Owen, Henry

, a learned English divine, was the son of a gentleman of good estate, whose house was situated at the foot of Mount Cad da- reddris, near Dolgelly, in the county of Merioneth, and was born in 1716. He was | educated at Ruthen school, Denbighshire, and in 1735 entered of Jesus-college, Oxford, where he took his degrees in arts. The natural bent of his inclination led him to mathematical studies, which he pursued with great ardour and perseverance during the first part of his residence at the university. Intending, however, to follow the profession of physic, he proceeded to the degree of B. M. the 17th Oct. 1746, and finally became D.M. March 29, 1753, He practised for three years, but seems to have changed his purpose, and being admitted into orders, accepted of a curacy in Gloucestershire. He was chaplain to sir Matthew Featherstonehaugh, by whom he was presented to the living of Terling, in Essex, which he resigned in 1760, upon obtaining the rectory of St. Olave, Hart-street. In 1775 he received from Dr. Barrington, now bishop of Durham, then canon residentiary of St. Paul’s, the living of Edmonton. On the 3d of September 1760, he married miss Mary Butts, daughter of the bishop of Ely; and after a long and lingering illness, died the 14th October, 1795, leaving one son, the rev. Henry Butts Owen, to whom he had some years resigned the living of St. Olave’s, and four daughters.

Such are the outlines of the life of a gentleman who certainly is entitled to a more ample memorial; one who to very extensive and profound literature, added the most amiable manners, the strictest attention to the duties of his station, and the most exemplary conduct in his several relations, both public and domestic. He had a truly pious frame of mind, and was perhaps superior in biblical erudition to most of his contemporaries.

This learned divine published, 1. “Harmonia Trigonometrica, or A short treatise on Trigonometry,” 1748, 8vo. 2. “The intent and propriety of the Scripture Miracles considered and explained,” 1755, 8vo. 3. “Observations on the Four Gospels, tending chiefly to ascertain the times of their publication, and to illustrate the form and manner of their composition,” 1764, 8vo. 4. “Short directions to young Students in Divinity, and Candidates for Holy Orders,” 1766, 8vo. 5. “An Enquiry into the present state of the Septuagint version of the Old Testament,” 1769, 8vo. 6. “Thevintent and propriety of the Scripture Miracles considered and explained, in a series of Sermons preached at Bow, in 1769, 1770, and 1771, at Boyle’s Lecture,” 1773, 2 vols. 8vo. 7. “Crjtica | Saera, or a short introduction to Hebrew Criticism,” 177$, 8vo. This was criticised in a work entitled “Critica Sacra examined, or an attempt to shew that a new method may be found to reconcile the seemingly glaring variations in parallel passages of Scripture, and that such variations are no proofs of corruptions,” &c. 1775, 8vo. 8. “Supplement to Critica Sacra; in which the principles of that treatise are fully confirmed, and the objections of Mr. Raphael Baruh are clearly answered,” 1775, 8vo. 9. “Collatio Codicis Cottoniani Geneseos cum editione Romana a viro clarissimo Joanne Ernesto Grabe jam olim facta, nunc demum summa curaedita, 1778,” 8vo. This ancient and beautiful ms. was said to have been brought into England in the reign of Henry VIII. by two Greek bishops. Queen Elizabeth made a present of it to sir John Fortescue, from whom it descended to the Cotton Library. Walton says, that there were five volumes of this ms. containing the whole Pentateuch, but that the four last came into the hands of a Frenchman, who never returned them to the owner. This valuable ms. was nearly destroyed by the fire which so greatly damaged the Cotton Library in 1731. 10. “Critical Disquisitions; containing some remarks, 1. on Masius’s edition of the Book of Joshua, and, 2. on Origen’s celebrated Hexapla,” 1784, 8vo. 11. “A brief account, historical and critical, of the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament. To which is added, A Dissertation on the comparative excellency of the Hebrew and Samaritan Pentateuch,” &c. 1787, 8vo. 12. “The Modes of Quotation used by the Evangelical writers explained and vindicated,” 1789, 4to.

Besides these, Dr. Owen published in 1785, “Xenophon’s Memorabilia,” left unfinished by Dr. Edward Edwards, of Jesus-college, Oxford; and in 1766, “Rowland’s Mona Antiqua.” He was also author of “A Collation of the Account of the dedication of the Temple, printed in The Origin of Printing,'” 1776, 8vo; and “Remarks on the time employed on Caesar’s two Expeditions into Britain,” in “Archseologia,” II. 159; and contributed very liberally to Bowyer’s Conjectures on the New Testament, and Mr. Bowyer testified his gratitude by leaving Dr. Owen a legacy of 100l. ¹