THIS prelate, the son of a brandy and cider merchant, was born on the 1st of January, 1704, at Lichfield, where he received the preliminary part of his education. In 1717, he was removed to Westminster school, at which he became a king's scholar. He was elected, in 1723, to Trinity college, Cambridge, where he took the degree of B. A., in 1726; and that of M. A. in 1730; during which year, having previously entered into holy orders, he obtained a fellowship. He afterwards became, successively, curate at St. George's, Hanover square; assistant to Dr. Trebeck; and reader at Grosvenor chapel, South Audley street. His talents soon attracted the notice of Lord Carpenter, (to whose son he was appointed tutor), and of Bishop Pearce, who nominated him morning preacher at the chapel in Spring Gardens. About the same time, having edited the works of Rowe, he was presented, by that author's widow, to the Prince of Wales, and also to Pulteney, who, on being elevated to the peerage, made Newton his chaplain.

In 1744, he vacated his fellowship, on being presented to the rectory of St. Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside. In the following year, he proceeded to the degree of S. T. P.; and distinguished himself by preaching some animated sermons against the rebellion, one or two of which he published. In 1747, he succeeded Dr. Savage, as lecturer at St. George's, Hanover square; and, during the same year, married Jane, eldest daughter of Dr. Trebeck, in whose house, he had, for some time before, resided. In 1749, he published an elegant edition of Milton's Paradise Lost, with an elaborate verbal index, by Cruden, and copious notes, in which he was assisted by Warburton, Jortin, and others. In 1752, he printed, nearly on the same plan, an edition of Paradise Regained, and Milton's minor poems. By the two productions he gained nearly £750; and what, as he said, was more valuable, the friendship of Jortin and Warburton.

In 1754, appeared the first volume of his celebrated Dissertations on the

Prophecies. Two years afterwards, he was appointed chaplain to the king, and also to the Princess of Wales; and, in 1757, he became prebendary of Westminster, sub-almoner, præcentor of the cathedral of York, and, shortly afterwards, preacher of Boyle's lectures. In 1758, he published the second and third volumes of his Dissertations on the Prophecies; and, on the 5th of September, 1761, having lost his first wife, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Lisburne, and widow of the Rev. Mr. Hand. A few days afterwards, he was made residentiary of St. Paul's, and Bishop of Bristol, when he gave up all his other preferments, except his living in the city; which, however, he resigned, some years afterwards, on being made Dean of St. Paul's. During the latter part of his life, he was so afflicted by illness that he could scarcely perform his duties as a diocesan. He rarely attended the house of lords, except during the agitation of very important questions, on which, however, he never spoke. When the bill for relieving protestant dissenters was about to be discussed, he zealously opposed it, in a letter, of which he caused a printed copy to be sent to every member of the upper house. In 1778, he published another epistle on the same subject; and, in 1780, appeared his last production, entitled, A Letter to the New Parliament, with Hints, and some Regulations which the Nation hopes and expects from them. On the 14th of February, 1782, he died suddenly, while about to set his watch. His remains were deposited in the vaults beneath St. Paul's cathedral; and a monument, by Banks, was erected to his memory, in the chancel of Bow church, Cheapside.

Bishop Newton was a pious, learned, and industrious man; but endowed with no extraordinary share of intellect. Church and state appear to have been, in his opinion, inseparably connected; and, although not strictly orthodox himself, he seems to have looked with as much horror upon heterodoxy

as rebellion. His Dissertations on the Prophecies passed through many editions in his life-time, and still enjoy much popularity. It has been said of them, that "if they have nothing to gratify a metaphysical genius, and little to inform the deep scholar; if fancy is not much charmed by their novelty or elegance; if no addition is made by them to the vast stores of criticism or erudition, yet they can boast a higher merit, and are

likely to produce an effect that will outlive the inventions of genius, and the accumulations of learning." A complete edition of his works was printed, in three volumes, quarto, in 1782; and subsequently reprinted, with an autobiographical memoir, in six volumes, octavo. They contain nearly one hundred dissertations, besides those on the prophecies, nine sermons, and five charges.

THIS learned divine was born at Richmond, in Yorkshire, of which his father was an alderman, on the 9th of June, 1705. After having received a liberal education at some provincial grammar schools, he was admitted a pensioner of Catherine hall, Cambridge; where, in 1726, he proceeded to the degree of B. A.; and, soon afterwards, obtained a conduct-fellowship, and, was ordained deacon. His liberal principles precluding him, it is said, from a college fellowship, he quitted the university; and, having taken priest's orders, was presented to the rectory of his native town, by Sir Conyers D'Arcy, and John York, Esq. In 1733, he proceeded to the degree of M. A.; and, in 1750, Hutton, Archbishop of York, to whom he had, for some time, been titular chaplain, collated him to the archdeaconry of Cleveland, and the prebend of Bilton. On this occasion, he is said to have entertained scruples against subscribing to the thirty-nine articles; which, however, were removed, on his perusing Dr. Clarke's Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity, and half a sheet of arguments, in manuscript, from the pen of Dr. Law.

Previously to this period he had only published an assize sermon, which had attracted but little notice; but, in the year of his last-mentioned preferment, he highly distinguished himself by producing An Apology for the Author of a Book entitled, Free and Candid Disquisitions relative to the Church of England. The work, of which he thus came forward as an apologist, had been confidently attributed to Blackburne

himself, although it appears to have been written by Jones, the vicar of Alconbury; who, by the recommen dation of Dr. Law, had submitted great part of the manuscript to the perusal of Blackburne, by whom it is stated to have been returned without a single alteration or correction. After having published a few single sermons and charges, he wrote several pieces, concerning what was termed by Dr. Law, the sleep of the soul, the principal of which were, a work, entitled, No Proof in the Scriptures of an Intermediate State of Happiness or Misery between Death and Resurrection, printed in 1756; and A Short Historical View of the Controversy concerning an Intermediate State, which first appeared in 1765, and was republished, with large additions, in 1772.

In 1758, he printed Remarks on the Rev. Dr. Powell's Sermon in Defence of Subscription; and, in 1766, published, anonymously, his celebrated work, entitled, The Confessional; the preparation of which, he appears to have commenced shortly after his elevation to the archdeaconry; under an impression that the arguments, by which he had been induced to subscribe to the thirty-nine articles, were invalid. This performance excited great attention, and extraordinary clamour. "Grievous offence," he observes, "was taken against it by that part of the clergy who affected to call themselves orthodox. The indignation of Archbishop Secker was excessive: his mask of moderation fell off at once. He employed all his emissaries to find out the

author; and, by the industry of Rivington, and the communicative disposition of Millar, he succeeded." Dr. Keene, his diocesan, now intimated to Blackburne, that it would be impossible for him to obtain any further preferment, unless he publicly denied the imputation of having written The Confessional. This, the heterodox archdeacon, of course, could not do; nor did he feel at all desirous of obtaining any further ecclesiastical honours; having actually refused the living of Middleton Tyers, (which he might have obtained, through the influence of his friends, from Lord Northington), notwithstanding the income of his archdeaconry and prebend amounted to no more than £200 per annum, because he could not, conscientiously, renew his subscription to the articles. On the death of Dr. Chandler, the dissenting pastor, his congregation, supposing that Blackburne would have no objection to quit the established church, proposed to receive him as their minister; but he declined the offer, upon reasons which are said to have been perfectly satisfactory to the applicants. He was not, in fact, so much an Unitarian as his relatives, Lindsay and Disney; on whose secession, he wrote a paper, entitled, An Answer to the Question, Why are you not a Socinian? which, however, motives of delicacy prevented him from publishing; and, consequently, it did not appear until after his decease.

In 1768, appeared his Considerations on the present State of the Controversy between the Protestants and Papists of Great Britain and Ireland; a production in which he evinced much zeal, but little mercy; maintaining that papists, who were persecutors systematically, were entitled to no toleration from protestants. About the same time, he took upon himself the office of commissary to his own archdeaconry;

and acted with such energy and skill, as to abolish a variety of abuses which had long been suffered to exist in the spiritual court. In 1772, he appears to have been at the head of a society, established for the purpose of obtaining an enactment to abolish subscription; but, as Cole states, with orthodox vehemence, in his life of Powell, Providence blasted its designs. Towards the close of his life, he entertained an idea of writing the life of Luther; which, however, he abandoned, in order to devote the whole of such time as he could spare from his clerical duties, to the composition of a memoir of the benevolent Hollis, who, without solicitation, bequeathed him a legacy of £500; and one of whose relatives, subsequently, presented him with double that sum. His latter years were embittered by the death of his son Thomas, a physician, at Durham: but neither sorrow, nor the infirmities of age, prevented him from sedulously performing his professional duties; and, it is said, that, for above twenty years, he never entered the pulpit without carrying with him a new discourse. His death took place, in the eighty-third year of his age, at Richmond, in Yorkshire, on the 7th of August, 1787. By his wife, the widow of a gentleman named Elsworth, he had six children.

Archdeacon Blackburne is described as having been temperate, athletic, apparently reserved, but, in reality, cheerful and communicative. His acquirements were extensive, and his style of writing strong and animated. In addition to his numerous theological and controversial productions, he was the author of several short pieces, which appeared in the public journals, in favour of political liberty; and contributed largely to a collection of letters and essays on the same subject, published in 1774.

ROBERT, the son of William Lowth, a divine of considerable learning, was born on the 27th of November, 1710. He was educated at Winchester school,

and New college, Oxford, where he proceeded to the degree of B. A., and was elected to a fellowship, in 1734. In 1737, he became M. A.; and, being

appointed professor of poetry, in 1741, he gave those celebrated lectures on Hebrew verse, which he afterwards published. In 1743, he was re-elected to the professorship; and, in the following year, Bishop Hoadly presented him to the rectory of Ovington. In 1746, appeared his Ode to the People of Great Britain, in imitation of Horace. He visited Berlin, with Mr. Legge, afterwards chancellor of the exchequer, in 1748, and acted as tutor to the Duke of Devonshire's sons, during their residence at Turin.

In 1750, Bishop Hoadly made him Archdeacon of Winchester; and, in 1753, gave him the rectory of East Woodhay. In 1753, Lowth printed the lectures which he had delivered as professor of poetry, under the title of De Sacrâ Poesi Hebræorum Prælectiones Academicæ. In the following year, he received, by diploma, the degree of D. D.; and, in 1755, he went to Ireland as chaplain to the lord-lieutenant, who raised him to the bishopric of Limerick; which, however, he exchanged, before consecration, with Dr. Leslie, for a prebend of Durham, and the rectory of Sedgefield.

In 1756, Warburton took offence at some propositions advanced by Lowth, in his Prælectiones, on the book of Job; but their differences on this subject were soon, apparently, composed. In 1758, he delivered a discourse, which has been frequently printed, in support of free inquiry into matters of religion; and, during the same year, considerably increased his literary reputation, by producing a Life of William of Wykeham. In 1762, he published A short Introduction to the English Grammar, which he had originally prepared for the use of his own children. His dispute with Warburton, as to certain passages in the book of Job, was renewed with an acrimony and warmth, equally disgraceful to himself and his antagonist, in 1765; during which year, he was admitted a fellow of the Royal Society. In June, 1766, he was promoted to the see of St. David's; about four months afterwards, he was translated to that of Oxford; and, in 1777, to that of London.

His Translation of Isaiah, with notes, appeared in 1778; and, in the next year, he published a sermon, which he

had preached at the chapel royal before the king. In a note appended to this production, he threw out some invidious reflections on the opponents of government, which exposed him to a charge of courtly adulation. In 1781, having refused institution to a gentleman, who, as he knew, had given a bond of resignation, he became involved in a law-suit; which, after it had been decided against him in the courts of Westminster, the bishop removed, by a writ of error, to the house of lords, where it was terminated in his favour by a majority of one.

On the death of Archbishop Cornwallis, he was offered the primacy; which, however, he refused, partly on account of his age, but principally in consequence of his family afflictions, which had permanently affected his spirits, and destroyed his energy. By his wife, Mary, the daughter of Lawrence Jackson, Esq., he had had several children: one of whom, the eldest daughter, had died in the thirteenth year of her age; her surviving sister had suddenly expired, while presiding at the tea-table, in 1783; and their eldest brother, a youth of great promise, had also prematurely become a victim to disease. The bishop himself died on the 3rd of November, 1787, and was buried at Fulham.

In person, Lowth was tall, and, in the early part of his life, remarkably thin; but, as he advanced in years, he became rather stout. His manners were grave, though not austere; his temper was mild; and his disposition, in every respect, so amiable, that, in private life, no man was more beloved. His piety, learning, and benevolence, were equally conspicuous. He was free from ostentation, a zealous promoter of religious knowledge, and an avowed friend to freedom of inquiry. contributor to biblical literature, he has obtained much eulogy: to his Prælectiones, the most unqualified praise has been accorded by many eminent critics; and his translation of Isaiah is, with justice, said to be executed in a manner adequate to his superior qualifications. Skelton, the Irish divine, is reported to have frequently declared, that "Lowth on the Prophecies of Isaiah, was the best book in the world next to the Bible."

As a

As a poet, he was elegant, but by no means original. In his younger days, he wrote a piece on The Judgment of Hercules; and, in 1740, perceiving a work under the same title advertised, he posted up to London,

supposing that a surreptitious copy of his manuscript had been obtained by the booksellers; but, on his arrival in Paternoster row, he found, to his mortification, that the forthcoming publication was from the pen of Shenstone.

THIS divine, the son of a French protestant, who had taken refuge in England, on the revocation of the edict of Nantz, was born at Hartlepool, Durham, on the 25th of September, 1714. After having passed seven years at the grammar school of Houghton-le-Spring, he was sent to Hertford college, Oxford; whence he was removed to that of Christchurch, where he proceeded B. A. in 1734, and M. A. in 1737. He officiated for some time as curate of Loe Trenchard, in Devonshire; and afterwards as curate of Banstead and Horton, near Epsom, where he became acquainted with Sir Daniel Lambert, who, on being chosen lord mayor of London, in 1741, appointed him his chaplain. Romaine had previously (in 1739) attracted some public notice, by entering into a controversy with Warburton, relative to the opinions avowed by the latter in his Divine Legation of Moses. In 1742, he much increased his reputation by publishing a discourse, entitled, Jephtha's Vow Fulfilled and his Daughter not Sacrificed, which he had delivered before the university of Oxford; whence, however, he was, some time afterwards, excluded as a preacher, for advocating, in a sermon, called The Lord our Righteousness, those Calvinistic doctrines, by his staunch adherence to which, he, at length, became remarkably popular.

In 1748, he obtained the lectureship of St. Botolph's, Billingsgate, and, subsequently, that of St. Dunstan's-in-thewest. In 1749, he published an edition of Calasius' Concordance; in which, although the work obtained him great credit, he was charged with having given some unwarrantable interpretations of certain passages of Scripture, with a view to support the doctrines of the Hutchinsonians.

He was appointed assistant morning preacher at St. George's, Hanover square, in the following year; but he soon received notice, as his biographer, Cadogan, states, "that the crowd of people, attending from various parts, (to hear him preach,) caused great inconvenience to the inhabitants, who could not safely get to their seats.' Romaine admitted the fact, and placidly consented to relinquish his office.

About the year 1752, he was appointed Gresham professor of astronomy; in 1756, he officiated as curate of St. Olave's, Southwark; and, in 1759, he became morning preacher at St. Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield. In 1764, he was elected to the rectory of St. Andrew, Wardrobe, and St. Anne, Blackfriars; where he remained up to the time of his decease, which took place on the 26th of July, 1795. "In his last illness," observes Simpson, "not one fretful or murmuring word ever escaped his lips. I have,' said he, the peace of God in my conscience, and the love of God in my heart. I knew before, the doctrines I preached to be the truths, but now I experience them to be blessings. Jesus is more precious than rubies; and all that can be desired on earth is not to be compared to him.' He was in the full possession of his mental powers to the last moment, and near his dissolution cried out, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! Glory be to thee on high, for such peace on earth and good will to men!" His character in private life, although his temper was hasty, is said to have been remarkably amiable. He married, in 1755, a young lady named Price, by whom he had three children.

Besides his religious tracts, eight volumes of his sermons have been