BEVERIDGE, WILLIAM, a very learned English bishop, was born at Barrow in Leicestershire, A.D. 1638, and educated at St John's College, Cambridge, where he distinguished himself very early by his extensive learning, and
particularly by his knowledge of the Oriental languages. Upon the deprivation of Dr Thomas Ken, bishop of Bath and Wells, for not taking the oaths to the government in 1691, he refused the offer of that see, although he was then chaplain to King William and Queen Mary. In 1704 he was consecrated to the bishopric of St Asaph, and discharged the duties of that office in an exemplary manner. He died at his apartments in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey in 1707, aged sixty-nine. His whole life was spent in acts of piety and charity, and he gave remarkable instances of both at his death, leaving the bulk of his estate for the propagation of the gospel and the promotion of Christian knowledge at home as well as abroad. His Private Thoughts upon a Christian Life is a very popular book. He was the author of several valuable works, particularly on the Oriental tongues.