manners, it is faid, but ordained by the presbytery of Antwerp, and warmly attached to the Geneva government. Travers had fome hopes of fetting up this government in the Temple, and for that purpose endeavoured to be master of it; but not fucceeding, gave Hooker all the oppofition he could in his fermons, many of which were about the doctrine, difcipline, and ceremonies of the church; infomuch that they conftantly withflood each other to the face: for, as fomebody faid pleafantly, "The forenoon fermon fpake Canterbury, and the afternoon Geneva." The oppofition became fo vifible, and the confequences fo dangerous, efpecially in that place, that archbp. Whitgift caufed Travers to be filenced by the high commiffion court. Upon that, Travers prefented his fupplication to the privy council, which being without effect, he made it public. This obliged Hooker to publish an anfwer, which was infcribed to the archbifhop, and procured him as much reverence and refpect from fome, as it did neglect and hatred from others. In order therefore to undeceive and win thefe, he entered upon his famous work "Of the Laws of Ecclefiaftical Polity;" and laid the foundation and plan of it, while he was at the Temple. But he found the Temple no fit place to finish what he had there defigned; and therefore intreated the arclibifhop to remove him to fome quieter fituation in the following letter.

"My lord, When I loft the freedom of my cell, which was my college, yet I found fome degree of it in my quiet country parfonage. But I am weary of the noife and oppofitions of this place; and indeed God and nature did not intend me for contentions, but for ftudy and quietnefs. And, my lord, my particular contests here with Mr. Travers have proved the more unpleasant to me, because I believe him to be a good man; and that belief hath occafioned me to examine mine own confcience concerning his opinions. And to fatisfy that, I have confulted the Holy Scripture, and other laws both human and divine, whether the confcience of him, and others of his judgement, ought to be so far complied with by us, as to alter our frame of church government, our manner of God's worship, our praising and praying to him, and our established ceremonies, as often as their tender confciences fhall require us. And in this examination I have not only fatisfied myself, but have began a treatise, in which I intend the fatisfaction of others, by a demonftration of the reasonablenefs of our Laws of Ecclefiaftical Polity.-But, my lord, I fhall never be able to finish what I have begun, unlefs I be removed into fome quiet parfonage, where I may fee God's bleffings fpring out of my mother earth, and eat my own bread in peace and privacy; a place, where I may without difturbance meditate my approaching mortality, and that great

account

account, which all flesh must give at the last day to the God all fpirits."

Upon this application he was prefented, in 1591, to the rectory of Bofcomb in Wiltshire; and, July the fame year, to the prebend of Nether-Haven in the church of Sarum, of which he was alfo made fub-dean. At Bofcomb he finished four books, which were entered into the register-book at Stationers-hall, March, 1592, but not printed till 1594. In 1595, he quitted Bofcomb, and was prefented by queen Elizabeth to the rectory of Bishop's-Bourne in Kent, where he spent the remainder of his life. In this place he composed the fifth book of his "Ecclefiaftical Polily," which was dedicated to the archbishop, and publifhed by itself in 1597. He finished there the 6th, 7th, and 8th books of that learned work; but whether we have them genuine, and as left by himself hath been a matter of much difpute. Some time after he caught cold, in a paffage by water between London and Gravefend, which drew upon him an illnefs, that put an end to his life, when he was only in his 47th year. He died Nov. 2, 1600. His illnefs was fevere and lingering; he continued, notwithstanding, his ftudies to the laft. He ftrove particularly to finifh his "Ecclefiaftical Polity;" and faid often to a friend, who visited him daily, that "he did not beg a long life of God for any other reafon, but to live to finish the three remaining books of Polity; and then, Lord, let thy fervant depart in peace," which was his ufual expreffion. A few days before his death, his houfe was robbed; of which having notice, he asked, " are my books and written papers fafe?" And being anfwered, that they were, " then," said he, “it matters not, for no other lofs can trouble me.

دو

But whatever value Hooker himself might put upon his books of "Ecclefiaftical Polity," he could not give them more efteem than has been paid by the general judgement of mankind. They have been admired for the foundnefs of reasoning, which runs through them, and the prodigious extent of learning they every where difcover; and the author has univerfally acquired from them the honourable titles of "the Judicious," and "the Learned." When James I. afcended the throne of England, he is faid to have afked Whitgift for his friend Mr. Hooker, from whofe books of "Ecclefiaftical Polity" he had fo much profited; and being informed by the archbishop that he died a year before the queen, he expreffed the greatest difappointment, and the deepeft concern. Charles I. it is well known, earnestly recommended the reading of Hooker's books. to his fon; and they have ever fince been held in the highest veneration and efteem by all. An anecdote is preferved by the writer of his life, which, if true, fhews that his fame was by no means confined to his own country, but travelled abroad; and fo

1

far and fo loudly, that it reached even the ears of the pope himfelf. Cardinal Alen and Dr. Stapleton, though both in Italy when his books were publifhed, were yet fo affected with the fame of them, that they contrived to have them fent for; and after reading them, are faid to have told the pope, then Clement VIII. that though his holiness had not yet met with an Eng lish book, as he was pleased to say, whofe writer deserved the name of an author, yet there now appeared a wonder to them, and fo they did not doubt it would appear to his holiness, if it was in Latin; which was, that a pure obfcure English priest had written four fuch books of Law and Church Polity, in fo majestic a style, and with fuch clear demonstrations of reason,* that in all their readings they had not met with any thing that exceeded him." This begetting in the pope a defire to know the contents, Stapleton read to him the first book in Latin; upon which the pope faid, "there is no learning that this man hath not fearched into; nothing too hard for his understanding. This man indeed deferves the name of an author. His books will get reverence by age; for there is in them fuch feeds of eternity, that if the reft be like this, they fhall continue till the laft fire fhall devour all learning:" all which, whether the pope faid it or no, we take to be ftrictly true.

Befides the eight books of "Ecclefiaftical Polity," and his answer to Travers's "Supplication," there are some fermons of his in being, which have been collected and printed with his works in folio. An octavo edition has lately appeared at Oxford.

HOOPER (Dr. GEORGE), an eminent English divine, was born at Grimley in Worcestershire, about 1640, and educated in grammar and claffical learning at Westminster-fchool, where he was a king's fcholar. From thence he became a student of Chrift-church in Oxford, in 1656 [A], where he took his de grees at the regular times; and diftinguished himself above his contemporaries by his fuperior knowledge in philofophy, mathe matics, Greek and Roman antiquities, and the Oriental languages. In 1672, he became chaplain to Morley bishop of Winchester; and not long after to archbishop Sheldon, who begged that favour of the bithop of Winchester, and who in 1675 gave him the rectory of Lambeth, and afterwards the precentorship of Exeter. In 1677, he commenced D. D. and the fame year, being made almoner to the princefs of Orange, he went over to Holland, where, at the request of her royal highnefs, he regulated her chapel according to the ufage of the church of England. After one year's attendance, he repaffed the fea, in order to complete his marriage, the treaty for which had been fet on foot before his departure. This done, he went [A] Wood's Fafti, Vol. II.

VOL. VIII.

back to her highness, who had obtained a promise front him to that purpose; but, after a stay of about eight months, the confented to let him return home. In 1680, he was offered the divinity-profefforship at Oxford, which he declined; but was made king's chaplain about the fame time. In 1685, by the king's command, he attended the duke of Monmouth, and had much free converfation with him in the Tower, both the evening before, and the day of his execution. The following year he took a fhare in the popish controverfy, and wrote a treatise, which will be mentioned presently with his works. In 1691, he fucceeded Dr. Sharp in the deanery of Canterbury. As he never made the leaft application for preferment, queen Mary furprised him with this offer, when the king her husband was abfent in Holland. He was made chaplain to their majesties the fame year. In 1698, when a preceptor was chofen for the duke of Gloucester, though both the royal parents of that prince preffed earnestly to have Hooper [B], and no pretence of any objection was ever made against him, yet the king named bishop Burnet for that fervice. In 1701, he was chofen prolocutor to the lower houfe of convocation: and the fame year was offered the primacy of Ireland by the earl of Rochester, then lord lieutenant. The year after the acceffion of Anne to the throne, he was nominated to the bishopric of St. Afaph. This he accepted, though against his inclination; and in half a year after, receiving a like command to remove to that of Bath and Wells, he earnestly requested her majesty to dispense with the order, not only on account of the fudden charge of fuch a tranflation, as well as a reluctance to remove, but alfo in regard to his friend Dr. Kenn, the deprived bishop of that place, for whom he begged the bishopric. The queen readily complied with Hooper's requeft; but the offer being declined by Kenn, Hooper at his importunity yielded to become his fucceffor. He fat in the fee of Bath and Wells twenty-four years and fix months; and, in 1727, died at Barkley in Somersetshire, whither he fometimes retired; and was interred, in purfuance of his own request, in the cathedral of Wells, under a marble monument with a Latin infcription.

Befides eight fermons, he published several books in his lifetime, and left several MSS. behind him, fome of which he permitted to be printed. The following is a catalogue of both. 1.

The Church of England free from the Imputation of Popery, 1682." 2. "A fair and methodical Difcuffion of the first and great Controverfy between the Church of England and the Church of Rome, concerning the Infallible Guide: in three Difcourfes." The two first of these were licenfed by Dr.

[B] Boyer's Hift. of Queen Ange, under that year.

Morrice,

"The

Morrice, in 1687, but the last was never printed. 3. Parfon's Cafe under the prefent Land-Tax, recommended in a Letter to a Member of the Houfe of Commons, 1689." 4. "A Difcourfe concerning Lent, in two Parts. The first, an hiftorical Account of its Obfervation: the fecond, an Effay con⚫ cerning its Original. This fubdivided into two Repartitions, whereof the first is preparatory, and fhews that most of our Christian Ordinances are derived from the Jews; and the fecond conjectures, that Lent is of the fame Original, 1694." 5. A Paper in the Philofophical Transactions for Oct. 1699, entitled, "A Calculation of the Credibility of Human Teftimony.' 6. "New Danger of Prefbytery, 1737." 7. " Marks of a defencelefs Caufe." 8. " A Narrative of the Proceedings of the lower Houfe of Convocation from Feb. 10, 1700, to June 25, 1701, vindicated." 9. " De Valentinianorum Hærefi conjecturæ, quibus illius origo ex Ægyptiaca Theologia deducitur, 1711 10." An Inquiry into the State of the ancient Meafures, the Attic, the Roman, and especially the Jewith. With an Appendix concerning our old English Money and Measures of Content, 1721." 11. "De Patriarchæ Jacobi Benedictione Gen. 49, conjecture," publifhed by the Rev. Mr. Hunt of Hart-hall in Oxford, with a preface and notes, according to the bishop's directions to the editor, a little before his death. The MSS. before mentioned are the two following: 1. “A Latin Sermon, preached in 1672, when he took the degree of B. D. and, 2. "A Latin Tract on Divorce." A beautiful edition of his whole works was printed at Oxford, 1757, folio.

HOPER, or HOOPER (JOHN), memorable for being a martyr in the Proteftant caufe, was born in Somerfetfhire, and bred at Oxford [c]. He took a batchelor's degree in 1518; and, as is reported, was of the fraternity of Ciftercians, commonly called White Monks: but, being weary of the order, he returned to Oxford, where, as the Catholics fay, he was poifoned with Lutheran principles, and became, in their language, a heretic. At the time when the ftatute of the Six Articles came out, he left what he had; and by fome means got to be chaplain and steward to fir John Arundel, who was afterwards put to death with the protector in king Edward's days: but, being difcovered to be a Proteftant, he was obliged to quit his employment, and fly into France. After staying there for fome time in a difagreeable fituation, he returned to England, and lived with a gentleman of the name of Saintlow. But at length being fought for, and dreading to be apprehended, he difguifed himfelf in a mariner's habit, made himself master of a boat, and failed to Ireland. Thence he went to Switzerland, where he became acquainted with Bullin