MR. HOLLAND:

I SEND you a short account of Dr. Sherlock's life. If you think fit you may prefix it to his "PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN," which you are going to reprint. This account might easily have been enlarged, but then it would not have been so agreeable to the character and modesty of the Doctor, who always declined being known any more than he was obliged by the duties of his calling; so that the blessing of a most exemplary life, was confined, for the most part, to the limits and observations of one single parish.

That primitive method of devotion, which you are going to reprint, will need no better recommendation, than the good acceptance of the former impressions; which, together with the testimony of those who know the advantage of observing the stated hours of prayer, will encourage you to hope that your undertaking may benefit both yourself and many others. I heartily wish it may do so, and remain

Your affectionate friend,

ISLE OF MAN, Sept. 23, 1712.

THOMAS SODOR AND MAN.

WHEN Writings of this kind either find or help to make us devout, we usually desire to know something of the author of them. To gratify such into whose hands these "Devotions" may fall, and to discharge (as far as this poor acknowledgment will go) a debt of gratitude, is the design of this short account of Dr. Richard Sherlock's life.

He was born at Oxton in Wirral, in the county of Chester, November 11, 1613, which village very sensibly feels the blessing of having been his birth-place; where he has settled an uncommon, but very useful charity1.

1) Oxton is in the parish of Woodchurch. In Woodchurch Church there is the following public record of two of Dr. Sherlock's charities; the latter is the one to which his Biographer especially alludes.

"Richard Shirlock, Dr. of Divinity and Rector of Winwick, in his life time, in the year 1670, gave £50 to the poor of the parish of Woodchurch, the interest whereof to be laid out in bread and distributed amongst the poor of the said parish every Lord's Day, at the discretion of the Minister and Churchwardens for ever."

"Richard Shirlock, Rector of Winwick aforesaid, anno 1677, gave to the Township of Oxton, the place of his birth, £50 to be laid out in cows for the poor of the said town, paying for every cow yearly, on St. Mark's Day, the sum of 2s. 6d., which said hire is to maintain and keep up the stock for ever" The above, as its orthography indicates, is a verbatim et literatim copy.

When I have said that he was born of very honest and religious parents, the pious reader will not be offended that he finds nothing more considerable in the account of his family1. That his parents were such, an especial instance of his mother's piety, will not be improper to be here mentioned; because it is probable God blessed her with so worthy a son, to convince her and all that read this, that such as fear Him, and seek to avert His judgments, do never seek Him in vain.

Her father, in his younger years had taken such liberties, as made her justly fear his offspring might hear of it another day which affected her so sensibly, and especially after she became a mother of children herself, that she very often, and with tears begged of God to suspend His just declaration of "visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children unto

1) Dr. Ormerod, in his History of Cheshire (vol. ii. p. 291), hazards the conjecture, that Dr. Sherlock "was most probably son of the Rector of Woodchurch, of the same name ;" and of this Richard Sherlock, the Rector he alludes to, he elsewhere states, that "he occurs in 1618, and dying the 30th of August, was buried at Woodchurch, September 1, 1643." This last date shows that his conjecture is erroneous: for Bishop Wilson intimates that the mother of the younger Richard, was a widow previous to the commencement of his College education, and that he took his degree as early as 1633, which is ten years before the death of that Rector. Still, as Oxton is part of that parish, and as the parent stock of the Sherlocks are said to have been located there for two centuries before the Doctor's time, it is highly probable that he was a near relative of that Rector; and that such relationship was one link in the chain of causes, which providentially led to his being educated for the same profession. By the kindness of the present Rector of Woodchurch, it has been ascertained that the parish registers, owing to the concise manner in which almost all the entries of that date are made, do not furnish any means for tracing the parentage of our Author ; his Baptism is there thus briefly recorded, "Richardus Sherlock, baptized 16th November, 1613."

In Baine's History of Lancashire, and other publications, it is stated, that Dr. Sherlock of Winwick, was the grandfather of Bishop Sherlock. This too is incorrect. The Bishop was son of Dean Sherlock, whose father was a citizen of London. Family tradition, however, makes them to be related to our Author, but does not determine the degree of their relationship.