K E N N E T T. 
668 
ported notions which he renounced in his maturer years. 
The whig party in parliament, as it was then begun to be 
called, were fo much offended with it, that enquiries were 
made after the author, in order to have him punifhed : 
but the fudden diffolution of parliament preferved him 
from the effects of their refentment. On this event he 
printed, in the fame party fpirit, “ A Poem (or Ballad) 
to Mr. E.L. on his Majesty’s diffolving the late Parliament 
at Oxford,” 1681. 
Mr. Kennett was admitted to the degree of B.A. in 
t68a ; and in the following year he published an Englifh 
translation of Erafmus’s Mori# Encomium, entitled, “ Wit 
againft Wifdom, or a Panegyric upon Folly.” This was 
one of the exercifes which had been prefcribed to him by 
his tutor ; as was alfothe Life of Cha'orias, printed among 
the translations of the Lives of Illuftrious Men by Corne¬ 
lius Nepos, by feveral hands, and publifhed at Oxford in 
1684, 8vo. About this time he entered into holy orders : 
in 1685 he proceeded M. A. and was prefented by fir Wil¬ 
liam Glynne, bart. to the vicarage of Amerfden, or Ara- 
brofden, in Oxfordshire. To this patron he dedicated 
“ An Addrefs of Thanks to a good Prince, prefented in 
the Panegyric of Pliny upon Trajan, the belt of the Ro¬ 
man Emperors,” which t fan flat ion had been another of 
his college-exercifes, and was publifhed in 1686, 8vo. 
Mr. Kennett was too young a divine to take a part in the 
famous popifli controverfy; but he distinguished himfelf 
by preaching againft popery. In the fame fpirit he after¬ 
wards refufed to read king James’s declaration of indul¬ 
gence in 1688, and concurred with the body of the clergy 
in the diocefe of Oxford in rejecting an addrefs to his 
majefty which had been recommended by bifhop Parker 
in the fame year. In 1689, while engaged in the exercife 
of fhooting, his gun burft, and he received a dangerous 
wound in the forehead by a Splinter from it, which frac¬ 
tured his fkull, and rendered it necefTary for him to un¬ 
dergo the fevere operation of trepanning. In the autumn 
of that year he was chofen lecturer of St. Martin’s, com¬ 
monly called Carfax, in Oxford, having for Tome time re¬ 
turned to that city, on being invited to become tutor and 
vice-principal at Edmund-hall, where he lived in friend- 
drip with the principal, the learned Dr. John Mill, who 
was at this time employed in preparing for the prefs his 
celebrated edition of the New Teftament. 
Our author’s character now ftood fo high in the univer¬ 
sity, that he was firft appointed a public lecturer in the 
Schools, and afterwards chofen proproCtor two years fuc- 
cedively. The next piece which he lent to the prefs was 
The Life of Mr. William Somner, which was prefixed to 
Brome’s edition of that famous antiquary’s Treatife of the 
Roman Ports and Forts in Kent, and publilhed with it in 
1693. In that year he was prefented to the reCtory of 
Shottelbrook in Berkshire; but lie Still continued to refide 
at Oxford, where the Study of antiquities particularly 
flourished under the influence of his example, and by the 
advantage of his inftruCtions. A Striking testimony of 
the high opinion entertained of his proficiency in this 
branch of knowledge, may be feen in the elegant Latin 
dedication to him of Mr. (afterwards bifliop) Gibfon’s 
translation of Somner’s treatife in anfvver to Chifflet, “ con¬ 
cerning the Situation of the Portus Iccius,” on the coait 
of France, where Csefar embarked for the invafion of this 
island. 
Mr. Kennett was admitted to the degree of bachelor of 
divinity in 1694 ; and in the following year he published 
his very learned and accurate work entitled “Parochial 
Antiquities attempted in the Hiltory of Ambrofden, Bur- 
cefter, and other adjacent Parishes, in the Counties of Ox¬ 
ford and Bucks,” 4to. While he was drawing up this 
work, he was frequently led to take into consideration the 
fubjett of impropriations; and, as he had this part of the 
revenue of the church much at heart, in 1698 he publish¬ 
ed fir Henry Spelman’s Hiftory and Fate of Sacriledge, 
with additional authorities and faCts collected by himfelf. 
That he might be the better qualified to purfue tkefe an¬ 
tiquarian refearches with fuccefs, he now Set about im¬ 
proving himfelf in the Saxon and northern tongues, and 
particularly the derivation of our oldeft English worda 
from the Gothic and other Norman dialefts, under the 
instruction of the celebrated Dr. Hickes ; with whom he 
had been for forne time intimately acquainted, and who 
had taken Shelter in the parfonage-houfe at Ambrofden, 
when under profecution for his proceedings on his depri¬ 
vation from the deanery of Worcester. 
About the year 1699, Mr. Kennett took the degree of 
doctor of divinity ; and in 1700, without any folicitation 
bn his part, he was appointed minister of St. Botolph, Aid- 
gate, in the city of London. As this was a very exten- 
iive and populous parish, he immediately refigned the vi¬ 
carage of AmbroSden, notwithftanding that he might have 
legally retained it together with his new preferment. In 
1701, he embarked, in opposition to Dr. Atterbury and 
the high-church party, in the controverfy about the rights 
of the convocation; of which body he became a member 
about this time, as archdeacon of Huntingdon ; to which 
dignity he was promoted by Dr. Gardiner, biShop of Lin-- 
coin, who bad appointed him his chaplain fome time before. 
Dr. Kennett had now grown into high efteem with the 
moderate party in the church, and particularly with Dr. 
Tenifon, archbishop of Canterbury; at whole recommen¬ 
dation he was chofen, in 1701, a member of the Society 
for propagating the GoSpel in foreign parts : and he after¬ 
wards rendered it elfential fervice by his zealous exertions 
in promoting its progrefs and fuccefs. In 1705, upon the 
advancement of Dr. Wake to the fee of Lincoln, our arch¬ 
deacon was appointed to preach his confecration-fermon ; 
which was publifhed at the defire of the archbifhop and 
bifiiops, and was fo much admired by lord chief juftice 
Holt, that he pronounced it to contain more to the pur¬ 
pose of the legal and Christian constitution of the church 
of England, than any volume of difeourfes. On the 30th 
of January following, he preached before the houfe of 
commons, and was under the neceflity of printing his dif- 
courfe, to vindicate himfelf againft the calumnies propa¬ 
gated concerning it. About this time, fome bookfellers 
undertook to publish a collection of the beft writers of the 
lives and reigns of our feveral English princes from the 
time of the Norman invafion ; but, after having laid their 
plan, they found it neceftary that fome of the later reigns 
Should be written by a new hand. Upon their application 
to Dr. Kennett, he confented to engage in the work ; and 
the whole was published in 1706, in three volumes folio, 
under the title of “ A complete Hiftory of England, &c.” 
The firft and fecond volumes were collected by Mr. John 
Hughes, who alfo wrote the general preface ; and the 
third, containing the reigns of Charles I. Charles II. 
James II. and William III. was entirely written by Ken¬ 
nett. 
About the year 1707 Dr. Kennett was appointed chap¬ 
lain in ordinary to her majeSty; and in that year preached 
a funeral-fermon on the death of the firft duke of Devon¬ 
shire, which occafioned great clamours againft him, and af¬ 
forded plaufible ground for his enemies to accufe him of 
encouraging a death-bed repentance, and to infinuate, that 
“ he had built a bridge to heaven for men of wit and 
parts ; but that the duller fort of mankind mull not hope 
to pafs that way.” In the fame year Dr. Kennett was pro¬ 
moted by the queen to the deanery of Peterborough, and 
prefented to the reCtory of St. Mary Aldermary, in the 
city of London ; for which laft preferment he exchanged 
his benefice at Aldgate, that he might have more leifure 
for retirement and Study, though by fo doing he made a 
considerable pecuniary facrifice. Soon after the appear¬ 
ance of the noted Dr. Sacheverell’s fermon, which was 
preached before the lord-mayor of London, on the 5th of 
November 1709, our author addreSTed a letter to an aider- 
man of the city concerning that fcandalous production, 
which was printed under the title of “ A true AnSwer to 
Dr. Sacheverell’s Sermon, &c.” and in the fame year he 
published, “A Vindication of (he Church and Clergy of 
England, 
