"Grove-street, Hackney, Feb. 14, 1823.

"MY DEAR SIR,

«* * *. I send you the several Archiepiscopal and Episcopal Charges delivered last year. The Bishop of London's Charge, and the two of the Bishop of Calcutta,* are the most worth your perusal. There you will see genuine Christian wisdom exhibited; and when you have read the latter, you will be prepared to appreciate the loss which Christianity in general, and the Church of England in particular, have sustained by his sudden and premature death. This sad catastrophe is the most calamitous event that could have befallen us; his profoundly wise measures for the Christianizing of India were rapidly advancing towards maturity, and wanted his finishing hand. ***. I was much rejoiced to see, by the documents you sent me, that a noble benefactor has enabled you to establish your College with such fair promise of its being an efficient nursery for your Church. I pray God he may be the first of a long line of benefactors to sustain it, and extend its benefits; that you may be thus furnished with a succession of men well exercised in Christian discipline, and well seasoned with knowledge, both human and divine, to hold forth the word of life in the midst of the present Babel of error and vain conceit, and make pure and apostolic Christianity famous among you. In this country the present omens are by no means auspicious. The policy of the day, with respect to religion, is precisely that of Gallio-all restraint, not

Bishop Middleton.

merely upon religious opinion, but upon the propagation of it, is to be taken away, and God is either to be honoured or dishonoured according to the private judgment or private perversity of every individual. ***.

"Believe me

"Very truly yours,
"H. H. NORRIS."

Towards the close of the summer Bishop Hobart, feeling the need of relaxation, proposed to make an excursion to Quebec, and wished me to accompany him. The weather was remarkably fine, the scenery throughout a great part of the route, though familiar to us both, was too varied and beautiful to be reviewed with indifference, and the latter part of the journey had all the freshness and charm of novelty. The Bishop, disencumbered for a while of his ordinary cares, was placid and cheerful, and disposed to derive enjoyment from all the objects around him. He was peculiarly interested when, on crossing our own border, we got at once among a people differing in language, costume, and habits, from our own, who appeared to be not only contented and happy, but to have all the characteristic vivacity and gaiety of the nation from which they had descended. I was perhaps still more interested, as every thing around me awakened the recollections of France, through which I had travelled a few years before with so much pleasure and delight. The passage from Montreal down the St. Lawrence was particularly pleasant, for though the banks are for the most part neither bold nor romantic, yet the VOL. I. 33

rich verdure of the fields, the constant succession of bright and cheerful villages, the varied form of the spires and towers of the churches, with which they were all adorned, and the neat and often spacious rectory which usually adjoined them, made the whole a very novel and enlivening scene. The sight of these churches, in which all worshipped by the same ritual, professed the same faith, and were of one heart and one mind, made a very pleasing impression upon the Bishop, notwithstanding he regarded this unity in many respects as merely an agreement in error. It had been the earnest endeavour of his life, and the prevailing passion of his soul, to promote unity in the truth. He was led into a train of beautiful reflections upon this subject, the substance of which, even after the lapse of so many years, I distinctly remember, though the expressions are forgotten.

The antique and foreign aspect of the city of Quebec, so different from the appearance of our own cities, where all is so new and fresh, and for ever changing, is a source of amusement to every one who has not been abroad; and the magnificent views which it commands from its heights, can be seen by none who are fond of nature in her grandeur, without admiration and delight. We visited, in company with Mr. M'Ilvaine, of Philadelphia, Colonel Biddle, of the United States army, and Colonel Hunter, of the Royal Horse-Guards, the Falls of Chaudière and the Falls of Montmorency, and enjoyed in a high degree both the romantic beauties of these striking scenes, and the agreeable and intellectual society into which it was our hap

piness to be thrown. Colonel Hunter, who had served under Lord Wellington throughout the Peninsular war, had just made an extensive tour through our own country. With taste and refinement, and a mind enlarged by foreign travel, he had noticed every thing amongst us with such a spirit of liberality and kindness, as was calculated at once to flatter our national pride, and to make our brief intercourse with him an occasion of sincere regret at our parting.

The Bishop received very kind and respectful attentions from the most distinguished persons in Quebec, in which, as the companion of his journey, I of course participated. During the short time which we spent there, we dined with Lord Dalhousie, the Bishop of Quebec, and Chief Justice Sewell; breakfasted with Colonel Harvey, near the plains of Abraham, and spent a most agreeable day at the country retreat of Dr. Mills, the chaplain of the forces. We saw less than we wished of the estimable Archdeacon, Dr. Mountain, who, by a serious accident which happened just at that time, was confined to his house and his bed. The Bishop was requested to preach at the cathedral in the morning of the only Sunday on which we were there, and myself in the afternoon.

But the pleasure of the first part of our excursion was a singular contrast with the pain and suffering of our return. We set out by land, and before the close of the first day the Bishop was seized with a most violent bilious attack, which filled me with anxiety and alarm. We travelled in wretched cabriolets, which were sufficiently uneasy vehicles for

those who were well, but which were agonizing to one who was deadly sick. We had to stop frequently on the road; but, upon the slightest intermission of suffering, the Bishop was impatient to proceed. Five hundred miles were before us, and each one seemed almost intolerable. At Three Rivers, I think, we got into the steam-boat, which, from its greater ease and speed, was a sensible relief. Still there was a considerable distance to be travelled by land. At Whitehall the Bishop was so unwell that he was unable to sit in a carriage, and a mattress was placed in it, on which he laid till we came to Albany. I rendered him every attention which sympathy and friendship could suggest; but when I considered the value of his health and life, I was almost overwhelmed with the responsibility of my temporary charge. It was this attack, from which he did not entirely recover after his return, that suggested the thought of his visit to Europe.

At the meeting of the Convention in 1822, Bishop Hobart, in his annual address to that body, made an extract from an address of Bishop White, in which the latter endeavours to discourage Episcopalians from uniting with other denominations of Christians for religious purposes, and states the reasons upon which his objection to this union is grounded. As the avowed friend of general Bible Societies, Bishop White did not mean to apply his remarks to these associations, but as Bishop Hobart thought his reasonings were no less applicable to them than to others, he introduced them with a view of strengthening his opinions against all general associations.