1809.] 
nent merchants in the city; on his death 
Mr. Gough was committed to theinstruc- 
tion of the Rev. Roger Pickering, one of 
the most learned, most imprudent, and 
most illtreated of the dissenting ministers 
of histime. On his death, May 18, 1753, 
Mr. Gough finished his Greek studies un- 
der Mr. Samuel Dyer, the friend and li- 
terary contemporary of Johnson. 
After his father’s death, in July 1752, 
he was admitted felfow-commoner of Be- 
net College, Cambridge, where his rela- 
tions, Sir Henry Gough and his brother 
John, had beforestudied under Dr. Maw- 
son, afterwards Bishop of Chichester and 
Ely. Benet had peculiar attractions for 
a mind like Mr. Gough’s ; it had not only 
trained the great Parker to revive the stud y 
of antiquity, and received from him a rich 
donation of curious and ancient manu- 
scripts; but had educated Stukeley, to 
trace our antiquities to their remotest ori- 
gin. dhe college tutor in 1752 was Dr. 
Jay Barnardiston, afterwards master. 
His private tutor was Mr. John Cott, fel- 
low of the house, who died at his Rectory 
of Broxted, Essex, in 1781. Under the 
private tuition of the three excellent scho- 
lars beforementioned, he early imbibed a 
taste for classical literature ; and it is not 
to be wondered that his connexion witha 
callege, eminent for producing a succes- 
sion of British antiquaries,. inspired bim 
with a strong propensity to the study of our 
national antiquities. Llere was first plan. 
ned the British Topography, and hence, in 
1756, he made his first visit to Croyland 
Abbey, whence his career of antiquarian 
pursuitsliterally began. From Cambridge 
be made his first excursions, and continued 
these pursuits every year to various parts 
ef the kingdom, taking notes, which on his 
setura were digested into form. 
In 1768 Mr. Gough published the “An- 
ecdotes of British Topography” in a sin- 
vle quarto volume, “At this time thelove 
vf topographical research was daily in- 
creasing ; and the outline it contained, of 
a history of the progress of topographical 
enguires in Great Britain and Ireland, 
gavenew life to the pursuit. The first com- 
piler of a work like this was John Bagford, 
who furnished Bishop Gibson with thelist 
prefixed to his edition of the Britannia. 
Bishop Nicholsen’s Historical Libraries, 
and Dr. Rawlinsan’s English Topogra- 
pher, had of course become greatly im- 
perfect, and Mr. Gough’s work not only 
informed the curious what lights had from 
time to time been thrown on our topogra- 
phical antiquities, but enumerated most of 
aie materials which had been collected, 
MoytuLy Mac. No, 183, 
Memoirs of the late Richard Gough, Esq. 261 
whether in print or manuscript. This work 
was improved in two volumes of the same 
fe 1780, and has been since augmented 
a third, the progress of which through 
he press was interrupted by the fire at 
Mr. Nichols’s. . 
The year before, February 26, 1767, he 
was elected a fellow of the Society of An- 
tiquaries, and drew up their History pre~ 
fixed to the first volume of the Archezolo- 
gia, in 1770. - In 1771, by the partiality 
of the president, Dr. Milles, Deanof Ex- 
eter, he was, on the death of Dr. Gre- 
gory Sharpe, master of the Temple, nomi- 
nated Director, which office he held tll 
December 12, 1797, when, for reasons 
which the society can’ best explain, he 
quitted it altogether. He was chosen 
F.R.S. 1775, but quitted that society in 
1795. The publication of the Archeo- 
logia he superintended for many years; 
_and inthe diferent volumes, till 1796, are 
various articles drawn up or communica- 
ted by him; hislast paperweé believe was 
read at the Society of Antiquaries, Janu- 
ary 26, 1792, “On the Analogy between 
certain ancient Monuments,” and pub- 
lished in the eleventh volume of the Ar. 
cheologia, 1794. Besides which, the dif. 
ferent communications in’ the two latter 
volumes of the society’s “* Vetusta Monu- 
menta,” to which his signatures are annex- 
ed, prove him to have been for years the 
most useful and Jaboriousmember it could 
boast. One of the principal’ articles 
inthe last volume, 1796, is Bir. Gough’s 
Account of the great loss our national his- 
tory sustained by the destruction of Lord 
Montague’s house at Cowdray, in Sussex. 
{n 1767 he opened a correspondence, 
mostly under the signature of D. H. in 
thé Gentleman’s Magazine; though not 
without assuming some others: and onthe 
death of his fellow collegian, Mr. Dan- 
combe, in 1786, he occasionally commu- 
nicated reviews of hterary publications, 
to that valuable miscellany, in which, to 
use his own expressions, if he criticised 
with warmth and severity certain innova- 
tions in church and state, he wrote his 
sentiments with sincerity and irspartiality, 
"in the fulness of a heart deeply impressed 
with a sense of the excellence and ha ppis 
ness of the English constitution both in 
church and state. 
In 1772, Mr. Gough edited Perlin’s 
“Description des Royaulmes d’Angleterre 
et d’Escosse,” with De la Serres “ Histoire 
de I’Entrée de la Reine Mere du Roy 
treschrestien densla Grande Bretagne,” in 
a thin volume, quarto. 
Jn 1773 he formed the design of anew 
Mm edition 
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