Pearsall, Richard

, a pious dissenting divine, was born at Kidderminster in Warwickshire, Aug. 29, 1698, and received his education at a dissenting academy at Tt wkesbury, in Gloucestershire, under Mr. Jones, who was likewise the master of this school when Messrs. Butler and Seeker, afterwards the well-known prelates, were educated at it. Mr. Pearsall having been admitted into the ministry | among the dissenters, was settled for ten years at Bromyard, in Herefordshire, and afterwards for sixteen years at Warminster, in Wiltshire. His last charge, for about fifteen years, was at Taunton, in Somersetshire, where he died Nov. 10, 1762. He is known in the religious world by two works of considerable reputation, his “Contemplations on the Ocean,” &c. in 2 vols. 12mo, which are mentioned with respect by Hervey in the third volume of his “Theron and Aspasio;” and his “Reliquiæ Sacræ,” which were published by Dr. Gibbons, 1765, 2 vols. 12mo. They consist of meditations on select passages of scripture, and sacred dialogues between a father and his children. He is much an imitator of Hervey, particularly in his “Contemplations,” but has less imagination, although enough to catch the attention of young readers. ¹