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EUROPEAN MAGAZINE,

AND

LONDON REVIEW.

NOVEMBER 1823.

MEMOIR

OF

HENRY BATHURST, D.C.L

BISHOP OF NORWICH.

DR. HENRY BATHURST, Bishop of Norwich, is descended from an ancient family, which took their surname, or rather a part of it, from a place called Batters, in the Duchy of Luneburg. One or more of them coming into England in the time of the Saxons, gained a settlement near Battle Abbey, in Sussex, which they named Battershurst, that is, Batters Grove. Battershurst came at length to be corrupted, or shortened into Bathurst, and the wood upon the spot is now called Bathurst's Wood. It would be needless to give the whole descent, however honorable, of the venerated subject of this me moir: I shall therefore content myself with saying, that Benjamin Bathurst, Esquire, third son of Sir Benjamin Bathurst, and brother to the celebrated Allen Lord Bathurst, was the father of Henry Bathurst. This gentleman inherited the estates of Battlesden and Mixbury, the former of which he exchanged for Lydney Park, Gloucestershire; and having married Miss Poole, an heiress, had issue by her twenty-two children; and by his second wife, Miss Broderick, daughter of Dr. Broderick, a clergyman, and brother to Lord Middleton, he had a second family of fourteen children, of whom Dr. Bathurst was the third son.

In the month of November, 1744, Mrs. Bathurst was taken prematurely in labour, and at the end of seven months gave birth to her son Henry. It is a fact worthy remark,that a man who was a seven month's child should have reached the advanced age of seventy-nine, and should enjoy at that age, not only considerable health of body, but that animation, energy, and vigour of intellect, and those peculiar powers of memory, which distinguished him in early youth. It seems as if that Providence which had marked him out to advocate the best interests of civil and religious liberty, watched over him as a precious vessel, hallowed to those uses; and to be preserved uninjured, and unbroken, to the end."

His father, Mr. Benjamin Bathurst, had represented the City of Gloucester in parliament between twenty and thirty years, after which the Duke of Beaufort requested to bring him in for Monmouth, which borough he also represented for a great many years. It is worthy of notice, that he was father of the House of Commons at the same time that his brother, Earl Bathurst, was father of the House of Lords. Mr. Bathurst was a steady opposer of Sir Robert Walpole and the whigs, a staunch supporter of the Stuart

family, and an attached friend of the Pretender's, which rendered his son Henry's early and steady inclination for the opposite principles the more remarkable. This inclination he imbibed, in a great measure, from studying in his earliest years, the Greek and Roman writers; from perusing the sublime compositions of Milton in his youthful days; and the works of Locke and Hoadley as he advanced to manhood: writers who were all of them well calculated to form the basis of those principles of toleration, of that civil and religious liberty the advocacy of which has distinguished him through life, and will endear his memory to those who love and value the best interests of mankind.

He was first sent to a preparatory school at Oxford, and at the age of eleven years he went to Winchester, on the foundation; but he was never studious as a boy; and is another proof added to those already on record, that, in literary attainments, the performance of the man may considerably exceed the promise of the child.

In the year 1761, at the age of sixteen, he succeeded as founder's kin from Winchester to New College, Oxford, where he soon became devoted to literature, and indefatigable in the pursuit of it. He was fellow of New College fourteen years, and classical tutor two years. At the age of twenty-two he lost his father, who left his widow in distressed circumstances; and Mr. Bathurst, in order to be able to relieve her from his college allowance, went into Devonshire, after having taken priest's orders, as tutor to Sir Charles Bamfylde. He afterwards returned to Oxford with his pupil, where he continued as classical tutor for two years longer. At this time his uncle, Allen Lord Bathurst, who was then far advanced in years, having heard of his great attachment to literature, and of his attention to his own father, was anxious that he should reside constantly with him. He accordingly took up his abode for nearly two years principally with his uncle, and he soon became a favorite companion of that celebrated nobleman, to whom he usually read from four to six hours in the day.

After the death of his uncle, Mr.

Bathurst went for a short time to Eton as tutor to the present Lord Bathurst, who was then Lord Apsley, son of the Lord Chancellor Bathurst; he staid there nearly a year, when he was succeeded by the present Dean of Gloucester, Dr. Plumptre.

In the year 1771, Miss Catherine Bathurst, his sister, was married by him to Dr. Charles Coote, Dean of Kilfenora, in Ireland, and brother to the gallant Sir Eyre Coote, who distinguished himself so much in India, and died at Madras in 1783. There he first met Miss Coote, the Dean's only daughter by his first wife, the beautiful and excellent lady whom he afterwards married; but they had many difficulties and obstacles to surmount before the attachment, to which that meeting gave birth, was crowned by a happy union.

In 1775 he was offered by Lord Bathurst, as Chancellor, the living of Bletchingly, in Surry, the residence of the Clayton family; but that family went in a body to Lord North to request him to propose to Mr. Bathurst an exchange, as they were anxious that one of their own connections should possess the living. In consequence of which Lord North begged the Chancellor to offer Mr. Bathurst a stall at Windsor, Durham, Winchester, or the canonry of Christ Church, which last he accepted, having previously taken his doctor's degree; but he continued to live at New College during the first year, in order to defray the expense of furnishing his house. About this period he had the option of changing his canonry of Christ Church for the Irish Bishopric, which Dr. Clever afterwards accepted.

On the 15th of August, 1780, Dr. Bathurst was married to Miss Coote by the Dean her father, and departed immediately for England. After his marriage, Dr. Bathurst resided for many years entirely at Christ Church, where his house was open in an evening to those young men of his acquaintance with whom he was most intimate, and many of the noblemen and gentlemen who now take the lead in public affairs were of the number.

The living of Saperton was given to him by his uncle, Lord Bathurst, in 1772, but four or five years afterwards he vacated it by accepting a

New College benefice, the rectory of Witchingham, in Norfolk: this rectory, though of more value than Saperton, he resigned about the year 1790, and accepted Saperton a second time, to which he was presented by Lord Chancellor Bathurst, at the particular request of the present Lord, his son.

During Dr. Bathurst's residence at Oxford, he became acquainted with the Bishop of Durham (the Hon. Shute Barrington), and in the year 1795, that venerable prelate offered him, without any solicitation, the second best stall in his church, which he accepted.

In 1805 Dr. Bathurst was appointed to the See of Norwich, and entered on the duties of his sacred office. On the primary visitation of his diocese, in 1806, he delivered a charge to the clergy, which was since printed at their request, and dedicated to them. In this composition he congratulates himself on being placed over such a respectable body of men. "I shall study," says he, "to conciliate their affection and esteem, not, however, by any mean, unmanly compliance with the prejudice, the passions, or the selfish views of individuals,-and still less by granting any indulgence to idleness, or to the least wilful neglect of that solemn obligation which we all of us entered into when we were ordained, but by giving every one who may have occasion to come to me a patient hearing, and a kind reception; particularly to the few who may want of me the best advice which it is in my power to suggest. I know how difficult it is to please all men, be their situations in life what it may; nor am I solicitous to do this; but the approbation of the wise and good, of every rank and of every age, I am truly desirous of obtaining; because I consider such approbation as the best earthly reward of those humble but strenuous efforts which I am called upon by so many motives to exert, and which I will endeavour to exert in support of a cause so deeply interesting to us all -I mean the cause of religion and morality."

In conformity with ancient custom, that a bishop should deliver his sentiments respecting the leading topics connected with the clerical

profession, he then proceeded to give a general view of religion; and in his own eloquent and able manner disclosed those opinions on religious toleration to which he has uniformly adhered, on which he has constantly acted, and which will shed a radiance on that page of parliamentary history which shall record his name.

On the 27th of May, 1808, Lord Grenville moved for the House of Lords to resolve itself into a committee to consider of the petition of the Irish Catholics. After an address, which led to a most important and interesting debate, he was supported by the Bishop of Norwich, who commenced his speech in the following words:-"I rise for the first time in my life to address your Lordships, and I rise with unaffected reluctance, not because I entertain the smallest doubt respecting either the expediency, the policy, or the justice of the measure now under consideration, but because to a person in my situa tion it must be exceedingly painful (however firmly persuaded he may be in his own mind), to find himself impelled by a sense of duty to maintain an opinion directly the reverse of that which is supported by so many wise and good men who belong to the same profession, and who sit upon the same bench with me. Important occasions, however, sometimes arise on which an individual may be called to avow his own sentiments explicitly and unequivocally, without any undue deference to the judgment of others;-such an occasion I conceive the present to be, and shall, without further apology, trouble your Lordships with a few remarks."

This memoir would be extended beyond the limits of a magazine were the writer of this article to indulge in the pleasure of giving more of this admirable and luminous speech: suffice it, that it was said to charm even those whom it failed to convince, and was a sufficient pledge of the wisdom, the benevolence, and the truly christian spirit which on every similar occasion, has distinguished the speeches of the Bishop of Norwich. His last speech in parliament, delivered a short time ago, though spoken at the advanced age of seventy-nine, is a proof, not only

of unfaded vigour of intellect, but of that devotion to the cause of religious freedom which has enabled him uniformly to set the temptations of worldly interest at defiance.

In August, 1816, during the residence of the Bishop and Mrs. Bathurst at Lepperston, the seat of that lady's eldest brother, Lord Castle Coote, the Catholics of Ireland presented an address to him, inscribed to the Rev. Champion of the Catholic cause." The Bishop received the deputation at the house of Mr. Gore, in St. Stephen's-green, Dublin. The procession, which was very splendid, consisted of the Earl of Fingal, accompanied by all the members of the Catholic Board then resident in that city. The address, together with the Bishop's reply, are admirable examples of eloquence and right feeling, and I am sorry that I am not able to give copious extracts from them.

If the limits of a memoir allowed me to offer more minute details of the events of Dr. Bathurst's life, I should still abstain from doing so, as those details will, no doubt, be given at some future day by a far more able pen than mine; for the name of Henry Bathurst, Bishop of Norwich, belongs to history; and the future historian will expect to be enabled, by a biography derived from the most authentic sources, to enrich his pages with a full account of that dauntless prelate, who ventured into the arena of parliamentary warfare, unaided by his mitred brethren, to fight the christian battles of religious toleration.

It may here not be irrevelant to remark, that a very uncommon charge has recently been brought against this amiable prelate, for bishops are frequently reproached with providing too bountifully for their own families, but rarely with giving a preference, over their nearest of kin, to the interests of others. Dr. Bathurst, however, has lately been reproached with doing this, and with giving preferment to a friend in preference to his own son, and for this reason, that the friend is a whig and the son a tory. Sure am I that the amiable son alluded to would be the first to repel this unjust charge against his affectionate father, nor would he have en

joyed promotion purchased at the expense of that father's integrity; for the fact is, that the archdeaconry was given to the able and useful clergyman who now possesses it in consequence of a promise given. by the Bishop, many years ago, to a most amiable and honored friend, Mr. Coke, of Norfolk. But, however party-spirit may attempt to throw a cloud over the character of the Bishop of Norwich during his life, posterity will do him justice, and join his name to that of a Hoadley, and a Shipley. It may perhaps, while contemplating his ever active and disinterested benevolence, be willing to exclaim, in the word of a distinguished writer of the present day, in a letter to a friend, “The Bishop of Norwich is an honor to humanity! In Cuba he would have been a Las Casas pleading the cause of the poor Indians, so cruelly murdered by his countrymen. In France he would have been a Fenelon. At Marseilles he would, like its much celebrated bishop, have exposed himself cheerfully to the dangers of contagion in order to succour and to save the victims of the plague who were hourly falling around him."

In that interesting tale from the pen of Miss Knight, called “Dinarbas." the hero is supposed to be dead, and he arrives in his native city time enough to hear his own funeral eulogium pronounced-a pleasure of no common sort, but one which the Bishop of Norwich was very near enjoying, and, did indeed, in a degree enjoy; for a short time since, on the erroneous insertion of his death in the newspapers, one of his most valued friends poured forth the warm feelings of his affectionate and distressed heart on the occasion in a letter to the Archdeacon, the Bishop's eldest son;-and the Courier, after expressing his sorrow at being obliged to announce the death of that amiable prelate, the Bishop of Norwich, added, “for a further account see our next." Unhappily, however, a contradiction of the report reached the Courier, and prevented the character of Dr. Bathurst from being given by the pes of a political enemy, a circumstance much to be regretted; for perhaps the Courier would have proved a just

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