714 LOW 
ceive from him. The bifhop’s vindication, however, wa* 
afterwards undertaken by his nephew, Dr. Sturges. 
In the year 1779, biihop Lowth preached before the 
king at the chapel-royal, on Affl-Wednefday; and in a 
note to this fermon, which was afterwards publiffled, he 
threw out invidious reflections againll the opponents to 
the m'mifterial fyftem of government, evidently aimed at 
the celebrated Dr. Price. The courtly adulation, to 
which thel'e reflections were by many afcribed, gave much 
pain to feveral of the bifhop's friends, who, from his 
former writings, had been accultomed to venerate him 
not only as a molt excellent prelate, but as a found con- 
ftitutional whig. Dr. Price, however, in a poftfcript to 
one of his own fermons, defended himfelf againll this at¬ 
tack with great fpirit, ar.d pointedly contralted the lan¬ 
guage of the biihop at St. James’s with extracts from his 
vifitation-fermon preached at Durham in 1758. (See the 
preceding page.) On this occafion, like wife, the biihop 
provoked the remonltrances of Mr. Hayley, in an Elegy on 
the ancient Greek Model, addrefled to the Right Rev. Ro¬ 
bert Lowth, Lord Biihop of London. In the year 1781, bi- 
ffiop Lowth was engaged in a Dw-fuit with Louis Difhey 
Ffytche, efq. concerning the legality of general bonds of 
resignation ; which he confldered, and not without reafon, 
to be unfavourable to the independence and integrity of 
the clergy. Mr. Ffytche had prefented a clergyman to a 
living; but the biihop refilled to grant him inftitution, 
becaufe he had given to his patron a bond of refignation. 
The caufe was fully argued in the court of Common Pleas, 
the judges of which delivered their unanimous opinion in 
favour of Mr. Ffytche. In the court of King’s Bench, 
to which the caufe was removed by a writ of error, this 
judgment was unanimoufiy affirmed. The bifnop then 
brought a writ of error into the Koufe of Peers ; and, 
after the caufe had been argued, and the opinion of all 
the judges taken, who, with only one exception, were all 
clearly and decidedly in favour of Mr. Ffytche, the de- 
eifions of the courts of law were unexpectedly reverfed 
by the lords, though by a majority of one only. Four¬ 
teen, out of the nineteen who formed this majority, were 
biffiops. Bonds of refignation were certainly liable to 
very juft objections ; but, if tiie law refpeCting them was 
wrong, it (hould have been altered by an act of parlia¬ 
ment. For, whether it was quite decent, in a caufe be¬ 
tween a biihop and a private gentleman, for fourteen bi¬ 
ffiops and five lay-lords to determine that not to be law 
which the judges had declared to be law, and which had 
been univerfally underflood to be law for at leait two cen¬ 
turies, may poffibly be queltioned. 
In the direction, however, of his own patronage, the 
bifhop’s conduCt was highly praifeworthy ; for defert was 
with him the molt powerful recommendation to favour ; 
and, whenever it was eminently confpicuous in any indi¬ 
vidual, no perfon could be more ready fpontaneoufly to 
reward it than biihop Lowth. With refpeCt to every 
ether point of epifcopal duty, likewife, he conducted him- 
felf in a manner which reflected honour on himfelf and on 
feis ftation. No prelate, therefore, could have been fixed 
upon, as more deferving of the highelt rank in the Eng- 
Jifli church. Accordingly, on the death of Abp. Corn¬ 
wallis in 1783, the king made an offer of the fee of Can¬ 
terbury to Dr. Lowth ; but he declined it, on account of 
his advanced age and growing infirmities, which would 
have rendered the cares and grandeur connected with that 
high ftation an oppreffive burden. In the latter years of 
his life he had a very ill Hate of health, and endured molt 
fevere fufferings from that dreadful diforder the ltone ; 
■which, however, he bore with exemplary fortitude and 
refignation. He had alfo experienced fome painful ftrokes 
of domellic calamity. In the year 1768, he lolt his eldelt 
•laughter at the age of thirteen, of whom he was paf- 
fionately fond, and whom he lamented in an exquifitely 
beautiful and pathetic epitaph, which is infcribed on her 
tomb. In J783, his fecond daughter, as Ike was prefiding 
_ L O X 
at the tea-table, fuddenly expired ; and his eldeft fo« y 
whofe proficiency as a fcholar had anfwered his molt fan- 
guine hopes, and whofe profpeCl of an honourable elta- 
blilhment in life was molt flattering, he had the affliction 
of feeing prematurely hurried to the grave. To thefe 
trials alfio he fubmitted without repining, fupported by 
the principles and hopes of a Chrillian philofopher : but 
they mult have inflicted thofe wounds on his feelings, 
which could not but contribute to aid bis diforder in un¬ 
dermining his conftitution. He died at Fulham in 1787, 
when he had nearly completed the feventy-feventh year- 
of his age. 
Of biffiop Lowth’s extenfive learning, fine tafte, firm 
manly mind, and peculiar qualifications for the ftation 
which he filled, we have already taken notice. With 
thefe he pofleffed a temper, which in private and domeftic 
life endeared-him in the highelt degree to thole who were 
molt nearly connected with, him, and towards all others 
produced an habitual complacency, and agreeablenefs of 
manners. To thefe abilities and difpofuions were added 
qualities Hill more eitimable, the virtues of a good man, 
and of a fincere Chriftian. Befides the articles mentioned 
in the preceding narrative, he publilhed feveral fingle fer¬ 
mons, preached on particular occafions, and the following 
poems: 1. Ad ornatiffimam Puellam, addrefled to a lady 
of the name of Molyneux, and firft printed in the Poetical 
Calendar, vol. xii. and afterwards in Nichols’s SeleCt Col¬ 
lection of Mifcellany Poems, from a copy corrected by 
the author. 2. On the Marriage of the Princefs Royal 
with the Prince of Orange, 17-34. 3. An Ode to the 
People of Great Britain, in Imitation of the fixth Ode of 
the third Book of Horace, 1744. 4. A tranflation of 
Prodicus’s Choice of Hercules, 1747, which appeared firit 
in Spence’s Polymetis, afterwards in Dodfley’s Collection 
of Poems. 5. The Link, a Ballad, to be found in the 
fame collection. 6. On the Death of the Prince of Wales, 
1751. 6. On the Death of King George II. and the In¬ 
auguration of George III. 1761. 8. On the Marriage of 
their prefent Majefties. 9. On the Birth of the Prince of 
Wales. Ann. Reg. 1787 and 1788. Gent. Mag. 1787 and 170.0. 
LOW'THER, a village in Weflmoreland, on the river 
Loder, from whence it is fuppofed to take its name, is 
two miles from Penrith. Not far from the river there is 
a row of pyramidal flones, eight or nine feet high, ex¬ 
tending a mile. 
Lowther Caftle, in this village, the feat of the earl of 
Lonfdale, we believe is not yet completed. The firit ltone 
of this noble edifice was laid on the 29th of December, 1806. 
The fronts (for there are two) are each of them 340 feet in 
length, and the breadth of the building 140 feet. ’ Within 
this area are a number of fpacious and magnificent apart¬ 
ments, fuel) as can hardly be paralleled in the kingdom. 
The grand itaircafe will exceed any thing of the kind that 
is to be met with any-where. The expenie (including the 
furniture) was efliinated at 300,000!. The former hoiife, 
called Lowther Hall, was burnt down anno 1770. It was 
in height three flories, and extended 337 fset. It con¬ 
tained a number of (tately apartments, corridores, large 
galleries, a noble library, and a chapel. The windows of 
the middle ftory were dreffed with pediments, in a hand- 
fome manner. The fabric was finiffled with a baluftrade, 
figures, and vafes, and a large pediment at each end, 
which had a good effect. Monthly Mag. Nov. 1811. 
LO W'THORP, a village in the ealt riding of Yorkfhire, 
near Kilbam. 
LOW'VILLE, a poft-town of America, in Oneida 
county, New York: 550 miles from Wafhington. 
LO'WTON, a toivnfhip of England, in Lancafflire, 
with 1400 inhabitants : feven miles north of Warrington. 
LOWY'A, a town of Hindooltan, in Bahar : fifteen 
miles fiouth-fouth-eaft of Bettiah. Lat. 26. 35. N. Ion. 
84. 43. E. 
LOX'A, or Lo'ja, a town of Spain, in the province of 
Grenada, on the Xenil, containing three pariffles, and 
% four 
