ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



began his literary career in the vicarage of Long Newton near Stockton, 

 returning to the diocese under Bishop Van Mildert, who made him master 

 of Sherburn Hospital. Barrington was a munificent patron of Benjamin 

 Kennicott who, at Oxford, was beginning the search for Hebrew MSS. of 

 the Old Testament. 1 " The younger Kennicott was brought to Sunderland 

 as rector by the bishop. Several prebends at Durham were given to men 

 from other dioceses who afterwards became famous, as, for instance, Bathurst 

 bishop of Norwich, Gray bishop of Bristol, Jenkinson bishop of St. Davids, 

 Phillpotts bishop of Exeter, Sumner archbishop of Canterbury. Others 

 promoted by him were Gaisford, afterwards dean of Christ Church, and, of 

 those who remained long in the diocese to do excellent work in their different 

 ways, Thorp first warden of the university, Gilly a canon and rector at 

 Durham, and Townsend, still remembered for his edition of the Acts and 

 Monuments of Foxe, and other works of a Protestant character. 



But a more direct influence on the younger clergy of the diocese was 

 exercised by Barrington at the ordination seasons. It is often supposed that 

 at the beginning of the nineteenth century examinations before ordination 

 were a mere form, and that bishops accepted all candidates of competent 

 learning. To Barrington, then, belongs the credit of having anticipated the 

 stricter methods of later days. His charge of 1794 shows, in an appendix, 

 the really well-chosen list of books which the newly-ordained were directed 

 to read, and his exhortations in his various subsequent charges prove how 

 high a standard of really useful theological learning they were expected to 

 reach. He recurs to the subject in nearly every surviving charge. 



With the bishop's influence upon agriculture we are not here concerned, 

 but mention must be made of the generous liberality which promoted the 

 cause of good learning in the diocese, and still promotes it. The Barrington 

 fund for 'promoting religious and Christian piety in the diocese of Durham' 

 was the outcome of a successful lawsuit which he won on the question of 

 certain leases of lead-mines which had lapsed through neglect. It may have 

 been through emulation of the bishop's benefactions that the dean and chapter 

 of his day set to work to bring the poorer livings in their gift up to 150"* 

 a year, and this task they nearly accomplished before the formation of the 

 Ecclesiastical Commission."* A very different action on the part of the dean 

 and chapter concerns the fabric of the cathedral. 6 " External restoration had 

 been in progress since 1776, as recorded above, and this consisted chiefly of a 

 process of chipping and paring designed to obliterate the weathering of the 

 stone. Wyatt, of notorious memory, was now called in, and not content 

 with carrying on the same policy dictated still further destruction, which 

 culminated in 1799 with the demolition of the chapter-house. 



About this time was founded the important Roman Catholic institution 

 known as Ushaw College, the fuller name being St. Cuthbert's College, 

 Ushaw."' Reference has already been made to the permanence of Roman 







* See, for instance, his letter* in B.M. Add. MSS. 35129, No. 492. 



*" Such is the assertion of Van Mildert in his second charge, 1831, Sermont and Charges, 551. Canon 

 Low in his Diocesan Hist. 316 says 300. 



*** See again below, p. 73. 



** Carter's letters written in 1795 on the state of the cathedral fabric will be found in the Gent. Mag. 

 (ist Ser.), Ixxi, 1092 ; buii, 30, 133, 228, 399, 494. 



"* For the history see Ushaw College A Centenary Memorial, 1894. 



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