Dr. KENNICOTT.
Dr. Kennicott was the son of the parish clerk of Totness, once master of a charity school in that town. At an early age young Kennicott took the care of the school, and in that situation wrote some verses, addressed to theHon.Mrs. Courtenay, which recommended him to her notice, and to that of many neighbouring gentlemen, who laudably opened a subscription to send him to Oxford.
The following inscription, written by Dr. Kennicott, is engraven on the tomb of his parents:
As Virtue should be of good Report,Sacred be this humble Monument to the Memory ofBENJAMIN KENNICOTT,Parish Clerk of Totness,and ELIZABETH his Wife;The latter an example of every Christian Duty,The former animated with the warmest zeal, regulated by thebest good sense, and both constantly exertedfor the salvation of himself and others.Reader! soon shalt thou die also;And as a Candidate for Immortality, strike thy breast and say,“Let me live the life of the righteous,that mylatter end may be like his.”Trifling are the dates of Time, where the subject is Eternity.Erected by their Son,B.Kennicott,D. D.Canon of Christ Church, Oxford.
As Virtue should be of good Report,Sacred be this humble Monument to the Memory ofBENJAMIN KENNICOTT,Parish Clerk of Totness,and ELIZABETH his Wife;The latter an example of every Christian Duty,The former animated with the warmest zeal, regulated by thebest good sense, and both constantly exertedfor the salvation of himself and others.Reader! soon shalt thou die also;And as a Candidate for Immortality, strike thy breast and say,“Let me live the life of the righteous,that mylatter end may be like his.”Trifling are the dates of Time, where the subject is Eternity.Erected by their Son,B.Kennicott,D. D.Canon of Christ Church, Oxford.
As Virtue should be of good Report,Sacred be this humble Monument to the Memory ofBENJAMIN KENNICOTT,Parish Clerk of Totness,and ELIZABETH his Wife;The latter an example of every Christian Duty,The former animated with the warmest zeal, regulated by thebest good sense, and both constantly exertedfor the salvation of himself and others.Reader! soon shalt thou die also;And as a Candidate for Immortality, strike thy breast and say,“Let me live the life of the righteous,that mylatter end may be like his.”Trifling are the dates of Time, where the subject is Eternity.Erected by their Son,B.Kennicott,D. D.Canon of Christ Church, Oxford.
As Virtue should be of good Report,
Sacred be this humble Monument to the Memory of
BENJAMIN KENNICOTT,
Parish Clerk of Totness,
and ELIZABETH his Wife;
The latter an example of every Christian Duty,
The former animated with the warmest zeal, regulated by the
best good sense, and both constantly exerted
for the salvation of himself and others.
Reader! soon shalt thou die also;
And as a Candidate for Immortality, strike thy breast and say,
“Let me live the life of the righteous,that my
latter end may be like his.”
Trifling are the dates of Time, where the subject is Eternity.
Erected by their Son,B.Kennicott,D. D.
Canon of Christ Church, Oxford.
It is said that when Dr. Kennicott took orders, he came to officiate in his clerical capacity in his native town,—when his father, as parish clerk, proceeded to place the surplice on his shoulders, a struggle ensued between the modesty of the son and the honest pride of the parent, who insisted on paying that respect to his son which he had been accustomed to shew to other clergymen; to this filial obedience he was obliged to submit. A circumstance is added, that his mother had often declared she should never be able to support the joy of hearing her son preach; and that on her attendance at the church, for the first time, she was so overcome as to be taken out in a state of temporary insensibility.
The following Letter from Dr. Kennicott to the Rev. William Daddo has been preserved:
“To the Rev. Mr. Daddo, in Tiverton, Devon.
“Wadh. Coll.Mar.30, 1744.
“Rev.andHon.Sir,
“Gratitude to benefactors is the great law of nature, and lest I should violate what was ever sacred, I presume to lay the following before you.
“There are, Sir, in the world, gentlemen who confine their regards to self, or the circle of their own acquaintance, and there are (happy experienceconvinces me) who command their influence to enlarge and exert itself on persons remotely situate, both by fortune and education. To you, Sir, belongs the honour of this encomium,—to me the pleasure of the obligation, and as I am now first at leisure in the place whither your goodness has transplanted me, I lay this acknowledgment before you, as one of the movers in this system of exalted generosity; for when I consider myself as surrounded with benefactors, there seems a bright resemblance of the now exploded system of Ptolemy, in which, Sir, (you know) the heavenly bodies revolved around the central earth which was thus rendered completely blest by the contribution of their cheering and benign influence.
“And now, Sir, the sentiments of duty rise so warm within me, that every expression of thanks seems faint, and I am lost in endeavours after a suitable acknowledgment of my obligations.
“But I know, Sir, whom I am now addressing; I know those who most deserve can least bear praise, and that your goodness is so great, as even to reject the very thanks of the grateful; like the sun in its splendour, which forbids the eye that offers to admire it.
“That Heaven may reward yourself and Mrs. Daddo with its best favours, and console you under your parental sorrows, is my daily and fervent prayer; and I shall esteem it one of thegreat honours of my life to be favoured at your leisure with any commands or advices you shall condescend to bestow on
Rev.Sir,
Your dutiful and obliged Servant,
BENJAMIN KENNICOTT.”
TheRev.William Daddo was for many years head-master of Blundell’s Free School, in Tiverton, where young Kennicott received the rudiments of his classical education. Mr. Daddo having acquired a considerable fortune from the emoluments of his school, quitted Tiverton, and retired to Bow-hill House, in the neighbourhood of Exeter, and there died many years ago, leaving a daughter, an only child, afterwards married to theRev.Mr. Terry.