THOMAS, a learned and respectable prelate of the church of England, was born, in 1693, at a village called Sillothorp, in the vale of Belvoir, in Nottinghamshire. His father was a Protestant dissenter, a pious, virtuous, and sensible man; who, having a small paternal fortune, allowed no profession. His mother was the daughter of Mr Brough, a substantial gentleman farmer of Shelton in the same county. He received his education at several private schools and academies in the country, being obliged, by various accidents, frequently to change his masters.

Notwithstanding this disadvantage, he had at the age of 19 not only made considerable progress in Greek and Latin, and read the best writers in both languages, but had acquired a knowledge of French, Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac; had learned geography, logic, algebra, geometry, conic sections, and gone through a course of lectures on Jewish antiquities and other points, preparatory to the critical study of the Bible. He had been destined by his father for orders among the Dissenters. With this view, during the latter years of his education, his studies were chiefly turned towards divinity, in which he had made such quick advances, that by the time he was 23 he had carefully read over a great part of the Scriptures, particularly the New Testament, in the original, and the best comments upon it; Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, The Apostolical Fathers, Whitton's Primitive Christianity, and the principal writers for and against Ministerial and Lay Conformity.—But though the result of these inquiries was a well-grounded belief of the Christian revelation, yet not being at that time able to decide on some abstruse speculative doctrines, nor to determine absolutely what communion he should embrace; he resolved, like a wise and honest man, to pursue some profession, which should leave him at liberty to weigh those things more maturely in his thoughts, and not oblige him to declare or teach publicly opinions which were not yet thoroughly settled in his own mind.

In 1716, therefore, he applied himself to the study of physic, and after gaining all the medical knowledge he could, by reading the usual preparatory books, and attending the best lectures during that and the following winter in London, in order to improve himself farther, in January 1718-19 he went to Paris. There he lodged in the same house with the famous anatomist Mr Winiford, whose lectures he attended, as he did those of the materia medica, chemistry, and botany, at the king's gardens. He saw the operations of surgery at the Hotel Dieu, and attended also for some time M. Gregoire, the accoucheur, but without any design of ever practicing that or any other branch of surgery. Here he became acquainted with Mr Martin Benton, afterwards bishop of Gloucester, one of the most agreeable and virtuous men of his time; with whom he quickly became much connected, and not many years after was united to him by the strictest bonds of affinity as well as affection.

During the whole of Mr Secker's continuance at Paris, he kept up a constant correspondence with Mr Joseph Butler, afterwards bishop of Durham, with whom he became acquainted at the academy of one Mr Jones, kept first at Gloucester, and afterward at Tewkbury. Mr Butler having been appointed preacher at the Rolls on the recommendation of Dr Clarke and Mr Edward Talbot, son to Bishop Talbot, he now took occasion to mention his friend Mr Secker, without Secker's knowledge, to Mr Talbot, who promised, in case he chose to take orders in the church of England, to engage the bishop his father to provide for him. This was communicated to Mr Secker in a letter from Mr Butler about the beginning of May 1720. He had not at that time come to any resolution of quitting the study of physic; but he began to foresee many obstacles to his pursuing that profession; and having never discontinued his application to theology, his former difficulties both with regard to conformity and some other doubtful points had gradually lessened, as his judgment became stronger and his reading and knowledge more extensive. It appears also from two of his letters still in being, written from Paris to a friend in England, (both of them prior to the date of Mr Butler's above mentioned), that he was greatly dissatisfied with the divisions and disturbances which at that particular period prevailed among the Dissenters.

In this state of mind Mr Butler's unexpected proposal found him; which he was therefore very well disposed to take into consideration; and after deliberating on the subject of such a change for upwards of two months, he resolved at length to embrace the offer, and for that purpose quitted France about the beginning of August 1720.

On his arrival in England, he was introduced to Mr Talbot, with whom he cultivated a close acquaintance; but it was unfortunately of very short duration; for in the month of December that gentleman died of the smallpox. This was a great shock to all his friends, who had justly conceived the highest expectations of him; but especially to an amiable lady whom he had lately married, and who was very near sinking under so sudden and grievous a stroke. Mr Secker, beside sharing largely in the common grief, had peculiar reason to lament an accident that seemed to put an end to all his hopes; but he had taken his resolution, and he determined to persevere. It was some encouragement to him to find that Mr Talbot had, on his deathbed, recommended him, together with Mr Benson and Mr Butler, to his father's notice. Thus did that excellent young man (for he was but 29 when he died), by his nice discernment of characters, and his considerate good nature, provide most effectually, in a few solemn moments, for the welfare of that church from which he himself was so prematurely snatched away; and at the fame same time raised up, when he least thought of it, the truest friend and protector to his wife and unborn daughter; who afterwards found in Mr Secker all that tender care and affiance which they could have hoped for from the nearest relation.

It being judged necessary by Mr Secker's friends that he should have a degree at Oxford; and having been informed, that if he should previously take the degree of Doctor in Physic at Leyden, it would probably help him in obtaining the other, he went over and took his degree there in March 1721: and, as part of his exercise for it, he composed and printed a dissertation de Medicina Statica, which is still extant, and is thought by the gentlemen of that profession to be a sensible and learned performance.

In April the same year, he entered himself a gentleman commoner of Exeter college, Oxford; after which he obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts, in consequence of the chancellor's recommendatory letter to the convocation.

He now spent a considerable part of his time in London, where he quickly gained the esteem of some of the most learned and ingenious men of those days, particularly of Dr Clarke, rector of St James's, and the celebrated Dean Berkeley, afterwards bishop of Cloyne, with whom he every day became more delighted, and more closely connected. He paid frequent visits of gratitude and friendship to Mrs Talbot, widow of Mr Edward Talbot, by whom she had a daughter five months after his decease. With her lived Mrs Catharine Benfon, sister to Bishop Benfon, whom in many respects she greatly resembled. She had been for several years Mrs Talbot's inseparable companion, and was of unfeakable service to her at the time of her husband's death, by exerting all her courage, activity, and good sense (of which she possessed a large share), to support her friend under so great an affliction, and by afterwards attending her sickly infant with the utmost care and tenderness, to which, under Providence, was owing the preservation of a very valuable life.

Bishop Talbot being in 1721 appointed to the see of Durham, Mr Secker was in 1722 ordained deacon by him in St James's church, and priest not long after in the same place, where he preached his first sermon March 28, 1723. The bishop's domestic chaplain at that time was Dr Rundle, a man of warm fancy and very brilliant conversation, but apt sometimes to be carried by the vivacity of his wit into indirect and ludicrous expressions, which created him enemies, and, on one occasion, produced disagreeable consequences.—With him Mr Secker was soon after associated in the bishop's family, and both taken down by his lordship to Durham in July 1723.

In the following year the bishop gave Mr Secker the rectory of Houghton-le-Spring. This preferment putting it in his power to fix himself in the world, in a manner agreeable to his inclinations, he soon after made a proposal of marriage to Mrs Benfon; which being accepted, they were married by Bishop Talbot in 1725. At the earnest request of both, Mrs Talbot and her daughter consented to live with them, and the two families from that time became one.

About this time Bishop Talbot also gave preferments to Mr Butler and Mr Benfon, whose rise and progress in the church are here interwoven with the history of Mr Secker. In the winter of 1725-6, Mr Butler first published his incomparable sermons; on which, as Dr Beilby Porteous and Dr Stinton inform us, Mr Secker took pains to render the style more familiar, and the author's meaning more obvious: yet they were at last by many called obscure. Mr Secker gave his friend the fame assistance in that noble work the Analogy of Religion, &c.

He now gave up all the time he possibly could to his residence at Houghton, applying himself with alacrity to all the duties of a country clergyman, and supporting that useful and respectable character throughout with the strictest propriety. He omitted nothing which he thought would be of use to the souls and bodies of the people entrusted to his care. He brought down his conversation and his sermons to the level of their understandings; he visited them in private, he catechised the young and ignorant, he received his country neighbours and tenants very kindly and hospitably, and was of great service to the poorer sort of them by his skill in physic, which was the only use he ever made of it. Though this place was in a very remote part of the world, yet the solitude of it perfectly suited his studious disposition, and the income arising from it bounded his ambition. Here he would have been content to live and die; here, as he has often been heard to declare, he spent some of the happiest hours of his life: and it was no thought or choice of his own that removed him to a higher and more conspicuous situation; but Mrs Secker's health, which now began to decline, and was thought to be injured by the dampness of the situation, obliged him to think of exchanging it for a more healthy one. Accordingly, an exchange was made through the friendly interposition of Mr Benfon (who generously sacrificed his own interest on this occasion, by relinquishing a prebend of his own to serve his friend) with Dr Finney, prebendary of Durham, and rector of Ryton; and Mr Secker was instituted to Ryton and the prebend June 3, 1727. For the two following years he lived chiefly at Durham, going every week to officiate at Ryton, and spending there two or three months together in the summer.

In July 1732 he was appointed chaplain to the king; for which favour he was indebted to Dr Sherlock, who having heard him preach at Bath, had conceived the highest opinion of his abilities, and thought them well worthy of being brought forward into public notice. From that time an intimacy commenced between them, and he received from that great prelate many solid proofs of esteem and friendship.

His month of waiting at St James's happened to be August, and on Sunday the 27th of that month he preached before the queen, the king being then abroad. A few days after, her majesty sent for him into her closet, and held a long conversation with him; in the course of which he took an opportunity of mentioning to her his friend Mr Butler. He also, not long after this, on Mr Talbot's being made lord chancellor, found means to have Mr Butler effectually recommended to him for his chaplain. The queen also appointed him clerk of her closet; from whence he rose, as his talents became more known, to those high dignities which he afterwards attained.

Mr Secker now began to have a public character, and stood high in the estimation of those who were al- lowed to be the best judges of merit: he had already given proofs of abilities that plainly indicated the eminence to which he must one day rise, as a preacher and a divine; and it was not long before an opportunity offered of placing him in an advantageous point of view. Dr Tyrwhit, who succeeded Dr Clarke as rector of St James's in 1729, found that preaching in so large a church endangered his health. Bishop Gibbon, therefore, his father-in-law, proposed to the crown that he should be made reificientary of St Paul's, and that Mr Secker should succeed him in the rectory. This arrangement was so acceptable to those in power, that it took place without any difficulty. Mr Secker was instituted rector the 18th of May 1733; and in the beginning of July went to Oxford to take his degree of Doctor of Laws, not being of sufficient standing for that of divinity. On this occasion it was that he preached his celebrated Act Sermon, on the advantages and duties of academical education, which was universally allowed to be a masterpiece of sound reasoning and just composition: it was printed at the desire of the heads of houses, and quickly passed through several editions. It is now to be found in the second collection of Occasional Sermons, published by himself in 1766.

It was thought that the reputation he acquired by this sermon, contributed not a little toward that promotion which very soon followed its publication. For in December 1734, he received a very unexpected notice from Bishop Gibbon, that the king had fixed on him to be bishop of Bristol. Dr Benson was about the same time appointed to the see of Gloucester, as was Dr Fleming to that of Carlisle; and the three new bishops were all consecrated together in Lambeth Chapel, Jan. 19. 1734-5, the consecration-sermon being preached by Dr Thomas, afterwards bishop of Winchester.

The honours to which Dr Secker was thus raised in the prime of life did not in the least abate his diligence and attention to business; for which, indeed, there was now more occasion than ever. His learned biographers, Messrs Porteous and Stinton, now relate the manner in which he set about the visitation of his diocese, and the ceremony of confirmation, which he performed in a great number of places; he also preached in several churches, sometimes twice a-day. The affairs of his parish of St James's being likewise in great disorder, he took extraordinary pains to regulate and adjust every thing, particularly the management of the poor; and thus even in a temporal view became of signal service to his parishioners. But, say our authors, "it was their spiritual welfare which engaged, as it ought to do, his chief attention. As far as the circumstances of the times, and the population of that part of the metropolis allowed, he omitted not even those private admonitions and personal applications which are often attended with the happiest effects. He allowed out of his own income a salary for reading early and late prayers, which had formerly been paid out of the offertory money. He held a confirmation once every year, examined the candidates several weeks before in the vestry, and gave them religious tracts, which he also distributed at other times very liberally to those that needed them. He drew up, for the use of his parishioners, that admirable course of Lectures on the Church Catechism which hath been lately published, and not only read them once every week on the usual days, but also every Sunday evening, either at the church or one of the chapels belonging to it."

The sermons which at the same time, we are told, he set himself to compose, "were truly excellent and original. His faculties were now in their full vigour, and he had an audience to speak before that rendered the utmost exertion of them necessary. He did not, however, seek to gratify the higher part, by amusing them with refined speculations, or ingenious effays, unintelligible to the lower part, and unprofitable to both; but he laid before them all, with equal freedom and plainness, the great Christian duties belonging to their respective stations, and reproved the follies and vices of every rank among them, without diffidence or palliation. He studied human nature thoroughly in all its various forms, and knew what sort of arguments would have most weight with each class of men. He brought the subject home to their bosoms, and did not seem to be merely laying useful things in their presence, but adressing himself personally to every one of them. Few ever possessed, in a higher degree, the rare talent of touching on the most delicate subjects with the nicest propriety and decorum, of saying the most familiar things without being low, the plainest without being feeble, the boldest without giving offence. He could descend with such singular ease and felicity into the minutest concerns of common life, could lay open with so much address the various workings, artifices, and evasions of the human mind, that his audience often thought their own particular cases alluded to, and heard with surprise their private sentiments and feelings, their ways of reasoning and principles of acting, exactly stated and described. His preaching was, at the same time, highly rational and truly evangelical. He explained with perspicuity, he affected with dignity, the peculiar characteristic doctrines of the gospel. He inculcated the utility, the necessity of them, not merely as speculative truths, but as actual instruments of moral goodness, tending to purify the hearts and regulate the lives of men; and thus, by God's gracious appointment, as well as by the inseparable connection between true faith and right practice, leading them to salvation.

"These important truths he taught with the authority, the tenderness, the familiarity, of a parent instructing his children. Though he neither possessed nor affected the artificial eloquence of an orator who wants to amuse or to millead, yet he had that of an honest man who wants to convince, of a Christian preacher who wants to reform and to save those that hear him. Solid argument, manly sense, useful directions, short, nervous, striking sentences, awakening questions, frequent and pertinent applications of scripture; all these following each other in quick succession, and coming evidently from the speaker's heart, enforced by his elocution, his figure, his action, and above all, by the corresponding sanctity of his example, stamped conviction on the minds of his hearers, and sent them home with impressions not easy to be effaced. It will readily be imagined that with these powers he quickly became one of the most admired and popular preachers of his time."

In 1737, he succeeded to the see of Oxford, on the promotion of Dr Potter to that of Canterbury, then vacant by the death of Archbishop Wake.

In the spring of 1748, Mrs Secker died of the gout in her stomach. She was a woman of great sense and merit, merit, but of a weak and sickly constitution. The bishop's affection and tenderness for her were suited to his character. In 1759, he was installed dean of St Paul's, for which he gave in exchange the rectory of St James's and his prebend of Durham. "It was no wonder (say our authors) that, after presiding over so extensive and populous a parish for upwards of 17 years, he should willingly consent to be released from a burden which began now to grow too great for his strength. When he preached his farewell sermon, the whole audience melted into tears: he was followed with the prayers and good wishes of those whom every honest man would be most ambitious to please; and there are numbers still living who retain a strong and grateful remembrance of his incessant and tender solicitude for their welfare. Having now more leisure both to prosecute his own studies and to encourage those of others, he gave Dr Church considerable assistance in his First and Second Vindication of the Miraculous Powers, &c. against Mr Middleton, and he was of equal use to him in his Analysis of Lord Bolingbroke's Works. About the same time began the late Archdeacon Sharp's controversy with the followers of Mr Hutchinson, which was carried on to the end of the year 1755." Bishop Secker, we are told, read over all Dr Sharp's papers, amounting to three volumes 8vo, and corrected and improved them throughout. But the ease which this late change of situation gave him was soon disturbed by a heavy and unexpected stroke, the loss of his three friends, Bishops Butler, Benton, and Berkeley, who were all cut off within the space of one year.

Our authors next give an account of the part which Dr Secker bore, in the house of lords, in respect to the famous repeal of the Jew bill; for which the duke of Newcastle moved, and was seconded by the Bishop, in a speech which, we are told, was remarkably well received. At length his distinguished merit prevailed over all the political obstacles to his advancement, and placed him, without any efforts or application of his own, in that important station which he had shewn himself to be well qualified to adorn. On the death of Archbishop Hutton, he was promoted to the see of Canterbury, and was confirmed at Bow-church, April 21. 1758; on which occasion our authors observe, that in accepting this high and burdensome station, Dr Secker acted on that principle which influenced him through life; that he sacrificed his own ease and comfort to considerations of public utility; that the mere secular advantages of grandeur were objects below his ambition; and were, as he knew and felt, but poor compensations for the anxiety and difficulties attending them. He had never once through his whole life asked preferment for himself, nor shewn any unbecoming eagerness for it; and the use he made of his newly-acquired dignity very clearly shewed, that rank, and wealth, and power, had in no other light any charms for him, than as they enlarged the sphere of his active and industrious benevolence.

He fought out and encouraged men of real genius or extensive knowledge; he expended 300l. in arranging and improving the manuscript library at Lambeth; and observing with concern, that the library of printed books in that palace had received no additions since the time of Archbishop Tennison, he made, it his business to collect books in all languages from most parts of Europe at a very great expence, with a view of supplying that chasm; which he accordingly did, by leaving them to the library at his death, and thereby rendered that collection one of the noblest and most useful in the kingdom.

All designs and institutions which tended to advance good morals and true religion, he patronized with zeal and generosity: he contributed largely to the maintenance of schools for the poor; to rebuilding or repairing parsonage houses and places of worship; and gave no less than 600l. towards erecting a chapel in the parish of Lambeth. To the society for promoting Christian knowledge he was a liberal benefactor; and to that for propagating the gospel in foreign parts, of which he was the president, he paid much attention; was constant at all the meetings of its members, even sometimes when his health would but ill permit, and superintended their deliberations with consummate prudence and temper.

Whenever any publications came to his knowledge that were manifestly calculated to corrupt good morals, or subvert the foundations of Christianity, he did his utmost to stop the circulation of them; yet the wretched authors themselves he was so far from wishing to treat with any undue rigour, that he has more than once extended his bounty to them in distress. And when their writings could not properly be suppressed (as was too often the case) by lawful authority, he engaged men of abilities to answer them, and rewarded them for their trouble. His attention was everywhere. Even the falsehoods and misrepresentation of writers in the newspapers, on religious or ecclesiastical subjects, he generally took care to have contradicted; and when they seemed likely to injure, in any material degree, the cause of virtue and religion, or the reputation of eminent and worthy men, he would sometimes take the trouble of answering them himself. One instance of this kind, which does him honour, and deserves mention, was his defence of Bishop Butler, who, in a pamphlet published in 1767, was accused of having died a Papist. The conduct which he observed towards the several divisions and denominations of Christians in this kingdom was such as shewed his way of thinking to be truly liberal and catholic. The dangerous spirit of popery, indeed, he thought should always be kept under proper legal restraints, on account of its natural opposition not only to the religious but the civil rights of mankind. He therefore observed its movements with care, and exhorted his clergy to do the same, especially those who were situated in the midst of Roman Catholic families; against whose influence they were charged to be upon their guard, and were furnished with proper books or instructions for that purpose. He took all fit opportunities of combating the errors of the church of Rome in his own writings (A); and the best answers that were published to some of the late bold apologies for popery were written at his instance, and under his direction.

With

(A) See particularly his sermons on the rebellion in 1745; on the Protestant working schools in Ireland; on the With the Dissenters his Grace was sincerely desirous of cultivating a good understanding. He considered them, in general, as a conscientious and valuable class of men. With some of the most eminent of them, Watts, Doddridge, Leland, Chandler, Lardner, he maintained an intercourse of friendship or civility. By the most candid and considerate part of them he was highly reverenced and esteemed; and to such among them as needed help he showed no less kindness and liberality than to those of his own communion.

Nor was his concern for the Protestant cause confined to his own country. He was well known as the great patron and protector of it in various parts of Europe; from whence he had frequent applications for assistance, which never failed of being favourably received. To several foreign Protestants he allowed pensions, to others he gave occasional relief, and to some of their universities was an annual benefactor.

In public affairs, his Grace acted the part of an honest citizen, and a worthy member of the British legislature. From his first entrance into the house of peers, his parliamentary conduct was uniformly upright and noble. He kept equally clear from the extremes of factions peculation and servile dependence; never wantonly thwarting administration from motives of party zeal or private pique, nor personal attachment, or a passion for popularity; nor yet going every length with every minister from views of interest or ambition. He admired and loved the constitution of his country, and wished to preserve it unaltered and unimpaired. So long as a due regard to this was maintained, he thought it his duty to support the measures of government; but whenever they were evidently inconsistent with the public welfare, he opposed them with freedom and firmness. Yet his opposition was always tempered with the utmost fidelity, respect, and decency, to the excellent prince upon the throne; and the most candid allowances for the unavoidable errors and infirmities even of the very best ministers, and the peculiarly difficult situation of those who govern a free and high-spirited people. He seldom spoke in parliament, except where the interests of religion and virtue seemed to require it; but whenever he did, he spoke with propriety and strength, and was heard with attention and deference. Though he never attached himself blindly to any set of men, yet his chief political connections were with the late duke of Newcastle and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. To these he principally owed his advancement; and he had the good fortune to live long enough to show his gratitude to them or their descendants.

For more than ten years, during which Dr Secker enjoyed the see of Canterbury, he resided constantly at his archiepiscopal house at Lambeth. A few months before his death, the dreadful pains he felt had compelled him to think of trying the Bath waters: but that design was stopped by the fatal accident which put an end to his life.

His Grace had been for many years subject to the gout, which, in the latter part of his life, returned with more frequency and violence, and did not go off in a regular manner, but left the parts affected for a long time very weak, and was succeeded by pains in different parts of the body. About a year and a half before he died, after a fit of the gout, he was attacked with a pain in the arm, near the shoulder, which having continued about 12 months, a similar pain seized the upper and outer part of the opposite thigh, and the arm soon became easier. This was much more grievous than the former, as it quickly disabled him from walking, and kept him in almost continual torment, except when he was in a reclining position. During this time he had two or three fits of the gout; but neither the gout nor the medicines alleviated these pains, which, with the want of exercise, brought him into a general bad habit of body.

On Saturday July 30. 1768, he was seized, as he sat at dinner, with a sickness at his stomach. He recovered before night; but the next evening, while his physicians were attending, and his servants raising him on his couch, he suddenly cried out that his thigh-bone was broken. The shock was so violent, that the servants perceived the couch to shake under him, and the pain so acute and unexpected, that it overcame the firmness he so remarkably possessed. He lay for some time in great agonies; but when the surgeons arrived, and discovered with certainty that the bone was broken, he was perfectly resigned, and never afterwards asked a question about the event. A fever soon ensued. On Tuesday he became lethargic, and continued so till about five o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, when he expired with great calmness, in the 75th year of his age.

On examination, the thigh-bone was found to be curious about four inches in length, and at nearly the same distance from its head. The disease took its rise from the internal part of the bone, and had so entirely destroyed its substance, that nothing remained at the part where it was broken but a portion of its outward integument; and even this had many perforations, one of which was large enough to admit two fingers, and was filled with a fungous substance arising from within the bone. There was no appearance of matter about the caries, and the surrounding parts were in a sound state. It was apparent that the torture which he underwent during the gradual corrosion of this bone must have been inexpressibly great. Out of tenderness to his family he seldom made any complaints to them, but to his physicians he frequently declared his pains were so excruciating, that unless some relief could be procured he thought it would be impossible for human nature to support them long. Yet he bore them for upwards of six months with astonishing patience and fortitude; fat up generally the greater part of the day, admitted his particular friends to see him, mixed with his family at the usual hours, sometimes with his usual cheerfulness; and, except some very slight defects of memory, retained all his faculties and senses in their full vigour till within a few days of his death. He was buried, pursuant

5th of November; and a great number of occasional passages to the same purpose, in various parts of his lectures, sermons, and other works. fuant to his own directions, in a covered passage, leading from a private door of the palace to the north door of Lambeth church; and he forbade any monument or epitaph to be placed over him.

By his will he appointed the Rev. Dr Daniel Burton, canon of Christ-church, and Mrs Catherine Talbot, already mentioned in the course of these memoirs, his executors; and left 13,000l. in trust to the Drs Porteous and Stinton, his chaplains; to pay the interest thereof to Mrs Talbot and her daughter during their joint lives, or the life of the survivor; and after the decease of both those ladies, 11,000l. of the said 13,000l. are to be transferred to charitable purposes; amongst which are 1000l. to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and 1000l. to the same society for a bishop or bishops in the king's dominions in America.

The following description is given of his person: He was tall and comely; in the early part of his life slender, and rather consumptive; but as he advanced in years his constitution gained strength, and his size increased, yet never to a degree of corpulency that was disproportionate or troublesome.

The dignity of his form corresponded with the greatness of his mind, and inspired at all times respect and awe; but peculiarly so when he was engaged in any of the more solemn functions of religion, into which he entered with such devout earnestness and warmth, with so just a consciousness of the place he was in, and the business he was about, as seemed to raise him above himself, and added new life and spirit to the natural gracefulness of his appearance.

His countenance was open, ingenuous, and expressive of every thing right. It varied easily with his spirits and his feelings, so as to be a faithful interpreter of his mind, which was incapable of the least disimulation. It could speak dejection, and, on occasion, anger, very strongly; but when it meant to show pleasure or approbation, it softened into a most gracious smile, and diffused over all his features the most benevolent and reviving complacency that can be imagined.