mind in the execution of it. Instead of this, they made their dictionary a vehicle for the promulgation of principles destructive of public and private happiness; but these tenets are so artfully blended with practical information and reasoning on scientific subjects, as to escape the observation of general readers, whose minds, without suspecting any such thing, thus become tainted, and drawn unawares to infidelity.

manner.

Notwithstanding this radical defect in the Encyclopédie, yet, as a magazine of practical knowledge, its merits are unquestionably very great; and the success which it met with stimulated the proprietors of the English Cyclopædia, after a lapse of fourteen years, to enlarge their work in a similar For this purpose Dr. Rees was employed to superintend the undertaking, and several other persons of considerable talents were engaged to discuss and explain those subjects with which they were, from their professional pursuits and peculiar habits, eminently conversant. Of this vast, spirited, and expensive undertaking, we shall not here venture to enter into a critical examination. With respect to such voluminous compilations in general, it certainly may be doubted whether they have not all departed widely from the true design of a Lexicon, which is simple utility. A dictionary of science, like that of language, should, perhaps, be a mere book of reference, for definition and explanation only; instead of which, the compilers of nearly all the modern Encyclopædias have, in imitation of the French illuminati, rendered their works inaccessible to the mass of the public (who stand in most need of information), by the introduction of hypothetic dissertations on abstruse questions, details of history, and prolix treatises upon elementary subjects.

But, whatever may be thought of the partial imperfections that necessarily belong to all undertakings of this nature, no one can deny that the Cyclopædia, the first volume of which appeared in 1802, was a truly gigantic task for any individual, even with the powerful assistance derived from numerous distinguished contributors. Dr. Rees had the satisfaction, however, to see it completed in forty-five volumes, and to enjoy

the well-earned reputation which its able execution secured for him. We have already stated that he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. At different periods his eminent attainments received similar tokens of respect from other public bodies. The University of Edinburgh conferred on him the degree of D.D. from the spontaneous recommendation of Dr. Robertson the historian, at that time principal. He was chosen a Fellow of the Linnæan Society soon after its institution. More recently he was made an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was besides an honorary member of some foreign literary and scientific institutions.

Before embarking in the vast undertaking of the new Cyclopadia, Dr. Rees published several single sermons, some of which were the following. "A Sermon on the Obligation and importance of searching the Scriptures," 8vo. "The Advantages of Knowledge, a sermon preached before the supporters of the New College at Hackney, 1788," 8vo. "Two Sermons, preached at Cambridge on the death of the Rev. Robt. Robinson," 1790. "A Funeral Sermon on the death of Dr. Roger Flaxman, 1795." Another, "On the death of Dr. Kippis, 1795." "The Privileges of Britain, a Sermon on the Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 29,1798." "Economy Illustrated and Recommended, and a Caution against Modern Infidelity, in two Sermons, 1800," 8vo. He also published "An Antidote to the Alarm of Invasion, 1803." " Practical Sermons," selected from his Pulpit Exercises, 2 vols. 1809, 8vo, second edit. 1812; and "The Obligation and Utility of Public Worship, a Discourse on the opening of the Old Jewry Chapel, in Jewin-street, 1809,"

8vo.

Throughout life, Dr. Rees never engaged in any controversy till the year 1813, when he printed an octavo pamphlet, with the title of "The Principles of Protestant Dissenters stated and vindicated." But here he may be said to have acted defensively; and it is not known that he any where appeared as an opponent, except it was in writing the article of Polygamy, in his folio Dictionary. Just at that time, the Rev.

Martin Madan, of the Lock Chapel, published his famous work, entitled, Thelypthora; in which he maintained the position, that whosoever seduces a young woman, is bound by the divine law to make her his wife, even though he may be already a married man. This strange doctrine, though far from being a new one, gave general offence to serious persons of all parties, and, of course, excited a warm controversy. Dr. Rees took no other part in the dispute, than that of noticing it in strong terms, under the head of Polygamy, in the Cyclopædia; which so irritated the author of "Thelypthora," that he addressed "Five Letters" to the editor, whom he accused of unfair dealing, and particularly in writing criticisms on his book in the Monthly Review. Those strictures, however, were not the production of Dr. Rees, but of Mr. Samuel Badcock, one of the acutest and most learned controvertists of the day. Dr. Rees, indeed, was an occasional writer in the Monthly Review, in conjunction with Dr. Kippis, which circumstance probably led Mr. Madan to believe that the critiques upon his work proceeded from the editor of the Cyclopædia.

Dr. Rees was gifted by nature with a mind of extraordinary powers. He had a singular quickness and clearness of perception, and a readiness of apprehension which enabled him at once to penetrate and to master the subjects to which he directed his attention. The range of his intellectual faculties was most comprehensive.

His memory was, in a remarkable degree, faithful and tenacious, retaining all his mental treasures at his immediate disposal; and he added to these endowments a sound and discriminating judgment. There have been men who have possessed, in a higher degree, the imaginative and inventive faculties, and who have displayed talents of a more showy and sparkling kind; but in the more solid and useful properties of the understanding, none have surpassed and few have equalled him.

With mental capacities of so elevated an order, he was evidently qualified for the most extensive literary and scien

tific attainments. There was no subject with which he was not fitted to grapple; and the vigour and assiduity with which he brought his talents into operation in the prosecution of his studies, enabled him to enrich his mind with an abundant store of learning and knowledge. He did not, indeed, equally excel (and where is the human genius that ever did?) in all the branches he cultivated. But if, as a classical scholar, he may not rank with some highly-gifted individuals who have attained distinguished celebrity in this department, his acquisitions were by no means inconsiderable.

The mathematical and physical sciences had, however, engaged his chief study from his earliest years, and these he cultivated with eminent success. In the branches of literature more immediately connected with his profession as a Christian moralist and divine-in biblical and theological learning, in metaphysics and ethics—his attainments were extensive and profound; whilst on the other subjects of general literature. he was well and deeply read. He was not a man to rest satisfied with superficial attainments whilst the means of completer knowledge were within his reach. The talents and acquisitions of Dr. Rees were not matters of mere conjecture and opinion. He gave the most unequivocal and ample proofs of their reality, variety, and extent. It was never his object to study and learn in order to hoard up knowledge as an useless treasure. He looked to utility in all that he aimed to acquire. He coveted no attainments but such as he could render subservient to the practical benefit of himself or of others. And the employments to which he devoted himself, afforded him abundant opportunities for bringing forth all that he had accumulated for the instruction and the improvement of the world.

The incessant labour and close application which were demanded by his literary and scientific pursuits, might be thought so fully to engross his attention as to leave no time for other public engagements. But these occupations, which to any other man would have furnished the full employment of an active life, were to him only subordinate to duties which

he estimated as of infinitely greater importance. His profession as a Christian minister was always regarded by himself as his highest and most honourable office. It was that in which he felt the deepest interest, and which he was anxious to fulfil in the completest manner. All his other pursuits he endeavoured to render subservient to this; and he accordingly brought to his pulpit exercises the varied acquirements of his pregnant mind, to add to their richness, their force, and their practical efficacy.

As a preacher, he was distinguished by the admirable simplicity which characterized the arrangement of his thoughts, and enabled his auditors, without effort, to comprehend the whole of his meaning; by the neatness and perspicuity of his language, which was always plain, without approaching to vulgarity, and at the same time easy, flowing, and vigorous; by the felicity of illustration with which he frequently gave new weight and power to familiar truths; and by the searching appeals to the hearts and consciences of his hearers, which his intimate knowledge of the springs of human action enabled him to apply, and thereby to bring the great truths and precepts of religion home "to men's business and bosoms."

His discourses derived, in the public delivery of them, the greatest advantage from his fine and commanding person; from a countenance unusually expressive, beaming with intelligence, and glowing with holy earnestness and ardour; and from a voice of great power, well adapted to didactic address, or pathetic expostulation.

The general strain of his sermons was practical. When he expatiated upon the doctrines of divine revelation, it was always to point to their subserviency to moral purposes. The arena of controversy he seldom entered. When he wished to destroy error, his plan was to inculcate the opposite truth. He aimed rather to sap than to storm the fortifications of the adversary.

Dr. Rees was a Protestant Dissenter on deliberate and rational conviction. He was ever the firm and zealous advo