so that, usually speaking, the worst bred person in company is a young traveller just returned from abroad.*

29. WILLIAM FLEETWOOD, a prelate of great learning and piety, was born in the year 1656; and having received a good education at Eton school, was elected to King's-college, in the university of Cambridge. He took orders about the period of the Revolution; was shortly afterwards appointed chaplain to King William and Queen Mary; and, through the interest of Dr. Godolphin, vice-provost of Eton, he was made fellow of that college, and rector of St. Austin's, London.

The celebrity which, in this situation, Mr. Fleetwood acquired as a preacher, soon led to further preferment; he was, in a short time after his establishment in the metropolis, chosen lecturer of St. Dunstan's, in Fleet-street; and, just previous to the decease of King William, he was nominated to a canonry of Windsor.

A strong inclination for literary retirement induced Mr. Fleetwood, in the year 1705, to ré sign his living and lectureship, and to retire to a small rectory which he possessed near Eton. Here, while immersed in the study of history and antiquities, he was unexpectedly, and with

* Swift's Works, vol. x. p. 220, 221.

out the least solicitation on his part, chosen by Queen Anne to fill the see of St. Asaph. He suc ceeded Dr. Beveridge; and though he found the political and religious opinions, which prevailed in the diocese of St. Asaph, widely different from his own, his manners, his virtues and address were such, that no prelate had been remembered there more universally loved and respected.

The attachment which this worthy divine had uniformly shewn for liberty and the protestant religion was rewarded, on the accession of the House of Hanover, by the valuable bishopric of Ely, a preferment which rendered his exertions in the support of liberal knowledge and rational` piety much more extensive and beneficial.

The literary labours of our author, during his advancement to, and possession of, these ecclesiastical dignities, were immense; not less than forty-two of his publications are noticed in the Biographia Britannica, all of which were subservient to the best and most useful of purposes. They may be arranged under the heads of Antiquities, History, and Theology; and we shall mention a few of these works as specimens of his exertions in each of the departments. His classical literature and critical powers were exhibited to great advantage in one of his early productions, entitled Inscriptionum Antiquarum Sylloge,

in duas partes distributa, &c. 8vo. 1691; the first part contains a choice collection of pagan, the second of christian, inscriptions, illustrated by notes. His profound skill in British antiquities was demonstrated, in 1707, by a work called Chronicon Preciosum; or, An Account of English Gold and Silver Money, the Price of Corn and other Commodities, and of Stipends, Salaries, Wages, &c. in England, for six hundred Years last past, &c. 8vo.; and his knowledge of church history, and his acumen in the detection of popish legends and miracles, in The Life and Miracles of St. Wenefrede, together with her Litanies, with some historical Observations made thereon, 8vo. 1713. The holy well of this pretended saint was in his diócese; and the Romish emissaries were active in. endeavouring to persuade the crowds who resorted to the waters, that the relief which they obtained was owing to the influence of St. Wenefrede, and that, consequently, it was incumbent upon them to embrace the religion that she had professed; an artifice which the Bishop not only exposed, but, it is said, completely put a stop to, by this production.

The publications of his lordship on the subject of divinity were very numerous; of these, some of the most important were, A plain Method of Christian Devotion, &c. 8vo. 1692; An Essay upon

Miracles, in Two Discourses, 8vo. 1701; The Reasonable Communicant, &c. 8vo. 1704; Sixteen Prac tical Discourses upon the relative Duties of Parents and Children, Husbands and Wives, Masters and Servants, &c. 2 vols. 8vo. 1705; The Thirteenth Chapter to the Romans vindicated, &c. 8vo. 1710; The Judgment of the Church of England, in the Case of Lay-baptism, and of Dissenter's Baptism, 8vo. 2 vols. 1712. These pieces reflect much credit upon the talents and intentions of the writer, and were received by the public with no small degree of deference and favour.

To the political principles of the Bishop, however, which were those of pure Whiggism, the prejudices of party paid little respect. The change in the government which took place toward the close of 1710 threw the friends of his lordship out of power; and as he was too conscientious to disguise his dislike of the measures of the Tory administration, and even went so far as to publish his opinions of their conduct in a Fast-sermon, it became the determination of ministers to embrace the next opportunity that should occur of expressing their resentment. This was afforded them so early as 1712, by his lordship publishing Four Sermons: 1. On the Death of Queen Mary, 1694. 2. On the Death of the Duke of Gloucester, 1700. 3. On the Death of

King William, 1701. 4. On the Queen's Accession to the Throne, in 1702. With a Preface. London, 8vo. As he had formerly preached these sermons with great approbation, they were of course not assailable; but the preface, which contained the most pointed reprobation of the political system of the Tories, was instantly seized upon, and condemned by a motion of the House of Commons to be burned by the common hang

man.

The consequence of this injudicious order was, that the work was not only purchased clandestinely, and circulated with avidity, but Steele introduced the preface into the Spectator. "If the design was to intimidate me," remarks the Bishop," they have lost it utterly; or, if to suppress the book, it happens much otherwise; for every body's curiosity is awakened by this usage, and the bookseller finds his account in it above any one else. The Spectator has conveyed above fourteen thousand of them into other people's hands, that would otherwise have never seen or heard of it.*

This celebrated preface, and Steele's introductory observations, form N° 384 of the Spectator, which," says the annotator, was not published till twelve o'clock, that it might come out pre

•Letter to the Bishop of Salisbury, Biographia Britannica, vol. iii, p.1974, Note.