Memoirs of the life and writings of the right rev. Richard Hurd

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Book

MEMOIRS

Preface

The following pages are designed as an act of tardy justice to the memory of one who deserved better treatment from posterity than he has met with at their hands. Prom the death of Bishop Hurd in 1808 to the present time, with the exception of short notices in periodicals, or biographical dictionaries, collections of scattered memoranda, and a few sneering and depreciatory remarks in reviews and other publications, no account of him deserving the name of a Life has appeared.* And yet he had, on some accounts, far higher claims to attention that many whose biographies have been at great length presented to the public. The son of humble parents, advanced by his talents and literary merit to a high position in the world of letters — distinguished by theological attainments, and pulpit eloquence — recommended by the purity of his character and the graceful simplicity

* From this number must be excepted the Memoir of the Bishop published in the Ecclesiastical and University Register for 1808, by far the most ample, judicious, and candid account of him and his works which has yet appeared. The writer of this article I have in vain attempted to ascertain.

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of his manners to the friendship of the great and good — raised by their influence to the highest dignities of his profession, as well as to the charge of the royal offspring — and honoured with the personal respect and affection of his sovereigns — his gradual ascent by his own merit from an inferior to an exalted station affords both an interesting subject of contemplation, and an exemplary lesson too valuable to be allowed to pass away into oblivion.

Under this persuasion, I have undertaken the long-omitted duty of paying a deserved tribute to the character of a distinguished relative, by rescuing his memory from neglect, and holding him forth, not as a faultless model, but as an example well worthy in many respects of the imitation of those placed in similar circumstances with himself.

The advantages and disadvantages of a biographical memoir so long delayed have been expressed with pregnant brevity by Dr. Johnson : " If a life be delayed till interest and envy are at an end, we may hope for impartiality, but must expect little intelligence."

To the truth of this general remark I readily assent. I am however in hopes that I may be able in this particular instance to attain in some measure the advantages, without incurring the disadvantages, of a long-delayed memoir, Interest and envy, in Bishop Hurd's case, have long been over, so that there is no temptation on those

PREFACE.

vii grounds to partiality ; and the original sources of information opened to my use enable me to furnish fresh intelligence by throwing additional light upon his life and character.

In the life of a man of letters little of stirring incident is to be expected. And the history of one whose promotion was owing to his own deserts, aided by the good offices of friends, whom he had attached by honest and straightforward means, affords none of that tissue of management and intrigue which is so attractive to many readers. The interest of such a life must be principally owing to its own literary merits, and to its connexion with the literature of its age. In the case of Bishop Hurci, both these causes eminently concur. His numerous and important writings bear witness to the former ; and the latter is attested, among other proofs, by the allusions to his name and works in the Index to Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, filling above three closely printed octavo columns.

The Bishop has experienced the fate of others who have engaged warmly in the defence of eminent, but unpopular, characters — viz. to share largely in the censure lavished upon their principals, and to have their own claims to attention estimated not by their general merits, but by any defect of prudence or temper into which the earnestness of their advocacy may have betrayed them. Accordingly the prevailing idea which viii

PREFACE.

most modern readers have of the Bishop is derived not from his high qualifications as a divine, a preacher, a critic, and a man — in all which points he excelled — hut from his two controversial pamphlets against Jortin and Leland, in which his zeal for his friend and patron Warburton got the mastery of his temper and his discretion. This erroneous impression, it is hoped, the following account of him may avail to rectify.

As for the light artillery played off against him by Horace Walpole in his Letters, the random shots of one who was an habitual laugher or sneerer at almost every thing and every body (at none more than those distinguished by solid learning and eminent virtue) can do no damage to a character like the Bishop's.

In offering this Memoir to the public, I feel that some apology is due on my part for undertaking with inadequate resources a work requiring for its perfect execution so extensive an acquaintance with the literary history of the latter half of the last century. I can only say in excuse for my attempt, that I thought it better that an incomplete account of the Bishop's Life and Writings should be given, than that his name and credit should be consigned to the mere sketches which have yet appeared ; and that if the work had been undertaken by abler hands, this imperfect essay would never have been made.

The materials out of which the present volume

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is formed are partly published, partly original. Of the published matters are —

1. The Bishop's own memoranda, entitled by him, " Some Occurrences in my Life prefixed to the edition of his "Works published in 1811.

2. The short Memoir of him, with copious illustrations, in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. vi. together with various scattered notices in the same inexhaustible mine. of literary research.

3. The judicious and well- written account of his Life and Writings in the Ecclesiastical and University Register for 1809, and the well-executed sketch of the same in Chalmers's Biog. Diet.

4. Some notices and anecdotes of him in the Memoirs of Joseph Cradock, Esq. 1827.

5. Incidental notices of his visits to Windsor Castle in Madame D'Arblay's Autobiography.

Of all these I have made free use wherever I found them available.

The original part consists of —

1. A small collection of the Bishop's early Letters to one of his friends and patrons, the Rev. John Devey, Rector of Beckbury, Salop. Eor these I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev. H. Raymond Smythies, Rector of Easthope, Salop.

2. A considerable number of letters written by the Bishop to his most intimate friend Dr. Thomas Baiguy, Archdeacon of Winchester, raDging from the year 1749 to 1793, placed at my disposal in the handsomest and kindest manner

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by the Rev. J. T. Allen, Vicar of Stradbrooke, Suffolk, a relative by marriage of Dr. Balguy.

3. A few letters from the Bishop to his life-long friend, Sir Edward Littleton, of Teddesley, Staffordshire, most obligingly communicated to me by the Bight Hon. Lord Hatherton, the descendant of Sir Edward.

4. The Bishop's Commonplace Book, in three volumes, commenced in 1744, and continued nearly to his death, preserved in the Library of Hartlebury Castle, which was in the kindest and most courteous manner confided to me for examination and extraction by the Bight Be v. the present Bishop of Worcester.

In the arrangement of these materials I have availed myself of the excellent model afforded by Mason in his Life of Gray, viz. to let the Bishop speak as much as possible for himself by his familiar letters, interweaving only so much of narrative as is necessary to connect the letters together, and interspersing such anecdotes and illustrations as I was able to collect.

The main events of the Bishop's life may for convenience be divided into four periods.

The first containing his school and college life, previously to his introduction to Warburton in 1749.

The second containing his college life continued from that event to his institution to the living of Thurcaston in 1757.

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xi

The third containing his incumbency at Thurcaston, and appointment as Preacher at Lincoln's Inn, until his consecration to the see of Lichfield and Coventry in 1774.

The fourth containing his appointment as Preceptor to the Princes, and his presidency over the sees of Lichfield and Coventry, and Worcester, till his death in 1808.

These periods occupy as many sections, into which the Memoir is divided, and form the first Part of the work.

The second Part consists of selections from the Bishop's Commonplace Book, comprising historical characters, and thoughts on various subjects, partly theological and moral, and partly critical and miscellaneous.

The work is closed by some Letters of the Bishop in correspondence with Dr. John Butler, Bishop of Hereford, * which did not come into my possession until the first part of the book was in type; by a few extracts from the Bishop's published Works ; and by some necessary Addenda.

I cannot close my prefatory remarks without offering my grateful acknowledgments —

Pirst, to the distinguished and friendly persons whose kindness furnished me with the most important materials for this Memoir.

* These letters were kindly supplied to me by Mrs. Burne, (wife of William Burne, Esq. M.D. of Richmond Lodge, Bath,) Bishop Butler's great-niece.

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Next, to James Crossley, Esq. President of the Chetham Society, Manchester, (an authority in matters of literary history without appeal,) for the valuable counsel and suggestions from time to time afforded me ; and

Last, to my publishers, Messrs. Bentley, for the prompt and liberal manner in which they undertook the work ; as well as to my printers, Messrs. Nichols, for their care in bringing it out, and for the information supplied by their literary experience.

In conclusion I would remark that much indulgence is obviously solicited by a work of this nature, which must in a great measure be a cento of materials brought together from a variety of quarters ; and I trust that any inequalities of style and manner, as well as any incoherency and repetition, arising from this source, will be favourably considered and leniently criticised.

Claverton Lodge, Bath. Erancxs Kilvert.

%* By an inadvertence for which I beg earnestly to apologize, I have placed the Bishop's Letter to Dr. Leland under the year 1758 instead of 1764. I soon discovered the error, but unfortunately not until the sheet containing it was printed off".

Part I. Life And Correspondence Op Bishop Hurd

Section I. His School and College Life ... 1 Section II. His College Life continued to his institution

to the rectory of Thurcaston . . .31 Section III. As Rector of Thurcaston, and as Preacher at

Lincoln's Inn . . . . .67

Section IV. As Preceptor to the Princes, and Bishop of

Lichfield and Coventry, and of Worcester 120 part II

Selections from Bishop Herd's Commonplace Book . . 209

I. Characters. 212

II. Extracts —

1. Theological and Moral 259

2. Critical and Miscellaneous . . . .281

Letters from Bishop Hurd to Bishop Butler . . .313 Extracts from Bishop Hurd's Published Works . .331 Addenda to the Life . . . . . . .351

List of the Works of Bishop Hurd, chronologically arranged 385 Index to the Names of Persons . . . . .387

Index to the Extracts . 391

PART I.

LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE

OF

BISHOP HURD.

LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE

OF

PART I.

SECTION L

Richard Htjrd was born at Congreve in the parish of Penkridge, in the county of Stafford, on the thirteenth of January, 1719-20. " He was," as he tells us in his short memoranda of some occurrences in his life, " the second of three children, all sons, of J ohn and Hannah Hurd : plain, honest, and good people, who rented a considerable farm at Congreve, where he was born ; but soon after removed to a larger at Penford, about halfway between Brewood and Wolverhampton, in the same county."

Of these worthy persons their son has given so charming an account in a letter to his friend Bishop Warburton dated 1754, that some ana-

B chronisin may be pardoned in introducing it in this place.

I believe I never told you how happy I am in an excellent father and mother, — very plain people, you may be sure, for they are farmers, but of a turn of mind that might have honoured any rank and any education. With very tolerable, but in no degree affluent, circumstances, their generosity was such, they never regarded any expense that was in their power, and almost out of it, in whatever regarded the welfare of their children. We are three brothers of us. The eldest [John] settled very reputably in their own way, and the youngest [Thomas] in the Birmingham trade. For myself, a poor scholar, as you know, I am almost ashamed to own how solicitous they always were to furnish me with all the opportunities of the best and most liberal education. My case in so many particulars resembles that which the Roman Poet describes as his own, that with Pope's wit I could apply almost every circumstance of it. And, if ever I were to wish in earnest to be a poet, it would be for the sake of doing justice to so uncommon a virtue. I should be a wretch if I did not conclude, as he does,

Si natura juberet, &c. &c.

In a word, when they had fixed us in such a rank of life, as they designed and believed should satisfy us, they very wisely left the business of the world to such as wanted it more, or liked it better. They considered what age and declining health seemed to demand of them, reserving to themselves only such a support as their few and little wants made them think sufficient. I should beg pardon for troubling you with this humble history; but the subjects of it are so much, and so tenderly, in my thoughts at present, that, if I writ at all, I could hardly help writing about them.

BISHOP HURD.

Warburton in reply says :

You could not have obliged nie more than by bringing me acquainted, as you do in your last kind letter, with persons who can never be indifferent to me, when so near to you. Sir E. Littleton had told me great things of them; and from him I learned that virtue and good sense are hereditary amongst you, and family qualities. And as to filial piety, I knew it could not but crown all the rest of your admirable endowments. Pray make me acquainted with your good father and mother ; tell them how sincerely I congratulate with them on the honour of such a son, and how much I share in their happiness on that head.

Sir Edward oft sees your elder brother, and speaks of him as the best companion he has, — indeed in a very extraordinary manner, of his abilities. Your other brother was, I was told, not long since, among the trading towns in this neighbourhood, where he fell into company at dinner with some of our Somersetshire clergy, by whom he was much caressed on hearing to whom he was related.

Prior Park, July 14, 1754.

An amusing anecdote i& current in the family respecting the Bishop's younger brother, Thomas. He was, as the Bishop states, in the Birmingham trade. At that place he had formed an attachment, unknown to his family y to a highly respectable young person, but in humble life, and of no great personal attractions. This attachment resulted in a private marriage. In one of his visits to his parents, his mother, observing him to be unusually silent and thoughtful, pressed him with an affectionate " What ails thee, child?" to tell the cause. The reply, in a faint voice, was,

"Mother, I'm married." "Married!" cried the old lady, "and where' s thy wife?" (Reply in a still fainter key) " I left her in the cart-house." "Go," rejoined his mother, "and fetch her in directly." The poor little woman, shivering with cold and anxiety, was accordingly nshered in from her inhospitable shelter. The feelings of the good old people were touched, and she was welcomed as a member of the family. This plain little person used in after-times, on her visits at Hartlebury Castle, to be led up by the Bishop with stately courtesy to the head of his table, and proved the only medium through which the family was continued.

The Bishop's early education, as he himself states in his memoranda, was at the Grammar Schood of Brewood, in Staffordshire, first under a Mr. Hilman, and afterwards under the Rev. William Budworth, both well qualified for their ofiice, and both very kind to him. Of Mr. Budworth the Bishop speaks with much respect and affection, and he subsequently embalmed his memory, first by a high encomium in the dedication to his Horace, and afterwards by an elegant monumental inscription in the chapel of Shareshull, near Brewood.

Of his school-career no certain account has been preserved. One authority speaks of his disposition to study having lain undeveloped till the last year before he went to college, when his progress was astonishing. Another (that of a

BISHOP HURD.

school-fellow, and therefore more to be relied on,) asserts that he was always assiduous at his books from his earliest childhood. To this statement additional credibility is given by his own assertion that he was, so early as in 1733, thought fit for the university, and was accordingly, on the 3rd October in that year admitted a Sizar at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, although he did not go to reside till a year or two afterwards. # In this college, at that time presided over by Dr. Richardson, he had the advantage of being under the tuition of the Rev. Henry Hubbard,! a tutor of great judgment, of the most punctilious regularity, and a popular preacher. To these distinguishing traits of his early instructor, we may perhaps trace some of those which in after-life characterised the Eishop. Of his early college life we know little more than of his career at school. He took the degree of A.B. in 1738-9 The year 1740 introduces him to us in the following Letters as the correspondent of the Rev. John Hevey,J Rector of Beckbury near ShifFnal, in Shropshire, who seems to have been a kind friend and encourager of the rising scholar.

* It is said by the Rev. W. Cole that he was sent to college by the family of Sir Edward Littleton, but the Editor finds no other evidence of the fact ; and Lord Hatherton informs him that he never heard the report.

t Of Catherine hall, A.B. 1728, A.M. 1732, afterwards of Emmanuel college, and Senior Fellow, B.D. 1739, Registrar of the University ; died 1778, ast. 70.

t He was of Pembroke college, Oxford, B.A. 1722, M.A. 1725.

MR. HURD TO REV. JOHN DEYEY.

Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Jan. 23d, 1740.

Rev. Sir, As I write from a famous seat of

learning, you will probably expect some news relating to the republic of letters. I shall therefore tell you that yesterday was published an answer to the third volume of The Moral Philosopher, by a gentleman of St. John's * *Tis wrote a good deal in the taste and spirit of Bentley's Phileleutherus Lipsiensis, and is expected to be a good thing. Dr. Delany's Life of David f is a charming performance; if you have not seen it, I am sure it will please

you I am, Sir, with service to Mrs. Devey

and your son, your most humble servant,

Richard Hurd.

TO THE SAME.

Cambridge, March 14, 1740-1.

With regard to systems of logic, which

you inquire after, it will perhaps surprise you to hear that we can hardly be said to use any at all. The study of logic is almost entirely laid aside in this university, and that of the mathematics taken up in its room. It is looked upon as a maxim here, that a justness and accuracy in thinking and reasoning are better learned by a habit than by

* Samuel Squire, Fellow of St. John's, and afterwards Bishop of St. David's, was the author of " The ancient History of the Hebrews vindicated ; or, Remarks on the Third Volume of the Moral Philosopher, by Theophanes Cantabrigiensis : Cambridge, 1741." On this subject see Nichols's Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, vol. v. p. 569.

* An historical Account of the Life and Reign of David King of Israel. By Patrick Delany, D.D. 1740.

BISHOP HUED.

rules; and it is an observation founded upon long experience, that no men argue more closely and acutely than they who are well versed in mathematic learning, even though they are ignorant of the rules delivered by the great masters in that other science. Indeed, as our disputations in the schools are always carried on in syllogism, a small part of that study is still requisite ; but, as this is very easily learned from any system, we are not very curious in the choice of one. However, those that are generally made use of on this

occasion are Le Clerc's and Dr. Watts' s

I thank you, Sir, for your judicious remarks on the Life of David, and can't but admire the complaisant and genteel turn you give to my bad taste and wrong judgment of that author. For both these I am justly chargeable with, if there are those superfine triflings and laboured overflowings of the sublime you speak of. Your sentiments, indeed, have great weight with me, and it must carry in it the appearance of much pertness and presumption to think of disputing the justness of them. However., with your leave, Sir, I will just mention one or two particulars that may serve, perhaps, if not to overcome your opinion, at least in some measure to excuse my own. I would flatter myself, then, that the reason of my differing from you in this case, is the viewing it in a light which perhaps did not immediately present itself to you. This I ascribe, not to my own penetration, but to the hints of others of much more learning and experience : 'tis in short this : ^tis probable you might expect to find it wrote according to the strict laws of history, and therefore containing only a plain narrative of the life and actions of David, collected from sacred writ. This expectation would be in some sort confirmed by the title-page, which, as I remember, calls it the History of the Life of David. Considering it, therefore, in this light, it might very well seem affected and unnatural to insert so many disquisitions and conjectures, and to run out into digressions of almost a poetical nature. But, if we look upon it (as I believe it was intended) as an essay or dissertation upon tKe life and actions of that hero, the particulars you blame are so far from being faults, that I dare say you'll think them beauties. This way of considering that performance will account not only for the manner but the style also in which 'tis wrote. In the character of an exact history the language is, perhaps, too florid, and savours too much of the sublime ; but in that of an essay, 'tis, I conceive, otherwise; the diction must be spirited, and raised above the common pitch, to entertain and please.

You see, Sir, how impertinent we young lads are, and what trouble we give both ourselves and others, rather than own (what would perhaps better become us) that we are mistaken. But, notwithstanding this common failing of young men, if Mr. Devey, upon viewing the Life of David in this light, should still continue in his opinion, I shall be so far from standing out any longer against him, that I shall immediately embrace his sentiments, and endeavour to correct the error of my own judgment by submitting to a much better.

TO THE SAME.

Cambridge, May 3d, 1741.

Rev. Sir, — You see what it is to engage in a correspondence with boys. We are a most impertinent set of people, and never know when to give over talking. Methinks the epithet garrula, which from the age of Nestor to the present times has been constantly given to Senectus, would suit full as well with Juventus. There is, indeed, this difference between the two cases, that talkativeness in old men is ever seasoned with experience and good sense, whereas the tattle of the young is light and trivial, and has

BISHOP HURJD.

seldom any solidity to compensate for its exuberance. For this reason it was perhaps not so ridiculous in %he old sage, as some are apt to imagine, to enjoin a profound silence to his pupils for a certain term of years. His design, without doubt, was to instruct them in their duty, and prevent them from talking at all till they had learnt to talk well. And, indeed, this conduct is so reasonable, that I believe I should immediately give into it, but that I have now an opportunity of conversing with one whose candour would incline him to pardon anything his judgment should dislike. Of that I have had a remarkable instance in the case of Delany's Life of David; of which I shall only add further, that it has given me great occasion to admire not only the j udgment but politeness of Mr. Devey.

I know not whether the following remark be worth mentioning to you, but the name of David naturally brings it to my mind. The word " temple " is used by that inspired poet to signify the heavens in the following passage, " In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: He heard me out of his temple," Ps. xviii. 6. Dr. Delany, if I remember right, adds that this form of expression is very beautiful. I was pleased the other day to find this term used exactly in the same sense by the sublime Lucretius :

It occurs also in a passage of the first Book, where the epithet " tonitralia," which is joined to it, would not improperly mark the idea we have of that temple when the Lord thunders in it, and the Highest gives his voice. Ibid. ver. 13.

Think not, Sir, I mention this as though I thought the poetry of DaArid could receive any additional glory or merit from any resemblance it may be found to bear to the flights of Pagan writers. That I know is impossible; but must own it gives me some pleasure to meet with passages in heathen learning that are parallel to those in sacred writ, since it is by such kind of proof only that many classical pretenders to criticism will suffer themselves to be convinced of the beauty of those sublimest of compositions.

In June, 1742, Mr. Hurd was ordained deacon at St. Paul's in London, by Dr. Joseph Butler, Bishop of Bristol and Dean of St. Paul's, on letters dimissory from Dr. Gooch, Bishop of Norwich ; and we find him in temporary charge of the parish of Beymerston, a small rectory lying between Thetford and Norwich. To this sphere of duty he was probably introduced by another early friend and patron, to be mentioned in his next letter, the Bev. Cox Macro, of Norton, near Bury St. Edmund's, an eminent collector of books, manuscripts, and literary curiosities, whom he assisted in the gratification of his peculiar tastes.*

Reymerston, July 16, 1742.

Rev. Sir, — The hurry I have been in ever since I left Hatton will be an excuse to you for my not writing sooner. It will be needless to tell you, since you have heard it I suppose from Hatton, that I was ordained at London, that Dr. Macro has procured me a curacy which I can hold

* See Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. ix. pp. 359, 747.

BISHOP HUKD.

with Keymerston, and that all difficulties are over with regard to this affair. I have very convenient lodgings, have met with very civil people, and, in short, am likely to live very comfortably. The only thing I want is such a friend as I left behind me at Beckbury. To say the truth, there is a wondrous scarcity of reputable clergymen in this country; sober are rare, but learned I have not heard of one near me. But this to my friend.

I was at Cambridge last week to change my gown. The day after the Commencement Mr. Smalley * accepted of a college living, and the principal persons in the Society were so kind to signify to me their desire of choosing me into his Fellowship. I shall consider of it, but believe it will not be for my interest to appear as a candidate

If you are curious to know particulars with regard to Eeymerston, &c. a letter or two which I sent to my father will inform you

TO THE SAME.

Reymerston, Sept. 24, 1742.

July 28, and this September 24 ! A long time, I own, for so kind a letter from so kind a friend as Mr. Devey to remain unanswered; but I dare promise myself your pardon. I will not waste any of my paper in apologies, only in general give me leave to tell you that sermonizing has been the main cause. Your advice from Dr. Moor weighs much with me, but not more than it had in Mr. Devey's own words and name. Dr. Macro has been informed by Mr. Smalley (who accidentally called upon him one day) of the favour the college designed me. He seemed pleased at the information, but dissuaded my return to college, and added I might be sure in a little time of a second living. The