1828.] 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



101 



son of a tradesman at Bury St. Edmonds, 

 in the county of Suffolk ; and, at the gram- 

 mar school there, he, with his brother, 

 John Prettyman, received the early part of 

 his education. From Bury he was removed 

 to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, where he 

 was distinguished as a good classical 

 scholar and mathematician. In 1772, he 

 came out senior wrangler; and, having 

 been elected a Fellow, in 1781, he served 

 the office of moderator. 



Fortunately for Mr. Prettyman, Mr. Wil- 

 liam Pitt, afterwards the celebrated pre- 

 mier, was sent as a student to Pembroke 

 Hall College. To what is generally termed 

 chance, but which others regard as the 

 special provision of Providence, he was 

 greatly indebted. The Earl of Chatham, 

 when upon a visit to his son at Cambridge, 

 was one day in conversation with the 

 master of the college, respecting the future 

 prospects of the youth. He inquired if he 

 could recommend to him a person compe- 

 tent to take upon himself the office of his 

 tutor. The master paused for a moment 

 looked out of the window, and then point- 

 ing to a person who was passing at a little 

 distance, exclaimed, yes; the young man 

 walking yonder will exactly suit your 

 Lords-hip's purpose. The person thus in- 

 dicated was Mr. Prettyman. Lord Chat- 

 ham immediately sent for, and engaged 

 him as tutor to his son. 



When Mr. Pitt became Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer, he proved himself not unmind- 

 ful of his college instructor. Aware of 

 his general talents for business, and espe- 

 cially of his great skill in calculation, he 

 took him to be his private secretary. He 

 also obtained for him, in the first instance, 

 the valuable rectory of Sudbury, with the 

 chapelry of Orford, in Suffolk ; and then, 

 a prebendal stall, in the church of St. Pe- 

 ter, Westminster. Upon the translation 

 of Dr. Thurlow, to the see of Durham, in 

 1787, Dr. Prettyman was, in opposition to 

 the claims of some of the first men on the 

 bench of bishops, appointed Bishop of 

 Lincoln ; and, soon afterwards, Dean of 

 St. Paul's. He is said to have been offered 

 the bishopric of London, but to have de- 

 clined it. 



While his lordship was private secretary 

 to Mr. Pitt, he was most severely and 

 unjustly satirised, by the author of the 

 work entitled, " Probationary Odes for 

 the vacant Laureateship." In that work, 

 he was designated as a man destitute of 

 all regard for truth. The reverse of this 

 was the fact; for, in point of integrity, 

 his character was at all times irreproach- 

 able ; and he possessed an urbanity of 

 manner and an easiness of access, which 

 endeared him to all. As a bishop, he 

 governed his diocese in a most exemplary 

 manner, being vigilant, impartial; and com- 



passionate. Of his attention and benevo- 

 lence, the inferior clergy experienced 

 abundant and substantial proofs. 



In the year 1796, Dr. Prettyman pub- 

 lished a sermon, which he delivered in the 

 cathedral church of St. Paul, before the 

 King and both Houses of Parliament, on 

 the day of thanksgiving for the success 

 of his Majesty's fleets. The style of that 

 discourse (as is that of all his other ser- 

 mons, &c.) is simple and perspicuous, pa- 

 thetic, and animated by a glow of devo- 

 tional feeling. 



In 1799, the Bishop of Lincoln published 

 his celebrated Elements of Christian The- 

 ology, in two volumes, octavo. This work, 

 though professedly written for the use of 

 students in divinity, is also admirably 

 adapted for general perusal. In the inter- 

 pretation of the thirty-nine articles, great 

 good sense and liberality are evinced j 

 and it is remarkable, that although the 

 work exhibits a strong vein of orthodoxy, 

 the right reverend author expresses him- 

 self in terms unfavourable respecting the 

 Athauasian creed ; not, indeed, on account 

 of its doctrine, but for the damnatory 

 clauses which it contains. The bishop's 

 Elements of Theology were keenly at- 

 tacked by Mr. William Friend, in a series 

 of letters to the author. 



His lordship published, in thesucceeding 

 year, a Charge to the Clergy of his dio- 

 cese ; and, in 1812, came out his trium- 

 phant Refutation of the Charge of Cal- 

 vinism against the Church of England. 



It was in the year 1820, that his lord- 

 ship was translated to the See of Winches- 

 ter, the second bishopric, in point of emo- 

 lument, in the kingdom, and bringing with 

 it the prelacy of the order of the garter. 

 His latest publication was a Life of his 

 pupil and patroi*, Mr. Pitt; but the work 

 was not distinguished by that peculiarity 

 of information, which he was considered 

 qualified to impart, and which the public 

 consequently expected. 



Some years since, a person to whom the 

 bishop was almost unknown, left him a 

 very considerable fortune, on condition of 

 his taking the name of Tomline. 



His lordship had recently become a 

 widower; and the loss of the companion 

 of a long life, evidently preyed upon his 

 spirits. Previously to that event, his ap- 

 pearance was, for his age, remarkably 

 hale and vigorous. While upon a visit to 

 his friend, H Bankes, Esq., at Kingston 

 Hall, near Wimborne, in Dorsetshire, the 

 Bishop of Winchester was seized with a 

 paralytical affection, which, as was at an 

 early period anticipated, terminated in his 

 death. He died on the 8th of November. 

 Dr.Sumner, Bishop of Llandaff,is promoted 

 to the See of Winchester, vacated by his 

 death. 



