should hear of it. But with all his speed the news travelled there before him, and on entering, they complimented him on his boxing and beating the tinkers.

He exerted his courage again on a similar occasion. A young officer, proud of his red coat, which he had just put on, came into the hall of an inn (while he, being then on a journey, happened to be in the parlour), and to shew his cleverness, began reproving the waiter, and uttered a volley of horrid oaths. The waiter retaliated, and thus they were going on, when Skelton coming out of the parlour, told the officer, that he was a clergyman, and that it was very offensive to him to hear such horrid swearing, and begged he would desist. The officer then said to him, "You scoundrel curate, what is it to you?" Skelton gravely replied, "Young man, this is not proper language to one of my profession, merely for giving you good advice." -"You puppy you (for he thought Skelton was afraid), you deserve to be kicked for your impertinence;" and then he uttered some blasphemous oaths. "Well sir," said Skelton, "since fair means will avail nothing, I'll try what foul can do." Upon this he fell to him with his fists, and cuffed him through the hall of the inn, and soon cooled the captain's courage, and made him quiet and submissive. Thus he chastised the military man for his profaneness, exerting his valour in the service of God and religion.

It appears that he was fond of paying visits, and, among others, he sometimes visited Dr. Maul, that worthy prelate, who, when bishop of Dromore, lived in the old see-house at Maheralin.* He once borrowed a horse from a Mr. Wrightsome of Monaghan to go thither. This horse being slipped in the back by the carelessness of some of his lordship's servants, the bishop gave him another one in exchange which was not quite so good. But afterward, as a recompense to the man, he bestowed on him his sermons.

Mr. Skelton set out in his ministry in the character of an avowed champion of the orthodox faith. Deriving his religious principles from the pure source of information, the Holy Scriptures themselves, he could find in these no real ground for the opinions of our modern refiners. Consequently he declared open war against all Arians, Soci

A small village in the county of Down.

nians, and the like, considering it his duty to attack boldly these adversaries to truth; and he published several anonymous pieces against them. He found leisure, he said, amidst all the duties of his profession, "to switch the Arians now and then." These little productions, and others of his on different subjects, were published by a printer's widow in Dublin, who having a just sense of honour, would on no account discover his name. She had, therefore, the talent of secret-keeping, for which some persons will allow the sex no credit.

Some of his productions were of a temporary nature, and consequently were not republished by himself in his works; of these it cannot be expected I should take a regular notice.

In 1736, he published a pamphlet, the title of which is "A Vindication of the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Winchester," &c. A book entitled "A Plain Account of the Nature and End of the Lord's Supper," was ascribed to his lordship. In this he asserts, that consecration of the elements is without Scriptural precept or example, and that this sacrament is intended merely to commemorate our Lord's death. Here he insinuates, that no previous preparation, or resolution of amendment of life, is necessary for receiving the sacrament worthily.

Skelton, under a pretence of defending his character, exposes him." It is very unjust," he says, " to suspect that a right reverend prelate, who is more pious, judicious, orthodox, and learned, than any that ever was, or ever will be, who has sworn and subscribed to all our articles, and has so tender a conscience, should be capable of writing so bad a book. It is a scandalous age, that ascribes such a work of darkness to such an apostolical messenger of light." Then he answers all the arguments produced by the author in such a manner as to satisfy any reasonable reader.

This production was very pleasing, it seems, to Dr. Sterne, the bishop of Clogher. When he read it, he sent for him, and said to him, "Did you write this, Mr. Skelton?" shewing him the little piece. Skelton gave him an evasive answer. "Well, well," he said, "'tis a clever thing, you're a young man of no fortune, take these ten guineas,

you may want them." "I took the money (he observed to me) and said nothing, for I was then a poor curate."

He published in the same year "Some Proposals for the Revival of Christianity." The design of this piece is to ridicule the infidels and enemies of our church. The great objection, as they think, which many have to the Christian religion in this country is paying tithes to support the clergy, who do not deserve them. He therefore comes into their scheme. The church must be destroyed, the clergy turned out, hanged or banished, or if any remain they must live without food or clothes; the Bible is then to be burnt, and Magna Charta of course. Then a pure Christianity, free from any low, temporal motives, will take its place. This scheme might possibly suit the refined notions of the present day. His ridicule, however, is in general too clumsy to have much effect.

Some one of Swift's friends carried this pamphlet to the Dean in Dublin, to find out if he wrote it, every anony. mous production at that time, of any tolerable merit, being attributed to him. Yet he formed a determination, to which he strictly adhered, not to acknowledge or disavow any anonymous performance, on his being asked if he wrote it; and, therefore, when Skelton's piece was brought to him, he only said, after reading it over," the author of this has not continued the irony to the end."

In 1737, he published a Dissertation on the Constitution and Effects of a Petty Jury. Trial by a petty jury, according to the present mode, is, as he imagines, a temptation to perjury, and the chief cause of the general corruption of manners which prevailed in these kingdoms. He therefore advises, that a curious sort of ballot should be substituted in its place, which he thinks would produce most happy effects, and recommends it to parliament to have his scheme made a part of our constitution; the members who would be active in effecting this should, he says, be justly called the preservers of their country. This piece is written with sufficient sense and perspicuity; the inconvenience that attends forcing people by hunger and other uneasy sensations to be of one opinion is clearly pointed out. Yet I doubt if the chief corruptions, of which he com

plains, be owing to a petty jury; for we see other countries, where this mode of trial does not subsist, at least as faithless and wicked as our own.

Soon after this pamphlet was published in Dublin, the Attorney-general, stopping his carriage at the printer's, inquired who the author of it was? The woman, as she was desired, refused to tell. "Well," he said, "give my compliments to the author, and inform him from me, that I do not think there is virtue enough in the people of this country ever to put his scheme into practice."

Mr. Skelton had, I understand, a ready turn at composition, having often composed, as he told me, a long sermon in twelve hours, which was no ordinary day's work. To write a sermon well is possibly more difficult, than to compose equally well any other piece of prose of the same length. The biographer and historian have materials provided for them; their business then is only to arrange with skill, and express with perspicuity. The sermon writer, beside this, must find out materials for himself. He must therefore exercise his invention, no easy employment, which the others need not. While he is thus employed, he must use also his judgment, in choosing or rejecting, amidst the wild variety which his imagination presents. He must examine into the different motives and actions of men, restrain their unruly appetites by shewing the consequence of indulgence, set before them their real interests, convince by powerful arguments, and find out, if it be possible, the avenue to their hearts. He must fight against the passions and prejudices of the human race; he must strive to make a man war with himself, and tear out from his breast every corrupt desire. A biographical or historical composition, though but indifferently executed, often engages the attention of the reader by the facts it contains; but in sermons, or works of morality, or disputation, which consist more of arguments than of facts, the reader's attention must be secured chiefly by the ability of the composer.

His fame, as a preacher and a writer, his extraordinary care as an instructor of a parish, and his wonderful acts of charity and goodness, began, about the year 1737, to be the subject of conversation, not only in the diocess of Clogher, and other parts of the North, but also in the metropolis.

He had then some reason to expect from his bishop a degree of attention suitable to his deserts. But here he was unhappily disappointed. He saw living after living given away; but there was no notice taken of him. The bishop of Clogher, Dr. Sterne, usually sent for him, after he had bestowed a good preferment upon another, and gave him ten guineas, which Mr. Skelton frequently made a present of to a Mr. Arbuthnot, a poor cast-off curate, who was unable to serve through age and infirmity. He never asked, he said, his lordship for any thing, but he thought his works should speak for him. "Men of real merit," he remarked, "are always modest and backward, but blockheads tease bishops, and give them no peace, till they get something: they therefore usually prefer them to get rid of them."

Non missura cutem, nisi plena cruoris hirudo.

About the year 1738, his first rector, the Hon. Francis Hamilton, left Monaghan, on obtaining a benefice in the same county, and the living of Dunleer. A Mr. Douglas then got Monaghan by exchange, a man of a weak constitution, whose death, it was expected, would soon make a vacancy.

Dr. Sterne, the bishop of Clogher, gave, it appears, but little encouragement to literature. Mr. Skelton said, that he promised some clergyman in his diocess a living, upon condition of his writing a treatise to prove, that man could scarce know more of his duty than a brute without the assistance of revelation. The clergyman, who, I believe, never wrote the piece, advised Skelton to do it as he had a ready pen; but Skelton, though his opinions coincided with the bishop's, having no positive offer, thought it best not to volunteer himself in the cause. He had little or no expectations from his lordship; the preferments were given away to persons whose qualifications were different from bis. Of this neglect he could not be insensible; for a man of learning and abilities must surely be offended to see the dull and illiterate placed over his head in a literary profession. He resolved therefore to quit a diocess, where his merits were overlooked, as soon as an opportunity offered. This happened in a short time.

Dr. Delany, who, as I mentioned before, was his tutor at