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OBITUARY.-Archdeacon Parkinson, F.R.S.

shore, his readiness to come to terms. As it appeared likely the negociations and final arrangements would occupy some days, the commander-in-chief then dispersed his squadron, and left Capt. Spencer to conclude the treaty with the Dey, which he performed to the perfect satisfaction of Government. The last year of the Naiad's service was passed on the shores of Greece and the Arcbipelago, employed in the protection of our commerce, and occasionally in political negociation. She was paid off at Portsmouth, in the autumn of 1826. The high state of perfection to which the gunnery was carried, and the admirable system of discipline established on-board that frigate, during the period of Capt. Spencer's command, is said "never to have been exceeded."

In August 1827 Capt. Spencer was appointed Private Secretary to his Royal Highness the Lord High Admiral, and in that situation he assisted in effecting many useful reforms in the Naval department. He was a great advocate for that system of inspection which at the time gave much satisfaction to the service, but which has since been discontinued. To his pen is attributed the ingenious catechism, which gained the name of the Ninety-nine Questions, and which, though not acted on (it is believed on account of the Lord High Admiral's resignation), became known to the service, and was productive of many advantageous results.

If by some it has been thought that, whilst in this arduous situation, Sir Robert Spencer drew the strings of authority too tight, it must be recollected that to such an accusation all public officers are liable; and, where so much real worth is acknowledged, a little occasional bluntness and shortness of manner, unfortunately incident to the profession of a seaman and the habits of command, may surely be excused.

During the illness of Sir William Hoste, Captain Spencer took the command of the Royal Sovereign yacht, when his Royal Highness made his second visitation to the Dockyards in 1828. Exemplary in all his conduct, be thought it right to read to the ship's company the service of the church; and his Royal Highness remarked, that he had never heard it performed with more impressive eloquence than on that occasion.

Capt. Spencer continued to fill bis important office until the Royal Duke's retirement, in 1828. His Royal Highness, as a mark of his approval and esteem, had appointed him, on the 24th of Aug. one of the Grooms of his Bedchamber;

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in October of the same year he was nominated a Knight Commander of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order.

On the resignation of his Royal Highness, employment again became immediately the object of this zealous and indefatigable officer; and in Sept. 1828 he was appointed to the Madagascar, a frigate of 46 guns, on the Mediterranean station. On his brother, Lord Althorp, becoming a member of the present Administration, Sir Robert Spencer was selected to represent the Navy, at the Ordnance Board, as Surveyor-general of that department; and his ship was ordered home. He was not destined, however, to revisit his native country, an inflammation of the bowels having seized bim at Alexandria, and in two days terminated his valuable life.

ARCHDEACON PARKINSON, F.R. S.

Nov. 13. At the rectory, Kegworth, Leicestershire, in the 86th year of his age, the Venerable. Thomas Parkinson, D. D. F. R.S. Archdeacon of Leicester, Chancellor of the Diocese of Chester, a Prebendary of St. Paul's, and Rector of Kegworth.

Dr. Parkinson was born at Kirkham in the Fylde, in Lancashire, on the 14th June 1745. His father being engaged in pursuits which called him much from home, Dr. P. was brought up chiefly under the guidance of his mother, who was a most affectionate parent, zealously solicitous for the best interests of her family, continually watching over them, and who ensured and enjoyed, as the reward of her amiable exertions, the gratitude and love of her children. Dr. P. was sent at an early age to the Free Grammar School in Kirkham, where he' received the rudiments of a classical education. When there he was always considered a youth of promising talent and great application. Contrary to the wishes of his father, he formed an early desire to obtain an university education, and the opposition which he experienced no doubt delayed his removal to college beyond the usual period at which young men were then accustomed to enter the university. The difficulties, however, which he had to encounter in the above respect were at last obviated, and at the age of 19 years he was entered as a Pensioner at Christ's College, Cambridge.

Mr. Parkinson had trials of no ordinary nature to undergo when at college; the same spirit which opposed his entrance at the university in the first instance, induced his father to refuse him all pecuniary assistance when there. An

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OBITUARY.-Ven. Archdeacon Parkinson, F. R. S.

octogenarian friend of the subject of our memoir has recently expressed his belief, that, beyond common necessaries, Mr. P. never occasioned bis father to expend more than 20%. in the whole course of his life. He left the school at Kirkham for college with an exhibition of 341. per annum.

[Jan.

the year 1774, when the late Dr. Milner
(Dean of Carlisle and Master of Queen's)
was Senior Wrangler. The other Mo-
derator of the year was Mr. Kipling,
afterwards D.D. and Dean of Peterbo-
rough. On the 29th June 1775 he was
presented by the Dean and Chapter of
Ely to the vicarage of Meldreth, in the
county of Cambridge. He served the
office of Proctor of the University in
1786-7. He succeeded Dr. Law (late
Bishop of Elphin, and brother of the
late Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough)
as one of the Tutors of Christ's College,
and became Senior Tutor of that esta-
blishment on the retirement of Dr.
Shepherd. In 1789 he published a
large quarto volume on Mechanics and
Hydrostatics, a branch of practical ma-
thematics upon which he had thought
deeply. This volume has been frequently
and most extensively used as a work of
reference.

When he resigned the vicarage of Meldreth we are not aware; but in the year 1790 he was instituted by Bishop Pretyman to the rectory of Kegworth, Leicestershire, upon the presentation of the Master, Fellows, and Scholars of Christ's College.

On the 16th April 1794 he was collated by his contemporary at College, Bishop Pretyman, to the Archdeaconry of Huntingdon. In 1795 he took his Doctor's degree. For the Prebend of Chiswick, in St. Paul's Cathedral, he was indebted, in 1798, to the late learned and respected Bishop Porteus; and on the 12th Oct. 1804, Bishop Majendie conferred upon him the Chancellorship of the Diocese of Chester. The selection of Dr. P. for these varied preferments, by three contemporary prelates of the Established Church, was no small tribute to the excellence of his character and the extent of bis acquirements.

It was the denial of all pecuniary assistance on the part of his father which probably compelled Mr. P. after engaging closely in the routine of college studies, to spend much time in abstruse calculations, and seldom allow himself more than five or six hours for repose. On the recommendation of a college friend, Mr. Parkinson was employed by the Board of Longitude in the calculation of tables of the series of parallax and refraction. He was assisted in this labour by Mr. Lyons, the author of a Treatise on Fluxions. By their united efforts (the greater portion of the fatigue, however, devolving upon young Parkinson,) the volume, a tolerably thick quarto, closely printed, was completed in two years. At this period it was highly creditable to the subject of our memoir, that, although suffering under grievous disadvantages, he annually remitted a sum for distribution amongst the poor of his native town, and educated his brother Robert at Emanuel College. In the outset of life Mr. P.'s worldly disappointments were great, and his prospects gloomy. Independently of receiving no aid from his father in bis college pursuits, he had the mortification of seeing a property which he had been always taught to expect would have been his own bestowed elsewhere. What would have operated as a severe affliction upon some, had not that effect upon him; he regarded the privation as a mercy, and has been frequently heard to remark, that, had affluence smiled upon his early career, indolence would probably have claimed him for her own.

The time spent in the calculations above referred to, must have materially impeded his private studies, preparatory to taking his Bachelor's degree; he, however, gained the first mathematical honour of his year, and that against a competitor of great reputation in his day as a mathematician. Mr. P. took his degree of B. A. in January in 1769, having commenced his residence in college in October 1765.

On the 25th May 1769 he was ordained Deacon by Dr. Terrick, then Bishop of London, at Fulham; and on the 4th Feb. 1771, Priest, by Dr. Law, then Bishop of Carlisle, at Cambridge. He officiated as Moderator in the examination of the young men for th Trees in

In 1812 Dr. Parkinson resigned the Archdeaconry of Huntingdon, and was collated to that of Leicester by Bishop Tomline (formerly Pretyman). Dr. Middleton (afterwards the memorable Bishop of Calcutta) succeeded Dr. P. as Archdeacon of Huntingdon.

On Dr. P.'s assumption of office as Archdeacon of Leicester, he, at the desire of the Diocesan, convened a public meeting to take into consideration the best means of educating the children of the poor, according to the plan of national education adopted in the metropolis. A meeting of the gentry and clergy was accordingly held in the castle of Leicester, on Thursday the 4th June 1812, when the subject was introduced by the Archdeacon in a very elegant and animated address. The result was

1831.]

OBITUARY.-Ven. Archdeacon Parkinson, F. R. S.

the establishment of an extensive school in Leicester, upon the Madras system, and which, according to the last printed report of the secretary and committee under whose direction it is managed,, contained 284 boys and 102 girls, and had educated, from its commencement in 1818, no less than 3,480 children.

In November 1812 a requisition, most respectably signed, was sent to the Archdeacon, soliciting him to convene a meeting of the clergy of his Archdeaconry, to take into consideration and to form a petition to Parliament against the Roman Catholic Claims. The Archdeacon complied with the requisition, and a meeting was held, at which, after considerable discusion, a petition drawn up by Dr. P. was adopted, and afterwards presented to both Houses of Parliament. The Roman Catholic Question was one upon which the Archdeacon bad thought much, and as to which he felt deeply interested. Firmly believing that no change had taken place in the principles of the Roman Catholic Church, and that the same aversion to Protestantism, the same arrogation of exclusive faith and salvation, and the same desolating system of intolerance were still upheld at her altars, which had in former times excited the just dread, and produced the protecting laws of our Protestant forefathers, he scrupled not to stand forward in opposition to any repeal of statutes, the maintenance of which he conscientiously believed to be essential to the very existence of the country as a Protestant state. The idea of conciliating the great body of the Roman Catholics by concessions he treated as utterly chimerical; be had narrowly watched the effects produced by former concessions, and had found that, instead of giving satisfaction, and leading to ultimate peace, they had only produced fresh demands, to be repeated till nothing was left to be conceded. The chief ground, however, of Dr. P.'s opposition to the grant of the Roman Catholic Claims, was a dread of exciting the anger of the Deity, and the consequent outpourings of wrathful judgments upon the country for relinquishing what he conceived bad been, under Divine Providence, the only means of enabling Britain so long to protect and cherish the Protestant faith. With respect to the Roman Catholics as fellow-men and fellow-subjects, the right hand of friendship was never withbolden by Dr. P. It was not against them, but against their principles and their priesthood that he warred.

In August 1813 Archdeacon Parkinson presided at a meeting held at Leicester, when a Society was formed for the

87

County of Leicester, in aid of the London Society for promoting Christian Knowledge. He also took an active part in the establishment of Savings Banks within his jurisdiction. He interested himself very warmly in the erection of an episcopal chapel on the newly inclosed forest of Charnwood, and on Sunday the 18th June 1815 (the very day, and at the very hour, the battle of Waterloo was raging in full fury) a very commodious chapel was consecrated by Bishop Tomline, for the use of the inhabitants of the immediate district. A sermon was preached on the occasion by Mr. (now Dr. Bayley, then Sub-dean of Lincoln, now Archdeacon of Stow and Prependary of Westminster. In 1818 a

District Board was formed for the Archdeaconry of Leicester, at the request of his Majesty's Commisioners for Building New Churches. The Archdeacon was appointed Chairman of the Board, and through its agency an elegant Gothic church, capable of containing 2000 persons, was erected in the parish of St. Margaret, Leicester. Dr. Parkinson never omitted attendance at the Board when his health permitted, was a liberal subscriber to the fund for purchasing and fencing the site of the church, and, during the entire progress of the undertaking, evinced the liveliest anxiety for the completion of the object in view.

During Dr. P.'s incumbency of the Archdeaconry of Leicester, several other Petitions were presented to Parliament from the clergy of Leicestershire, against the concession of the Roman Catholic Claims. Some of these were warmly attacked in the House of Commons by Sir J. Mackintosh, Mr. Barham, and others. On one occasion, Mr. Legh Keck, M. P. for Leicestershire, spoke at consdierable length, and with great spirit, in defence of the course pursued by his clerical constituents. It was in 1825 that the Archdeacon once more furnished a petition, which, with some alterations, was adopted and presented. This petition was rather singular in point of form. One of the reasons it assigned why the claims should not be granted, had reference to the Archdeacon's dread of the dispensations of Divine Providence. This part of the petition was commented upon with great severity by Lord King in the House of Peers. The Archdeacon was gratified at the notice bestowed on the passage, and frequently declared that, unless a similar view of the subject was introduced into a petition, baving reference to the Roman Catholic Question, and emanating

See an engraving of the Chapel in our vol. LXXXV. parti. p. 209.

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OBITUARY.-Ven. Archdeacon Parkinson, F. R. S.

from a body of Protestant clergy, be should feel no pleasure in affixing his signature.

Subsequently to 1825 the infirmities of age pressed so heavily upon Dr. P. that his journies never exceeded a few miles from home. His intellects were, however, unimpaired, and be was remarkably punctual in replying to any communications which were addressed to him. The loss of some early associates deeply affected him, and be was not an inattentive observer of what was passing in the world around him. Occurrences which took place there seriously agitated him, and while as a loyal subject, he bowed with the utmost submission to the decisions arrived at by the Legislature on some vitally important questions, be deeply lamented the fatal errors into which be conceived that Legislature had fallen, and trembled for the consequences. He had been visibly declining for about a year previous to his death. The natural vigour of his constitution, however, enabled him sometimes to rally in such a manner as to excite hopes in the breasts of his friends that he might be spared to them for some time longer. These hopes were completely dissipated for a month or six weeks previous to his death; his appetite had failed him, his rest had become disturbed, and it was clear that, without some material change for the better, he could not long sustain the unequal combat. The trying seene was now rapidly approaching, and for the last week or ten days of his life he took scarcely any nourishment. He waited in patience the close of his mortal career, and his "end," like his "life," was marked by "peace." He merely ceased to breathe when the body and spirit parted-not even a sigh escaped him at the awful moment!

He was interred in the chancel of Kegworth church, on Saturday the 20th November, amidst the deep regrets of a numerous circle of friends, and the heartfelt sympathies of the village poor, who attended in great numbers on the melancholy occasion.

The character of Dr. Parkinson may be comprised in a few words. His disposition was mild, obliging, patient, humble, and serious; his habits were temperate; benevolence was a leading feature in his composition, and had manifested itself in beautiful operation through every stage of his life. His perception of what was agreeable and what painful to others, was remarkably acute, and (when duty did not interfere) he was extremely cautious of wounding the feelings of those with whom he had to hold intercourse. Truly

(Jan.

might it be said, that be participated in the joys and entered into the griefs of all around him. The attachment of his pupils to him was strong and permanent, and evinced itself in various instances. Indeed it was impossible to know him thoroughly and not feel the liveliest regard for him. The ho nours which he had gained at college, and the rewards which resulted from his literary career, enabled and induced him to extend his sphere of usefulness to his relatives, and to redouble his exertions on behalf of the friends above whom success had far placed him; he had not so "drunk of the world" as to be intoxicated with the alluring potion. The contributions of the Archdeacon to charitable institutions were very large and numerous, and splendid were his acts of private beneficence. Although in the receipt of a large income, and living at a moderate expense in comparison with it, the small property he has left behind him speaks volumes as to the extent of his liberality. There was, undoubtedly, a great want of discrimination with respect to the objects to which his bounty was bestowed. Distress, in whatever shape it presented itself, was almost certain of being relieved by him. The conviction that a fellow-creature was undone, or in want, was a sufficient passport to his heart.

"Here did soft charity repair,

To break the bonds of grief,
To smooth the flinty couch of care,

And bring to helpless man relief!" To his servants he was a considerate and indulgent master, an adviser and benefactor in seasons of difficulty, and a protector when any attempts at either imposition or oppression were made upon them.

Dr. P. was about the middle stature ; his countenance bland and ingenuous; his eye keen and piercing, and strongly demonstrative of the active and fertile mind which reigned within. On a first interview something bordering on austerity might have occurred to a party, as existing in the Doctor's composition ; but this almost instantly disappeared, and bis natural suavity of demeanour evinced itself. His disposition to think well of others sometimes produced a want of firmness when decision was desirable, and punishment highly necessary. This failing, however, principally betrayed itself in cases attended with either palliative or highly afflictive circumstances, which called into exercise the amiable qualities we have been feebly attempting to delineate.

The publications of the Archdeacon were not numerous. In addition to those

OBITUARY.-Thomas Sherwood, Esq. M. D.

I have mentioned, he printed "The Duties and Qualifications of the Christian Minister," a sermon preached in Chester Cathedral on the 20th Sept. 1801;"What is Truth?" a sermon preached in the same cathedral, on occasion of a General Ordination, 29th Sept. 1816; "A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Leicester, A.D. 1822." We believe there were several other occasional Charges and Sermons published by Dr. Parkinson, but we have neither the titles of them, nor any means of ascertaining their dates.