Leng, John
, a learned English prelate, was born at Norwich in 1665, and educated at St. Paul’s school, London, whence he removed to Catherine-hall, Cambridge; and took his degrees of A. B. in 1636, A.M. 1690, and B. D. 1698. He was, in 1708, presented to the rectory of Beddington in Surrey, by sir Nicholas Carew, bart. who had been his pupil; and he was appointed chaplain to king George I. who also promoted him to the see of Norwich in 1723. He died Oct. 26, 1727, of the small-pox, which he caught at the coronation of George II. He lies buried in the church of St. Margaret, Westminster, where is a monument to his memory. Richardson, in his continuation of Godwin, calls him a man of the first-rate genius and abilities. In 1695, he published two of the comedies of Aristophanes, the “Plutus” and “Nubes,” Gr. & Lat. 8vo, with notes; and in 1719 preached the sermons at Boyle’s lecture, which are printed, as are a set of his sermons preached at Tunbridge, and a few others upon occasional subjects. He was editor also of one of the most magnificent and correct editions of “Terence,” that printed at Cambridge in 1701, 4to. For this he consulted thirteen manuscripts, and many ancient editions, and enriched the work with critical notes, and a dissertation “De ratione et licentia metri Terentiani.” It was reprinted at Cambridge, in octavo, 1701 and 1723, which last Dr. Harwood thinks the best editon. Dr. Leng corrected and revised the sixth edition of sir Roger L’Estrange’s translation of Cicero de Officiis, an employment which we are surprized he should have undertaken, who could with more ease and elegance have given a new one. 2
Nichols’s Bowyer. Lyson’s Environs,