No. XI. BISHOP WARBURTON *. (See vol. II. p. 120.) THIS very learned Prelate was descended from an antient and respectable family at Orley hall in Cheshire, of which Sir Peter Warburton, the present baronet, is at the head. William Warburton, the grandfather of our Bishop, distinguished himself as a royalist in the civil wars of the seventeenth century. He married Frances, daughter of Robert Awfield, of Etson in Nottinghamshire; and settled at Shelton, about six miles from Newark, where he practised the law, and was coroner for the county till his death. * I am aware that, since this article was first compiled, it has been in a great measure superseded by the excellent Biographical Preface of the Bishop of Worcester.- cannot, however, omit so prominent a feature of my original Work; but give it (in substance) as it before appeared; illustrated by notes, principally from Bp. Warburton's own delineation of himself and his writings. The character of this truly great man will not suffer by a faithful delineation of some of his peculiarities. + The Warburtons are descended from Adam Dutton, a younger son of Hugh, grandson of Hudard, or Odard, who came over into England with William the Conqueror. Sir Peter Dutton, greatgrandson of Adam, in the reign of King Edward the Second, settling at Warburton in Cheshire, assumed the name of his residence; and his descendants removed to Arley, where the family mansion was built by Peter Warburton, esq. who died in 1495. (Lysons' Cheshire, p. 361.) Sir John Warburton, son of Peter, was one of the Knights of the Body to King Henry VII. sheriff of Cheshire for life, and died in 1524. His son, Sir John Warburton, who died in 1575, æt. 52, had four sons; of whom Peter, the eldest, was called to the degree of serjeant-at-law in 1594, and one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas in 1601. He died July 22, 1626, without issue male; but left nine daughters, one of whom, Alice, was married to her relation, Peter Warburton, esq. of Helpestone Grange; who was born in 1588, made one of the justices of Chester by the Parliament in 1647, and afterwards one of the judges of the Court of King's Bench. He died at Polsden in Surrey, Feb. 28, 1665-6; and was buried at Fetcham. Of his three sons, the two eldest died in their infancy; and the youngest, Richard Warburton, esq. of the Grange, married Elizabeth, daughter of Alderman Barkley, VOL. V. MM of Mr. William Warburton had three sons; the second of of whom, George Warburton, was an attorney, and town-clerk of Newark; where he was much esteemed for integrity; and married, about the year 1696, Elizabeth, daughter of William Hobman, an alderman of the same town; by whom he had five children; George, William, Mary, Elizabeth, and Frances. He died about 1706; and his eldest son died young. WILLIAM WARBURTON was born at Newark, Dec. 24, 1698; and was put to school there under Mr. Twells, whose son afterwards married his sister Elizabeth; but he had the chief part of his education under Mr. Weston * and Mr. Wright, at Okeham; where he continued till 1714; when his cousin, Mr. William Warburton, being made head-master of London. "He greatly affected retirement and privacy; spent the greatest part of his time in reading and prayer; and his house was a little sanctuary for silenced ministers, and those that adhered to them." He died, after repeated attacks of the palsy, April 14, 1696; leaving one son, Dr. Warburton, of Abbot's Bromley in Staffordshire; and one daughter, Mary, second wife of the Rev. Matthew Henry, the celebrated Dissenting minister, who died in 1714. (Life of Matthew Henry, by Tong, pp. 107. 326. 337).--George Warburton, esq. second son of the last-mentioned son John, had five sons; of whom Peter, the eldest, died without issue; and George, the second son, created a baronet in 1660, was the immediate ancestor of the present Sir Peter Warburton; whose family are now the only known descendants in the male line of the antient stock of the Duttons. -A younger branch of this family was George Warburton, of Brase-nose college, Oxford, chaplain in ordinary to king James I. and afterwards to king Charles I. He published "King Melchiżedeck, a Sermon preached at Court, at East Hamsted, Sept. 2, 1623; was installed dean of Gloucester June 14, 1631; and on the 3d of August following was presented by the king to the deanry of Wells. In 1640 he went to London, to attend the Long Parliament; and died, in Drury-lane, about the month of December 1641. (Wood's Fasti, II. 270.) * Mr. Weston (who was afterwards vicar of Campden in Gloucestershire, in which he was succeeded by his son, both from the gift of Lord Gainsborough) expressed the greatest surprize when "The Divine Legation" appeared; declaring, "that, when at school, he had always considered-young Warburton as the dullest of all dull scholars." Gent. Mag. vol. L. p. 474. This gentleman was the son of John Warburton, M. A. of St.John's college, Cambridge; M. A. 1664; and was himself of the of the public grammar-school at Newark, he returned to his native place, and was for a short time under the tuition of that learned and respectable person. His original destination was to the same profession as that of his father and grandfather; and he was accordingly articled, in 1714, as a clerk *, to Mr. Kirke, an attorney at East Markham in Nottinghamshire; with whom he continued till April 1719. From the expiration of his clerkship to the time of his entering into holy orders, his actual pursuits in life are involved in an obscurity which would be of no consequence in the memoirs of any ordinary man. But, in the history of so gigantic a Scholar, the mode of passing his early years becomes an object of no common interest. It has been generally supposed, and there seems no occasion to doubt it, that he was regularly admitted in one of the Courts at Westminster; and that, for a short time at least, he practised as an He was father the same College; B. A. 1707; M. A. 1710. of the Rev. Thomas Warburton, of Jesus college, Cambridge; B. A. 1742; M. A. 1744; elected fellow 1745; vicar of Fordham, Cambridgeshire, 1746; archdeacon of Norfolk; and rector of Redenhall with Harleston in that county; who died at Harleston, aged about 76, Nov. 1, 1797.-There was an earlier Thomas Warburton, of St. John's college also, B. A. 1721; probably a brother to the school-master. * As a matter of curiosity merely, the following particulars of his enrollment are extracted from the Registry of the Stampoffice: "William, son of Elizabeth Warburton, widow, was articled, April 23, 1714, for five years from that date, to John Kirke, of East Markham in Nottinghamshire, gent. with a premium of 951.; the twelve-penny duty on which, being 47. 15s, was received on Saturday June 19." + The Kirkes have long been a respectable family at East (generally called Great) Markham.-John Kirke, gent. died there in 1710, aged 58.—Anne, daughter of John Kirke, gent. and wife of Thomas Hanson, gent. deputy registrar of the Archidiaconal Court at Lincoln (pronepos of John Hanson, bishop of Oxford 1619, and of Durham 1628) died March 15, 1723; and is buried, with a Latin epitaph, in Lincoln Cathedral: "ob beneficentiam et comitatem ab omnibus dilecta et desiderata."-William Kirke, esq. died at East Markham 1773, æt. 58.-Edward Kirke, esq. 1786, æt. 67.—John Kirke, esq. was a considerable freeholder in 1797, attor MM 2 attorney on his own account. Certain it is, that he very early returned to his family at Newark; and, the bent of his genius having long before appeared in a passionate love of reading, he had here an opportunity of giving way to his favourite inclination, under the immediate advice and assistance of his relation, the master of Newark school; who, besides his classical merit, which was great, had that of being an excellent Divine, and a truly learned as well as good man; and "employed all the time he could spare in instructing him, and used to set up very late at night with him to assist him in his studies*" * This anecdote was communicated to Bp. Hurd by the son of the school-master; and was often mentioned by the pupil himself, who used to enlarge with pleasure on his obligations to his old tutor; and has illustrated his theological and other learning in the following handsome epitaph, inscribed on a brass plate against the wall of the North cross aile in Newark church "Si sit in pretio, Hospes, aut Virtus, aut Doctrina; generosâ stirpe atque antiquissima Ore trilingui, ac animo omnis capaci sine pertinacia Theologus. apage vos prostibulas, justitiæ, prudentiæ, castimoniæ, &c. super omnem tumulum quotidiè constupratas, magnificas voces: virtutem tam sinceram inimico, tam absolutam, immò etiam temerario amico ausem relinquere. Hujus amplitudinis, si quæras, Pudet dicere, sileo. Si tandem quæras, qualem merebat illa? Dicam, Tempora feliciora. Vix, ann, XLI.-Ob. A. R. MDCCXXIX." The The success which he met with as a man of business was probably not great. It was certainly not sufficient to induce him to devote the rest of his life to it and it is probable that his want of encouragement might tempt him to turn his thoughts towards a profession in which his literary acquisitions might be more valuable, and in which he might more easily pursue the bent of his inclination. He appears to have brought from school more learning than was requisite for a practising Lawyer. This might rather impede than forward his progress; as it has been generally observed, that an attention to literary concerns, and the bustle of an attorney's office, with only a moderate share of business, are wholly incompatible. It is therefore no wonder that he preferred retirement to noise, and relinquished what advantages he might expect from continuing to follow the Law *. "His love of letters continually growing stronger, and the seriousness of his temper, and purity of his morals, concurring with his unappeasable thirst of knowledge, determined him to quit that profession for the Church." In 1723 he took deacon's orders; and his first printed work, consisting of Translations from Cæsar, Cicero, Pliny, Claudian, and others, appeared, under the title of "Miscellaneous Translations in Prose and Verse, from Roman Poets, Orators, and Historians," 12mo, was in that year addressed to Sir Robert Sutton; and seems to have laid the founda *It has been suggested that he for some time was employed as an assistant in a school; and Mr. Hutchinson (History of Durham, vol. II. p. 174, citing Dr. Z. Grey's MSS.) says he was "a school-master at Newark." It is not improbable that he might, for the sake of his own improvement, be occasionally useful to his relation in that capacity. + The Title-page is dated 1724. This juvenile performance is barely alluded to in Bp. Hurd's Life of the Author, and not at all noticed by either of them in their Correspondence. The Latinity of this address has been much objected to: but the reader shall judge for himself: "Excellentissimo, præstantissimo, et honoratissimo viro, Do ROBERTO SUTTON Equiti Aurato, ad Gallicum Monarcam, dare morem Catholicæ Pacis, cum authori tate maximâ proximè, misso: in LEGATIONIBUS, Gloria Bri |