Tindal, Nicholas

, nephew to the preceding, was born in 1687, and was entered of Exeter college, Oxford, where he took his degree of M. A. in June 1713. He was presented to the rectory of Alverstoke in Hampshire, by the bishop of Winchester, and to the vicarage of Great Waltbam, near Chelmsford, Essex, 1722, by Trinity college, Oxford, of which he had become a fellow. He quitted this last living in 1740, on being presented to the rectory of Colbourne in the Isle of Wight. He had previously, in 1738, being appointed by sir Charles Wager, chaplain to Greenwich hospital, where he died June 27, 1774, at: the advanced age of eighty-seven.

In 1724, he published in monthly numbers, “Antiquities sacred and profane, being a Dissertation on the excellency of the history of the Hebrews above that of any other nation,” &c. a translation from Calmet. He also began a history of Essex, of which he published a small part, in two quarto numbers, proposing to complete it in three quarto volumes, at one guinea each; but left this undertaking, in 1726, for the translation of Rapin’s “History of England,” which has served to perpetuate his name, and was indeed a work of great utility, and success. This | translation, originally published in 1726, 8vo, and dedicated to Thomas lord Howard baron of Effingham, was reprinted in weekly numbers, in 1732 and 1733, 2 vols. folio; the first of which was inscribed, in a manly dedication, to Frederick prince of Wales, who rewarded Mr. Tindal with a gold medal worth forty guineas. The second volume of the 8vo edition had been inscribed to sir Charles Wager, when the translator was chaplain on board the Torbay in the Bay of Revel in the Gulph of Finland. Vol. IV. is dedicated to the same, from the same place, 1727. Vol. VI. from Great Waltham, 1728, to the English factors at Lisbon, where the translator officiated as chaplain five months in the absence of Mr. Sims. The “Continuation” was likewise published in weekly numbers, which began in 1744, and was completed March 25, 1747, which is the date of the dedication to the late duke of Cumberland. When the “History” was published, Mr. Tindal was “Vicar of Great Waltham.” In the “Continuation” he is called “Rector of Alverstoke, and chaplain to the royal hospital at Greenwich.” This last was printed in two volumes, but is accompanied with a recommendation to bind it in three; vol. III. to contain the reign and medals of king William; vol. IV. the reign of queen Anne; and vol. V the i\ ign of king George I. with the medals of queen Anne and king George; a summary of the History of England, and the index. A second edition of the “Continuation” appeared in 1751; and anew edition of the whole, in 1757, 21 vols. 8vo. Both in the Translation and Continuation he was materially assisted by Mr. Morant; and the sale of both so far exceeded the expectations of Messrs. Knapton, the booksellers, that they complimented Tindal with a present of 200l. In 1727, he translated the text printed uith Mr. Morant’s translation of the notes of Mess, de Beausobre and L’Enftmt on St. Matthew’s Gospel. On the discovery of the imposition practised on his uncle, he entered into a controversy with Budgell who had cheated him; and published, among other things, a pamphlet entitled “A Copy of the Will of Dr. Matthew Tindal, with an account of what passed concerning the same between Mrs. Lucy Price, Eustace Budgell, esq. and Mr. Nicholas Tindal,1733, 8vo. By this will 2000 guineas, and the ms. of a second volume of “Christianity as old as the Creation,” were bequeathed to Mr. Budgell; and only a small residue to his nephew, whom, by a regular will, he had riot long before | appointed his sole heir. The transaction is alluded to in the well-known lines of Pope:

"Let Budgell charge low Grub-street on my quill,

And write whatever he please, except my Will."

Indeed no person at that time seems to have entertained any doubt of the will being a forgery and perhaps Budgeli’s guilt became more obvious from the awkward attempts he made to defend himself in his periodical publication called “The Bee.” Mr. TindaPs last publication was a translation of “Prince Cantemir’s History of the Othmaii Empire,” folio. He was also editor of “A Guide to Classical Learning, or Polymetis abridged, for Schools;” a publication of mueh use, and which has passed through several editions. A portrait of him is prefixed to the second volume of his translation of Rapin. He had been elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in Feb. 1736, but resigned it in June 1740.1

1

Nichols’s Bowyer.