The life of William Hey Esq F R S Author:John Pearson This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1822 Excerpt: ...at Blackheath, and lived which interest young minds by the entertaining narrative, whilst they offer oppor in much privacy, though not abs... more »olute seclusion from society; dedicating his leisure to the improvement of his mind, to devotional exercises public and private, and to the conversation of his friends. His general deportment was grave and serious, and an air of abstraction would often hang about him; yet in discourse he was copious and animated; and, when raised to exertion by the grandeur and importance of his subject, he would display a rich, noble, and impressive eloquence, not very unlike the sublime simplicity of Homer. When Mr. Bates had passed the middle period of life, he married a lady of suitable years, whose principles and pursuits, whose sentiments and dispositions were congenial with his own; and of whom, if she were not still living,.much might be said in honour of her intellectual attainments, her enlarged charity, and her eminent piety. Mr. Bates had suffered from infirm health during many years; but his decline at the last was rather rapid. He died at Bath, January the 4th, 1812, aged sixty-eight years; and was buried in the Abbey Church there, where a plain memorial with a monumental inscription were placed by his widow. Mr. Bates published the first part of an intended work under the title of "A Chinese Fragment," in the year 1786; the second part, by far the more important, was withheld from the public in consequence of the severity and harshness with which the first part was treated in one of the Reviews. In the year 1804 he published the third edition of " Rural Philosophy," a work that has met with a favourable reception from the public, and which was in much estimation with our late excellent Queen Charlotte, c...« less