kabra, great facility is given to the trade of Timbuctoo, which is very 
 extensive, as well in European as in Barbary manufactures. Tlie various 
 costumes, indeed, exhibited in the market-places and in the streets, suffi- 
 ciently indicate this, each individual being habited in the dress of his re- 
 spective country. There is a perfect toleration in matters of religion, except 
 as to Jews. The police is extolled as surpassing any thing of the kind on 
 this side the Desert : robberies and house-breaking are scarcely known. 
 The government of the city is entrusted to a divan of twelve slemma, or 
 magistrates ; and the civil jurisprudence superintended by a learned cadi. 
 
286 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OP 
 
 barra, of which Timbuctoo is the capital, was as completely 
 established and flourishing as at the present moment. 
 
 " What has produced the difference we now behold ? What 
 has kept the Bambareens, like the Chinese, nearly in an invari- 
 able state for, perhaps, upwards of two thousand years, and has 
 enabled the rude and painted Britons to become the first people 
 of the world — the most renowned for arts and for arms — for the 
 best virtues of the heart, and the best faculties of the under- 
 standing ? Not a difference in the colour of the skin ; — but, first, 
 the peculiar favour of the Almighty ; next, a political constitu- 
 tion, which VN^as sighed for, and in some degree prefigured, by 
 Plato and Tully, but regarded as a master-piece, beyond the 
 power of human accomplishment : and, lastly, a fond and fostering 
 cultivation of science, in every ramification and department. 
 
 " Amidst the uproar and ruin of the world around us, these are 
 blessings which we still possess; and which we possess almost 
 exclusively.* Let us prize them as they deserve ; let us endea- 
 vour to be worthy of them. To the great benefit resulting from 
 literature and mental cidtivation, the age is, indeed, thoroughly 
 awake ; and it is consolatory to turn from the sickening scenes 
 of the continent, and fix the eye in this point of view upon our 
 native spot; to beheld the ingenuous minds of multitudes labour- 
 ing with the desire of useful knowledge ; to contemplate the 
 numerous temples that are rising all around us, devoted to taste, 
 to genius, to learning, to the liberal arts ; and to mark the gene- 
 rous confederacies by which they are supported and embellished," 
 Vol. ii. p. 113. 
 
 TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 
 
 Dr. Good's peculiar fondness for Hebrew literature, 
 and for the noble specimens of the energy and sublimity 
 of that language contained in the metrical and prophe- 
 
 * The lecture was delivered in 1812. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 287 
 
 tical books of scripture, induced him for several years 
 to devote some part of almost every week to the study 
 and translation of these favourite portions of the Old 
 Testament. The result of his labours on " the Song 
 of Songs" and " the Book of Job" are before the public. 
 But much of his attention was also directed to the 
 Prophecies of Ezekiel, Joel, Zechariah, to the Book of 
 Ecclesiasfes, &c. of striking passages in each of which 
 he has left translations. Daring the years 1819, 1820, 
 and 1821, notwithstanding the occupation of his time 
 in his great works on Nosology and the Study of Medi- 
 cine, he found leisure to complete a translation of the 
 Book of Proverbs, to prepare a preliminary disserta- 
 tion to that translation, and a great number of critical, 
 theological, and illustrative notes. The manuscript 
 copy of these, which is now before me, is in some 
 respects incomplete, not having received the finish- 
 ing touch of the author's hand. The notes would, 
 doubtless, have been considerably modified, and the 
 translation in a few respects a little changed, before 
 he would have allowed them to meet the public eye. 
 Imperfect, however, as the annotations are, they 
 exhibit, like those in some of the author's previous 
 works, an astonishing display of discursive illustra- 
 tion ; his ardent mind delighting itself in gliding over 
 the fields of ancient and modern literature, to collect 
 treasures of wisdom, and apply them to the purposes 
 of gennine elucidation. 
 
 The translation differs frequently from that of our 
 authorized version ; more frequently, however, in ap- 
 pearance than in reality. I observe, too, that in some 
 essential particulars it differs greatly from Dr. Booth- 
 royd's, the only other translation of the Book of Pro- 
 
288 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OP 
 
 verbs, with which I have had an opportumty of com- 
 paring that of my deceased friend. 
 
 In his subdivisions of this inspired collection of 
 aphorisms, Dr. Good, as will be seen, did not deviate 
 much from the most judicious of preceding commen- 
 tators. But his introductory dissertation contains seve- 
 ral valuable remarks on the proverbial sayings of all 
 nations generally, and on those of the Hebrews in par- 
 ticular. It comprehends, moreover, various specimens 
 of the translation which it was intended to precede. 
 I shall, therefore, insert a copious extract, which as it 
 explains the author's view of the book itself, and ex- 
 hibits his version of several passages, may in some 
 respects conduce to the better understanding of this 
 ancient section of the canonical scriptures. 
 
 " What was thus popular among all other parts of 
 the east, was popular, also, and in all ages, among the 
 Hebrews ; from whom it is probable that the taste for 
 moral adages was first derived : and in the book of Job 
 they have handed down to us a full proof that the 
 same taste prevailed in the antediluvian days, and a 
 rich store of the moral sayings that were then in vogue. 
 The speeches of the respective interlocutors in this 
 extraordinary poem are in many instances ornamented 
 with citations of this kind, and some of them are com- 
 posed of whole strings of such citations ; to the anti- 
 quity of which, and their probable existence before the 
 flood, the speaker frequently appeals for the purpose 
 of giving them a stronger claim to attention. 
 
 "The same tendency to characterize or illustrate 
 passing facts or events by well-known adages of great 
 antiquity and veneration runs through all the books 
 of the Old Testament, and is occasionally to be met 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 289 
 
 with in the new, more especially in the condescending 
 and colloquial intercourses of our Saviour with those 
 around him. 
 
 " The book we are now entering upon is made up 
 entirely of such detached and sententious passages of 
 moral vvisdom, or short rules of life. And whether we 
 regard the force of its diction, the variety of its man- 
 ner, or the extent of its subject, it is by far the most 
 valuable of the kind that has ever been offered to the 
 world ; and is well worthy of a place in the sacred 
 treasury of the scriptures. 
 
 " The Hebrew title of the work ascribes its whole 
 contents to Solomon : and it is hence most probable 
 that the entire composition was furnished by his own 
 hands or mouth : the latter part of it, from the begin- 
 ning of the twenty-fifth chapter, forming evidently an 
 appendix, was collected after his death, and added to 
 what appears to have been more immediately arranged 
 by himself. The materials of the first five chapters of 
 this appendix we are distinctly told were copied out 
 of comments left by Solomon at his death, apparently 
 in the archives of the royal library ; the copyists being 
 the scribes or other confidential oflicers of Hezekiah's 
 court, supposed by Grotius, from 2 Kings xviii. 18., to 
 have been Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah, acting under 
 the king's commands ; but who seem more probably, 
 from Prov. xxx. 1., to have been Ithiel and Ucal. 
 The thirtieth chapter consists of words furnished by 
 Agur, the son of Jakeh, and hence called ' the words of 
 Agur,' as the matter or words furnished by Lemuel, 
 are shortly afterwards called ' the words of Lemuel,* 
 although we are at the same time told that they were 
 composed by his mother, and only committed by him 
 
290 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 to memory. Of Agur, sacred history makes no further 
 mention ; but he was probably a confidential friend of 
 Solomon, and drew up what he has contributed, either 
 from recollection, or from some private record, at the 
 solicitation of Ithiel and Ucal, who seem to have been 
 commissioned for this purpose, and were probably, as 
 just noticed, ' the men of Hezekiah, the king of Judah,' 
 referred to in the opening of the thirtieth chapter. 
 The appendix closes with the ' words of Lemuel,' sup- 
 posed to be Solomon, and expressly declared to have 
 been taught him by his mother, who, in this case, must 
 have been Bathsheba ; and who seems to have com- 
 posed them for the use of her son when in the bloom 
 of youth, and about the time when he was formally 
 declared by his father, successor to the Jewish throne. 
 As the person, however, who furnished this parabolic 
 address is called king Lemuel, he is conjectured by 
 some writers to have been a different individual from 
 king Solomon : but as we have no other account of any 
 such personage as king Lemuel ; as the title of the 
 book assigns the whole of its contents to Solomon 
 alone, as its writer or speaker ; and as the subject 
 matter expressly applies to himself, and to no other 
 person we are acquainted with, there can be little 
 doubt that the word Lemuel is a mere familiar sub- 
 stitute for that of Solomon, or rather of Se-lem-eh, 
 which is the Hebrew orthography, varied by a liberty 
 very generally taken on such occasions, in all lan- 
 guages, of uniting the beginning, and altering the ter- 
 mination of the name, so as from Se-lem-eh to produce 
 first Se-lem-uel, and then Lemuel. 
 
 "Solomon, who seems to have subjected all the 
 known sciences of the time to his use, and to have done 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 291 
 
 SO by a special endowment, seems also to have turned 
 his attention peculiarly to the popular method of 
 teaching morality by short striking descriptions and 
 sententious precepts. We are told by the author of 
 the 1st book of Kings, iv. 32., that he spake not less 
 than three thousand proverbs ; and he himself tells us, 
 Eccles. xii. 9., that, in order to teach the people know- 
 ledge, he sought out or selected — and set in order or 
 arranged — a considerable number of these with great 
 attention or good heed : and there can be little doubt 
 that the substance of the following work is the result 
 of this elaborate assortment ; which may hence, in the 
 judgment of Solomon himself, be supposed to contain 
 the flower and choice of his productions. 
 
 " It is, in truth, by far the most valuable book with 
 which he has favoured the world, and the most striking 
 monument of the wisdom with which he was specially 
 endowed : critically and captivatingly curious in the 
 variety of its style and method, and of universal com- 
 prehension in the subjects it embraces ; laying down 
 rules of conduct for all possible conditions of life, for 
 kings and courtiers and men of the world ; for masters 
 and servants ; for fathers, mothers, and children ; for 
 the favourites of prosperity and the sons of affliction : 
 so that it is difficult to say in what way the wisdom 
 that was bestowed upon him could have been applied 
 to a better purpose. 
 
 " This valuable production is, in the original, en- 
 titled Meslim, for which we have no term of exactly 
 equivalent power in our own, nor perhaps in any other 
 language: for it imports not merely brief axiomatic 
 sentences of practical morality, but brief authoritative 
 illustrations of moral duties, delivered in strong and 
 u2 
 
292 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 elevated language, under any other form, whether 
 of personification, similitude, or personal address and 
 embellished description. And hence, Meslim imports 
 PARABLES as Well as PROVERBS, Strictly SO called: 
 the Trapaj3o\a~i, as Well as the ■Kapoijxicu^ of the Greeks : on 
 which account the Greek term -KapoijxLai and the Latin 
 PROVERBIA, and our own derivation proverbs, are, in 
 a broad sense, employed to express parables, or 
 high authoritative moral similitudes or allegories, as 
 well as sententious maxims ; which last, however, for 
 the most part, have some touch of comparison belong- 
 ing to them, as constituting the hinge on which they 
 turn. And hence, parables and proverbs, TrapafioXai, and 
 irupafiUu, are used as convertible terms in the Gospels ; 
 or rather what the three first evangelists call 7rapa/3oXa7, 
 or parables; St. John calls Trapoi/xmi, or proverbs, as in 
 chapter xvi. 25. " These things have I spoken to you 
 in proverbs" — ey izapoiniaiQ ; and even in chapter x. 6. 
 " this parable" as it is rendered in our established 
 
 version, is still " this proverb" — Tav-})v -riv Trapoifiiay — 
 
 in the Greek. 
 
 "In denominating, therefore, the book of Meslim 
 the book of Proverbs, the latter term must be under- 
 stood in its utmost latitude, as importing allegorical or 
 other figurative illustrations of moral duties, as well 
 as moral and sententious axioms, for the Meslim of 
 Solomon contain both ; and this, too, not loosely and 
 irregularly intermixed, but in a nice progressive order, 
 admirably adapted to their respective purposes. The 
 whole work, indeed, as it has descended to our own 
 hands, is evidently comprised of four distinct books 
 or parts, each of which is distinguished both by an 
 obvious introduction, and a change of style and 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 293 
 
 manner, though its real method and arrangement seem, 
 hitherto, to have escaped the attention of our commen- 
 tators and interpreters. 
 
 " Part I. extends from the opening of the work to 
 the close of the ninth chapter ; and it is chiefly con- 
 fined to the conduct of juvenescence or early life, 
 before a permanent condition is made choice of. The 
 exordium, comprising the first six verses, is in the 
 truest style of eastern grandiloquence ; and it is prin- 
 cipally to this first part of the work that the royal 
 moralist has devoted his descriptive or parabolical 
 talents ; in the course of which he proves them to be of 
 the highest order, and, in especial reference to the 
 period of age to which he limits himself, he commences 
 each of his parables or addresses with the endearing 
 term of "my Son !" or, " O ye children !" a phraseology 
 rarely to be met with afterwards, and only with the 
 exception of a single instance,* where the same kind 
 of address is incidentally renewed to persons of the 
 same age in the third part, and once in the fourth part, 
 where it occurs in the address of Lemuel's mother to 
 himself. 
 
 "All the most formidable dangers to which this 
 season of life is exposed, and the sins which most 
 easily beset it, are painted with the hand of a master. 
 And whilst the progress and issues of vice are ex- 
 hibited under a variety of the most striking delinea- 
 tions and metaphors in their utmost deformity and 
 horror, all the beauties of language, and all the force 
 of eloquence, are poured forth in the diversified form of 
 earnest expostulation, insinuating tenderness, cap- 
 
 * Chap. xix. 27. 
 
294 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 tivating argument, picturesque description, daring 
 personification, and sublime allegory, to win the in- 
 genuous youth to virtue and piety, and to fix him in a 
 steady pursuit of his duties towards God and towards 
 man. Virtue is pronounced in the very outset to be 
 essential wisdom, and vice or wickedness essential 
 folly : and the personifications thus forcibly struck out 
 at the opening of the work are continued to its close. 
 The only wise man, therefore, is declared to be the 
 truly good and virtuous, or he that fears God, and 
 reverences his law : while the man of vice or wicked- 
 ness, is a fool, a dolt, an infatuated sot, a stubborn, 
 froward, or perverse wretch, and an abomination to 
 Jehovah. 
 
 "Wisdom is, hence, allegorized as a tree of life, 
 yielding delicious shade, fruit, and protection to those 
 that approach her branches ; throwing a garland of 
 honour around their shoulders, and decorating their 
 heads with a graceful chaplet, more precious than 
 rubies. She is a sage and eloquent monitor, lifting up 
 her warning voice at the gates and in the squares of 
 the city, denouncing to the young the snares and 
 dangers to which they are exposed, and exhorting 
 them to abandon ' the way of the wicked,' which * is as 
 darkness,' for the path of the just, which is 
 
 ■as the brightening dawn, 
 
 Advancing and brightening to perfect day. 
 
 " She is the characteristic attribute, the darling off- 
 spring, of the Deity, who was with him, as his chief 
 object of delight, when he planned the mighty frame of 
 the creation : 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 295 
 
 Jehovah held me the chief of his train 
 Before his works, in the outset. 
 From everlasting was I anointed : 
 
 From the beginning, from the forecastings of the earth. 
 When there were no abysses I was brought forth ; 
 When no sluices, redundant with waters ; 
 Ere the mountains were settled. 
 Before the hills was I brought forth : 
 When, as yet, he had not prepared the land or the lakes. 
 Or beautified the dust of the world. — 
 When he arranged the heavens — I was there ; 
 When he turned the globe over the surface of the abyss ; 
 When he established the atmosphere ; 
 When he strengthened the floodgates of the abyss ; 
 When he gave to the sea his commandment 
 That the waters should not overflow its boundary ; 
 When he hewed out the foundations of the earth ; 
 Then was I with him, a favourite; 
 Then was I from day to day his delight. 
 
 " The first idea of this wonderfully sublime descrip- 
 tion was probably taken from the author of the book 
 of Job, chap, xxxviii. 4 — 18, whose classical ornaments, 
 and, more particularly, whose occasional Arabisms, 
 Solomon seems to have been peculiarly fond of copy- 
 ing ; but it is in many respects original, and needs not 
 fear a comparison with the magnificent source from 
 which it has perhaps been derived. 
 
 " Wisdom, under! another similitude, is represented 
 as a princely potentate, preparing a rich banquet in his 
 splendid palace, sending forth his invitations freely in 
 every quarter, and making proclamation himself from 
 the heights of the city, to all who stand in need of his 
 counsel. 
 
296 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 Come, feast ye on my feast ; 
 
 And drink of the wine I have mingled : 
 
 Forsake the heedless and live, 
 
 And walk in the way of understanding. — 
 
 Lo ! by me shall thy days be multiplied, 
 
 And years of life be added unto thee. 
 
 " The latter part of this allegory has not hitherto 
 been seized by the translators ; but, when correctly 
 rendered, it affords a contrast that adds wonderfully to 
 the general effect : 
 
 The essence of Folly is turbulence. 
 
 Thoughtlessness, and vanity. — Can she know any thing? 
 
 She, too, sitteth at the opening of her pavilion ; 
 
 On the throne of the heights of the city. 
 
 To call out to the travellers on their way, 
 
 Who are rightly pursuing their courses : 
 
 < Whoso is thoughtless ? — let him turn in hither.' 
 
 While to the silly-hearted — thus saith she to him, 
 
 ' Sweet are the waters of stealth. 
 
 And delicious the feast of the clandestine.' 
 
 But he understandeth not that the ghosts are there, 
 
 That her guests are in the depths of hell. 
 
 " With this fearful and forcible stroke, the allegory 
 and the book itself concludes : the general object of 
 the whole being, as already observed, to inculcate 
 upon the young and the yet unsettled in life, the great 
 duties of fearing God, and reverencing parents ; of 
 practising virtue, temperance, and modesty, and keep- 
 ing the passions in subjection, and to warn them 
 against pride, arrogance, self-conceit, frowardness. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 297 
 
 envy, mischief-making, backbiting, hasty and im- 
 prudent friendships, and engagements ; and above all, 
 profligacy, debauchery, and scofiing or making a mock 
 at religion. 
 
 "Part II. commences at the opening of the tenth 
 chapter, as is obvious from the introductory clause of 
 its first verse, 'The Proverbs of Solomon,' which, 
 indeed, may be regarded as its title. Its range extends 
 to the sixteenth verse of the twenty-second chapter 
 inclusively ; the verse subsequent to this, opening with 
 another exordium, and consequently with a third part 
 or book. 
 
 " The style and manner of the second part are as 
 different as possible from those of the first : and it is 
 evidently designed for the use of persons who are 
 actually settled in life, and have advanced from the 
 age of youth to that of manhood. And hence, while 
 the preceding duties are occasionally glanced at as of 
 obligation in every stage of life, the endearing phrases 
 of ' my son !' and ' O ye children !' are entirely dropt, 
 and the writer chiefly inculcates the virtues of industry, 
 honesty, frugality, fair and upright dealing, prudence, 
 ingenuousness, compassion, mercy to animals, paucity 
 and simplicity of words, humility, reverence of kings 
 and all in authority, family order and subordination, 
 and the wholesome discipline of children : the chief 
 vices denounced and warned against being those of 
 sluggishness, deceit, falsehood, knavery, over-reaching, 
 squandering, hasty and improvident suretyship, slan- 
 dering, hypocrisy, idle prating, tale-bearing, backbit- 
 ing, gluttony and ebriety, pride, wrath and hatred, 
 worldly-mindedness, and confidence in wealth, glory, 
 honour, power, or any other external possession or 
 
298 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 quality ; the sum of the whole being not riches but 
 righteousness; which last is repeatedly designated 
 as the chief source of public as well as of private well- 
 being ; as a state virtue, not less than a domestic and 
 social duty. 
 
 "To the subject of this book nothing could be better 
 adapted than the style. While in the preceding, which, 
 as already observed, is addressed to the young and the 
 unsettled, the richest ornaments of the fancy are made 
 choice of, to captivate their attention and allure them 
 to a right practice, in the present all is business and 
 activity, brevity, concinnity, and terseness ; every 
 thought, though as highly polished, is, at the same 
 time, as compressed as possible ; and the writer, 
 thoroughly aware of the value of every moment of 
 time at this important period, lays down a complete 
 series of short rules of life, and concentrates the most 
 momentous precepts into the narrowest compass. The 
 former appeals to the imagination, the latter to the 
 judgment: the one exhibits all the genius of poetry, 
 the other all the art of composition ; and hence the 
 general matter is rendered as attractive in the one 
 instance as in the other. 
 
 "The great object in each of the proverbs or axioms 
 of the present part, is to enforce a moral principle in 
 words so few that they may be easily learnt, and so 
 curiously selected and arranged that they may strike 
 and fix the attention instantaneously : whilst, to pre- 
 vent the mind from becoming fatigued by a long series 
 of detached sentences, they are perpetually diversified 
 by the most playful changes of style and figure. 
 
 " Of these changes it will be sufiicient to point out 
 the six following : the attentive reader may discover 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 299 
 
 many others, but it is not necessary to analyze the 
 whole. Sometimes the style is rendered striking by its 
 peculiar simplicity, or the familiarity of its illustration : 
 sometimes by the grandeur or loftiness of the metaphor 
 or simile employed on the occasion : sometimes by a 
 purposed or enigmatical obscurity, which rouses the 
 curiosity : very frequently by a strong and catching 
 antithesis : occasionally by a pointed anaphora, or 
 playful iteration of the same word ; and in numerous 
 instances by an elegant pleonasm, or the expansion of a 
 single or common idea by a luxuriance of agreeable 
 words. 
 
 "1. Of the simple and familiar style we have ex- 
 amples in the following. 
 
 In the multitude of words there is no lack of blundering; 
 Therefore he that restraineth his lips is discreet. 
 
 X. 19. 
 Commit thy doings to Jehovah, 
 And thy purposes shall be established. 
 
 The rich and the poor are mixt together, 
 Jehovah is the maker of them all. 
 
 xvi. 3. 
 
 i. 2. 
 
 " 2. Of the grand and lofty style the following may 
 serve as instances : 
 
 In the path of righteousness is life : 
 Yea, the high-way is immortality. 
 
 28. 
 
 Hell and destruction are before Jehovah : 
 How much more then the hearts of the sons of Adam. 
 
 XV. 11. 
 
300 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 The man that wandereth from the way of understanding 
 Shall make his bed among the assembly of the ghosts. 
 
 xxi. 16. 
 A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, 
 And casteth down the bulwark of its confidence. 
 
 xxi. 22. 
 
 " Which last may be regarded as a parabolic ren- 
 dering of the maxim announced by Lord Bacon, that 
 
 * Knowledge is power.' 
 
 "3. Of the obscure and enigmatical style, I may 
 select the following examples ; in the first and second 
 of which it may be observed, that the key or expla- 
 nation is given in the latter verse of the couplet. 
 
 A gift is a precious stone in the eye of its receivers : 
 On whichsoever side it is looked at, it quickeneth. 
 
 xvii. 8. 
 Acceptable words are a honeycomb ; 
 Sweet to the soul, and healing to the bones. 
 
 xvi. 24. 
 With the fruit of a man's mouth shall his belly be filled: 
 With the produce of his lips shall he be filled. 
 
 xviii. 20. 
 
 " The meaning is, to explain it by another proverb, 
 
 * According as a man soweth, so shall he reap.' The 
 fruit of the mouth, of the lips, or of the thoughts, is a 
 common metaphor in sacred poetry, to express ' words ;' 
 and occurs in Isa. Ivii. 19. Jer. vi. 19. Heb. xiii. 15. But 
 the best illustration of the distich is to be found in the 
 parallel proverb or parable of our Saviour upon eating 
 with unwashen hands, which is of the same enigmatical 
 cast — and his own explanation of it to his disciples 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 301 
 
 who did not understand its drift : Matt. xv. 11, 15 — 20. 
 ' Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, 
 but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a 
 man.' Then answered Peter, and said unto him, * De- 
 clare unto us this parable.' And Jesus said, 'Are ye, 
 also, yet without understanding? Do not ye yet un- 
 understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth 
 goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? 
 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come 
 forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out 
 of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, 
 fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These 
 are the things which defile a man : but to eat with un- 
 washen hands defileth not a man !' 
 
 "4. The antithetic style is that which occurs most 
 frequently, and to which the royal writer appears to 
 have been most addicted. Instances of it are to be 
 found in almost every chapter, and sometimes in almost 
 every verse of a chapter. Let the following serve as 
 examples : 
 
 The heart knoweth its own bitterness : 
 And a stranger cannot participate in its joy. 
 
 xiv. 10. 
 Get thou wisdom, O ! goodlier than gold ; 
 Yea, get thou understanding, more desirable than silver, 
 
 xvi. 16. 
 A rebuke cutteth deeper into a wise man 
 Than a hundred times flogging into a fool. 
 
 xvii. 10. 
 The mouth-wordiness of a man is a pool of water : 
 The well-spring of wisdom a flowing stream. 
 
 xviii. 4 
 
302 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 As a roaring lion is the wrath of a king ; 
 But as dew upon the grass his favour. 
 
 xix. 12. 
 Stuff! stufF! saith the buyer, 
 But let him go off with it, then he boasteth. 
 
 XX. 14. 
 
 " 5. The laboured style, which consists in a playful 
 iteration of the same word, is common to various kinds 
 of poetry in the West as well as in the East. In the 
 notes on my translation of Lucretius (vol. i. p. 132, 
 ii. p. 4,) I have given various examples from the Greek 
 and Roman poets, and in those on my translation 
 of the book of Job, I have given several others 
 from the Asiatic poets, and especially from those of 
 Jerusalem. In the work before us we have numerous 
 examples of the same kind, though they have rarely 
 been attended to or preserved by the translators. The 
 following may serve as specimens : 
 
 Sniartly shall he smart who is bail for a stranger ; 
 While he who hateth suretyship is secure. 
 
 xi. 15. 
 He that walketh with wise men shall be wise ; 
 But the friend of fools shall be friendless. 
 
 xiii. 20. 
 Whoso returneth evil for good. 
 Evil shall not depart from his house. 
 
 xvii. 13. 
 He who justifieth the guilty, and he who findeth guilty the just, 
 Verily both of them are an abomination to Jehovah. 
 
 xvii. 15. 
 "6. Of the pleonastic or redundant style, we may 
 select the following examples : 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. dUd 
 
 To be slow to anger is better than to be valiant ; 
 And to rule one's spirit than to take a city. 
 
 xvi, 32. 
 The real friend loveth at all times, 
 And in adversity becometh a brother. 
 
 xvii. 17. 
 Multitudes cling to the countenance of the munificent ; 
 And every one is an adherent to the man of gifts. 
 
 xix. 6. 
 Whoso restraineth his words shall learn knowledge ; 
 Choice of breath is the man of discernment. 
 Even the dolt, while silent, is thought wise ; 
 While shutting his lips, intelligent. 
 
 xvii. 27, 28. 
 
 " In this tetrastich there is so striking a resemblance 
 to the following of an elegant Arabic writer, that they 
 ought to be brought together for a comparison. 
 
 Keep silence then ; — nor speak but when besought : 
 Who listens long grows tired of what is told : 
 
 With tones of silver though thy tongue be fraught. 
 Know this — that silence, of itself, is gold. 
 
 " Part III. is a miscellaneous collection of proverbs 
 and parables, brief axioms, and figurative descriptions 
 and addresses. It is consequently modelled after both 
 the preceding parts, and contains moral instruction for 
 all the different stages of life. It commences with an 
 obvious break and apostrophe at the seventeenth 
 
304 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 verse of the twenty-second chapter, — intimates in the 
 twentieth verse, when correctly rendered, that it is 
 a third undertaking, division, or series of the subject, 
 and that the arrangement was made by Solomon him- 
 self, — and closes with the close of chapter the twenty- 
 fourth. It yields in no respect to either of the pre- 
 ceding: the matter is as important, the diction as 
 spirited and elegant, and the personifications as bold 
 and striking. The introduction is peculiarly beautiful 
 and impressive : 
 
 Incline thine ear, and hearken to the words of the wise, 
 
 And apply thine heart to my instruction. 
 
 O ! how sweet, if thou keep them in thy bosom. 
 
 Harmoniously shall they be fitted to thy lips. 
 
 For the fixing thy trust in Jehovah 
 
 To-day am I making thee thoroughly know thyself; 
 
 Yea, a third time am I not imprinting upon thee 
 
 Concerning counsels and knowledge? 
 
 " The vice of intoxication, and the train of evils that 
 accompany it, are, in this book, painted with a force 
 and accuracy of colouring, that we shall in vain seek 
 for any where else. It extends from the twenty-ninth 
 verse of the twenty-third chapter, to its close ; and the 
 following imagery is in the highest style of Oriental 
 excellence, for the full meaning of which the reader 
 may turn to the notes on the passage : 
 
 Look not on wine when it assumeth the ruby ; 
 
 When it throweth its eye from the cup. 
 
 Tliough it move round with blandishments, 
 
 In its end it will bite as a serpent. 
 
 Yea, sting as a cockatrice : 
 
 Thine eyes shall image profligate women, 
 
 And thine heart utter incoherencies. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 305 
 
 " Part IV. is avowedly, as already observed, a post- 
 humous appendix; consisting of various parabolic 
 compositions, written and communicated by Solomon 
 on different occasions, but never published by himself 
 in an arranged form ; yet altogether worthy of the 
 place they hold in the Sacred Scriptures. It comprises 
 the last seven chapters, and consequently commences 
 with the twenty-fifth chapter. The editors of this part 
 of the work are expressly declared to be the royal 
 scribes or librarians in the reign of Hezekiah, who 
 seem to have acted under the royal command, and 
 were probably Ithiel and Ucal, mentioned in the 
 second verse of chapter the thirtieth, as applying to 
 Agur for documents in his possession, or recollections 
 in his memory. The admonitory verses composed for 
 king Lemuel by his mother, when he was in the 
 flower of youth and high expectation, and with which 
 the work concludes, are an inimitable production, as 
 well in respect to their actual materials, as the 
 delicacy with which they are selected. Instead of 
 attempting to lay down rules concerning matters of 
 state and political government, the illustrious writer 
 confines herself, with the nicest and most becoming art, 
 to a recommendation of the gentler virtues of tem- 
 perance, benevolence, and mercy ; and a minute and 
 unparalleled delineation of the female character, which 
 might bid fairest to promote the happiness of her son 
 in connubial life. The description, though strictly in 
 consonance with the domestic economy of the highest 
 sphere of life, in the early period referred to, and 
 especially in the East, is of universal application, and 
 cannot be studied too closely; and the value which 
 Solomon appears to have set upon this beautiful 
 
306 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 address is the most striking practical illustration he 
 could give of the important lesson he so frequently 
 inculcates. 
 
 Forsake not the precept of thy mother. 
 
 " From these remarks it must be evident, that a good 
 translation of the book of Proverbs cannot be accom- 
 plished without great difficulties, though difficulties of 
 a peculiar kind. In the book of Job, and in the pro- 
 phecies of Isaiah and Hosea, the text is often in the 
 greatest degree obscure, in consequence of the rapid 
 transition of the writer from one subject or metaphor 
 to another, and the frequent abruptness of his style. 
 In the book before us, the prevailing difficulties are 
 those of following up the particular construction of a 
 verse, seizing the proper sense of what may be regard- 
 ed as its governing term, and which constitutes the 
 pivot on which the whole turns ; aud in finding an 
 equivalent term in the vernacular tongue, capable of 
 expressing a double sense, and of being equally 
 iterated, in all cases in which such iteration is play- 
 fully introduced, and a double sense is made to appear 
 in the original. Without this, the general moral may, 
 indeed, be caught and communicated, but the fine 
 aroma, the essential and operative spirit, will com- 
 pletely fly off in the distillation ; and what remains 
 will be nothing more than a caput mortuum or dead 
 letter." 
 
 TRANSLATION OF THE PSALMS. 
 
 For the last four or five years of Dr. Good's life, 
 much of his time was devoted to a new translation of 
 " The Book of Psalms, from the Original Hebrew, with 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 307 
 
 an Outline of their History, and explanatory Notes." 
 During this period, the Psalter was evidently his chief 
 delight. To some of his friends he wrote about it ; to 
 others he expatiated upon it orally, read his trans- 
 lations of particular psalms, and developed their 
 peculiarities ; to his family he expounded it, usually 
 with great fervour and pathos. If, when speaking of 
 this comprehensive summary, Luther's " Parva Biblia," 
 he did not characterize it in the precise language of 
 Augustine,* and Ambrose,t or in the quaint expres- 
 siveness of old Gerhard,:|: he evidently blended, in his 
 estimate of its value, all that they have said, if not all 
 that they could think. In one of his latest letters to 
 his constant and valued friend. Dr. Drake, bearing 
 date May 20, 1826 ; after speaking of his " Book of 
 Nature," which he then presented to the Doctor, he 
 proceeds, as with a decided persuasion that he was 
 about to mention his last work : 
 
 " I have thus been enabled to finish one of the 
 designs on which I have long set my affections ; and it 
 will afford me pleasure to learn that I have hereby 
 
 * Tutela pueris, Juvenibus ornamentum, solatium senibus, mulieribus 
 aptissiraus decor. August. Prolog, in lib. Psal. 
 
 f Licet omnis Scriptura Divina Dei gratiam spiret; preecipufe tamen 
 
 dulcis Psalmomm liber Historia instruit ; Lex docet ; Prophetia an- 
 
 minciat ; Correptio castigat ; Moralitas suadet : In Libro Psalmorum pro- 
 Jiectus est omnium. Amb. in Psal. Dav. prafat. 
 
 X Tlie Psalms are a jewel-cluster made up of the gold of doctrine, 
 the pearls of comfort, the gems of prayer. This book is a theatre of 
 God's works, a sweet field and rosary of promises, a paradise of delicious 
 fruits and heavenly delights : an ample sea, wherein tempest-tossed souls 
 find pearls of consolation : an heavenly school, wherein God himself is 
 chief instructor : the flower and quintessence of Scriptures : a glass of 
 divine gi-ace, representing the fatherly countenance of God in Christ : and a 
 most accurate anatomy of the Christian soul, delineating all its affections, 
 motions, temptations, and deptlis of perplexity ; with their proper remedy. 
 — Gerhard. Com Pla. § 144. 
 
308 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 given a little mental recreation to a friend, in whose 
 fortunes of joy or sorrow I shall ever take a deep and 
 almost personal interest. 
 
 "But the time is short! — and a less firm possession 
 of health than formerly is mercifully designed to im- 
 print this most important lesson on my heart. May 
 the gracious Power that is reading it to me, enable me 
 to improve it ! I must, therefore, ' work while it is 
 called to-day." 
 
 "I have just completed an entire new version of the 
 Psalter, after the manner of the book of Job : and I 
 have had very great pleasure in going through so rich 
 a treasure of spiritual worth and unrivalled poetry. 
 It has been a great and prime object with me to ascer- 
 tain the time, place, and circumstances which apper- 
 tain to each psalm, so as to assign to every one its 
 exact historical position : and a very attentive and 
 critical examination into the subject-matter of the 
 whole, or the bearing of particular words or phrases — 
 the drift of scenery, or historic facts alluded to, has 
 enabled me, as I trust, satisfactorily to accomplish 
 this yet novel undertaking ; and thus to furnish to 
 every separate psalm, if I mistake not, a vastly greater 
 interest than it can otherwise possess. Not that I 
 mean thereby to disturb the esoteric or mystical re- 
 ference which they so frequently and unquestionably 
 have to the Messiah, or to undervalue the inappre- 
 ciable labours of the excellent Bishop Home ; but 
 rather to give them more force by a fuller display of 
 their primary and historic sources. 
 
 " I, therefore, in a preliminary dissertation, give a 
 chronological and general history of the Psalms, in 
 their respective order of time ; illustrating each from 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. eJUy 
 
 its own internal and most beautiful evidence, and 
 assigning to each its specific impression, as derived 
 from the deeply interesting historic facts with which it 
 is connected." 
 
 After Dr. Good's death, the manuscript copy of this 
 work, over which he spent so many portions of his 
 latest and his best days, was found completely ready 
 for the press, even to the minutiae of the directions to 
 the printer. According to the arrangement proposed 
 by himself, the work would constitute two volumes 
 octavo, each about 400 pages : the first comprehending 
 the historical outline, and the translation of the 
 Psalms to the end of Psalm xc; the second volume 
 to comprehend the remaining psalms, and the notes, 
 critical, philological, and explanatory. But he adds, in 
 a nota-bene, " If the whole can be printed in one hand- 
 some volume, I object not." 
 
 In the historical outline, the author regards it as 
 tolerably decisive, that we assign not any of the psalms 
 to an earlier epoch than that of Moses, nor to a later 
 than that of Ezra, including the composition of the 
 whole between about 1452 and 415 years before the 
 Christian oera. He marks, as other critics have done, 
 the division of the book into five distinct sections, 
 agreeing with the Masora ; in which the first extends 
 to Psalm XLi. inclusively, the second to the close 
 of Psalm Lxxii ; the third to the end of Psalm 
 Lxxxix; the fourth includes Psalm cvi; and the 
 fifth comprehends the remaining Psalms. Each of 
 these sections, as the attentive reader will have per- 
 ceived, terminates with a doxology ; such as, 
 
 ' Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel ! 
 From everlasting: even to everlastino;. Amen, and Amen.' 
 
310 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 Or, as this, 
 
 ' Blessed be Jehovah-God, the God of Israel, 
 Who alone worketh marvels. 
 
 Yea, blessed be his glorious Name for ever and ever ; 
 And let his glory fill the whole earth ! Amen, and Amen.' 
 
 He then takes a cursory glance at the chief pro- 
 bable authors, Moses, David, Heman, Ethan, and 
 Asaph ; and so speaks of the characters of those 
 eminent individuals, as to lead to the inference that 
 " all the psalms possess the highest authority that 
 human dignity can give them, independently of their 
 being inspired writings, and of their poetic beauty." 
 He next presents a most entertaining and curious 
 account (perhaps in one or two instances a little fan- 
 ciful,) of the music of the temple, the distinctive cha- 
 racters of the instruments, the probable number of 
 male and female choristers, the number and character 
 of the chiefs of the temple harmony, the arrangement 
 for the responses and choruses of the Levites with 
 their brethren opposite to them, " imird over against 
 ivardi" the office of the Azrahites or Laureates," &c. 
 
 Dr. Good is disposed to attach a higher value to the 
 authority of the titles to many of the psalms, than has 
 been customary among those who have attempted to 
 investigate this important portion of critical research. 
 In the same department of inquiry, also, he adverts to 
 what he regards as a palpable mistake in rendering a 
 Hebrew term by the words '• to the chief musician," 
 where the word musician is entirely interpolated. 
 Dr. Good assigns, in these cases, as the proper render- 
 ing, "To the Supreme/' or, "Upon the Supreme," 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. " 311 
 
 according as the text is distinguished by the second 
 or third person. The propriety of this rendering may 
 easily be ascertained, by turning to psalms iv, v, vi, 
 viii, ix, xi, xii, xiii, &c. 
 
 An equal degree of difficulty has been felt with re- 
 gard to the meaning of the phrase prefixed to fifteen of 
 the psalms, and usually rendered, " a song of degrees." 
 Dr. Good remarks, that St. Jerom has correctly ren- 
 dered it, " Canticum Graduum," a song of steps or 
 progress ; that the psalms to which the title is prefixed, 
 were, in every instance, sung during a march, or when 
 the people were advancing or stepping forward, as in 
 their triumphant return to Jerusalem after the Baby- 
 lonish captivity, or advancing towards it on one of the 
 annual festivals ; and that the literal rendering in our 
 own tongue, is, " a. progressionary or march-song " coWo- 
 quially, " a sacred march." This interpretation of the 
 titles, gives to most of these fifteen psalms a peculiar 
 beauty and energy. 
 
 After some appropriate observations on the acrostic 
 or alphabetic psalms. Dr. Good takes a general view 
 of the subjects which the entire book embraces; from 
 this I quote the following graphic passage : — 
 
 " We have already observed, that the subjects treated 
 of in the entire collection of the Psalter, embrace every 
 diversity of condition that can characterize either 
 domestic or public life. We have hence numerous 
 examples of the sigh of penitence and contrition, the 
 chastened meekness of resignation, the holy impor- 
 tunity of prayer, the sustaining confidence of faith, the 
 energetic shout of thanksgiving : descants on the attri- 
 butes of God, and the general course of his providence 
 and his grace ; on the regularity and picturesque 
 
312 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 beauty of the seasons ; on the wonderful structure and 
 phenomena of the heavens, the earth, and the ocean ; 
 the peaceful quiet of rural and pastoral life ; the 
 roar and violence of the tempest, and the terrors of 
 the mariner when in danger of shipwreck. And, as 
 the national events that are occasionally brought 
 forward, extend from the time of Moses to that ot 
 Ezra, the Psalms may be contemplated as an ab- 
 stract of Jewish history, through the whole of this 
 period ; the incidents chiefly adverted to, many of 
 which are dwelt upon at great length, and described 
 in the most glowing and impressive colours, being the 
 Egyptian bondage, and the miraculous deliverance from 
 it : the signs and marvels performed while journeying 
 to the land of Canaan, from the passage of the Red 
 Sea to the overthrow of the devoted nations on either 
 side of the Jordan : the calamities that pressed upon 
 David on his entering into public life, and during his 
 proscription by Saul: the wonderful series of his 
 triumphs : his consecration of mount Zion, and re- 
 moval of the ark to the tabernacle then erected for its 
 reception : his reverses under the overwhelming influ- 
 ence of an infidel and traitorous faction, in league with 
 a part of his own family : his inauguration of Solomon 
 into the regal dignity as his successor ; the celebration 
 of the marriage of the latter, apparently with the 
 princess of Egypt : occasional interpositions of mira- 
 culous power in several subsequent periods of emer- 
 gency ; especially during the reigns of JeJwshaphat and 
 Hezekiah : penitential cries for relief during the Baby- 
 lonian captivity : festals and triumphant eulogies on 
 the marvellous deliverance from that humiliated state ; 
 and the anthems of exulting praise on the rebuilding 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 313 
 
 and opening the temple, and re-establishment of the 
 walls of Jerusalem. 
 
 "But by far the most important feature of the Psalms 
 to the present and all future times, is their figurative 
 or parabolical character ; the secondary sense, in 
 which they prophetically describe, in lineaments that 
 can seldom be mistaken, the life and offices of the 
 Redeemer, the whole mystery of salvation by Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 " I dare not say that this esoteric but most import- 
 ant sense is adumbrated in every individual psalm ; 
 because I well know that there are many in which it is 
 not to be found without a very licentious exercise of 
 the fancy, and even then without any advantage from 
 the supposed discovery. But the numerous references 
 to this spiritual signification, which occur in the New 
 Testament, and the striking parallelism of these as 
 well as other passages, in the eye of every one, to 
 particular parts of the great drama that is unfolded in 
 the gospel dispensation, form an incontrovertible proof, 
 that, in the pre-ordinance of infinite wisdom, the first 
 was from the beginning designed to be a general type 
 of the second." 
 
 Unquestionably, however, an extraordinary circum- 
 spection is required in applying the Psalms, as well as 
 some of the other Old Testament prophecies, to the 
 Messiah, and the events which took place when he 
 appeared on earth. Bishop Home has often failed 
 greatly in this circumspection ; and Bishop Horsley, 
 with his own peculiar boldness, indulged in a license 
 which is utterly repugnant to the principles of sober 
 Biblical interpretation. Dr. Good has, now and then, 
 found difficulty in escaping the seductions of these 
 
314 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 great names, and especially that of Home, the charm 
 of whose devotional sweetness had, long ago, won his 
 esteem, and, of late years, his warmest affection. If, 
 on this point, I have formed a correct opinion, there 
 are but two rules for the safe and satisfactory applica- 
 tion of passages in the Old Testament to the Messiah ; 
 namely, the undisputed authority of the New Testa- 
 ment, in the way of reference or of quotation ; and the 
 fact that the specific terms of a passage, in their plain, 
 manifest, unforced acceptation, and in the fair scope 
 of the context, so apply to the Saviour, as not to admit 
 of other application but by a violation of ordinary rules 
 of judgment or of grammatical construction. A neglect 
 of these principles has led many excellent men to apply 
 various passages of the Old Testament to the primi- 
 tive "gospel times" generally and exclusively, (such 
 as Amos ix. 11 — 14; Isaiah xxviii. 20. xlix. 14 — 26. 
 Ixi. 4—6. Ixvi. 5 — 24.) which evidently, however they 
 may be partially verified in that early season, can only 
 receive their entire accomplishment in the ulterior 
 recovery of the Jews on their final and universal con- 
 version to Christ. 
 
 In selecting a few specimens of Dr. Good's transla- 
 tions and introductory or connected remarks, I shall 
 commence with that which, in a chronological arrange- 
 ment, would be placed first in the series. After advert- 
 ing to various portions of Scripture, which are evi- 
 dently rhythmical, and as evidently composed by Moses, 
 he proceeds thus : — 
 
 " There is no great difficulty in assigning the precise 
 occasion on which the present psalm was composed. 
 It is called "The Prayer of Moses/' and was mani- 
 festly written during the visitation of some judicial 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 315 
 
 pestilence or other calamity, that produced a tremen- 
 dous destruction among the people, in which, according 
 to the words of the psalm. 
 
 Thou overwhelmedst them with a look.* 
 So are we consumed by thine ire, 
 And hurried away by thy wrath. 
 
 And if we turn to the book of Numbers, we shall find 
 the PRAYER here adverted to, and the calamity so 
 feelingly described, related in an historical detail of the 
 plague of fiery serpents inflicted upon the Israelites on 
 account of their murmuring and refractory spirit at 
 Zalmonah, or Pum, where the people died in great 
 multitudes. The words of the historian are, 'Therefore 
 the people came to Moses, and said. We have sinned 
 against the Lord and against thee ; pray thou unto 
 the Lord that he take away the serpents from us :' an d 
 Moses prayed for the PEoPLE.-f 
 
 " The subject of the prayer is in perfect unison with 
 the occasion. The holy supplicant begins with adoring 
 the almighty power of God, and pleads with him as 
 the dwelling-place or home of his people in all genera- 
 tions : he draws a forcible picture of the vanity and 
 feebleness of man, and the inequality of the contest 
 between the creature and the Creator. He urges the 
 penitence and abasement of the assembled congrega- 
 tion ; and implores for grace to make a due improve- 
 ment of the awful calamity : 
 
 So teach us to number our days 
 
 That we may apply our hearts to wisdom :J 
 
 * For an explanation of this or any otlier deviation from the common 
 rendering, the reader must consult the explanatory notes upon the several 
 
 t Num. xxi. 7. J Psa. xc. 12. 
 
316 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 and closes with a humble trust in God's mercy for a 
 removal of the scourge, and a restoration of the divine 
 favour.* 
 
 " Dr. Kennicott, however, and various other critics, 
 disbelieved this psalm to have been the production of 
 Moses, and refer it to a much later age, though they 
 cannot agree as to what other age it is expressly 
 adapted : some of them even going so late as to the 
 return from the Babylonian captivity. The chief ground 
 for this dissent from the date assigned in the Bible, is 
 an idea that the term of man's life was, at the Mosaic 
 era, much longer than that of seventy or eighty years, 
 as intimated in the present psalm. But such an opinion 
 seems founded on the exceptions from the general rule, 
 rather than the rule itself. The life of Aaron, Moses, 
 Joshua, and Caleb, unquestionably exceeded the age 
 of fourscore considerably, and ran on from a hundred 
 and ten, to a hundred and twenty ; but all these were 
 probably instances of special favour. The decree which 
 abbreviated the life of man, as a general rule, to seventy 
 or eighty years, was given as a chastisement upon the 
 whole race of Israelites in the wilderness ; and with 
 these few exceptions, none of them, at the date of this 
 psalm, as here conjectured, could have reached more 
 than seventy, and few of them so high a number. But 
 it does not appear that the term of life was lengthened 
 afterwards. Samuel died about seventy years old, 
 David under seventy-one, and Solomon under sixty : 
 and the history of the world shews us that the abbre- 
 viation of life in other countries was nearly in the same 
 proportion. 
 
 * Psalm xc 13—17. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 317 
 
 " In few words, the very fact of this curtailment of 
 man's duration, as occurring at the period before us, to- 
 gether with the nature of the crime for which the refrac- 
 tory Israelites were punished, their lusting after other 
 food than that they were miraculously supplied with, is 
 clearly hinted at in the eighth and ninth verses of the 
 psalm, and seems very sufficiently to support the pre- 
 sent appropriation : 
 
 Thou hast set our iniquities before tliee, 
 
 Our SECRET LUSTING iu the light of thy countenance. 
 
 How UTTERLY ARE OUR DAYS CHANGED BY THINE IRe! 
 
 We run through our years as a tale: 
 
 whilst the rapidity of the change, the suddenness as 
 well as the extent of the mortality that passed upon 
 them, is forcibly as well as fearfully expressed in the 
 third verse as well as the fifth : 
 
 Thou turnest man to dust as thou sayest, 
 Return ye sons of the* ground ! 
 Thou overwhelmest them with a look." 
 
 PSALM XC. 
 
 The Prayer of Moses, the Man of God. 
 
 1. O Lord, thou art our dweUing-place 
 From generation to generation. 
 
 2. Before the mountains were brought forth, 
 
 Or thou hadst formed the earth or the world, 
 From everlasting to everlasting thou art God. 
 
 3. Thou turnest man to dust, as thou sayest 
 ' Return, ye sons of the ground !' 
 
 * Consult the explanatoiy note for this rendering. 
 
318 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 4. While in thy view a thousand years are as a day, 
 A yesterday, when it is by-gone, 
 
 Or a watch in the night : — 
 
 5. Thou overwhelmest them with a look. 
 
 In the morning they were like grass, they were fresh : 
 
 6. In the morning it was flourishing and fresh ; 
 By the evening it is cut down and withered. 
 
 7. So are we consumed by thine anger ! 
 And hurried away by thy wrath ! 
 
 8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee ; 
 
 Our secret lusting in the light of thy countenance. 
 
 9. How utterly are our days changed by thine ire ! 
 We run through our years as a tale. 
 
 10. The days of our years are seventy years at their utmost; 
 And if by dint of strength they be eighty years. 
 
 Yet is their recruiting weariness and vanity ; 
 So soon is it cut down, and we are gone. 
 
 11. But who regardeth the power of thine anger? 
 With a reverence of thee, thine indignation ? 
 
 12. So teach us to number our days 
 
 That we may apply our hearts to wisdom. 
 
 13. Return, O Jehovah ! — how long first? 
 And relent thou concerning thy people. 
 
 14. O soon let thy loving-kindness replenish us. 
 That we may exult and rejoice all our days. 
 
 15. Let us rejoice according to the days thou hast afflicted us, 
 The years we have seen of adversity. 
 
 16. Let thy dealing be displayed to thy servants ; 
 And thy glory to their children. 
 
 17. And let the pleasure of the Lord our God be upon us ; 
 And establish thou the work we take in hand. 
 
 Yea, the work we take in hand, do thou establish. 
 
 Some portions of the 49th psalm have, 1 believe, 
 presented greater difficulties to translators than almost 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 319 
 
 any part of the Hebrew scriptures. This psalm, in 
 Dr. Good's opinion, was consecrated to the service of 
 the passover, and refers to a divine ransom, and the 
 utter impossibility of man's finding or making an atone- 
 ment for himself, or for any one else. The psalmist 
 invites universal attention to this important truth — 
 
 "And hence proceeds to shew the folly and brutish- 
 ness of toiling for the body and accumulating wealth 
 and estates, while the care of the soul, ' the one thing 
 needful,' is neglected and forgotten. And it concludes 
 with the striking observation, that the worldling him- 
 self, how much soever he may labour to inculcate his 
 maxims and practice upon all around him in a time 
 of health and prosperity, will yet do justice, when 
 leaving the world, to the higher and more dignified 
 pursuits of the good man, in the midst of that besotted- 
 ness of his rational powers which has sunk him to a 
 level with the beasts that perish." 
 
 The propriety of this view will depend principally 
 upon the correctness with which Dr. Good assumes 
 sons of the ground, or groundlings, for the due rendering 
 of the original. His reasons are given in the notes, 
 and the Hebrew critic will decide as to their force and 
 validity. 
 
 PSALM XLIX. 
 
 ON THE SUPREME. 
 
 A Psalm by the Sons of Korah. 
 
 1. Hear this, all ye peoples, 
 
 Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world ; 
 
 2. Both sons of the ground, and sons of substance ; 
 Ye rich and ye poor together. 
 
320 ACCOUNT OP THE WORKS OF 
 
 3. My mouth shall discourse of wisdom, 
 Yea, the theme of my heart shall be understanding. 
 
 4. I will bend mine ear to a parable ; 
 I will utter my burden upon the harp. 
 
 5. Why should I fear in these days of evil 
 That the iniquity of my supplanters should circumvent me? 
 
 6. They that trust in their riches, 
 That boast of the greatness of their wealth, 
 
 7. No man can pay the ransom of his brother, 
 Or offer to God his own atonement ; 
 
 8. (So costly is the redemption of their souls ! 
 So faileth it continually !) 
 
 9. That he should still live on, 
 That he should never see corruption. 
 
 10. For one beholdeth the wise die 
 As well as the fool and the brutish. 
 They perish, and leave to others their riches. 
 
 11. Their houses are their subject for ever, 
 Their mansions from generation to generation. 
 They call their grounds after their names : 
 
 12. But the GROUNDLING in the midstof splendour endurcthuot ; 
 He is like the beasts — they are on a level. 
 
 13. Such is their conduct — their folly, 
 
 Yet will their posterity incline to their course. (Selah.) I 
 
 14. They are stowed like sheep in the grave ; i 
 Death shall feed upon them ; j 
 And the just shall triumph over them in the morning : ^ 
 For their strength is utter dissolution ; 
 
 The grave is their home. 1 
 
 15. But God shall redeem my soul: 
 From the grasp of the grave 
 
 Assuredly shall he take me away. (Selah.) \ 
 
 16. Fear not thou when one is made rich ; \ 
 When the glory of his house is increased. ^ 
 
 1 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 321 
 
 17. For in his death he shall carry off nothing whatever ; 
 His glory shall not descend after him. 
 
 18. Though while he lived he gratified his own soul, 
 Then shall he laud thee for acting well for thyself. 
 
 19. He shall go to the generation of his fathers ; 
 Never more shall they see the light. 
 
 20. The GROUNDLING in the midst of splendour, but without 
 
 understanding, 
 Is like the beasts — they are on a level. 
 
 Dr. Boothroyd, in the notes to his " Improved Ver- 
 sion" of the Holy Scriptures, admits the difficulty of 
 some parts of this psalm, especially verse 15. His 
 rendering of verses 33, 14, and 15, is subjoined. 
 
 13. Such is their way, and foolish confidence, 
 Yet their posterity approve their maxims. 
 
 14. They also, like sheep, are placed in hades : 
 Death is their shepherd ; 
 
 And the upright in the time of judgment 
 Shall have dominion over them, 
 When their frames, wasted in hades. 
 Shall come forth from their habitation. 
 
 15. Surely God will redeem my soul ; 
 
 From the power of hades he will verily take me. 
 
 Of psalm II. Dr. Good thus speaks — 
 
 " This psalm has descended to us without a title ; 
 but its exact place in the Jewish chronology is obvious, 
 and we have the authority of the New Testament that 
 it was composed by David himself, and with a more 
 emphatic reference to the great Son of David than to 
 his own personal history. It is impossible, indeed, to 
 read it in the present day, without tracing out much 
 of that secondary or esoteric meaning which is so 
 
 Y 
 
322 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 common to the language of the book of Psalms ; or 
 without perceiving that by the ' multitudes that murmur 
 in vain' is strikingly typified the fickle and ungrateful 
 people of Israel ; by ' the rulers that took counsel 
 together,' the Jewish Sanhedrim ; and by ' the heathen' 
 that joined in the 'rage/ Herod and his followers, who 
 sought to destroy our Saviour when an infant, and 
 Pilate who condemned him, and the Roman soldiers 
 who crucified him. While in the general triumph 
 which pervades the poem, and especially in the para- 
 mount decree of universal empire which it announces, 
 we have a clear anticipation of the glorious events of 
 our own times, and the still more glorious successes 
 of which they are but the harbingers." 
 
 To Dr. Good's translation of this psalm, which im- 
 mediately follows, I shall subjoin, for the sake of com- 
 parison, the translation of Dr. J. P. Smith, as given in 
 his truly learned and valuable work, " The Scripture 
 Testimony to the Messiah." 
 
 PSALM II. 
 
 (Dr. Good's Translation.) 
 
 1. Why do the heathen rage ; 
 And the people murmur in vain ; 
 
 2. The kings of the earth array themselves ; 
 And the rulers take counsel together 
 Against Jehovah, and against his Anointed ? 
 
 3. ' Let us break their bands asunder, 
 
 And cast their cords away from us,' 
 
 4. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh : 
 The Lord shall have them in derision. 
 
 5. Thus shall he accost them in his vprath. 
 And confound them in his indifrnation : 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 323 
 
 6. ' Verily have I invested my king 
 
 Upon my holy hill of Zion.' 
 
 7. I vi^ill proclaim the decree 
 
 Jehovah hath announced concerning me ; 
 ' Thou art my Son ! 
 This day have I bogotten thee. 
 
 8. Ask of me — and I will give 
 
 The heathen for thine inheritance ; 
 
 Yea, the limits of the earth for thy possession. — 
 
 9. Thou shalt crush them with a rod of iron ; 
 Thou shalt shiver them like a potter's vessel.' 
 
 1 0. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings ! 
 Be admonished, ye judges of the land ! 
 
 11. Obey Jehovah with fear. 
 And rejoice with trembling. 
 Kiss the Son — lest he be angry. 
 And ye perish straightway 
 
 When his wrath is but just kindled. — 
 Blessed are all they that take refuge in him ! 
 
 PSALM II. 
 (Dr. SmitJis Translatio7i.) 
 
 Why rage the nations ? 
 And the peoples contrive vanity ? 
 The kings of the land have set up themselves. 
 And the princes are firmly fixed together, 
 Against Jehovah, and against his Messiah. 
 ' Let us burst their bands, 
 And cast from us their cords.' 
 Sitting in the heavens, he will laugh, 
 The Lord will hold them in derision. 
 Then he will rebuke them in his wrath ; 
 And, in his burning anger, he will alarm them. 
 But I have annointed my king, 
 Upon Zion, the mountain of my sanctuary. 
 y2 
 
324 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 I will declare the decree : 
 Jehovah hath said to me, 
 ' My Son art thou ; 
 I this day have begotten thee. 
 
 Ask from me, and I will give the nations, thine inheritance, 
 And thy possession, the uttermost bounds of the earth. 
 Thou shalt break them with an iron sceptre : 
 As the vessels of a potter thou shalt dash them.' 
 Now, therefore, ye kings, have understanding : 
 Be corrected, ye judges of the earth. 
 Serve Jehovah with reverence. 
 And rejoice with trembling. 
 Do homage to the Son, lest he be angry, 
 And ye perish on the road, 
 When his wrath is even for a moment kindled ! 
 Blessed are all who trust in Him ! 
 
 The fourteenth and fifty-third psahns, which are 
 almost verbally alike throughout, are generally thought 
 to have been composed by David ; and Dr. G. sup- 
 poses in a time when profligacy, every where gaining 
 ground, had become almost universal. If it were in 
 this fearful state of things that the royal prophet com- 
 posed these psalms, they cannot but be regarded as 
 peculiarly expressive. I shall here present Dr. Good's 
 translation of 
 
 PSALM XIV. 
 
 ON THE supreme: BY DAVID. 
 
 1. ' No God !' saith the profligate in his heart. 
 
 They are corrupters : they practise abominable ascendancy. 
 Not one doeth good. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 325 
 
 2. Jehovah looked down upon mankind from heaven, 
 To see if there were any that had understanding 
 
 To seek after God. 
 
 3. They are all led astray ; 
 
 They are altogether contaminated : 
 Not one doeth good — not even one. 
 
 4. Have all the dealers in iniquity no sense, 
 Devouring my people as they devour bread ? — 
 They call not upon Jehovah ! — 
 
 5. Fearfully therefore shall they fear. 
 Behold, God is in the community of the just. 
 
 6. Ye would put to shame the adversary of the helpless ! 
 Behold, Jehovah is their refuge : 
 
 7. Who shall give forth from Zion salvation unto Israel : 
 Then shall he reverse the bondage of his people ; 
 Jacob shall exult, Israel shall leap for joy. 
 
 The 110th psalm, which was also composed by- 
 David himself, has every indication of its prophetic 
 character. It forms a striking parallelism with the 
 2d psalm. 
 
 " Both (says Dr. Good) relate to the priesthood and 
 kingly dignity, to the exaltation and enthronement, of 
 Messiah, and to his triumphant career over his ene- 
 mies. Both also contain the solemn adjuration of Je- 
 hovah, upon his installation, in the words of the 
 Almighty speaker himself, confirmed by a repetition of 
 the oath, King David being also, in both odes, the 
 utterer of all the rest in his own person. The chief 
 distinction consists in the clear and exclusive applica- 
 tion of the whole of the present psalm to the history of 
 the Messiah." 
 
326 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 PSALM ex. 
 
 A Psalm of David, (Dr. Good's Translation.) 
 
 1. Jehovah hath proclaimed to my Lord, 
 * Be thou seated on my right hand 
 Until I make thine enemies thy footstool.' 
 
 2. From Zion shall Jehovah stretch forth 
 The sceptre of thy might ; 
 Triumphantly in the midst of thine enemies. 
 
 3. Exuberant shall be thy people 
 In the day of thy power ; 
 
 In the glories of holiness. 
 
 Beyond the womb of the morning 
 
 Shall flow forth the dew of thine increase. 
 
 4. Jehovah hath sworn, and he will not repent, 
 ' For evermore art thou a Priest 
 
 After the order of Melchisedec' 
 
 5. At THY right hand shall my Lord 
 
 Strike through kings in the day of his wrath : 
 
 6. He shall give judgment among the heathen. — 
 Tlie chief glutted, with carnage 
 
 Shall he smite throughout the wide earth. 
 
 7. The occupier in the way shall he set on high, 
 So that he shall be exalted a chief. 
 
 The latter part of this psalm is rendered thus, by 
 Bishop Horsley : — 
 
 The Lord at thy hand, O Jehovah, 
 
 Woundeth kings in the day of his wrath ! 
 
 He shall strive with the heathen, filling all with slaughter, 
 
 Wounding the head of mighty ones upon the earth. 
 
 He shall drink of the brook beside the way, 
 
 Therefore shall he lift high his head. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 327 
 
 Dr. J. p. Smith's elegant version terminates thus : 
 
 He smiteth kings in the day of his wrath ; 
 
 He will execute judgment on the nations, 
 
 Filling them with the bodies of the slain ; 
 
 He smiteth the chieftain over a great country : 
 
 He will drink of the stream by the path, 
 
 And will, therefore, (triumphantly) lift up his head. 
 
 Both these renderings, (as well as, indeed, the com- 
 mon version) differ essentially from Dr. Good's, in the 
 last two lines. For Dr. Good's reasons in favour of 
 his own translation, I must refer to his notes. 
 
 In the third verse, too. Dr. Good's rendering varies 
 from most others by the substitution of exuberant for 
 be willing. His note, in justification of this change, 
 being short, may be here introduced. Ver. 3. Exube- 
 rant . " Profuse, copious, plenteous, exuberant," 
 
 as the same term is ordinarily rendered in psalm 
 Ixviii. 9. " Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain ;" 
 rather than morally applied, "liberal, willing, or free." 
 The psalmist is representing the "multitude which no 
 man can number," that were to constitute the Re- 
 deemer's kingdom. The sense of the verse is imme- 
 diately in unison with that of the preceding and fol- 
 lowing." 
 
 The psalms being obviously intended for the public 
 worship of the Jews, are many of them adapted to 
 choral and responsive singing ; it is evident, therefore, 
 that an attention to this peculiarity in their structure, 
 will often serve to give them additional spirit and 
 energy, and often, indeed, to elucidate their meaning. 
 
328 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 Some striking and elegant attempts to develop the 
 minutiae of structure in this respect have been made 
 by Delany, in his " Life of King David," by Kennicott, 
 Horsley, and others ; but the process requires the 
 utmost caution, lest the imagination should take the 
 lead of the judgment. Dr. Good, with his anxious 
 desire to exfoliate the true meaning of these divine 
 compositions, has, on various occasions, exhibited his 
 view of the probable choral division of the poem. 
 Thus, in psalm cxviii. which he regards as written 
 by David, for a thanksgiving ode on the successful 
 termination of the wars in which he had been en- 
 gaged, to be sung by the assembled Israelites, with 
 the priests, &c. David himself taking a part; he 
 presents the following, as the most probable choral 
 divisions. 
 
 PSALM CXVIII. 
 
 (General Chorus, or House of Israel.) 
 
 1. O give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good : 
 For his tender mercy is to everlasting. 
 
 (Chorus of Priests, or House ofAo,ron.) 
 
 2. Let Israel, now, declare 
 
 That his tender-mercy is to everlasting. 
 
 (General Chorus.) 
 
 3. Let the house of Aaron, now, declare 
 That his tender-mercy is to everlasting. 
 
 (Chorus of Priests.) 
 
 4. Let them, now, that fear Jehovah, declare 
 That his tender-mercy is to everlasting. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 329 
 
 (King David.) 
 
 5. I called upon Jehovah in distress ; 
 Jehovah answered me at large. 
 
 6. Let Jehovah be for me, I Avill not fear 
 Whatever man may do unto me. 
 
 7. Let Jehovah be for me, be with my succour ; 
 And of mine adversaries I will never be afraid. 
 
 (Chorus of Priests.) 
 
 8. It is better to trust in Jehovah 
 Than to put confidence in man. 
 
 9. It is better to trust in Jehovah 
 Than to put confidence in princes. 
 
 (King David.) 
 
 10. Let all the nations beset me round about, 
 
 In the name of Jehovah, behold, I would destroy them. 
 
 1 1 . Let them beset me, yea, round about let them beset me. 
 In the name of Jehovah, behold, I would destroy them. 
 
 12. They have beset me as bees; 
 
 They are quenched as the blaze of thorns.* 
 
 In the name of Jehovah, behold, I have destroyed them. 
 
 * Dr. Delany, in his "Life of King David," (vol. i. p. 373.) dilates very 
 forcibly upon the rich and beautiful imagery of this celebrated " epinicion." 
 " It is familiar (he says) with David, to couch such images in three words, 
 as would, in the hands of Homer, be the materials of his noblest, most en- 
 larged, and most dignified descriptions." Thus, he takes two examples 
 from this twelfth verse : — 
 
 " T/iei/ (that is, all nations) compassed me about like bees ; — 
 " Thei/ are quenched as the jiie of thorns. 
 
 " The reader (says the Doctor) has here, in miniature, two of the finest 
 images in Homer," and he quotes wo passages from Pope's Homer, 
 book ii. ver. 209, &c. ver. 534, &c. in which both images are most ex- 
 quisitely wrought out. He then adds, " The candid reader will observe, 
 that here the idea of an army's resembling a flaming fire, is common both 
 to Homer and David ; but that the idea of tliat fire being quenched (when 
 the army was conquered) is peculiar to David." In the " Prayer Book" 
 translation of the Psalms, as Dr. Delany remarks, the two images are by 
 mistake blended as though they were but one — ' They came about me like 
 bees, and are extinct, even as the fire among the thorns.' 
 
330 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 1 3. Forcibly didst thou thrust at me ; 
 
 But Jehovah succoured me in the assault. 
 
 14. Jehovah is my strength and my song : 
 Verily, he is become my salvation. 
 
 (Chorus of Priests.) 
 
 15. Let the voice of triumph and salvation 
 Be in the tabernacle of the righteous. 
 
 The right-hand of Jehovah hath displayed prowess. 
 
 (General Chorus.) 
 
 16. Tlie right-hand of Jehovah is exalted : 
 
 The right-hand of Jehovah hath displayed prowess. 
 
 (King David.) 
 
 17. I shall not die; but live, 
 
 And tell forth the deeds of Jehovah. 
 
 18. Correctly did Jehovah correct me ; 
 But he gave me not up unto death. 
 
 19. Open to me the gates of Righteousness : 
 
 I will enter them — I will give thanks unto Jehovah. 
 
 (Chorus of Priests.) 
 
 Opejiing the gate; before ivhich the Congregation had 
 hitherto been standing. 
 
 20. This is the gate of Jehovah : 
 Into it let the righteous enter. 
 
 (King David, having entered ivith the Congregation.) 
 
 21. I will give thanks unto thee, for thou hast answered me; 
 And art become my salvation. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 331 
 
 (Chorus of Priests.) 
 
 22. The stone which the builders rejected 
 
 Is become the head-stone of the corner : 
 
 23. From Jehovah hath this proceeded : 
 It is marvellous in our eyes. 
 
 (General Chorus.) 
 
 24. This is a day Jehovah hath made : 
 Let us exult and rejoice in it. 
 
 (King David.) 
 
 25. Save, now, I beseech thee, O Jehovah ! 
 Jehovah, I beseech thee, be thou now propitious ! 
 
 (Chorus of Priests.) 
 
 26. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of Jehovah : 
 From the house of Jehovah we give you blessing. 
 
 (General Chorus.) 
 
 27. Jehovah is God — and he is shining upon us. 
 
 Bind the victim with cords up to the horns of the altar. 
 
 (King David.) 
 
 28. Thou art my God, and I will give thanks unto thee : 
 Tliou art my God, and I will exalt thee. 
 
 (General Chorus.) 
 
 29. O give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good ; 
 For his tender-mercy is to everlasting. 
 
332 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 Much do I fear, after all, that the portions of my 
 deceased friend's translations and notes, here selected, 
 are but inadequate specimens of the value and interest 
 of his undertaking, generally. I trust, however, that 
 the public will soon have better means of forming a 
 correct judgment. Meanwhile, I may venture to affirm 
 that in this his last labour, which he commenced, pur- 
 sued, and closed, with so much unmingled pleasure, 
 his main objects were to promote the glory of God, 
 and the good of man ; to detect the correspondences 
 and affinities which subsist in many points between 
 the works of Nature, the movements of Providence, 
 and the riches of Divine Grace ; to trace the characters 
 of the principal writers of the Psalms, and as far as 
 possible to unfold the circumstances in which they 
 composed those touching and instructive odes ; and to 
 shew, especially, with regard to David, not simply how 
 he should be viewed as a Monarch and a Prophet, but 
 how he should be appreciated as a lover of Nature, 
 whose spacious and outspread volume "formed his 
 daily and delightful study : he pored over it with 
 the eye of a painter, as he copied it with the pen of a 
 poet, and coloured it with the warmth of a devout 
 heart." 
 
 On comparing the Dissertation and Notes which 
 accompany this Translation of the Psalms, with those 
 which are published with Dr. Good's Translation of the 
 Book of Job, we perceive a great difference, not in 
 point of talent, but in reference to the simple exhibition 
 of devout sentiment. In the former there is much 
 learning, much research, and some display: in the 
 latter, also, the learning and research are equally 
 evident ; but they are evinced in their results, not in 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 333 
 
 the effort of the author ; whose intellect seems absorbed 
 while his devotion is enkindled by the holy inspiration 
 of the sublime compositions, to which his best feelings 
 were so long enchained. Hence, I think it will be 
 found that though the fancy has sometimes predomi- 
 nated in sketching the historij of the several psalms, 
 yet, with regard to fixing the precise meaning of the 
 text, a more uniform sobriety of interpretation prevails 
 than in any of our author's previous attempts as a 
 sacred commentator. This peculiarity will demand 
 and receive a commensurate share of the public confi- 
 dence and esteem. 
 
 The analysis, interspersed with copious, and I hope 
 instructive extracts, which has thus been presented, of 
 the most important of Dr. Good's publications, and 
 other completed works, will render it unnecessary for 
 me to attempt an elaborate delineation of his intel- 
 lectual character. 
 
 The leading faculty was that of acquisition, which 
 he possessed in a remarkable measure, and which was 
 constantly employed from the earliest age, in augment- 
 ing his mental stores. United with this, were the 
 faculties of retention, of orderly arrangement, and of 
 fruitful and diversified combination. If genius be 
 rightly termed "the power of making new combina- 
 tions pleasing or elevating to the mind, or useful to 
 mankind," he possessed it in a high degree. He was 
 always fertile in the production of new trains of 
 thought, new selections and groupings of imagery, new 
 
334 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OP 
 
 expedients for the extension of human good. But if 
 o-enius be restricted to " the power of discovery or of 
 creative invention/' whether in philosophy or the arts, 
 they who have most closely examined Dr. Good's works 
 will be least inclined to claim for him that distinction. 
 Be this, however, as it may, there can be no question 
 that his intellectual powers were of the first order, 
 that, in the main, they were nicely equipoised, and that 
 he could exercise them with an unusual buoyancy and 
 elasticity. His memory was very extraordinary ; 
 doubtless much aided by the habits of arrangement, 
 so firmly established, as the reader will recollect, by 
 sedulous parental instruction. His early acquired 
 fondness for classical and elegant literature, laid his 
 youthful fancy open to the liveliest impressions, and 
 made him draw 
 
 " The inspiring breath of ancient arts, 
 
 and tread the sacred walks, 
 
 Where, at each step, imagination burns :" 
 
 and this, undoubtedly, again aided his memory ; the 
 pictures being reproduced by constant warmth of feel- 
 ing. The facility with which on all occasions (as I 
 have probably before remarked) he could recall and 
 relate detached and insulated facts, was peculiarly 
 attractive and not less useful. But the reason is very 
 obvious. However diverse, and even exuberant, the 
 stores of his knowledge often appeared, the whole were 
 methodized and connected together in his memory by 
 principles of association that flowed from the real 
 nature of things ; in other words, philosophical prin- 
 ciples, by means of which the particular truths are 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 335 
 
 classified in order under the general heads to which 
 they really belong ; serving effectually to endow the 
 mind that thoroughly comprehends the principles with 
 an extensive command over those particular truths, 
 whatever be their variety or their importance. 
 
 With the mathematical sciences he was almost en- 
 tirely unacquainted ; but, making this exception, there 
 was scarcely a region of human knowledge which he 
 had not entered, and but few, indeed, into which he 
 had not made considerable advances ; and wherever 
 he found an entrance, there he retained a permanent 
 possession ; — for, to the last, he never forgot what he 
 once knew. 
 
 In short — had he published nothing but his "Trans- 
 lation of Lucretius," he would have acquired a high 
 character for free, varied, and elegant versification, for 
 exalted acquisitions as a philosopher and as a linguist, 
 and for singular felicity in the choice and exhibition 
 of materials in a rich store of critical and tasteful 
 illustration. 
 
 Had he published nothing but his " Translation of 
 the Book of Job," he would have obtained an eminent 
 station amongst Hebrew^ scholars, and the promoters 
 of biblical criticism. 
 
 And, had he published nothing but his " Study of 
 Medicine," his name would, in the opinion of one of his 
 ablest professional correspondents, have "gone down 
 to posterity, associated with the science of medicine 
 itself, as one of its most skilful practitioners, and one 
 of its most learned promoters." 
 
 I know not how to name another individual who has 
 arrived at equal eminence in three such totally distinct 
 departments of mental application. Let this be duly 
 
336 ACCOUNT OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 weighed in connexion with the marked inadequacy of 
 his early education (notwithstanding its peculiar ad- 
 vantages in some respects) to form either a scientific 
 and skilful medical practitioner, or an excellent scholar, 
 and there cannot but result a high estimate of the 
 original powers with which he was endowed, and of 
 the inextinguishable ardour with which, through life, 
 he augmented their energy and enlarged their sphere 
 of action. 
 
SECTION III. 
 
 A DEVELOPEMENT OF DR. GOOD'S RELIGIOUS CHARACTER, ILLUS- 
 TRATED BY EXTRACTS FROM HIS LETTERS, AND HIS OWN UNPUB- 
 LISHED WRITINGS. 
 
 If, in a country excursion, we meet a peasant, and 
 are told that he is a hearty eater, an active walker, 
 and a sound sleeper, we receive the information with 
 the same indifference as we should if it were given 
 relative to a horse, or other animal, that was passing 
 at the same moment ; but if, in addition, we are in- 
 formed that this peasant has written elegant poetry, or 
 composed some beautiful music, or translated several 
 of Horace's odes, or made himself master of the theory 
 of astronomy, we gaze upon him with a very different 
 interest. And why is this, but because we find that 
 instead of spending his life in merely exercising the 
 functions of the body, or indulging the appetites and 
 senses, he has learnt to exercise the intellectual facul- 
 ties? The obvious superiority of the mind to the 
 body, accounts for our deeper interest in the supposed 
 case ; and, in like manner, for the solicitude with 
 which we commonly listen to relations of the habits, 
 the peculiarities, the general appearance, and the dispo- 
 sition, as well as the mode of study, of those who have 
 become distinguished for literary or scientific know- 
 ledge. This is all well, as far as it goes ; but unless it 
 advance one step farther, it is sadly defective, notwith- 
 z 
 
338 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 standing. When we recognize the distinction between 
 the body and the mind, and mark the inferiority of the 
 former, the superiority of the latter, have we done 
 every thing that philosophy, or even common sense, 
 requires ; why have we neglected to bring into our 
 estimate that essence of " the Divinity that stirs within 
 us ;" that awful all-pervading sentiment, which, inde- 
 pendently of our own spontaneity, nay, in spite of it, 
 intermingles the " longing after immortality" with the 
 dread of futurity ; that which makes a man/eeZ, let him 
 acknowledge it or not, that " he shall give an account 
 of the deeds done in the body, whether they he good or 
 evil?" The distinction between the faculties of man as 
 an accountable being, and his attributes as an intellec- 
 tual being, is as palpable, and as difficult to be evaded 
 by inquirers who deal fairly with themselves and 
 with their species, as the distinction between mind 
 and matter, or the active energy of thought, and the 
 inertia of a stone. Let the veriest sceptic attempt to 
 reduce the power of conscience, for example, to a mere 
 intellectual principle, that shall have no reference to a 
 Supreme Governor and the universal Judge, and he 
 will find it as impossible as to refer the phenomena of 
 the tides to the force of imagination, or those of an 
 eclipse to the creative speculations of a man of 
 genius. 
 
 Man is as certainly a creature endowed with moral 
 responsibility, as he is a being possessed of a body to 
 be moved, and a mind to regulate the motions by its 
 own volition. He is constituted to be a religious 
 being; it is his grand distinction, and all around 
 him, duly used, and contemplated with a right mind, 
 invites him to it. Wherever we turn our eyes,— to the 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 339 
 
 heavens, to the earth, to the seas, to the worlds above 
 us, to the worlds beneath, to the myriads of beings 
 animate and inanimate, which surround us, to the worlds 
 beyond our ken, to which the imagination makes its 
 excursions, to the world within, where our soberest and 
 deepest thoughts are sometimes drawn, " above, about, 
 and underneath" we behold, with an evidence that 
 stifles all doubt, that God exists, exists to rule, and 
 hence to be obeyed, exists to bless, and therefore to be 
 loved. 
 
 From trains of reasoning differing much from these, 
 but leading to the same result, even Lord Herbert 
 could infer that " there is no man well and entirely in 
 his wits, that doth not worship some deity ;" and that 
 there was less absurdity in admitting there could be 
 " a rational beast, than an irreligious man," the terms 
 of the latter proposition being more repugnant to 
 sound reason than those of the former. If, then, it be 
 impossible to contemplate the nature of man in all the 
 perfection and beauty of which it is susceptible, without 
 adverting to religion ; if the influence of religious prin- 
 ciple render him the wisest, the happiest, and the most 
 useful he is capable of becoming, giving to his intellec- 
 tual faculties an energy, a scope, and an extent of 
 beneficial application, otherwise unknown ; it surely 
 becomes a duty, in attempting to delineate the charac- 
 ter of an individual, to mark upon the portrait the 
 moral and religious as well as the mental features, and 
 thus to exhibit him as he really was, with regard 
 to those constituents of our being which confer the 
 greatest dignity, and excite the liveliest admiration. 
 
 But here, we are especially exposed to difficulties, 
 and beset with prejudices. "The mind, (as Lord 
 z2 
 
340 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 Bacon long ago remarked,) darkened by its covering 
 the body, is far from being a flat, equal, and clear 
 mirror, that receives and reflects the rays without 
 mixture, but rather a magical glass full of superstitions 
 and apparitions." Thus, an omission which one class 
 may regard as blameable, another may applaud ; and 
 consequently the attempt to supply such omission, 
 which to the former class may seem expedient, will 
 probably be regarded by the other as altogether unne- 
 cessary. Yet both classes cannot be right; and a 
 few additional remarks may tend to shew where the 
 error lies. 
 
 With the great mass of mankind, the assumed law 
 of human action is a law of reputation, easily accom- 
 modated to circumstances and character, and very sel- 
 dom indicating a defective measure. The historian 
 Paterculus appealed to that law when he said of the 
 cruel Scipio ^miliaims, that " in the whole course of 
 his life, he neither did, nor said, nor thought, any thing 
 but what was laudable." Hume proved how thoroughly 
 he comprehended the same law, when he defined virtue 
 as consisting "in those mutual actions and qualities 
 that give to a spectator the pleasing sentiment of 
 approbation." And the equally ardent lovers of virtue 
 in the dark ages were quite as correct, when, according 
 to Dr. Robertson, they justified the prevailing custom, 
 for " every person to choose, among the various codes 
 of laws then in force, that to which he was most willing 
 to conform." 
 
 In this age of intellectual and religious illumination, 
 the scales of moral judgment are, too often, equally 
 defective. I need not attempt to sketch the characters 
 of the successful commercial man, the able barrister. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 341 
 
 the skilful physician, the maa of deep and fortunate 
 research, and many others in every profession and 
 every rank, who have passed through the world 
 without raising a serious thought towards their Creator 
 and Preserver, or prescribing to themselves any code 
 of morals except that which accorded most with the 
 modes and fashions of their respective classes, and 
 kept God and his will most out of sight. Yet, who 
 dare censure ? nay, who must not commend ? For 
 whom have they injured ? What law have they broken ? 
 If the case is to be decided by the law of courtesy, or 
 of worldly reputation, who but must praise ? if by the 
 laws of their country, they must stand unimpeached. 
 Still, a thoughtful man may venture notwithstanding, 
 to hint, that there is a law, less fleeting, awfully bind- 
 ing, nobly universal, — the law of Him who is " a dis- 
 cerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart," who 
 demands a surrender of all our faculties and affections 
 to his service, in " whose sight even the heavens are 
 not clean," and before whom something is required 
 which a conformity to the laws of honour, courtesy, 
 and reputation, cannot alone supply. 
 
 Many, I am aware, will try to evade this conclusion, 
 by taking refuge in the current sophism, that " man is 
 not responsible for his opinions." Yet, if it be so, if 
 a human creature is free from all responsibility on 
 account of his opinions, for v/hat is he responsible ? 
 His actions ? But why for them ? Why should man 
 be responsible for an action, when an animal is not ? 
 Obviously, because he has a spring of action which an 
 animal has not ; and is any one who flees to so de- 
 fenceless a refuge, able to demonstrate that this spring, 
 this motive, in no case depends upon opinion ? It is 
 
342 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 possible for an acute disputant to take shelter again 
 under an equivoque ; but let him assign the fair and 
 palpable meaning to the word opinions, in connexion 
 with the occasion for which it was adduced, and this 
 again will fail him. Erroneous opinions with respect 
 to others, evidently influence our behaviour towards 
 them, behaviour which will be open to either praise 
 or censure ; and erroneous opinions with regard 
 to politics, to religion, to the limits of speculation in 
 commerce, have in every age, in almost every nation, 
 been productive of the greatest evils. Did these evils 
 involve no responsibility ? If so, with what semblance 
 of reason could the leaders or the followers in any party, 
 religious or political, blame those of the opposite party 
 for the results of their conduct? The blame (whether 
 it be correctly applied, or the contrary, is not the 
 question,) the blame is meant to be most severe when 
 it is pointed/not at an error of judgment, but at an error 
 in the principles or the opinions (for practically they 
 are the same) from which the censured course of action 
 emanated. Besides, if the proposition here contro- 
 verted were true, what would be the benefit of freedom 
 of inquiry ? If correct and incorrect opinions are 
 equally safe, equally free from blame, equally con- 
 ducive to honour in this world and to happiness in the 
 next, (all of which the proposition implies,) nothing can 
 be more absurd than for a man to waste his time in 
 trying to distinguish one from another. 
 
 Let, however, the inquiry be confined strictly to 
 morals and religion. A youth is of opinion, let it be 
 supposed, that he is able to regulate his own conduct, 
 without regarding the suggestions of his father, as by 
 attending to them. In consequence of this erroneous 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 343 
 
 opinion, he neglects to read a letter of wise and 
 salutary caution, and soon falls into the very vice^ 
 against which the letter was calculated to guard him. 
 Is he not responsible for this ? But, it may be said, he 
 was of opinion that the letter was not actually written 
 by his father, and, therefore, neglected it. Then 
 surely responsibility attaches to him, for not having 
 recourse to the means by which he might ascertain 
 whether the letter was really written and sent by his 
 parent, or was a forgery ; and thus have so decided as 
 to escape those vices. It is enough to hint at the 
 manifest application of this to men whose principles 
 lead them day after day into evil ; who know, notwith- 
 standing, that the Bible demands attention as the 
 record of their Heavenly Father's will, and yet are of 
 opinion that they may go safely through the world, 
 and incur no responsibility, although they never inves- 
 tigate the claims of the Word of God to the veneration 
 which it demands, never acquaint themselves with its 
 contents, never bring themselves under its sanctions, 
 never obey its precepts, never dread the gulf of per- 
 dition which it threatens, never aspire after the regions 
 of bliss to which it invites. 
 
 Once more, to evince the fallacy of this too popular 
 sentiment. Is it not probable, that many persons, 
 when they read or hear that " man is not responsible 
 for his opinions/' may wish to believe it true, from an 
 internal conviction that the loose and faulty opinions 
 upon which they have acted, have either precipitated 
 them into vice, or not operated to preserve them from 
 it ? And may not the wish issue in the actual adop- 
 tion ? Whence proceeded that wish and its result, but 
 from the conviction that they had committed some 
 
344 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 wrong, from the effects of which this sentiment enables 
 them in imagination to escape ? Here, then, the state 
 of the heart, and the felt defects in the conduct, pre- 
 pare the mind for the adoption of an opinion : belief is 
 evidently here a voluntary act ; proving infallibly that, 
 in the case supposed, (and if in that, why not in every 
 other ?) men are responsible for the opinions, or senti- 
 ments, or principles, which they adopt. Let the young-, 
 especially, bear this in their thoughts, before a course 
 of vice, or of simple neglect of duty, make them 
 interested in the rejection of the truth. Let them be 
 assured, that in very many instances they are account- 
 able, even to man, for the actions which grow out of 
 their opinions and sentiments, and in all cases account- 
 able to the Supreme Being for the sentiments them- 
 selves ; that every thing with regard to opinions is 
 important ; that responsibility is incurred by embracing 
 them too hastily, holding them in ignorance,* or re- 
 taining them too long ; that their moment bears a fixed 
 relation to the subjects to which they refer ; and that 
 therefore, those are most momentous which have regard 
 to God, the soul, and eternity : that the highest duty of 
 man is to Him who is " The Highest,"' and the greatest 
 crime, that which is committed against the greatest 
 authority. 
 
 The consideration of these errors has carried me 
 farther than I intended ; but it will not be found en- 
 tirely irrelative to some of the subsequent matter. 
 
 I will now advert to what I am disposed to regard 
 
 * The apostles ascribed the condemnation and crucifixion of the Saviour 
 to the Jewish ignorance of the true sense of their own Scriptures ; Acts iii. 
 17, 18. ; xiii. 27, 28. ; 1 Cor. ii. 8. Yet, they dealt with tliat ignorance as 
 an awful crime, and exhorted them to repent of it; Acts ii. 23. ; iii. 19. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 345 
 
 as a prejudice or mistake on the contrary side. It is 
 often asserted, that medical men are more inclined to 
 indifference in religion, and, in fact, to infidelity, than 
 any other class of men. It would, of course, be diffi- 
 cult, if not impossible, to institute an actual computa- 
 tion ; but if there could, I suspect the result would 
 be, that lawyers, civil engineers, chemists, mathema- 
 ticians, astronomers, commercial men, and, in Germany 
 at least, even theologians^ would supply as great a pro- 
 portion of persons either professedly infidels, or totally 
 indifferent to all religion, as the medical profession. 
 The principal reason in each and all is the same. The 
 mind, while left to itself, is so completely absorbed in 
 its selected pursuit, whether it be of literature, 
 science, or business, as to have neither time nor in- 
 clination to turn to so serious a concern as that of 
 religion. If a few short intervals of leisure can be 
 stolen from such incessant occupation, what can be 
 so salutary, and what so harmless, as in those brief 
 moments to avoid every thing gloomy, and allow the 
 intellect and soul to expatiate in the regions of con- 
 viviality and pleasure ? Thus, amid the uninterrupted 
 alternations of employment and hilarity, no space 
 being appropriated to the most interesting as well as 
 elevated of all topics, it is altogether neglected ; a fleeting 
 consciousness of the neglect, intermingled too often, 
 we may fear, with a persuasion (which cannot with 
 the utmost efibrt be entirely shut out) that sin has 
 been actually committed, as well as a binding duty 
 omitted, by a natural process renders the mind eager 
 to escape from itself into the regions of uncertainty, 
 indifference, and, it may be, scepticism. Slight 
 modifications in the causes will produce commensurate 
 
346 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 variations in the effects ; but the general result will, I 
 apprehend, be nearly the same with regard to all the 
 specified classes. Literary and scientific men will 
 evidently be tempted more often to announce their 
 scepticism, where it exists, than men engrossed in 
 commercial pursuits ; and thus it may incorrectly be 
 inferred to prevail more in those classes than in the 
 latter. Medical men, intermingling more with general 
 society, from their professional vocation, will again, on 
 that account, be farther exposed to the charge than 
 even others who have enjoyed a scientific education : yet 
 I apprehend scarcely any real difference will be found ; 
 or, if there should, that it is at once imputable to the 
 dissolute habits indulged by many young persons of 
 that profession during their attendance at the hos- 
 pitals, remote from parental watchfulness, and free 
 from the restraints of moral discipline. The latter 
 source of evil will, it is hoped, be nearly extinguished 
 in a few years ; in consequence of the great improve- 
 ments rapidly making in every department of medical 
 education, and the strong desire evinced by several 
 eminent men, that there should be incorporated with 
 the habits of study, such rules as shall best ensure the 
 professional benefits, while they most efl'ectually check 
 the contamination of loose principles. 
 
 Another fallacy in judgment, to which I must briefly 
 advert, since it is applicable to the main object of the 
 present section of these memoirs, is that which induces 
 many to aflirm, or, at least, to assume, whether they 
 assert it or not, that changes of sentiment on any great 
 political or religious question imply a want of genuine 
 principle. That such changes often result from a 
 defect in principle, or inconsideration, or in both, there 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 847 
 
 can be no question : but that they, at least, as fre- 
 quently flow from the operation of intellectual or moral 
 causes, to which no blame can be justly imputed, is 
 equally unquestionable. And probably many more 
 such changes would occur, and would be openly an- 
 nounced, were men more true to themselves, more 
 resolved to obey the dictates of their conscience, and 
 to pursue to their legitimate conclusions, in principle 
 and in practice, those important trains of thought 
 relative to topics of highest interest, which often sug- 
 gest themselves spontaneously, and which they can 
 only extinguish by doing violence to their best feelings, 
 at the beck of some sordid and secondary motive. 
 That cannot be a right rule of judgment, which would 
 universally make the notions acquired in early life, 
 resulting quite as often from accident or prejudice, as 
 from judicious intellectual culture, the standard of 
 action through the whole course of human existence ; 
 which would, for example, cast blame upon Luther for 
 not always remaining a papist, because at the com- 
 mencement of his career of reformation he had violently 
 professed himself such;* and would equally commend 
 Erasmus, having once declared himself a Roman 
 Catholic, for remaining one to the end of his life, 
 although he again and again poured the whole torrent 
 
 * " Let the reader know (says he) that I was formerly a monk, and that 
 when I engaged in tlie cause of Reformation, I was a most frantic papist 
 (papistam insanissimum ; ) so intoxicated, nay, so drenched in the dogmas 
 of the pope, that I was quite ready to put to death, had I been able, or to 
 co-operate with those who would have put to death, persons who refused 
 obedience to the pope in any single article. Thus, I was not ice and 
 frigidity in defending the papacy, like Eckius and his associates, who 
 appeared to me to act more from self-interest than from conviction. Even 
 to this day they seem to me to do the same, and to make a mockery of the 
 pope. I, on the other hand, was thorouglily in earnest." — Luther s Pre- 
 face to his Works. 
 
348 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 of his ridicule upon Romish superstitions, and levelled 
 his severest censures against papal tyranny. 
 
 On all such occasions, it is highly desirable that 
 our judgment should be regulated by the suggestions 
 of liberality and candour, and that we should not blame 
 merely because an individual has quitted the party to 
 which we might have attached ourselves : recollecting 
 that the party he joins may be fully as much inclined 
 to commend as we are to blame ; and that if either the 
 censure or the commendation be directed to the mere 
 change, without having endeavoured to ascertain, and 
 free from prejudice to appreciate, the real motives 
 which effected it, they who indulge in such hastily 
 formed sentences of condemnation or acquittal may be 
 more culpable than the persons whose conduct they 
 undertake to judge. It ought also to be recollected, 
 that though the decisive step which marks the ultimate 
 issue in a change of sentiments, may by its suddenness 
 excite surprise and enkindle doubts, among those who 
 know nothing of the mental or conscientious process 
 which has really been going on ; it may, notwithstand- 
 ing, have been conducted with the utmost circumspec- 
 tion, the successive steps may have been taken with 
 the most laudable deliberation, often, too, accompanied 
 by very painful struggles at the disruption of old 
 associations, which prejudice, affection, and time, may 
 have alike contributed to strengthen. " Each mind 
 (says one of our most profound moral writers*) 
 possesses in its interior mansions a solemn retired 
 apartment peculiarly its own, into which none but 
 himself and the Divinity can enter. In this retired 
 place, the passions mingle and fluctuate in unknown 
 * Foster, Essay on a Man's writing Memoirs of Himself. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 349 
 
 agitations." When the man comes forth from this 
 retirement, to render palpable to the world the result 
 of his converse with himself, and, it may be, with his 
 God, must we of necessity censure, because the course 
 of his proceedings is diflferent from what it formerly 
 was? 
 
 One great evil of this fallacious judgment, especially 
 since it prevails so extensively, is, that it tends to 
 check the spontaneous operations of the mind, to 
 stifle all honest inquiry ; and tempts the young and 
 the timid rather to continue satisfied with their present 
 notions, however crude, or even dubious, than run the 
 risk of odium, by so cautiously scrutinizing opposed 
 sentiments and maxims, as to feel themselves com- 
 pelled to adopt new principles of action, and evince 
 their energy by corresponding conduct. 
 
 It tends, moreover, to deprive a man of all the 
 advantage which accrues from experience. He may 
 watch the unfolding of events, the vicissitudes of 
 nations, the destruction of old systems of law and 
 government, the establishment of others totally new, 
 the unprecedented diffusion of intellectual and religious 
 knowledge, the rapid growth and extent of missionary 
 exertions, and may trace some of the providential 
 arrangements from which all these have emanated ; 
 yet he must, nevertheless, remain what he was, or 
 expose himself to censure for not pretending to be, 
 what none but God can be, — immutable. 
 
 I shall not be understood to countenance or to pal- 
 liate thoughtless and hasty, much less unprincipled, 
 modifications of sentiment or action ; such as evidently 
 spring from love of wealth, or of fame, or of power, from 
 an unreasonable dread of the current terms of reproach. 
 
350 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 from that " fear of man which bringeth a snare :" I 
 have simply meant to expose and deplore a mistaken 
 rule of judgment, the evil effects of which I have often 
 observed. No thinking man is the same, in point of 
 intellect, at sixty years of age, as he was at forty, or 
 at twenty ; nor probably will he have remained the 
 same in point of moral conduct, the minor topics of 
 religious sentiment, the manifestations of devotion, or 
 the actual state of his own heart. Why should a 
 spurious moral rule be permitted to check the acknow- 
 ledgment of the intervening changes? Why should 
 we not rather, in all cases, where in the judgment of 
 charity there is reason to believe they have resulted 
 from honest and honourable motives, be solicitous to 
 trace the real sources from which they have sprung,* 
 
 * One of the most instructive portions of one of our most valuable pieces 
 of auto-biography, Richard Baxter's " Narrative of his Life (Did Times" 
 is that in which he minutely developes, with remarkable frankness and 
 honesty, several changes in his own views, with regard to disputation, matters 
 of opinion as distinguished from matters of faith, modes of preaching, differ- 
 ent degrees of moral and religious certainty, zeal for the conversion of the 
 heathen, &c. between his early manhood and old age. One short passage, 
 in illustration of his manner and his spirit, to those who are not acquainted 
 with his writings, I will here insert. " I do not lay so great a stress upon 
 the external modes and forms of worship as many young professors do. I 
 have suspected myself, as perhaps the reader may do, that this is from a 
 cooling and declining from my former zeal, (though the truth is, I never much 
 complied with men of that mind :) but I find ih'aX judgment and charity are 
 the causes of it, as far as I am able to discover. I cannot be so narrow in 
 my principles of church-communion as many are — that are so much for a 
 liturgy, or so much against it, so much for ceremonies, or so much against 
 them, that they can hold communion with no church that is not of their 
 mind and way. If I were among the Greeks, the Lutlierans, the Indepen- 
 dents, yea, the Anabaptists, (that own no heresy, nor set themselves against 
 charity and peace,) I would hold sometimes occasional communion with 
 them as Christians, (if they will give me leave, without forcing me to any 
 sinful subscription or action.) Though my most usual communion should 
 be with that society which I thought most agreeable to the word of God, if 
 I were free to choose. I cannot be of their opinion, tliat think God will not 
 accept hmi that prayeth by the Common Prayer Book, and that such forms 
 are a self-invented worsliip which God rejecteth : nor can I be of their mind, 
 that say the like of extemporary prayers." — Life, p. 133, folio edition. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 351 
 
 and thus to enlarge that truly valuable department 
 of knowledge, the knowledge of man ? 
 
 But the reader will probably thmk it more than time 
 that 1 should close these preliminary discussions, and 
 proceed to the main object of this section. 
 
 The Rev. Peter Good, I have long ago remarked, 
 was a man of extensive information, and of exemplary 
 character, communicating to his sons the rudiments 
 of a sound and useful education, training them to 
 habits of order, and by example as well as precept 
 inviting them to the practice of piety. So far as I can 
 ascertain, from the opinions of those who knew him, 
 and from many of his private papers which I have 
 carefully examined, I should regard him as a man of 
 correct religious sentiments, according to the evan- 
 gelical interpretation of the plan of salvation. Yet 
 I suspect that both he and his estimable relative, 
 Mr. Mason, thought less seriously of the consequences 
 of erroneous speculation in reference to matters of faiths 
 than a due consideration of the nature of man as a 
 fallen creature, or the history of man as an erring 
 creature, will warrant.* 
 
 * " Belief worketh : belief of any thing vvorketh : belief of a part of 
 Christianity worketh a partial conformity to Christianity ; and belief of the 
 whole worketh universal obedience. . . . Nothing is more common than for 
 men to form gross notions of God, and of Christian doctrine ; and as surely 
 as they do form them, they act agreeably to their notions. All truths have a 
 worth ; but the truths of religion are the first in value, and ought to be the 
 first in rank. The gospel is truth and virtue struggling against error and 
 vice. . . . That false doctrine doth Iiarm, cannot be doubted. It hath hurt 
 the bodies, the understandings, the consciences, and the tempers, of mankind : 
 it hath injured the reputation, the property, the peace, the lives and liberties, 
 of thousands. It hath suppressed genius, perverted government : what evil 
 hath it not done Y'—R. Robinson. 
 
352 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 John Mason Good, on quitting the residence near 
 his father at Havant, (p. 20.) to seek professional 
 advantages in London, and afterwards to settle at 
 Sudbury, felt a high respect for religion and religious 
 men, and expressed a decided belief in the genuineness 
 and divine authority of the scriptures ; but with very 
 inadequate notions of ths importance of correct religious 
 sentiment. The ardour with which he went through his 
 medical engagements, and the avidity with which he 
 divided his hours of leisure between the contending 
 fascinations of literature and of society, left scarcely 
 any space into which the concerns of eternity could 
 enter. He was busy and happy, respected in his pro- 
 fessional capacity, and esteemed in private life ; but 
 he lived, it is to be feared, without "God in the world." 
 Disinclined, however, from joining the ranks of infide- 
 lity, then most numerously occupied, he continued to 
 avow his belief in the holy scriptures, and in a manu- 
 script essay, still extant, descanted in favour of the 
 Credibility of Revelation, and refuted some of the 
 popular objections. Thus, with regard to the objec- 
 tion of the leading infidels at the beginning of the 
 eighteenth century, that the christian religion wanted 
 universality, being totally restricted to some particular 
 countries, and therefore came not from " the God of the 
 whole earth," he presents these observations : — 
 
 "That without such an universal communication, 
 there must be an infinite distance subsisting between 
 man and man, is most obvious. But it is a diflerence 
 which equally subsists through other departments of 
 the present life ; and which the most superficial obser- 
 vation must discover. Why is one man endowed 
 with the utmost luxuriance of health and self-enjoy- 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 353 
 
 ment, while his nearest neighbour, perhaps, languishes 
 beneath the most wretched existence from the cradle 
 to the grave ? Whence this infinite partiality and dis- 
 proportion in the dispensation of riches, talents, and 
 domestic felicity ? Why, in efl'ect, was the world at 
 large created in the manner in which we find it ? The 
 Laplander enjoys not the delights of an Italian sky, 
 nor the swarthy African the temperate breezes of the 
 north. The shores of Sicily are visited with earth- 
 quakes and volcanoes ; and those of Jamaica and the 
 other West Indian islands with the most tremendous 
 hurricanes and whirlwinds. The wisdom, the liberties, 
 and the elegancies of Greece, have for ever fled from 
 the Archipelago, and the once barbarous cliffs of 
 Britain have received and cultivated them with suc- 
 cess. Whence these immense differences and inequa- 
 lities ? Why, in this manner, are some nations, with- 
 out any superior merit of their own, admitted to the 
 enjoyment of the happiest climates and political advan- 
 tages, while millions of their fellow-creatures, of equal 
 original desert, are for ever excluded from the partici- 
 pation ? 
 
 "That such differences exist, is one of the most 
 obvious facts in nature : and that the Author of them 
 is infinitely wise and beneficent, is certain to a demon- 
 stration. But if they be thus producible by a Being 
 of such infinite perfections, in every other instance, — 
 why should we deem them incapable of being produced 
 in the single instance of the promulgation of an imme- 
 diate revelation from heaven? There are mysteries, 
 even in nature, which we cannot investigate, paradoxes 
 which we can never resolve : and if we expect to find 
 fewer in religion, in the relation which subsists between 
 2a 
 
354 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 the Creator and his creatures, we huve indeed but little 
 pursued such kinds of studies, and must, in a thousand 
 instances, find ourselves perplexed and disappointed." 
 
 At this time, much as he might admire the general 
 system of revelation, and acutely as he could defend it 
 against objectors, he sought not for tranquillity and 
 bliss in the way which it prescribes. In an essay 
 " On Happiness," composed about the same period, he 
 reasons himself very elaborately into the persuasion 
 that there is an intimate connexion *' between morals 
 and natural philosophy ;" that " the same spark that 
 shoots through the mind the ray of science and infor- 
 mation, diffuses through the heart the softer energies 
 of nature ;" and he thus exhibits the final issue of the 
 momentous inquiry : 
 
 " From such considerations as these, then, it results 
 that he is pursuing the most probable path to human 
 felicity, w^ho, blest by nature with a soul moderately 
 alive to the social affections, and an understanding 
 that elevates him above the prejudices and passions 
 of the ignorant, cultivates with a sedulous attention 
 the one, that he may best enjoy the capacities of the 
 other." 
 
 With these views as to the nature of happiness, and 
 the best mode of ensuring it ; with a decided avowal, 
 moreover, of the system of materialism, and that of the 
 Universalists with respect to future punishment, he 
 selected for his principal associates some gentlemen 
 who professed their belief in the doctrines of modern 
 Socinianism. He continued associated with them dur- 
 ing the last two or three years of his residence at 
 Sudbury ; and on his removal to London, in 1793, he 
 joined one of the most celebrated congregations of that 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 355 
 
 persuasion in the metropolis, with which he remained 
 connected until the beginning of the year 1807. 
 
 Mr. Good's unequivocal adoption of Socinian senti- 
 ments occasioned great uneasiness to his father, as 
 well as to some of his near relatives at Sudbury ; and 
 few besides the youngest readers of these memoirs 
 will need to be told that this uneasiness sprung from 
 sober consideration, and not from prejudice. For, if, 
 as has been remarked, after a cautious induction of 
 particulars, by one of the most elaborate investigators 
 of the moral tendencies of that system which rejects 
 the Deity and atonement of Christ, — " if it be un- 
 friendly to the conversion of sinners to a life of holi- 
 ness, and of professed unbelievers to faith in Christ ; 
 if it be a system which irreligious men are the first, 
 and serious Christians the last, to embrace ; if it be 
 found to relax the obligations to virtuous aifection and 
 behaviour, by relaxing the great standard of virtue 
 itself; if it promote neither love to God under his true 
 character, nor benevolence to men, as it is exemplified 
 in the spirit of Christ and his apostles ; if it lead those 
 who embrace it to be wise in their own eyes, and in- 
 stead of humbly deprecating God's righteous displea- 
 sure, even in their dying moments, arrogantly to chal- 
 lenge his justice ; if the charity which it inculcates be 
 founded on an indiiference to divine truth ; if it be 
 inconsistent with an ardent love of Christ, and venera- 
 tion for the holy scriptures ; if the happiness which it 
 promotes be at variance with the joy of the gospel ; 
 and, finally, if it diminish the motives to gratitude, 
 obedience, and heavenly-mindedness, and have a natu- 
 ral tendency to infidelity, it must be an immoral sys- 
 tem, and consequently not of God. It is not the 
 2 a2 
 
356 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 gospel of Christ, but another gospel. Those who preach 
 it, preach another Jesus, whom the apostles did not 
 preach ; and those who receive it, too frequently receive 
 another spirit, which they never imbibed. It is not the 
 light which cometh from above, but a cloud of dark- 
 ness. It is not the highway of truth, which is a way 
 of holiness, but a by-path of error, which misleads the 
 unwary traveller; and of which, as we value our 
 immortal interests, it becomes us to beware."* 
 
 Yet, happily, Mr. Good was to a great extent pre- 
 served from the worst tendencies of this system. He 
 was too learned and too honest ever to affirm that the 
 belief of the Divinity and atonement of our Lord was 
 unknown in the purest age of the church, but was en- 
 gendered among other corruptions by false philosophy ; 
 and he had uniformly too great a regard for the scrip- 
 tures of the New Testament, to assert that the apostles 
 indulged in far-fetched reasoning, or made use of a 
 Greek word, (^otoycj'jjc,) which conveyed an erroneous 
 notion, from want of knowledge of the term they ought 
 to have employed : he never contended that St. Paul 
 did not mean to teach the doctrine of the resurrection of 
 the body in the fifteenth chapter of the first Epistle to 
 the Corinthians ; never sported the pernicious sophism 
 that "where mystery begins religion ends." Being 
 " buried alive" in occupations, and immersed in vexa- 
 tions of no ordinary occurrence, he did not commune 
 frequently with his own heart, and too naturally sunk 
 into a lamentable indifference to religion, at least, if 
 that word correctly imply "converse with God;" but 
 he never evinced indifference to truth and rectitude, nor 
 
 * Fuller's "Calvinistic and Socinian Systems compared as to their 
 Moral Tendency." 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 357 
 
 ever, I believe, became involved in the more awful 
 perplexities of scepticism. 
 
 Indeed, the Bible was always with him a favourite 
 book; though for many years, it is to be feared, he 
 turned to it rather as a source of literary amusement, 
 or of critical speculation, than for any higher purposes. 
 After his death there was found an interleaved Pocket 
 Bible, bound in two volumes, in which he often entered 
 notes and observations. This interesting relic is now 
 in my possession. The annotations are very nume- 
 rous, and by the variations in the hand-writing, and 
 the appearance of the ink, mark with sufficient accu- 
 racy the dates of their insertion, from 1790, when they 
 were commenced, until about 1824, when he found the 
 type in which the Bible is printed, too small for him to 
 continue reading it with comfort. These notes present 
 decisive proofs of the nature of his sentiments in dif- 
 ferent periods of his life ; and in some cases mark his 
 solicitude in later age to correct the errors of the 
 season of speculation and thoughtlessness. I shall, 
 therefore, as I proceed, select a few quotations. 
 
 " Psalm xcix. 1. 'He sitteth between the cherubims.' 
 To the Jupiter of the Greek and Roman poets were 
 assigned a chariot and horses of thunder — probably 
 from the resemblance between the noise of the last and 
 the rattling of the first. A similar fable, Michaelis 
 observes, is to be noticed among the Hebrews, and 
 the cherubims are expressly the horses of Jehovah's 
 chariot." Written probably about 1792. 
 
 "Joshua vi. 5 — 20. This description of the storming 
 of Jericho, stript of poetical imagery, appears to be 
 nothing more than is consistent with the nature of com- 
 mon occurrences. In these and the connected verses. 
 
358 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 a kind of siege is represented in the first place by the 
 encircling of the Israelites — and this encircling might 
 have been intended to produce some such effect 
 as the modern line of circumvallation : — at length the 
 sound of the trumpets and the shouting of the people 
 formed the signal for a general attack. In conse- 
 quence of which assault, the place was taken by 
 storm, and the walls were destroyed. The books of 
 Joshua and Judges are full of these poetical exaggera- 
 tions, agreeably to the spirit of the people to which 
 they relate." 
 
 Again, "Joshua x. 12, 13. By the standing still of 
 the sun and the moon, no more is probably meant than 
 that the battle began early in the morning, and was 
 continued till late at night, after the moon was risen. 
 It is not improbable that, in the ardour of pursuit, 
 Joshua might utter a wish that the day were length- 
 ened, to give him an opportunity of completing the 
 advantage he had gained over his enemies : if he did 
 this — if the evening were remarkably light, and followed 
 by a storm of hail and thunder, by which the enemy 
 was thrown into farther confusion — what would be 
 more natural, in a song of triumph, than to represent 
 this day of victory as exceeding others in length, as 
 well as celebrity? and the hero, as retarding the sun 
 and moon in their course, and having storms and tem- 
 pests at his command ?" 
 
 These seem to have been written before the annotator 
 became acquainted with Dr. Geddes, and they cer- 
 tainly are not sketched with the boldness with which 
 that learned individual proposed his explications of the 
 Hebrew narratives. Such attempts to evade, by irra- 
 tional conjectures, the necessity of imputing the extra- 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 359 
 
 ordinary nature of the events described to supernatu- 
 ral intervention, are certainly unworthy of serious refu- 
 tation. They are ascribed, by Mr. Good, to a German 
 critic, /. G. Herder. It is gratifying to observe that 
 nothing- of equal looseness and puerility presents itself 
 among the remaining notes. 
 
 Shortly after the date of the preceding, the notes 
 became of a more instructive kind, exhibiting brief 
 accounts of the author, epoch, and scope of the several 
 books, evidences of their authenticity, characteristics 
 of the style and manner of the different writers, &c. 
 together with new translations and concise explications 
 of different texts. A few of the latter are subjoined. 
 
 "Psalm ii. 12. *Kiss the Son:' — The allusion is to 
 the practice of the heathen and idolatrous nations 
 around them, among whom the worshippers were accus- 
 tomed to kiss their images as a proof of fervent and 
 solemn devotion. Hosea refers to this, chap. xiii. 2. 
 Cicero mentions a brazen statue at Agrigentum, worn 
 down in the features of the mouth by the frequent kiss- 
 ing of the multitude. — See Parkhurst, pl^'a, p. 473."* 
 
 '• Psalm cxxxix, 15. 'When I was wrought with a 
 needle in the depths of the earth.' This is a proof, with 
 many others, of the frequency of the allusion, among 
 the Hebrews, to the sacerdotal robes. See Exodus 
 xxviii. 2. And hence the frequent allusions to them 
 which we meet with in the sacred poetry. Isa.Ixi. 10, &c. 
 The undescribable texture of the human system is, 
 
 * To adore is literally to lift the hand to the month, and the heathens 
 expressed their devotion in this way, as well as that specified above. Tlius, 
 in Minutius Felix, "CceciUus, simulacro Serapidis denotato, ut vulgus 
 superstitiosus solet, manum ori admovens, osculum labiis pressit." " Caci- 
 lius observed an image of Serapis, and having raised his hand to his mouth, 
 like one of the superstitious vulgar, he kissed it." This practice is obviously 
 alluded to, in Job xxxi. 26, 27, 28. 
 
360 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 therefore, with much propriety compared to the ex- 
 quisite needle-work of the high priest's vestments." 
 
 " Ruth iv. 7. In the Chaldee paraphrase * plucked 
 off his glove.' Among all the Eastern nations it is 
 customary in their sales and deliveries of lands and 
 goods, &c. to pull off a glove, and give it to the pur- 
 chaser, by way of investiture or livery. Hence the 
 practice, in the feudal times, of throwing a glove on the 
 part of the person giving a challenge. The king's 
 champion, on his coronation, still casts his glove in 
 Westminster Hall." 
 
 "Psalm cviii. 9. 'Will I cast out my shoe;' ac- 
 cording to the Rabbins, *my glove :' i. e. I have made a 
 vow, or am bound to conflict with them." 
 
 "2 Sam. i. 18. The book of Jasher, here mentioned, 
 is only quoted in one other place. Josh. x. 13. where 
 the quotation is likewise evidently poetical, and forms 
 three distichs. The world Jasher implies a song, or 
 singing ; thus, ar jashir MosJieh, * then sung Moses :' 
 so that it is probable this book was a collection of 
 sacred hymns, composed at different times, and on dif- 
 ferent occasions. 
 
 " ni^^p means a bow ; but it means as well the action 
 of the instrument as the instrument itself, and this in a 
 figurative as well as a literal sense, ' ejaculation, flight, 
 sally.' 'Also he bade them teach the children of 
 Israel the ejaculation (flight or sally ;) behold it is writ- 
 ten,' &c." 
 
 " Luke xiii. 24. ' Will seek to enter in, and shall not 
 be able.' This rendering seems to contradict Luke 
 xi. 9. ' Seek and ye shall find,' as also the entire spirit 
 of the gospel. Let the verse be connected with the 
 ensuing, without a stop, and the difficulty is removed. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 361 
 
 — * Shall not be able when once the master of the house 
 is risen up, and hath shut to the door.' " 
 
 During much of the time that Mr. Good professed 
 Socinianism, his mind (he has informed me) was not at 
 ease. Early recollections of the fruits of better senti- 
 ments often assailed him; but his numerous engage- 
 ments, and the delights of the literary society into 
 which he was introduced soon after his removal to 
 London, enabled him in great measure to stifle convic- 
 tion, and to glide along upon the stream with external 
 gaiety, not always, alas ! accompanied with internal 
 serenity. Happily, however, he was exposed to other 
 influences, and especially to the domestic influence of 
 one whose affection, consistency, and discretion in re- 
 ference to her own sentiments, operated permanently, 
 and with great energy, though almost unconsciously to 
 himself, in leading him to the right path. This, toge- 
 ther with the deportment of the Socinians with regard 
 to religion, their obvious want of fairness in conducting 
 many of their arguments, their intellectual pride, and 
 the sceptical turn of mind manifested by some of them, 
 tended considerably to produce the desired change. 
 To the eiFect of these were added several trying pro- 
 vidential dispensations known to his friends ; and others, 
 doubtless, known only to the great Searcher of hearts ; 
 and combined with all, that Divine energy which gave 
 to each its operation, and caused conversations, medi- 
 tations, events, so to " work together for good," that 
 he who had long wandered was brought back, and most 
 cordially adopted the language, " Return unto thy rest, 
 O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with 
 thee r 
 
 "When you are weigliiiig things in the balance. 
 
362 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 (remarks good old Baxter) you may add grain after 
 grain, and it makes no turning or motion at all, till you 
 come to the very last grain, and then suddenly that end 
 which was downward is turned upward. When you 
 stand at a loss between two high ways, not knowing 
 which way to go, as long as you are deliberate you 
 stand still : all the reasons that come into your mind 
 do not stir you : but the last reason which resolves 
 you setteth you in motion. So is it (most often) in the 
 change of a sinner's heart and life : he is not changed 
 (but preparing towards it) while he is but deliberating 
 whether he should choose Christ or the world ? But 
 the last reason that comes in and determineth his will 
 to Christ, and makes him resolve and enter a firm 
 covenant with him, this maketh the greatest change 
 that ever is made by any work in the world. For, how 
 can there be a greater than the turning of a soul from 
 the creature to the Creator ? so distant are the terms 
 of this change. After this one turning act, Christ hath 
 that heart, and the main bent and endeavours of the 
 life, which the world had before. The man hath a 
 new end, a new rule, a new guide, and a new 
 master."* 
 
 With Mr. Good, it was very evident that the under- 
 standing was entirely convinced, long before the heart 
 was transformed. The same degree of communicated 
 influence does not so tnanifestly stimulate some dis- 
 positions as it does others, " as the same quantity of 
 fire will not so soon put solid wood into a flame as it 
 will light straw," yet the latter will not glow so much 
 nor retain its heat so long. The precise epoch of the 
 
 * Directions for Spiritual Peace and Comfort, p. 1 13. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 303 
 
 change was, therefore, never known even to his nearest 
 relatives ; but its reality was indisputable ; and they 
 who had the most frequent opportunities of noticing it, 
 deemed it another proof of that striking " diversity of 
 operations" with which "the same Spirit worketh all in 
 all." However for awhile the scales might seem to oscil- 
 late, however longer they might appear quiescent, " the 
 last grain" was mercifully applied, and the indications 
 of the balance were never after doubtful. Renovation 
 of heart was proved by renovation of conduct, and the 
 graces of the spirit, burning brighter and brighter, were 
 truly as " the shining light, which shineth more and 
 more unto the perfect day." 
 
 Regarding it, therefore, as the height of presumption, 
 under all the circumstances of the case, to attempt to 
 assign the period of this essential change in the cha- 
 racter of my deceased friend, I shall simply advert to 
 some leading facts, in the order of their occurrence, 
 and by means of his own papers, and other documents 
 which I have been allowed to consult, endeavour to 
 exhibit their impression upon his mind and heart : I 
 shall afterwards avail myself of the most satisfactory 
 evidence, again supplied principally by his papers, of 
 his benevolence, humility, and devotion. 
 
 In narrating the principal events of Mr, Good's life, 
 I gave some proof (p. 81.) of the deep and permanent 
 impression made upon his spirits, by the death of his 
 son, in the year 1803. On that occasion, as on many 
 others, he endeavoured to soothe his mind by poetic 
 composition ; and from among the pieces written to 
 alleviate his affliction, I select the following : 
 
RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 elegy: to the supreme, 
 psalm xlii. 
 
 As for the fountain pants the drooping hart ; 
 
 So pants, O God, my thirsty soul for thee — 
 God of all life ! — so faints for where thou art ; 
 
 When, O my God, thy presence shall I see ? 
 
 Tears are my food, tears only night and day, 
 
 While the proud foe cries, " Boaster ! where's thy God ?" 
 
 O'er the keen taunt I muse in dread dismay. 
 And pour my soul beneath th' afflictive rod. 
 
 Then memory wakes — the days when I have gone 
 With crowds, exulting, to thy house of praise — 
 
 What shouts of triumph then outstripp'd the dawn, 
 What kindling transports fill'd those holy days. 
 
 But why, my soul, should now thy courage fail ? 
 
 Why sink, o'erwhelm'd with impotence and fear ? 
 No : trust in God — his praise shall yet prevail ; 
 
 For yet my God, my Saviour, shall appear. 
 
 Short boast ! for still I faint : but I will still 
 
 Call, O my God, thy kindnesses to view. 
 O'er Jordan's banks display 'd, o'er Mizar's hill, 
 
 And tow'ring Hermon moist with morning dew. 
 
 As when the bursting waterspout its rage 
 Empties abrupt, deep roars to boiling deep ; 
 
 Such the dread war my shipwreck'd spirits wage. 
 So o'er my soul thy wratliful billows sweep. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 305 
 
 Yet will the Lord his servant ne'er forsake ; 
 
 Through every day his goodness shall attend : 
 And every night my grateful song shall wake. 
 
 My prayer to God, my father and my friend. 
 
 O ! hasten then ! — thy wonted smiles afford : 
 
 Why leave me thus to mourn th' oppressor's rod ? 
 
 Deep through each bone he wounds me, like a sword, 
 As his proud tongue cries, " Boaster ! where's thy God ?" 
 
 But why, my soul, should thus thy courage fail ? 
 
 Why sink o'erwhelm'd with impotence and fear ? 
 Trust — trust in God — his praise shall yet prevail ; 
 
 For yet my God, my Saviour, shall appear. 
 
 Severely as Mr. Good felt this aflBiction, and power- 
 fully as it was calculated to convince him that other 
 principles than those which he had for some years 
 avowed, were necessary to sustain the soul under the 
 pressure of heavy chastisement, he was not yet pre- 
 pared to surrender them. Except at short intervals, 
 when he was enabled to pursue some emollient trains 
 of thought, he viewed the entire dispensation in an 
 erroneous light, and yielded far more to feelings of 
 irritation than to a sentiment of submission. But, 
 indeed, he had much to break through, as well as to 
 break off; so that considerable time, and repeated 
 efforts, were necessary before he could escape from the 
 enclosure within which he had suffered his better 
 faculties to be imprisoned. 
 
 Still, though he had become bewildered by the 
 adoption of erroneous sentiments, he never entirely 
 lost his love of truth : and hence the forced and un- 
 
866 RELIGIOUS CriARACTER OF 
 
 natural criticisms in which his theological friends in- 
 dulged, and the sceptical spirit which some of them 
 manifested, by shocking his uprightness, contributed 
 almost daily to his ultimate emancipation. 
 
 At length, the sermons of the minister of the congre- 
 gation with which he had connected himself, gave him 
 serious pain : and language which Mr. Good regarded 
 as equivalent to the recommendation of scepticism, led 
 to the following correspondence. 
 
 "To THE Reverend . 
 
 " Caroline Place, Jan. 26th, 1807. 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " It is with much regret I feel myself compelled to 
 
 discontinue my attendance at the Chapel in , 
 
 and to break off my connexion with a society with 
 which I have cordially associated for nearly fourteen 
 years. 
 
 " I sincerely respect your talents, and the indefati- 
 gable attention you have paid to Biblical and theo- 
 logical subjects : I have the fullest conviction of your 
 sincerity, and desire to promote what you believe to be 
 the great cause of truth and Christianity ; but I feel 
 severely that our minds are not constituted alike ; and 
 being totally incapable of entering into that spirit of 
 scepticism which you deem it your duty to inculcate 
 from the pulpit, I should be guilty of hypocrisy if 1 
 were any longer to countenance, by a personal atten- 
 dance on your ministry, a system which (even ad- 
 mitting it to be right in itself) is, at least, repugnant 
 to my own heart, and my own understanding. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD, 367 
 
 " Without adverting to subjects which have hurt me 
 on former occasions, I now directly allude to various 
 opinions delivered in your very elaborate, and, in many 
 respects, excellent sermon of Sunday last ; and espe- 
 cially to the assertion that it is impossible to demon- 
 strate the existence and attributes of a God ; that all 
 who have attempted such demonstrations have only 
 involved themselves in perplexity ; and that though a 
 Christian may see enough to satisfy himself upon the 
 subject, from a survey of the works of nature, he never 
 can prove to himself the being and attributes of a God, 
 clearly and free from all doubt. 
 
 " I mean merely to repeat what I understood to be 
 the general sense of the proposition ; and not to con- 
 tend that my memory has furnished me with your own 
 words. And here permit me to observe, that I have 
 been so long taught a different creed, not only from the 
 reasonings of St. Paul, Rom. i. 20. and elsewhere, but 
 from many of the best theologians and philosophers of 
 our own country, from Sir I. Newton, Clarke, Barrow, 
 and Locke, that I cannot, without pain, hear what 
 appears to me a principle irrefragably established, 
 treated with scepticism, and especially such scepticism 
 circulated from a Christian pulpit. 
 
 " I have thus, privately, unbosomed my motives to 
 you, because, both as a minister and as a gentleman, 
 you are entitled to them ; and because I should be 
 sorry to be thought to have acted without motives, 
 and even without sufficient motives. My esteem and 
 best wishes, however, you will always possess, not- 
 withstanding my secession from the Chapel, for I am 
 persuaded of the integrity of your efforts. I am 
 obliged to you for every attention you have shewn me; 
 
368 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OP 
 
 and shall, at all times, be happy to return you any 
 service in my power. 
 
 " 1 remain, Dear Sir, 
 " Your obliged and faithful friend and servant, 
 
 " J. M. Good." 
 
 "To John Mason Good, Esq. Caroline Place. 
 
 « Jan. 27th, ISO? . 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " I am obliged to you for your polite communication 
 
 of your intention to withdraw from Chapel, 
 
 and of your motives for that determination. Having 
 myself exercised to so great an extent the right of 
 private judgment, I would be the last person to object 
 to the exercise of that right in others. 
 
 "I cannot, however, help considering myself as 
 peculiarly unfortunate, that after all the pains which I 
 have taken to establish the truth of the Christian re- 
 velation, I should, in the estimation of an intelligent, 
 and, I would hope, not uncandid hearer, lie open to the 
 charge of inculcating from the pulpit a spirit of scep- 
 ticism, and that the allusion which I made on Sunday 
 last to the unsatisfactory nature of the exploded priori 
 demonstration of the divine existence, should have 
 been understood as a declaration of a deficiency in the 
 proper evidence of the being and attributes of God. 
 
 " I certainly would not myself attend the ministry 
 of a preacher who was sceptical either in the divine 
 existence, or the truth of the Christian revelation, I 
 must, therefore, completely justify you in withdrawing^ 
 from my ministry while you entertain your present 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 369 
 
 views. I can only regret that I have expressed myself 
 inadvertently in a manner so liable to be misunder- 
 stood ; and sincerely wishing you health and happiness, 
 " I am. Dear Sir, 
 
 " Your obedient servant. 
 
 "To THE Reverend . 
 
 " Caroline Place, Jan. Wth, 1807. 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 ** I am obliged to you for your letter, and add only 
 a word or two, in explanation of a single phrase which 
 you seem to regard as uncandid. The term scepticism 
 I have not used opprobriously, but in the very sense 
 in which you yourself seem to have applied it, in the 
 discourse in question, .to the apostle Thomas, by 
 asserting, upon his refusal to admit the evidence of his 
 fellow-disciples, as to our Saviour's resurrection, that 
 * it is possible, perhaps, that the scepticism of Thomas, 
 may, in this instance, have been carried a little 
 too far.' 
 
 ** I quote your idea, and I believe your words. And 
 here, without adverting to other expressions of a similar 
 nature, suffer me to close with asking you, whether I 
 can legitimately draw any other conclusion from such 
 a proposition, than that a scepticism, in some small 
 degree short of that manifested by St. Thomas, is, in 
 the opinion of him who advances that proposition, not 
 only justifiable, but an act of duty ? and that, to a 
 certain extent, he means to inculcate the spirit or dis- 
 position on which it is founded ? 
 2 B 
 
370 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 " It only remains that I repeat my sincere wishes 
 for your happiness, and that I am, 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 " John Mason Good." 
 
 To this letter Mr. Good received no reply. 
 
 Shortly afterwards, in writing to an old friend. Dr. 
 Disney, who had then quitted London, and resided at 
 the Hyde, near Chelmsford, Mr. Good narrated the 
 circumstances which occasioned this correspondence. 
 In the Doctor's reply, he thus speaks of the sceptical 
 spirit of the minister from whom Mr. Good felt com- 
 pelled to separate, and of its effects. 
 
 " It has long been the favourite scheme of a certain 
 person to speak very highly of scepticism, — and I have 
 long been made to understand that his commendation 
 of scepticism, and his loose manner of expressing 
 himself on certain subjects, extensively served the 
 cause of infidelity among his pupils. I never culti- 
 vated his acquaintance, for reasons which I thought 
 good and conclusive, while resident in the neighbour- 
 hood of London, and in which I have been more 
 strongly confirmed since I left it. I feel for the mor- 
 tification you express, and have only to say, I most 
 cordially wish you had no occasion for doing what 
 you have done. 
 
 After adverting to the critical state of our public 
 affairs at that period, he adds, 
 
 "Still I do not despair; but the discipline will be 
 severe. Now scepticism would lay me prostrate at 
 once: for there is delusion abroad in religion as well 
 as in politics." 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 371 
 
 The separation that thus took place between Mr. 
 Good and a minister and congregation with which 
 he had been connected for nearly fourteen years, would 
 naturally lead to a re-examination of the principles 
 and notions held by them in common. The conse- 
 quence was, a gradual surrender of all the characteristics 
 of the Socinian creed ; and a corresponding adoption 
 of sentiments more in accordance with those of his 
 always honoured father, and of his valuable relative, 
 Mr. Mason, upon whose religious views he now medi- 
 tated with a renewal of his early veneration. He, as 
 yet, however, scarcely adverted to them but as mere 
 speculative opinions, simply preferable to those he had 
 just abandoned : it was long before they assumed the cha- 
 racter of principles of action, and issued, by God's bless- 
 ing, in the transformation of his heart and affections. 
 
 For public worship he now frequented the Temple 
 Church ; where the powerful reasoning of Dr. Rennell, 
 often engaged in the discussion of topics which, at this 
 period, occupied so much of Mr. Good's attention, 
 served to confirm him in the propriety of the step he 
 had taken. After a year or two, he frequently attend- 
 ed public worship, with his family, at St. Dunstan's 
 Church, Fleet Street, and cultivated with the vicar an 
 intimate intercourse, which I have every reason to 
 believe was, in the best sense, beneficial to him. Then, 
 after a few more years, the greater proximity to his 
 own residence, and still more a cordial esteem for the 
 minister and his doctrines, led him to worship almost 
 constantly at St. John's Chapel, Bedford Row ;* where 
 
 * Occasionally, however, he attended at Christ-Church, Newgate Street, 
 where his friend, tlie Rev. T. Hailwell Ilorrie, discharged part of the clerical 
 duty. 
 
 2p2 
 
372 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 he availed himself of the successive pastoral labours 
 of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Jerram, until he passed from 
 all worshipping assemblies here, to join " the general 
 assembly and church of the first-horn," "in heaven." 
 
 Shortly after Mr. Good detached himself from the 
 Socinians, he became acquainted with the Rev. Samuel 
 Marsden, Senior Chaplain of the Colony of New South 
 Wales, who returned to England early in 1807, and 
 remained until May, 1809 : in order, first to convince 
 the government at home of the perilous state in which 
 he left the colony, and secondly, to point out, and per- 
 suade them to adopt, the best means for its rescue and 
 amelioration ; with an ulterior object, namely, the in- 
 troduction of Christianity among the heathen natives 
 of the Australasian islands. This excellent individual, 
 as distinguished for his engaging simplicity, and his 
 genuine candour, as for the unswerving intrepidity 
 with which he devotes himself to purposes of the purest 
 Christian benevolence, no sooner developed his plans 
 to Mr. Good, than he found the ardour of a generous 
 spirit united with his own in promoting the same 
 great objects. When Mr. Marsden was in London, 
 they were together daily ; and when the pursuit of any 
 of his laudable purposes, commercial, mechanical, 
 political, or religious, took him for a season from the 
 metropolis, he kept up a constant correspondence with 
 his friend. The result was, indeed, an inviolable 
 friendship of the highest order, productive of benefit to 
 both parties — Mr. Marsden deriving knowledge in- 
 cessantly from Mr. Good, in every department of 
 art, science, and literature, which seemed likely to 
 conduce to either the civilizing or evangelizing of the 
 Australasian world ; Mr. Good deriving as incessantly. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 373 
 
 but perhaps unconsciously, a growing admiration of 
 the true sublimity of humble, unassuming, but un- 
 questionable and active piety. He wondered, as he 
 often told me, at the self-denying spirit, which, at the 
 sacrifice of much personal comfort, would pass from 
 the northern to the southern extremity of England ;* on 
 merely hearing of something which might probably be 
 turned to the benefit of the outcasts in Botany Bay, or 
 of the rude inhabitants of New Zealand ; he endea- 
 voured, as one who loved to trace phaenomena to their 
 causes, to ascertain the principles from which this un- 
 remitting exertion sprung ; he traced it (for he often 
 assured me he could find no other clue) to the elevating 
 influence of divine grace ; and he could not but indulge 
 the often-repeated wish that his own motives were as 
 pure and refined, and his own conduct as exemplary, 
 as those of his much valued friend. From this inter- 
 course, also, and Mr. Good's subsequent meditation 
 upon it, as well as from an uninterrupted correspon- 
 dence on the same topics, up to the time of Mr. 
 Good's death, much religious advantage, I doubt not, 
 resulted. t 
 
 * The first time I saw Mr. Marsden, in January, 1808, he had just re- 
 turned from Hull, and had travelled nearly the whole journey, on the out- 
 side of a coacli, in a heavy fall of snow, being unable to procure an inside 
 place. He seemed scarcely conscious of the inclemency of the season, and 
 declared he felt no inconvenience from his journey. " He had accomplished 
 his object, and that was enough." And what was that object, wliich could 
 raise him above the exhaustions of fatigue, and the sense of severe cold ? 
 He had engaged a ropemaker, who was willing, at Mr. Marsden's expense, 
 to go and teach his art to the New Z'ealanders .' 
 
 f Few men have, in any age, with a more apostolical spirit, exemplified 
 the apostolical maxim, " None of us liveth to himself, and no man dicth to 
 himself," than Mr. Marsden; and, as the too natural reward of an unbroken 
 series of " good deeds, in a naughty world," few men have been more ex- 
 posed to obloquy and misrepresentation. As a debt of justice, therefore, to 
 one of the most exemplary public functionaries of Britain, I shall reprint at 
 
374 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 From 1808, to the beginning of 1812, Mr. Good 
 devoted a great portion of his Sunday mornings and 
 evenings to his Translation of the book of Job, and the 
 large body of notes which accompanies it. Though 
 many of these are strictly of a literary character, yet 
 there are others that relate to the most solemn topics, 
 — as, human accountability, human misery, sin, death, 
 the resurrection, an appointed Redeemer, a future 
 judgment, &c. and which he evidently contemplated 
 with the deepest seriousness, and has often described 
 with much force and pathos. Still, I am not aware 
 that there is, within the whole compass of the notes, a 
 specific reference to the plan of the gospel, as a resto- 
 rative dispensation, in which, by the atoning efficacy 
 of a Saviour's blood, sin may be pardoned, and by the 
 purifying energy of the Holy Spirit, man may be raised 
 to the dignity from which he had fallen, and again shine 
 in the " image of God." He did not appear, therefore, 
 as yet, to regard this as entirely essential to true re- 
 ligion; in other words, to consider the evangelical 
 system as the only solid basis of a rational hope of 
 eternal felicity and glory. 
 
 It was manifest, however, to myself and others, who 
 
 the end of the present volume, Mr. Good's able sketch of his objects, 
 motives, and success, published in the Eclectic Revieiv, while Mr. Marsden 
 was on his passage to New South Wales. For a development of the 
 occasion of some of the charges against Mr. M. and his own successful re- 
 futation of them, I refer to '• An Answer to certain Calumnies in the late 
 Governor Macquarie's Pamphlet, and the third edition of Mr. Wentworth's 
 Account of Australasia. By the Rev. Samuel Marsden, Principal Chaplain 
 to the Colony of New South Wales." Published by Ilatchards. The 
 Reports of the Church Missionary Society, and of the London Missionary 
 Society, bear ample testimony to the Christian zeal and discretion with 
 which he has promoted the great cause of those societies, in that portion of 
 the globe in which Providence seems, as if for the express purpose, to have 
 placed him. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 375 
 
 were permitted to converse with him freely on these 
 points, that there was a progression of the most 
 gratifying kind : and the papers now before me confirm 
 the persuasion then formed. In the year 1812, he 
 composed another essay on " Happiness," differing 
 widely, indeed, from that written in 1792, to which I 
 have referred, a few pages back. The comparison 
 furnishes a striking proof of the effect produced by the 
 lapse of twenty years, and their commensurate provi- 
 dential discipline, upon a man's trains of thought. I 
 will venture, therefore, to quote the concluding pas- 
 sages of this more recent dissertation. 
 
 " We have already seen that, in proportion as society 
 is ignorant, men are wicked ; in proportion as it be- 
 comes wise (in the correct sense) they grow virtuous. 
 They acquire clearer ideas of right and wrong, which 
 are obviously nothing more than virtue and vice, under 
 an additional set of names, or in a state of activity. 
 And were the rules and laws of right, virtue, or wisdom 
 to be constantly adhered to, or, in other words, the 
 will of the Deity to be fully complied with, there can 
 be no question that mankind, even in the present state, 
 would enjoy all the happiness their nature will allow 
 of; and that a kind of paradise would once more visit 
 the earth. 
 
 " And why, then, is not the will of the Deity fully 
 complied with ? Why, since the consequence is so un- 
 doubted, and so beneficial, are not the rules of virtue 
 constantly and universally adhered to ? 
 
 " This is a most important question, as well in itself 
 as in its results. 
 
 " The will of the Deity, or the entire rules of virtue, 
 are not always adhered to, first, because, as collected 
 
376 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 from reason or the light of nature alone, they are not, 
 through the whole range of this complicated subject, in all 
 instances equally clear and perspicuous ; and, secondly, 
 because in a thousand instances in which there is no 
 want of clearness or perspicuity, there is a want of 
 sanction — of a compulsory and adequate force. The 
 rules of virtue are general, and must necessarily be 
 general ; but the cases to which they apply are parti- 
 cular. The case is present and often impulsive, but 
 the operation of the rule is remote, and it may not 
 operate at all ; and hence the pleasure of immediate 
 gratification is perpetually unhinging this harmonious 
 system, and plunging mankind into vice with their 
 eyes open. 
 
 *' But civil laws, moreover, or the authority of the 
 social compact in favour of virtue, are not only often 
 inadequate in their force, but they must necessarily, in 
 a thousand instances, be inadequate in their extent. 
 It is impossible for man of himself to provide against 
 every case of vice or criminality that may offend the 
 public ; for the keenest casuist can form no idea of 
 many of such cases till they are before him ; and if he 
 could, the whole world would not contain the statute- 
 books that should be written upon the subject. 
 
 " There are also duties which a man owes to himself, 
 as well as to his neighbour ; or, in other words, human 
 happiness, as we have already seen, depends almost as 
 largely upon his exercise of private as of public virtues. 
 But the eye of civil law cannot follow him into the 
 performance of these duties, for it cannot follow him 
 into his privacy : it cannot take cognizance of his per- 
 sonal faults or offences, nor often apply its sanction 
 if it could do so. And hence, in most countries, this 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 377 
 
 important part of morality is purposely left out of the 
 civil code, as a hopeless and intractable subject. Yet 
 even in the breach of public duties, specifically stated 
 and provided for, it cannot always follow up the 
 offender, and apply the punishment ; for he may se- 
 crete himself among his own colleagues, and elude, or 
 he may abandon his country, and defy the arm of 
 justice. 
 
 " There seems, then, to be a something still wanting. 
 If the Deity have so benevolently willed the happiness 
 of man, and made virtue the rule of that happiness, 
 ought he not, upon the same principle of benevolence, 
 to have declared his will more openly than by the 
 mere, and, at times, doubtful, inferences of reason ? in 
 characters, indeed, so plain, that he who runs may read ? 
 and ought he not also to have employed sanctions so 
 universal as to cover every case, and so weighty as to 
 command every attention ? 
 
 *' As a being of infinite benevolence, undoubtedly he 
 ought. And what, in this character, he ought to have 
 done, he has actually accomplished. He has declared 
 his will by an express revelation, and has thus con- 
 firmed the voice of reason by a voice from heaven : he 
 has made this revelation a written law, and has en- 
 forced it by the strongest sanctions to which the mind 
 of man can be open— not only by his best chance of 
 happiness here, but by all his hopes and expectations 
 of happiness hereafter. And he has hence completed 
 the code of human obligations, by adding to the duties 
 which we owe to our neighbour and to ourselves, a 
 clear rescript of those we owe to our Maker. Nor is 
 such revelation of recent date ; for a state of retributive 
 justice beyond the grave constituted, as we have already 
 
378 RELIGIOUS CHA.RACTER OF 
 
 seen, the belief of mankind in the earliest ages of time ; 
 and amidst all the revolutions the world has witnessed, 
 amidst the most savage barbarism and the foulest 
 idolatries, there never perhaps has been a country in 
 which all traces of it have been entirely lost, or have 
 even entirely ceased to operate. 
 
 " At different periods, and in different manners, the 
 Deity has renewed this divine communication accord- 
 ing as his infinite wisdom has seen the world stand in 
 need of it. New doctrines and discoveries, and doc- 
 trines and discoveries, too, of the highest importance, 
 but which it is not my province to touch upon in the 
 present place, have in every instance accompanied 
 such renewal, justificatory of the supernatural interpo- 
 sition. But the sanction has, in every instance, been 
 the same ; while, and I speak it with reverence, the 
 proofs of divine benevolence have with every promul- 
 gation been growing fuller and fuller — revealed religion 
 thus co-operating with natural, co-operating with the 
 great frame of the visible world, co-operating with 
 every pulse and feeling of our own hearts, in esta- 
 blishing the delightful truth, that God is Love; and 
 in calling upon us to love him, not from any cold and 
 lifeless picture of the abstract beauty of holiness, 
 beautiful as it unquestionably is in itself, but from the 
 touching and all-subduing motive, because he first 
 LOVED us." 
 
 The growing thoughtfulness of his habits led him 
 now to more frequent self-examination, and excited 
 more earnest desires that his whole existence might not 
 pass away before he had accomplished the great object 
 of this probationary state. On attaining his fiftieth 
 year, he thus (iu lines introduced not on account of 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 
 
 379 
 
 their beauty but of their sincerity) expressed his pen- 
 sive meditations on the past, and solicited divine 
 guidance for the future. 
 
 VERSES 
 
 i 
 
 COMPOSED ON ENTERING MY FIFTIETH YEAR 
 
 May 25th, 1813. 
 
 Two-thirds of life, or something; more 
 If nicely scann'd, now travell'd o'er, 
 Let me review the travell'd scene, 
 And fairly weigh what life has been. 
 
 If right I reckon, it is this ; 
 A chequered web of ill and bliss ; 
 Some love of good, far more of ill ; 
 The deed prevailing o'er the will ; 
 Correct resolves, and aim at right. 
 Alternate felt and put to flight ; 
 Gay promise smiling but to wound ; 
 Truth eager sought, and error found ; 
 The tree of Hope now yielding fruit. 
 And shiver'd now through every shoot. 
 
 Such is the sum : but let me not 
 Unjustly charge my varied lot. 
 Though hard at times, how hard indeed 
 Had my demerits met their meed ; 
 Though hard, how rare has been the groan 
 That sprang not from myself alone. 
 While (and with gratitude I trace, 
 And own so undeserv'd a grace.) 
 From ev'ry ill the hand of Heaven 
 To draw some use has daily striven ; 
 
380 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 To check my heart's too ardent stream, 
 That urg'd a trust in every dream, 
 And led me to that empty shade. 
 Myself, alone to' look for aid : 
 To teach me earth was ne'er design 'd 
 A resting-place to suit the mind ; 
 How vain its joys, how full of pride 
 Its learning, when not sanctified ; 
 To plume me for a higher scope, 
 And make me humble, while I hope. 
 
 Father Supreme ! continue still. 
 As most accordant to thy will. 
 These wholesome conflicts, — till the end 
 Be reach'd, at which they daily tend. 
 Then, whether long or short my life, 
 Slight or severe th' allotted strife. 
 Imports not ; — ^This is all in all 
 To live prepar'd for every call ; 
 To feel thy guidance here, — and trust 
 To feel it still beyond the dust. 
 
 From this time Mr. Good earnestly cultivated the 
 acquaintance of pious men. What was still better, he 
 became more closely acquainted with his own heart ; 
 and sought for enjoyment in devout meditation. Al- 
 ways an admirer of the works of nature, he now con- 
 templated them with a new relish ; and whether he 
 suffered his thoughts to expatiate over the grander 
 scenes which the universe presents, or tied them down 
 to some of the minuter objects of the creation, he still, 
 as his books of poetic memoranda amply shew, saw, 
 in the order, the splendour, or the beauty which he 
 admired, the impress of Deity. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 381 ,i 
 
 ] 
 
 Let this be taken as a specimen : — | 
 
 THE DAISY. 
 
 Not worlds on worlds in plialanx deep, 
 
 Need we to prove a God is here ; I 
 
 Tlie Daisy, fresh from Winter's sleep, j 
 
 Tells of his hand in lines as clear. 
 
 For who but he who arch'd the skies, i 
 
 And pours the Day-spring's living flood, ^: 
 
 Wondrous alike in all he tries, j 
 
 Could rear the Daisy's purple bud ? 1 
 
 Mould its green cup, its wiry stem ; j 
 
 Its fringed border nicely spin ; 
 
 And cut the gold-embossed gem ! 
 
 And fling it, unrestrain'd and free. 
 
 O'er hill and dale and desert sod. 
 That man, where'er he walks, may see, 
 
 In every step, the stamp of God. 
 
 I may here introduce another little piece, written 
 about the same time, which, though less elegant than 
 the above, excites interest on account of the tone of 
 deep sincerity which pervades it. 
 
 THE RESTING-PLACE. 
 
 '' There remaineth a rest for the people of God!" 
 
 Round the world I look, and find 
 Nothing that can fill the mind : 
 Learned toils, and arts that shew 
 All is vain the wisest know. 
 
382 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 Round I look, and solid bliss 
 Seek for next, but ever miss. 
 Pleasure springs, but, soon as found, 
 Dies, or only lives to wound. 
 
 From the world I turn, and try 
 Deep within what treasures lie. 
 Fruitless search ! look where I will 
 'Tis a wilderness of ill. 
 
 Tir'd at length, of all around, 
 Tir'd of all within me found. 
 Up to Heav'n I look — and there 
 See the only good and fair ; 
 
 All the panting soul desires, 
 Bliss that fills, but never tires ; 
 Knowledge such as suits the blest, 
 Sacred, high eternal rest. 
 
 Rock of Ages ! — here I build 
 Here, if so thy grace has will'd ; 
 Quit the world, and seek in thee 
 All I want or wish to be. 
 
 It was in one of our confidential conversations on 
 the most momentous of all topics, in the summer of 
 1815, that Mr. Good first distinctly announced to me 
 his cordial persuasion that the evangelical representa- 
 tion of the doctrines of Scripture was that which alone 
 accorded with the system of revealed truth. He said 
 he had greatly hesitated, as to the correctness of a 
 proposition I had advanced a few years before,* that 
 
 * In my " Letters on the Evidences, Doctrines, and Duties, of the Cliris- 
 tian Religion." 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 383 
 
 there was no intermediate ground upon which a sound 
 reasoner could make a fair stand, between that of pure 
 deism, and that of moderate orthodoxy, as held by the 
 evangelical classes both of churchmen and dissenters ; 
 but that he now regarded that proposition as correct. 
 At the same time, he detailed several of the Socinian 
 and Arian interpretations of passages usually brought 
 forward in these disputes, and, with his accustomed 
 frankness, explained how he had come, by degrees, to 
 consider them all as unsatisfactory, and, for an account- 
 able being, unsafe. 
 
 Of the gradual modification of his sentiments, as 
 vk^ell as of the decision which by God's blessing he 
 now attained, the notes in his Bible present ample 
 evidence. But I shall only select two or three of the 
 latter kind, written between 1817 and 1822. 
 
 " Hebrews x. 19, 20. The spirit of man is concealed 
 by the veil of the flesh : the spiritual things of the law, 
 the holy of holies, were concealed by the veil of the 
 temple. Christ is the end and sum of the whole; — and 
 as the high priest entered into the holy of holies by the 
 veil of the temple under the law, so we can only enter 
 into the holiest by * the blood of Jesus,' by the veil of 
 his flesh, or incarnation, of which the veil of the temple 
 was a striking type. And never did type and antitype 
 more completely harmonize with each other, and prove 
 their relation: for when Christ exclaimed upon the 
 cross, ' It is finished,' and gave up the ghost — when the 
 veil of his flesh was rent, the veil of the temple was 
 rent at the same moment. The former entrance into 
 the holy of holies, which was only temporary and typi- 
 cal, then vanished — and the *new and living way,' the 
 way everlasting, was then opened : and what under the 
 
384 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 old dispensation was only open to the high-priest, and 
 that but once a year, was, from that moment, open to 
 us all, and open for all times and all occasions — a 
 consecrated way, in which we are exhorted to enter 
 with all boldness, in full assurance of faith ; having 
 ' our hearts first sprinkled from an evil conscience, and 
 our bodies washed with pure water.' " 
 
 " Gen esis ii. 23, 24. Under the figurative language 
 contained in these two verses is a concealed represen- 
 tation of the whole mystery of the gospel — the union 
 of Christ with the church, the glorious bride, that in 
 the fulness of the times he will present to himself, 
 free from spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish. 
 St. Paul expressly tells us, Eph. v. 30, 31. that this 
 momentous fact is here referred to, and spoken of in 
 veiled or esoteric language. It is the first reference in 
 the Old Testament — the earliest history of man, there- 
 fore, opens with it ; it was the mystery of Paradise ; 
 ' the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the 
 world, unto his own glory.' " 
 
 "Genesis iii. 7. And the eyes of them both were 
 opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they 
 sewed fig-leaves," &c. 
 
 " It is so in every age and every part of the world. 
 The moment a man becomes consciously guilty, his 
 eyes are opened to the knowledge of evil ; — he feels 
 himself naked, and seeks a cover or a hiding-place : 
 he is full of shame, and cannot endure to be looked at 
 even by his fellows ; — he endeavours by some flimsy 
 pretext, some apron of fig-leaves, to skreen either 
 himself or the deed he has committed from their eyes. 
 But most of all does he feel his nakedness before God, 
 and endeavour to hide from his presence. Happy, 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 385 
 
 indeed, is he, who, with this consciousness of guilt and 
 shame, is able by any means to discern a covering that 
 may conceal the naked deformity of his person from 
 the penetrating eye of his Maker. One such covering 
 there is, and but one, and blessed is he who is permit- 
 ted to lay hold of it, and to put it on— it is the robe 
 of the Redeemer's righteousness." 
 
 At this period of his life, Mr. Good, as he informed 
 me, read with the most intense interest, Jeremy Taylor's 
 Holy Living: and one of his common-place-books 
 evinces the state of his own feelings during the perusal. 
 Under the head of Apophthegms from Bishop Taylor, 
 are several of great value, of which I shall quote but 
 two or three. 
 
 " No man is a better merchant than he that lays out 
 his time upon God, and his money upon the poor." 
 
 '' Let every man that hath a calling be diligent in the 
 pursuance of its employment : — yet ever remembering 
 so to work in his calling as not to neglect the work 
 of his higher calling, but to begin and end the day with 
 God." 
 
 " Holiness of intention or purpose. This grace is so 
 excellent that it sanctifies the most common action of 
 our lives ; and yet so necessary, that without it the very 
 best actions of our devotion are imperfect and vicious. 
 That we should intend and design God's glory in every 
 act we do, whether it be natural or chosen, is expressed 
 by St. Paul, * whether we eat or drink, do all to the 
 glory of God :' which rule, when we observe, every 
 action of nature becomes religious, and every meal is 
 an act of worship. Holy intention is to the actions of 
 a man, that which the soul is to the body, or form to 
 matter, or the root to the tree, or the sun to the world, 
 2c 
 
386 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 or the fountain to a river, or the base to a pillar. 
 For without these the body is a dead trunk, the matter 
 is sluggish, the tree is a block, the world is darkness, 
 the river is quickly dry, the pillar sinks into flatness 
 and ruin, and the action is sinful, or unprofitable and 
 vain." 
 
 Mr. Good's thoughts and meditations being thus set 
 into the right current, it pleased God, by the afflictive 
 disjDcnsations of his providence, to confirm and preserve 
 them in that direction. For a considerable period 
 Mrs. Good's health was very indifferent; and at a 
 season when she had been longer than usual well, both 
 their daughters were afflicted almost simultaneously, 
 with protracted and dangerous indispositions. The 
 family were then on a visit to Mr. Good's son-in-law, 
 at South End, a few miles from London ; and Mr. G. 
 was, for six or seven weeks in succession, engaged 
 during the days in his profesional pursuits, and during 
 the nights most sedulously and solicitously watching 
 the sick-beds of his afflicted children. At this season 
 of parental anxiety he scarcely got any sleep, except 
 as he travelled from South End to the house in town : 
 yet, though often worn down with fatigue and watch- 
 ing, and depressed with the most painful apprehen- 
 sions, his spirits and his hopes never entirely forsook 
 him. He seems, indeed, to have "heard the rod, and 
 Mm who appointed it ;" to have understood its voice, 
 and rightly improved it ; deriving from this affliction 
 a deeper sense of the uncertainty of life and its enjoy- 
 ments, of the sovereignty of God, as well as of his mer- 
 ciful forbearance, of the efficacy of faith, and the delight 
 of resignation upon Christian principles, than on occa- 
 sion of any former trial. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 387 
 
 In the short interval between the recovery of one 
 daughter, and the commencement of the severe indis- 
 position of the other, he thus expressed himself in a 
 letter to his valued relative, Dr. Walton. 
 
 " I receive her again from the hand of her Creator as 
 one raised from the dead, and given to me a second time. 
 ... I hope I shall never forget this great and signal inter- 
 position of the Divine favour, in the solemn vows I have 
 voluntarily undertaken. How difficult is it to bring 
 one's mind, in the prospect of so severe a loss, to 
 repeat with seriousness and an unfeigned heart what 
 we are every day saying, with too little attention and 
 solemnity, ' Thy will be done !'* I tried as earnestly 
 as I was able, and I even now dare not trust myself to 
 inquire whether I attained all the spirit of resignation 
 which ought to have been manifested. He who knoweth 
 how to pity our infirmities, has had mercy at least 
 upon the effort, and has graciously accepted the im- 
 perfect attempt ; and has not overwhelmed me with a 
 similar bereavement to the heavy affliction I suffered 
 many years ago, and upon which I never, to this hour, 
 dare suffer myself to think. Yet T know that even that 
 was attended with benefit to myself, heavy as it 
 descended upon me." 
 
 After his death, there was found on the opening page 
 of his interleaved Pocket Bible, a most gratifying token, 
 not merely of his affection for his daughters, (of which, 
 indeed, they needed not this proof,) but of a devout 
 and grateful permanent recognition of the mercy of God 
 vouchsafed in their recovery. 
 
 * Nothing, I am informed, could be more touchingly impressive, than 
 the solemn pause, resulting from the struggle between paternal affection and 
 humble submission to the Divine will, which in domestic worship during 
 these afflictions, always succeeded his utterance of this petition. 
 
 2c2 
 
d08 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 "My dear Margaret's dangerous sickness, from a 
 bilious fever, commenced July 4tli, 1818, and only 
 began to decline about July 24th. 
 
 " My dear Susanna's still more dangerous sickness, 
 from an inflammation of the brain, commenced about 
 the ensuing August 10th : she was given over about 
 August 16th; and began to recover about August 27th. 
 For this double recovery I feel myself called upon to 
 keep an annual day of thanksgiving to Almighty God, 
 as long as it may please him to spare me. 
 
 "August 8th, 1819. J. M. G." 
 
 I ought previously to have mentioned, that nearly 
 three years before the occurrence of the severe indispo- 
 sitions whose favourable termination is thus gratefully 
 recorded. Dr. Good's eldest daughter had married a gen- 
 tleman, then distinguished by his singular attainments, 
 and subsequently by his ardent piety, the Rev. Cor- 
 nelius Neale. The union took place with the brightest 
 anticipations of extensive and permanent happiness, 
 anticipations fully realized, except with regard to per- 
 manency. Mr. Neale, who had with extraordinary 
 industry as well as talent, and commensurate success, 
 gone through his academical course at Cambridge, 
 (leaving that University in 1812, with the honour of 
 Senior AVrangler, Chancellor's Medallist, and the gainer 
 of Dr. Smith's first mathematical prize,) possessed but a 
 delicate constitution of body, which became gradually 
 more enfeebled by intellectual exertion, and the seden- 
 tary habits too common amongst studious men. After- 
 wards, on his taking orders, and devoting himself most 
 sedulously to the duties of the clerical ofiice, his frequent 
 visits to the poor in damp and comfortless houses in a 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 389 
 
 country village, soon brought upon him a pulmonary 
 complaint, which closed his valuable life in August, 
 1823. 
 
 Upon a mind less alive than Dr. Good's to the 
 kindlier sympathies and emotions, the circumstances of 
 the long affliction of an endeared relative could not 
 but operate powerfully. Besides these, there were 
 brought into exercise the new feelings occasioned by 
 the birth of grandchildren ; new alternations of hope 
 and fear, of delight and anguish, resulting from the 
 vicissitudes of their health, and rendered doubly in- 
 teresting by the peculiar state of their parents : — and 
 thus was supplied, as I cannot but believe, precisely 
 the discipline which was necessary to effect Dr. Good's 
 entire confirmation in Christian principles, and induce 
 him cordially to yield all his faculties " a living sacri- 
 fice, Jioli/, acceptable to God." The subsequent afflictive 
 events, in which he was called to share, served but to 
 free him more from secular adhesions, to quicken his 
 activity in the heavenly course, and to prompt him to 
 the augmented exercise of Christian benevolence, in 
 various channels of usefulness. 
 
 Well do I recollect his unusual delight ia announcing 
 to me the decision of his beloved son-in-law to devote 
 himself to the ministry of the gospel, and the strong 
 interest with which' he related many particulars of in- 
 tellectual and providential discipline, some of them 
 very striking, which issued in that decision. To Dr. 
 Drake, and other friends, his letters were dictated by 
 equally pleasurable emotions. But the gratification 
 was not of long continuance. Mr. Neale took orders in 
 April, or May, 1822. In May, 1823, Dr. Good, in 
 writing to Dr. Drake, thus expresses himself — 
 
390 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 "We have now removed from Caroline Place, to 
 No. 80, Guilford Street. But our entrance into this 
 new residence is marked with a gloom that I am much 
 afraid will hang heavy on the few years that Providence 
 may yet allot to me. Our dear and incomparable Mr. 
 Neale, who you know married our beloved Susanna, is 
 at this moment an inmate in it, labouring under a hectic 
 fever, which, I am very fearful, will cut him off in the 
 midst of life, of an exemplary service to God in the 
 church, of the utmost utility to the poor and the 
 parishes in which he has been employed, — himself and 
 his wife, beloved, perhaps, more than ever couple were 
 before. He will leave me to-morrow, for a house in 
 the vicinity of London ; but I cannot let him go far. 
 We are thus overwhelmed with grief; but we endea 
 vour to yield to the rod and Him who hath appointed 
 it. Mr. Neale himself is in a frame of mind that any 
 man might envy, ill as he is, — and my dear Susanna 
 has strength found her to be able to nurse him night 
 and day. Adieu, my dear friend ! — of your condolence 
 we are all sure." 
 
 In another letter to the same friend, written within 
 four months of that from which the preceding is ex- 
 tracted. Dr. Good thus pours out his feelings on the 
 event which terminated all his solicitudes, and those of 
 his family, on acount of Mr. Neale. 
 
 " Guilford Street, August ISth, 1823. 
 
 " My dear Friend, 
 " When I received your last kind letter, I was daily 
 expecting the close of my dear and most excellent son- 
 in-law's suflerings,— and had already tried, but with 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 391 
 
 little success, the plan you suggested, which, in truth, 
 we were obliged to discontinue, in consequence of its 
 increasing the exacerbation. 
 
 " The conflict is now over — he has entered into his 
 rest ; having expired, as you may probably have seen 
 by the newspapers, on Friday the 8th instant. 
 
 " The last text he preached from, when he had no 
 idea of any serious illness, was, " To me to live is 
 Christ, but to die is gain." It was within a few hours 
 afterwards that he was attacked with an haemoptysis. 
 His whole heart was in his ministry ; — and the simple, 
 unvarnished, but most impressive character, of his 
 pulpit oratory, was calculated, with God's blessing, to 
 work wonders among the highest as well as the lowest 
 classes. 
 
 " Under these circumstances, the alarming sickness 
 with which he was attacked, might naturally, perhaps, 
 be called * a mysterious dispensation.' But he would 
 never allow such a term to be employed, — for it never 
 was made use of, he said, without betraying something 
 of a latent murmur. 
 
 " He suffered much at times, and the pain alone was 
 sufficient, and especially towards the close of the 
 struggle, to throw him into severe perspiration — but 
 his remark was, * My Saviour sweated drops of blood 
 for me,' and this upheld him. — It was a severe conflict 
 to break off his strong attachment to his beloved chil- 
 dren — and his still more beloved wife ; and yet at last 
 he was enabled to make a total surrender of himself to 
 the will of God, and for months had ' his conversation 
 in heaven,' far more than on earth. Yet, all the kind- 
 liness of his heart, and all the fine taste of his genius, 
 accompanied him to the latest moment: less than 
 
392 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 eight-and-forty hours before his dissolution, he told his 
 dear wife, with a faltering voice, that, as he had not 
 written her any lines for a long time, if she would bring 
 him a pencil and a piece of paper, he would give her 
 some ; when he wrote off one of the most beautiful 
 devotional odes I have ever seen. During the night 
 before his departure, it was observed by Mrs. Good, 
 who sat up by him, that she was fearful the night 
 had been tedious to him ; — he replied, ' I shall have a 
 long and a glorious day.' He spoke prophetically — 
 and the prophecy was fulfilled. 
 
 "What, my dear friend, are all the splendour and 
 the pageantry of the world, compared with the sub- 
 lime and solemn scenes to which I have thus been 
 an eye-witness? — Surely these are foretastes of that 
 ' fulness of joy,' and those ' pleasures for evermore,' 
 which are reserved at the right hand of God, for 
 those who are favoured with so beatific a vision. 
 They give, if it were wanted, a fresh and energetic 
 stamp of reality to the glorious manifestation of the 
 gospel, — and shew us for what we were born — and 
 the more important lesson how this high destiny may 
 be attained. My earnest prayer is, that the lesson 
 may be lost upon no one within its sphere — and with 
 the feeble powers of my own pen, I would enlarge 
 that sphere, if possible, throughout the universe :— and 
 I would address it to you, my dear friend, as impor- 
 tunately as to myself. 
 
 " We are all in great grief, as you may suppose, and 
 especially my beloved daughter— but we are upheld 
 by a thousand consolations, that fall to the lot of but 
 few. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 393 
 
 "Farewell, my dear friend, for the present; and 
 believe me ever. 
 
 I may now, in farther illustration of Dr. Good's 
 religious sentiments and feelings, select a few jneces 
 from his devotional poetry : leaving them to make their 
 impression, not on account of the elevation of the lan- 
 guage, or the sublimity of thought ; but as proofs of 
 the genuine emotion of a soul attuned in unison to the 
 most touching and awful subjects, as well as of a com- 
 plete subjugation of mind and heart to truths long re- 
 sisted, but at length received in all their energy, and 
 exemplified in all their purity. 
 
 ON EASTER DAY, 1819. 
 " Truly this was the Son of God." Matt, xxvii. 54. 
 
 " Yes, this was the Son of God. — 
 'Tis for man he bears the rod : 
 Earth and skies are veiled in grief; 
 Man alone shews unbelief. 
 
 " 'Tis finish'd." — Through creation's bound 
 Fly, O fly, triumphant sound ! 
 " 'Tis finish'd !" Heaven transported sings ; 
 "■^'Tis finish'd!" Earth re-echoing rings. 
 
394 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 " 'Tis finish 'd !" through the realms of woe 
 The hated accents sternly flow : 
 " 'Tis finish 'd !" Man the traitor lives ; 
 The ransom's paid, and God forgives. 
 
 " 'Tis finish'd !" — Yes, the toil is o'er : 
 The wondrous toil the Saviour bore, 
 From Death's dread jaws the sting he draws, 
 And on the Cross achieves his cause. 
 
 Sing the Cross : — O, badge of shame ! 
 Be Staff or Glory, now, thy name. 
 Sing the Cross ; for, o'er thy tree, 
 What triumphs crowd, blest Calvary ! 
 
 " 'Tis finish'd !" — The mysterious plan, j 
 
 The mighty destiny of man. I 
 
 Angels had gazed, with baflfled skill, 
 
 And time but travelled to fulfil. I 
 
 l 
 
 \ 
 " 'Tis finish'd !" all the vision high ] 
 
 That rap't, of old, the prophet's eye ; 
 
 And still with ecstasy shall break j 
 
 O'er the last martyr's flaming stake. | 
 
 I 
 
 " 'Tis finish'd !" see the Victor rise ; | 
 
 Shake off" the grave, and claim the skies, \ 
 
 Ye heav'ns ! your doors wide open fling : 
 Ye angel-quires ! receive your King. 
 
 " 'Tis finish'd !" but what mortal dare 
 
 In that triumph hope to share ? , 
 
 Saviour ! to thy cross I flee : 
 
 Say " 'tis JinisJid" and for me! \ 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 395 
 
 Then I'll sing the Cross! the Cross ! 
 And count all other gain but loss : 
 I'll sing the Cross, and to thy tree 
 Cling evermore, blest Calvary ! 
 
 PEACE, BE STILL. 
 
 Composed ivhile ivatching at Night, and alone, over a very painful Illness 
 of my dear Wife: Feb. 1820. 
 
 " Peace — be still !" — O Tliou ! whose Avord 
 The raging sea thus once address'd ; 
 And quelled the tempest as it heard. 
 And all its fury lulled to rest : 
 
 " Peace — be still !" once more exclaim, 
 And quell this raging of disease ; 
 Tliese pangs that rend a worn-out frame, 
 That seeks in vain a moment's ease. 
 
 " Peace — be still !" — 'Tis this alone 
 Stamps with success the healing art : 
 No drug can soothe a single groan, 
 If this withhold its sovereign part. 
 
 " Peace — be still !" — O heavenly charm 
 
 For every form of human ill : 
 
 Hear it, ye pains ! your rage disarm, 
 
 Hear the blest mandate — " Peace — be still !" 
 
 EPITAPH 
 
 ON AN UNNAMED SAINT. 
 
 O ! spot revered ! — though thou may'st hold. 
 Within thy consecrated mould. 
 Names more familiar to the great, 
 And wider fam'd for wealth or state; 
 
396 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF j 
 
 Yet never, since the hallow'd hour 
 
 When Russell rais'd thy walls t'embower ' 
 
 Against the last trump's dread alarm, 
 
 The wardrobe of God's saints* from harm. — 
 
 No, never hast thou, holy Earth ! 
 
 Clasp'd in thy bosom gentler worth, 
 
 A form more dear to man or God, i 
 
 Than now reclines beneath thy sod. j 
 
 Let Cam's green banks, from cell to cell, 
 Still on the echoing plaudits dwell, i 
 
 That rang when, in his year, he bore ] 
 
 All the joint wreaths of college lore ; — '\ 
 
 Here in this gloom, be told alone J 
 
 The higher virtues, often shewn, ^ 
 
 When the pure altar and the hearth 
 
 Gave new and nobler feelings birth ; ' 
 
 And fram'd a pattern none could see, 
 But love, and laud, and wish to be. 
 
 Blest Saint ! I dare not : — thou hast said, , 
 
 I 
 In life, and on the dying bed. 
 
 Still meek and lowly, and but dross 
 
 Accounting all things, save the Cross, 
 
 There only glorying; — and the verse j 
 
 That should revere thy simple herse — j 
 
 The lesson that should be reveal'd 
 
 The Muse must drop — her lips are seal'd. 
 
 Chiswkk Churchyard, Aug. 20th, 1823. j 
 
 * On tlie vi'alls of Chisvvick Churchyard is engraved the following in- 
 scription : " This wall was made at ye Charge of y*" Right Honourable &. | 
 trulie Pious lord Francis Russelle of Bedford, out of pure zeale & care > 
 for ye keeping of this Churchyard, & y^ wardrobe of God's Saints whose 
 Bodies lay buryed from violating by Swine & other Prophanation. So [ 
 witnesseth William Walker. V. A.^D. 1623." 
 
 "Camb. Calend. Year 1812. Senior Wrangler ; Chancellor's Medallist. | 
 
 First Smith's Mathematical Prize-Man." 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 397 
 
 FOR MY DEAR MASON.^ 
 
 Jesus with an eye of love 
 Marks little children from above : 
 And, when on earth for man he bled, 
 Took them in his arms and said, 
 " Little children ! come to me, 
 And a Saviour's welcome see. 
 If you love me, you shall share, 
 While on earth, my tenderest care, 
 And, in death, shall mount above, 
 Where your angels live in love, 
 And their Father's presence view ; 
 Aiid heaven is form'd of such as you." 
 
 A Foot-piece to Sir Joshua Reynolds^ Print of 
 
 LITTLE SAMUEL. 
 
 Jesus to little children says, 
 
 " Those that love me with heart and mind, 
 I too will love, — and all their days, 
 
 Whene'er they seek me they shall find." 
 
 This, little Samuel, when a boy, 
 Learn'd at his pious mother's side ; 
 
 And every day 'twas his employ 
 
 To pray that God would be his guide. 
 
 * This, and the little touching piece that follows it, were addressed by 
 Dr. Good to his grandson, Mason Neale, when he was about five years of 
 age. The reader, while perusing them, will probably be reminded of John- 
 son's remark (in his Life of Watts) on the difficulty of " a voluntary descent 
 from the dignity of science" to teach children. 
 
398 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 He bent his knees, and rais'd his eyes, 
 And clasp'd his httle hands so tight. 
 
 And God, that makes the Sun to rise, 
 Pour'd o'er his mind diviner light. 
 
 THE NAME OF JESUS. 
 
 "Thou shall call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from 
 their sins." 
 
 " Jesus ! Saviour !" — yet again. 
 Messenger of heavenly love, 
 
 O, repeat th' angelic strain ; 
 
 Strike that name, all names above. 
 
 " Jesus ! Saviour !" — at the sound 
 Can there be a heart asleep ? 
 
 Through creation's utmost bound 
 Let the thrilling music sweep. 
 
 Lo ! he comes his name to attest. 
 Mighty Saviour of mankind. 
 
 Wide as guilt has spread his pest, 
 Healing, here, the guilty find. 
 
 Prince of Peace — Desire of all ! 
 
 All the nations wait for thee : 
 Mount thy chariot — rule the ball — 
 
 Captive lead captivity. 
 
 Save us by thy promis'd birth : 
 By thy present spirit save : 
 
 By thy toils, thy pangs on earth ! 
 By thy conquest o'er the grave. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 3i)9 
 
 When in health temptations throng, 
 
 When, in sickness, gloomy fear ; 
 In life, in death, be thou my song ; 
 
 Jesus ! mighty Saviour ! hear.* 
 
 IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD; AND THE WORD WAS 
 AVITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD. 
 
 O WORD ! O WISDOM ! heaven's high theme! 
 
 Where must the theme begin ? — 
 Maker and Sufferer ! — Lord Supreme ! 
 
 Yet sacrifice for sin ! 
 
 Now Reason ! trim thy brightest lamp, 
 
 Thy boldest powers excite ; 
 Muster thy doubts, a copious camp — 
 
 And arm thee for the fight. 
 
 View nature through — and, from the round 
 
 Of things to sense reveal'd, 
 Contend 'tis thine alike to sound 
 
 Th' abyss of things conceal'd. 
 
 Hold, and affirm that God must heed 
 
 The sinner's contrite sighs, 
 Though never victim were to bleed, 
 
 Or frankincense to rise. 
 
 * The above were suggested by a sermon, which Dr. Good heard, 
 preached by the Rev. Thos. Hartwell Home, on December 25th, 1823. 
 He transmitted a copy to Mr. Home the following day, accompanied by the 
 subjoined note. — 
 
 " My Dear Friend, 
 " The best proof I can give you of my obligation to you for your labour 
 of last night, is by sending you the enclosed, the outline of which occurred 
 to me on my return home. Were it more worthy of the subject, it would 
 be more worthy of your acceptance, as well as more gratifying to 
 
 Yours very faithfully, 
 Guilford-street, Friday Afternoon. J. M. Good." 
 
400 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 Prove by the plummet, rule, and line, 
 
 By logic's nicest plan, 
 That Man could ne'er be half divine, 
 
 Nor aught divine be man : 
 
 That he who holds the vi^orlds in awe, 
 Whose fiat form'd the sky, 
 
 Could ne'er be subjugate to law. 
 Nor breathe, and groan, and die. 
 
 This prove till all the learn'd submit : 
 
 Here learning I despise. 
 Or only own what Holy Writ 
 
 To heavenly minds supplies. 
 
 O Word ! O Wisdom ! — boundless theme 
 Of rapture and of grief : — 
 
 Lord, I believe the truth supreme, 
 O, help my unbelief. 
 
 BEHOLD THE MAN ! 
 
 Behold the Man ! — was ever face 
 
 With grief so furrow'd and worn down? 
 
 ScofF'd at and scourg'd — a reed his mace, 
 And goading thorns his mimic crown. 
 
 A reed his mace — his crown rude thorns, 
 Whose sceptre sways earth, heaven, and hell 
 
 Whose glory all the heights adorns. 
 Whose praise adoring seraphs tell. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 401 
 
 Behold the Man ! — and in that man 
 
 A love surpassing wonder see ; 
 For thee in streams his life-blood ran, 
 
 He bow'd, he groan'd, he died for thee. 
 
 Behold the Man ! through time's long reign 
 
 Ye dead, awake ! ye unborn, view ! — 
 From the deep world's foundation slain, 
 
 Th' atoning Lamb is slain for you. 
 
 Behold the Man ! and, while ye may, 
 
 Sue to his sceptre, and adore ; 
 To-day he calls — beyond to-day 
 
 That precious voice may sound no more. 
 
 Behold the Man ! behold the God ! 
 
 The mighty Conqueror bursts the tomb ; 
 He rises, and resumes his rod ; 
 
 Flee while ye may the sinner's doom. 
 
 Life is a sea — how fair its face, 
 
 How smooth its dimpling waters pace. 
 
 Its canopy how pure ! 
 
 But rocks below, and tempests sleep, * 
 
 Insidious, o'er the glassy deep, ; 
 
 Nor leave an hour secure. 
 
 Life is a wilderness — beset i 
 With tangling thorns, and treach'rous net. 
 
 And prowl'd by beasts of prey. ^' 
 
 One path alone conducts aright, | 
 
 One narrow path, with little light ; 1 
 
 A thousand lead astray. - 
 
 2d • I 
 
 { 
 
 i 
 
402 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 Life is a warfare — and alike 
 Prepar'd to parley, or to strike, 
 
 The practis'd foe draws nigh, 
 O, hold no truce ! less dangerous far 
 To stand, and all his phalanx dare, 
 
 Than trust his specious lie. 
 
 Whate'er its form, whate'er its flow, 
 While life is lent to man below. 
 
 One duty stands confest — 
 To watch incessant, firm of mind, 
 To watch where'er the post assign'd. 
 
 And leave to God the rest. 
 
 'Twas while they watch'd, the shepherd-swains j 
 
 Heard angels strike to angel-strains i 
 
 The song of heavenly love : i 
 
 Blest harmony ! that far excels 3 
 All music else on earth that dwells. 
 
 Or e'er was tun'd above. 
 
 'Twas while they watch'd the sages trac'd 
 
 The star that every star efFac'd j 
 
 With new and nobler shine : - | 
 
 They follow'd, and it led the way j 
 
 To where the infant Saviour lay, | 
 
 And gave them light divine. j 
 
 'Twas while they watch'd, with lamp in hand, ' 
 
 And oil well stor'd, the virgin band ' 
 
 The bridal pomp descried ; j 
 
 They join'd it — and the heavenly gate, j 
 
 That op'd to them its glorious state, \ 
 
 Was clos'd on all beside. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 403 
 
 Watch ! " watch and pray !" — in suffering hour 
 Thus He exclaim'd, who felt its power, 
 
 And triumph'd in the strife. 
 Victor of death ! thy voice I hear : 
 Fain would I watch with holy fear, 
 Would watch and pray through life's career, 
 
 And only cease with life. 
 
 For the last seven or eight years of his life. Dr. Good, 
 persuaded of the incalculable benefits, of the highest 
 order, likely to accrue from Bible and Missionary 
 societies, gave to them his most cordial support; on 
 many occasions advocating their cause at public meet- 
 ings, and on others employing his pen in their defence. 
 To the concerns of " the Church Missionary Society" 
 especially, he devoted himself with the utmost activity 
 and ardour, as a most judicious, learned, and able 
 member of its committee. He suggested some useful 
 plans for the instruction of missionaries, and, in certain 
 cases, of their wives, in the general principles of medi- 
 cal science, the nature and operation of the simpler 
 remedies, and in the safe practical application of such 
 knowledge to numerous cases which may obviously 
 occur amongst the inhabitants of the dark and uncivi- 
 lized regions in which christian missionaries most fre- 
 quently labour. These suggestions were not merely 
 proposed in general terms, in the committee ; but, in 
 many instances, carried into the minutiae of detail, by 
 instructions which Dr. Good gave personally to the 
 missionaries themselves.* Nor was the advice thus 
 
 * At his death, the Committee of the Church Missionary Society trans- 
 mitted to Mrs. Good a resolution expressive of the veiy high value they set 
 upon his services, and of the heavy loss they were conscious they sustained 
 by that event. The resolution was accompanied by a letter of cordial sym- 
 patliy from the Rev. E. Bickersteth, the Secretary. 
 
 2 d2 
 
404 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 given confined to professional topics. The stores of 
 his richly endowed mind were opened to their use on 
 subjects of general literature, biblical criticism, the 
 rules of translation, the principles of geology, botany, 
 zoology, nay, every department of knowledge calculated 
 to fit them thoroughly for their noble and arduous 
 undertaking. Nor, again, were these kind and valuable 
 offices confined to individuals of the Church Missionary 
 Society alone. His soul was too liberal and capacious, 
 and his conviction of the paucity of the labourers too 
 deep, to induce him for a moment to wish or to imagine 
 that the glorious object could be accomplished entirely 
 by missionaries of any one persuasion. On different 
 occasions 1 have introduced to him missionaries and 
 others connected with various religious societies, who 
 were anxious to profit by his advice, on topics respect- 
 ing which they scarcely knew where else to apply; 
 and, uniformly, the individuals who thus availed them- 
 selves of the privilege, have testified in the most lively 
 terms their grateful sense of the affectionate kindness 
 of his demeanour, and the value of his suggestions. 
 
 During four or five years preceding the close of 
 Dr. Good's life, he never (as I have mentioned towards 
 the end of the first section of these Memoirs) seems 
 to have lost sight of the practical conviction of the 
 shortness of human existence, and the uncertainty of 
 its termination. This conviction, while it quickened 
 his activity with regard to the professional works upon 
 which he was engaged, and which, from the best mo- 
 tives, he was solicitous to finish, served also to quicken 
 his vigilance in the christian course, to give relish to his 
 hours of retirement, and to sweeten his converse with 
 God. Nor did he restrain himself to contemplation 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 405 
 
 and devotion alone, greatly as he enjoyed them. In 
 various intervals of leisure, which they who knew the 
 most of the multiplicity of his occupations and pur- 
 suits most wonder how he found, he gave vent to his 
 trains of meditation and feeling, in the composition of 
 essays of greater or less extent, (as the subject drew 
 him out, or the opportunity permitted,) of which the 
 manuscript copies were found after his death, under 
 the title of "Occasional Thoughts." These, in- 
 deed, give evidence that 
 
 " The soul's dark cottage, batter 'd and decay 'd, 
 Lets in new light, through chinks that time hath made :" 
 
 and that, as he approached the close of his earthly 
 career, he was advancing in meetness for the celestial 
 regions. They are also calculated to make a salutary 
 impression upon reflecting minds. I shall, therefore, 
 select with freedom from these instructive compo- 
 sitions ; simply adding, that, in order that the state of 
 mind of their writer may be duly appreciated, they 
 should be perused with the recollection that they are 
 not the productions of an ascetic, secluded from the 
 world, and yielding himself solely to exercises of 
 devotion, but of a man engaged conscientiously in 
 the duties of a laborious profession, as well as in 
 the composition of elaborate works of science and 
 practice ; from which he withdrew, as moments of 
 retirement could be found, thus to solace himself. 
 
406 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 OCCASIONAL THOUGHTS. 
 
 AND ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD. 
 
 Genesis v. 24. 
 
 " This is the only walk in which we can never go 
 astray ; and happy he who, amidst the innumerable 
 paths by which he is surrounded, is led to the proper 
 walk. To walk with God, we must take heed to every 
 step of his providence and his grace — we must have 
 a holy fear of not keeping close to him ; though he 
 will never leave us, if we do not leave him. We 
 must maintain a sacred communion with him, and 
 have our conversation in heaven rather than on earth ; 
 we must be perpetually receding from the world, and 
 withdrawing from its attachments. We must feel 
 our hearts glow with a greater degree of love to him, 
 and, by the influence of his holy Spirit upon our affec- 
 tions, become gradually more assimilated to the divine 
 nature. We must take his word for our directory, his 
 promises for our food, and his blessed Son for our sole 
 reliance, making the foot of the cross our only resting 
 place. 
 
 " If we thus walk with God through the wilderness 
 of life, he will walk with us when we reach the dark 
 ' valley of the shadow of death ;' and though we cannot 
 hope for the same translation as Enoch, still, like 
 him, * we shall not be, because God hath taken us." 
 
 MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD. 
 
 John xviii. 3(5. 
 
 " The world cannot exist without moral order, the 
 first principles of which are written in the heart, and 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 407 
 
 become a law of themselves unto those who are with- 
 out the knowledge of a revealed law.* And, hence, 
 it has been a great aim of every revealed dispensation 
 to coincide with and give all possible support to this 
 natural and most wholesome impression. Now, the 
 ordinary effect of this law of moral order is to render a 
 man respected and happy, whatever may be his station 
 in life ; and so far the maxims of the world concur with 
 those of religion ; for the man of piety is by his very 
 tenets obliged to act up to the spirit of this law, and 
 must necessarily participate in its general advantages. 
 And as the moralist commonly finds that ' honesty is 
 the best j)olicy,' so the Christian ascertains, upon the 
 same scale, even in respect to external concerns, that 
 *the ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness, and 
 all her paths are peace :' that godliness is profitable 
 unto all things ; having promise of the life that now is, 
 and of that which is to come.'f 
 
 " On this middle ground, the two systems touch, but 
 beyond this there is little or no connexion on either 
 side. * My kingdom (said our Saviour) is not of this 
 world.' And it is wonderful to behold how much the 
 general providence, as well as the special interposition 
 of God, has, at all times, been labouring to fix this im- 
 portant doctrine in our bosoms ; and to shew us how 
 little worldly power, or worldly talents, or worldly in- 
 fluence of any kind, have availed to propagate or up- 
 hold religion ; to introduce it into the heart, or to keep 
 it there. The brightest and most heroic times for the 
 church, have generally been those of persecution ; the 
 darkest and most disgraceful, those in which the arm 
 
 * Rom. ii. 14. t 1 Tim. iv. 8. 
 
408 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 of secular power has thrust forward its impotent and 
 unhallowed efforts in her behalf ; and compelled man- 
 kind to become proselytes to the faith. 
 
 " What has the mightiest and most pompous crusade 
 ever achieved in favour of that very cross whose 
 cause it so wantonly undertook ; and under whose 
 banners, consecrated indeed by the oil of mistaken or 
 arrogant hierophants, but never by the unction of the 
 eternal Spirit, the confederate armies of Europe have 
 marched forward against the painim foe with enthu- 
 siasm? What single spot on the whole map of the 
 globe can we select as a trophy of its triumphant 
 career, as an extension of the boundary-line of Christ- 
 endom ? When have such exploits ever succeeded in 
 permanently planting a church, or rescuing a single 
 village from the thraldom of superstition or infidelity ? 
 Or where, indeed, have they ever been crowned with 
 the success that might have been reasonably expected 
 on every other occasion ; and which has accompanied 
 the sword of other powers when drawn for the spread 
 of false religions ? Where Bramha now lords it with 
 almost undisputed sway, from the Ganges to the Indus, 
 there is little doubt that the faith of Budha was once 
 the reigning superstition : and the rich and variegated 
 regions of Egypt, Persia, Arabia, and Europe, the 
 plundered and subjugated patriarchate of the East, the 
 oppressive sufferings of the Archipelago, still attest, in 
 a long train of triumphs, the proud harvests of the 
 Crescent. 
 
 " Whence this extraordinary difference ? this contrast 
 so irreconcileable with the natural order of things, and 
 the march of moral calculation? The words of our 
 adorable Saviour alone solve the mystery : * My king- 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 409 
 
 dom is not of this world, (else) would my servants 
 fight.' 
 
 " What have the wealth, or the splendour, or the 
 talents, of the world, ever accomplished in favour of 
 genuine religion? or what are they accomplishing at 
 this moment ? If we turn to the magnificent biogra- 
 phies of those who are already gone to give an account 
 of this momentous concern at the bar of the final 
 Judge ; or follow up their successors into the witty or 
 the fashionable circles of our own day — how small is 
 the aggregate of their contributions ! A precious ex- 
 ample of genuine piety, issuing from the one or the 
 other of these sources, is occasionally to be traced in 
 the horizon, illuminating the surrounding opake with 
 its refreshing lustre, as though to shew that such a 
 meteor is possible ; while the general body seem spell- 
 bound, for the purpose of verifying our Saviour's de- 
 claration, * My kingdom is not of this world.' 
 
 " It was so in his day, and it will be so to the end 
 of time. What was the furniture of the first evan- 
 gelists, and how were they caparisoned for the combat ? 
 * Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, in your 
 purses, nor scrip for your journey ; neither two coats, 
 neither shoes, nor yet staves. — Take no thought how 
 or what ye shall speak ; for it shall be given you in 
 that same hour what ye shall speak.'* 
 
 " And so it was from the beginning. When God led 
 forth his people from Egypt, it was entirely a work of 
 special providence. In the barren wilderness they 
 multiplied as the stars in the firmament for number ; 
 their clothes waxed not old upon them, nor their shoes 
 were worn out by journeying : the heavens rained down 
 
 * Malt. X 9, 10, 19. 
 
410 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 food, and the flinty rock poured forth water. But 
 chiefly was the great principle manifested, that * the 
 kingdom of God is not of this world,' when they were 
 on the point of entering the land of Canaan, and of 
 measuring their strength with that fearful enemy, 
 whose name alone had cowed the hearts of their fathers 
 only forty years before, from the false representation 
 that they were giants in stature,t and defended by 
 towns whose walls reached up to the heavens.J The 
 whole passage, as related in the book of Joshua, is full 
 of a simplicity and a majesty unrivalled in any other 
 volume, and rarely equalled in the bible itself. In the 
 face of this formidable people, who, aware of their ap- 
 proach, and in league with every adjoining power, were 
 drawn up in a line of defence, they were commanded 
 to march forward to the banks of the wide and im- 
 petuous Jordan, at that time overflowing its sides from 
 the vernal floods of the neighbouring mountains, and 
 to cross the river. The whole army was instantly in 
 motion ; prepared at all hazards to obey the call, 
 though they had neither rafts nor pontoons, nor any 
 other visible means of coping with the stream. It was 
 the voice of Jehovah that gave the word ; and in the 
 power of Jehovah they put their trust. They were 
 nobly resolved to do their utmost, and to leave the 
 issue in the hands of the God of Israel. It was 
 enough ; and those who act thus are alv/ays safe. 
 We have no claim to expect the interposition of Pro- 
 vidence, if we do not make use of every exertion for 
 ourselves : and then may be most sure of it, when we 
 have been most unwearied in our efforts. 
 
 t Num. xiii. 28. + Deut. i. 28. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 411 
 
 "The army of Israel, and the multitudes of the 
 entire nation who were with them, their wives and 
 their little ones, being thus prepared and full of expec- 
 tation, were suddenly ordered to halt. And to shew 
 how little God stands in need of human power and 
 human prowess, and that the means of carrying for- 
 ward his kingdom are not of this world — the ark by 
 itself is commanded to take the lead, sustained on the 
 shoulders of a few unarmed Levites alone, while the 
 army and the people are forbidden to approach it 
 within the distance of half a mile. In this manner 
 marched forward the procession ; the unarmed ark 
 protecting the men of war, instead of the men of 
 war protecting the unarmed ark. In this manner 
 was it that the v/aters of Jordan fled,* like lambs, at 
 the presence of the divine symbol : and the hostile 
 country on the other side its banks was invaded, and 
 fell prostrate before its mighty and irresistible in- 
 fluence.f 
 
 " What a consolation does this subject offer to every 
 missionary undertaking of the present day, founded 
 upon just principles, and simply actuated by a humble 
 but zealous endeavour to extend the boundaries of that 
 kingdom which is not of this world. How fully doth 
 it open to us the only path in which we are to tread, 
 and the only armour we are to display. All human 
 means must be resorted to that lie within our reach, 
 suggested by prudence and sanctified by prayer. Yet, 
 
 * Psalm cxiv. 5. 
 
 t On contrasting this language with Dr. Good's notes on parts of tlie 
 book of Joshua, (p. 358) and endeavouring to account for so essential a 
 difference, we must recur, for the only solution, to the Psalmist — " Tliis is 
 tlie Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." 
 
412 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 even these are to be but auxiliaries, and kept in the 
 back-ground, while, as to the world, its wealth and its 
 talents are but little needed ; and its pomp and its 
 dominion are the worst allies we can engage on our 
 behalf. Without the ark of the Lord — the Lord of all 
 the earthj— no enterprise can be successful : but let 
 this go before us, and success is certain, whatever 
 diflSculties may obstruct our way : ' When thou passest 
 through the waters, I will be with thee ; and, through 
 the rivers, they shall not overflow thee/§ — ' Who art 
 thou, O great mountain ? — before Zerubbabel thou 
 shalt become a plain. '||—* Not by might, nor by power, 
 but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.'** 
 
 "This high tone of feeling, this truly evangelical 
 spirit, has, happily for us, and for the entire globe, at 
 length been seized, and is acting upon ; and the pro- 
 mises of God are in every quarter maintaining their 
 veracity." 
 
 FORM OF PRAYER. 
 
 Juhj 27th, 1823.tt 
 
 "Which I purpose to use among others, every morn- 
 ing, so long as it may please God that I shall continue 
 in the exercise of my profession ; and which is here 
 
 J Josh. iii. 13. § Isa. xliii. 2. || Zech. iv, 7. ** Ibid. 6. 
 ■\f A few days before the death of his beloved son-in-law, Mv. Neale. 
 For several years the spirit of this prayer was fully exemplified in Dr. Good's 
 practice. The sympathy he manifested for his patients was of the highest 
 order. When he prescribed, he was in the habit of praying for Divine 
 direction ; on administering a medicine liimself, he was often known to utter 
 a short ejaculatory prayer; and, in cases where a fatal issue was inevitable, 
 he most scrupulously avoided the cruel delusion too common on such 
 occasions, but with the utmost delicacy and feeling announced his appre- 
 hensions. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 413 
 
 copied out, not so much to assist my own memory, as 
 to give a hint to many who may perhaps feel thankful 
 for it when I am removed to a state where personal 
 vanity can have no access, and the opinion of the 
 world can be no longer of any importance. I should 
 wish it to close the subsequent editions of my ' Study 
 of Medicine.' 
 
 "O thou great bestower of health, strength, and 
 comfort ! grant thy blessing upon the professional 
 duties in which this day I may engage. Give me 
 judgment to discern disease, and skill to treat it ; and 
 crown with thy favour the means that may be devised 
 for recovery ; for, with thine assistance, the humblest 
 instrument may succeed, as, without it, the ablest must 
 prove unavailing. 
 
 " Save me from all sordid motives ; and endow me 
 with a spirit of pity and liberality towards the poor, 
 and of tenderness and sympathy towards all ; that I 
 may enter into the various feelings by which they are 
 respectively tried; may weep with those that weep, 
 and rejoice with those that rejoice. 
 
 " And sanctify thou their souls, as well as heal their 
 bodies. Let faith and patience, and every christian 
 virtue they are called upon to exercise, have their 
 perfect work : so that in the gracious dealings of thy 
 Spirit and of thy providence, they may find in the end, 
 whatever that end may be, that it has been good for 
 them to have been afflicted. 
 
 " Grant this, O heavenly Father, for the love of that 
 adorable Redeemer, who, while on earth, went about 
 doing good, and now ever liveth to make intercession 
 for us in heaven. Amen." 
 
414 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 "THE WAY EVERLASTING. 
 
 Psalm cxxxix. 24. 
 
 " This is the only way that can be worth the pursuit 
 of an immortal being : — a way that may hold on with 
 him through his entire career, and not stop short and 
 deceive him in the middle of his course. 
 
 " Now of all the ways, and they are innumerable, 
 which the world has to offer us— which of them is 
 there that can boast of this momentous and indispen- 
 sable requisite ? which of them can style itself A way 
 EVERLASTING? Instead of being everlasting, there is 
 not one of them that can engage to accompany us 
 through the present life — some of them not through a 
 twelvemonth of it, — while by far the greater number 
 fail as soon as we enter upon them, and prove their 
 vanity at the very outset. 
 
 "It is, therefore, a very subordinate inquiry, what 
 are the kinds of pleasure that any of these have to 
 offer? Nor is it of much more importance to be in- 
 formed whether they can make good their pretensions ? 
 which, after all, few, if any of them, are able to do. 
 For admitting they can realize what they hold out to 
 us, our mortification must only be the greater when we 
 find that the crop of fruition is exhausted, the season 
 of enjoyment at an end, and that there is no new 
 harvest to succeed to it. 
 
 "What we want, and without which we should 
 never be satisfied, is that which the psalmist here 
 longs for — A WAY everlasting; a something that 
 shall run the whole race of the soul, and keep up with 
 its illimitable duration. Can ambition give us any 
 thing of this kind? Every one who looks the least 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 415 
 
 beyond his own person must say — no ! The man who 
 treads in this way, seldom indeed holds on so far as 
 even the way itself lies open ; — worn out by the hectic 
 that consumes his enfevered frame, or cut down in the 
 midst of his hey-day by some fatal mischance that he 
 did not calculate upon. Yet, let him reach the goal — 
 let him be crowned with the guerdon he has sighed for, 
 and which his sweat and his labour have more than 
 merited. Are the laurels, indeed, perennial ? Has he, 
 in reality, acquired the precise object he has been in 
 pursuit of? Let the Alexanders, the Caesars, the Char- 
 lemagnes, the Cromwells, the Buonapartes of the world 
 answer the question. Instead of a way everlasting, 
 they have only acquired a 
 
 Monumentura sere perennius ; 
 a pyramid more lasting than brass : and their only real 
 guerdon is a hic jacet on a marble tablet. This is 
 all we know of them on this side the grave, and there 
 have been but few of their companions here who would 
 wish to be companions with them beyond it. 
 
 " But the ways of the world are innumerable, and 
 this is only one of them. There is the way of wealth ; 
 the way of pomp and ostentation ; the way of popu- 
 lar applause; the way of gallantry; the way of 
 gluttony; the way of indolent repose; and the 
 way of WIT and learning. These, too, have their 
 respective attractions. Over their portals are engraven 
 the most alluring mottos, the most specious promises ; 
 like the philacteries over the shoulders and foreheads 
 of the Pharisees of old ; and, like them too, making an 
 open mock of those who placed them there. 
 
 " I do not mean to say that they are all exactly 
 upon a level, equally hollow and deceitful, and alike 
 
416 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 unworthy the pursuit of an immortal spirit. But take 
 the best of them — the way of sound, illuminating 
 science ; that which unfolds to us the beautiful order 
 of nature, and the adamantine rock of moral obligations. 
 It accompanies us only to the end of the present life, 
 and vanishes at the very point where we stand most in 
 need of a guiding clue. It leads us to the grave — but 
 it leads us no further ; and its end, like that of all the 
 rest, is destruction. This, in truth, is the iron that 
 entered into the soul of the best and the wisest sages 
 of antiquity, when engaged in the momentous inquiry 
 before us. They had their hopes and their surmises, 
 but they had nothing more. The strongest part of the 
 Epicurean philosophy is that which points out the 
 unsatisfactory nature of all those arguments which 
 mere reason is able to offer in favour of a future state. 
 And hence, he who apparently knew them all (for they are 
 of very ancient rise, and for the most part only reached 
 Greece from the East) is fully justified in asserting that 
 'in much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth 
 knowledge increaseth sorrow.'* ' Life and immortality 
 are brought to light (alone) by the gospel. 'f This is a 
 doctrine that cannot be too strongly insisted upon : for 
 though it is not the only, nor even the chief doctrine 
 the gospel communicates, it is that without which 
 every other would be but of little importance. 
 
 " The only way everlasting, then, that we can 
 ever know — if we except that of everlasting destruc- 
 tion — and consequently the only way that is fitted to 
 the nature of an immortal soul, is the way of reli- 
 gion — and of religion as expressly revealed to us by 
 
 * Eccles. i. 18. t 2 Tim i. 10. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD, 417 
 
 God himself; and it is a way not more distinguished 
 by this peculiar attribute of perpetuity than by every 
 other that it possesses. 
 
 " Instead of captivating by the magnificence or deco- 
 rations of its vestibule, and the beauty of its opening 
 scenery, nothing can be more staggering or repulsive : 
 'Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which 
 leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.'* Its 
 ensign is a Cross ; and the discipline it demands of 
 every one who enters it is a course of mortification at 
 his commencement, and a life of humility through his 
 whole career. . But, equally different from every other 
 path in which we can possibly tread, it widens and 
 brightens, and grows delightful as we proceed ; and 
 gives at length to the astonished eye every charm of 
 real worth, every unmingled beauty of scene, in rich 
 and uncontracted profusion, which every other path 
 makes an empty boast of, and gives them in perpetuity ; 
 for death itself is not allowed to destroy the extatic 
 prospect. The dark valley of the shadow of death 
 must, indeed, be passed through ; but the beams of the 
 Sun of righteousness will ever illume it, and display, 
 beyond its beclouded vista, 'the path of life' still 
 spreading, the ' fulness of joy' that is in God's pre- 
 sence, the pleasures that are at his right hand for 
 
 EVERMORE.f 
 
 " It is this last part of the description that gives the 
 finishing stroke to the whole, and forms the sum of the 
 happiness of heaven — the way that it displays to us 
 is a WAY EVERLASTING. Were it not so, indeed, it 
 would be heaven no longer. The single thought that 
 the joys of the blest above could have a close, would 
 * Matt. vii. 14. f Psalm xvi. 11. 
 
 2e 
 
418 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 give a sting to every delight, and raise a sigh in the 
 midst of every hallelujah. And it is on this point, 
 therefore, that the holy psalmist concentrates his atten- 
 tion in the passage before us ; with this he concludes 
 his supplication, overlooking all the rest, as though 
 swallowed up in the grand and momentous idea of 
 perpetuity, and totally inadequate to the vast grasp 
 of his aspirations without it — 0, lead me in the way 
 everlasting!" 
 
 "be of good cheer: it is i; be not afraid. 
 3Iatt. xiv. 27. 
 
 "We are perpetually hearing of the troubles and 
 calamities of life : and God knows there is reason 
 enough for the complaint in every quarter. Where is 
 the breeze that does not waft a sigh ? the sun that is 
 not at times veiled in clouds? the harvest that does 
 not produce thorns and briars? where is the house 
 without its mourning? the city without its place of 
 graves ? How constantly is congratulation exchanged 
 for condolence ; and the joyous peal for the knell of 
 death ? Life is a series of griefs and harassments ; 
 and we no sooner escape from one evil, than we have 
 to encounter another. And as the man is the daily 
 sport of wayward facts, so is the mind of wayward 
 fancies. As though we were not satisfied with the 
 sorrows that actually lie in our way, we create visionary 
 ones in our imagination, or anticipate those that are 
 approaching ; and, descrying them through the mist 
 of our own fears, give them a horror and gigantic 
 gauntness that does not naturally belong to them. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 419 
 
 " Now, for all this there is but one remedy : and, 
 blessed be God, that remedy is a specific : it has stood 
 the test of nearly two thousand years, and has never 
 failed in a single instance. It is the repose of the 
 Christian upon his Saviour : a consciousness of his 
 perpetual presence and support. ' Be of good cheer : 
 it is I ; — be not afraid.' The Christian lays the entire 
 score to the charge of sin. Man had no fear, no 
 trouble of any kind, when in a state of innocence : and 
 when he shall be removed from his present sinful con- 
 dition, he will be removed, also, from the sorrows and 
 perplexities that are indigenous to it. In heaven the 
 heart is happy, because it is holy. There can be no 
 tears where God is present ; no anxiety, to mar the 
 pleasures that are at his right hand for evermore. The 
 harmony of the skies has no discord — the song of the 
 Lamb is all triumph. How can he be afraid who has 
 for ever sat down by the side of the great Captain of 
 his salvation, and whose banner, waving over him, is 
 love? 
 
 " This is one support on which the Christian relies in 
 his passage through the wilderness of the present 
 world ; and it gives steadiness to his foot, and exhila- 
 ration to his cup. He confides in his Saviour as to 
 the result. If his course be painful, he knows it will 
 be but short; and he, hence, girds up the loins of 
 his faith, and refreshes himself by foretastes of the 
 future. 
 
 " But the Christian is not left to anticipation alone. 
 He has another support, and of ineffable value, that 
 applies to the time being ; and softens the roughness 
 and mitigates the sting of every evil he is actually 
 encountering. He not only knows that he shall dwell 
 2 E 2 
 
420 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 with 'him whom his soul loveth'* hereafter, but that his 
 beloved Saviour is personally with him as his companion 
 in every trial, and will arm him with strength according 
 to his day. Our blessd Lord has no where told us that 
 a profession of the gospel, an assumption of his cross, 
 will be a smooth and inviting course ; but only that its 
 sufferings will be amply compensated ; and that the 
 balance of enjoyment will be infinitely in its favour in 
 the long run. ' The ways of wisdom are, indeed, ways 
 of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace ;' but it is 
 a pleasantness and a peace, not of the world, but in 
 SPITE OF the world, and which the worldling *inter- 
 meddleth not with.'f — ' In the world (says our Lord) ye 
 shall have tribulation ; but be of good cheer, I have 
 overcome the world : — and, lo! I am with you alway, 
 even to the end of the world. — Be of good cheer: it 
 is I ; — be not afraid.' 
 
 "There is no one point our blessed Lord seems to 
 have been more solicitous to inculcate during his mi- 
 nistry on earth, than a cordial reliance on the presence 
 and special protection of God, as an antidote against 
 the troubles of life. It forms the leading subject of the 
 first sermon his lips ever uttered, and it runs through 
 the whole of his dying address. ' Take no thought for 
 the morrow ; for the morrow shall take thought for the 
 things of itself: sufficient unto the day is the evil 
 thereof':}; ' Peace I leave with you ; my peace I give 
 unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. 
 Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be 
 afraid.'^ 
 
 * Sol. Songs i. 7. f Prov. xiv. 10. 
 
 X Matt. vi. 34. § John xiv. 27. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 421 
 
 "The first of these passages refers to the general 
 providence of God, or that which, with infinite wisdom 
 and goodness, controls the aftairs of ordinary life : 
 the second to his special providence, or the peculiar 
 interpositions of his grace, on extraordinary emergen- 
 cies. And both are the rich dowry of the Christian. 
 
 " Why should he be troubled in thought about the 
 fate of the morrow, who knows that God, who is his 
 God, has taken thought for him beforehand ; and has 
 given commission to the morrow to provide for itself? 
 Its sun will surely shine — its bread and water will 
 surely be made good. And, even in the midst of all 
 its evils, which no forethought can ward off", and which 
 the highest day of prosperity will even find sufficient, — 
 he who has taught him to drop all anxiety upon the 
 subject, will be with him to bear or to lighten the 
 burden, still whispering in his ear — 'Be of good cheer: 
 it is I ; — be not afraid.' 
 
 " But it may be his lot to suffer extraordinarily ; and 
 to suffier too, from his very adherence to his duty ; from 
 his attachment to * the faith that was once delivered to 
 the saints.' He may be thrown into the furnace of per- 
 secution ; ' the commandment may be urgent, and the 
 flame exceeding hot;'* but the form of the Son of God 
 shall still walk in the midst of the fire ;t and its smell 
 shall not pass on him, neither shall it have power over 
 his body.:|; *Be of good cheer: it is I; — be not afraid.' 
 
 He may be doomed to struggle with domestic afflic- 
 tion : the storm may gather round him from every 
 quarter : its waves may roar and be tumultuous ; and 
 his little bark be on the point of foundering amidst the 
 swell. — Still lift up thine eyes, and behold ! — Lo, Jesus 
 
 * Dan. iii. 22. f Id. 25. % Id. 27. 
 
422 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 is walking upon the sea :* hear the gracious accents 
 of his voice — 'Be of good cheer: — it is I;— be not 
 afraid.' 
 
 " But he is stretched upon the bed of sickness ; 
 every human hope vanisheth ; heavy hang the shades 
 of death on his eyelids. His disconsolate family press 
 around him, and pierce his heart ; the strugglings of 
 dissolution rend his limbs ; and an awful eternity 
 stretches before him. — What can support him in this 
 complicated struggle? this overwhelming conflict of 
 soul and body ? Here, too, the means are ample ; the 
 crisis is abundantly provided for. The Saviour is still 
 present more than ever ; he enters with a fellow-feeling 
 into his sufferings : for he, too, has tasted the bitterness 
 of death ; he has slept in the bed of the grave ; he has 
 trodden the same path, and even smoothed it by his 
 footsteps, and is only gone before to prepare him a 
 place.f Lift up the quivering lid, and catch a glimpse 
 of him: — hear the music of his voice, for it is still 
 sounding — * Be of good cheer : — it is I ; — be not afraid. — 
 I am he that liveth and was dead ; and behold, I live 
 for evermore, amen : — and have the keys of hell and 
 of death.":j: 
 
 AND THEY HEARD THE VOICE OF THE LORD GOD 
 WALKING IN THE GARDEN IN THE COOL OF THE 
 EVENING. § 
 
 Gen. iii. 8. 
 " The voice of God is for ever speaking, but man is 
 not for ever hearing it : and hears it, indeed, at all 
 
 * Matt. xiv. 25. f John xiv. 2. t Rev. i. 18. 
 
 § This was written on the receipt of Dr. Drake's " Winter Evenings," and 
 Evenings in Autumn. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 423 
 
 times, far less than he should do. But there are 
 seasons in which God will be heard, whether we may 
 choose it or not. The most abandoned sinner that 
 ever lived cannot for ever shut his ears against the 
 voice of his Creator. He may drown the sound, per- 
 haps, at times in the discordant din of the world ; in 
 the noise and uproar and merriment of a feast ; he may 
 rise above its hallowed whisper in the giddy vortex of 
 prosperity ; or may stupify himself beyond its reach in 
 the apoplexy of intoxication. Nay, he may, with fool- 
 hardihood, brave its loud address in the tempest and in 
 the thunder-storm, and remain careless and unmoved 
 amidst the wreck of nature around him. But the voice 
 of God shall still find him out, and terrify him in the 
 midst of all his evasions. 
 
 " It shall find him out when he least expects it, and 
 when he is least prepared for it. In the cool of the 
 EVENING, when retired from the world, and wearied 
 with its business or its pleasures ; when reclined at 
 ease in his own bowers, or seeking quiet or recreation 
 in his shady walks — the voice of God will find him in 
 the garden, and arrest him with the awful sound, 
 ' Where art thou V To fly is now in vain : his feet are 
 fast locked as in a trap ; and the trees of the garden 
 form no shelter. 
 
 *' Again strikes the awful sound 'Where art thou?' 
 the eye of God is upon him, and reads into his heart's 
 core. No disguise can now serve him. No shield, no 
 protector is at hand. He feels himself naked indeed — 
 he feels, and sinks with shame and confusion. 
 
 " How miserable is the life of the wicked man ! He 
 dares not trust himself to the company of his own 
 conscience. He may cast up the accounts of his mer- 
 
424 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 chandise, and exult in them : but he dares not cast up 
 the nearer accounts of his own heart. Life is, indeed, 
 for him a forced state, a fever, a delirium : and its only 
 comfort is the sweat and the exhaustion of a crowd, or 
 the stupefying narcotic of the bowl or the bottle. 
 
 " How miserable is the life of the wicked man ! All 
 the beauty of nature is lost upon him. He needs no 
 flaming sword to keep him from the garden of Eden : 
 for the single thought that the Lord God is walking 
 in the garden, will at all times drive him away from it 
 like a whirlwind. 
 
 "It is here, however, — it is in the cool of the 
 EVENING, in the retirement of silence and solitude, 
 when not a breath is stirring around us, that the voice 
 of God is oftenest heard. Elijah was commanded to 
 take his stand upon the mountain ; and he beheld the 
 mountain rent with a whirlwind ; and after the whirl- 
 wind an earthquake ; and after the earthquake a con- 
 flagration. Yet Jehovah was not in the whirlwind, 
 nor in the earthquake, nor in the conflagration. But 
 A STILL SMALL VOICE succccdcd, and that voice was 
 the voice of Jehovah. 
 
 "Happy he who hears it as Elijah did ! in the way 
 of duty, and charged with a confidential commission. 
 But let it come how it may, and for what purpose it 
 may, yet let him hear it. ' The still small voice of God 
 can never fail to bring with it a blessing : and in the 
 cool of the evening, in the privacy of the garden, the 
 heart is most open to its impressive message. 
 
 "It may be a voice of warning: but it will still be in 
 mercy. O, hear it, and be thankful. Drink in the 
 solemn menace, and prostrate thyself. Escape for thy 
 life from the course and companions it denounces. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 425 
 
 Escape, lest thou be consumed in their iniquity. O, 
 haste then and escape ! for the sun, whose beams shall 
 soon be hid in the smoke of vengeance, is already 
 rising upon the earth. Escape from the condemned 
 crowd, and flee to the privileged spot — to the little city 
 of Zoar.* 
 
 " It may come as a voice of chastisement. It may 
 lay thee on the bed of sickness, or sweep away the 
 delight of thine eyes. Still hear its solemn import, and 
 bethink thyself. Reflect on the abuse with which thou 
 hast employed every former mercy : how little the 
 hand of God has been acknowledged in thy prosperity : 
 what idols have usurped his supreme place in thy 
 heart ; how rapid the step with which thou wert rushing 
 on to eternal destruction— a lover of pleasure, and 
 without God in the world.' Hear thou the rod, and 
 him that hath appointed it tf it is still sent to thee in 
 mercy. Humble thyself in dust and ashes ; pour out 
 thy soul in deep penitence ; kiss the Son, while his 
 wrath is thus kindled but a little ;J put thy trust in 
 him, lest thou perish in the way. He may demand the 
 cutting off a right hand, or the plucking out a right 
 eye ; but 'it is profitable for thee that one of thy mem- 
 bers should perish, and not that thy whole body should 
 be cast into hell.'§ If Eli cannot enter into heaven 
 with his sons — let him enter by himself — and rejoice 
 with trembling. 
 
 " But there are those to whose ear the voice of God 
 comes in tones of unmingled delight ; who languish and 
 ever faint for it, as the panting hart in the desert for 
 the water-spring. These are the children of God ; the 
 
 * Gen. xix. 23. f Mic. vi. 9. X Ps. ii. 12. § Matt. v. 29. 
 
426 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 despised saints of the world : but wlio cannot be more 
 despised by the world than they themselves despise 
 the world's frivolous and short-lived enjoyments. 
 Though they are in the world, they are not of the world ; 
 they are travellers to a better country, to a more abid- 
 ing city. The day is to them a time of probation ; they 
 conscientiously discharge the duties that lie before 
 them, and fulfil the work of the day in its day. But 
 they pant for the season of refreshment; for the cool 
 OF the evening ; for the hour of meditation and 
 prayer ; for that decline of the sun's heat and garish 
 splendour, in which the world recedes, and heaven 
 opens before them. They hear the voice of God 
 WALKING in the GARDEN, and joyfully go forth to 
 meet him ; they press forward from the shades, and are 
 not afraid. 
 
 " Every thing, then, around them, gives a token of 
 God's presence ; the solemn stillness, the soothing 
 twilight, the tinkling sheep-bell, the village curfew, the 
 rippling stream, the fragrant breath of the wild hedge- 
 row, the even-song of the wocdlands ; the harmonious 
 carol of nature poured forth from every quarter and 
 every object in praise of the great Creator. Here is no 
 discord : the garden of Eden is again open ; the flaming 
 sword is withdrawn. Man is at peace with God, and 
 all things are at peace with man. 
 
 "It was thus the holy Psalmist mused. Retiring 
 from the concerns of the world, he, too, sought com- 
 munion with God ; he sought the cool of the even- 
 ing, and heard his voice walking in the garden. 
 He saw the work of his hands, in the firmament opening 
 above ; and in the various tribes of animals spread 
 below, rejoicing in the deep forest, and in the green 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 427 
 
 pasture, and in the balmy air, and in the rustling 
 waters. But most of all did he see God in the wonder- 
 ful structure of his own kind ; in the condescending 
 grace displayed to him ; in the dignity to which he is 
 advanced by the great mystery of redemption— raised 
 from the dust to rank with angels, from sin to the 
 friendship of God himself. 
 
 It was this last thought that overwhelmed him with 
 astonishment, and compelled him to exclaim, as the 
 head, the heart, and the tongue of the thronging temple 
 around him, the priest of the hallowed altar before 
 which he bowed : 
 
 When I contemplate the heavens, the work of thy fingers, 
 
 The MOON and the stars which thou art arraying,* 
 
 What is man, that thou art mindful of him ? 
 
 Yea, the son of the ground,* that thou visitest him? 
 
 Behold,* thou hast made him little lower than the angels, 
 
 And crowned him with glory and honour. 
 
 Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands ; 
 
 Thou hast put every thing under his feet : 
 
 All flocks and herds, even the beasts of the forest, 
 
 The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, 
 
 Traversing the paths of the waters. 
 
 O Jehovah ! our Lord, 
 How excellent is thy name in all the earth ! 
 
 AND AS HE REASONED OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, TEMPER- 
 ANCE, AND JUDGMENT TO COME, FELIX TREMBLED. 
 Acts xxiv, 25. 
 
 "The whole of this story, and especially the admirable 
 defence of St. Paul, equally distinguished by its dignity, 
 
 * These passa^jes are rendered strictly from the Hebrew ; and shew fully, 
 among other things, that the psalm was intended as an evening song of 
 praise. 
 
428 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 its eloquence, its art, and its holy courage, might well 
 vie in interest with the most impressive causes that 
 have ever been brought before a human bar, were it 
 even possible to confine its consequences to the indi- 
 vidual arraigned, or to the concerns of the present 
 world. But when we give full scope to its mighty 
 bearing, examine the subject to which the accusation 
 relates, as forming the key-stone of the christian creed, 
 and dwell on the holy confidence with which St. Paul 
 advances and maintains it as the ground-work of his 
 own defence, all other trials and courts of judicature 
 shrink into insignificance before it. 
 
 "It is peculiarly instructive to mark how entirely 
 the apostolic defendant passes by all the abuse and 
 invective, the charge of being ' a pestilent fellow,' and 
 * a ring-leader of the sect of the Nazarenes,' with which 
 the counsel for the prosecution opens his address— as 
 altogether contemptible, and unworthy of his notice ; — 
 and with what rapidity he passes on to the real malig- 
 nity, the gravamen, of the crime imputed to him, his 
 belief in the resurrection of the Son of God from the 
 dead, as the first-fruits of the resurrection of all man- 
 kind : as though still having before him the momen- 
 tous truth he had just written to the Corinthians, ' If 
 Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in 
 your sins.'* 
 
 '•'Whatever the collateral matter brought forward on 
 this occasion, St. Paul felt that it was against this 
 master-doctrine of the infant church, that the whole 
 venom of his enemies was let loose. And to this, 
 therefore, he restricts his defence. ' Except, says he, 
 it be for this one voice, this single declaration, that I 
 
 1 Cor. XV. 17. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 429 
 
 cried, standing amongst them. Touching the resurrection 
 of the dead (for no other charge) am I called amongst 
 you this day.' 
 
 " The case was so clear, that the court could not 
 hesitate a moment. The accusers were filled with 
 confusion; and the prisoner, though not immediately 
 released, owing to the corruption of the judge, who, 
 we are expressly told, hoped that money should have 
 been given him of Paul, that he might loose him,'* 
 and who we may, hereby, be confident had been pro- 
 digally bribed on the other side to condemn him, was 
 merely entrusted to the general superintendence of a 
 centurion, who was expressly commanded to ' let him 
 have his liberty, and to forbid none of his acquaintance 
 to minister or to come to him.'f 
 
 " But the most important feature in the entire case 
 is the striking contrast exhibited in the conduct and 
 demeanour of St. Paul himself and that of the Roman 
 governor, to whose award he was committed, and upon 
 whom, under God, his fate altogether depended. We 
 behold the one standing, as a prisoner, at the bar, sur- 
 rounded by a band of soldiers ; the other sitting on the 
 judgment-seat in all the pomp and circumstance of 
 power : yet the prisoner is bold and at ease, while the 
 judge shrinks and trembles before him. What is the 
 cause of this marvellously reversed order of things ? 
 the mysterious impulse that thus induces them, as it 
 were, to change places ? that gives quiet and dignity 
 to fetters, and thorns and confusion of face to autho- 
 rity? 
 
 " The answer is one in which every human being is 
 concerned ; and which has operated from the beginning 
 * Acts xxiv. 26. t Acts xxiv. 23. 
 
430 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 of the world, and will continue to operate till its con- 
 summation. The infinite difference of their past lives : 
 the influence of conscience upon their hearts, now 
 equally arraigning them before her still loftier tribunal, 
 and whispering her just award in their ears. 
 
 " When Mr. Addison was lying on his death-bed, 
 being sensible, by the grace of God, of a composure that 
 falls to the lot of but few Christians in that trying hour, 
 he called for one of the infidels he had been acquainted 
 with, that he might read a lesson to him in the holy 
 calm of his mind ; ' See (said he) how a Christian can 
 die !' The language of St. Paul in his defence on the 
 present occasion, is, ' See how a Christian can live !'— 
 and live, too, in the midst of calumny and oppression, 
 of bonds and the sight of martyrdom. ' This (says he) 
 I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call 
 heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing 
 all things that are written in the law and the prophets. 
 And have hope towards God, which they themselves 
 also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the 
 dead, both of the just and unjust. And herein do I 
 exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of 
 offence toward God and toward men.']: 
 
 " The great secret is here disclosed to us : the heroic 
 feeling is fully accounted for ; and the discipline may 
 be practised in all ages. If any man would be a par- 
 taker of the joy and the exultation which St. Paul 
 manifests, and which raises him above every weight of 
 affliction, let him live his life; let him tread in his foot- 
 steps ; let him, too, exercise ' a conscience void of 
 offence toward God and toward men ;' let him, too, 
 exert his faith in ' all things which are written in the 
 
 I Acts xxiv. IG, 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 43] 
 
 law and the prophets ;' let him, too, ' worship the God 
 of his fathers in the way' which the world may laugh 
 at and condemn, — and he shall reap the same reward — 
 he shall rise to the same tone of triumph. External 
 circumstances will, to such a man, be of little moment. 
 In bonds or at large, in evil report or good report, in 
 life or in death, he is endowed with a buoyant and 
 compensating power, that renders all earthly things 
 indifferent to him. ' The peace of God, which passeth 
 all understanding,' shall still surely be his, and shall 
 still ' keep him in the knowledge and the love of God. 
 And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, 
 and the Holy Ghost, shall still be with him, and remain 
 with him for ever.' On such a man what hold can 
 persecution take? What influence can the flaming 
 stake have, or the agonizing cross ? He will glory in 
 tribulation, he will sing praises in torture, and will 
 exclaim, with St. Paul, on another occasion, ' Yea, and 
 if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your 
 faith, I joy and rejoice with you all.'§ 
 
 " On the contrary, of what advantage is wealth or 
 station, or ofiicial authority, to him whose awakening 
 conscience stirs up the flames of hell in his bosom ? 
 and shews on what a pointed spear that man leans 
 who rests his heart on the world ? Such was Felix at 
 the time before us. His conscience had never, perhaps, 
 till now been stirred up at all. For, however tender 
 by nature, and watchful in the discharge of its duty, it 
 may be hardened and set asleep by art. Unhappily, 
 there are narcotics in abundance, and far more dan- 
 gerous than those of pharmacy, and that lie within the 
 reach of every one, and that are too often culled by 
 
 § Phil. ii. 17. 
 
432 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OP 
 
 every one that can stupify it, as it appears to have 
 been stupified in the case before us ; that can render 
 life a delirium, and put a lie in the right hand of the 
 fool who thus cheats himself. Thousands and tens of 
 thousands are there who have thus drugged themselves 
 from the beginning of life ; whose conscience has never 
 once awoke ; and who go on with the besotted dream 
 to their graves ; and then only open their eyes to the 
 dread reality of 'the worm that never dieth, and the fire 
 that is never quenched.' 
 
 " Happy they, O ! happy above all men, whose con- 
 science never sleeps ; who prize its warning voice ; 
 drink in its wholesome monitions ; discipline them- 
 selves by its precepts ; and sweep, and garnish, and 
 sanctify their hearts, as a temple for the Holy Ghost. 
 And next to these are they happy — and happy, too, 
 in the midst of all the pangs that may chastise them, 
 the cleansing agony they are doomed to endure— whose 
 slumbering conscience is, at length, startled in the midst 
 of its lethargy, and urged to a faithful discharge of its 
 duty ; who, in the noon and sun-shine of their sinful 
 career, are stopt short by the hand of Providence ; are 
 stung with a feeling of their own guilt and depravity ; 
 and, while in the high-road of profligacy and forgetful- 
 ness of God, have a lesson read to them * of righteous- 
 ness, temperance, and judgment to come,' that makes 
 them tremble. It is a season of mercy, it is a call to 
 repentance ; the penance may be sharp, but it leads to 
 health and happiness ; it is a blessed purgatory, and the 
 only one to be found in the scriptures ; the only middle 
 state of torment, that can save from hell, and prove 
 preparatory to heaven. 
 
 " It was vouchsafed to Felix, but, like millions who 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 433 
 
 have been favoured in the same manner since, he was 
 found a coward in the day of trial, and flinched from 
 its searching potency. The iron entered into his soul, 
 it touched him to the quickest point of his heart ; all 
 his, deeds of oppression, extortion, and injustice, arose 
 in fearful vision before his face ; his robbery of the 
 widow and the orphan, his condemnation of the inno- 
 cent, his rapacity and cruelty toward tbe prisoner who 
 was then addressing him, and who he felt ought to 
 be as free as himself ; they were the ghosts of his 
 past crimes, permitted to haunt him on the polluted 
 seat of justice, and to harrow all his heart-strings. 
 * And as Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, 
 and judgment to come, Felix trembled.' He trembled, 
 but he did nothing more; he trembled, but it was 
 not the trembling of penitence ; he trembled, but he 
 lulled the panic with an opiate : ' Go thy way, said 
 he, for this time, and when I have a convenient 
 season, I will send for thee.' 
 
 " It is thus the great God is trifled with from day 
 to day, and the Holy Spirit grieved, and the Re- 
 deemer of the world crucified afresh.— O ! pause, ye 
 whose hearts are conceiving the same deadly words 
 — pause, ere they proceed from your lips. They may 
 be the last words ye may ever pronounce : the bolt 
 of avenging justice may overtake you while uttering 
 them. Or, if such be not the case, your doom may 
 still be as certain ; your everlasting ruin as inevitable ; 
 and this, too, though you should live to the age of 
 Methuselah. There may be ' a convenient season' for 
 others, but to you it may never return. He who breaks 
 it off when once offered to him, may never find any 
 ' convenient season' afterwards. It came not to him 
 2f 
 
434 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 at the time from his own seeking ; and it may never 
 again be vouchsafed to him by the bounteous Spirit 
 that sent it. The day of grace may have spent its last 
 sands ; and the only season that remains, and that will 
 remain for ever, may be a season of hopelessness. The 
 heart may be given over ; the caustic that was meant 
 to produce a wholesome smart may have seared it ; 
 and the blessing be turned into a curse. The man 
 may again, indeed, hear 'of righteousness, temperance, 
 and judgment to come' — but he may hear without 
 trembling — till the judgment to come overtakes him, 
 and his trembling shall be for ever." 
 
 LET us NOW GO EVEN UNTO BETHLEHEM, AND SEE 
 THIS THING WHICH IS COME TO PASS, WHICH 
 THE LORD HATH MADE KNOWN UNTO US.* 
 
 Liike ii. 15. 
 
 " It is now nearly two thousand years since the 
 great spectacle, to which this invitation relates, was 
 displayed in the sight of men and of angels ; a spec- 
 tacle, beyond all controversy, the first in power, in 
 Avisdom, and in benevolence, that has ever been ex- 
 hibited on the theatre of universal being ; and which, 
 so to speak, forms the master-piece of the combined 
 attributes of the Godhead. And yet how many 
 millions of human kind, for whose benefit alone it has 
 been performed, have passed into the world and out of 
 it without ever having heard thereof by the smallest 
 whisper. And, what is of far more importance to our- 
 selves, how many millions are there of those who not 
 only hear of it, but to whom the invitation is from year 
 
 * Written at Christmas, 1825. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 435 
 
 to year, nay, from day to day, expressly addressed, 
 and whose everlasting salvation depends upon their 
 compliance, — who never once think of accepting it, and 
 are satisfied with the invitation alone ; who have the 
 bible before them, but suffer it to remain a sealed 
 book ; and never open, even its first page, with any 
 serious desire of studying its subject-matter ; who 
 never take a single step in the road to Bethlehem, to 
 examine what God hath there made known unto us. 
 So brutish is the heart of man, so dull its desire after 
 heavenly things, so rooted to the concerns of earth; as 
 though, like the grass on which we tread, he could only 
 grow from the ground. So intoxicated is he with his 
 temporal interests — the bubble of the moment, that 
 bursts even while he is grasping it, that the great 
 business of an eternal state is forgotten ; or rather, 
 sacrificed at the shrine of the reigning idol of the hour. 
 The gracious errand of divine love is never listened to, 
 the song of angels is unheard, and the stupendous plan 
 of redemption is suffered to pass by as a pageant. 
 
 " O, the long-suffering, the loving kindness of an 
 offended God ! — Truly ' thy mercy, O Lord, is in the 
 heavens, thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds !' 
 And, hence alone is it that, instead of a deluge of 
 water, like that which formerly destroyed the world, or 
 a consuming fire, like that which is in reserve for it 
 hereafter, the same gracious message is still repeated 
 to us down to the present hour ; and we are still, and 
 especially as on this returning festival of the Saviour's 
 nativity, invited to * go even now unto Bethlehem, and 
 see the thing which is come to pass, which the Lord 
 hath made known unto us.' Let us, then, now, kven 
 NOW, if never before, follow the footsteps of the 
 2 f2 
 
436 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 heavenly host, the track in which their holy harpings 
 guide us ; let us catch the sweet carol of their accord- 
 ant tongues, * Glory to God in the highest, and on 
 earth peace, good-will towards men.' 
 
 " And what does Bethlehem unfold to us ? The eye of 
 sense perceives nothing but a stable, a mother of humble 
 station, and a swaddled babe lying in a manger. Yet 
 this is the sight to which we are directed ; this is the 
 spectacle on which heaven is looking down with intense 
 eagerness ; this the grand event for which time has 
 been travelling onward, and in which all the pro- 
 phecies and the promises of God are concentrated. It 
 is the babe lying in a manger. O paradox of men, and 
 of angels ! O stupendous miracle of seeming contradic- 
 tions ! * O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom 
 and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his 
 judgments, and his ways past finding out!' That 
 manger cradles the Lord of heaven and earth ; that 
 feeble babe is 'the mighty God, the everlasting Father, 
 the Prince of Peace !' "What a prodigy, and what a 
 scene for its development ! When man was made of 
 the dust of the earth, a paradise was prepared for his 
 reception ; and all creation put on its richest livery. 
 When the Son of God is made man, and descends 
 from heaven upon the gracious errand of man's eternal 
 salvation, he hath not where to lay his head, and is 
 consigned to ' a manger because there is no room for 
 him in the inn.' 
 
 '•What a lesson of humility is here read to 
 us ! It is not with the great, or the mighty, or the 
 noble, that the Saviour of the world condescends to 
 take up his abode ; to be clothed in scarlet and fine 
 linen, and to fare sumptuously every day. It is not in 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 437 
 
 the courts, or the palaces, or even the temple of Jeru- 
 salem, that he chooses to make his blessed entrance 
 into the world. But, trampling, as it were, upon all 
 that man calls great and magnificent ; making an open 
 mock of the pomp, and the pride, and the vain glory of 
 life, he vouchsafes to dignify the walk of the lowly 
 with his presence, ' to fill the hungry with good things, 
 while the rich are sent empty away :' to be born in a 
 stable, instead of under a canopy ; in Bethlehem, the 
 city of David, ' though little among the thousands of 
 Judah,'* rather than in the capital of the Jewish 
 monarchy, the citadel of its strength. 
 
 " And, as was the opening, so, too, was the progress 
 of his career. ' Not many wise men after the flesh, not 
 many mighty, not many noble, were called ;'f but it was 
 the poor who had the gospel chiefly preached unto 
 them ; and the halt, and the deaf, and the dumb, and 
 the blind, who were selected to be the principal heralds 
 of the Redeemer's praise. Where, then, is boasting 
 under the gospel? It is utterly excluded, it is anathe- 
 matized, it is proscribed by every step of our divine 
 Master's progress, from his mysterious entrance into 
 life to his awful exit ; from the manger at Bethlehem, 
 to the cross at Calvary. 
 
 " And as he hallowed the path of humility, so did 
 he that of affliction. It was his daily trial to ' endure 
 the contradiction of sinners ; ' his 'visage was marred 
 more than any man's ; he bore our griefs, and carried 
 our sorrows ; was wounded for our transgression, and 
 bruised for our iniquities ;' and, ' was made perfect 
 through sufiering.' 
 
 * Mic. V. 2. t 1 Cor. i. 28. 
 
438 religious character of 
 
 "What a lesson of human wisdom is here 
 READ TO us ! Let philosophy look on, and blush at 
 its own conceits. How little has man's understand- 
 ing been able, at any time, to fathom the nature and 
 the attributes of the Deity, or to dive into his mys- 
 terious councils! Every age and nation have had 
 their successive mythologies and theologies, their 
 creeds for the vulgar and their creeds for the learned. 
 Egypt, India, Persia, and Greece, have vied with 
 each other in their respective fancies. And, as 
 though for the express purpose of shewing us the 
 utter vanity of all the natural powers of the human 
 mind, when pressed to their utmost stretch of ela- 
 borate cultivation, the experiment was permitted to 
 be carried on among these nations in succession, 
 through a period of little less than four thousand 
 years. And what, in every instance, was the result? 
 — Shadows instead of realities ; visionary conjectures 
 instead of substantial truths : 
 
 No light, but rather darkness visible. 
 
 " And then, and not till then, * after that, in the 
 wisdom of God, the world by wisdom,' was thus 
 proved to 'know not God, it pleased God,' by what 
 the world called ' the foolishness of preaching,' thus 
 retorting its own terms upon itself, by the great 
 scheme of redemption, by the revelation of his own Son 
 from heaven, to illuminate the darkness of nature, and 
 * to save them that believe.' 
 
 " Where, then, is the wise ? Where is the disputer 
 of this world ? God hath chosen the foolish things of 
 the world (foolish in the world's own conceit) to con- 
 found the wise ; yea, God hath chosen the weak things 
 of the world to confound the things that are mighty ; 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 439 
 
 and base things of the world, and things which are 
 despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are 
 not, to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh 
 should glory in his presence.'* 
 
 " Such was the glowing and triumphant language of 
 St. Paul, in his day, to the Jews, who were still re- 
 quiring signs, and to the Greeks, who were still seeking 
 after worldly wisdom. *But we,' says he, 'preach 
 Christ crucified ; unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and 
 unto the Greeks foolishness ; but, unto them that are 
 called, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of 
 
 God.'t 
 
 " The triumphant language of the apostle has been 
 fulfilled ; his prophetic vision has been realized ; and 
 Christ has proved most marvellously the power and 
 the wisdom of God in every age of the world since his 
 own era. Yet how incorrigible is the heart of man 
 when perverted ! how obstinate in its errors ! how blind 
 to the noon-day, 'the light from heaven, above the 
 brightness of the sun,' that shines around it ! — if the 
 question be still asked, ' Where is the disputer of this 
 world V — Thousands will, even to the present hour, 
 hold up their hands unabashed, and proudly accept 
 the scripture challenge. They go to Bethlehem, in- 
 deed, but they return as they go there : no heavenly 
 music has sounded in their ears ; they have seen 
 neither angel nor Saviour ; they went not to worship, 
 and will not believe. 'The thing which is come to 
 pass,' and which the Lord hath made known to man- 
 kind at large, they regard, not as matter of implicit 
 faith and holy wonder, but as matter for the tribunal 
 of their own reason. With insufferable arrogance they 
 
 * 1 Cor. i. 20, 27, 28, 29. f Id. i. 22, 23. 
 
440 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 arraign the Godhead before its impotent bar; they 
 measure the plan of infinite wisdom, the energy of 
 Ahnighty power, the great mystery of godliness, by 
 their own standard ; and convict the cause of falsehood 
 or of error upon the sole ground that reason cannot 
 comprehend it. And hence, as in the time of the 
 apostles, to some it is, in many parts, a stumbling- 
 block, to others altogether foolishness ; some, sitting in 
 the seat of the scorner, would summarily enter a gene- 
 ral verdict of imposture : while more, perhaps, not far 
 off, though openly condemning one half, are yet ready 
 enough, with an affectation of liberality, to acquit the 
 remainder, on being allowed to put their own correc- 
 tions into the inspired text.— Merciful God! great, in- 
 deed, was thy long-suffering that waited in the days 
 of Noah ! but how much greater is that which waiteth 
 in our own day, overpowered as it is in such a diversity 
 of ways with ' the profane and vain babblings, and 
 oppositions of science falsely so called !'* 
 
 " Let, then, the world go where it may, — let us go 
 even unto Bethlehem. What a lesson ls there 
 READ to us on THE EVIL OF SIN ! In the dealings 
 of God's providence there is no waste, and as little in 
 the dealings of his grace. A masterly economy, an 
 exact adjustment of cause to effect, is a striking cha- 
 racteristic in both. And hence, if the wickedness of 
 the world could have been expiated at a less price 
 than the sacrifice of the Son of God, never would he 
 have left the throne of his glory to become " a man of 
 sorrows, and acquainted with grief." And what can 
 more forcibly demonstrate to us the intrinsic enormity 
 of sin, of sin of every kind, the utter abhorrence with 
 
 * 1 Tim. vi. 20. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 441 
 
 which God beholds it in all its incalculable ramifica- 
 tions, its essential repugnancy to the purity and holi- 
 ness of his own nature, than the stupendous cost of its 
 atonement. Though armed with almighty power, God 
 has not the power to forgive sin unconditionally ; 
 though his mercy is infinite, not a pang due to mankind 
 could be remitted to the Son of his love : though Christ 
 was God, and • thought it no arrogancy to be equal 
 with God,' the severe penalty demanded for human 
 transgression was that of making himself of no reputa- 
 tion, of divesting or * emptying himself' of his glory, as 
 the passage has been more correctly rendered ; of hum- 
 bling himself to the fashion of a man, nay, to * the form 
 of a servant,' despised and rejected of men ;' and of 
 becoming * obedient unto death, even the death of the 
 cross.' O wonderful concentration of harmonizing in- 
 consistencies ! God becomes man ; the Everlasting 
 Father a feeble babe; Essential Holiness a sin-ofiering; 
 the inexhaustible Fount of all blessing and happiness 
 is made a curse : ' without controversy, great is the 
 mystery of godliness,' infinite the evil of sin. 
 
 "Let us go also to Bethlehem, and there read a 
 LESSON OF love: of the love which God has so stu- 
 pendously manifested to man ; and the love which man 
 ought to feel towards God. 'Greater love hath no man 
 than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends :* 
 but God commendeth his love towards us in that, while 
 we were yet enemies, Christ died for us.'f 
 
 " It was love, infinite, exuberant love, that planned, 
 from all eternity, the blessed scheme of man's redemp- 
 tion. Before guilt was contracted, or man was in 
 being, salvation was provided for him ; the atonement 
 
 * John XV. 13. f Rom. v. 8. 
 
442 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 was ready before sin was committed. * Lo, I come !' 
 said the Saviour of the world ; and in the volume of the 
 book of heaven the engagement was recorded from the 
 beginning : ' Lo, I come to do thy will, O God !' 
 
 "And through the whole accomplishment of this will, 
 love alone was the ruling principle. Every step was 
 marked with it, every action testified it, and every 
 word sealed it. His miracles were all love, inexhaus- 
 tible, overflowing love : the most aggravating provoca- 
 tion could never turn the sweet current, nor rouse its 
 gentle surface into a ripple. Instead of commanding 
 fire from heaven upon his enemies, he breathed forth 
 his blessing on them that cursed him, and prayed for 
 them that despitefully used him and persecuted him; 
 and died on the cross with the touching benediction of, 
 * Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do !' 
 
 "But, O, the tenderness, the sweet and overwhelming 
 endearment, the friendship and aficction beyond that 
 of a brother, which he poured forth to his disciples in 
 the scenes of privacy and blessed confidence. When 
 he weeps at the grave of Lazarus, who can help weep- 
 ing with him ? When delivering his last address to his 
 beloved eleven— how melancholy that one should have 
 fallen off" from the original number ! there was love in 
 that emergency, O Iscariot, even for thee, hadst thou, 
 then, like the overtaken, but soon subdued and penitent 
 Peter, gone *out, and wept bitterly.' Who can hear 
 his touching address without melting? what heart but 
 is all attention to catch every word as it drops from 
 his gracious lips ! what distress, but what comfort does 
 he set before thee ! how completely are his own suffer- 
 ings forgotten and swallowed up in the agony that 
 oppresses the faithful few around him. He sees them 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 443 
 
 terrified, overpowered, broken-hearted ; he beholds the 
 tearful eye, and the bursting bosom, and the speechless 
 silence. And, O ! what a cup of cordial does he pro- 
 vide for them ! never was so consolatory a farewell 
 uttered, so rich a legacy bequeathed. * Peace I leave 
 with you : my peace I give unto you. Not as the 
 world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be 
 troubled, neither let it be afraid.' 
 
 "And what our divine Master said unto his disciples 
 at that time, he says to his disciples still, and will say 
 to them to the end of the world. Let us, then, go to 
 Bethlehem ; let us see this thing which has now, more 
 especially, come to pass ; which is, at length, fully con- 
 summated. Let us learn the lesson of love which it so 
 impressively sets before us. Let love beget love ; the 
 love of God call forth the love of man ; — love supreme, 
 uninterrupted, overflowing, to him who first loved us ; 
 and love free, unlimited, and universal to our fellow- 
 mortals. * By this shall all men know that ye are my 
 disciples, if ye love one another.' 
 
 " Let us go, then, to Bethlehem ; let us begin with 
 the Saviour if we would end with him. Let us go even 
 to Bethlehem, but let us not take up our final abode 
 there. Let us follow the footsteps of our Redeemer 
 from Bethlehem to Calvary, from Calvary to mount 
 Olivet ; from his humiliation to his exaltation ; from 
 his cross to his crown. Let us follow him from his 
 first advent to his second ; from the manger to * the 
 regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the 
 throne of his glory.' Yes ; to Bethlehem let us go ; but 
 let us catch the angelic carol of this holy season, and 
 employ it as a chant for every day of our lives. He 
 who thus unites with the multitude of the heavenly 
 
444 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 host, while here below, in singing ' Glory to God in the 
 highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men,' 
 may humbly hope he is in the right way to unite, ere 
 long, in the realms above with the far greater chorus, 
 the multitude that no man can number, in striking to a 
 still higher, and more triumphant note, their own fa- 
 vourite anthem, that new song which shall never cease 
 to be new throughout the countless ages of eternity, 
 'Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, 
 and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and 
 glory, and blessing ; — for he hath redeemed us to God 
 by his blood, out of every kindred, and people, and 
 nation, and tongue. — Hallelujah! for the Lord God 
 omnipotent reigneth.' " 
 
 Besides the "Occasional Thoughts" thus quoted, 
 there are others equally instructive and impressive, on 
 the texts 1 John v. 4, Job xxviii. 2, 1 Sam. xxv. I, and 
 Matt. xi. 5. In conformity with Dr. Good's usual 
 habits of order, he entered upon a slip of paper, the 
 texts which seem to have been regarded as most suited 
 for these short but interesting trains of reflection, draw- 
 ing a line downward across the passages on which he 
 had been able to pursue on paper the entire course 
 of his meditations. From this memorandum it appears 
 that he had intended writing on four more topics ; and 
 from their order and nature I cannot but imagine that 
 with them be meant to terminate the series ; or, indeed, 
 considering his anticipations of death, as evinced by 
 his letters, (p. 113, &c.) I cannot but conclude, that 
 he thought his life and the series would close nearly 
 together. The subjects were, — 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 445 
 
 " The winds of doctrine." Eph. iv. 14. 
 
 " They took knowledge of them that they had been 
 with Jesus." Acts iv. 13. 
 
 " Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust ; for thy 
 dew is as the dew of herbs ; and the earth shall cast 
 out the dead." Isaiah xxvi. 19. 
 
 " One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now 
 I see." JoJm ix. 25. 
 
 And truly one may well be filled with delight and 
 astonishment at the radical and permanent change thus 
 strikingly accomplished, and more and more manifested 
 unto the end of his course. Meditating upon the 
 eagerness with which for years he pursued the phan- 
 tom fame, and upon the insatiable nature of human 
 desires ; recollecting that, if a covetous man could fill 
 his stores with gold, he would not therefore fill his 
 heart ; that if the ambitious man could acquire more 
 titles than he could enumerate, he would not thereby 
 sate his ambition ; that if the man athirst after human 
 learning were to accumulate a library unequalled in 
 extent and variety, he would still pant for more know- 
 ledge, and eagerly aim at facilities in its pursuit; that 
 though a man of scientific research were to waste his 
 strength and exhaust his spirits, yet the cravings of his 
 curiosity would not be diminished, nor the agitations 
 of his soul cease ; that the varied pursuits of man, and 
 the absorption to which they lead, by a thick veil of 
 intellectual conceits, too often intercept the view of 
 eternal objects ; — still we have here the most cogent 
 proof that there is no insurmountable barrier to pur- 
 poses of Divine mercy ; that the flashes of immortality, 
 whenever God pleases, are all-searching and penetrat- 
 ing, and what is otherwise most powerful sinks into 
 
446 RELIGIOUS CHxVRACTER OF 
 
 nothing compared with the irresistible energy with 
 which the Holy Spirit prepares his own way into the 
 heart of man, and transforms that heart into a living 
 temple for himself. 
 
 These are the considerations which will give, I hope, 
 to the preceding development of religious character, 
 an interest, notwithstanding its many imperfections ; 
 and which have principally weighed with me in attempt- 
 ing the delineation. 
 
 I need not now occupy the time of the reader by 
 enlarging upon the manner in which Dr. Good dis- 
 charged the offices of friendship or of domestic society ; 
 or by relating instances in proof of his self-denying 
 kindness to the poor, his disinterested benevolence, his 
 ever ready and sincere sympathy with the afflicted. 
 He had for some years studied in the school, where the 
 lesson is reiterated, to " rejoice with them that do 
 rejoice, and weep with them that weep;" and it was his 
 daily care to the very close of life to exemplify that 
 lesson. I may, however, adduce an aflfecting illustra- 
 tion of this, by inserting the last letter which he ever 
 wrote. It was addressed to a pious lady, the wife of a 
 
 clergyman in =, who, under apprehension of a 
 
 cancerous affection, had written to him. 
 
 " Guilford Street, Dec. 21, 1826. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. H , 
 
 "Your very excellent and impressive letter has 
 deeply interested us in every thing that relates to you, 
 though I assure you we did not stand in need of any cir- 
 cumstance so afflictive, to associate our feelings in your 
 welfare. We had heard, in a loose way, of the fears 
 you were entertaining, and we had already sympathized 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 447 
 
 with you; but the rumour having appeared to die 
 away, we were in hope it was without foundation. 
 
 I am sure Mr. C has given you the best advice — 
 
 that, I mean, of coming to town, and obtaining the best 
 professional opinion and assistance you can ; — and I 
 have only to add hereto, that I think you should come 
 without delay. It is possible that, by the blessing of 
 God, means may at present be devised for eradicating 
 the disorder without any painful operation ; for it seems 
 to me, that the complaint, whatever it may terminate 
 in when confirmed, is at present only in such a state 
 as to render it doubtful what name to give the tumour. 
 But by all means, and let the event prove what it may, 
 give Mr. Abernethy, or whomsoever you may consult, 
 (and you cannot consult a more skilful man than him- 
 self) an opportunity of trying his own powers, and 
 chusing his own time, for whatever may be judged 
 requisite. 
 
 " You write under the guidance of so blessed a spirit, 
 and with feelings so dear to every good and pious heart, 
 that, let the result be what it may, there can be no 
 question that you will ultimately have to rejoice in 
 the tribulation; and look upon it as sent in kindness 
 by Him, who never afflicts willingly, nor grieves * the 
 children of men ;' and allow me to add, that an example 
 like this which you are permitted to afibrd in suffering, 
 and in meekness of resignation, cannot fail of having a 
 commanding influence on the world at large. ' See 
 how these Christians suffer !' is, thank God, an excla- 
 mation that may occasionally be heard in the present 
 day, as well as in former times; and it has already 
 struck deeply home into our own hearts. 
 
 " But the chief cause of my writing is, to offer you. 
 
448 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OP 
 
 on the present occasion, in my own name and that of 
 my dear wife, every facility that our house will afford : 
 come to us without loss of time, and so far as my 
 professional influence may extend among my brethren, 
 or the offices of friendship may be of any avail, you 
 shall readily command them. I assure you, we feel 
 
 also very deeply for Mr. H , as I trust he will 
 
 perceive, when he comes to town. But I must leave 
 Mrs. Good to add her own request to mine, upon this 
 important subject, and I trust our conjoint entreaty 
 will not be in vain. — With kindest regards to Mr. 
 
 H , believe me, 
 
 " My dear Madam, 
 
 " Ever faithfully yours, 
 
 "J. M. Good." 
 
 The sympathy thus affectionately offered, was never 
 administered : for, only two days after Dr. Good had 
 written this letter, he left home (as I have already 
 mentioned, p. 118.) to visit his daughter and her 
 children, at Shepperton ; and before the reply, though 
 transmitted without delay, reached him, he was so 
 seriously ill, as to render its being read to him alto- 
 gether inexpedient. Having, in the passage to which I 
 have just referred, spoken of the severe indisposition 
 which so rapidly terminated in his death, it now 
 remains for me to enable the reader to judge of his 
 state of mind, and of the divine supports which he 
 experienced at that awful and affecting season : this I 
 shall do by extracting largely from a letter, transmitted 
 at my request, by those members of his family, whose 
 affection, ever watchful, soothed him most in the time 
 of his last and greatest extremity. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 449 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Since you desire to record with sacred care, a correct 
 statement of the faith and feelings of your departed 
 friend, during the solemn closing scene of his earthly 
 pilgrimage; the following memoranda are, in com- 
 pliance with your request, forwarded to you for this 
 purpose. These short notes were written by indi- 
 viduals of the family, a very few days after the death 
 of their greatly loved relative. If affection should 
 tempt them to be too minute, and to transgress the 
 limits which less interested spectators would have 
 assigned to themselves in describing such a scene, it 
 will be forgiven by those who are already deriving 
 peace, and more than ipesice— joy, in the assurance, 
 that ' Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of 
 His saints.' 
 
 " Had you, my dear Sir, been in the dying chamber 
 of the friend whom you so much valued, and who re- 
 turned your friendship with unvarying affection and 
 esteem through so long a period of years, you would 
 have joined with his family in adopting the language 
 of the Rev. John Scott, upon a similar occasion, when 
 he says, * We feel we have had a grand and most 
 edifying Christian spectacle proposed to us.' And 
 you would dwell with particular delight upon the 
 apology offered by Hooker, for minuteness in the detail 
 of scenes like these. * The Lord himself hath not disdain- 
 ed so exactly to register in the Book of Life, after what 
 sort his servants have closed up their days on earth, 
 that he descendeth even to their very meanest actions ; 
 — their cries, their groans, their pantings, breathings, 
 and last gaspings, He hath most solemnly commended 
 to the memory of all generations. And shall it seem 
 2g 
 
450 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 unto US superfluous, at such times as these are, to hear 
 in what manner they have ended their lives?' 
 
 " You have, dear Sir, already alluded to your friend's 
 ill state of health, previous to his journey to Leaming- 
 ton, and to his unavoidably delayed visit to Shepper- 
 ton, about two months afterwards. In this retirement, 
 he was accustomed occasionally to relinquish, for a 
 short time, his professional studies, and to unbend his 
 mind in the midst of his family and friends. The 
 memoranda you requested, state, that on the 23d of 
 December he set out on his journey thither. Mrs. Good 
 having left hira as usual after the breakfast hour, till 
 the time appointed for leaving home, observed, as he 
 got into the carriage, that he looked extremely ill ; and 
 stated her full belief that he was unable to bear the 
 ride ; he would not, however, consent to the postpone- 
 ment of his visit, and proceeded on to Piccadilly, 
 where, with great exertion, he paid a medical visit. 
 On continuing their journey, Mrs. G. observed that 
 the exercise produced great pain, and urged him to 
 return ; again he declined complying with her request, 
 stating the extreme disappointment and anxiety it 
 would cause his daughters, the youngest being then on 
 a visit to her sister. They, therefore, proceeded 
 slowly, and reached Shepperton an hour and a half 
 after the appointed time. His children were much 
 grieved to notice the alteration in his countenance and 
 manner ; but he assured them that what he felt was the 
 eflfect of the ride, and would be removed in a few days ; 
 and endeavoured, with his usual cheerfulness, to join 
 the family in the dining-room, only resting on a sofa. 
 He rallied for a few minutes after dinner, and calling 
 his grandchildren to him, gave to each the little books 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 451 
 
 which he had selected for them, and in some of which 
 he had made for his grandson interlineations, by way 
 of explanation of some simple philosophical experi- 
 ments ; while in others were passages carefully erased 
 with his own hand, as containing expressions or prin- 
 ciples which he disapproved : these were his last gifts. 
 Shortly afterwards he was obliged to remove to a room 
 adjoining his sleeping chamber, so soon to become the 
 chamber of death. 
 
 " On the same evening, the attendance of his friend 
 Mr. Cooper was requested ; he, at that time, being at 
 his country-house, in the same village ; and it was a 
 cause of peculiar thankfulness to Dr. Good and his 
 family, in this season of affliction, that Mr. Cooper 
 was so near.* 
 
 " From Sunday, Dec. 24th, to Thursday, Dec. 28th, 
 Dr. Good continued, though with daily increasing 
 difliculty, to be moved on a sofa in the room adjoining. 
 Frequent doses of opium were even then obliged to be 
 administered ; they produced occasional confusion of 
 thought, which he was fully aware of, and recalled 
 
 * "In a later period of his illness, they were much indebted to the 
 prompt and kind attendance, first of Dr. Hooper, with whom Dr. Good 
 was formerly connected in some literary work, and afterwards of Mr. B. 
 Travers, his colleague in a public office. Both these gentlemen afforded 
 with the utmost kindness their friendly assistance, though they had twenty 
 miles to travel for this purpose. Mr. Ives, of Chertsey, had long before 
 this offered his kind and constant attendance, which had been gladly 
 accepted. To none of these attentions was Dr. Good insensible; he grate- 
 fully felt them ; but especially was he deeply indebted to his friend Mr. 
 Cooper for his skill, his unremitting watchfulness, and unwearied kindness 
 to himself and family. From the period in which Dr. Good became 
 materially worse till after his death, Mr. Cooper never quitted him, except 
 for a very short time to give some needed directions in his own house ; he 
 slept on a sofa in the room which opened into his friend's dying chamber, 
 and with the most tender sympathy administered with his own hands all 
 the palliations his skill could suggest." 
 
 2g2 
 
452 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 himself, saying, * O, this opium, it distresses me ; I 
 cannot separate imagination from reality ; but I must 
 be quiet.' The fear of committing himself, or speaking 
 incoherently, not only at this time, but even in a much 
 later period of his illness. Dr. Good's family and friends 
 were consoled by remarking ; because it gave the full 
 weight to all his deliberate statements of his own views 
 or feelings, which such statements would have deserved 
 had they been delivered while in possession of entire 
 health and vigour of mind. What regard was due to 
 them may be judged by the consultation held with Mr. 
 Cooper, already alluded to — and many others which 
 may be noticed in these memoranda. Notwithstand- 
 ing, however, his extreme suffering, he entertained not 
 the smallest idea of immediate danger, and fully 
 believed the present attack would pass off. It was at 
 this period he said to Mrs. Good, *You know my 
 views have been for some years past materially 
 changed. I have been now doctrinally right, but prac- 
 tically wrong.' The nurse, who at this time sat up 
 with him, says that great part of the night was spent 
 in prayer : sometimes, however, he spoke to her, ex- 
 Hiorting her not to delay the consideration of religion. 
 Unwilling to grieve his family by any expression of 
 the agony he endured, his very delirium served to shew 
 his kindness ; as he then generally talked of being well, 
 and begged those around him not to concern themselves 
 so much. 
 
 " The wonderful ebb and flow of reason, the aberra- 
 
 ' lion of mind at some seasons, succeeded by a complete 
 
 self-coUectedness and full possession of his reasoning 
 
 powers at others, can scarcely be conceived by those 
 
 who were not eye-witnesses of the fact. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 453 
 
 " Like many other individuals, he often manifested 
 * the ruling passion' during his last illness. After he 
 was entirely confined to his bed, and whilst suffering 
 great pain, he desired one of his daughters to prepare 
 him a mixture, using the chemical terms for the differ- 
 ent ingredients : she replied, 'Dear Papa, you must be 
 more plain in your directions, or I am afraid I shall 
 mistake.' Dr. G., who had just strength to raise his 
 head a little from the pillow, said, in a gentle tone of 
 half reproof, ' Don't you remember the name of that V 
 I thought you had known— it is only so and so — but it 
 is well to call things by their right names.' At another 
 time, when she urged him to take larger doses of Hyos- 
 cyamus, as they seemed to produce temporary relief, he 
 entered minutely into all his reasons for preferring a 
 more frequent repetition, rather than an increase of the 
 quantity, adding, 'therefore give me just the number 
 of drops I tell you.' These little incidents, in connec- 
 tion with his always using terms of art to describe his 
 pain, and often saying to his family, ' You will find' 
 this or that complaint he had to speak of ' in my book,' 
 obviously indicate the yet unextinguished prevalence 
 of his leading dispositions, a love of order, and an 
 ardent attachment to his professional pursuits. 
 
 " None but those who intimately knew Dr. Good 
 can conceive how, in the daily occurrences of life, he 
 seemed to forget his own ease in his attention to the 
 wants of others, and in his earnest desire to promote 
 their comfort. And never was this disposition more 
 manifested than during his last illness. On one occa- 
 sion he said to his eldest daughter, ' Perhaps I did 
 wrong in coming here on Saturday ; but I knew how 
 greatly distressed you and Margaret would be, and I 
 
454 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 could not bear it. I thought the exacerbation of the 
 disease would pass off with a little rest, and so I believe 
 it will in time. Now, however, it is all well, I am very 
 thankful to be in the midst of my family ; only, I 
 grieve for the trouble I give you all : and the dear chil- 
 dren too, poor little loves. I cannot bear them now ; but 
 my dear boy Mason must come to me by and by.' 
 
 "On Friday December 29th, as you have already 
 remarked, Mr. Cooper held a consultation with Dr. 
 Good, who saw and wrote a prescription with his 
 usual accuracy for his patient, the niece of his much 
 loved and greatly esteemed friend, the Rev. Mr. Rus- 
 sell, rector of the parish. A more striking scene can 
 scarcely be conceived — The young lady, who was 
 extremely ill, and supposed to be in immediate danger, 
 was, at her own earnest request, brought into the 
 house, and placed by the bed-side of her kind phy- 
 sician, who gathered up all his strength to attend to 
 her symptoms, which were stated with extreme diffi- 
 culty. At this time his own danger began to be appre- 
 hended by his afflicted family, and the friends of both 
 parties listened, with no common interest, to what was 
 passing before them. The exertion, however, was far 
 too much for Dr. Good. The excitement, it produced, 
 occasioned through the whole of the same night and 
 succeeding day much confusion of thought. 
 
 " In the evening of Saturday Dec. 30tb, he was 
 once more completely himself; and this being observed, 
 Mr. Russell was sent for. On his entrance. Dr. Good 
 put out his hand, saying, 'You are the very person 
 whom next to my own family I am most anxious to 
 see.' Mr. Russell replied, ' 1 am come for the purpose 
 of imploring the blessing of the Redeemer upon you.' 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 455 
 
 Dr. Good then inquired, mentioning their names indi- 
 vidually, if all his family were present? And each 
 answering, he said in almost his usual tone of voice, 
 and with much composure of manner, * I cannot say I 
 feel those triumphs which some Christians have expe- 
 rienced ; but I have taken, what unfortunately the 
 generality of Christians too much take, I have taken 
 the middle walk of Christianity ; I have endeavoured 
 to live up to its duties and doctrines, but I have lived 
 below its privileges. I most firmly believe all the 
 doctrines of Scripture, as declared by our church.— I 
 have endeavoured to take God for my father and my 
 Saviour ; but I want more spirituality, more humility, 
 I want to be humbled.' Here he became much agi- 
 tated, but yet went on, — ' I have resigned myself to 
 the will of God. If I know myself, I neither despair 
 nor presume; but my constitution is by nature san- 
 guine in all things, so that I am afraid of trusting to 
 myself.' Some remarks being made about the righte- 
 ousness of Christ, Dr. Good replied, ' No man living can 
 be more sensible than I am, that there is nothing in 
 ourselves ; and of the absolute necessity of relying 
 only upon the merits of Jesus Christ. I know there is 
 a sense in which that expression of Saint Paul's, " of 
 whom I am chief," is applicable to all ; but there are 
 some to whom it is peculiarly appropriate, and I fear 
 I am one. I have not improved the opportunities 
 given me ; I have had large opportunities given me, 
 and I have not improved them as I might: I have 
 been led astray by the vanity of human learning, and 
 the love of human applause.' 
 
 " Something being said about the cleansing blood of 
 Jesus Christ; he again repeated, 'Do not think I 
 
456 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 despair ; I am, naturally sanguine, 1 am afraid of 
 myself.' In compliance with Dr. Good's own request, 
 Mr. Russell then read John i. 15, 16. dwelling upon 
 the words 'Out of his fulness have we all received.' — 
 Mr. Russell then asked, ' Is there any thing in par- 
 ticular that you wish me to pray for?'— Dr. Good 
 answered, * No, I have endeavoured to give you, not 
 as a matter of form, but in the sight of God, a tran- 
 script of my feelings.' *But,' repeated Mr. R , 
 
 * Is there nothing in particular that you wish me to 
 pray for?' The reply was, *I want to be more hum- 
 bled under a sense of sin ; I want more spirituality, 
 more humility.' Mr. Russell accordingly knelt down 
 to pray. But after this testimony to the truth, this 
 statement of his feelings, in whicli all the powers of his 
 soul and body seemed summoned up and concentrated, 
 nature was exhausted. 
 
 " Those present had been throughout this trying, yet 
 abundantly consolatory scene, fearful that a return of 
 delirium would follow so much exhaustion ; but before 
 the conclusion of Mr. Russell's prayer. Dr. Good fell 
 into the only peaceful sleep which he had enjoyed for 
 many days. 
 
 "Sunday Dec. 31st, was a day of mtense agony and 
 frequent wanderings of mind ; yet with intervals of 
 perfect recollection and composure. About noon Dr. 
 Good sent for his little grandson, and after solemnly 
 blessing him, in the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost, he added instantly, 
 ' Now no more, — go, I dare not trust myself;' shew- 
 ing in this last remark a perfect self-recollection, a 
 state of mind which continued for several hours. 
 Shortly after this, some one mentioned Miss W.'s name. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 457 
 
 (the young lady who was governess to his grand- 
 children.) Dr. Good desired to see her, and on her 
 coming into the room, and taking the convulsed hand, 
 which he evidently wished but wanted the power to 
 put forth, he spoke some words expressive of his satis- 
 faction as to her care of the children, and urging the 
 responsibility of the charge she had undertaken, and 
 her need of remembering it, especially, he added, 
 * whilst their mother was laid aside (meaning by 
 attendance upon himself) and I know not how long 
 that may last.' * I don't know,' he said, ' how much 
 I may have to suffer, but I am yet a strong man; 
 whether we shall ever meet around the dining-table 
 again, I cannot tell ;' and concluded by some expres- 
 sion of hope and desire that he should meet her 
 hereafter. 
 
 " Dr. Hooper arrived late in the evening of this day. 
 Our dear father immediately knew him, described his 
 own sufferings in the usual medical terms, and was 
 not satisfied unless the quantity as well as quality of 
 the medicines administered was stated to him. Dr. H. 
 did not remain long, too quickly perceiving how un- 
 availing, in this case, was human skill : with tenderness 
 and frankness he told us his opinion, and assured us 
 of his readiness to remain longer, notwithstanding his 
 pressing medical engagements, if his continuance 
 would be of the slightest benefit to his friend. Tn the 
 intervals of composure, and when not suffering from 
 extreme exacerbations of pain, some of Dr. G.'s family 
 endeavoured to repeat occasionally short texts of 
 scripture, to which he always listened with pleasure, 
 appearing however much more struck with some than 
 with others. On one occasion, without any suggestion 
 
458 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 or leading remark from those around, he was heard to 
 repeat distinctly with quivering convulsive lips, ' All 
 the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ 
 Jesus.' * What words for dying lips to rest upon.' 
 At another time, as one of his family was sitting by, 
 he uttered some expression, not accurately remem- 
 bered, of deep sorrow for sin. This text was then 
 mentioned, ' If we confess our sins. He is faithful and 
 just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all 
 unrighteousness.' He repeated, 'faithful: yes — nothing 
 can be more suitable.' 
 
 " The same evening one of his family kneeling over 
 him said, 'May I pray, can you bear it?' the reply 
 was — ' I am not sure, I am in great pain ; but try and 
 pray.' Accordingly a few words were offered up, im- 
 ploring that the Saviour would reveal more of His 
 loving-kindness. His exceeding glory, to him ; he list- 
 ened attentively, and uttered something expressive of 
 his feeling that these petitions were suitable to him, 
 and of his deeply joining in them. 
 
 *' On Monday, Jan. 1st, his sufferings increased, and 
 his mind wandered. At 7 o'clock on the morning of 
 this day his youngest daughter proposed repeating a 
 well-known text of scripture, as the likeliest means of 
 recalling him to himself. She was answered that this 
 in his present weakness would only confuse him more. 
 A text of scripture, however, was repeated, and the 
 effect was wonderful ; it seemed a perfect calling back 
 of the mind : he listened with manifest pleasure, and 
 concluded it himself. Many were the texts which 
 were repeated at different intervals throughout this 
 day, and to which he listened with more or less plea- 
 sure, as they more or less seemed to strike his feelings 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 459 
 
 as suitable to his own case. Some of them were, 
 
 * The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.' 
 
 * Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed 
 upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.' 
 
 * The Lord is my shepherd.' * Yea, though I walk 
 through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear 
 no evil.' Mr. Russell being about to quit the room. 
 Dr. Good called out, begging him not to go. It was 
 most strikingly impressive to hear his quivering lips 
 uttering the words of scripture, at a time when intense 
 agony occasioned such convulsive motions of the whole 
 body, that the bed often shook under him. His youngest 
 daughter, who was then holding his poor cold hands, 
 said to him, ' Do you remember your favourite hymn V 
 'There is a fountain fill'd with blood:' he had repeated 
 it in the earlier part of his illness, and told Mr. Russell 
 that sometimes when walking through the streets of 
 London he used to repeat it to himself. In one instance 
 he altered it unintentionally, but still strictly preserving 
 the sense. 
 
 "Dr. Good repeated it as given in the St. John's 
 collection of hymns, with this exception — Instead of 
 
 ' When this poor lisping stammering tongue 
 Lies silent in the grave.' 
 
 he substituted 
 
 * When this decaying mouldering frame 
 Lies crumbling in the dust.' 
 
 This little variation may not be regarded as altogether 
 unimportant, since it shews that his mental powers 
 were still vigorous. 
 
460 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 " Sometimes when those around could not remember 
 the exact words of the passage of scripture intended 
 to be quoted, he corrected the error, and repeated them 
 accurately. One of the texts he appeared to dwell 
 upon with most earnestness and delight was, 'Jesus 
 Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever' 
 When Dr. Good's former Unitarian views are remem- 
 bered, the dwelling upon this particular text could not 
 but be consolatory to his family. Another text, which, 
 without any suggestion or leading remark, he repeated 
 several times, was, 'Who art thou, O great mountain, 
 before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain ; and He 
 shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings, 
 crying, Grace, Grace unto it,' dwelling with peculiar 
 emphasis upon the words, 'Grace, Grace unto it.' 
 
 "He also appeared to derive great comfort from 
 these texts repeated by Mr. Russell, ' AVhen flesh and 
 heart fail,' &c. Also, ' When thou walkest through the 
 fire, I will be with thee,' &c. He also listened with 
 much apparent comfort to that portion of the Te Deum 
 suggested to him by his wife, ' When Thou hadst over- 
 come the sharpness of death. Thou didst open the 
 kingdom of heaven to all believers.' 
 
 " On the afternoon of this day, (Monday,) Dr. Good 
 perfectly knew every one, again expressed himself 
 thankful to be placed in the midst of his family, and to 
 be near Mr. Russell. When Mr. Travers arrived in the 
 evening, he immediately recognized him, addressed him 
 by name, and submitted to the means used for his 
 relief, though painful. Upon the last opiate draught 
 being given, he would not rest satisfied until told the 
 precise quantity, which consisted of 50 drops of lauda- 
 num ; and, considering the great quantity administered 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 461 
 
 at diiFerent times, it is indeed surprising that his 
 memory and mental powers should, up to this period, 
 have been so little impaired. Mr. Travers, having em- 
 ployed all the means which surgical skill could devise, 
 seeing they were of no avail, did not remain long with 
 Dr. Good. After this time he was constantly con- 
 vulsed, and uttered but one or two connected sentences. 
 Seeing one of his family standing by, he made use of 
 his frequent appellation 'dearest.' But his power of 
 comprehension appeared to last much longer than his 
 power of articulation or of expression. His hearing 
 now became greatly affected. Mr. Russell called to 
 him in a loud voice, 'Jesus Christ the Saviour:' — he 
 was not insensible to that sound. His valued clerical 
 friend then repeated to him, in the same elevated tone, 
 'Behold the Lamb of God:' this roused him, and with 
 energy, the energy of a dying believer, he terminated 
 the sentence, 'which taketh away the sins of 
 THE WORLD :' which were the last words he intelligibly 
 uttered, being about three hours before his death. 
 Mr. Russell twice commended the departing spirit into 
 the hands of Him who gave it. The last time was 
 about one o'clock on the morning of Tuesday the 2d of 
 January 1827, and at four o'clock the same morning, 
 the breath, which had gradually become shorter and 
 shorter, ceased entirely." 
 
 And now let us retire from this solemn scene, — 
 assured that the blessed spirit, as it escaped from the 
 incumbrances of mortality, soared to the eternal regions, 
 and joined the "innumerable multitude" who "surround 
 the throne" and "cast their crowns at the feet of the 
 Lamb;" — consoling the bereaved relatives with that 
 
462 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF 
 
 assurance, — and seeking benefit to ourselves by con- 
 trasting the peaceful end of the Christian believer with 
 the numerous instances which daily occur of men who 
 die "without hope:" — remembering that the main 
 " difference between one man's death and another's, 
 dependeth on the difference between heart and heart, 
 life and life, preparation and unpreparedness ;" — a dif- 
 ference which is essential, and flows from the grace of 
 God. 
 
DR. MASON GOOD. 463 
 
 Appendix to Section III. 
 
 Dr. Good's Summary of the Character and Labours 
 
 REV. SAMUEL MARSDEN. 
 
 During the short residence of Mr. Marsden in 
 England, (mentioned p. 372,) he obtained the cordial 
 friendship of many individuals of talent, benevolence, 
 and piety ; among others, that of the late Mr. Daniel 
 Parken, Barrister, a gentleman well knov^^n and much 
 esteemed as the tasteful and impartial conductor of 
 " The Eclectic Review" for several years. Not long 
 after Mr. Marsden quitted his native shores, in 1809, 
 Mr. Parken noticed a warm eulogium upon him in 
 M. Peron's " Voyage of Discovery to the Southern 
 Hemisphere," performed by order of Buonaparte. 
 Regarding this as a favourable opportunity of doing 
 justice to the character, motives, and undertakings, 
 of his reverend friend, he immediately solicited the 
 assistance of Dr. Good, whose friendship he also 
 enjoyed. The aid which he thus entreated was supplied 
 with such cheerfulness and promptitude, that within 
 
464 DR. good's character of 
 
 twenty-four hours he received the followhig spirited 
 and characteristic sketch.* 
 
 " Mr. Samuel Marsden, pastor of the town of Paramatta, 
 owns six hundred and fifty-one acres, of which one hundred 
 and three are devoted to diiferent kinds of cukivation ; while he 
 grazes on his farm, besides his flocks of sheep (amounting to 
 about eight hundred,) ten horses or mares, twenty-six horned 
 cattle, thirty pigs, and ten goats. This farm is at some distance, 
 in the interior of the country, on the left of the river Paramatta; 
 from the brow of the hill on which it is situated, we behold a 
 part of the stream : its buildings are spacious and well con- 
 structed ; the garden is already enriched with the greater num- 
 ber of fruit-trees of Europe. And yet, no longer ago than 
 1794, the whole of this spot was covered with immense and 
 useless forests of Eucalyptus. t With what interest have I 
 trodden over these new meadows, through the midst of which 
 this respectable pastor conducted me himself, with the most 
 affectionate kindness ! Who could have believed it ! This 
 residence is seven or eight miles from Paramatta, isolated, in 
 a manner, in the midst of woods; and it was over a very 
 excellent road, in a very elegant chaise, that Mr. Marsden 
 drove me to it. What pains, what exertions must have been 
 taken, to open such communications ; and these communica- 
 tions, these pastures, these fields, these harvests, these orchards, 
 these flocks, are the work of eight years !" — Peron. 
 
 This compliment is due to one of the most excellent and 
 extraordinary characters of the day — a character, that seems 
 expressly formed by Providence to produce an entire and most 
 beneficial change throughout not only the limited tract of New 
 South Wales, but the vast extent of Australasia ; to christianize 
 and civilize the barbarians that constitute its original inhabitants, 
 and to re-christianize and re-civilize the hordes of wretched 
 culprits that are vomited by our prison-ships upon its shores. 
 Our readers, we trust, will be pleased to become a little more 
 acquainted with a man, Avho promises to flourish so fairly in 
 future history ; and if the feelings of friendship should give 
 somewhat too high a colouring to the sketch, they will at least 
 admit, when they have perused it, that there is some apology 
 for the excess : as for the subject of it, he is now at too great a 
 distance to be aflTected by any eulogy we can offer, or we should 
 be compelled to silence. 
 
 * Eclectic Review, vol. v, part ii. pp. 988 — 995. 
 
 f The Red-Gum- tree : a genus indigenous to New Holland, of the 
 icosandrian monogynian class and order, comprising fifteen species. 
 
THE REV. S. MARSDEN. 465 
 
 It is about fifteen years ago, that the Rev. Samuel Marsden, 
 then an under-gvaduate at St. John's College, Cambridge, was 
 applied to indirectly by Government, to undertake the office of 
 chaplain to his majesty's territory in New South Wales. The 
 application was admirably directed : young as he was, there was 
 well known to be in him, by those who made the application, a 
 firmness of principle, an intrepidity of spirit, a cheerfulness of 
 heart, a suavity of manner, in conjunction with a judgment 
 peculiarly strong, and a mind richly stored with knowledge, and, 
 above all, with religious knowledge, that promised the happiest 
 effects from his acceptance of the offer. In the first instance, 
 however, he refused ; but, upon a second application, he replied, 
 that he was sensible of the importance of the office, so sensible, 
 indeed, that he hardly dared to accept it upon any terms ; but 
 that, if no proper person could be found, he would consent to 
 undertake it. He was appointed accordingly; and, while the 
 ship in which he was to take his passage was preparing, he resided 
 chiefly at Hull in Yorkshire, (from which port the vessel was to 
 proceed) and was indefatigable in rendering assistance to his 
 clerical brethren, who gladly availed themselves of his talents 
 and popularity. It was not many Sundays afterwards, that, as 
 he was on the point of ascending the pulpit, he heard the signal- 
 gun fire unexpectedly : it was an impressive scene ; he was then 
 just married; the congregation were acquainted with the meaning 
 of the signal as well as himself; it was impossible for him to 
 preach ; he took his bride under his arm, and, followed by the 
 whole congregation, who accompanied him to the beach, entered 
 into the boat that was waiting for him, giving and receiving bene- 
 dictions. 
 
 Mr. Marsden's voyage proved not unprosperous ; and on his 
 arrival at Port Jackson, he immediately devoted himself to every 
 pursuit in which he entertained a hope of being serviceable, either 
 by example or instruction. His clerical labours alone were heavy ; 
 having, on the departure of the Rev. Mr. Johnstone, whom he 
 succeeded, to officiate at the three settlements of Sydney, Para- 
 matta, and Hawkesbury, without any assistance whatever. He 
 by no means confined himself, however, to the stated duties of 
 his office, laborious as they were. To the poor and idle free- 
 settlers he gave an example of indefatigable industry, by skilfully 
 and successfully cultivating the land that had been granted him 
 by government : he generously interfered in their distresses, esta- 
 blished schools for their children, and often relieved their neces- 
 sities. To the unhappy culprits, whom the justice of an offended 
 country had banished from their native soil, he administered 
 alternately exhortation and comfort; in many hundreds of 
 
 2h 
 
4GG DR. good's character op 
 
 instances, as Mr. Peron justly observes, he reclaimed them ; for 
 it was by his incessant watchfulness, that under the blessing of 
 a superintending Providence, this ' most inconceivable metamor- 
 phosis' was chiefly produced, and that a great multitude of 
 ' these wretches, formerly the scum and shame of their country, 
 became industrious cultivators, happy and peaceable citizens;' 
 to which the author might have added, sincere and practical 
 Christians, evincing a piety as exemplary as their former guilt. 
 On taking his place on the magisterial bench, his sphere of general 
 usefulness was considerably extended, and in the discharge of 
 this very important function (important more especially in such 
 a colony, and in its infant state,) he was altogether as unremitting 
 as in his clerical duties. The native barbarians themselves 
 highly esteemed him ; for he had frequently travelled up the 
 interior to the distance of eight or ten days' journey, in conjunc- 
 tion with governor King or governor Bligh, and he had acquired 
 so much of their language as to be able to hold conversation with 
 them upon general subjects. In a few years he became the com- 
 mon father of the country. In times of hostility with the natives, 
 he was deputed as the minister of conciliation ; ventured among 
 them unaccompanied by guards or other attendants, and always 
 procured the restoration of peace through the mildness of his 
 manners, and the respect that was universally entertained for 
 him ; while in every domestic complaint from different villages, 
 he was uniformly appointed arbitrator by the governor, and gene- 
 rally succeeded in removing, or at least in mitigating, their respec- 
 tive evils. 
 
 Yet though he prevailed in much, he by no means prevailed in 
 every thing. There were mischiefs that lay far above his reach, 
 and utterly contemned his control. On the first establishment 
 of the colony, all military officers were peremptorily forbidden to 
 take their wives with them ; and there is one instance of a lady, 
 who, having resolved, out of love to her husband, to steal over 
 to New South Wales in the guise of a sailor, was sent back by 
 governor Phillip, on his being apprised of it, after having com- 
 pleted nearly half her long and harassing voyage. What then 
 was to be expected from the licentious manners of a large body 
 of military officers thus situated, themselves exposed to the daily 
 temptation of women of abandoned lives, but often of beautiful 
 persons, and at the same time as ready to become the tempters 
 as the tempted. Of what avail, under such circumstances, would 
 be the voice of an angel, or of one rising from the dead ? Moses 
 and the Prophets, and Christ himself, were actually set before 
 them by their established and zealous chaplain, but to as little 
 purpose as of old. Yet from them, chiefly, was it necessary for 
 
THE REV. S. MARSDEN. 467 
 
 the bench of magistrates to be chosen ; and with them, as a 
 magistrate, was this excellent chaplain obliged to associate. 
 Our readers must anticipate the natural result : the most hardened 
 and abandoned women too often appeared fearlessly before the 
 court, when arraigned for the grossest crimes, well knowing that 
 they had secured a majority of votes among their judges. It 
 was altogether as impossible, in many instances, to obtain a sen- 
 tence against male offenders, for these, being promiscuously con- 
 nected with the women, made instruments of them to obtain in 
 like manner a judgment in their favour. So that, instead of the 
 ' perfect security' in regard to person and property, asserted by 
 M. Peron, which cannot be felt where there is not the utmost 
 facility of obtaining redress, — of all existing spots in New South 
 Wales, the court of judicature at Sydney became at length the 
 most iniquitous and abandoned : the authority of the governor 
 grew as little respected as that of the clergyman ; and the former, 
 even in his military capacity, had at length no control over his 
 inferior officers. 
 
 It was impossible that such a state of things could last long. 
 Supplication, exhortation, expostulation, on the part of Mr. 
 Marsden, were equally in vain : his efforts were poisoned at the 
 very fountain ; his life was not unfrequently in jeopardy ; and 
 anticipating the fearful result that must sooner or later succeed 
 to such a state of anarchy, he applied to the governor for per- 
 mission, which was cheerfully granted him, to take a voyage to 
 England, in order to represent in person to his majesty's ministers 
 the perilous state of the colony, and point out the best means 
 of its rescue. 
 
 He arrived rather more than two years ago, and immediately 
 obtained an audience of Lord Castlereagh, who, while in the act 
 of forming, upon the suggestions and written report of Mr. Mars- 
 den, a plan for suppressing this iniquitous system, received a 
 terrible proof of the truth of that gentleman's assertions, by de- 
 spatches announcing that the predicted result had actually taken 
 place, that several of the wealthier traders had leagued them- 
 selves with the officers of the regiment against the governor, 
 whom they had actually arrested and imprisoned, and had thus 
 produced a complete revolution, and put some of the most daring 
 of their own conspiracy at its head. We shall pursue this sub- 
 ject, however, no farther : the conspiracy has since been sup- 
 pressed ; order is by this time completely restored; another 
 regiment has been sent out to take the place of that whose 
 officers had conducted themselves so unworthily; its commanding 
 officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Macquarrie, a gentleman of most 
 exemplary character, has been appointed governor, and the 
 
468 DR. good's character of 
 
 ringleaders of the plot are at this moment on their way home 
 for trial. 
 
 The departure of Mr. Marsden for England, at the period we 
 have just alluded to, was as providential to himself, as it was 
 beneficial to the public cause : for there can be no doubt that in 
 the height and exacerbation of the tumult, he would have been 
 seized, had he been in New South Wales, and condemned abruptly 
 to the most ignominious punishment, if his life had not fallen a 
 sacrifice to its violence. From the nice accuracy of his infor- 
 mation, moreover, and the comprehensive judgment evinced in 
 his plans, he soon acquired so much of the confidence of the 
 minister for the colonial department, and other members of the 
 cabinet, that there were few of his suggestions to which they did 
 not readily assent. 
 
 Among the more important of his propositions, we shall enume- 
 rate the following; that officers and soldiers, instead of being 
 forbidden, should be encouraged, to take out with them their 
 wives and families; that no person should be allowed to act as 
 a magistrate who is not or has not been married ; and that such 
 of the convicts' wives as choose it, should be permitted to accom- 
 pany their husbands at the public expense. The expediency of 
 all these must be obvious, not only from what has been already 
 observed, but from our remarking, in addition, that there are not 
 at present more than the proportion of one woman to eight or 
 nine men throughout the entire colony ; that general marriage is 
 hence impracticable; promiscuous intercourse is a crime impos- 
 sible to prevent, and illegitimate children a growing and enormous 
 burden to the state; while on the other hand, it has been satis- 
 factorily ascertained, that by fiir the greatest number of reformed 
 criminals have consisted of those who have intermarried, or whose 
 wives have been able to purchase their passage over. The encou- 
 ragements to honesty and industry in the colony are indeed very 
 great; and none who shew a disposition of this kind continue 
 long without having their sentence remitted, and hke other set- 
 tlers, being allowed a grant of land to a certain extent. Govern- 
 ment has not yet acceded to the proposal respecting the convicts' 
 wives, though it is at this time under consideration : to the two 
 former it yielded most readily, in consequence of which, the wives 
 of the officers and soldiers that have accompanied the regi- 
 ment which is now on its passage, amount to not less than three 
 hundred. 
 
 In connection with these regulations, it was farther proposed, 
 that three additional clergymen should be provided, and three 
 schoolmasters, with small salaries from government, one for each 
 of the settlements of Sydney, Paramatta, and Hawkesbury. From 
 
THE REV. S. MARSDEN. 469 
 
 the increasing population of the colony, as well in consequence 
 of numerous flocks of free-settlers from all parts of the world, as 
 from internal increase, and frequent importations from the mother 
 country, it was absolutely impossible for one, two, or even for 
 three clergymen to perform the whole of the very important 
 duties, demanded in such a station, with due punctuality. For 
 nearly fourteen years, Mr. Marsden had officiated with a zeal, an 
 industry, and a constancy that are scarcely perhaps to be paral- 
 leled ; but it had long been at the hazard of a most robust con- 
 stitution, which at last, excellent as it was, proved altogether 
 incompetent to one half of the services required. Two public 
 free-schools, a boys' and a girls', this most excellent man had . 
 already established and provided for, without any expense to 
 government : but a growing population, and a population of 
 the very worst kind, of illegitimate children, demanded three 
 times the number; a population which, if early instructed in 
 habits of industry and principles of virtue by a judicious and 
 pious education, may indeed be rendered of inestimable value to 
 the rising colony; but, if neglected and abandoned by the state, 
 must assuredly work its speedy and absolute destruction. To 
 both these propositions, also, administration readily assented, and 
 his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, to whom t])ese points 
 were chiefly referred, wisely and liberally left it to the able founder 
 of the plan to select such persons as he thought most likely to 
 promote his benevolent object; in consequence of which, alto- 
 gether heedless of expense or trouble, he travelled, at his own 
 charge, over a great part of this country, in pursuit of persons 
 who were recommended to him as qualified for the station. He 
 at last succeeded to his own satisfaction : some of them have by 
 this time reached the settlement, and the rest are on their voyage 
 thither. 
 
 The next object of consideration, with his majesty's principal 
 chaplain of the colony, was how to turn its resources to most 
 advantage, and to provide employment for the adult as he had 
 provided instruction for the young. It is well known that most 
 of the culprits, sentenced to transportation, are men of talents, 
 though of talents perverted; of those that are transported, more- 
 over, the gi-eater number are initiated into some branch of mecha- 
 nics or manufactures. With a view of turning these talents to a 
 proper use, of m.aking the criminals contribute to their own sup- 
 port, and, above all, of taking them off from habits of idleness 
 and dissipation, he next proposed to the minister, that the colony 
 should be allowed one or two practical mechanics, with very 
 small salaries, such as should be a recompense to them, but not 
 sufficient to support them without their own exertions, and one 
 
470 DR. good's character op 
 
 or two general manufacturers. To the last proposal an objection 
 was urged, that it would interfere with the staple trade of the 
 mother country; but the objection was overruled by an engage- 
 ment, on the part of the proposer, that if government would 
 accede to it, the enormous expense which the state at present 
 sustains for clothing the convicts at Botany Bay, should entirely 
 cease within a certain period; he observed, that the wool belong- 
 ing to the government flocks, which, in conjunction with its wild 
 herds, are now sufficiently numerous to provide food for the con- 
 victs, without any expense to the parent state, was now sufficient 
 in quantity to provide them with proper clothing, and that they 
 might hereby be rendered their own manufacturers. Both these 
 requests were in consequence acceded to; the benevolent peti- 
 tioner was, as in the former case, authorized to provide himself 
 with four such persons as he thought would best answer his pur- 
 pose; and he set off by the mail on the same night at his own 
 expense toward Warwickshire and Yorkshire, succeeded at length 
 agreeably to his wishes, and the artisans and manufacturers have 
 by this time arrived, or are on the point of arriving, at their des- 
 tined abode- 
 Having thus in by far the greater number of points accom- 
 plished his most benevolent and patriotic object, he now pre- 
 pared for his own return, that he might put the whole of his 
 machinery into proper and harmonious action : but an almost 
 infinite multiplicity of business still awaited him to transact. In 
 quitting Port Jackson, he had been solicited to become the agent 
 of almost every poorer person in the colony, and especially of great 
 numbers of the convicts. As though the common father of all, 
 he undertook this voluminous concern; and the writer of these 
 observations has known him, in consequence, burdened with 
 letters from Ireland and other remote parts, the postage of which 
 for a single day has often amounted to a guinea, which he cheer- 
 fully paid, from the feeling, that, although many of these letters 
 were altogether irrelative and of no use whatever, they were writ- 
 ten with a good intention, and under a belief that they were of 
 real value. It will please the reader to learn, however, that at 
 this same period, Mr. Marsden had also the pleasure to receive 
 despatches of the most satisfactory kind from his head bailiff, 
 (who was himself formerly a convict, but is now a free-settler, 
 and has proved a faithful servant to this gentleman for nearly 
 fourteen years,) confirmed by collateml testimonies, announcing 
 that his agricultural concerns, which he had now quitted for 
 about three years, were in the most flourishing state, that his live 
 stock had upon an average been doubled in number and value 
 since he had left Paramatta, and must have been at least triple 
 
THE REV. S. MARSDEN. 471 
 
 the number to which it amounted at the period of M. Peron's 
 visit. He had also found, from actual experiment at Leeds, that 
 the wool of his own growth, taken in the gross, unmixed and un- 
 selected, produced a cloth at least equal, and in the opinion of 
 the manufacturers superior, to that of the best French looms. 
 
 From New South Wales, or Notasia, as it is called by modern 
 geographers, his eye often glanced at New Zealand, Tippa-Hee, 
 who may be regarded as the sovereign of the island, though it 
 has several subordinate chiefs, had twice made a voyage to Port 
 Jackson, in pursuit of European knowledge, and, like M. Peron, 
 had been affectionately entertained at Paramatta: he had 
 acquired a tolerable knowledge of the English language, had 
 learnt some few of its arts, especially that of writing, and was 
 very anxious to learn more. To New Zealand, therefore, our 
 philanthropist earnestly directed the attention of the society for 
 missions to Africa and the East ; and, succeeded in obtaining a 
 practical artisan, well versed in carpentry and building, and at 
 the same time of sound Christian principles and a devotional turn 
 of mind. This man and his wife he has taken over with himself, 
 and we believe he will be found of incalculable service. He is 
 also accompanied, we believe, by another well-qualified person, 
 skilled in flax-dressing, twine-spinning, and rope-making. 
 
 One of the last public acts to which his heart was directed 
 before he requitted his native country, was that of procuring, by 
 public contributions and donations of books, what he called a 
 lending library, to consist of the most valuable and useful publi- 
 cations in religion, morals, mechanics, agriculture, commerce, 
 general history, and geography, to be lent out under his own 
 controul, and that of his clerical colleagues, to soldiers, free- 
 settlers, convicts, and all others who may have time to read, so 
 as to prevent idleness, and occupy the mind in the best and most 
 rational manner. In this desire, too, he succeeded under the 
 favour of Providence ; and it is with no small gratification we 
 add, that, by the gift of books and subscriptions, he was enabled 
 to take over with him a library of not less than between three 
 and four hundred pounds value ; which he intends annually to 
 augment, on a plan he has already devised. 
 
 We ought not to close this imperfect sketch, which few of our 
 readers will think too long, without stating, that, on its being 
 communicated to his majesty that Mr. M. was extremely desirous 
 of obtaining the royal assent to purchase and take over with him 
 a couple of Merino sheep, his majesty, with his accustomed 
 generosity, not only freely gave such consent, but requested Sir 
 Joseph Banks, with whom Mr, Marsden had the honour of being 
 acquainted, to select for him, as a royal present, five Merino ewes 
 
472 THE REV. S. MARSDEN. 
 
 with young: Sir Joseph had much pleasure in obeying, and 
 hastened to Portsmouth for this purpose with all speed, where he 
 arrived just in time to put his present on board before the ship 
 sailed. At this moment Mr. Marsden is on his passage, — in 
 humility a child, in vigour of mind and benevolence an angel, 
 full of enterprise for the good of mankind, and especially of his 
 native country, and full of faith and reliance on the divine pro- 
 mises. Already has he sown the good seed on the best prin- 
 ciples of heavenly husbandry, and half the eastern hemisphere, 
 perhaps, may form its harvest. Unborn empires are dependent 
 on his exertions ; and his name will be the theme of the new 
 world, as long as there is a heart to feel reverence, or a tongue 
 to utter praise. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 E K R. A T A. 
 Page 34, line 4, 7u>te : for ludircous read ludicrous. 
 48, line 3, nole : for pen read peu. 
 50, line 13: for ttotiq read -Kork. 
 103, lijie 24 : for Crocker read Cocker. 
 302, line i.5: for DR. GOOD, read DR. GOOD'S. 
 287, hottom line : read the. 
 305, liyie 13 : for second read first. 
 396, line 12 : for lore read lore t. 
 
 London : Printed by H. Fislier, 
 

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