T

HE Person, to whom I told you I had gone very far towards engaging myself for the Archdeaconry, was Dr. Brydges, the Duke of Chandois's Brother; and him I am this Day going to collate to it. I hope you are convinced by what I have faid, and written, that nothing could have been more improper, than the placing you ' in that Post, immediately under myself: Could I have been eafy under that Thought, you may be fure, no Man living thould have had the Preference to you. I am,

May 20, 1720.

Dear Brother,

Yours most affectionately,

FR. ROFFEN.

To

To the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of

:I

Rochester.

Dear Brother,

AM obliged to you for the Favour of your laft, and more particularly for giving me a Reason for your Difpo'fal of the Archdeaconry and Prebend an'nexed, when you was not obliged to give any Reason at all I cannot yet imagine 'what Indecency there can be to have • raised your elder Brother in Place under you, which doth not bear more hard, fuppofing the Perfon to be the Brother of a Duke: There is fome Shew of • Reason, I think, for the Non-acceptance, ' but none for the Not giving it. And fince your Lordship was pleased to fignify to me, that I fhould over-rule you in this Matter, I confefs it was fome Difappointment to me; though, fince you did not think fit to beftow it on me, I think you have given it to one of the most deferving Perfons I know of, who will add more to the Honour of the Place, than I could have receiv'ed from it. I hope I fhall be content with that meaner Poft in which

· I am,

I am, my Time, at longeft, being but 'fhort in this World, and my Health not fuffering me to make thofe neceffary Applications others do: Nor do I underftand the Language of the prefent Times, * for I find, I begin to grow an old* fashioned Gentleman, and am ignorant of the Weight and Value of Words, which in our Times rife and fall like Stock. I did not think that Dr. Bryd ges would have took up with an Archdeaconry, when his Brother can make him a Bishop, when he pleases: Though, had your Lordship put me in that Poft, I fhould not have endeavoured to have * over-ruled you a fecond Time. I am

Your affectionate Brother,

and humble Servant,

LEWIS ATTERBURY.

IF the Reader looks upon the Infertion of these Letters as a Digreffion, I hope it is a pardonable one; and the rather fo, because I fhall not detain him very long in protracting this Account; having little more to inform him with relating to our Author, but that he lived with a pretty good Share of Health, till he was about Seventy, and ufually preached once every Sunday. After this Period, the Infirmities of old Age and a Stroke (though a gentle one) of the Palfy, made him lefs conftant in the Pulpit, and occafioned his going frequently to Bath, where he died, after a fhort Illness, on the 20th of Oct. A. D. 1731.

In his Will he gave fome few Books to the Libraries at Bedford and Newport, and his whole Collection of Pamphlets, amounting to upwards of 200 Volumes, were by the Directions in it sent to the Library of Christ-Church, Oxford. He charged his Estate for ever with the Payment of 10. Yearly to a School-mistress, to inftruct Girls at Newport-Pagnel, which Salary he had himself in his Life-time paid

+ And not on Octob. 24, 1732, as the Gen. Dict.

paid for many Years. He remembered fome of his Friends, and left a respectful Legacy of an Hundred Pounds to his Dear Brother in Token of his true Efteem and Affection, as the Words of the Will are. And made the Bishop's Son (after his Grand-daughter who did not long furvive him) Heir to all his Fortune. He gave Directions to be buried at Highgate, and that a Monument fhould be erected in the Chapel, and an Infcription in fuch or like Words as he fhould leave behind him. All which was punctually complied with. A Fluted Marble Column with a Pedestal and Capital of the Corinthian Order, furmounted with his paternal Arms, being set up on the Wall near the Pulpit, with the following Infcription on the Pedeftal:

To the Memory of

LEWIS ATTERBURY, LL, D.

Formerly Rector of Sywell, in the County of Northampton, and one of the Six Preachers to her late Sacred Majefty Q. Anne, at St. James's and Whitehall, He was 36 Years Preacher of this Chapel: