Richard, D.D., bishop of Worcester, and the friend and biographer of Warburton, was born in 1720, at Congreve, in the parish of Penkridge, Staffordshire. He was the second son of John and Hannah Hurd, whom he describes as "plain, honest, and good people, farmers, but of a turn of mind that might have honoured any rank and any condition." Their farm was not far from the grammar-school of Brewood, at that time one of the best conducted schools in the midland counties of England. At this seminary their son was trained with such ability and skill, that at the age of fifteen he was ready for the university. Entering Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he took the usual degrees in their ordinary course, and in 1742 was chosen a fellow of his college. He continued to reside at Cambridge till 1756, occupying his time in literary labour, of which the results were given to the public from time to time. In one of his works—a Commentary on the Ars Poetica of Horace—he had alluded in flattering terms to Warburton; and, though he is not believed to have had any selfish aim in view when he did so, he could not have devised a more effectual means for advancing his interests. In 1756 he was appointed rector of Thurcaston, where he resided for eight years, and where he wrote his Dialogues, his Letters on Chivalry and Romance, and some of those controversial pamphlets in which he was constantly vindicating the opinions and character of his idol Warburton. In 1765 he was chosen preacher of Lincoln's Inn; and, two years later, was promoted to the archdeaconry of Gloucester, of which Warburton was bishop. In 1773 he was promoted, by Lord Mansfield, to the bishopric of Lichfield and Coventry; whence, in 1781, he was transferred to that of Worcester. Two years later, on the death of Dr Cornwallis, he was offered the see of Canterbury, which, however, he declined, as "a charge not suited to his temper and talents, and much too heavy for him to sustain in these times." The remainder of his life he spent in studious retirement. He died in 1808, in the eighty-ninth year of his age.