THE LIFE OF WILLIAM WARBURTON, D.D. LORD BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER FROM 1760 TO 1779: WITH REMARKS ON HIS WORKS. BY THE REV. JOHN SELBY WATSON, M.A., M.R.S.L. AUTHOR OF THE LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON,' 'THE LIfe of george fox,' etc. Αὐτὰρ ὁ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπεπωλεῖτο στίχας ἀνδρῶν, Нom. LONDON: LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, ROBERTS, & GREEN. IN submitting to the public this Life of Bishop Warburton, an attempt to accomplish a design which I have long had in view, I would beg leave to say that I have neglected, as far as I know, no means by which light might be thrown on Warburton's career and character, and that I have made due acknowledgments, by references at the foot of the page, to all sources from which I have derived information or assistance. To the Rev. Francis Kilvert's 'Selections from Unpublished Papers of Bishop Warburton,' and 'Life of Bishop Hurd,' I ought to express my obligations for a few letters of Hare, Sherlock, Jortin, Towne, and two or three of their contemporaries. Bishop Warburton's own letters, it is well known, were almost wholly destroyed, except those addressed to Hurd, which were preserved and printed by him, and published after his death under the title of 'Letters from an Eminent Prelate to one of his Friends.' Among the publications to which, in the prosecution of my task, I was obliged frequently to have recourse, were the numerous pamphlets put forth, for or against Warburton, in his own time. The consultation of these was a portion of my labour attended with no great pleasure or satisfaction; for they are, with a few exceptions, very poor performances, reiterating, in trite phrase, well worn theological doctrine, with little argument, much railing, and occasional scraps of flattery. Those who may have the benefit of what they have supplied, will hardly conceive from among how many dry and dreary pages it has been gathered. If it be thought that the extracts from letters, and from some of the more obscure publications, are somewhat copious, the intention of such liberality has been, that Warburton, and his assailants or supporters, might, by being allowed to speak in their own words, show themselves as they were, and that the reader, being furnished with literal citation, might be haunted with no suspicion of misrepresentation from abridgment. Inquiries at Newark, Brant - Broughton, and other places with which Warburton was connected, have elicited no information respecting him beyond what was already in print. The edition of Warburton's works, to which references are made, is the octavo, in twelve volumes, of 1811. J. S. W. |