HISTORY. 
titution to the temporalities, and was consecrated in Dublin, in Saint Patrick s Church on the 
27th of January following, by the primate, assisted by three other prelates. 
“ He became,” says Harris, “ highly valued for his public spirit, religious conversation, 
exemplary piety, and extensive charity, in which, and hospitality, he, for the most part, spent the 
revenues of his See. Anthony Wood says, he was, in his younger days, a person of great 
ingenuity, and in his elder, of singular prudence, a grace to the pulpit; and when in Ireland, 
as°worthy of his function as any there. He died in Dublin on the 29th of December, 1665, 
and was buried on the 12th of January, in Christ Church, [near the Altar,] his chaplain, George 
Senior, preaching his funeral sermon.” ; 
The virtue, humanity, and amiable cheerfulness of this bishop’s character are equally 
manifest in his will, dated about two months preceeding his death; some particulars of which 
are given by Harris, but here necessarily omitted for the sake of brevity. It should be stated, 
however, that in the disposal of the very little which he had to leave after him, the poor of 
his diocese were not forgotten. 
Robert Mossom, D. D., (succeeded 1665, died 1679). The father of this prelate kept a 
school in London, and was himself a considerable sufferer during the usurpation. After the 
restoration, he was made dean of Christ Church, Dublin, on the 1st of February, 1660, pre¬ 
bendary of Knaresborough in the cathedral of York ; and thence promoted to this see by privy 
seal, dated at Oxford, 11th of January, 1665, and by letters patent, dated the 26th of March, 
his writs of consecration and restitution the 27th. He was consecrated in Christ’s church on 
the 1st of April following, by James, archbishop of Armagh, assisted by the archbishop of 
Dublin, and the bishops of Kildare, Killaloe and Achonry. He died at Londonderry on the 21st 
of December, 1679, and was buried there in the cathedral. 
Michael Ward, succeeded 1679, died 1681. He was a native of England, but had his 
education in the university of Dublin, where he took the degree of Doctor of Divinity, on the 8th 
of July, 1672, having been previously elected fellow, in which situation he was distinguished for 
his more than ordinary pains in the care and instruction of his pupils. He was successively ad¬ 
vanced to the deanery of Lismore, the archdeaconry of Armagh, and to the provost-ship of the 
university, by letters patent, of the 19th of February, 1674, through the interest of the duke of 
Ormond; he was thence promoted to the see of Ossory, by letters patent, dated the 8th of Novem¬ 
ber, 1678, and was consecrated in Christ’s Church by the archbishop, assisted by the archbishop 
of Tuam, and the bishops of Clogher, Meath, and Clonfert, and was finally translated to Deny, 
by letters patent, dated the 21st of January, 1679, where he died on the 3rd of October, 1681, and 
was interred in his cathedral. He was greatly esteemed for learning and sound judgment, to 
which qualities he owed his rise to so many preferments within so short a period of time. 
Ezekiel Hopkins, D. D. He was born in the parish of Crediton, near Exeter, in Devonshire, 
and was son to the curate of Sandford, a chapel of ease belonging to Crediton. He was educated 
in Magdalen College, whence he was, by the interest of Sir Thomas Viner, made lecturer of the 
parish of Hackney, and after a long interval of time, promoted to the parish of St. Mary, London. 
Being driven by the plague from thence, he returned to Exeter, where he obtained a parish 
from the bishop, and having the good fortune to give great pleasure, by his preaching, to lord 
Truro, who was shortly after sent over to Ireland, as lord lieutenant, he brought him with him as 
chaplain, in 1669, and the same year gave him his daughter in marriage, and rewarded him with 
the treasurership of Waterford, and the year following, the deanery of Raphoe. On the retire¬ 
ment of lord Truro from the vice-royalty, he was strongly recommended by him to his successor, 
lord Berkely, of Stratton, who on the 27th of October, 1671, promoted him to the bishopric of 
Raphoe, to which he was consecrated, in Christ’s Church, Dublin, by James, archbishop of 
Armagh, assisted by the bishops of Clogher, Waterford, and Derry. Ten years afterwards he was 
translated to the see of Derry, by privy seal, dated the 6th of September, 1681, where he conti¬ 
nued until the breaking out of the troubles, when he fled into England with his wife and children, 
and obtaining a parish there, died on the 22nd of June, 1690, and w T as interred in the church ot 
St. Mary Aldermanbury. His income as bishop was valued at £2000. 
He was at great expense in beautifying and adorning the cathedral of Derry, and in furnishing 
it with an organ and massy plate, and is said in this bishopric, and that of Raphoe, to have ex¬ 
pended £1000, in buildings and other improvements. 
Harris says, that he was a prelate greatly esteemed for his humility, modesty, and cha¬ 
rity, as also, for his great learning and excellent preaching, and was reckoned no inconsiderable 
poet. • 
William King, D. D., succeeded 1690 ; resigned 1702. For a full account of this most 
distinguished prelate, who was the first born Irishman, as well as the most distinguished prelate 
for abilities, who had filled the see from the establishment of the reformed religion in the diocese, 
the reader is referred to his life in Harris’s Ware, and the account of the Irish writers in the same 
work. A few particulars are all that the nature of this work will permit here. William King 
