The National Register.
London, England, 1809-01-29 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL, REGISTER.

gelical vocabulary, " poor worm" and " sinful dust," his lea-.
tares, which are naturally decisive, seem already to have ac.
quired the expression of sectarian sheepishness. There is postive.
ly something frightful, as well unmanly, in the vulgarised evan•
gelical phisiognotny. It is not easy to avoid being, very pai ils
fully affected at hearing a man, with looks rather condemning
than consecrated, warning some of his auditors to nee from 1
" damnation ;" and exhorting some to rejoice in their being
still " Oat of hell," and on " praying-ground." Christianity
ought to inspire its teachers with satisfied sensations, arising
from the calmness of conscience, from the voice within ; and to '
endue them with correct conceptions, decent dignity, and holy
boldness, in their addresses to their congregations.
Dr. Draper is not, 1 hope, become ashamed of appearing to
be one of those" men of taste," who are so much the objects of
‘atfecti d contempt among the party with which he is now acting.
Such phrases as " you and I"---" I and you"--" Who'd have
thought"—" Do you nsk the why? I'll tell you now"---such
phrases, and others of the same Almi), are not to be defended
by his exclaiming, speaking of Vmself, " Don't Say this •Fel-
low (meaaiug himself) is a Methodist, and therefore he is
obliged to talk in this way," &c. &c. Nothing &generates so
rapidly as the human mind when it abandons the principles of
cultivated excellence. lam sorry to hear Dr. Draper decrying
intelkctual attainments; and, in compliance with the degrading
cant of many other evangelical orators, seeming to despise those
talents to which he owes his superiority. My concern, as to
this last particular, apptoaches to indignation, when I suspect
that Dr. Draper, in depreciating literary perfections, does not
speak his explicit sentiments. Has he not. associated a, ith Vic-
tory characters ? Has he not, within the two last year, obtain-
ed two prizes, on political questions, at one of the public Dc-
bating-Societies ; where lie had spoken before, with consider-
able applause? If my information be not here seriously correct,
1 um most egregiously deceived. how ill does it hcarem Dr.
Draper, then, to preach against composition awl eloquence!
His depreciation of literature and oratory .. is as impolitic as
it is improper. Ile must cultivate both literature and oratory,
instead of neglecting thaw excellent qualifications; or he must
~,
be content to confine his exertions to Spa-fields, and the Loudon
Itinerant Society. Vulgarity of manner and language will not
now succeed in Orange-street Chapel.
The great attraction of Dr. Draper's preaching is its fluency.
It is of the conversational description ; he takes. you as it were
by the Nato.' ; and familiarly, though not forcibly, detains
, raw iteteation. • He shakes •yise by the handoend-yort are In-61
dined tolistivo to what be has to say, His may he &gritted as
the how-d'ye-do style of preaching. Even when he tics above
his customary equability of delivery, which seldom happens,
be rather batangites than preaches. Ills voice is harsh, but
audible ; aid his enunciation is distinct. his eloquence is
prompt and unimpeded. •
His exordiums are too long. His discourses, however, are
often interesting and instructive; and they are far more rational
than his prayers. lie reasons his argument with great force,
and is generally apt, but, almost as generally, low to his illus-
trations. He does not attend much to the division of his sub- '
ject, His sermons are conducted upon a story!•telling system, if
system it may be defined ; which leaves him at liberty to drop any
topic when he pleases, and to resume it when he finds it con-
venient. Ile possesses considerable information ; and on this
account, no less than on account of the popularity of his de-
livery, he might render himself highly useful and honourably
distinguished.
Too much is it to be apprehended, that unworthy ambition
will, notwithstanding his abilities and advantages, operate
against Dr. Draper's actual. attainment of substantial dignity.
lie appears to mistake popularity for reputation. As there
exist those who expect to be heard for their touch speaking, so
there will he found those who look to be remembered because
they are often mentioned. Dr. Draper seems also misplaced in
In the arrangement of our social system. Instead of being
stationed as a Minister of Christianity, he ought, I conceive, to
have figured as a Member of Parliament. A man should not
feud himself necessitated to intercede for the government of his
country in the pulpit, when be might hove patriotically
arraigned its measures in the senate.
I have heard that Dr. Draper is the author of some sermons
on the Liturgy. lie is certainly an acquisition to Spa-Fields
Chapel, and even to the College at Cheshunt. lle will do well,
nevertheless, not to imitate the dictatorial arrogance, the self-
righteous importance, with which Dr. flaweis superinteuded
the concerns of the countess of lieutingdon.
Jun. in, ISM

OmEsilltrs.

Yrin►ed an 4 l'ob!ished by and for

JA N. 29.

The sudden thaw has produced effects in the streets of the Me-
tropolis., and the roads in the neighbourhood, which have been
scarcely paralelled at any former period. The water produced
by the melting of a vast body of snow, has rendered some of the
rinds quite impassable, and the torrents which have thus been
cawed, have dune great damage. At Battle-bridge, Gray's-Inn
llne road, the water, ou Wednesday, rushed into the houses, and
the inhabitants were forced to fly to their upper stories fur pro-
tection, the road could only be passed with great difficulty by
carts. In Dorset-street, Porsnan-square, the common sewer has
blown up and left a dreadful chasm; and the houses in.the neigh-
bourhood are all under water. In the neighbourhood of Ken-
nington and Vauxhall, a torrent of water has arisen, which, In
its progress, has carried away furniture, trunks of trees, catle,
&c. and has destroyed a great number of bridges. The Clapham
road is rendered quite impassable : several houses were on Thurs-
day completely insulated by the water, and the inhabitants un-
able to obtain provisions, or to get out of their houses.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JAN. 26.
LORD DORMER v. KNIGHT, ESQ
Mr. Serjeant Shepherd made an application to the Court for a-
new trial on the groand, that the opinion delivered by the
Chief Justice was orroneons, " that Mrs. Knight merely by re-
ceiving the visits of Colonel Fuller, as of tiny other gentleman
of her acquaintance, would incur the forfeiture of 4001. per an-
num, part of the provision for her maintenance." and the Ser-
jeant insisted that the word " Associate," introduced into the
deed, must be understood to mean association of a. Criminal na-
ture, which neither was proved, nor had been attempted to he
proved; that evidence had been received of a person calling
herself Mary Etches, but whose real name was Hobbs, of
some circumstances from- whence it had been insisted that
Colonel Fuller and Mrs. Knight had been preYious to the sepa-
rapist' found in improper situations. The learned Serjeant slat-
ed. that since the trial of the cause of Colonel Fuller, had made
an affidavit, in which he iu the most solo= and positive manner
swore, that the whole of the evideuce was absolutely false, and
t hat he had:neve7either before or after the execution of the Deed
or at any time or upon any occasion in his life taken any improper
liberty witk Ilrs.Knight. That Col. Fuller was ready and aux ious
to have given the most positive and pointed evidence to that effect,
and the Plaintiff's Counsel would most certainly have called him
hut were prevented by the opinion deiivered by the learned Chief
Justice, inasmuch as it never had beenat tempted to be deed that
Faller had visited Mrs. 'Knight subsequent to the execution of
tae deeil ; and however pure and proper the conduct of the par-
ties at such interview was, still their operation destro, ed the
.provision made by the first deed. That in addition to the
affidavit of Colonel Fuller, he had also the affidavits of font*
other iwrsons of unimpeachable character, well aerttailited with
Mary Etches, directly proving the falsehood of her testimony.
The Court, however, did not think it necessary to send the
cause down for a new trial, as they concurred with the Chief
Justice in his legal construction of the deed.

We have the gratification to find our• pre liction realized, re-
lative to that invaluable Invention the " Magnetic Razor
Tablet," the extensive demand for which as we are credibly as-
sured, having very far exceeded the Inventors most sanguine
expectations, and the late intense weather has very opportunely
for him, served as a complete test of its superior utility over
every precedent discovery for similar purposes, rendering the
edge of a razorso scientifically acute, that its action is attended
with pleasure instead of pain (usual!), produced in the opera,
tion of shaving during an iticlement season). Sold at is. 6d.
each (with full directions, which will enable any person to use
a hone with adroitness), at the Inventor's Warehouses, 52,
Park-street, Grosvenor-square, and 65, Cheapside.—Each Tab-
let is sold signed J. T. Rigee, in red and nambered.