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ail invitation to be claffical tutor at the difTenting academy 

 of Warrington, without avowing himtelf as a Diilenter. 



Having in i 78 i publifhed his plan of a new verlion of the 

 New Teiiament, with a fpecimen of the propofcd work, 

 he prefented to the pubhc, in 1782, " A New Tranflation of 

 the Gofpel of St. Matthew, \v\l\\ Notes critical, philological, 

 and explanatory," 4to., which was well received. Upon the 

 difTolution of the academy at Warrington, he removed to 

 Bramcotc in Nottinghamftiire, where he received private 

 pupils; and here he publiflicd in 1784 the firll volume of 

 an " Enquiry into the Opinions of the Chriftian Writers 

 of the firll Three Centuries concerning the Perfon of Jefns 

 Chrift," 8vo., which was received in a manner that dif- 

 couraged him from purfuing his plan. Being diiabled by 

 the attack of a diforder in one arm to undertake any literary 

 performance that required any conliderable exertion, he 

 intermitted his conftant occupations ; till at length in 1789 

 he commenced his " Silva Critica, five in AuAores facros 

 prophanofque Commentarius Philologicus ;" of which three 

 parts appeared fuccelTively to the year 1795, the three firll 

 being iffued from the Cambridge prefs. Mr. Wakefield, in 



1 790, removed from Nottingham to Hackney, in order to 

 alTume the office of claffical tutor in the dilfenting college of 

 that place, where his fervices were highly acceptable, till the 

 publication of his " Enquiry into the Expediency and Pro- 

 priety of public or focial Worfliip," in 1791 ; which being 

 intended to jullify the difufe of the public exercifes of de- 

 votion, oceafioned a termination of his conneftion with that 

 inilitution. From this time he employed himfelf in atten- 

 tion to the inftruflion of his own family, and to feveral lite- 

 rary works ; the principal of which were his " Tranflation 

 of the New Tellament, with Notes critical and explanatory," 

 3 vols. 8vo. i792,of which a fecond edition appeared in 1795, 



2 vols. 8vo.; and " Memoirs of his own Life," publifhed m 

 the fame year. His other produftions were " Evidences of 

 Cliriflianity," and " Replies to the Two Parts of Thomas 

 Paine's Age of Reafon ;" a volume of Pope's Works, a 

 volume of" Notes on Pope," and an edition of his verfion of 

 the Iliad and Odyfiey of Homer. His " Silva Critica" was 

 alfo enlarged to the 5th volume ; and he prelented to the 

 public editions of feledt " Greek Tragedies," of " Homer," 

 " Bion and Mofchus," " Virgil," and " Lucretius," in 



3 vols. 4to., a work highly elleemed. 



Avowing himfelf an enemy to war in general, and to the 

 war againll France in particular, he publilhed a pamphlet 

 in 1798, entitled " A Reply to fome Parts of the Bifhop of 

 Landaff's Addrefs to the People of Great Britain," which 

 fubjefted him to a profecution : this terminated in a trial and 

 conviftion in February 1799. His fentence was iroprifon- 

 ment for two years in the county gaol of Dorcheller. Many 

 concurring circumftances contributed to render this punifli- 

 ment fingularly grievous to him ; but it was in aconfiderable 

 degree alleviated by the fympathy and refpecl of his friends, 

 and by a liberal fubfcription towards tl.e fupport of himfelf 

 and his family. His courfe ofiludy was thus unfortunately 

 interrupted, fo that he could only prepare for the prefs " Se- 

 left EiTays of Dio Chryfodoni, tranllated into Eiiglifli from 

 the Greek, with Notes," 1800, 8vo., and " NoCtes Carce- 

 rarisE, five dc Legibus Metricis Poetarum Gnfcoriim, qui 

 Verfibus Hexametris fcripferunt, Difputatio," 1801, izmo.; 

 and make collections for his propofed Lexicon, Greek and 

 Englifh. InMay 1801 he was liberated from his confinement ; 

 but on September the 9th of the f.ime year, a typhus fever 

 terminaitd his life, in his 46th year, to the grief of his 

 family and the regret of numerous friends, by whom he was 

 highly elleemed. 



The afTiduity of. his literary application, and the fingular 



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temperance of his habits, though they occasioned a ftclu- 

 fion from much of that focial intercourfe which was inte- 

 pelling to his family, and a degree of refervc in his own 

 temper, enabled him, however, to acquire great reputation 

 as a philological writer and critic during comparatively a 

 fhort life. IJfnder this charafter, he refembled Bentley and 

 Markland, being, like them, in his coujeftural criticifm, 

 " always learned, fometimes bold, and frequently happy." 

 Polfeffing a ver)- retentive memory, his extenfive reading 

 furnilhed him with an ample (lore of pafFages for illuftration 

 or parallel, of which he could avail himfelf as occafions oc- 

 curred. With regard to his moral difpofition and charac- 

 ter, they were marked, as a biographer who knew him well 

 has delineated them, "by an opennefs, a fimplicity, a good 

 faith, an affeAionate ardour, a noble elevation of mind, which 

 made way to the hearts of all who nearly approached him, 

 and rendered him the objeft of their warmell attachment." 

 The fecond edition of his " Memoirs," publilhed after his 

 death, contains a catalogue of all his works, feveral of which 

 have been omitted in this concife account of his life and 

 labours. A colleftion of letters between him and Mr. Fox, 

 by whom he was highly elleemed, chiefly on fubjefts of 

 Greek literature, has alfo been publifhed. Memoirs. Gen. 

 Biog. 



Wakefield, in Geography, a large market-town in the 

 lower divifion of the hundred of Agbrigg, in the Weft 

 Riding of the county of York, is fituated on the fide of an 

 eminence, gently Hoping fouthward to the river Calder, at 

 the dillance of 9 miles S. from Leeds, 32 miles S.W. by S. 

 from York, and 182 miles N.N.W. from London. It con- 

 fills of nine ilreets, of which three are very large and com- 

 modious ; and many of the houfes are fpacious and lofty. 

 The market-place is fmall, but has been recently rendered 

 much more convenient by the removal of the corn-market 

 into Weft-gate, an adjacent ttreet of great extent. Here is 

 a neat building called the Market-crofs, formed of an open 

 colonnade of the Doric order, fupporting a dome, with an 

 afcent of a circular flight of Hairs leading to a large room, 

 which receives its light from a lantern at the top : in this 

 chamber molt of the bufinefs of the town is tranfadled. 

 The market is held on Fridays, which is well attended, par- 

 ticularly for the fale of wool, which is fent from various 

 parts of England to the faftors in Wakefield, who difpofe 

 of it among the maiuifafturers in the adjacent diftrifts. 

 Here arc two annual fairs, each of which continues two days, 

 for horfes, horned cattle, pedlary ware, &c. A fair is alfo 

 held every fortnight, on the alternate WednefJays, for cattfe 

 and fiieep, which affords a conllant fiipplv of butchers' meat 

 to almoll the whole of this riding, and the borders of Lanca- 

 fliire. The parifh church of Wakefield is a fpacious and 

 lofty edifice ; and the fpire is one of the highell in the 

 county. By the Domefday record there appears to ha>t.' 

 been a church here at the time of the Conquell, but no part 

 of the prefent ftrufture can be referred to a more early pe- 

 riod than the reign of Henry III., and it has undergone 

 many modern repairs and improvements. In 1724 the fouth 

 fide was entirely rebuilt ; and the greatell part of the north 

 fide, together witii the call end, towards the clofe of that 

 century : a veilry-room has likewife been erefted. About 

 half a mile to the north is the new church, built about the 

 end of the eighteenth century. The grciund on which it 

 (lands was bequeathed for that pnrpofe by Mrs. Newllead, 

 a widow lady, together with 1000/. towards the hipport of 

 a miniller. But the will being litigated, the matter lay 

 dormant for lome years, liU the whole propi-rty of the tef- 

 tatrix w.is purchafcd by MelTrs. Maude and Lee, who, in 

 concurrence with fome other opulent pcrfous, procured an 



aft 



