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WARBURTON, WILLIAM (1698–1779)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 319 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WARBURTON, See also:WILLIAM (1698–1779) , See also:English critic and divine, See also:bishop of See also:Gloucester, was See also:born at See also:Newark on the 24th of See also:December 1698. His See also:father belonged to an old See also:Cheshire See also:family and was See also:town clerk of Newark. William was educated at See also:Oakham and Newark See also:grammar See also:schools, and in 1714 he was articled to Mr See also:Kirke, See also:attorney at See also:East See also:Markham, in See also:Nottingham-See also:shire. After serving his See also:time he returned to Newark with the intention of practising as a See also:solicitor; but, having given some time to the study of Latin and See also:Greek, he See also:left the See also:law and was ordained See also:deacon by the See also:archbishop of See also:York in 1723, and in 1727 received See also:priest's orders from the bishop of See also:London. He had occupied the See also:interval in various See also:literary labours, the most important being the notes he contributed to See also:Theobald's edition of See also:Shakespeare, and an See also:anonymous See also:share in a pamphlet on the See also:jurisdiction of the See also:Court of See also:Chancery, The Legal Judicature in Chancery stated (1727). This was an See also:answer to another anonymous pamphlet, written by See also:Philip See also:Yorke, afterwards See also:Lord See also:Chancellor See also:Hardwicke, who replied in an enlarged edition (1728) of his See also:original Discourse of the Judicial Authority . . . of See also:Master of the Rolls. Warburton now received from See also:Sir See also:Robert See also:Sutton the small living of Greasley, in See also:Nottinghamshire, exchanged next See also:year for that of See also:Brant See also:Broughton, See also:Lincolnshire. He held in addition, from 1730, the living of Frisby in Lincolnshire. In 1728 he was made an honorary M.A. of See also:Cambridge. At Brant Broughton for eighteen years he spent his time in study, the first result of which was his See also:treatise on the See also:Alliance between See also:Church and See also:State (1736). The See also:book brought Warburton into favour at court, and he probably only missed immediate preferment by the See also:death of See also:Queen See also:Caroline.

His next and best-known See also:

work, Divine See also:Legation of See also:Moses demonstrated on the Principles of a Religious Deist ( 2 vols., 1737–1741), preserves his name as the author of the most daring and ingenious of theological paradoxes. The deists had made the See also:absence of any inculcation of the See also:doctrine of a future See also:life an objection to the divine authority of the See also:Mosaic writings. Warburton boldly admitted the fact and turned it against the adversary by maintaining that no merely human legislator would have omitted such a See also:sanction of morality. Theauthor's extraordinary See also:power, learning and originality were acknowledged on all hands, though he excited censure and suspicion by his tenderness to the alleged heresies of Conyers See also:Middleton. The book aroused much controversy. In a pamphlet of " Remarks " (1742), he replied to See also:John Tillard, and Remarks on Several Occasional Reflections (1744–1745) was an answer to See also:Akenside, Conyers Middleton (who had up to this time been his friend), See also:Richard See also:Pococke, See also:Nicholas See also:Mann, Richard See also:Grey, See also:Henry Stebbing and other of his critics. As he characterized his opponents in See also:general as the " pestilent See also:herd of libertine scribblers with which the See also:island is overrun," it is no See also:matter of surprise that the book made him many See also:bitter enemies. Either in quest of See also:paradox, or actually unable to recognize the real tendencies of See also:Pope's See also:Essay on See also:Man, he entered upon its See also:defence against the Examen of See also:Jean See also:Pierre de See also:Crousaz, in a See also:series of articles (1738–1739) contributed to The See also:Works of the Learned. Whether Pope had really understood the tendency of his own work has always been doubtful, but there is no question that he was glad of an apologist, and that Warburton's jeu d'esprit in the See also:long run did more for his fortunes than all his erudition. It occasioned a sincere friendship between him and Pope, whom he persuaded to add a See also:fourth book to the Dunciad, and encouraged to substitute See also:Cibber for Theobald as the See also:hero of the poem in the edition of 1743 published under the editorship of Warburton. Pope bequeathed him the See also:copyright and the editorship of his works, and contributed even more to his See also:advancement by introducing him to See also:Murray, afterwards Lord See also:Mansfield, who obtained for him in 1746 the preachership of See also:Lincoln's See also:Inn, and to See also:Ralph See also:Allen, who, says See also:Johnson, " gave him his niece and his See also:estate, and, by consequence, a bishopric." The See also:marriage took See also:place in 1745, and from that time Warburton resided principally at his father-in-law's estate at See also:Prior See also:Park, in See also:Gloucestershire, which he inherited on Allen's death in 1764. In 1747 appeared his edition of Shakespeare, into which, as he expressed it, Pope's earlier edition was melted down.

He had previously entrusted notes and emendations on Shakespeare to Sir See also:

Thomas Hanmer, whose unauthorized use of them led to a heated controversy. As See also:early as 1727 Warburton had corresponded with Theobald on Shakespearean subjects. He now accused him of stealing his ideas and denied his See also:critical ability. Theobald's superiority to Warburton as a Shakespearean critic has long since been acknowledged. Warburton was further kept busy by the attacks on his Divine Legation from all quarters, by a dispute with See also:Bolingbroke respecting Pope's behaviour in the affair of Bolingbroke's Patriot See also:King, by his edition of Pope's works (1751) and by a vindication in 1750 of the alleged miraculous interruption of the rebuilding of the See also:temple of See also:Jerusalem undertaken by See also:Julian, in answer to Conyers Middleton. Warburton's manner of dealing with opponents was both insolent and rancorous, but it did him no disservice. He became See also:prebendary of Gloucester in 1753, See also:chaplain to the king in 1754, prebendary of See also:Durham in 1755, See also:dean of See also:Bristol in 1757, and in 1759 bishop of Gloucester. He continued to write so long as the infirmities of See also:age allowed, See also:collecting and See also:publishing his sermons, and toiling to See also:complete the Divine Legation, further fragments of which were published with his See also:posthumous Works. He wrote a defence of revealed See also:religion in his View of Lord Bolingbroke's See also:Philosophy (1754), and See also:Hume's Natural See also:History of Religion called forth some Remarks . . . " by a See also:gentleman of Cambridge " from Warburton, in which his friend and biographer, Richard See also:Hurd, had a share (1757). He made in 1762 a vigorous attack on See also:Methodism under the See also:title of The Doctrine of See also:Grace.

He also engaged in a keen controversy with Robert See also:

Lowth, afterwards bishop of London, on the book of See also:Job, in which Lowth brought See also:home charges of lack of scholarship and of insolence that admitted of no denial. His last important See also:act was to found in 1768 the Warburtonian lecture at Lincoln's Inn, "to prove the truth of revealed religion . . . from the completion of the prophecies of the Old and New Testament which relate to the See also:Christian Church, especially to the See also:apostasy of Papal See also:Rome." He died at Gloucester on the 7th of See also:June 1779. Warburton was undoubtedly a See also:great man, but his See also:intellect, marred by wilfulness and the See also:passion fdr paradox, effected no result in any degree adequate to its power. He was a warm and See also:constant friend, and gave many proofs of gratitude to his benefactors. Warburton's works were edited (7 vols., 1788) by Bishop Hurd with a See also:biographical See also:preface, and the See also:correspondence between the two See also:friends—an important contribution to the literary history of the See also:period—was edited by Dr See also:Parr in 18o8. Warburton's life was also written by John See also:Selby See also:Watson in 1863, and See also:Mark See also:Pattison made him the subject of an essay in 1889. See also I. D'See also:Israeli, Quarrels of Authors (1814); and especially John See also:Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-1815), vol. v., and Illustrations (1817-1858), vol. ii., for his correspondence with William See also:Stukeley, See also:Peter See also:des Maizeaux, Thomas See also:Birch, John See also:Jortin and See also:Lewis Theobald.

End of Article: WARBURTON, WILLIAM (1698–1779)

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