CHARGE VI.

AMUSEMENTS SUITABLE TO THE CLERGY.

REVEREND BRETHREN,

I HAVE repeatedly said from this place, that if there be any principal objection to the life of a clergyman, in regard to the sources of personal satisfaction, it is this--that it does not supply sufficient engagements to the time and thoughts of an active mind. I am ready to allow, that it is in the power only of a few to fill up every day with study; with studies solely of a theological kind, it is still less so. I do not, however, by granting this, mean to admit that it is not necessary to employ a solid portion of our time in the proper studies of our calling. On the contrary, I contend, and ever shall contend, that without a due mixture of religious reading and researches with our other employments of mind, be they what they will, and of professional studies strictly and properly so called, the character of a clergyman can neither be respectable nor sufficiently useful. When I state the want, or rather defect, of engagement, as forming the principal inconvenience in the life of a clergyman, I must be understood to speak of our profession in its general nature; under which view it may be said, that if this difficulty were removed from it, we should not have much to repine at in other lines of life; for the safety which it affords, compared with the great risk and frequent miscarriages of secular employments, and of almost all attempts to raise fortunes, compensates in a great measure for the mediocrity, or perhaps something less than mediocrity, with which most of us, both in our views and possessions, must be content. What clergyman recollects the disappointments and distresses, the changes and failures, which the disturbed state of commerce hath lately brought upon those who are engaged in it, without seeing reason to be satisfied withmight I not say thankful for-the security and repose, the exemption from dread and anxiety, if not from actual losses and privations, by which so many have suffered?

In a clergyman's, however, in common with all other situations, a succession of agreeable engagements is necessary to the passing of life with satisfaction; and since the profession

does not of its own accord supply these, or supply them to all, with sufficient copiousness and variety, and since it is of great consequence to the character of a clergyman, not only that his duties be properly performed, but that his occupations be innocent and liberal, I think it may be useful to suggest to him. some pursuits and employments which will fill up his leisure with credit and advantage.

Amongst the principal of these, I should recommend, in the first place, each and every branch of natural history. The cultivation of this study has not only all the advantage of inviting to exercise and action; of carrying us abroad into the fields and into the country; of always finding something for us to do, and something to observe; of ministering objects of notice and attention to our walks and to our rides, to the most solitary retirement, or the most sequestered situation,-it has not only this advantage, but it has a much greater; it is connected with the most immediate object of our profession. Natural history is the basis of natural religion; and to learn the principles of natural religion is to prepare the understanding for the reception of that which is revealed. In every view, therefore, it is a subject of commendation. As a mere amusement, it is of all others the most ingenuous; the best suited, and the most relative, to the profession of a clergyman. As a study, it is capable of producing the most beneficial effects upon the frame and disposition of the mind which entertains it.

Of the several branches of natural history I can only so far take notice as they are adapted to our particular situation or local opportunities. Botany is an extremely important and entertaining part of the science of nature; and there is no situation in the world more favourable to the prosecution of this study than those which many clergymen enjoy in this diocese. All mountainous regions, and none more so than ours, supply a variety of plants which are little known where the face of the country is less broken and diversified. Botanists come from a great distance to visit our mountains, and think themselves repaid for the expense and trouble of a long journey, by the opportunity of climbing amongst them for a week or a few days: yet for obtaining a knowledge of the vegetable productions of a country, for the searching out of rare plants, for the acquainting ourselves with their seasons, growth, their appearance in

different states, the soil, aspect and climate which they delight in, together with their other properties or singularities, what are the few weeks, or perhaps few days of a stranger's visit, to the opportunities of a clergyman residing the year round upon the spot, and exercising his observation in every season? A wise man, in any situation into which he may be thrown, tries to compensate the inconveniences with the advantages, and to draw from it what peculiar materials of satisfaction it may happen to afford. In the present instance, the deepest and most secluded recesses of our mountains are the best fitted for the researches I am recommending; and he who does not turn his mind to the subject when he finds himself placed in the midst of a magnificent museum, not only neglects an opportunity of rational recreation, but neglects the best thing, in some cases perhaps the only good thing, which his situation affords.

Natural history easily ascends from vegetable to animal life. No one who is a botanist, is a botanist alone. The turn of thought which directs a man to remark the structure of plants, will of course carry him to the economy of animals; and here, no doubt, is the widest space for observation, and for observation immediately tending to establish the most important truth which a human being can learn--the wisdom of God in the work of the creation. Instead of expatiating, however, upon the general utility of natural history-of which no person can think more highly than I do-it will be more to our present purpose to point out how applicable it is, and how properly it may be made to mix with those occupations into which we usually fall. We most of us become gardeners or farmers. It is not for me to censure these employments indiscriminately, but they may be carried on (the latter especially) to such an extent as to be exceedingly degrading; as so to engross our time, our thoughts, and our cares, as to extinguish almost entirely the clerical character. Now, what I am recommending, namely, the scientific cultivation of botany and natural history, that is, the collecting and reading at least the elementary books upon the subject, and afterwards forming for ourselves a course and habit of observation, and which will greatly assist and improve us, a habit also of committing our observations to writing, is the precise thing which will dignify our employments in the field and the garden; and will give to both the appear

ance, and not only the appearance, but the real character, of an intellectual and contemplative, as well as of an active and manual employment. If a clergyman will farm, he should not be a common farmer; if he will garden, he should not be a mere delver-let him philosophize his occupation, let him mix science with work. If he draw from his farm or garden any improvement in the knowledge of nature, he draws from it the greatest, in many cases the only, profit he will receive.

Beside natural history, or rather together with it, several branches of natural philosophy, especially those which consist in experiment and observation, are within the reach of a country clergyman's means and opportunities, and will contribute greatly to fill his time with satisfactory and useful engagement. Electrical experiments are of this kind. These I have seen executed in the greatest perfection in the back shop of a linendraper, with an apparatus which did not cost forty shillings. The use of the microscope is also another endless source of novelty, and by consequence, of entertainment and instruction. More and more beautiful discoveries of this kind I have seen made by a private clergyman in Wales, who fabricated all his own apparatus, than by any other person whom I have known or heard of in these times. Those who display philosophical experiments to the public are wont to gratify the eyes of the spectators with the show of a costly apparatus ; but a philosopher knows that almost the whole of this is embellishment; that the real effects are produced, the real instruction is gained, with a few simple instruments in a closet as completely as at a dressed-up lecture.

Astronomy, at least so much of it (and that is a great deal) as requires only a telescope and a quadrant, is a proper, I had almost said the most proper, of all possible recreations to a clergyman. The heavens declare the glory of God to all: but to the astronomer they point it out by proofs and significations most powerful, convincing, and infinitely sublime. In common with all science, and more so, I think, than any one branch of it, the contemplation of the heavenly bodies tends to lift up the spirit of man above those entanglements of cares and difficulties with which we are all of us more than enough encumbered and weighed down. Chemistry, however, the popular part of it, may be pursued at very moderate expense, and with great advantage.

It is not my intention to run round the Encyclopædia in order to show the subjects of engagement, and the sources of information which almost every branch of natural philosophy may afford to an active, intelligent, and inquisitive mind, furnished with the leisure which our profession naturally supplies to us. I will rather content myself with briefly pointing out two articles--not so much of science, strictly so called, as of useful investigation, and suggested to our attention by the natural circumstances of the country in which we live :-the admeasurement of the height of mountains, by the application of the barometer and thermometer, is very practicable in the operation, unexpensive in the apparatus; and in no part of the island do more, or more curious subjects for trial offer themselves than in ours. Meteorological observations-that is, observations upon the phenomena of the atmosphere; such as the quantity of rain which falls in a year, the course of the winds, the dependency of the rain upon the state of the barometer, or upon other appearances and prognostics, which in mountainous countries are always irregular-are very deserving of being known, and can only be known by a long-continued and attentive course of observation. This is more particularly true in this very neighbourhood; in which great singularities of the kind I am speaking of are said to exist, of which neither the cause has been explained, nor even the appearances themselves sufficiently ascertained.

I will beg leave to conclude with two short reflections. First; that the various sources of intellectual and active occupation which have been pointed out, prove that there is no man of liberal education who need be at a loss to know what to do with his time; that leisure need never be a burden; that if we sink into sloth, it is our fault, and not that of our situation: and secondly, that whatever direction we give to our studies-I mean those collateral and adscititious studies which have been described-we are contributing our proportion to that which is of great importance to the general diffusion of knowledge, and thereby to the interest of religion, and the credit and usefulness of our order-the furnishing of every portion of the country, as well as of every class of the community, with the presence and society of a well-informed clergy.