William Warburton

“ Warburton was a man of sound sense and judgment and of high personal integrity, though he did continue at Bridport to 1832 the pernicious practices initiated in previous elections. In the House of Commons he was assiduous in his duty, often spending twelve consecutive hours in his place. He worked with Joseph Hume, and after 1832 found fresh colleagues in Charles Buller, Grote, and Sir William Molesworth. The medical reformers selected him as their advocate. ”

“ Warburton published in 1744, under the title of ‘Remarks on several occasional Reflections,’ a defence of his portentous volumes, ‘The Divine Legation of Moses,’ and in the preface he commented in a ‘free footing’ on Akenside's poem of the ‘Pleasures of Imagination.’ The poet's offence was a note in the third book of the ‘Pleasures,’ reviving and maintaining the doctrine of the third Lord Shaftesbury that ridicule is the test of truth. ”

“ Theobald's superiority to Warburton as a Shakespearean critic has long since been acknowledged. Warburton was further kept busy by the attacks on his Divine Legation from all quarters, by a dispute with Bolingbroke respecting Pope's behaviour in the affair of Bolingbroke's Patriot King, by his edition of Pope's works (1751) and by a vindication in 1750 of the alleged miraculous interruption of the rebuilding of the temple of Jerusalem undertaken by Julian, in answer to Conyers Middleton. Warburton's manner of dealing with opponents was both insolent and rancorous, but it did him no disservice. ”

“ On the 23rd of April, about a week after the departure of Warburton, William Christie Gosse, Deputy Surveyor-General of South Australia, also left Alice Springs on an exploring expedition, having been appointed by the South Australian Government to take charge of the Central and Western Exploring Expedition. Like Warburton, he was frustrated by dry country in his endeavour to reach Perth. He had with him both white men and Afghan camel drivers, and a mixed outfit of horses and camels. ”

“ Warburton for sixty pounds a year ‘the great house at Claverton, and the great gallery-library was turned into a dormitory.’ His pupils included Ralph Allen Warburton, the bishop's only son; Henry Skrine of Warleigh, who in his book on the ‘Rivers of Great Britain’ praises the ‘little grounds’ of Claverton rectory; Malthus, the political economist, who ‘was taught little but Latin and good behaviour;’ and Prince Hoare, the artist. ”

“ The French chief knew it well, and gave orders that, in case of the assailants appearing on either of these weak points, his troops should abandon the field and retreat to their boats as they best might.
With the rashness that bears no relation to courage, the British general determined to throw the flower of his force upon the very center of the enemy's strength. While the army was forming for the ill-starred attack, Sir William Johnson arrived with 440 Indians, who were at once pushed forward into the woods to feel the way and occupy the enemy. ”

“ But to the north, the province of New York and the New England states were feebly held by Colonel Webb with about 4000 men, and Colonel Monro with his garrison of Fort William Henry, against the able and vigilant Montcalm. Although Webb could not but be aware of the movements of his dangerous enemy, he unaccountably neglected to avail himself of the means of defense within his reach. With an indifference bordering on infatuation, he abstained from calling out the numerous and hardy militia of the surrounding states, in themselves a force sufficient to overpower his active antagonist. ”

“ Amherst therefore fell back upon Crown Point on the 21st, directed the completion of the defenses, made roads and bridges, and nursed the Provincials, who had become uncommonly sickly. Thus ended his campaign.
FOOTNOTES:
[166] This is the Fort George marked in modern maps, nearly on the same spot where Fort William Henry formerly stood.
[167] "Four hundred of these young troops (Provincials) are to be stationed here.... The privates are a poor, mean, ragged set of men, of all sizes and ages ”

“ He was a member of the Political Economy Club from its foundation in 1821 till his death in 1858; he was one of the founders of the London University, and served on its first council; and he represented Bridport, Dorset, in successive Parliaments from 1825 to 1841. It is often asserted that a recluse, bookworm, or scientist cares for nothing outside his own four walls or lower than the starry heavens. In this case never was saying more completely falsified. Mr Warburton was unusually public-spirited, a prominent Parliamentarian, and a lucid writer. ”

“ Warburton sees with the strong clear vision with which Heaven has endowed him, but with this there are always blended recollections of the past, and something—though dashed in unconsciously—of poetic feeling. He brings to his work of observation an accomplished mind, and well-trained and healthful faculties. We are proud to claim him as a countryman, and are content that his book shall go all the world over, that other countries may derive a just impression of our national character. ”

“ That SECRET PRINCIPLE which directed Warburton in all his works, and which we have attempted to pursue, could not of itself have been sufficient to have filled the world with the name of Warburton. Other scholars have published reveries, and they have passed away, after showing themselves for a time, leaving no impression; like those coloured and shifting shadows on a wall, with which children are amused; but Warburton was a literary Revolutionist, who, to maintain a new order of things, exercised all the despotism of a perpetual dictator. ”

“ Warburton entered the Royal Artillery in 1861, took part in the Abyssinian War of 1867-68, and then joined the Bengal Staff Corps. He served with distinction in the expedition against the Utman Khel in 1878 and in the Afghan War of 1878-80. Very soon after the British government had made permanent arrangements for keeping open the Khyber Pass, Warburton was appointed to take charge of it as political officer. ”

“ Thus he exults in the true tone, and with all the levity of a sophist. It is well that a true feeling of religion does not depend on the quirks and quibbles of human reasonings, or, what are as fallible, on masses of fanciful erudition.
[162]
Warburton lost himself in the labyrinth he had so ingeniously constructed. This work harassed his days and exhausted his intellect. Observe the tortures of a mind, even of so great a mind as that of Warburton’s, when it sacrifices all to the perishable vanity of sudden celebrity. Often he flew from his task in utter exhaustion and despair. ”

“ WARBURTON, Sir PETER (1540?–1621) , judge, only son of Thomas Warburton (natural son of John, fourth son of Sir Geoffrey Warburton of Arley, Cheshire) by his wife Anne, daughter of Richard Maisterson of Nantwich, Cheshire, was born at Northwich in the same county about 1540. He passed his legal novitiate at Staple Inn, and was admitted on 2 May 1562 student at Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the bar on 2 Feb. ”

“ Warburton of November 15th, 1850. I then called on Mr. Warburton to report progress. He was in high spirits, and now thought we should succeed.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied that, as he was going into the country, he must postpone seeing me till after his return; but that he would take the correspondence with him and read it meantime. On the same day (December 19th) I received a letter from my brother Frederic, who had gone at my request to Manchester to see Mr. Cobden relative to any opposition that might be looked for from the economists. ”

“ Warburton has rightly observed, in his “Divine Legation,” p. 203, that “Systems, Schemes, and Hypotheses, all bred of heat, in the warm regions of Controversy, like meteors in a troubled sky, have each its turn to blaze and fly away.”
[145]
It seems, even by the confession of a Warburtonian, that his master was of “a human size;” for when Bishop Lowth rallies the Warburtonians for their subserviency and credulity to their master, he aimed a gentle stroke at Dr. Brown, who, in his “Essays on the Characteristics,” had poured forth the most vehement panegyric. ”

“ Warburton frowned.
"Rebel, sir?"
"Rebel, Mr. Warburton. I have served under his Majesty."
"The Carstares were ever Tories, Master Jack, true to their rightful king."
"My dear Warburton, I owe nought to the Stuart princes. I was born in King George the First's reign, and I protest I am a good Whig."
Warburton shook his head disapprovingly.
"There has never been a Whig in the Wyncham family, sir."
"And you hope there never will be again, eh? What of Dick? Is he faithful to the Pretender?"
"I think Mr. Richard does not interest himself in politics, sir." ”

“ The ship caught fire on this her first and last voyage, and Warburton was among those that perished on 4 Jan. He was the last passenger that was recognised on the deck of the burning ship (Loss of the Amazon, 1852, p. 23) . A window was erected to his memory in Iffley church, near Oxford. Copious journals and memoirs of Eliot and his brother, George Drought, are in the possession of the widow of the Rev. Thomas Acton Warburton.
Warburton married at St. James's, Piccadilly, on 11 Jan. 1848, Matilda Jane, second daughter of late Edward Grove of Shenstone Park, Staffordshire. ”

“ He had also undertaken to edit Warburton's works, a task which he completed in 1788 (London, 7 vols: 4to) . 'A Discourse by way of General Preface,' giving an account of Warburton's life and an estimate of his genius which was little less than an unqualified eulogy, was not issued until 1794, and Warburton's correspondence with himself, 'Letters from a late Eminent Prelate to one of his Friends,' Kidderminster, 1808, 4to (2nd and 3rd editions, London, 1809, 8vo) , was first published after Hurd's death. Hurd died unmarried on 28 May 1808, and was buried in Hartlebury churchyard. ”

“ Isabel followed her uncle’s argument, which he unfolded with his quaint distinctness, most attentively, and though she was unacquainted with the British aristocracy she found it in harmony with her general impressions of human nature. But she felt moved to put in a protest on Lord Warburton’s behalf. “I don’t believe Lord Warburton’s a humbug; I don’t care what the others are. I should like to see Lord Warburton put to the test.”
“Heaven deliver me from my friends!” Mr. Touchett answered. “Lord Warburton’s a very amiable young man—a very fine young man. He has a hundred thousand a year. ”

“ He is not—dead?"
"I do not know, sir."
"You could not find him? Quick! Tell me?"
"Alas! no, sir."
"But the Chequers—he said—Surely they knew something?"
"Nought, Mr. Carstares." Out came Mr. Warburton's snuff-box. Very deliberately he took a pinch, shaking the remains from his finger-tips. "The host, Chadber—an honest man, though lacking in humour—has not set eyes on my lord for well-nigh six months. Not since I went to advise my lord of the Earl's death."
"But Warburton, he cannot be far? He is not dead! Oh, surely not that?"
"No, no, Master Dick," soothed the lawyer. ”

“ Many and sad are the records of combats where torrents of British blood have flowed to redeem the errors, or to make amends for the want of military science in a British chief. Our great captains, great in genius and skill as well as in success, have indeed been "lone stars," presenting, in comparison, to those not so gifted, very much the proportion which "uninstructed genius" usually displays among men in other pursuits of life.
It may be urged that the officers of our instructed corps, the artillery and engineers, have never supplied the general service with a chief of conspicuous ability ”

“ At Durham he found a copy of Neal's ‘History of the Puritans,’ and made annotations, afterwards published by Hurd in his ‘Works.’ In 1756 he resigned Frisby, where he had left a Mr. Wright to take care of his financial matters and to provide a curate (Gent. Mag. March 1820) . In September 1757 Warburton was made dean of Bristol by Pitt. Newcastle had told Allen some years before that if the deanery became vacant, he thought of recommending Warburton to the place, which had the advantage of being within reach of Prior Park. Allen was worth courting for his great influence in Bath ”

“ I have tried and can do nothing, yet I cannot heartily concur with Dr Warburton." Warburton's emendation is substantially the same as the MS. corrector's—and therefore we have Dr Johnson's verdict against its admissibility. His own interpretation is unquestionably right, although he gave it with great hesitation. No change whatever is required. The passage is perfectly plain if we take "to be" as standing for "in being." "That I had no angry wit in being a lord." It is the pleasure and pride of my life to cherish a savage disposition ”

“ We have before, in another work, had the satisfaction of exposing the folly of this fungus of a legislator, when he attempted to impose upon the fasting mechanics and labourers of this country, a religious fast-day, or a general propitiation to Heaven for all the sins and crimes which have been committed generally and individually, since the time that fast-days went out of fashion! We did then hope that we should have heard no more of him; but in Mr. Warburton's Anatomy Bill being brought in, we were again enlightened by the sagacity and profundity of his remarks. Mr. ”

“ The king observed that Pope made Warburton a bishop; ‘True, Sir,’ said Johnson, ‘but Warburton did more for Pope, he made him a Christian;’ alluding no doubt, to his ingenious comments on the ‘Essay on Man.’ His Majesty then talked of the controversy between Warburton and Lowth, which he seemed to have read, and asked Johnson what he thought of it. Johnson answered, ‘Warburton has most general, most scholastic learning; Lowth is the more correct scholar. ”