form and hue, while the temperate and the pure in heart enjoy slumbers the most delicious and refreshing : Dulcis et alta quies, placidæque simillima morti. Or are transported into regions of ever-varying beauty and enjoyment, into ------------a world of gayer tinct and grace, THOMSON. 10. ZACHARY PEARCE, D. D. bishop of Rochester, and a critic of considerable celebrity, was born in High Holborn, London, in 1690. His father, who had acquired great wealth as a distiller, educated him at Westminster-school, where he was chosen one of the King's scholars, and, in 1710, elected to Trinity College, Cambridge. It was during the early part of his residence at the university, that he contributed to the periodical collections of Steele and Addison; to the Guardian in 1713, and to the eighth volume of the Spectator in 1714. The production, however, which first made him known to the public, and which procured him very powerful patronage, was an edition of Cicero de Oratore, printed in 1716, and dedicated, at the request of a friend, to Lord Chief Justice Parker. With this tribute of respect his lordship was so much pleased, that, by a strong recommendation to Dr. Bentley, then master of Trinity, he procured him a fellowship. Our author, in 1717, entered into holy orders, and received an invitation from Lord Parker, now chancellor, to reside with him as his domestic chaplain. About two years after his acceptance of this situation, he became rector of Stapleford Abbots, in Essex, and, in 1720, of St. Bartholomew behind the Royal Exchange. He this year published," An Account of Trinity College, Cambridge; in 1721, Epistolæ duæ de Editione N. T. a Bentleio suscepta, de corruptis Epistolarum N.T. Locis, &c.; and, in 1722, A Letter to the Clergy of the Church of England, on occasion of the Bishop of Rochester's Commitment to the Tower. Through the interest of his generous patron, now Earl of Macclesfield, he was presented, in 1723, to St. Martin's in the Fields, and the subsequent year, he dedicated to his lordship his valuable edition of Longinus. It was in 1724, likewise, that he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Archbishop Wake. An event now occurred, which for some time suspended our author's hopes and views of pre ferment. In 1725, the resignation and impeachment of Lord Macclesfield took place; and, sentence being passed against him in the House of Lords, he retired from political warfare, and died in 1732. Dr. Pearce was much attached to his patron, and, being fully convinced of his innocence, felt severely for the persecution to which he had been subjected. As soon as he had recovered from the shock, however, which this event necessarily occasioned him, he continued his lite rary career; and having, 1726, preached a sermon at the consecration of St. Martin's church, which had been rebuilt in its present magnificent style of architecture, he gave it to the world, accompanied by An Essay on the Origin and Progress of Temples. In 1727, he published the Miracles of Jesus vindicated, in answer to Woolston; and in 1730, and 1731, Two Letters against Dr. Conyers Middleton relating to his Attack upon Waterland. In the province of criticism, the Doctor had hitherto confined himself to ancient literature: but in the year 1733, he gave the public a convincing proof of his being equally versed in English Philology. His Review of the Text of Paradise Lost is a very successful attack upon the chimerical emendations of Bentley, who, greatly to the injury of his own reputation, had printed, in 1732, an edition of Milton's Epic, in which he assumes the absurd licence of correcting what he supposed to be the blunders of the poet's amanuensis," Dr. Pearce," remarks Newton in his preface to Milton's Paradise, “has distinguished his taste and judgment in choosing always the best authors for the subjects of his criticism, as Cicero and Longinus among the ancients, and Milton among the moderns. His review of the text of the Paradise Lost is not only a most complete answer to Dr. Bentley, but may serve as a pattern to all future critics, of sound learning and just reasoning joined with the greatest candour and gentleness of manners. The whole is very well worthy of the perusal of every lover and admirer of Milton." * : At length the abilities and erudition of Dr. Pearce met with due acknowledgment, and in 1739 he was preferred to the deanery of Winchester. Here he continued his classical pursuits, and, in 1745, published a most excellent edition in octavo of Cicero de Officiis. The dignities of the church now crowded upon our author; in 1748, he was made bishop of Bangor, and in 1756, bishop of Rochester and dean of Westminster. A short time prior to this last preferment, he had given some slight assistance to * Newton's Milton, Preface, 8vo, 2d edition, 1750, Johnson in the composition of his dictionary, though he chose to conceal his name. "Well might he say," remarks Boswell of his friend, that "the English Dictionary was written with little assistance of the learned; for he told me, that the only aid he received was a paper containing twenty etymologies, sent to him by a per son then unknown, who he was afterwards informed was Dr. Pearce, bishop of Rochester."* As the bishop was greatly attached to a literary life, and felt, shortly after his elevation to the see at Rochester, the pressure of age and infirmity, he expressed a wish to Lord Bath, in the year 1763, that the King would accept his resignation both of the bishopric and the deanery. His majesty, however, through the opposition of his ministers, who were jealous of Lord Bath's application for the appointment of a successor to Dr. Pearce, found himself unable to comply with the request, and intimated to our divine the necessity of his continuance in the see. Five years after this refusal, however, he was permitted to resign the deanery, and he had consequently more time for his favourite pursuits of study and contemplation. In 1773, his happiness and best comforts re Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. i. p. 260, 8vo. edition of 1799. |