LIVES OF EMINENT

AND

ILLUSTRIOUS ENGLISHMEN.

11-ECCLESIASTICAL SERIES.

Bishop Bildesley.

BORN A. D. 1698.—died ́a. D. 1772.

THE subject of this article was the eldest surviving son of the reverend Mark Hildesley, rector of Houghton with Witton, All-Saints, in the county of Huntingdon. He was born on the 9th of December, 1698, at Murston, near Sittingbourne, in Kent. He was educated at the Charter-house; and at the age of nineteen was sent to Trinity college, Cambridge, where he took his degree of A. B. in 1720, and of A.M. in 1724, having been elected a fellow the year preceding. He was ordained deacon in 1722, and in 1723 was appointed domestic chaplain to Lord Cobham.

In 1725 he was nominated a preacher at Whitehall, by Dr Gibson, bishop of London; and from 1725 to 1729 held the curacy of Yelling in Huntingdonshire. In 1731 he was presented by his college to the vicarage of Hitchin in Hertfordshire. At Hitchin-the value of which would not admit the expense of a curate-he began that course of strict attention to the duties of his office which he exhibited throughout life; and having advanced a considerable sum to repair the vicarage-house, he was obliged to add to his labours by undertaking the education of a few pupils. In October, 1735, he was presented to the neighbouring rectory of Holwell, in the county of Bedford. He was selected by the duke of Athole as a proper person to succeed the excellent and venerable Bishop Wilson, who died in 1755; and was accordingly consecrated in Whitehall chapel, after being created D.D. by Archbishop Herring; and on the 6th of August, 1755, was installed in the cathedral of St German on Peel, in the Isle of Man.

His removal took place, as he terms it in one of his letters, at a critical juncture, when the double charge of pupils and a large parochial cure together began to be too heavy for his "weak shoulders." He added, that he had, "in his new province, as much care, but not quite so much labour." For some time after his promotion he had been obliged to retain by commendam the rectory of Holwell, on account of

the smallness of his episcopal income, which was too slender to support the dignity of his station. Indeed it appears that the expenses, fees, and other charges attendant, or consequent on, his acceptance of the bishopric, amounted to no less than £928,— ,—a sum which must greatly have embarrassed him. As soon, however, as was possible, he resigned Holwell; and in the same year was presented by the bishop of Durham, Dr Trevor, to the mastership of Sherburn hospital; he had also a prebend of Lincoln given him, but at what time does not appear.

In his regulation of his diocese he made it the invariable rule of his conduct to tread as nearly as possible in the steps of his excellent predecessor, of whom, both in his letters and conversation, he always spoke with a kind of filial respect and veneration. He devoted himself to the various duties of his charge with a generous assiduity, and amongst the very chief of those duties, undertook to execute the arduous task of getting the Holy Scriptures translated into the Manks language, and printed for the use of the native inhabitants. This had been already begun by Bishop Wilson, who, at his own expense, proceeded so far as to print the gospel of St Matthew; and had also prepared for the press a manuscript version of the other evangelists, and the Acts of the Apostles, which afterwards underwent a very careful revision. At first, with the sanction and support of the society for promoting Christian knowledge, Dr Hildesley printed only the New Testament, the Book of Common Prayer, the Christian Monitor, Lewis's Exposition of the Catechism, and Bishop Wilson's Form of Prayer for the use of the Herring-fishery. But the bencfactions for this peculiar object came in so far beyond expectation, that, about the year 1766, the society was encouraged to set on foot a Manks version of the Old Testament, which had scarcely been accomplished when the good prelate's health, which was always delicate, showed alarming symptoms of approaching dissolution. He expired on the 7th of December, 1772, deeply regretted by the clergy and inhabitants of his diocese, to whom his amiable manners and active benevolence had endeared him. Bishop Hildesley is known as an author only by a small tract which he published without his name, entitled 'Plain Instructions for Young Persons in the principles of the Christian religion; in six conferences between a minister and his disciple; designed for the use of the Isle and Diocese of Man. By a resident Clergyman.' In two parts, 1762 and 1767.

Alban Butler.

BORN A. D. 1710.-DIED A. D. 1773.

THIS Roman Catholic divine was the second son of Simon Butler, Esq. of Appletree, in the county of Northampton. He was born in 1710, and commenced his education at a school in Lancashire, whence, in his eighth year, he was sent to the English college at Douay. Here his conduct was of the most exemplary kind, and he advanced rapidly in the studies prescribed at that seminary. “He was never reproved or punished but once; and then for a fault of which he was not guilty," is the honourable testimony borne to his general conduct by one who was his college-fellow. He generally allowed himself no

more than four hours' sleep, and often passed whole nights in study and prayer.

After completing the usual course of study, he was admitted an alumnus, and appointed professor of philosophy, from which chair he had the honour of introducing the Newtonian philosophy into the college. After teaching a course of philosophy, he was appointed professor of divinity; and soon after he published his 'Letters on the History of the Popes, published by Mr Archibald Bower.' These letters are written in an easy and engaging style, and display various and extensive learning. The object of their author was to point out various errors into which Bower, formerly a Jesuit but then a convert to the episcopalian faith, had fallen; and thus to throw general discredit on a work conceived in a spirit little grateful to a genuine son of the papal church.

In 1745, Mr Butler accompanied the earl of Shrewsbury and the honourable James and Thomas Talbot on their travels through France and Italy. His journal of this tour has been published. On his return he was sent on the English mission,-an employment which he coveted on account of the facilities which a residence in London would afford him for the completion of his great and favourite work, 'The Lives of the Saints;' but to his great disappointment the vicar-apostolic ordered him to join the mission in Staffordshire. Here, however, he

did not long remain; for, on the recommendation of Mr Challoner, he was appointed to superintend the education of Edward Howard, the nephew and presumptive heir of Edward duke of Norfolk, whom he accompanied to France for this purpose; but who died before completing his studies at Paris. It was during his residence at Paris, in the capacity of tutor to the young Howard, that Butler completed his 'Lives of the Saints.' His qualifications for this operose work were very considerable. To a perfect command of the Italian, Spanish, and French languages, he added a thorough acquaintance with the Latin and Greek, and some skill as an Orientalist. In exegetical and polemical reading his learning was extensive; he was also skilled in heraldry, and partially acquainted with the medical and cognate sciences. The curious reader will find in the 3d volume of Mr Charles Butler's works a full and valuable specification of the various works of a similar nature to which the author of 'The Lives of the Saints' might have had recourse for the materials of that work. But the extent and minuteness of the investigations pursued by the author in some instances, as in his account of the Manichæans in the life of St Augustine, and of the crusades in the life of St Lewis, prove that his researches were often of the most laborious and original kind. Gibbon has styled our author's Lives" a work of merit;"-" the sense and learning," he adds, "belong to the author his prejudices are those of his profession." In the first edition the whole notes were omitted at the suggestion of Dr Challoner, who desired to see the work produced at the least possible expense, in order that it might achieve the greatest possible usefulness. The succeeding editions, however, were enriched with these valuable appendages.

Some years after the publication of the 'Lives of the Saints,' Mr Butler gave to the world the Life of Mary of the Cross,' a nun in the English convent at Rouen. Of this work Mr Charles Butler says: "It is rather a vehicle to convey instruction on various important dutics of a reli

gious life, and on sublime prayer, than a minute account of the life and actions of the nun."

Mr Butler was chosen president of the English college at St Omer's some time after the publication of his Lives, and continued in this office till his decease. He was also appointed vicar-general to the bishops of Arras, St Omer's, Ipres, and Boulogne. These different appointments involved him in a thousand incessant labours; but his intense application enabled him to acquit himself in the whole of them with the highest credit. 66 Every instant," says the Abbe de la Sepouze, "that Mr Butler did not dedicate to the government of his college he employed in study; and when obliged to go abroad, he would read as he walked along the streets." Among the works which he had projected but did not live to execute, was a treatise on the Moveable Feasts, which was published, however, after his decease, under the direction of Mr Challoner. He had also meditated writing the lives of Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More; and had begun a treatise on the evidences of natural and revealed religion, from which, and his discourses, three volumes were published after his death. Mr Charles Butler admits that, as a preacher, his relative almost wholly failed. "His sermons," he says, were sometimes interesting and pathetic, but they were always desultory, and almost always immeasurably long."

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Mr Butler numbered among his correspondents the learned Lambertini, afterwards Pope Benedict XIV., the celebrated Dr Lowth, and Dr Kennicott. Brotier, in his preface to his edition of Tacitus, calls him "sacrâ eruditione perceleber;" and in the life of the bishop of Amiens he is mentioned as "the most learned man in Europe." He died on the 15th of May, 1773, in the 63d year of his age. His Lives of the Saints' were first published in 1745, in 5 vols. 4to. In 1779 an edition was published at Dublin in 12 vols. 8vo. And in 1799-1800 another edition, in the same form, appeared at Edinburgh. A selection and abridgment from it was published at Newcastle in 1799, in 2 vols. 8vo

Thomas Broughton.

BORN A. D. 1704.-died a. D. 1774.

THIS learned divine was born at London, on the 5th of July, 1704, in the parish of St Andrew, Holborn; of which parish his father was minister. At an early age he was sent to Eton school, where he soon distinguished himself by the acuteness of his genius, and the studiousness of his disposition. Being superannuated on this foundation, he removed, about the year 1722, to the university of Cambridge; and, with the view to a scholarship, entered himself of Gonville and Caius college. Here two of the principal objects of his attention were the acquisition of a knowledge of the modern languages, and the study of the mathematics under the famous Professor Sanderson.

On the 28th of May, 1727, Mr Broughton, after taking the degree of bachelor of arts, was admitted to deacon's orders, by Dr Richard Reynolds, bishop of Lincoln. In the succeeding year, on the 22d of September, he was ordained priest, by Dr Edmund Gibson, bishop of London, and proceeded to the degree of master of arts. At this time

he removed from the university to the curacy of Offley, in Hertfordshire. In the year 1739 he was instituted to the rectory of Stepington, in the county of Huntingdon, on the presentation of John, duke of Bedford, and was appointed one of that nobleman's chaplains. Soon after he was chosen reader to the Temple, by which means he became known to Bishop Sherlock, who was then master of it, and who conceived so high an opinion of our author's merit, that, in 1744, this eminent prelate presented Mr Broughton to the valuable vicarage of Bedminster, near Bristol, together with the chapels of St Mary Redcliff, St Thomas, and Abbot's Leigh, annexed. Some short time after, he was collated, by the same patron, to the prebend of Bedminster and Redcliff, in the cathedral of Salisbury. Upon receiving this preferment he removed from London to Bristol, where he married. He resided on his living till his death, which happened on the 21st of December, 1774, in the seventy-first year of his age. He was interred in the church of St Mary Redcliff.

From the time of Mr Broughton's quitting the university till he was considerably advanced in life, he was engaged in a variety of publications, of which the following is a list, taken, in a great measure, from a paper in his own hand-writing: Christianity distinct from the Religion of Nature, in three Parts; in answer to Christianity as old as the Creation.'-'Translation of Voltaire's Temple of Taste.'-' Preface to his Father's Letter to a Roman Catholic.'-' Alteration of Dorrel on the Epistles and Gospels from a Popish to a Protestant Book.' Two vols. 8vo. Part of the new Edition of Bayle's Dictionary in English, corrected; with a Translation of the Latin and other Quotations.''Jarvis's Don Quixote; the Language thoroughly altered and corrected, and the poetical Parts new translated.'-' Translation of the Mottoes of the Spectator, Guardian, and Freeholder.'—' Original Poems and Translations, by John Dryden, Esq. now first collected and published together.' Two vols.—Translation of the Quotations in Addison's Travels, by him left untranslated.'—'The first and third Olynthiacs, and the four Philippics of Demosthenes (by several Hands), revised and corrected; with a new Translation of the second Olynthiac, the Oration de Pace, and that de Chersoneso: to which are added, all the Arguments of Libanius, and select Notes from Ulpian.' 8vo.-' Lives in the Biographia Britannica.'' The Bishops of London and Winchester on the Sacrament, compared.'' Hercules, a Musical Drama.'-' Bibliotheca Historico-Sacra, an Historical Dictionary of all Religions, from the Creation of the World to the present Times.' In two vols. folio, 1756.— 'A Defence of the commonly received Doctrine of the human Soul.'A Prospect of Futurity, in four Dissertations; with a preliminary Discourse on the natural and moral Evidence of a future State.'—In 1778, a posthumous volume of Sermons on select subjects was published by his son, the Rev. Thomas Broughton, M.A. of Wadham college, Oxford, and vicar of Tiverton near Bath.1

1 Biographia Britannica.