Christian, he never obtained any further preferment, officiating, for nearly fifty years, contented and independent, on his scanty income; of which he saved one-sixth, and applied another to charitable purposes. He breakfasted on water-gruel; dined on the food which was served up at the table of a farmer, with whom he boarded; drank half a pint of ale of his own brewing, daily; took no tea, and supped on milk pot-tage. During the last six years of his life, (which closed on the 29th of October, 1751,) being unable to officiate, he divided his salary with a neighbouring clergyman, who performed his parochial duties. Having always placed out his savings at interest, he was enabled, at his decease, to bequeath £100 to his relatives, a similar sum to the family with whom he had long resided, a small annual gratuity to the poor of his parish, and the yearly proceeds of an investment of £20 to the preacher of a sermon, sometime in Lent, on the duty of the people to attend to the instructions of the minister whom the bishop of the diocese should set over them.

STACKHOUSE, (THOMAS,) was born in 1680. He obtained the degree of M. A., but it is not known at what university he studied. Having entered into holy orders, he officiated, successively, as curate, at the English church at Amsterdam; at Richmond, Ealing, and at Finchley, near London. In 1733, he was presented to the vicarage of Benham Valence, in Lincolnshire, where he died, on the 11th of October, 1752. This learned, pious, diligent, but needy divine, was the author of A New History of the Bible, from the Beginning of the World to the Establishment of Christianity; Memoirs of Bishop Atterbury, from his Birth to his Banishment; Miseries and Hardships of the Inferior Clergy; A Complete Body of Divinity; A Fair State of the Controversy between Mr. Woolston and his Adversaries; A Defence of the Christian Religion from the several Objections of the AntiScripturists; Reflections on the Nature and Properties of Languages; An Abridgment of Burnet's History of his own Times; The Art of Shorthand; A System of Practical Duties; The Bookbinder, Bookprinter, and

Bookseller Confuted, or, the Author's Vindication of himself from the Calumnies in a Paper, industriously circulated by one Edlin, (a tyrannical and mercenary man, who appears to have. ill-used him with regard to the publication of his History of the Bible); A New and Practical Exposition of the Apostle's Creed; several occasional sermons; and a poem, entitled, Vana Doctrinæ Emolumenta, in which, it is said, he deplores his miserable condition in the language of disappointment and despair.

LAVINGTON, (GEORGE, Bishop of Exeter,) was born at Mildenhall, Wilts, on the 18th of January, 1683. While a scholar at Winchester, where he was placed at an early age, he produced a Greek translation, after the manner of Theocritus, of Virgil's Eclogues, which is still preserved in manuscript. From Winchester, he removed to New college, Oxford, where he graduated in civil law, and obtained a fellowship. In 1717, his college presented him to the rectory of Hayford Warren, and Dr. Potter, some time afterwards, preferred him to Hook Norton. He subsequently became chaplain to Earl Coningsby; prebendary of Worcester; canon residentiary of St. Paul's; rector of St. Mary, Aldermanbury, and St. Michael, Bassishaw; and bishop of Exeter. He died on the 13th of September, 1762, leaving one child and a widow, the daughter of a gentleman who had fled to England on the revocation of the edict of Nantes. In the discharge of his episcopal duties, Bishop Lavington displayed considerable ability, and great zeal for the established church. He published a number of sermons; a tract against the Moravians; and a treatise, entitled, The Enthusiasm of the Papists and Methodists compared; of which, Warburton (after terming it a bad copy of Stillingfleet's work against the church of Rome, though well enough to do the execution intended,) says, in a letter to his friend Hurd, "in pushing the Methodists to make them like everything that is bad, he compares their fanaticism to the ancient mysteries; but, as the mysteries, if they had ever been good, were not, in the bishop's opinion, bad enough for this purpose, he therefore endeavours to show, against me, that

they were abominations even from the beginning. As this contradicts all antiquity so evidently, I thought it would be ridiculous in me to take any notice of him."

DELANY, (PATRICK, Dean of Down,) a native of Ireland, and the son of a servant to an Irish judge, was born in 1686. At a proper age, he became a sizar of Trinity college, Dublin, where he formed a strict intimacy with Swift, who is said to have been much attached to him, on account of his playful disposition. After taking his degrees, and obtaining a fellowship, he acquired considerable celebrity as a tutor and as a preacher. In 1724, he incurred the displeasure of Archbishop Boulter, by his unwarrantable interference in some dispute relating to college discipline; for which he was afterwards compelled to apologize to the provost. This circumstance, and the fact of his being a Tory, excluded him from preferment until 1725, when he obtained the chancellorship of Christchurch. In 1730, he was made a prebend of St. Patrick's cathedral, and would have been instituted to the living of St. John's, Dublin, had not the primate, Boulter, prevented his obtaining the necessary dispensation for holding that preferment with his fellowship. In 1727, he was presented, by the university, to a living worth about £100 a year; and, in 1744, he was raised to the deanery of Down. His works consist of The Tribune and The Humanist, two unsuccessful periodicals; Revelation explained with Candour; Reflections upon Polygamy, and the Encouragement given to that Practice in the Old Testament; An Historical Account of the Life and Reign of David, King of Israel; Essay towards evidencing the Divine Original of Tithes; Observations upon Lord Orrery's Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift; An humble Apology for Christian Orthodoxy; and various sermons and discourses. He was twice married: first, to a widow of large fortune, named Tenison; and, secondly, to another opulent widow, the celebrated Mrs. Pendarves, who is much praised for her ingenuity by Lord Orrery, in constructing an imitative Flora, of great beauty

and accuracy, with coloured paper. As an author, Dr. Delany is rather to be applauded for his industry than admired for his talent: his best works are his sermons, which have met with considerable approbation on account of their practical utility. He appears to have been eminently pious, bountiful, and, although occasionally irritable, of an excellent disposition. He once had the honour of being appointed to preach before the king, but did not enter the chapel-royal until after prayers had commenced; and, as it is related, "not knowing where else to go, crowded into the desk by the side of the reader." The vesturer soon after pulled him by the sleeve, and begged him to come out, "for that there was no text." Chagrined at having his devotions thus interrupted, Delany resisted, and, at length, kicked the intruder; nor could he be prevailed upon to quit the desk, until he was apprised that he must go into the vestry, and write down his text for the royal closet. His irritation, however, was so great, that he could scarcely hold a pen. Mrs. Delany was consequently sent for, and no other paper being at hand, she transcribed the text for the king and royal family on the envelope of a letter. He died at Bath, in May, 1768.

BALGUY, JOHN,) was born at Sheffield, on the 12th of August, 1686, and completed his education at St. John's college, Cambridge. After having taken his first degree," he went to teach the free school in his native place." In 1708, he was appointed tutor to the son of Mr. Banks; and this gentleman subsequently recommended him to the patronage of Sir Henry Liddel, by whom he was presented to a small benefice in Yorkshire. In 1726, he proceeded to the degree of M. A.; and, having previously rendered himself conspicuous, by the zeal and talent with which he had supported the opinions of Bishop Hoadly in the Bangorian controversy, he was collated by that prelate, early in the next year, to a prebendal stall in Salisbury cathedral, which gave him the right of presentation to several livings; two of which, soon afterwards, falling vacant, he promoted his brother-in-law to one, and his son, afterwards Archdeacon of

Winchester, to the other. His last preferment was to the vicarage of Northallerton, in Yorkshire, where he officiated until his decease, which took place in 1748. Among his numerous productions, besides those on the subject of the Bangorian controversy, are, A Letter to a Deist, in which he attacked some of the opinions advanced by Shaftesbury concerning virtue; an assize sermon, entitled The Foundation of Moral Goodness, in two parts, written, it is said, in a masterly and candid manner, but full of the spirit of party; Divine Rectitude, or, A Brief Inquiry concerning the Moral Perfections of the Deity; The Law of Truth, or, the Obligations of Reason essential to all Religion; An Essay on Redemption; and two volumes of sermons, one of which was posthumously published. He bore an unimpeachable character, and was respected for his talents even by those who widely differed from him in opinion. Warton relates, that he replied to a person, who had warmly extolled one of his discourses entitled, On the Vanity and Vexation of our Pursuits, "I borrowed the whole from ten lines in Pope's Essay on Man, at verse 259; and I only enlarged and commented upon what the poet had expressed with such marvellous conciseness and precision."

LAW, (WILLIAM,) was born in 1686, at Kingscliffe, in Northamptonshire, and became, in 1705, a student of Emanuel college, Cambridge, where he proceeded to the degree of M. A., and obtained a fellowship; which, however, he vacated, by refusing to take the oaths, prescribed by act of parliament, on the accession of George the First. He had previously officiated as a curate in the metropolis; but, on losing his fellowship, he abandoned the pulpit, and became tutor to Edward Gibbon, Esq. of Putney, father of the celebrated historian. In 1727, while standing at the door of a house in London, a sealed paper was put into his hands, containing a bank-note for £1,000, with which, it is supposed, he founded, at his native place, alms-houses for two aged females, and a school for the instruction of fourteen girls. During his residence at Putney, he formed an intimacy with two ladies of fortune, named Mrs.

Hester Gibbon, (a sister of his pupil,) and Mrs. Elizabeth Hutchinson, the widow of Archibald Hutchinson, Esq., of the Temple, who, having resolved on passing the remainder of their lives in comparative seclusion, and on devoting a considerable portion of their income to acts of charity, retired, in 1740, with Mr. Law, whom they appointed their instructor, chaplain, and almoner, to Kingscliffe, his birth-place, where they carried their intention completely into effect. In the society of these benevolent women, he continued up to the day of his death, which took place on the 9th of April, 1761. He is described as having been rather above the middle size; stout, but not corpulent; with broad shoulders, grey eyes, round visage, well-proportioned features, an open, agreeable countenance, and rather inclined to be merry than sad. His works are numerous, and some of them important: they consist of A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life; A Practical Treatise on Christian Perfection; The absolute Unlawfulness of Stage Entertainments; The Case of Reason, or, Natural Religion fully and fairly stated; An Answer to Dr. Trapp's Discourse on the Folly of Sin, and being righteous over-much; The Spirit of Prayer; The Spirit of Love; An Appeal to all that doubt or disbelieve the Truths of the Gospel; An Answer to Hoadly on the Eucharist; with various other theological and controversial pieces, including some translations from his favourite, Behmen, all of which have been collected and published, in nine volumes, octavo. "His last compositions," says Gibbon, “are darkly tinctured by the incomprehensible visions of Jacob Behmen; and his discourse on the absolute unlawfulness of stage entertainments, is sometimes quoted for a ridiculous intemperance of sentiment and language. But these sallies of religious phrenzy must not extinguish the praise which is due to Mr. William Law as a wit and a scholar. His argument on topics of less absurdity is specious and acute; his manner is lively, his style forcible and clear; and, had not his vigorous mind been clouded by enthusiasm, he might be ranked with the most agreeable and ingenious writers of the times." "When at Oxford," says Dr. Johnson, "I took

up Law's Serious Call to a Holy Life, expecting to find it a dull book, (as such books generally are,) and perhaps to laugh at it. But I found Law quite an over-match for me; and this was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest of religion, after I became capable of rational inquiry." The same work, it is stated, produced such an effect on John Wesley, that no sooner had he perused it, than he resolved on devoting himself wholly to the service of God; and to this circumstance, the subsequent establishment of Arminian methodism, may be chiefly attributed.

GREY, (ZACHARY,) was born in Yorkshire, in the year 1687, and admitted a pensioner of Jesus college, Cambridge, in April, 1704; but afterwards migrated to Trinity hall, where he became a scholar, in January, 1706-7; and, in 1709, took the degree of L.L.B. Having entered into holy orders, he obtained the rectory of Houghton Conquest, in Bedfordshire, and the vicarages of St. Giles's and St. Peter's, at Cambridge. In 1720, he took the degree of L.L. D., and published his Vindication of the Church of England, in answer to Pearce's Vindication of the Dissenters. He subsequently wrote An Impartial Examination of Neal's History of the Puritans; A Defence of our modern and ancient Historians; and a number of other historical and polemical works; among which, were Presbyterian Prejudice displayed; A Century of eminent Presbyterians, or, a Collection of Choice Sayings from the public sermons before the two houses, from November, 1641, to the 31st of January, 1648; A Looking-glass for Fanatics; The Ministry of the Dissenters proved to be null and void from Scripture and Antiquity; The Spirit of Infidelity Detected, in answer to Barbeyrac, with a defence of Dr. Waterland; English Presbyterian Eloquence; An Examination of Dr. Chambers' History of Persecution; The True Picture of Quakerism; An Attempt towards the Character of the Royal Martyr, King Charles; The Quakers and Methodists Compared; and Popery in its Proper Colours, with a List of Saints invoked in England before the Reformation. In 1744, appeared his celebrated edition

of Hudibras corrected and amended, with a preface and large annotations. In the following year, he published Remarks upon a late Edition of Shakspeare, with Emendations, borrowed from the Oxford edition, without Acknowledgment; in 1750, A free and familiar Letter to that great Refiner of Pope and Shakspeare, the Rev. Mr. William Warburton; in 1752, A Supplement to Hudibras; in 1755, Critical, Historical, and Explanatory Notes on Shakspeare, with Emendations of the Text and Metre; and, in 1757, A Chronological Account of Earthquakes. He is said to have assisted Whalley in his edition of Ben Jonson; and Peck, in his second volume of Desiderata Curiosa. He also collected materials for a life of Baker, the Cambridge antiquarian; and left, in manuscript, some original notes on Hudibras, Memoirs of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, and a Life of Dean Moss. He died at Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, on the 25th of November, 1766. He was twice married: first, to a Miss Tooley; and, secondly, to a lady related to Dean Moss, by whom he had one son and two daughters. The most important of Dr. Zachary Grey's numerous works are, his examination of Neal's History of the Puritans, and his edition of Hudibras; the latter of which proves him to have been a man of great ingenuity and research. Although, on many occasions, rather acrimonious as a polemical writer and a critic, he obtained, in private life, the appellation of "Good Dr. Grey;" being, according to Nichols, of an amiable, sweet, and communicative disposition; most friendly to his acquaintances, and never better pleased than when performing acts of friendship and benevolence.

BERRIMAN, (WILLIAM,) was born in 1688, and completed his education at Oriel college, Oxford, where he proceeded to the degrees of M. A. and D.D. In 1722, he became rector of St. Andrew, Undershaft; and, in 1727, a fellow of Eton. He printed several single sermons; a Concio ad Clerum; Critical Dissertations, being the substance of Eight Discourses, delivered at Lady Moyer's Lecture; three volumes of sermons preached at Boyle's lectures; and two reviews of Whiston's Primitive

CONYBEARE, (JOHN, Bishop of Bristol,) was born on the 31st of January, 1691-2, at Pinhoe, in Devonshire. He was admitted a battler of Exeter college, Oxford, in February, 1707-8; obtained a probationary fellowship in 1710; graduated as B. A. in 1713; was appointed moderator in philosophy in 1714; and became M. A. in April, 1716; when, he obtained a small curacy in Surrey. In 1717, he became a tutor in his own college; about 1722, Dr. Gibson appointed him a Whitehall preacher; in 1724, he was presented to the rectory of St. Clement's, Oxford; and, in the following year, he was chosen senior proctor of the university. He took his degree of B. D. in 1728, and that of D. D. in 1729. In 1730, he was elected head of Exeter college; in 1732, he was promoted to the deanery of Christchurch, and, in 1750, to the bishopric of Bristol. His death took place on the 13th of July, 1755. The revenues of his see were so slender, (never having amounted, it is said, to much above £300 per anuum,) that he died poor; and two volumes of his discourses were published, by subscription, for the benefit of his daughter, to whom George the Second granted a small pension. Dr. Conybeare preached a number of sermons public occasions, which have justly been described as judicious and solid compositions. His chief work, A Defence of Revealed Religion, (published in 1732,) against Tindal's Christianity as Old as the Creation, was termed, by Warburton, " one of the best reasoned books in the world." He appears to have been a man of superior abilities, and a most unexceptionable character.

on

WESLEY, (SAMUEL,) brother of

the celebrated dissenters, John and Charles Wesley, was born at Epworth, in 1692. He was sent to Westminster school in 1704, whence, having obtained a king's scholarship, he was elected to Christchurch, Oxford, in 1711. After having taken his degrees of B. A. and M. A., and entered into holy orders, he became a tutor at Westminster school; and, in 1732, head master at that of Tiverton, in Devonshire. He died on the 6th of November, 1739, without having obtained any preferment, in consequence, chiefly, of his hostility to Walpole, and his attachment to Atterbury. Being a rigid high churchman, and fearing, it is said, that they would bring about a separation from the church, he totally disapproved of his brothers becoming itinerant preachers. He was the author of a few poems and humorous tales, the whole of which he collected and published, in one volume quarto, about the year 1736. To the Spalding society, he left, as it is stated, an amulet which had touched the heads of the three kings of Cologne.

THOMAS, (JOHN, Bishop of Salisbury,) son of a porter, was born at Dolgelly, Merionethshire, in 1695. In 1702, he became a pupil at Merchant Tailors' school; from which, at the expense of his father's master, a brewer, he was sent to Catherine college, Cambridge, where he eventually proceeded to the degree of S. T. P. Having taken holy orders, he went out as chaplain to the English factory at Hamburgh; and, while there, acquired such proficiency in German as enabled him to assist in the editing of a periodical publication in that language. About this period, he appears to have attracted the favourable notice of George the Second, who, it is related, having expressed great surprise at seeing him attending some theatrical performance, Dr. Thomas replied, "Sire, I am not ashamed of appearing at any place where the head of the church thinks proper to be present." On account of the facility with which he spoke German, he attended the king on most of his visits to the electorate. Nichols relates that the deanery of Peterborough having become vacant while George the Second was abroad, his majesty gave it