fcEAN COMBfcR. 467 



Beacon at the early age of nineteen, and became 

 assistant to the Rev. William Holland, Rector of 

 All Hallows, London ; soon after which he came 

 into Yorkshire, as curate to the Rev. Gilbert Ben- 

 net, of Stonegrave, At the particular request of 

 Mr. Thornton, a gentleman of considerable pro- 

 perty in his parish, he became shortly after his 

 arrival in Yorkshire, an inmate of that gentleman's 

 house at East Newton. He married Alice, daughter 

 of Mr. Thornton, through whom the Newton estate 

 subsequently passed into the family of the Combers, 

 after having been in that of the Thorntons from 

 the time of Edward I. 



In 1669, he was instituted in the rectory at 

 Stonegrave, on the resignation of the Rev. Mr. 

 Bennet ; and about this time seems to have been 

 engaged in the composition of his great work, the 

 first part of which appeared about two years after, 

 under the title of a " Companion to the Temple; 

 being a learned, laborious, and admirable commen- 

 tary and exposition of the Liturgy of the Church 

 of England." 



He was created Doctor in Divinity, between the 

 years 1676 aud 1679, according to the most proba- 

 ble surmises, by a diploma from Lambeth. In the 

 year 1677, he was collated by Archbishop Sterne, 

 to the prebend of Helme, in the Cathedrajl Church 

 of York ; which in 1681, he quitted for the prebend 

 of Fenton, in the same church. In the year 1683-4, 

 he was also collated to the precentorship of York , 

 which he resigned, being nominated to the Deanery 

 of Durham, in 1691. Doctor Comber had also 

 the honour of being chaplain, to the Princess Anne 

 of Denmark, and to King William, and Queen 

 Mary. To these successive preferments, the princi- 

 pal recommendation appears to have been the res- 

 pectability and excellence of his character, and the 

 zeal of his labours, in defending and in illustrating 

 the principles and formularies of the established 

 church. Doctor Comber maintained an extensive 

 correspondence with Archbishop Tillotson, Sharp, 

 Jkirnet, Ilickes, Cave, Lake, and other eminent 



