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. and Hon. 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.