Dr. THOMAS HERRING, Abp. of CANTERBURY.

Of this pious, worthy, and truly modest Metropolitan Prelate, some particulars, with several of his Letters, may be seen in the "Literary Anecdotes * ;' but a few additional dates shall here be given:

He was born at Walsoken in Norfolk in 1694; educated at Wisbeach; admitted of Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1710; removed in 1714 to Bene't College, where in April 1716 he was made a Fellow. He was in the same year admitted Deacon; and in 1717 took the degree of M. A. and commenced Tutor. He was ordained Priest in 1719; was successively Minister of the several parishes of Great Shelford, Stow cum Qui, and Trinity, in Cambridge; and acquired the character of an eminent Preacher.

In 1722 Bp. Fleetwood made Mr. Herring his Domestic Chaplain; presented him to the Rectory of Rettenden in Essex; and soon after to the Rectory of Barley, Herts.

In 1724 he took the degree of B. D.; and about the same time was presented by King George I. to the Rectory of Allhallows the Great, Thames-street; but he gave up that Benefice before institution, and in 1726 was appointed Preacher at Lincoln's Inn.

In 1731 he was presented, by Sir William Clayton, Bart. to the Rectory of Blechingley in Surrey; and in February 1731-2, by King George the Second, to the Deanery of Rochester.

In 1737 he was nominated to the Bishoprick of Bangor; confirmed Jan. 14, 1737-8; and continued to hold the Deanery of Rochester in commendam.

In his Letters to Mr. Duncombe, soon after this promotion, are several characteristic traits of

* See the several pages referred to in the Index to that Work. + See some Extracts from these Letters in p. 459.

his natural pleasantry and benevolence. And of the natural goodness of his heart he gave a convincing proof*, in the pleasure he received in perfecting a

* The following Letters were communicated to me in 1790: To the Rev. WILLIAM LLOYD, Curate of Llanfrothen,

1." MR. LLOYD,

near Carnarvon.

Temple, Nov. 5, 1734. "I do assure you that I thought of you and your circumstances in Llanfrothen before I received your letter. I will make it my request to the Bishop to provide a more comfortable being for you; and I hope I shall be able to recommend you to him with effect. It is a concern to me whenever I think of the state of the Clergy in the Diocese which I am now very soon to leave. I did what I could to help them, much less than I wished to do; and am sensible I have left many worthy Clergymen but meanly provided. I should have left more so, if I had not withstood great importunities for the sake of those whom I judged deserving. I will not forget you; and though I leave the Diocese, yet I hope the good opinion you have given me reason to have of you will not be altogether useless to you.

"I am your humble servant, THO. BANGOR [SHERLOCK]." [Bp. Sherlock was succeeded at Bangor in 1734 by Dr. Charles Cecill, translated from Bristol, who died in 1737; and was succeeded by Dr. Herring.]

2. "REVEREND SIR,

Kensington, March 11, 1739-40. "Your good friend the Bishop of Sarum spoke to me to-day in the House of Lords in your favour; but I had you in my thoughts before I saw him, the moment I heard of Mr. Hughes's death. I cannot give you Edern, being obliged to fulfil a promise to Mr. Price; and Mr. Lloyd has acquired a sort of title to a Vicar's place at Bangor: but, if it is like to be of any service to you to become Mr. Evans's Deputy at the Cathedral, that is at your service. They tell me it is about 251. per annum; but the chief thing I consider is, that the situation there may accommodate your family, and be an introduction to better preferment some time or other. I promise nothing in particular, but you may be quite assured of my friendship in general; and I shall be pleased to see you settle at Bangor. You will consider this, and give me your thoughts upon it as soon as you can conveniently. If you accept this slender offer, I think I can furnish you with a Curate at Llanfrothen and Ffestiniog. I am, Reverend Sir,

"Your assured friend, THO. BANGOR [HERRING]." 3. "MR. LLOYD, March 15, 1739-40. "Immediately upon receiving yours, I applied to the Bishop of Bangor for you. I wish I could have succeeded in the present instance; but I found the Bishop had very kind intentions towards you, which he intends to acquaint you with himself; and therefore I have nothing to add but my good wishes for your

success,

work of real kindness, which had been intended by his Predecessor Dr. Sherlock.

In April 1742 Bishop Herring was translated to the Archiepiscopal See of York*; and in Septem

success; and that I am your affectionate brother, and humble servant, THO. SARUM [SHERLOCK.]" Kensington, Feb. 10, 1740-1.

4. " "REVEREND SIR, "I have this day sent a commission to the Chancellor of Bangor, to collate you to the Rectory of Llanfwrog, void by the death of Mr. Foulkes. I am sincerely glad of this opportunity of performing my intentions. I pray God send you health and long life; that your family may feel the benefit of your removal, as well as the parish, which I am confident you will take a very honest and religious care of. I am, Reverend Sir,

"Your assured friend, THO. BANGOR [HERRING]." 5. "REVEREnd Sir, Rochester, Dec. 10, 1741. "The Dean has acquainted me how uneasy you are in your present situation in Denbighshire, which I hoped would turn out much to the happiness of the remaining part of your life. I am concerned and disappointed at it, more especially as I hear you imagine your health has been impaired by your removal. I am perfectly disposed to come into every indulgence you can ask of me, for I think you can ask none that is improper; and when you have sent me your scheme of absence, and the reasons distinctly upon which you desire it, and the care you propose to take of your parish in your absence, you shall be sure of the kindest answer from, Reverend Sir,

"Your assured friend,

THO. BANGOR [HERRING].

"I have heard something, indistinctly, of the distresses of the Clergy in some parishes, and of your own ill-usage in particular in that respect; which I should be glad to be acquainted with with more certainty and preciseness."

6. "REVEREND SIR,

Kensington, April 29, 1742.

"I intend, if it please God, to visit the Diocese this summer, and beg the favour of you to give me a Sermon at Ruthyn church. I have not yet absolutely fixed the day, but think it will be about the middle of June. I am, Reverend Sir,

"Your assured friend, THO. BANGOR [HERRING]." * On the 13th of December following he tells Mr. Duncombe. "I was above a fortnight upon the road before I reached Bishopsthorp, and immediately entered here upon a new round of compliments and entertainment; from which I retreated, after ten days, by changing the scene, and fulfilling my second plan of Visitation. After a short recess, I entered upon a third, and, at a proper distance of time, upon a fourth, which ended a fortnight ago, and completed my Visitation. I bless God for it, I have finished the work, not only without hurt, but with great pleasure to myself; and I returned home with great satisfaction

of

ber took possession of his Palace at Bishopsthorpe ; which he soon after much improved *, and added a new clock to the turret.

In October 1747 his Grace was advanced to the Metropolitical See of Canterbury, in the room of Abp. Potter (who died October 10), to the general satisfaction of the Nation, himself perhaps alone ex

of heart for having done my duty, and acquired a sort of knowledge of the Diocese, which can be had by nothing but personal inspection. I have traversed by this means a prodigious tract of ground, seen all possible variety of country, many rich and populous towns, and some of the finest seats in the kingdom; and, what may give you by the rules of proportion a great idea of the importance of this district of England, I am confident, I have confirmed above thirty thousand people. I could enter with pleasure into a minute description of every thing that fell within my observation; but I chuse to reserve that, to fill up some agreeable hours when you favour me in the Winter with your company at Kensington, where I purpose to be, God willing, before November. But I cannot omit the pleasure I took in my last expedition, which was a visit to Castle Howard (where I spent two days), where there is every provision for elegant life, which pleasure and magnificence, conducted with the best œconomy, can afford."

* A Friend of Mr. Duncombe's, writing from York in June 1744, says, "I am at present under the hospitable roof of an Archbishop; of which I can send you no regular account, for it was built at a time of day when men paid more regard to convenience than to uniformity; and therefore it would be vain to attempt an exact description of it. The rooms are very large, and furnished in character; and that apartment where I now sit to write is ornamented with the Adventures of Sampson, curiously wrought in old tapestry, the work, perhaps, of some religious dame. In one of the bed-chambers, on each side of the chimney, there are two Cherubim, weeping most bitterly; and the story says, that when the carver was asked by somebody, how it entered into his head to represent them crying, his answer was, that he appealed to the Te Deum for the propriety of what he had done. Upon the whole, it is a most agreeable house; and pleases me more than if it had been designed by Lord Burlington, or any other Genius of the age."

The following answer to the congratulations of his own College was addressed to the Master, Mr. Castle:

"DEAR MASTer, Kensington, Dec. 3, 1747. "Your Fellows have been with me to-day, and delivered me a most obliging compliment, which has been rendered the more acceptable, and I will say honourable to me, by being penned

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cepted. But the earnest intreaties of his great and good friend Lord Hardwicke were irresistible. Like Cranmer," he had a true and primitive sense of so great a charge, and, instead of aspiring to it he was afraid of it." And " this known reluctance to accepting the first station in the Church" is justly mentioned by Dr. Birch, as one of the instances in which he resembled Tillotson, with this peculiar circumstance of having before shewn the highest qualifications for it, by a conduct in the second, from which the public safety received its earliest support at its most dangerous crisis.

by yourself. The fine things you say of me, I put to the score of your friendship; but will lay them up safely, as an honourable testimony of your regard to me; and will now and then peruse, as the polite instruction of one that means me well. The virtue of constancy, which you are pleased to mention, I will most certainly practise in one instance, which is my friendship for you; for I long for nothing more than to shew, by some real service to you, that I am, dear Sir, your most assured friend, THO. CANTUAR.”

The temper and disposition with which his Grace entered on this arduous office are well displayed in two other letters, written soon after his elevation. The first was in answer to one from Mr. Whiston, complaining, with apostolical boldness, of "the mean composition of the Forms of Prayer for the days of Fasting, in Archbishop Potter's time;" begging, with primitive simplicity, "that better Forms might be provided for the time to come, and particularly that, in the next Form for the Fast, February 17, some serious Collect might be inserted on occasion of the long and sore murrain among the horned cattle;" and requesting a copy, if to be found at Lambeth, of that admirable Collect of Thanksgiving and Prayer, on occasion of the great Storm, November 27, 1703, an excellent pattern for future forms." With such boldness this good Prelate could never be offended.-Another free speaker, Browne Willis, being on a visit to him, and a certain Doctor being named by his Grace, "Doctor T."" quoth the Antiquary, "and pray how came he to be a Doctor?" "I gave him the degree." "I gave him the degree." "Oh! a Lambeth Doctor!" exclaimed Willis: "Yet (said the Archbishop when he related it) he came to ask a favour of me, nor did he fare the worse for the freedom."-The other letter was in return for a volume of Sermons presented to his Grace, with congratulations on his advancement, by the learned and pious Dr. George Benson, and which was published in the Memoirs of his Life, prefixed to his "Life of Christ," by the Editor, Mr. Amory, "as a friend to liberty and mankind; because it breathes so strongly

that