accomplish. On the North Wall of the Chancel of Wheathamsted Church, his death is thus recorded:

"In a Vault near this place, are deposited the mortal remains of the Rev. John Wheeldon, A. M. Prebendary of Lincoln, and 27 years Rector of this parish, who died July 26, 1800, æt. 65." He left one daughter; and a son, the Rev. John Wheeldon, of Bene't College, Cambridge; B. A. 1796; M. A. 1799; and in 1808 presented to the Perpetual Curacy of Market-Street, an endowed Chapelry within the parish of Caddington, a village situate both in Bedfordshire and Herts.

P. 635. Charles Ashton, B. D. a native of Derbyshire, was admitted of Queen's College, Cambridge, May 18, 1682; and having taken his degree of B. A. was elected Fellow of that College, April 30, 1687, to be admitted to profits upon a future vacancy, which did not happen till April 9, 1690. He became Chaplain to Bishop Patrick, by whom he was presented to the Rectory of Rattenden, in Essex, March 10, 1698-9, which living he exchanged in June following, for a Chaplainship of Chelsea Hospital, and that preferment also he soon after quitted, on being collated by his Patron to a Prebendal Stall at Ely, July 3, 1701; and the next day to the Mastership of Jesus College, Cambridge, both vacant by the death of Dr. Saywell. The same year he proceeded to his degree of D. D. and was elected Vicechancellor of the University in 1702. This Mastership and Prebend (both which he was in possession of above fifty years) were the only preferments he held afterwards; not choosing to accept of any Parochial Benefice; but leading a very retired and studious life in his College: except when statutable residence, and attendance at Chapters, required his presence at Ely: on which occasions, he seldom or never failed to be present, till the latter part of his life. He had great knowledge in most branches of Literature, particularly in Chronology, and in the Greek and Latin languages, but never could be prevailed on to publish any thing in his own name, though it is well known that he assisted his Friends in the publication of many learned works; and since his death, a correct edition of Justin Martyr's Apologies has been published from his MSS. by the Rev. Mr. Keller, late Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, Rector of Kelshall in Hert fordshire. Dr. Ashton was a generous contributor in his life-time to the ornament of his college; where he died in March 1752, in the 87th year of his age, and was buried in the College Chapel, with the following epitaph:

"Car. Ashton, S. T. P. hujus Collegii per annos L. Magister. Obiit anno Christi MDCCLII. ætat. LXXXVII."

P. 647. Mrs. Catharine Talbot was an only daughter of the Rev. Edward Talbot, Archdeacon of Berks, and Preacher at the Rolls, second son of Dr. Talbot, Bp. of Durham. Her father died in December 1720, at the early age of 29, above five months before the birth of this child, having on his death-bed recommended

Mr.

:

Mr. Secker, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, to his father's notice a most fortunate incident, as it proved in the event! for, "thus did this excellent young man, by a nice discernment of character, raise up, when least he thought of it, the truest friend and protector to his wife, and unborn daughter; who afterwards found in Mr. Secker all the tender care and assistance which they could have hoped for from the nearest relation." -To the friendship of her father also it was, that the grateful Dr. Rundle, some time after Lord Bishop of Derry, stood indebted for his early introduction to the Talbot family, together with all his consequent promotion: and by him a very elegant and beautiful character of Mr. Edward Talbot is given, in a Letter to Mrs. Sandys, immediately upon the melancholy event of his kind Patron's decease. Very honourable mention is likewise made of Mr. Talbot, in Bp. Porteus's Life of Archbishop Secker.

The first notice taken of his daughter's intellectual endowments is by Dr. Rundle, in a Letter to Mrs. Sandys, dated in 1729, when Miss Talbot could have been little more than eight years old. "Every day," says he, " Kitty grows a more delightful girl than the other. Her understanding shoots up faster than her person. I cannot say whether she is more admired or beloved; or which is most uncommonly excellent, her temper or her fine sense: in which reason and imagination seem to imitate the conduct of wise married people, where both command, and both obey: and have no contest between them, but which shall best shew forth the other's excellency."

The "Lady of First-rate Quality" (vol. VI. p. 206) was probably the Dutchess of Somerset.-The Bishop of Gloucester (p. 206) was Dr. Martin Benson, to whom Bp. Secker was related, having married in October 1725 Mrs. Catharine Benson, the friend and relation of Mrs. Talbot; who from that period, with her truly excellent daughter, consented to live with the Seckers; and continued also to reside in the utmost harmony of affection with the Primate, till his death.

In a Letter from the Dutchess of Somerset to Mr. Shenstone, the celebrated Poet, Dec. 18, 1753, her Grace, as if delighted to dwell upon the theme, observes, "The kind offer you made me, of sending me any thing you occasionally happen to write, I look upon as the highest obligation and you will greatly add to it, if you will permit me to shew them to a very ingenious Friend of mine, whose ingenuity is her least praise; since the even cheerfulness of her temper, and the candour of her heart, joined with the most unaffected and honourable piety, must claim the esteem of all lovers of virtue, who have the happiness of being acquainted with her. You may possibly have heard of her; as, in her very young days, some little things of her writing got abroad, which were thought worthy of notice, considering the age she was then of. She is a grand-daughter of old Bishop Talbot, and niece to the Lord Chancellor of that name. She has lately spent six weeks with me here, and went away only on Thursday."

"Miss Talbot was peculiarly blessed with a frankness devoid of all suspicion, which gave the most acceptable consequence to those she loved; whilst with unremitting zeal she pursued the interest of her Friends, whose happiness was essential to her own for her mind was far above that sordid selfishness, which too often, in common dispositions, checks the glowing impulse to hazard every danger in the cause of virtuous friendship. As a charitable Almoner, she was frequently employed by others; besides communicating from the ample allotment of her own fortune. With peculiar sympathy she attended to the distressed, and relieved their wants with judgment; distributing with all that lively pleasure, which mere duty can never afford, but which is the constant and just recompence of the feeling heart: -that heart, which, in this world of mortification and misery, must oftener expect to be grieved by such sorrows as bounty cannot wholly assuage, than to be gratified in wiping away the tears of penury and depression, by those donations which it is the highest luxury to bestow.

"The Writings of this most valuable woman, known as such, do equal honour to her mind and sex: they vindicate the noblest spirit of Christian benevolence, and display a more than ordinary acquaintance with human nature. There is a very singular and pretty Letter of Miss Talbot's, written when she was hardly sixteen years of age, and addressed to the new-born daughter of the Hon. John Talbot,' son of the Lord Chancellor; which may be found in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1770, and has been thence transferred to several other valuable works. An important little treatise, of about forty pages, is also attributed to Miss Talbot, which has gone through many editions, and evinces at once the lively imagination, the good sense, and exalted piety of the writer. It is intituled Reflections on the Seven Days of the Week.' Those, therefore, who had not the happiness of a personal acquaintance with the author of this most rational and pious composition, may, at a very trivial expence, have the pleasing opportunity of profiting by her thoughts, which will ever perpetuate the blessings deduced from her living example. To the above has been added a collection of very ingenious Essays on various Subjects,' in two volumes: and The Rambler, No. XXX. June 30, 1750, is likewise ascribed to Miss Talbot's pen.

"Ever attentive to the sacred duties of gratitude and humanity,' Abp. Secker, by his will, appointed the Rev. Dr. Daniel Burton, canon of Christ-church, and Mrs. Catharine Talbot, mother of the abovementioned lady, his executors; and left thirteen thousand pounds, in the three per cent. annuities, to Dr. Porteus, afterwards Lord Bishop of London, and Dr. Stinton, his Grace's Chaplains: in trust to pay the interest thereof to Mrs. Talbot and to her daughter, during their lives; and after their decease to be applied, as has been done, to charitable purposes.

"Miss Talbot was born in May 1721, and did not long survive her kind guardian; his Grace, with whom she resided for more

than

than 42 years, dying August 3, 1768; and his happy charge on the 9th of January, 1770, in the 49th year of her age.

"Her mother, Mrs. Talbot, having survived her husband more than 63 years, died Jan. 29, 1784, at the seat of her relation, Thomas Cornewall, esq. Chart-place, Surrey, in her 95th year." For these additions I am indebted to the Rev. Weeden Butler's Memoirs of Bp. Hildesley, where many other pleasing traits of Miss Talbot may be seen. Her character is also ably delineated, by Mrs. Duncombe, in Gent. Mag. vol. XLII.

p. 257.

P. 667. Of Dr. John Harris, an elaborate Author, and promoter of science and general knowledge, the personal History is still involved in obscurity, though much research has been employed to develope it; the silence of his contemporaries having rendered it difficult to collect authentic information concerning him. He was born about 1667; and probably in Shrop shire; as the Rev. Mark Noble (who at a long distance of time succeeded him in the Rectory of East Barming in Kent, and has written a History of that Parish) observes, that the arms borne by the Doctor were those of the Harris Baronets, of Tong Castle. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge; B. A. 1687; M. A. 1690; and was elected F. R. S. April 29, 1696. In 1697 he published" Remarks on several Papers relating to the Universal Deluge, and to the Natural History of the Earth," Svo.; an able defence of the system of Dr. Woodward, against the attacks of Dr. Martin Lister and others. His next publication was, "The Atheistical Objections against the Being of God, and his Attributes, fairly considered, and fully refuted; in Eight Sermons, preached at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul's, London, 1698; being the Seventh Year of the Lecture founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq. By John Harris, M. A. and F. R. S." 4to.- About this time, or very soon after, Mr. Harris read Public Lectures on Mathematics, at the Marine Coffee-house in Birchin Lane*.—In the Daily Courant, Sept. 28, 1702, Mr. Harris and his Works are thus announced: "Short, but yet Plain Elements of Geometry, and Plain Trigonometry; shewing how, by a brief and easy Method, most of what is necessary and useful in Euclid, Archimedes, Apollonius, and other excellent Geometricians, both Ancient and Modern, may be understood. Written in French by F. Ignatius Gaston Pardies, and rendered into English by John Harris, M. A. and F. R. S. The Second Edition; in which are many new Propositions, Additions, and useful Improvements; the Problems being now placed every where in their proper Order, and the whole accommodated to the capacities of young Beginnerst. Printed for R. Knaplock, at the Angel, and

* These Lectures were "first set up, entirely for the public good, by the generous Charles Cox, Esq.;" who in 1695 was elected M. P. for the Borough of Southwark; and again in 1698, 1700, 1701, 1702, 1705, 1707, 1708, and finally (being then Sir Charles Cox, Knight) in 1710. + Of this Work an Eighth Edition appeared in 1746. VOL. IX. 3 D

D. Mid

D. Midwinter, and T. Leigh, at the Rose and Crown, in St. Paul's Church-yard.—And, Mr. Harris being returned to Town, the Public Mathematical Lecture will begin again on Friday the second of October next, and will be continued as formerly. Also all kinds of Mathematics are taught by Mr. Harris, at his house in Amen Corner, where any person may be either boarded or taught by the Month." In the same year appeared, "A new short Treatise of Algebra; with the Geometrical Construction of Equation, as far as the Fourth Power of Dimension; together with a Specimen of the Nature and Algorithm of Fluxions, 1702;" which was announced to have been "written primarily for the use of his Auditors at the Marine Coffee-house." "The Description and Uses of the Coelestial and Terrestrial Globes, and of Collins's Pocket Quadrant, 4th Edition, 1703," Svo. "The Mathematical Lecture will begin again on Tuesday the 24th instant, at six o'clock in the afternoon, at the Marine Coffee-house and Mr. Harris will read and teach Geometry on Tuesdays, and Algebra on Fridays, to all comers, gratis."-Daily Courant, Nov. 20, 1703.-" The Public Mathematical Lecture will begin again this day, at six o'clock in the afternoon; where Mr. Harris will read and teach Geometry on Tuesdays, and Algebra on Fridays; beginning anew with each." Ibid. May 2, 1704.

At this period we find him editing two Works of considerable importance. Of these, the earliest was, "Lexicon Technicum; or, an Historical English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, explaining not only the terms of Art, but the Arts themselves, by John Harris, M. A. F. R. S. 1704," folio. This was evidently a Work on which he was regularly employed, as the Compiler, by a Body of respectable Booksellers; Daniel Browne, Timothy Goodwin, John Walthoe, Thomas Newborough, John Nicholson, Thomas Benskin, Benjamin Tooke, Daniel Midwinter, Thomas Leigh, and Francis Coggan. It is dedicated, by Mr. Harris, "to his Royal Highness" [George Prince of Denmark]; The First Volume was re-published in 1708; and a Second Part was added in 1710. The expence was insured to "the Undertakers" by a large and respectable List of Subscribers (about 900 to the First Volume, and 1300 to the Second). In the Second Volume the names of the Booksellers, Newborough, Benskin, Leigh, and Coggan, are omitted; and M. Atkins and T. Ward are added. This Volume is dedicated to the Right Hon. William Lord Cowper, Baron of Wingham, and Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain *. From these two volumes have

* Mr. Harris thus expresses himself in the Dedication: "My Lord, The great honour and advantage which the former Part of thisWork received from the Patronage of his Royal Highness the late Prince George of Denmark encourages me to dedicate this to your Lordship; as I am also obliged in duty and gratitude to do, for the many favours I have received from you; and especially for the great honour and happiness of having been so long known, and so near to you.”—Mr. Cole says, "he was Chaplain to Lord Chancellor Cowper till the affair with Sir Charles Cox." To what particulars "this affair" alludes, I have not been able to discover.

.

originated