the lamented Bishop writes, "It is a long time since I have seen you, or had any communication with you: but be assured that I entertain the same regard for you that I did at the begining of your career in London, and regret that your meritorious services to the Catholic Religion are not so universally appraised and rewarded as they deserve to be. I agree with you on almost all occasions in the sentiments you publish in your Truthteller, and think you have been particularly happy in your expression of your opinions in the last number of that Journal. Still I could have wished that as Mr. O'Connell has acknowledged his error and engaged not to fall into it again, that your self and Mr. Cobbett had treated him more gently, apprehensive as I am, that he may withdraw his powerful talents in disgust, from the service of the Catholics." This testimony in our favour could not but be highly gratifying to our feelings, but it was forbidden us ever to behold the face of our most valued and most revered friend again. His constitution had been for sometime visibly decaying, and he never more came up to town. In February we received another letter of unqualified approbation of our religious writings, and he deigned not to compare his own with our fate as writers, from the uncompromising spirit of our labours. This letter has appeared in several Truthtellers, therefore is unnecessary to be inserted here.

The last letter which he penned was to a Rev. Mr. Garbett, of Birmingham, who wrote a pamphlet of unmeaning jargon on the End of Religious Controversy, and forwarded a copy of it to the learned and death-stricken Divine. The tenor of the letter has been justly described "a volume of instruction," and breathes the spirit of the Controversial Christian and Man of Principle, which invariably marked his bold, long, and eventful life. It is as follows.

"TO THE REV. JOHN GARBETT, M. A.

"REV. SIR, I return you thanks for the Copy of the printed Letter, which you have sent to me; and intended to publish some remarks upon, it, but I find my health too bad, and myself too near the awful moment when we must, each of us, give an account of our conduct with respect to every fellow creature, with whom we have been in any way connected, to be able to write any more for the public. I must, therefore, satisfy myself with assuring you that I have, in my opinion, sufficient grounds for every assertion, which I have made in my " End of Religious Con

J. MILNER."

troversy," concerning the sentiments of certain Divines of the Church of England and others; and that I am convinced it is no culumny, but rather a commendation, to say that they entered, or sought to enter, at the close of their lives, into the one sheepfold of the one Shepherd. If you look around you, Sir, you will find many instances of this occurring in your own neighbourhood; and, if you inquire, you will hear of other persons in a superior rank of life, besides the late Sir John Hippesley, who have professed the strictest adherence to the Established Religion during life, yet have sent for a Catholic Priest to attend them in their last sickness. "I have the honour to be, Rev. Sir, your obedient Servant, "Wolverhampton, March 17, 1826. Notwithstanding the unparalleled exertions of Dr. Milner as a controversial and public writer, he was not the less attentive to his episcopal duties. His solicitude for his clergy was unceasing, and in the choice of missionaries he made no distinction. The good Bishop has frequently told us that he made no difference between a secular and regular clergyman; they were all engaged to fight the battle of the Lord of Hosts, though their discipline, like the uniform of a General's army, might be different. In erecting places of worship he was not only solicitous, but bountiful in the disposal of his income, confined as it was, to raise them; nor was he unmindful of the blessings of a religious education, directing much of his attention to the improvement of Sedgeley Park School, where he first received instruction himself; and the maturing of St. Mary's College, Oscott, which he had the happiness to see flourishing before his death, and become a fruitful nursery of zealous, learned, and indefatigable missionaries. For the edification of his flock, he likewise dictated several pious treatises which breathe the sweetest odours of a devout mind, and may rank with the most inspired devotional works extant. Besides this immensity of care and labour, the great Prelate maintained a very extensive correspondence with men of the most exalted rank and denomination, which not only testifies how much he was regarded, but almost surpasses credibility that he was able to perform so much.

But we have not yet enumerated the whole extent of the labours of this most extraordinary and indefatigable friend to Religion and the Sciences. Though engaged in early life in a laborious contest for the interests of our faith, and placed latterly over a district consisting of fifteen counties, he made the study

of Architecture an amusement, and, as an Antiquarian, few surpassed him in that branch of literature. His admission into the fellowship of the Antiquarian Society, without influence or solicitation, affords a convincing proof of his great merit and proficiency on that head; and the articles on Architeeture in Rees's Encyclopedia bear testimony how deeply he was versed in the ancient stile of raising temples to the living God. In the progress of these studies he wrote several articles in the Archaologia, and The Gentleman's Mugazine; besides which he wrote a Critical Inquiry into the Existence and Gharacter of St. George, Patron of England; Observations on the Ecclesiastical Architecture of the Middle Ages; a Treatise on the same of England; and a Dissertation on the Modern Style of altering Ancient Gathedrals.

As in life the venerable Prelate gained the public confidence and esteem by his unbending advocacy of religion, so in death did he edify all those around him by his pious resignation, during a lingering illness, and the affecting humility and lively faith he displayed on all occasions in this last struggle. Not a murmur escaped his lips, and his only regret was that he did not suffer more for the sake of a Divine Master who died for him. During his illness he was perfectly sensible, even to the last moment, and previous to his death he received (on Maundy Thursday) the holy viaticum on his knees, in the presence of his domestics, and several members of the congregation of Wolverhampton, of whom he begged pardon for all the disedification he might ever have given. His death occurred on the 19th of April, 1826; on the 27th his remains were deposited in a spot marked out by himself, near the Chapel at Wolverhampton, with that simplicity for which he was distinguished through life.

We have thus brought to a conclusion a sketch of the life of a Man, who, as a Divine, a Historian, and an Antiquary, may have his equals, but cannot be excelled. In point of assiduity and consistency he stands unequalled as a writer; and it is the proudest circumstance of our life, that we were honoured with his confidence and regard during a period of thirteen years without alloy, except when Spanish politics raged abroad. We here subjoin a list of his works, which we borrow from a writer

in a cotemporary print, and also add a striking likeness engraved on wood, as we promised at the commencement of these Memoirs. Should a favourable change in the affairs of the. country soon take place, it is our intention to publish these Memoirs as a separate pamphlet, with such additions as we may be able to collect in the interval.

*

LIST OF THE WRITINGS OF DR. MILNER.

A Funeral Discourse on the Death of the Venerable and Right Reverend Richard Challoner, Bishop of Debra, and Apostolic Vicar of this District, who died January 12, 1781, pronounced January 14, 1781.Printed in the year 1782.

A Letter to the Author of a Book called, "A Candid and Impartial Sketch of the Life and Government of Pope Clement XIV.-London, 1785. George the Third, the Sovereign of the Hearts of his Subjects, being a Sermon in five sheets, 4to. with Notes, historical and explanatory, &c. preached in the Roman Catholic Chapel at Winchester.

The Clergyman's Answer to the Layman's Letter on the Appointment of Bishops.-London, 1790.

The Divine Right of Episcopacy, addressed to the Catholic Laity of England, in Answer to the Layman's second Letter to the Catholic Clergy of England, with Remarks on the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance.-London, 1791.

Facts relating to the present Contest among the Roman Catholics of this Kingdom, concerning the Bill to be introduced into Parliament for their Relief.,

The Pastoral Letter and Ordinances of the Right Rev. John Fraucis de la Marche, Bishop of Leon, addressed to the Clergy both Secular and Regular, and to all the Faithful of his Diocese. Translated into English from the original French by the Rev. John Milner, F.S.A.-London, 1791,

A Discourse delivered at the Consecration of the Right Rev. William Gibson, Bishop of Acanthos, V. A. N. in the Chapel of Lulworth Castle, on Sunday, 5th December, together with an Introductory Account of the Consecration.-London, 1791.

An Historical and Critical Inquiry into the Existence and Character of St. George, Patron of England, of the Order of the Garter, and of the Antiquarian Society, in which the Assertions of Edward Gibbon, Esq. History of Decline and Fall, chap. 23, and of certain other Modern Writers concerning this Saint, are discussed, in a Letter addressed to the Right Honourable George, Earl of Leicester, President of the Antiquarian Society.-London, 1792.

The Exclamations of the Soul to God, or Meditations of St. Teresa after Communion, together with an Introductory Letter to a Reverend Prioress on the Spirit of the present Times.-London, 1793.

Ecclesiastical Democracy Detected, being a Review of the Controversy between the Layman and Clergyman, concerning the Appointment of Bishops, and of other matters contained in the publication of Sir John Throckmorton, Bart.-London, 1793.

The Funeral Oration of His late most Christian Majesty Louis XVI. pronounced at the Funeral Service performed by the French Clergy of the King's House, Winchester, at St. Peter's Chapel, in the said City, April 12, 1793.-London.

A Reply to the Report published by the Cisalpine Club, on the Authenticity of the Protestation at the Museum, in which the spuriousness of that Deed is detected.-London, 1795.