262 J O R 
fey near Cambridge. In the following year he married ; 
and in 1731 he reflgned his living, and fettled in London, 
where he ferved a chapel belonging to the parifli of St. 
Giles-in-the-fields. Upon this removal, he published Four 
Sermons on the Truth of the Chriltian Religion, which 
were afterwards incorporated in fotne of his fubfequent 
publications. He next appeared to the public in the ca¬ 
pacity of a literary critic. I11 conjunction with fome 
learned friends, among whom were bifhop Pearce, Dr. 
Taylor, Mr. Wafl'e, Mr. Upton, and Dr. Thirlby, he pub¬ 
lifhed, in the courfe of 1731 and 173a, a feries of twenty- 
four numbers, containing Mifcellaneous Obfervations upon 
Authors ancient and modern, making together two vo¬ 
lumes octavo. Thefe are a valuable treafure of claf- 
fical erudition ; and they were fo much approved abroad, 
as to be tranflatcd into Latin, and printed at Amlferdam. 
Jortin further proved the elegance of his tafte and his cri¬ 
tical fagacity by tome Remarks on Spenfer’s Poems, 1734; 
to which were fubjoined Remarks on Milton, chiefly re¬ 
lating to his imitations of the ancients. 
We fliall not follow our divine through all his changes 
of lituation. One, in which he continued a conflderable 
time, was that of afternoon-preacher at a chapel in Ox- 
endon-ftreet, to which he was appointed in 1747 by his 
friend Dr. Pearce, then reCtor of St. Martin-in-the-fields. 
His Difcourfes concerning the Truth of the Chriltian Re¬ 
ligion were publifhed in 1746. They are feven in num¬ 
ber, and comprife the fubftance of the four fennons al¬ 
ready mentioned. Thefe pieces have obtained a high re¬ 
putation for the folidity of argument and foundnefs of 
erudition which they difplay, and have ranked the author 
among the ableft defenders of revelation. About this 
time he was engaged by Warburton, then preacher at 
Lincoln's Inn, as his occaflonal afliftant ; which circum- 
itance produced a temporary intimacy between thefe two 
learned, but in many refpeCts very diifimilar, divines. 
In December 1749, Jortin, at the recommendation of 
archbifhop Herring and bifliop Sherlock, was appointed 
preacher of Boyle’s leCture. He did not publifh the dif¬ 
courfes he delivered in this capacity, but inferted the fub- 
itance of parts of them in his Remarks upon Ecclefiaftical 
Hiftory. Of this latelt work the fird volume appeared in 
1751. Its preface was written in a drain of freedom and 
liberality which is faid to have given great offence to 
fome of his brethren, and which prefented a foretafte of 
the fpirit by which the work itfelf was to be charadterifed. 
The author’s account of his defign is, that the perform¬ 
ance was not intended for a regular treatife, but a collec¬ 
tion of detached remarks on eccleflaltical hiftory and an¬ 
cient writers, without any drift attention to the order of 
time. He publifhed during his life-time only two more 
yolumes, viz. in 175a and 1754; but after his death two 
additional volumes appeared, confiding chiefly of paflages 
tranflated from foreign writers. No work on the fubjeft 
affords more entertainment or more matter for reflection 
to a liberal mind. It is replete with curious erudition 
and flagacious remark; and throughout bears the damp of 
candour, moderation, and a decided antipathy to bigotry 
and perfecution. It is enlivened by many drokes of hu¬ 
mour, given with a fhrewd fimplicity peculiar to the 
\vriter, and often in the form of allufive application of 
ciaffical quotations, in which he was Angularly happy. 
Jortin was now far advanced in life, with very little of 
the profeflional reward which his worth and fervices me¬ 
rited. The truly-liberal archbifnop Herring, however, 
did not overlook his claims; and in May 1751, at a meet¬ 
ing of the clergy, publicly and unfolicited, prefented him 
with the redory of St. Dunftan-in-the-ead, London. A 
fondnefs for mufic was one of our divine’s propenfities, 
and he was a good player of thorough-bafs on the harpfi- 
chord. He aifo Audied it as a fcience, and drew up a 
Letter concerning the Mufic of the Ancients, addrefled to 
Mr. Avifon, and added to that writer’s Effay on Mulical 
Expreilion, fecond edit. 1753. This piece confided ra- 
T I N. 
ther of feleft paflages from claflical authors, and detached 
remarks, than any profound inveiiigation of the fubjeft. 
In 1755 Jortin was prefented by archbifhop Herring to a 
Lambeth degree of D. D. In the fame year he publifhed 
a volume confiding of Six Difl'ertations on different Sub¬ 
jects. All thefe effays are diftinguifhed by learning and 
ingenuity allied to good fade and found judgment. 
The Life of Erafmus, which may be confldered as the 
principal work of our author, appeared in 1758, in one 
volume quarto; the fecond volume, printed in 1760, con¬ 
fided only of obfervations on the writings of Erafmus, 
and extracts from them and from other writers. Of this 
Life, the ground-work is one drawn up by the celebrated 
fcholarand critic Le Clerc, and inferted in fucceflive num¬ 
bers of his Bibliotheque Choifie. This was freely tranf¬ 
lated by Dr. Jortin, and enriched with a multitude of 
notes and digrefiions relating to the literary and ecclefiadic 
hiftory of the period. The narrative is in the form of 
annals, which gives it an appearance of diffnefs ; and the 
dyle is carelefs, and fometimes coarfe. It cannot therefore 
be looked upon as a finifhed biography of the great cha¬ 
racter which is its fubjeft, but is rather a copious collec¬ 
tion of materials for fuch a work. It was, however, very 
well received by the public; and few books afford a richer 
fource of entertainment to readers intereded in fuch 
topics. 
The declining years of Dr. Jortin were cheered by fome 
fubftantial proofs of the efceem which he had infpired for 
his character and abilities. Dr. Ofbaldidon, bithop of 
Lon Jon, foon after his acceflion to the fee in 1762, col¬ 
lated him to a prebend in the cathedral of St. Paul’s, and 
in the fame year prefented him to the valuable vicarage 
of Kenfmgton, to which agreeable refidence he foon after 
removed. In 1764 the fame bifhop appointed him arch¬ 
deacon of London. Thefe preferments neceffarily obliged 
him to devote more time to company and puolic duties ; 
fo that his remaining literary exertions confided of little 
more than fome critical affidance to Mr. Mai kland in his 
learned publications, and fome remarks on Philips’s Life 
of Cardinal Pole, printed with Dr. Neve’s Strictures on 
that performance. The ferene evening of his days clofed, 
in confeqtience of a diforder in his bread, on September 
5th, 1770, in the feventy-feccnd year of his age. The 
tranquil compofure of his lad moments was expreffed in 
the words he fpoke to his nurl'e, who urged him to take 
fome more nourifhment : “ No,” faid he, “ I have had 
enough of every thing.” In his directions for his fune¬ 
ral, he dictated the following- infcription which marks his 
moded tomb : “Joannes Jortin mortalis ej]e difut. Anno &c. 
He left a widow-, one fon, and a daughter. The private 
character of Dr. Jortin appears to have been truly eflima- 
ble. He had a lpirit which railed him above every thing 
mean ahd illiberal, and would not allow him to doop for 
preferment : he judged himfelt with modefty, and others 
with candour; yet he was not infer,Able of the jud claims 
oflearning and talents, and occaAonally did not fpare his 
reprehenfions of perfons in high nations whom dulnels 
or bigotry rendered foes to merit. His manners were Am¬ 
ple, and indeed fornewdiat rttdic ; yet he had true urbanity 
in his temper, and benevolence in his heart. After his 
death feveral of his podhumous works were publifhed. In 
1771 and 1773, his Sermons and Charges, feven volumes 
oftavo : thefe are diftinguifhed by found lenie, folid mo¬ 
rality, learning, and ingenuity ; their dyle is. plain and 
manly, fometimes eloquent, and always natural. A traft 
added to them on the DoCtrine of a future State as it may 
be collected from the Old Tedament, is a valuable argu¬ 
mentative difeuflion of the. point in quedion. The addi¬ 
tional volumes of Remarks on Ecclefiadical Hidory have 
already been mentioned. Two volumes of TraCts, philo¬ 
logical, critical, and mifcellaneous, confidof pieces, many 
before publifhed, and fome. now flrd printed : of the lat¬ 
ter are fcriptural illudrations, drictures and obfervations 
on various topics, critical remarks on modern authors, 
anecdotes, 
