1811.} 
and to adopt his own language, he was 
*« descended from ancestors illustrious 
for their piety, benevolence, and erudi- 
tion.” Dr. Richard Cumberland, con- 
secrated bishop of Peterborough in 1691, 
was his great grandfather. ‘This learned 
clergyman is the author of a very adini- 
rable work, “* De Legibus Nature,” in 
which, he has bestowed much pains to 
refute the doctrines of Hobbes. He had 
been a simple parish-priest in the town of 
‘Stamford, in Taitcalachire: and so little 
was he disposed to intrigue for advance- 
ment, that he received the first intelli- 
gence of his preferment by means of a 
paragraph in the newspapers, at a period 
when he was sixty years of age, and ina 
disposition of mind that induced him ra- 
ther to shrink from, than to accept of, 
a mitre. He was at length induced to 
episcopate by the persuasion of his friend, 
the celebrated Sir Orlando Bridgman: 
but he afterwards resisted every offer of 
_ @ translation; and such was the virtuous 
simplicity of his life, that on the settle- 
ment of his accounts, at the end of every 
year, he distributed the surplus to the 
poor, reserving only the small deposit of 
twenty-five) pounds in cash, found at his 
death in his bureau, with directions to 
_ employ it for his funeral expences, a sum, 
in his mode of calculation, fully sufficient 
to commit his body to the earth. Such 
was the humility of this christian prelate, 
and such his disinterested sentiments, 
as to the appropriation of his clerical 
_ revenue! | 
Doctor Richard Bentley, the maternal 
grandfather of the subject of this memoir, 
was also a remarkable man, being the 
first critic of his age, and not only the 
friend of Meade, Wallis, and Newton, 
but celebrated by Swift in his “ Battle of 
the Books,” on account of his controver- 
sial intrepidity. Denison Cumberland, 
the younger son of Archdeacon Cumber- 
land, was his father, and Joanna, the 
younger daughter of Dr. Bentley, and 
the Pheebe of Byron’s Pastoral, his mo- 
ther. Their only son, Richard, was born 
in the Master’s Lodge of Trinity College, 
“inter sylvas Academi,” under the root of 
his grandfather Bentley, alluded to above, 
"in what is called the “ Judge’s Chamber.” 
During his infancy, be persisted in a 
stubborn repugnance to all instruction, 
god remained for a long time in a state 
of mutiny against the letters of the En- 
glish alphabet!» When turned of six 
ears of age, he was sent to the school of 
os St, Edmunds, and remained for a 
ay 
Menvirs of the late Richard Cumberiand, esq. 
541 
considerable period there, under the 
tuition of the Rev. Arthur’ Kinsman 
who formed his pupils on the system of 
Westminster, and was a Trinity College 
man. This worthy master first raised 
the spirit of emulation in his bosom, by 
reprimanding him for his ignorance and 
inattention, in the presence of all the 
boys; and his diligence heing as usual fol. 
lowed by success, success in its turn 
encouraged him to fresh exertions, Af- 
ter this, he rose rapidly to the head of 
his class, and never once lost that envied 
situation, although daily challenved by 
those, who aspired to the chief place 
Bishop Warren, and Dr. Warren his 
brother, were two ofthe most formidable 
of his form-fellows. 
About this period, young Cumberland 
first displayed a practical taste for the 
drama, by acting the part of Juba,- 
while the virtuous Marcia « towered 
above her sex” in the person of a most 
ill-favoured wry-necked boy. Nearly at 
the same time he began to form both his 
ear and his taste for poetry, by reading, 
during every evening to his mother. 
while at home, at the parsonage house of 
Stanwick, near Higham-Ferrars, in Nor- 
thamptonshire, Shakespeare, at this 
period, was his favourite author, and he 
soon after resolved to try his own 
strength in slight dramatic attempts. 
His first composition was a Cento, which 
he entitled, “Shakespeare in the Shades,” 
and was produced when only twelve 
years of age. 
As his worthy old master at Bury 
school had intimated his purpose of re- 
tiring, the elder Mr. Cumberland trans 
planted his son to Westminster, where he 
was admitted under Dr. Nichols, and 
lodged in Ludford’s boarding-house, On 
reading a passage in Homer, and another 
in Horace, he was immediately placed iu 
the shell, which was no small honour; 
and among his contemporaries reckoned 
Cracherode, the learned collector, the 
Jate Earls of Bristol and Buckinzham. 
shire; the Right Honourable Thomas 
Harley, whosaton the same form: while 
the Duke of Richmond, Warren Has- 
tings, Colman and Lloyd, were in the 
under school, together witht Hincheliffe 
Smith, and Vincent, who have succeeded 
in rotation as head masters. 
In the fourteenth year of his age, young 
Cumberland left Westminster school, and 
was admitted a member of Trinity Col- 
lege, Cambridge. His father accompa- 
nied him thither, and placed him under 
the 
