BURNET. 



mcafurc, wliicli, in l.is iiiJgment, tenJcJ to tlie public 

 jjooJ. His fiilinas were vanity, crfdiility, fcll-imp-rtancc, 



ofScioiifiiffs, and a kind of goiTipintt garniliLy. It is 

 Pitural to imagine, ttiat, conlidtriiig the times in which he 

 lived, and the ofttnlible part whicii he took in pubhc and 

 political concerns, lie would not be likely to elcape re- 

 preach ; but notwithilanding the freedom and feverily with 

 which his principles and character have been fcrutimzed and 

 ccnfured. his name has defcended to pofterity with ho- 

 nour, aiul his public fervices at an iiiteiefting period in the 

 hulory of this country, as well as his private chaiadtr, wiH 

 be recognized with veneration by all pcrfoi.o, who are at- 

 Uchcd to the iiilercfts of coiillitulional liberty and tli£ Pro- 

 tt'.lant religion. 



Bilhop Burnet, by his fecond wife, Mrs. Mary Scott, 

 liad feveii children, three fons and four daughters. His 

 three fons furvivtd him, as well as two of his daughters. 

 mil'iam, hii eldeil fon, was educated as a gentleman-com- 

 moner in the univerlity of Cambridge, and made choice of 

 the profefTion of the law. Having been a great fufFerer in 

 the South Tea fclieme of 1720, he became governor, firft of 

 Nev7 York, and the Jerfeys, and afterwards of the Maffa- 

 chufetts and New Hamplhire. He died at Bolton in 1729; 

 and was the author of a trad, entitled, " A View of Scrip- 

 ture Prophecy." 



Gilbert, the bilhop's fecond fon, was educated at Leyden, 

 and as a commoner of Merton-college, in the univevfity of 

 0.\ford, with a view to the church. Having entered into 

 holy orders, he was king's chaplain in 17 18, when he could 

 fiot be JO years of age, and he is faid to have contributed 

 to a periodical paper at Dublin, entitled " Hibernicus's 

 Letters," and alfo to another valuable paper, entitled 

 " The Free-thinker," afterwards publifhed in 3 vols. i2mo. 

 and now become fcarce. He was alfo a dillinguifhed writer 

 on the fide of Hoadly in the Bangorian controverfy, and 

 was confidered by this eminent prelate as one of his bell de- 

 fenders. His " Full and Free Examination of feveral im- 

 portant Points relating to Church Authority, &c. &c." was 

 printed in 171S, Svo. and has been reckoned a maftcrly 

 performance, difplaying great liberality of mind, llrong 

 powers of reafoning, and an accurate acquaintance with 

 fcripturc. In 1 7 19, he publiOied an Abridgment of the 

 third volume of his father's Hiftory of the Reformation. He 

 died in early life. The Gilbert Burnet who abridged the 

 Boylean leftures was a different perfon. See Bovle's Lec- 

 tures. 



Thomas, the bilhop's third fon, enjoyed the fame advan- 

 tages of education with his two elder brothers. He was 

 admitted a commoner of Merton college in the univerfity of 

 O.tford, and having ftudied two years at Leyden, made a 

 tour from France, through Germany, Swifferland, and 

 Italy. Upon his return to England, he devoted himfelf to 

 the profefTion of the law, and in early life purfued a courfe 

 of diffipation, which occafioned great uiieaiinefs to his fa- 

 ther. At this time, however, viz. in 1712 and 1713, he 

 wrote feveral political pamphlets in favour of the Whigs 

 againft the adminiftration of the four lafl years of queen 

 Anne. One of thefe pamphlets caufed his being taken in- 

 to cuftody in January 1 7 13: and in another, entitled 

 " Some new Proofs, by which it appears, that the Preten- 

 der is truly James the Third," he gives the fame account, in 

 fubftance, of the Pretender's birth, that was afterwards 

 publifhed in the bilhop's Hiftory of his own Time. Notwith- 

 ilanding thefe literary engagements, he ftill purfued his wild 

 courfes ; but one day, being unufually grave, his father alked 

 him what was the fubjedl of his meditation : " A greater 

 work," replied the fon, "than your lordfliip's Hiftory of the 



Refurmallon ;" "what i;^ that, T<mi ?" "My own reformation, 

 my lord." " I fhall he heartily glad to fee it," faid the 

 bilhop, " but almod defpair of it." This, however, was 

 happily accompliihcd sifter the bidiop's deceafe ; and Mr. 

 Burnet became, not only one of the bed lawyers of his time, 

 but a very refpeiStable character. After the acccflion of 

 George I. he wrote a letter to the earl of Halifax on the 

 " NecefTity of impeaching the late Minitlry," which was 

 followed by " A fecond Tale of a Tub ,&c." being a fatire 

 on the earl of O.^ford and his miuiftry. Soon after his fa- 

 ther's death, he publifhed " A Charafter of the right re- 

 verend Father in God, Gilbert Lord Bifhop of Sarum ; 

 with a true Copy of his lall Will and Tellament." Mr. 

 Burnet was alfo concerned with others in writing a traveftie 

 of the firll book of the Iliad, under the title of " Home- 

 rides," which gave occafion to Mr. Pope for introducing 

 him into the Dunciad, and in a weekly paper called the 

 " Grumbler." About this time he v.as appointed his ma- 

 jefty's conful at Lifbon, where he remained for feveral years. 

 Upon his return, he rcfumed the profeffion of the law, and 

 rofe through feveral gradations of preferment, in 174 1, to 

 the rank of one of the juilices of the court of common 

 pleas. He alfo received ihe honour of knighthood, and be- 

 came a member of the royal fociety. In the court of com- 

 mon pleas he continued, with great reputation, to his death, 

 which happened on the 5th of January 1753. His cliarac- 

 ter v-as that of an able, upright judge, a fincere friend, a 

 fenfible and agreeable companion, and a munificent bcne- 

 faclor to the poor. A remarkable claufe in his will, in 

 which he expreffes the fcntiments of a judicious and candid 

 perfon, who underftoodthe true nature of Chriftianity, and, 

 who, whilll he gave the preference to the church of England, 

 was perfuadcd that no religious eftablifhmcnt was entirely 

 free from defefts, furnifhed occat'ion for fome itriftures in a 

 ferious and fenfiblc pamphlet, entitled " The true Church 

 of Chrift, luh'icb, and 'where to be found, &c." Some po- 

 etical produftions of his youth were publifhed in i'l'j'Ji 

 4to. ; the charafteriflic excellence of which is an eafy neg- 

 ligence and clesfant fimplieity. 



Bcfidcs fir Thomas Burnet, there lived in the laft century 

 another Thomas Burnet, who was an eminent divine, and au- 

 thor of feveral valu^ible publications. He wa^ educated ia 

 New College, Oxford ; became reftor of Weft Kingfton, 

 Wilts, and prebendary of Sarum ; and died in May 1750. 

 His four principal vi-orks are, "An Anfwer to Tindal's 

 Chriftianity as old as the Creation;" a " Treatife on Scrip- 

 ture Politics ;" a " Courfe of Sermons preached at Mr. Boyle's 

 Lcfture ;" and an " ECTav on the Trinity," in which laft 

 performance he endeavours, with great ingenuity and plau- 

 fibility, to unite the rationality claimed by the Unitarians, 

 with the orthodox language of thofe who admit the Atha- 

 iialian doflrine of the Trinity. Gen. Dift. Biog. Brit. 



Burnet, Thomas, a learned and ingenious divine, erro- 

 neoufly iuppoled to be a native of Scotland, was born at 

 Croft, in Yorklliire, in 1635, entered, in 1651, at Clare- 

 hall, in the Univerfity of Cambridge, under the mafterfhip 

 of Mr. John Tillotfoii (afterwards archbilliop of Canterbury), 

 and upon the removal of Dr. Ralph Cudworth from themafter- 

 fliip of that college to that of Chrift-college, admitted of that 

 houfe, and chofen fellow in 1653, and in 1661, fenior proftor 

 of the Univerfity. After his travels, as tutor to the earl of 

 Wiltfhire, and as governor to the duke of Bolton, and the earl 

 of Oflbry, afterwards duke of Ormond, he fettled at home 5 

 and became diftinguifhed as an elegant writer and an acute 

 philofopher. Of his celebrated work, entitled " TcUurisThe- 

 oria Sacra, &c." the firft two books were publifhed in 1680, 

 and the two remaining books in 1689, in 4to. This per- 

 formance 



