THOMAS, bishop of Bath and Wells, was born at Berkhamstead, in Hertfordshire, in July 1637. From Winchester School, to which he was sent at the age of thirteen, he went to New College, Oxford, and there became a probationer-fellow at the age of twenty. In 1666 he was chosen fellow of Winchester College, and afterwards became successively domestic chaplain to Bishop Morley, rector of Brixton, in the Isle of Wight, and in 1669, prebend of Westminster. In 1674 he started with his nephew, Isaac Walton, upon a tour to Rome, and, upon his return, after five years of absence, took his degrees in divinity. Having been appointed chaplain to the Princess of Orange, he went to Holland, and on his return to England, was appointed chaplain to Lord Dartmouth, in the expedition to Tangier. In 1684 he became chaplain to Charles II, whom he closely attended during his last illness, speaking to him, according to Burnet, "with great elevation of thought and expression, and like a man inspired." Charles, shortly before his death, had nominated Ken to the bishopric of Bath and Wells, and after some delay he was fully invested in his episcopal functions after the accession of James II. In 1685 appeared his *Exposition of the Church Catechism*, and *Prayers for the Use of the Both*. Zealous in his attachment to the Church of England, he did not shrink from pointing out, even in the chapel-royal, the danger of a coalition with the sectaries. On the other hand, he was no friend to Popery, for the attempts made by the court to gain him over were unsuccessful; and when the king, having assumed the dispensing power, ordered the declaration of indulgence to be read, Ken openly opposed it, and, along with six others, was sent to the Tower. Still he considered James his lawful sovereign, and after the Revolution, when the Prince of Orange ascended the throne as William III, he would not transfer his allegiance to the new monarch. In consequence of this refusal he was deprived, and retired to Longleate, in Wiltshire, where he died on the 19th March 1711 at the age of seventy-four. A small pension settled on him by Queen Mary was his chief means of support during his latter years. A collective edition of his works, consisting of sermons, charges, and poems, was published in 1721, in 4 vols. 8vo. His prose works, and much of his poetry, have passed into oblivion; but his hymns, which breathe a spirit of lofty and resigned devotion, have fixed themselves in the hearts and memories of the English people, and will never be forgotten.

Intellectually and morally, Ken stood highest among the nonjuring prelates. He was a man of solid and extensive learning, refined taste, and wide sympathies. While in office, he laboured with an apostolic zeal and self-devotion. His high sense of duty was shown in the readiness with which he relinquished wealth and station, and retired into obscurity and poverty, rather than forego his principles. The tenderness and humanity of his nature were strikingly displayed in his kindness to the victims of the Monmouth rebellion,—many of them personal, and all of them political enemies,—whom he helped from his private resources with no sparing hand.