SCOTT, Thomas, an eminent divine of the Church of England, was born on the 16th of February 1747. His father was a grazier in Lincolnshire, in humble circumstances, with thirteen children, of whom Thomas was the tenth. The father was ambitious that one of his sons should belong to a learned profession, and with this view sent the subject of this memoir, when about fifteen years of age, to be apprentice to an apothecary and surgeon at Alford. In this situation he conducted himself so improperly, that after a short time he was dismissed by his master, and sent home in disgrace. His father, mortified and vexed by the conduct of his son, treated him with great harshness, and employed him only in the lowest and most laborious drudgery about the farm. For nine years after his return home in disgrace, he was exposed to great hardships, associated with persons in the lowest stations of society, and often joined in their riotous and abandoned pursuits. Conceiving himself used with unjust severity by his father, his temper was soured, and he became exceedingly irritable and discontented.
His employment of tending the sheep left him often in solitude. At these seasons his mind was filled with bitter reflections on the past, and gloomy anticipations of the future; and although his education had been very superficial, yet he had acquired so much as awakened in him an insatiable longing after the pleasures and distinctions of literature; and every thing conspired to disgust him with his present employment.
When about twenty-five years of age, to the astonishment of every one, he declared his resolution of entering into the church. This scheme was strongly opposed by his father, treated as chimerical by his friends, and ridiculed by his neighbours. At length, however, his unconquerable fortitude and patient perseverance overcame every obstacle, and he was admitted to priest's orders in the year 1773, and shortly thereafter was appointed curate of Weston Underwood, with a salary of £50 a year. While here, he applied with indefatigable zeal and industry to the study of sacred and profane literature. His sentiments at first were decidedly Socinian; but a candid and diligent study of the Scriptures gradually opened his eyes to the fallacy and the dangers of the doctrines which he had espoused; and being in the neighbourhood of John Newton, the friend of Cowper, who was strongly evangelical and Calvinistic in his views, his acquaintance with that eminent individual may have contributed to this change in his religious sentiments. In the year 1779 he published a small autobiography, entitled the Force of Truth, in which he gave a candid statement of the change in his opinions, and the steps by which he was gradually led to adopt the orthodox and evangelical creed. This publication made a great sensation at the time, and has gone through many editions since. He married, in 1774, Jane Kell, who proved a valuable helpmate to him in his future struggles. In 1780 he succeeded John Newton at Olney, and in 1785 he accepted the situation of lecturer at the Lock Hospital, with a salary of £80 a year. This, with small sums for occasional lectureships, furnished but a scanty allowance for the support of an increasing family; and when, a few years afterwards, a proposal was made to him by a London bookseller to write a Commen-
tary on the Bible, to be published in numbers, the offer of Scott, Sir Walter, a guinea a week, as remuneration for his writings, decided him to engage in the undertaking.
This valuable work was well received by the public, and, under proper management, ought to have been a very profitable speculation; but, owing to the bankruptcy of the bookseller, Mr Scott not only received no remuneration for his labour, but lost all his little savings, and was involved in considerable debt. The first edition, of two thousand copies, commenced in 1802, and was finished in 1809; a second of two thousand copies, in 1807-11; the third, of three thousand copies, in six volumes 4to, 1812-14. The fourth was stereotyped, and sold to a great extent. He published a volume of Essays in 1793-94. He also published, in two volumes 8vo, Remarks on the Bishop of Lincoln's Refutation of Calvinism; and Sermons on various subjects, from time to time. His Theological Works were collected and edited by his son, the Reverend John Scott, and published in ten volumes 8vo, in 1823.
In 1803 he left London for the rectory of Aston, Sandford, where he died on the 16th of April 1821. He was a man of eminent piety, somewhat eager and impetuous, but of great sincerity, and sterling honesty of character; of a vigorous intellect, indefatigably diligent in his studies, and a useful and practical preacher.