|
DOUGLAS, JOHN, D. D.,
bishop of Salisbury, was born at Pittenweem, Fifeshire, in the year 1721.
His father was Mr John Douglas, a respectable merchant of that town, a son
of a younger brother of the ancient family of Tilliquilly. Young Douglas
commenced his education at the schools of Dunbar, whence in the year 1736,
he was removed, and entered commoner of St Mary’s college, Oxford. In
the year 1738, he was elected exhibitioner on bishop Warner’s
foundation, in Baliol college; and in 1741, he took his bachelor’s
degree. In order to acquire a facility in speaking the French language, he
went abroad, and remained for some time at Montreal in Picardy, and
afterwards at Ghent in Flanders. Having returned to college in 1743, he
was ordained deacon, and in the following year he was appointed chaplain
to the third foot guards, and joined the regiment in Flanders, where it
was then serving with the allied army. During the period of his service
abroad, Dr Douglas occupied himself chiefly in the study of modern
languages; but at the same time he took a lively interest in the
operations of the army, and, at the battle of Fontenoy, was employed in
carrying orders from general Campbell to a detachment of English troops.
He returned to England along with that body of troops, which was ordered
home on the breaking out of the rebellion of 1745; and having gone back to
college, he was elected one of the exhibitioners on Mr Snell’s
foundation. In the year 1747, he was ordained priest, and became curate of
Tilehurst, near Reading, and afterwards of Dunstew, in Oxfordshire. On the
recommendation of Sir Charles Stuart and lady Allen, he was selected by
the earl of Bath to accompany his only son lord Pulteney, as tutor, in his
travels on the continent. Dr Douglas has left a MS. account of this tour,
which relates chiefly to the governments and political relations of the
countries through which they passed. In the year 1749, he returned home;
and although lord Pulteney was prematurely cut off,, yet the
fidelity with which Dr Douglas had discharged his duty to his pupil,
procured him the lasting friendship and valuable patrol age of the earl of
Bath; by whom he was presented to the free chapel of Eaton-Constantine,
and the donative of Uppington, in Shropshire. In the following year
(1750), he published his first literary work, "The Vindication of
Milton," from the charge of plagiarism, brought against him by
the impostor Lauder. In the same year he was presented by the earl of Bath
to the vicarage of High Ercal, in Shropshire, when he vacated
Eaton-Constantine. Dr Douglas resided only occasionally on his livings. At
the desire of the earl of Bath, he took a house in town, near Bath-House,
where he passed the winter months and in summer he generally accompanied
lord Bath to the fashionable watering places, or in his visits among the
nobility and gentry. In the year 1752, he married Miss Dorothy Pershouse,
who died within three months after her nuptials. In 1754, he published
"The Criterion of Miracles." In 1755, he wrote a pamphlet
against the Hutchinsonians, Methodists, and other religious sects, which
he published under the title of "An Apology for the clergy," and
soon after, he published an ironical defence of these sectarians, entitled
"The Destruction of the French foretold by Ezekiel." For
many years Dr Douglas seems to have engaged in writing political
pamphlets, an occupation most unbecoming a clergyman. In the year 1761, he
was appointed one of his majesty’s chaplains, and in 1762, through the
interest of the earl of Bath, he was made canon of Windsor. In 1762, he
superintended the publication of "Henry the Earl of Clarendon’s
Diary and Letters;"and wrote the preface which is pre-fixed to
that work. In June, of that year, he accompanied the earl of Bath to Spa,
where he became acquainted with the hereditary prince of Brunswick, who
received him with marked attention, and afterwards honoured him with his
correspondence. Of this correspondence, (although it is known that Dr
Douglas kept a copy of all his own letters, and although it was valuable
from its presenting a detailed account of the state of parties at the
time,) no trace can now be discovered. In the year 1764, the earl of Bath
died, and left his library to Dr Douglas, but as general Pulteney wished
to preserve it in the family, it was redeemed for a thousand
pounds. On the death of general Pulteney, however, it was again left to Dr
Douglas, when it was a second time redeemed for the same sum. In 1764, he
exchanged his livings in Shropshire for that of St Austin and St Faith in
Watling Street, London. In April 1765, Dr Douglas married Miss Elizabeth
Brooke, the daughter of Henry Brudenell Brooke. In the year 1773, he
assisted Sir John Dalrymple in the arrangement of his MSS. In 1776, he was
removed from the chapter of Windsor to that of St Pauls. At the request of
lord Sandwich, first lord of the admiralty, he prepared for publication
the journal of Captain Cooke’s voyages. In the year 1777, he assisted
lord Hardwick in arranging and publishing his Miscellaneous Papers. In
the following year he was elected member of the royal and the
antiquarian societies. In 1781, at the request of lord Sandwich, he
prepared for publication Captain Cooke’s third and last voyage; to which
he supplied the introduction and notes. In the same year he was chosen
president of Zion college, and preached the customary Latin sermon. In
1786, he was elected one of the vice-presidents of the antiquarian
society, and in the month of March of the following year, he was elected
one of the trustees of the British museum. In September, 1787, he was made
bishop of Carlisle. In 1788, he succeeded to the Deanery of Windsor, for
which he vacated his residentiaryship of St Pauls, and in 1791 he was
translated to the See of Salisbury. And having reached the 86th
year of his age, he died on the 18th of May, 1807. He was
buried in one of the vaults of St George’s chapel in Windsor Castle, and
was attended to the grave by the duke of Sussex.
Mr Douglas had the honour
to be a member of the club instituted by Dr Johnson, and is frequently
mentioned in Boswell’s life of the lexicographer; he is also twice
mentioned by Goldsmith in the "Retaliation." We are told by his
son that his father was an indefatigable reader and writer, and that he
was scarcely ever to be seen without a book or a pen; but the most
extraordinary feature in the career of this reverend prelate is his
uniform good fortune, which makes the history of his life little more than
the chronicle of the honours and preferments which were heaped upon him.
[The following is a list of bishop Douglas’s works: "Vindication of
Milton from the charge of Plagiarism, adduced by Lauder," 1750.
"A letter on the criterion of miracles," 1754, principally
intended as an antidote against the writings of Hume, Voltaire, and the
philosophers." "An apology for the clergy against the
Hutchinsonians, Methodists, &c." "The destruction of the
French foretold by Ezekiel," 1759. This was an ironical defence of
those he had attacked in the preceding pamphlet. "An attack on
certain positions combined in Bower’s history of the Popes,
&c." 1756. "A serious defence of the administration,"
1756, - being an attack on the cabinet of that day for introducing foreign
troops. "Bower and Tillemont compared," 1757. "A full
confutation of Bower’s three defences." "The complete and
final detection of Bower." "The conduct of the late noble
commander (lord George Sackville, afterwards lord George Germain) candidly
considered," 1759. This was the defence of a very unpopular
character. "A letter to two great men on the appearance of
peace," 1759. "A preface to the translation of Hooke’s
Negotiations," 1760. "The sentiments of a Frenchman on the
preliminaries of peace," 1762. "The introduction and notes to
captain Cooke’s third voyage." "The anniversary sermon on the
martyrdom of king Charles, preached before the house of Lords," 1788.
"The anniversary sermon preached before the Soceity for the
propagation of the Gospel," 1793. Besides these, bishop Douglas wrote
several political papers in the public Advertiser in 1763, -66, -70, -71.
He also superintended the publication of lord Clarendon’s Letter and
Diary, and assisted lord Hardwick and Sir John Dalrymple in arranging
their MSS. for publication, and he drew up Mr Hearne’s narrative, and
finished the introduction.]
|
