they both died foon after their mother.

On the news of this his relief from a Confort who did nothing but add to his unhappinefs and difficulties while fhe lived, he returned January 31, 1744, N. S. to Buckingham. In the course of his travels he had left parcels of books in feveral places, and confiderable ones in fome; fo that he came home with no more than five or fix, the chief of which was a Hebrew bible, and Mayr's gram

mar.

mar.

There he fettled himfelf again in his first occupation of taylor and stay-maker; which answered all his purposes very well for four or five years, in which space he procured books for his ufe, in Latin, Greek and Hebrew: But marrying a third wife (1747), who proved as good a breeder as his firft, he began to be involved again in difficulties; not by any fault of her's, for he speaks of her as of the beft of women; but in the former part of the time, from the increase of his family; and in

the

the latter, from the uncommon dearnefs of things, and hardnefs of the times.

Though Mr. HILL in his whole courfe of getting the three learned languages, had endeavoured to keep his acquifition of them as much a secret as he could; it could not be fo wholly concealed, but that there was fome talk of it. In particular, at this period of his life, it was rumoured about the country; "That he could read "the Bible in the fame books, “and the same strange figures,

"that

"that the travelling Jews did.? Upon hearing this, a very worthy clergyman in the neighbourhood of Buckingham, when Mr. HILL happened to be working one day at his house in the of his trade, put a question to him (1748), relating to a difficulty in the New Testament ;

way

"Pray ROBIN," fays the Doctor," can

you folve the difficulty of St. Peter, calling "the fame perfon the fon of Bosor, whom "Mofes calls the fon of BEOR?" HILL'S anfwer was ; "That he did not know of any dif "ficulty in it; that they were both one and the "fame name: Bosor in the Chaldaic pronoun"ciation being exactly the fame with BEOR in "the Hebrew." 2 Epift. of St. Peter, c. 2. v. 14; and Numbers, c. 22. v. 5. which

which he answered fo readily, and fo fully, that he took a liking to him, and has been his friend ever fince.

The fame gentleman some

years

after

after fent Mr. HILL THE ESSAY ON SPIRIT, faid to be written by the late Bishop of Clogher in Ireland; and defired him to write down his thoughts on that piece, as they occurred to him in reading it. He did fo; and I am told by those who understand Hebrew, for which there was fre

1