182 OBITUARY. Rev. Abraham Rees, D. D. senting cause. On his resignation the Academy was dissolved, which he always lamented as an event most injurious to the interests of the Dissenters, especially in and about the Metropolis. For some time Dr. Rees officiated only as an occasional preacher. At length, in July, 1768, he was unanimously elected to succeed the Rev. Mr. Read as pastor of the Presbyterian congregation, St. Tho mas's, Southwark; a connexion of which he was always accustomed to speak with pleasure. He remained in this situation 15 years, and the congregation flourished under his ministry. At the end of that term, he was invited to become minister of the congregation of Jewin-street, then assembling in the Old Jewry, in a place consecrated by the labours of a succession of eminently pious men, nearly the last of whom was the highly-gifted and learned Dr. Chandler. From various causes, the congregation had much declined, and it was judged (wisely as appeared by the event), that Dr. Rees would revive the interest; and with this hope, and without any calculation of an increase of emolument, he accepted the invitation, and from 1783 to the period of his death, continued to labour with unquestionable and increasing success. During a period of some years he was engaged with his friend, the late eloquent Hugh Worthington, in delivering winter evening lectures at Salters' Hall, by means of which his usefulness and reputation as a preacher were much extended. For a short time he was Tutor of Hebrew and of the Mathematics in the New College at Hackney, which was set on foot with great liberality and high expec tations, but by the operation of many adverse causes soon declined and fell, to the mortification of its patrons and the lasting regret of the liberal Dissenters. These public engagements Dr. Rees was fulfilling with a fidelity that will long be remembered with respect, at the same time that he was employed in literary undertakings of a magnitude sufficient to have absorbed the whole time and attention of a man of less vigour of mind, less constancy of purpose, or less systematic perseverance. It was in 1781 that the first numbers of Chambers's Encyclopedia, edited by Dr. Rees, first appeared; and that edition was completed in four volumes folio, in 1786. He was about that time elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; and at different periods his eminent attainments received similar tokens of respect from other public bodies. The University of Edinburgh conferred on him the degree of D.D. from the spontaneous recommendation of Dr. Robertson the historian, at that time prin cipal. He was chosen a Fellow of the [Aug. Linnean Society soon after its institution. More recently he was made an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was besides an honorary member of some foreign literary and scientific institutions. Before embarking in the vast undertaking of a new Cyclopædia, Dr. Rees published several single sermons, some of which were the following: A Sermon on the obligation and importance of Searching the Scriptures, 8vo. The Advantages of Knowledge, a Sermon preached before the Supporters of the New College at Hackney, 1788, 8vo. (reviewed in vol. LVIII. 811.) Two Sermons, preached at Cambridge on the death of the Rev. Rob. Robinson, 1790 (reviewed in vol. LX. 757, LXVI. 552). A Funeral Sermon on the death of Dr. Roger Flexman, 1795 (reviewed in vol. LXVI. 308). Another, on the death of Dr. Kippis, 1795 (reviewed in same vol. p. 145). The Privileges of Britain, a Sermon on the Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 29, 1798 (reviewed in vol. LXIX. 141). Economy illustrated and recommended, and a caution against Modern Infidelity, in two Sermons, 1800, 8vo. (reviewed in vol. LXX. 970). An Antidote to the alarm of Invasion, 1803 (reviewed in vol. LXXIV. p. 247). Practical Sermons, selected from his pulpit exercises, 2 vols. 1809, 8vo. 2d edit. 1812. The Obligation and Utility of Public Worship, a discourse on the opening of the Old Jewry Chapel in Jewin street, 1809, 8vo. The Principles of Protestant Dissenters stated and vindicated, 1812, 8vo. Our notices of Dr. Rees's Sermons were generally ample. For many years Dr. Rees was a frequent contributor to the Monthly Review, in conjunction with his able and esteemed friend the late Dr. Kippis. The first volume of the quarto Cyclopedia appeared in 1802; it was completed in forty-five volumes. This was a truly gigantic task for any individual, even with the able assistance derived from distinguished contributors. He had the gratification, however, to see it completed, and to enjoy the well-earned reputation which its able execution secured for him. His memory was in a remarkable degree faithful and tenacious, retaining all his mental treasures at his immediate disposal; and be added to these endowments a sound and discriminating judgment. There have been men who have possessed in a higher degree the imaginative and inventive faculties, and who have displayed talents of a more showy and sparkling kind; but in the more solid and useful properties of the understanding few have surpassed him. The mathematical and physical sciences had engaged his chief study from his earliest years, and these he had cultivated 1825.] OBITUARY.Rev. Abraham Rees, D. D. with eminent success. In the branches of literature more immediately connected with his profession as a Christian moralist and divine-in biblical and theological learning, in metaphysics and ethics-his attainments were extensive and profound: whilst on the other subjects of general literature he was well and deeply read. He was not a man to rest satisfied with superficial attainments whilst the means of completer knowledge were within his reach. It was never his object to study and learn in order to hoard up knowledge as an useless treasure. He looked to utility in all that he aimed to acquire. He coveted no mental attainments but such as he could reader subservient to the practical benefit of himself or of others. And the employments to which he devoted himself afforded him abundant opportunities for bringing forth all that he bad accumulated for the instruction and the improvement of the world. Dr. Rees was a Protestant Dissenter on deliberate and rational conviction. He was ever the firm and zealous advocate of religious liberty, which he considered to be intimately allied in this country with the cause of Nonconformity. As a member, and for many years the father, of the General Body of London Dissenting Ministers, he was amongst the foremost supporters of every liberal measure, and the steady and inflexible assertor of their religious privileges. The freedom he claimed for himself he willingly conceded to all others. He lived on terms of cordial intimacy with religious professors of various communions; and could number among his most valued friends Churchmen of high rank and distinguished eminence. He was an active member of all the principal charitable trusts in his own religious denomination. He was a manager of the Presbyterian Fund for about sixty years, and during nearly fifty years of that period, discharged the duties of Secretary to that important institution with essential benefit to the various objects contemplated by its benevolent founders and supporters. Dr. Daniel Williams's Trust reaped also, for a long series of years, great advantage from his talents for business, which he devoted to the direction of its concerns with zeal and assiduity. There are many other Dissenting trusts, which it is unnecessary now to name, having the disposal of funds for charitable purposes, in which he acted a leading and influential part. In all these situations, it was with him a point of conscience to be always at his post. Dr. Rees was the principal distributor, under his Majesty's Government, of the annual Parliamentary Bounty to indigent Dissenting Ministers; "and if," says Mr. Aspland, "I were called upon to point 183 out the most prominent excellence in his character, I should name his conscientious discharge of this delicate trust, in the administration of which he preserved on the one hand his independence, and on the other his affability and kindness." To his native country, Wales, he was a great benefactor. From funds of which he shared in the distribution, and from large sums annually placed at his own disposal by opulent individuals, who made him the channel of their unostentatious beneficence, he contributed a considerable proportion to relieve the pressing exigencies of Welsh ministers (without respect to their peculiar theological sentiments), whom he thought to be deserving of encouragement in their works of piety in their respective churches. When these worthy men were removed by the band of death, he extended his almost paternal care to their bereaved families; and thus caused the heart of many a mourning widow to sing for joy. There never was an individual who effected so much good in this way. In his occasional intercourse, as one of the representatives of the body of Dissenting Ministers, with his Majesty's Court and Government, Dr. Rees was courteous, dignified, firm, and upright. He was honoured twice with being deputed by the Dissenting Ministers of the three denomi nations of Protestants, to present their address of congratulation to King George III. and to King George IV. a fact which perhaps never before happened to the same man. In the former case, Lord Halifax, the Lord in Waiting, expressed a regret that Dr. Rees did not belong to the right Church, for then his loyalty might have been personally rewarded. He did not possess all the qualifications that the multitude most esteem in a Preacher; his were sterling merits: sound and strong sense, a clearly-defined subject," well-digested thoughts, scriptural language, manly confidence in the affections of his auditory, and marked but sober earnestness. He practised no arts in the pulpit on the contrary, he expressed his abhorrence of affectation, trick, and meditated extravagance in a Christian Minister. His discourses derived, in the public delivery of them, the greatest advantage from his fine and commanding person; from a countenance unusually expressive, beaming with intelligence, and glowing with holy earnestness and ardour; and from a voice of great power, well adapted to didactic address or pathetic expostulation. His theology he was wont to describe as the moderate scheme, lying between the extremes of opinion that prevail in the present day. Owning no humau authority in religion, he yet avowed that he 184 OBITUARY.-Rev. Henry Kett, B. D, he subscribed for the most part to the creed of the late Dr. Price, a truly good and great man, formed to be loved and admired. The character of Dr. Rees's mind was that of a sober thinker and logical reasoner. He possessed equal powers of comprehension and discrimination. His eyes betokened his sagacity. He was quick in discerning men's foibles, and he sometimes laid them under tribute for the promotion of the objects of religious cha rity that lay near his heart. As a companion he was unrivalled. None that ever partook will forget his cheerful, cordial hospitality. "I do not represent him," continues Mr. Aspland, "much as I revered him living, sincerely as I mourn him dead, and lasting as will be my remembrance of his talents and his virtue,-I do not reHe had present him as a perfect man, doubtless his infirmities, but they were mere infirmities-and they were as few as I ever saw (for here I must speak my own opinion) in a man of the same natural robustness of mind, the same resolution, the same zeal, and the same anxiety for the great purposes to which his life and heart and soul and strength were devoted. The bodily weaknesses that were the consequences of extreme age, were no part of himself, and cannot be brought into the estimate of his character, His heart was always right. His Christian principles never forsook him. They had been the guide of his youth, and the distinction of his mature life, and they were the stay of his old age!" His body was interred on the 18th of June in Bunhill Fields. A Life of Dr. Rees, including some Account of his father Lewis, is preparing for the press, by Dr. Thomas Rees. REV. HENRY KETT, B. D. June 30. Suddenly, at Stanwell, the seat of Sir J. Gibbons, Bart, the Rev. Henry Kett, late Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, and of Charlton, co. Gloucester. The reverend gentleman had preached at Stanwell, on the preceding Sunday, and on the morning when the fatal accident occurred had, as usual, breakfasted with the family party in excellent spirits. About noon, the weather being hot, he proceeded to take a cold bath, when it is supposed that venturing out of his depth he was seized with cramp and sank to rise no more. His clothes were found on the bank where he had undressed for bathing. He was born at Norwich in 1761, and received his education at the Grammarschool in that city, under the Rev. Mr. Lemon. In 1777, at the age of sixteen, he was admitted a Commoner of Trinity [Aug. College, Oxford, and was chosen scholar the following year, Mr. Kett took the degree of A. M. Nov. 26, 1783, soon after which he was elected Fellow, and appointed one of the College tutors. Among some of his first pupils he numbered the present Duke of Beaufort, and his next brother Lord Charles Somerset, and in the discharge of the important duties of his office, for a very long space of years, united the character of friend with that of tutor. He early commenced his theological studies, uor did he give them up on taking orders. He was appointed Bampton Lecturer in 1790, and the University had no reason to be sorry for their choice. These Lectures were published the following year, dedicated to the Bishop of St. Asaph, and a second edition, "with corrections and additions," appeared in 1792. It was not only in defence of the doctrines of Christianity that Mr. Kett distinguished himself; he was equally solicitous to show that their precepts influenced his practice. About the period of his being Bampton Lecturer, he exerted himself, in conjunction with other friends, in rescuing Dr. John Uri, a native of Hungary, one of the best Oriental scholars in Europe, from indigence and distress. This gentleman had been sent for from the University of Leyden to Oxford, and had been employed during the vigour of his faculties in taking a catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts in the Bodleian Li brary; but growing infirm and old, with out relations or friends in his own country, he was discharged by the delegates of the press. By the benevolent interference, however, of Mr. Kett, of Mr. Agutter, now Secretary of the Asylum, Mr. Smith, Master of Pembroke College, and Dr. Parr, a handsome subscription was raised for his support; and the venerable scholar was placed in a situation of comfort in Oxford, where he passed the remaining part of his life. In 1787 Mr. Kett engaged with Mr. Monro, formerly of Magdalen College, and Dr. Horne, afterwards Bishop of Norwich, in a periodical publication, under the title of Olla Podrida, to which several other distinguished scholars contributed. Their essays were re-published in a collected form, and are replete with humour, good sense, and acute observation. In 1793 he published a small collection of "Juvenile Poems," stating "most of the verses in this collection have appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine." However meritorious these trifles of his muse appear, the author was afterwards very desirous to suppress them, and so sedulous to effect that intention as to increase the value of this little volume above the usual proportion of modern publications. When the 1825.] OBITUARY.-Sir Frederick Henniker, Bart. the poems first appeared, the playful muse of Mr. Thomas Warton supplied the following epigram: Our Kett not a poet! Why how can you say so? I'm sure he's a Naso. On the 18th of July, 1793, he took the degree of B. D.; and in October he was a candidate for the Poetry Professorship against the Rev. James Hurdis, Fellow of Magdalen, but lost his election by a majority of 20, polling 181 against 201. Alarmed at the rapid progress of infidelity, and wishing to awaken in the minds of the public a due, sense of the importance of religious truth, by the most striking arguments, derived from the divine predictions, in the year 1798 Mr. Kett published" History the Interpreter of Prophecy; or, a View of Scriptural Prophecies, and their Accomplishment in the past and present Occurrences of the World." Dr. Tomline, the present Bishop of Win chester, in his Elements of Christian Theology, calls it "a very interesting work, penned with great judgment, and which he recommends to all who are desirous of becoming acquainted with the prophecies of the Old and New Testament, especially those which relate to the present times." But the approbation of Dr. Porteus, Bishop of London, is much more distinctly expressed; and his recommendation is more warmly urged in his eloquent Charge to bis Clergy in 1799. The Journal of "A Tour to the Lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland, performed by Henry Kett, B. D. in August, 1798," was published by Dr. Mavor in his British Tourist. It is not very long, occupying forty duodecimo pages. This was one of several similar tours, which Mr. Kett was accustomed to make during the long vacation. At the beginning of the Revolution he visited France, intent on observing the changes then in progress. Is 1802 appeared "Elements of General Knowledge, introductory to useful Books in the principal Branches of Literatore and Science; with Lists of the most approved Authors, including the best Editions of the Classics; designed chiefly for the junior Students in the Universities, and the higher Classes in Schools." This work, which is the result of Mr. Kett's studies for many years, contains much valuable information compressed within a moderate compass, and is by far the most useful book of the kind. On its first appearance he was assailed by a host of Critics, great and small, and it was remarked that few men kept their temper so well as he did, or acted so judiciously, adopting all their corrections and sugges GENT. MAG. August, 1825. 135 tions, where worthy, to improve the later editions. The ninth edition has been very lately published. Mr. Kett's first preferment was the small perpetual curacy of Elsfield, near Oxford, for which he is said to have been indebted to the kindness of Dr. Chapman, the President of his College. He was also a King's Preacher at Whitehall. In 1814 his friend and patron Bishop Tomline, presented him to the Perpetual Curacy of Hykeham, co. Lincoln. He also published, “Logic made Easy, or a short View of Aristotle's Method of Reasoning," 12mo. 1809; "Emily, a Moral Tale," 3 vols. 12mo. 1809 and 1812; "A Sketch of the Life of Henry Headley, Scholar of Trinity College, Oxford, prefixed to his Beauties of English Poetry," 2 vols. 12mo. 1810; "The Beauties of Christianity, by F. A. de Chateaubriand, with a Preface and Notes," 3 vols. 8vo. 1812; "The Flowers of Wit, or a collection of Bon Mots, Ancient and Modern," 2 vols. 12mo. 1814. In his manners Mr. Kett was affable and easy. Conscious of talents and integrity, be affected not the disguise of gravity to impose on the vulgar, nor delivered his sentiments with formal precision and oracular solemnity. In mixed society he was equally qualified to shine as in the company of professed scholars. On bis marriage he had recently retired from the University. SIR FREDERICK HENNIKER, BART. Aug. 6. At his Chambers in the Albany, in his 32d year, after a severe and painful illness of a fortnight, the acute sufferings of which he sustained with becoming resignation, Sir Frederick Henniker, Bart. of Newton Hall, Essex, B. A. of St. John's College, Cambridge, and lately appointed by Lord Viscount Maynard, the Lord Lieutenant of the county, Colonel of a Battalion of the Essex Local Militia. He was born Nov. 1, 1793, and was the eldest son of the late Hon. Lieut.-General Sir Brydges Trecothick Henniker, Bart. who died July 3, 1816 (and for particulars of whom see vol. LXXXVI. ii. p. 187), and like his other connexions, received his education at Eton, where he made no inconsiderable progress in classical literature, and the beauties of which were ever present to his mind. He subsequently pursued his studies at St. John's College, Cambridge, and on quitting the University, impelled by a desire of visiting foreign countries, directed his course through France and Italy, to Malta, and thence to Alexandria and Upper Egypt, Nubia, the Oasis, Mount Sinai, and through Palestine to Jerusalem, making his returu by Smyrna, Athens, Constantinople, to Vienna. 186 OBITUARY.-J. Ellis, Esq. M.A. F.S.A.-T. Newton, Esq. (Aug. Vienna. The result of his observations were published in 1822, in an octavo volume, entitled, "Notes during a Visit to Egypt, Jerusalem, &c." (reviewed in vol. xcut part ii. p. 339,) and which in an easy and familiar style contain many amusing particulars of his travels, adventures, and perilous escape, being severely wounded by banditti, and left for dead, when descending from Jerusalem to Jericho. Sir Frederick Henniker, in the spring of the present year, had canvassed the borough of Reading, in the event of a dissolution of the present Parliament; but from a difference of opinion on the vital question of Catholic Emancipation (to which he was strongly opposed), withdrew his pretensions a few days anterior to his death. His remains were removed on the 12th, and, attended by his afflicted relatives, tenantry, and friends, interred with due solemnity on the following day, in the vault with his respected father and family at Great Dunmow, Essex, in which parish Newton Hall is situated. JOHN ELLIS, Esq. M. A. F. S. A. May 24. At Kingston in Barbadoes, whither he had been advised to go for the recovery of his health, John Ellis, of the Middle Temple, Esq. Barrister-at-Law, M. A. F.S. A. and Deputy Recorder of Huntingdon. Mr. Ellis was the son of the late John Ellis, Esq. of Bedford-row, who, by means the most honourable, acquired an easy fortune in the Stock Exchange: and whose original purpose it had been to educate his son in the same profession. But the subject of this memoir early discovering an insatiable thirst after knowledge, his father judiciously gave way to this laudable ambition, and liberally supplied him with the means, first, of acquiring a critical knowledge of classical literature, and afterwards of supporting himself at the University of Cambridge, where, notwithstanding the impediments bccasioned by ill health, he took his degree with great reputation. Having chosen the profession of the Law, he entered as a student of the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn; and devoting himself with his accustomed ardour to his professional studies, and being in possession of a large and well chosen library, he made progress beyond many of his contemporaries; and when called to the bar, he entered upon his pro fession with attainments and qualifications of a very superior order. He was likewise unusually fortunate in bis connexions: and being early introduced into profes sional engagements with the Corporation of Huntingdon, as a proof of the entire satisfaction of that respectable body with his abilities and exertions, he was chosen by them their Deputy Recorder. His prospects now assumed a most promising appearance; and every succeeding year introduced him into new connexions and increasing practice, while the suavity of his manners, and his high professional honour and integrity, bound all his prior connexions to him with indissoluble ties. Nor was it among the least of this gentleman's merits, that though his abilities and success excited the emulation, they never moved the envy of his professional brethren. It has been truly said of him, that he never had an enemy. As Providence had blessed him with affluence, his table and library were always open to his less fortunate brethren. And such was the height of his well-earned reputation, and the amenity of his manners, that he might reasonably have looked forward to the highest honours of his profession. But the fatigue of business, and the ardour of his mind, which would not suffer him to relax his exertions from any thing he had undertaken, gradually undermined a constitution not originally strong, and brought on a disease, which, insidious in its nature, often flattering in its appearance, but fatal and irresistible in its progress, terminated his honourable and useful career, at the early age of 35, leaving not only a brokenhearted parent and mourning relatives, but also a profession and a publick not insensible to such rising excellence, to lament his loss. THOMAS NEWTON, Esq. Aug. 3. At his house, on Clapham Common, of the gout in his stomach, 10 which disorder he had been a martyr for several years, and which baffled every attempt of the faculty to subdue, Thomas Newton, Esq. of Warwick-square, Newgate-street, many years Agent for the Newspapers published in every part of the kingdom. This kind of agency was begun upwards of forty years ago by the late Mr. William Tayler, with whom Mr. Newton became a partner, and who created a considerable increase of business by a circulation of the Advertisements from Lottery Contractors and other species of speculation with which the country has for a series of years been so abundantly supplied. The suc cess he met with arose from the correctness of his accompts and the rectitude of his dealings, and enabled him, notwithstanding a multitude of competitors, to bring up a large family in a most respectable way. Mr. Newton was a native of Hereford, to which place he was much attached. He was a man of strong mind, and whenever the intervals from his painful disorder would permit, a pleasant and facetious companion. JAMES |