


1799-1 
and ferved a curacy for fome time in Glou- 
cefterfhire. About 1737 he became curate of 
St. Stephen’s church in Briftol, and was ap- 
pointed minor-canon in the cathedral of that 
tity. Here he attracted the notice of Dr. Jo- 
feph Butler, then Bifhop of Briftol, and af- 
terwards of Durham, who appointed Mr. 
Tucker his domeftic chaplain. By the in- 
tereft of this prelate Mr. Tucker obtained a 
prebendal -ftall in the cathedral | of Briftol ; 
and on the death of Mr. Catcott, ‘well ! eee 
by his treatife on the Deluge, and a volume 
of excellent fermons, he became reor of St, 
Stephen. The inhabitants of that parifh con- 
fitt chiefly of merchants and tradefmen, a cir- 
cumftance which greatly ‘aided his natural in- 
clination for commercial and political {tudies. 
When the-famous bill was brought into the 
Houfe of Commons for the naturalization of 
the Jews, Mr. Tucker, confidering the fub- 
ye with an enlarged mind, took a decided 
part in favour of Er enea ie: and was, in- 
deed, its moft able advocate. “The opponents 
of the bill, tranfported with an extraordinary 
zeal for the Chriftian Religion, which they 
atre&ted to think was in danger by this ftep, 
treated the divine with great rudenefs and 
Virulence on the occafion. He was not only 
feverely attacked’ in pamphlets, newfpapers, 
and magazines; but the pious people of Brif- 
. tol, who had, perhaps, hardened their hearts 
into intolerance by a traffic in human ficih, 
burnt his effigy dreffed in canonicals, toge- 
ther with his letters on behaif of naturaliza- 
tion. In 1753 he publifhed an able pamphlet 
en the «¢ Tunkey Trade,” in which he de- 
Monftrates the evils that refult to trade in 
general frorn chartered companies. At this 
period Lord Clare (afterward Earl“ Nugent ) 
was returned to Parliament for Briftol, which 
honour he obtained chiefly through the ftre- 
muous exertions of Mr: Tucker, whofe influ- 
ence in his large and wealthy parifh was ‘al- 
moft decifive on fuch an oceafion. In return 
for this favour the Earl procured for him the 
deanery of Gloucefter, in 1758,: at which 
. time he took his degree of Door in Divinity. 
‘So great was his reputation for commercial 
kino pledge, that Dr. Thomas: ee after- 
is..B Nihop of London, who was then tutor 
: is prefent Majefty, applied to Dr. Tucker 
‘to draw up a differtation on-this fubjeét for 
the perufal of his royal pupil. It was accerd- 
tialy done, and gave great fatisfaétion. This 
work, under the title of “* The Elements of 
Commerce,” was printed inquarto, but never 
publithed. » Dr. Warburton, however, who, 
after having been member of the fame chapter 
with the Dean, at Briftol, became Bithop of 
Gloucefter, thought very differently from the 
reft of mankind, in refpeét to his talents and 
_ favourite purfuits; and faid once, in his 
_coarfe manner, that-‘* his Dean's trade was 
religion, and religion his trade.” But in re- 
‘fatation of this charge we might produce the 
Dean’s various publications o1erhoral and reli- 
gious fubjects, which fhew him to be not 
only deeply verfed in theology, but -alfo, 

Account of Fobn Tucker, Dean of Gloucefter. 
“nefit of their native country. 
will raife him to a bifhopric.” 
Ors 
what is far better, a man of genuine phil lan 
thropy. In the year 1771, when a ftrong 
attempt was made to procure an abolition of 
fubfeription to thé thirty-nine articles, Dr. 
Tucker came forward as an able and moderate 
advocate of the church of Enzland. About 
this time he publithed §* Dire&tions for Tra- 
vellers,”’ im which he lays down excellent 
rules, by which gentlemen who vifit foreiza 
countries may not only improve their own 
minds, but turn their obfervations to the be- 
The Dean 
was an attentive obferver of the American 
conteft. He examined the affair with a very 
different eye from that of a party-man, or aw 
interefted merchant; and he difcovered, as he 
conceived, that both fides would be becter off 
by an abfolute feparation. Mr. Burke’s lan- 
guage in the Houfe of Commons refpecting 
the Dean’s propofal was, indeed, exceeding 
harfh and illiberal. In his famous fpeech on 
American taxation, April 13th, 1774, this 
famous orator called him ‘* the advocate of 
the court faction; and I fuppote,” he adds, 
4¢ that his earneft labours in this vineyard@ 
The Dean 
was actually roufed into refentment on this 
eccafion, and he accordingly publifhed a let- 
ter to Mr. Burke, in which he not only vin- 
dicates the purity of his own. principles, but 
retorts upon his adverfary in very forcible and 
manly terms, ‘Lhe ground of Mr. Burke’s 
enmity te the Dean, was the latter’s ftrenu- 
ous oppofition to his being admitted to repre- 
fent Briftol in Parliament. Dr. Tucker had 
a high opinion of Lord Nugent’s Parliament~ 
ary condué and abilities; added to which, he 
owed him much on the fecore of Bivaende: 
He therefore confidered himfelf as bound ta- 
fupport his intereft in Brifol with all. the 
‘power he poffeffed. ’ This excited Mr, Burke’s 
diflike to tlie Dean of Gloucefter, and. fharp- 
ened his wit on the fubjeét of his political 
opinions. When the terrors of an invafion 
were very prevalent, i in 1770, the Dean cir-. 
culated, in a variety of periodical publica- 
tions, force of the mo fenfible obfervations 
that were ever made qn’ the fubje&, in order 
to quiet the fearsof the people. In1781 the 
Dean publithed, what he had printed long be- 
fore, ** A Treatife on Civil Government," 
in which his putea defign is to counteract 
the doctrines of th plete iced Mr. Locke and 
his followers. The neat made a confiderable 
noife, and was very fharply, attacked by {e- 
veral able writers on the démocratic fide of 
the qi veGion, particularly by Dr. Towers, 
Fhe year fol (lowing he clofed his political 
career ae a pamphlet intitled ° Cai Bono 2” 
in which he balances the profit and lofs of 
er 
each of the bel oped s powers, and recapitu- 
lates all his former pofitions oa the fubject of 
war and colonial polletiions. His publications 
fince that period have confifted of fome tracts 
on the commercial regulations of Ireland, on 
the exportation of woollens, and on the iron 
trade. In 1777 he publithed feventeen prac- 
tical fermons, in one volume, octavo. Inthe 
year 
