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TO THE EXILED PATRIOTS, MUIR And teach their lisping infants to exAND PALMER.

BY ROBERT SOUTHEY, POET LAUREATE.

[In our poetical department, (p. 622,) we gave some verses under the above title: we now add some remaining stanzas necessary to complete the poem: these are supplied by The Scotsman, No. 36.]

Thinks the proud tyrant, by the pliant
law,

The hireling jury, and the judge unjust,
To strike the soul of liberty with awe,
And scare the friends of freedom from
their trust?

As easy might the despot's empty pride
The onward course of rushing ocean
stay;

As easy might his jealous caution hide

From mortal eyes the orb of general'
day.

For, like that general orb's eternal flame,
Glows the mild force of virtue's constant

light;

Though clouded by misfortune, still the same,

For ever constant and for ever bright.

Not till eternal chaos shall that light

Before oppression's fury fade away; Not till the sun himself be quenched in night,

Not till the frame of nature shall decay.

Go, then-secure in steady virtue-go,
Nor heed the peril of the stormy seas,
Nor heed the felon's name, the felon's
woe,

Contempt and pain, and sorrow and
disease.

Though cankering cares corrode the sinking frame,

Though sickness rankle in the shallow breast,

Though death himself should quench the vital flame,

Think but for what you suffer, and be blest.

So shall your great examples fire each soul,

So in each free-born breast for ever dwell,

Till MAN shall rise above the unjust con

troul,

Stand where ye stood, and triumph where ye fell.

Ages unborn shall glory in your shame,
And cure the ignoble spirit of the time,

claim

He who allows oppression shares the crime.

CAIUS GRACCHUS.

The sixth day of the first decade
of the fourth month of the third
year of the French Republic,
One and Indivisible.

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O could we step into the grave,
And lift the coffin-lid,
And look upon the greedy worms
That eat away the dead!

It well might change the reddest cheek
Into a lily-white!

And freeze the warmest blood to look
Upon so sad a sight!

Yet still it were a sadder sight,
If in that lump of clay
There were a sense to feel the worms,
So busy with their prey.

O pity then the living heart ;-
The lump of living clay,
On whom the canker-worms of care
For ever, ever prey!

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OBITUARY.

Lately, at Lloyd Jack, in Cardigan shire, died Mr. DAVID JENKIN REES, whose loss will be long regretted by a numerous circle who felt the influence of his character, and by many of the readers of the Repository who knew his extraordinary worth, uscfulness and talents. With this man the interest of religion in the Principality was, in no small measure, connected; and, whatever may be the purposes of eternal wisdom, human foresight can scarcely conjecture how that interest can find any compensation for the injury it sustains by being deprived of his zeal and virtue and abilities. A slight sketch of D. J. Rees may be seen, as it is supposed, in "Particulars of the Life of a Dissenting Minister," a work little known, probably, to most of those for whose perusal the present article is designed. The sketch alluded to, begins at page 168 of that publication, with these words, viz. "D. R. was a counterpart," &c.

After referring the reader to the above notice of D. J. Rees, it becomes necessary to remark, that a more enlarged view of such a man is demanded by justice and friendship, on occasion of his removal from the society of his friends, and from the scene of his influence. At the same time, the limits of the Repository will not easily admit of so detailed an account as the most sincere affection and admiration would dictate, and the cause of rational Christianity would require, of a person who was intimately concerned in almost every transaction relating to it, that has happened in South Wales during the last thirty or forty years. Attempting to combine compression with copiousness, we will relate what appears most worthy of note in the life of our most valued friend, who was the friend of his country and of

mankind.

D. J. Rees was the son of a small farmer, and of a family not much distinguished, though respectable. It is understood that he did not derive much advantage from education, or from the society furnished by his father's house. But any deficiency that might here have been felt, was amply

made up to him by the particular notice and highly edifying conversa tion of his most enlightened uncle and aunt, David and Jane Rees. These lived in a state of comparative affluence, such as farmers of credit in that country enjoyed, especially during a period of general prosperity, which forty or fifty years have nearly effaced. These, his second parents, had no child of their own, but had no cause to regret the circumstance, as it caused their affections to be fixed on their nephew, who afforded them every hope that talent and virtue coull form from the prospect of still greater talent, if not superior virtue, surviving them in his person. At a certain age we look back with singular satisfac tion to the happy moments which we enjoyed in youth; and the writer of this article recollects, with lively plea sure, the hospitalities which, on a very few occasions, he experienced from Jane Rees, who never thought she could sufficiently manifest her attachment to his family by her atten tions. She lived long, and maintained to the last, with even increased ardour, that affection for him which, at a more early period, she had warmly in dulged. She spent her latter years in a small house close to Lloyd Jack, the residence of her nephew-in-law, who was fully sensible of her worth and kindness, and cherished her, to her last moment, with that tender and affectionate attachment which is excited in a kind and enlightened soul. The uncle had long paid the debt of nature, and had slept with his fathers." D. J. Rees entertained for him a very high veneration as the early director of his mind in the pur suit of knowledge, and the guide of his youthful career in the path of vir tue. These were, in some respects, a singular pair. They were possessed of an extraordinary calmness of temper, with a great contrast of person, as he was large, muscular and not well-favoured, and she delicate and handsome; they both loved know ledge, and sought it diligently from books, from sermons, and from conversation. They had both the rare advantage of being able to read and

understand the English language, and became acquainted with many good authors in it on the subjects of history and religion. In their time, also, that part of the country enjoyed the advantage of the eloquent and enlightened ministry of David Lloyd, of Llwyn-rhyd-owen, whom no man heard without improvement to his stock of information, or without being a more determined friend to truth and virtue.

The principal sources of D. J. Rees's early attainments, the causes of his love of knowledge, as well as of his future high attainments in benevolence and virtue, are thus, it is thought, with strict truth, found in the encouragement and example of his uncle and aunt, and in the instructions of a minister" whose name is still in the churches."

At his death he might be about seventeen years of age, and he has been often heard describing the strong impressions made on his youthful mind by the luminous argumentation of this "man of God," and by the strong emotions of his soul, which manifested themselves by the big drops which coursed down his dignified and handsome countenance, and which he was ever at great pains to suppress and disguise, though in vain. He had been, for many years, the object of rancorous obloquy from the orthodox, and was arraigned with a bitterness equal to that which assails the Unitarian of the present day. The first minister, in South Wales, who openly opposed the received doctrine, which arrogates to itself the title evangelical, was Jenkin Jones, who built, on his own estate, the chapel of Llwn-rhyd-owen. In a very few years, his nephew, David Lloyd, succeeded him, and died in 1779, having triumphantly planted many churches, numerous in members, flourishing in reputation and in knowledge, knowing, however, only the Arian and Arminian explication of the faith of Christ. Of David Lloyd a pretty long account appeared in the Monthly Magazine for the year 1812.

As time advanced, and scriptural knowledge became more extended, through the efforts of Dr. Priestley and others who, haud passibus æquis, trod the same path, the mind of D. J. Rees received new impressions. Whe

ther he could yet read and understand the English language, there are now no means of ascertaining. Prepared by early thirst after knowledge, and a confirmed spirit of impartiality, which he could not fail to imbibe from the sources already developed, it is certain that he availed himself of such oppor tunities as offered themselves to reconsider the principles which he had, at first, viewed as the perfection of unadulterated Christianity. Among the advantages of this kind, of which he availed himself with the utmost diligence, was his acquaintance with that modest and learned man, the minister of the Unitarian congregation at Cullumpton, in Devonshire. The Rev. John Davis was born in his near neighbourhood; and his academical education at Carmarthen, served to furnish his own mind with clearer views of the doctrine of Christ, and to convey to his friend the lessons of wisdom which he had himself learned. Their intercourse continued occasionally during many years, and probably till the period of the decease of D. J. Rees. The singular esteem in which the latter held the former, and the cordial intimacy which subsisted between them, furnished great efficacy to the instructions which the superior education of the one enabled him to convey to the other. Had Mr. John Davis possessed no other merit, it would be enough to render his name illustrious, that he had the extraordinary felicity of giving a direction so noble and auspicious to such a mind as that of D. J. Rees. Sure I am, that, though his singularly unassuming temper may wish to disclaim an honour of which he may scarcely be conscious, he sympathizes sincerely in the grief which dictates the present account of his friend, and will not be disposed to question the truth of that account which ascribes to him an ef fect that he may not have considered as originating with himself. The fact is certain, and it would be unjust to the merit of both these enlightened friends not to state it distinctly. From this epoch, D. J. Rees may be considered as both a Necessarian and an Unitarian.

To an intellect so powerful as his, the difficulty of comprehending a metaphysical system which has baffled the faculties of so many, which those

who embrace it ought to understand, and which those who understand it do and must adopt, presented only a motive to thought and reflection, and soon vanished like the morning dew. Bright sunshine followed, and few could be found that more clearly discerned the sublime and consoling doctrine of Hobbes and Hartley. The terrors which have confounded others, and frightened them from embracing the clear "truth as it is in Jesus," that there is "one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus," could have little effect on one who had been taught from his youth to "obey God rather than man," and to follow truth whithersoever it should lead him. He had the happiness to embrace the pure gospel while yet young. Yet such was his candour, his openness to conviction, his teachableness and childlike simplicity of heart, that, had the evidence of the truth been presented to him in maturity or in old age, he, unlike many men who are obstinate in proportion as they are ignorant, and dogmatical in proportion as they are advanced in years, would probably have received it with the same docility and readiness as he manifested at an earlier period.

An opportunity presented itself to D. Jenkin Rees of shewing his zeal for truth in the latter years of the eighteenth century, when Thomas Evans, principally by the assistance of Mr. Lindsey, erected the first chapel that, in South Wales, was devoted expressly to the worship of "one God, the Father." Although that attempt to collect a congregation of Unitarians, at Brechva, eventually proved abortive, the spirit of inquiry was then more decisively roused than at any former period. The subject of this account gave to the infant cause an unequivocal support, and the influence of his talents and character contributed largely to remove bigotry, and conciliate favour to the doctrines which he strenuously avowed. So great was the influence of his patronage, that the inclination to scoff at the truth and to calumniate its advocates was powerfully checked by the consideration that D. J. Rees was one advocate of that truth. Those who remember the time, can testify that the fierce enemies of the doctrine of one "God and one Mediator," bowed

low the head and smoothed the brow of sullen hate in the presence of this man of plain appearance and address. As yet, however, he remained in connexion with the old congregations, stemming the torrent of their animosity against the "sect every where spoken against," yet in a state of comparative infancy. His efforts were efficacious in bringing many to favour the truth, and many to embrace it with decision and constancy. Since the time in which Jenkin Jones and David Lloyd had opposed themselves to the violence of clamour, when they began a reformation of the general creed, controversy had, in a manner, ceased. The enemy had quitted the field, and a lifeless indifference had succeeded. With indifference came ignorance, and, for the most part, the people knew not on what ground they had been built, contenting themselves with the name which their predecessors had rendered illustrious by their intelligence and zeal. Now, a fresh activity was produced, and it would surprise those who think they excel many, how much talent was called forth, and how much penetration was displayed, in this remote district, in finding and managing arguments in support of the doctrines that so many concurred to reprobate. In few instances has the spirit of Jesus shewn itself more capable of overcoming the world. Slander, which knew no bounds and observed no decorum, was fairly driven to howl in the haunts that served to protect it from shame and confusion.

The time at length arrived when D. J. Rees was called upon to act still a more conspicuous part, when it became necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff, and congregate, in one body, the disciples that had been more silently formed in the bosom of the old connexion. For reasons that cannot now be detailed, "it seemed fit to all the brethren" to form themselves into a society of professed Unitarians. The consequence of which resolution was, that two chapels were erected, one at Llwyn-y-groes, and the other at Pant-y-defaid. These are the mother churches of this respectable name in the Principality of Wales, They are the first in point of time, and, it is humbly believed, the first in point of real consequence and information. They are pure and unmixed,

being of one mind in the faith of Jesus Christ. God only can foresee how long they may retain their enviable distinction after this pillar of their Christian edifice has been removed. The heart bleeds and the eye is suffused with tears, when the possible consequences of the departure of this great and good man present them selves to the imagination. Assuredly, if these united churches should become extinct, a "candle that was not hid under a bushel but gave light" to the whole district will be extinguished, leaving the whole country in comparative darkness. Such a loss to a country can scarcely be conceived, and it must be felt by all, of whatever name, that have any concern for the moral and intellectual cultivation of the human race. The chapel of Llwyn-y-groes owed its erection principally to the exertions, and greatly to the contributions, of D. J. Rees. Another person saw the chapel at Pant-y-defaid completed for the use of the people. That branch of the church which assembled at the former, flourished greatly under the auspices of this enlightened man; and, though some untoward circumstances have occurred, such as the present event, it is believed that a foundation has been laid which no man shall be able to remove.

To the most distinguished talents, D. J. Rees united a very happy felicity of utterance. He spoke the English language with considerable fluency. But he was truly eloquent in his own tongue. It was remarkable also, that those among whom he moved, and especially his religious associates, acquired an extraordinary readiness and correctness of expression. The writer of this article was surprised, on becoming acquainted with them as a religious people, at the copiousness of language which was at their command, and the uncommon propriety, and even elegance, of phraseology, which they employed. He was not before aware of the capacity of the Welsh language to convey ideas on subjects of morality, metaphysics and general science. This was an excellent school for those who designed to become public speakers, and he was himself not a little benefited by the advantages which it afforded him. In the midst of all, D. J. Rees, with a natural

diffidence, which ever rendered him incapable of arrogating to himself the least pre-eminence, was decidedly the most conspicuous character. Persuasion seemed always to accompany his address, which was expressed in words the most proper and best chosen. After hearing him, one might be tempted to exclaim, “never man spake like this man.”

This gift of speech, which served to display a mind filled with profound knowledge, and some circumstances in the society which made it desirable, induced the people to urge the man whom all so highly respected to speak to them in public, and by slow degrees he became a pretty constant preacher. There is reason to think, however, that he lamented afterwards this acquiescence in the flattering solicitations of his fellow-christians. When the evils to the general respectability and success of the cause of the pure truth, arising from the public services of uneducated persons, were, at a later period, with an express exception with respect to himself, briefly stated in his presence, he could not help saying, that he was not entitled to exception; and that, if he were worthy of it, yet his example had an unfavourable tendency. He regretted that `he had taken a step which he did not then believe was justified by the necessity of the case.

The gift of utterance was most happily applied by D. J. Rees in exercises of devotion. Many have prayed as well, for prayer is nothing else but pouring out the heart before God. But who are they who have expressed the desire of the heart with such copiousness, variety, suitableness and impression as he, when he assembled his numerous family at the commencement and end of day to seek the favour and blessing of the "Father in heaven”? It is confidently believed, that few who heard him, however they were and must be edified by his solemnity and pathos, could help envying the felicity and choice of sentiments and words which he poured out at the footstool of the Divine Majesty. Premeditation was less necessary to him than to most men. His thoughts were habitually religious and devotional; he spoke daily and principally on religious subjects; he constantly read the Scriptures, and had

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