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ing year lie affifted Sachevtrdl in his famous trial, who rc- 

 •co!Tipenfcd him by a legacy of 500I., and in performing the 

 office of prolocutor to ihe lower hoiifc of convocation. In 

 1711 he was appointed by the convocation one of the com- 

 mittee for comparing Mr. Whillon's dodrincs with thofe of 

 the chnrch of England; and lie was principally concerned 

 in drawing up " A reprefciitation of the preftnt ttate of 

 religion," which, though too exceptionable in its piinciples, 

 and too virulent ii its fpirit to be prefented to the queen, 

 was neverthelefs pnnted and privately difpcrled. In 1712, 

 Dr. Atterbury was m?de dean of Chrift-ehureh ; and in 

 1713 he attained, by the recommendation of the earl of 

 Oxford, the height of his promotion, that of the bifhopric 

 of Rocheller, and deanery of Wellmiafter. It is faid, that 

 he afpired to the primacy; but the death of the queen, in 

 1714, difconcerted all his projefts, and difappointcd all his 

 hopes of higher advancement. The acceilion of George I. 

 was an event which he had reafon to deplore. The per- 

 fonal dillike of the king, of which he had mortifying evi- 

 •dence, was retaliated on his part by difaffeftion to the efta- 

 blifhed government. In the firll year of this reign, during 

 the rebellion in Scotland, he, and one other billiop at his in- 

 flio-ation, rcfufed to fign tiie " Declaration" of the bidiops; 

 and his name occurs in the molt violent protelts againll the 

 .meafures of government. Not content with a conllitutional 

 oppofition, he engaged in a correfpondence with the pre- 

 tender's party, in order to bring about a revolution in favour 

 of the abdicated family; and in Auguft 1722, he was ap- 

 prehended on this account, and committed to the Tower. 

 Wliilll he was under examination, previous to his commit- 

 ment, he is faid to have adopted our Saviour's anfwer to 

 the Jewilli council; " If I tell you, you will not believe 

 me; and if I alfo alk yon, you will not anfwer me, nor let 

 me go." In the month of March of the following year, a 

 bill was brought into the houfe of commons for " inlliding 

 certain pains and psnalties on Francis bifliop of Rocheller;" 

 and having palled the commons, it was fent up to the lords 

 for their concurrence. In this houfe it was llrongly op- 

 pofed, and the bifhop, in his defence, made an able and 

 eloquent fpeech, clofing, after a folemn protcllation of his 

 innocence, and an appeal to the fearcher of hearts, with 

 this memorable declaration: " If your lordfliips fliall pro- 

 ceed to piifs this bill againft me, I (hall difpofe myfelf 

 quietly, and tacitly fubmit to what you do; God's will be 

 done ; naked came I out of my mother s luoiiib, and nahedjliall 

 J return; and whether he gives or takes away, bl<Jfed be the 

 name of the Lord!" At length, however, after a long and 

 very uarm debate, the bill palfed into a law, and the bifhop 

 ■was condemned to the deprivation of all his offices and 

 benefices, and to perpetual exile. The jullice of this 

 fentence, though much litigated at and immediately after 

 the time when it was pafTed, has been fmce generally al- 

 lowed. Of his attachment to the pretender, the following 

 ftriking inflance is related by the author of the Memoirs 

 of lord Cheiterfield, from Dr. Birch's MS. papers. " Lord 

 Harcourt, leaving the old minillry, provoked Atterbury's 

 abufive tongue. He, in return, declared, that, on the 

 queen's death, tlve biihop came to him and to lord Boling- 

 broke, and faid, nothing remained but immediately to pro- 

 claim king James. He furtlier offered, if they would give 

 him a guard, to put on his lawn fleeves, and head the pro- 

 cefTion/' Of his difaffeftion to the exifling government, 

 many convincing evidences occur; and particularly, his con- 

 duft towards Mr. Gibbin, a worthy clergyman, and curate 

 of Gravefcnd, whom he fufpended for allowing the ufe of 

 his church to the chaplain of the Dutch troops, who were 

 called over in 1715 to fupprefs the rebellion. Atterbury, 



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in confequence' of his fentence, left the country in June, 

 1723, accompanied by his daughter, Mrs. Morrice, to whom 

 he was affeftionately attached, and landed at Calais. From 

 thence he went to liruffels ; but being obliged to leave tliat 

 place, he removed to Paris, where he reiidcd till his death, 

 foftening the rigours of exile by lludy, and converfation 

 and correfpondence with learned men. It appears how- 

 ever, by fome letters publiflitd at Edinburgh in 1768, of 

 unqueitionable authenticity, that he was actively engaged, 

 in 1725, in fomenting difcontents in the highlands of Scot, 

 land, witli a view of encouraging another rebellion. In 

 1729 he loft his daughter, and this afHittive event, which 

 he bore with refignalion, is neverthelefs thought to have 

 haftened his own diflolution, which iiappencd at Paris, ia 

 February 173 i. His remains were brought over to Eng- 

 laud, and privately interred in A\^ellmiiiller-abbey. We 

 cannot forbear iul'erting, in this place, Mr. Pope's fine 

 epitaph on the bilkop, written in the form of a dialogue 

 between his daughter, fuppofed to be expiring in .his arms, 

 immediately after her arrival in France to fee him, and hini- 

 felf, and preferved in Pope's Works, vol.iv. p. 58. 8vo. 1776. 

 As to the juilice of tiie compliment, which it pays to his 

 political fentiments, the reader niuft judge. 



D'lah.^ue. 



She. " Yes, we have lived, — one pang, and then we pait ! 



May heaven, dear father ! now have all thy heart. 



Ytt, ah ! how much we loved, remember ftill, 



Till you are duft like me. — " 

 He, « Dear Hiade ! I will : 



Then mix this dull with thine — O fpotlefs ghoft ! 



O more than fortune, friends, or country' loll ! 



Is there on earth, one care, one wifli bcfide ! 



Yes, Save my Country, Heav'n, he faid, and 

 died." 



Bifhop Atterbury had four children, two fons and two 

 daughters. His Ion Ofboin alone furvived him. 



Some time before his death the bifliop publifhed a vindi- 

 cation of himfelf, bifliop Smahidge, and Dr. Aldrich, from a 

 charge brought againil them by Mr. Oldmixon, of having 

 altered and interpolated the copy of lord Clarendon's " Hi- 

 llory of the Rebellion." His lermons are extant in four 

 volumes 8vo. : thofe contained in the two firft were publiflied 

 by himfelf, and dedicated to his^ great patron, fir Jonathan 

 Trelawny, bifliop of Winchefler : thofe in the two laft 

 were publiflied after his death by Dr. Thomas Moore, his 

 lordfliip's chaplain. His epillnlnry correfpondence with 

 Mr. Pope is extant in the colleition of that poet's " Letters." 

 Mr. Nichols has lately publifhed in three volumes, 8vo. " The 

 Epiilolary Correfpondence, Vifitation, Charges, Speeches, 

 and Mifcellanies, of the right reverend Francis Atterbury, 

 D.D. lord billiop of Rochefler," with hiftorical notes; 

 the greater part of thefe volumes is entirely new. From 

 the General Dictionary (vol. ii. 445.) we learn, that Dr. 

 Atterbury is faid to have tranflated " Virgil's- Georgics" in 

 Englifh, and to have written an " Harmonia EvangcHca." 

 In an elegant differtation on the fi6titious perfon of Japyx, 

 or Japis in the ^neid, he attempted to prove that Virgil 

 meant by this perfon to allude to Antonius Mufa, an emi- 

 nent phyfician and pohte fcholar at Rome, in the reign of 

 Auguftus ; but the attempt docs no honour to his critical 

 erudition, and has been deemed futile by judicious commen- 

 tators. His tranflations of two odes of Horace, are r<3- 

 puted by a competent judge to have received more tlian 

 their due fhare of applaufe. 



As to this prelate's charaftcr, however the moral and poli- 

 tical part of it ma) have been differently appreciated by 



oppofitc 



