DR THOMAS, archbishop of Canterbury, was born at Cottenham in Cambridgeshire in 1636; and studied at Corpus Christi college in Cambridge. In his youth, while the fanatical government lasted, he applied himself to physic; but afterward went into orders, and was some time minister of St Andrew's church, Cambridge; where he attended the sick during the plague in 1665, which his parishioners acknowledged by the present of a piece of plate. He showed himself very active against the growth of Popery, by his writings both in King Charles and in King James's reigns: in 1680 he was presented to the vicarage of St Martin's in the Fields, London, to which parish he made several donations; and among others, endowed a free school, and built a handsome library, which he furnished with useful books. King William and Queen Mary, in 1689, presented him to the archdeaconry of London; in 1691, he was nominated to the see of Lincoln, and in 1694 he succeeded Dr Tillotson as archbishop of Canterbury. He performed all the duties of a good primate for 20 years, and died in 1715.