BIOGRAPHY.

From the London Missionary Register.

MEMOIR AND OBITUARY OF SIR ROBERT H. BLOSSET, KNT.

Late chief justice of Bengal, who died at Calcutta, Feb. 1, 1823, aged 46 yearş.

PIETY, TALENTS, AND ACQUIREMENTS.

SIR Henry Blosset, who assumed this surname on succeeding to the estate of a relative, his family name being Peckwell, was born in 1776. In 1785 he was sent to Westminster school, and in 1792 entered at Christ Church, Oxford. In 1801 he was called to the bar, and in 1809 was created serjeant at law.

His mother, who long survived her partner, inculcated, with the most unwearied diligence, the principles of genuine piety in the minds of all her children; and to her endeavours success was granted, through the divine blessing, in every instance.

With regard to Sir Henry, it must be confessed that the ensnaring influence of the world, at his first entrance into public life, did for a season draw away his heart from God: but the principles which his mother gave him were never wholly eradicated from his breast; and when, through the preaching of a faithful minister of the established church in London, he was awakened from sin, they soon flourished with increased vigour. Being ashamed, yea, even confounaed, because he did bear the reproach of his youth, he fled, with repentance and faith, to the divine Saviour's cross, from whence he never afterwards wandered.

Having finished the usual course of education at Oxford, he chose for his profession the study of the law. With what pleasure do we add his name to that long list of distinguished lawyers, who have rendered splendid talents still more illustrious by piety, and who thus refute the malicious remarks of ignorant nien, who connect, as of necessity, the practice of the law with an irreligious turn of mind.

Much need not be said in proof of his possessing illustrious talents. The circumstance of his being appointed chief justice must show how highly they were estimated by those in authority but this was the case also with all who became acquainted with him; for the writer of this well remembers how gratified the inhabitants of Cambridge were at having him, although educated at a different university, as their recorder-and how eagerly the assistance of his professional talents was sought after throughout the whole Norfolk circuit, which he frequented. As a natural consequence of such talents, improved by unwea

ried industry, and adorned with the most winning sweetness of manners, he rose gradually to the highest honours of his profession.

He was master of French, Italian, German, Latin, and Greek, with some knowledge of Spanish. The sacred tongue (Hebrew) he was familiarly acquainted with, and often spoke of it with delight. How beautifully he spoke and wrote in his mother tongue, thousands can witness. When we remember that all these attainments were added to a profound knowledge of the law, which alone is the labour of a life to many, we must be filled with admiration at his unwearied diligence and brilliant talents.

APPOINTMENT TO THE CHIEF JUSTICESHIP OF BENGAL.

At length the post of chief justice of British India being vacant, it was offered to him, and accepted.

It may not be amiss to declare here what were his motives for accepting it. It is asserted with the fullest confidence that they were not pecuniary. It had pleased God to crown his labours with abundant increase of riches, still farther enlarged by the fortune of a relation bequeathed to him. But, when riches increased, he set not his heart upon them: his bounty was ever as profuse as his means were large: his thoughts were ever, not for himself, but for others; and remembering who was the giver of all that he possessed, he rendered unto Him again, in acts of mercy and charity, a large portion of that which he had received.

It is not surprising that to such a person every thing connected with the endeavour to extend the gospel should be an object of interest, and that all such exertions should be encouraged by him to the utmost, and such societies supported largely by his bounty: this they were indeed. Among the various regions of the earth to which his attention was directed, as spots where missionary exertions were making, none seemed so intensely interesting to him as India. He loved, he pitied, he prayed for the people of India, if possible, more than other heathens. When, therefore, this appointment was offered to him, and an opening seemed to be made for his doing some good in that very land, so long the object of his attention and prayers, he did not hesitate to resign a very lucrative practice, and to quit for ever (as he himself presaged) his native country. Giving up, therefore, for the benefit of others, that which he had acquired in England, he went to India for the purpose of doing good by every means in his power; and especially, by using that influence which his rank and fortune would give him, to promote the spiritual as well as temporal welfare of the Hindoos.

VOL. VIII. December, 1825.

58

DILIGENT IMPROVEMENT OF THE TIME OF HIS VOYAGE TO INDIA.

The ship in which he sailed left Portsmouth on the 5th of June. On the subject of his voyage we shall quote Sir Henry's own words, in a letter to the friend whose ministry he had chiefly attended. This letter presents a picture of a man of piety and talents vigilantly improving the leisure of a voyage for the highest and best purposes, which may well serve as a stimulus to every one of that increasing number of persons, who are continually going forth to spend those years among the heathen for which they will have a most solemn account to render to God.

"I have," says he, "my time more at my command than at any period of my life, and am able to employ a very large portion of it in reading the Scriptures, and in prayer and meditation. Our chaplains, also, are very attentive to their religious duties, and furnish us with regular service both in the morning and the evening. But my cabin is the temple of comfort, and truly deserves the name of a STUDY; and I trust that the hours which I spend in it will be a very improving period of my life. With nothing to distract my attention, I can sit and review the scenes of my past life, and look forward with no small anxiety to that part of it which is to follow, and which is connected with so many important duties, and exposed to so many temptations, that I daily feel a stronger sense of the necessity of the divine assistance to carry me through them, and to enable me to fulfil, in any degree, the hopes of my friends and of those who have sent me to this station. Still, however, I trust that He, whose providence seems in so remarkable a manner to have pointed out this path for me, will not suffer me to want his guidance and direction while I walk in it, nor leave me without the aid of his holy Spirit, for which I daily and hourly pray; and I trust that I may consider the manner in which I am now spending my time, the increased delight that I take in reading every part of the word of God, and my desire to live every day nearer to him by prayer and a holy life, as, in some degree, an answer to those prayers, and as a proof that he has not suffered this change to take place in my life without a gracious design of ordering these events for my eternal welfare.

"As probably you will be glad to hear how I dispose of the rest of my time, I can only tell you that I believe the period of my voyage will be considerably too short for the different tasks which I have proposed to myself: consequently you will believe me when I tell you that time does not at all hang heavy on my hands. I make rapid progress in the Hindoostanee language, and read many books connected with India, in respect both of the Indians themselves and of the history of our settlements there, as also the lives and proceedings of the most eminent missionaries and chaplains-which lives not only contain many excellent thoughts in a religious point of view, but are full also of interesting details respecting the character and customs of the natives. I have, besides all this, several branches of the law to make myself, in some degree, acquainted with before my arrival; as

the justice which we administer there is of a very multifarious (I might say, universal) kind, and comprises courts of all possible descriptions."

In this voyage Sir Henry had the advantage of sailing with Mr. J. H. Harrington, well known as the steady friend of every good cause in India, and now member of the council at Calcutta. The Rev. G. W. Craufurd and the Rev. Francis Kirchoffer were the chaplains whom he mentions with such regard. The commander also, the late captain G. Bunyon, and the surgeon, Mr. Stevenson, well knew how to appreciate such a passenger.

LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH.

A few weeks after Sir Henry's arrival at Calcutta, he was attacked with the disease which soon proved fatal to his valuable life. This disease, which was seated in the lower intestines, was entirely unconnected either with the climate or the voyage, and must have been of long continuance: the faculty were indeed surprised that it had not sooner discovered itself, and brought his days to an earlier close. From the following account of his last illness, sent by the Rev. T. Thomason to the sister of Sir Henry, it will be seen that though he was not spared to benefit the Hindoos with the fruits of his literary diligence during his voyage, yet, as he himself anticipated, the change in his state of life was not without "a gracious design of ordering events for his eternal welfare." Mr. Thomason writes from Calcutta :

"On the Tuesday before his death, which took place on the Saturday following, I was requested, in a letter written by his servant, but in his own name, to attend him whenever it might be convenient to me. I waited on him immediately, and found him on his couch, greatly altered in appearance. His disorder had attacked him with amazing violence, and was of a nature to pull down the patient speedily. He received me with a solemn and earnest expression of regard, and of interest in the occasion of our interview, which I can never forget it was very striking, and greatly affected my mind. After some remarks on the suddenness of the attack, and the mysterious nature of his illness, he entered immediately on the great subject of God's dealings with him from the beginning, spoke with much humility and many tears of his past life, and seemed overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God to him. Turning round, he observed that his excellent mother having been known to me, I could weil appreciate the honour conferred on him, and the blessing which he enjoyed, in having such a parent: the remembrance of her piety and maternal love caused him to weep abundantly. Recovering himself, he said that he could not affirm that he was not somewhat depressed: it was fit, he thought, that he should be so perhaps there was no state of mind more salutary: it would be well for us, he said, if we were oftener in such a state; and he could from his heart declare

that, though he knew much to humble him and make him sad, yet he felt the mercy of God so greatly to exceed his own demerits, that he could not but feel overwhelmed with a sense of it.

"He was then led to mention, as the greatest blessing of all to him, his voyage to India. He looked back upon it with peculiar thankfulness it was what he needed: a voyage by sea was highly calculated to impress the mind with seriousness. He had found this to be a season of solemn reflection and of religious enjoyment. In the retirement of his cabin he had enjoyed more of God than ever before; and though the voyage was unusually prolonged, he felt regret when it came to an end. He could bless God for all his afflictions, and could testify that they had been his richest mercies; adding that he had experienced the fulfilment of that promise in Isaiah xxx, 20, 21, which he repeated with great distinctness and solemnity. It was very edifying to observe the tone and manner with which he called to mind the words of the promise:-Though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers, and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way: walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left.' The impression on my mind at the time was, that the voyage had been a season of great spiritual improvement to him, during which his heart was strengthened, his religious principles took deeper root, and his soul was ripened into that maturity of Christian knowledge and experience which was so conspicuous in him on his arrival.

"The conversation then turned on the mysteriousness of God's dealings in bringing him to India, and then laying him on a bed of sickness, which, in all probability, would be the bed of death. He had hoped, if it had pleased God to allow him time, to use the influence of his situation in advancing religion, and especially in encouraging the many institutions which had been formed for the benefit of this country; but the very serious aspect of his illness had put a stop to all his plans, and had led him to examine his motives strictly, and to feel that he was himself NOTHING. His anxious desire now was, to acknowledge the hand of God, in the exercise of entire patience and resignation to his holy will.

"After some farther conversation on this topic, at his request I prayed with him, having previously read a portion of the twelfth chapter of the Hebrews, referred to in the order for the visitation of the sick. He was visibly impressed with a solemn and thankful sense of that assurance-that the Father of spirits chastens us for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness; and added his fervent 'amen!' that it might be so with him.

"This is but an outline of our conversation; and it is impossible to convey an adequate idea of the solemn pathos, the tone of TENDERNESS, the dignity and the humility with which he spoke.

"On the following day (Wednesday) I again visited him. He was sitting on a chair, in a state of some disorder: leeches had just been applied, and he complained of great pain, and said that his disease was still a mystery: he did not know how it would terminate; "but,"