(William, L. L. D.), well known in the learned world by several useful and elegant publications, was born at Sudbury, on March 29, O.S. 1741, of parents in a humble walk of life, but of very respectable character. His amiable disposition and promising talents early recommended him to the Rev. Mr. Mr Hextall, the dissenting minister of that place, who took great care of his education, and infused into his young mind that taste for elegance in composition which ever afterwards distinguished him.

In his 17th year he was sent to the academy at Daventry, then under the direction of the Rev. Dr Ashworth, where he passed through the usual course of instruction preparatory to the office of the ministry; and with such success did he cultivate the talents of a preacher, and of an amiable man in society, that, on leaving the academy, he was at once chosen, in 1763, minister of the very respectable congregation of Benn's Garden in Liverpool.

In that agreeable town he passed seven of the happiest years of his life, very generally beloved and esteemed. He married, in 1767, the daughter of Mr Holland draper in Liverpool, with whom he passed all the rest of his days in most cordial union. His literary reputation was extended, during his residence in this place, by the publication of two volumes of sermons, which were very well received, and have served to grace many pulpits besides that in which they were originally preached. A collection of hymns and of family prayers, which he also published at Liverpool, did credit to his taste and judgment.

About 1770, he was invited to take a share in the conduct of the academy at Warrington, and also to occupy the place of minister to the dissenting congregation there, both vacant by the death of the Rev. Mr Seddon. His acceptance of this honourable invitation was a source of a variety of mixed sensations and events to him, of which anxiety and vexation composed too large a share for his happiness. No affluence on his part was wanting in the performance of his various duties; but the defects of the institution were radical and incurable; and perhaps his gentleness of temper was ill adapted to contend with the difficulties, in matter of discipline, which seem entailed on all dissenting academies, and which, in that situation, fell upon him, as the domestic resident, with peculiar weight. He always, however, possessed the respect and affection of the best disposed of the students; and there was no reason to suppose that any other person, in his place, could have prevented that dissolution which the academy underwent in 1783.

During the period of his engagement there, his indefatigable industry was exerted in the composition of a number of works, mostly, indeed, of the class of useful compilations, but containing valuable displays of his powers of thinking and writing. The most considerable was his "Institutes of Natural Philosophy" (quarto, Johnson, 1783); a clear and well-arranged compendium of the leading principles, theoretical and experimental, of the sciences comprised under that head. And it may be mentioned, as an extraordinary proof of his diligence and power of comprehension, that, on a vacancy in the mathematical department of the academy, which the state of the institution rendered it impossible to supply by a new tutor, he prepared himself, at a short warning, to fill it up; and did fill it with credit and utility, though this abstruse branch of science had never before been a particular object of his study. He continued at Warrington two years after the academy had broken up, taking a few private pupils.

In 1785, receiving an invitation from the principal dissenting congregation at Norwich, he accepted it, and first fixed his residence at Thorpe, a pleasing village near the city, where he pursued his plan of taking a limited number of pupils to board in his house. He afterwards removed to Norwich itself; and, at length, fatigued with the long cares of education, entirely ceased to receive boarders, and only gave private instructions to two or three select pupils a few hours in the morning. This too he at last discontinued, and devoted himself solely to the duties of his congregation, and the retired and independent occupations of literature. Yet, in a private way and small circle, few men had been more successful in education, of which many striking examples might be mentioned, and none more so than the members of his own family. Never, indeed, was a father more deservedly happy in his children; but the eldest, whom he had trained with uncommon care, and who had already, when just of age, advanced in his professional career so far as to be chosen town-clerk of Nottingham, was most unfortunately snatched away by a fever a few years since.

This fatal event produced effects on the doctor's health which alarmed his friends. The symptoms were those of angina pectoris, and they continued till the usual serenity of his mind was restored by time and employment. Some of the last years of his life were the most comfortable: employed only in occupations which were agreeable to him, and which left him matter of his own time; witnessing the happy settlement of two of his daughters; contracted in his living within the domestic privacy which he loved; and connected with some of the most agreeable literary companions, and with a set of the most cordial and kind-hearted friends that perhaps this island affords, he seemed fully to enjoy life as it flowed, and indulged himself in pleasing prospects for futurity. Alas! an unexpected and incurable disease was preparing a sad and sudden change: a schirrous contraction of the rectum, the symptoms of which were mistaken by himself for a common laxity of the bowels, brought on a total stoppage, which, after a week's struggle, ended in death. Its gradual approach gave him an opportunity to display all the tenderness, and more than the usual firmness, of his nature. He died November 3, 1797, amidst the kind offices of mourning friends, and his last hours were peace!

Besides the literary performances already mentioned, Dr Enfield completed, in 1791, the laborious task of an abridgment of "Brucker's History of Philosophy," which he comprised in two volumes quarto. It may be truly said, that the tenets of philosophy and the lives of its professors were never before displayed in so pleasing a form, and with such clearness and elegance of language. Indeed it was his peculiar excellence to arrange and express other men's ideas to the utmost advantage. Perhaps, at the time of his decease, there was not in England a more perfect master of what is called the middle style in writing, combining the qualities of ease, elegance, perspicuity, and correctness, entirely free from affectation and singularity, and fitted for any subject. If his cast of thought was not original, yet it was free, enlarged, and manly. What he was in the capacity of a teacher of religion, his several congregations will testify with grateful and affectionate remembrance. Few ministers have paid such unremitting attention to the perfection of their pulpit compositions; sions; nor was it only by detached discourses that he inculcated the truths of morality and religion, but by methodical plans of instruction, drawn up with great care and comprehension. The valuable stores of this kind which he left behind him, will not be consigned to oblivion; but, it is hoped, will inform and improve numbers to whom the voice of the preacher could never have extended. In delivery, his manner was grave and impressive, depending rather on the weight of just enunciation than on the arts of oratory. Little need be added to this sketch of the moral qualities of the excellent man above commemorated. If moderation, complacency, and gentleness were ever prevalent in him to a degree of excess, who that knew him will blame an excess which opened his soul to every emotion and office of affection and friendship?

This account of Dr Enfield, which is taken from the Monthly Magazine, is acknowledged by its author to be the effusion of friendship; but we believe that the panegyric, though high, is in general just. It is our duty, however, to warn our readers against placing implicit confidence in the Doctor's representation of ancient philosophy; for though we have frequently found him correct, and have therefore quoted him with approbation ourselves, we have likewise found him sometimes mistaking the sense of his authors. In a work like his, mistakes were indeed unavoidable; for when he resolved to compress the substance of Brucker's five volumes within the compass of two, he could not avoid sometimes giving what he thought the sense of the ancients, when accuracy required their very words to be given. This we believe to be the source of those errors in his elegant history, which we have heard others unjustly attribute to design; for had it been his design to deceive, he would not surely have stored his margin with references to enable every reader to detect the deceit.

ENGINEER is the appellation of him whose profession it is to contrive or make any kind of useful engine or machine. He is denominated either a civil or military engineer, according as the objects of his profession respect civil or military purposes. See Fortification, Encycl., and Machine in this Supplement.