, fourth son of the preceding, was born in 1727, studied some time at Oxford, which he quitted
, fourth son of the
preceding, was born in 1727, studied some time at Oxford,
which he quitted for the Temple, and after the usual course
was admitted to the bar. He was one of his majesty’s counsel
learned in the law, and a bencher of the lion society of the
Inner Temple, but, although esteemed a very sound lawyer,
he never rose to any distinguished eminence as a pleader. He
was for some time recorder of Bristol, in which situation
he was preceded by sir Michael Foster, and succeeded by
Mr. Dunning, afterwards lord Ashburton. In May 1751
he was appointed marshal of the high court of admiralty in
England, which he resigned in 1753, on being appointed
secretary for the affairs of Greenwich hospital; and was
appointed justice of the counties of Merioneth, Carnarvon,
and Anglesey, 1757, and afterwards second justice of Chester, which he resigned about 1785, retaining only the
place of commissary-general of the stores at Gibraltar.
Had it been his wish, he might probably have been promoted to the EngU&h bench, but possessed of an ample
income, having a strong bias to the study of antiquities,
natural history, &c. he retired from the practice of the law,
and applied his legal knowledge chiefly to the purposes of
investigating curious questions of legal antiquity. His first
publication, which will always maintain its rank, and has
gone through several editions, was his “Observations on
the Statutes,
” The Naturalist’s Calendar,
” which was also favourably received. In Tracts on the probability of reaching
the North Pole,
” Philosophical Transactions,
” were published separately. -It must be allowed that
the learned author bestowed much time and labour on this
subject, and accumulated an amazing-quantity of written,
traditionary, and conjectural evidence, in proof of the possibility of circumnavigating the pole; but when his testimonies were examined, they proved rather ingenious than
satisfactory. In 1781 he published “Miscellanies on various subjects,
” 4to, containing some of his papers in the
Philosophical Transactions, and other miscellaneous essays composed or compiled by him, on various subjects of
antiquity, civil and natural history, &c. His contributions
to the Philosophical Transactions and to the Archaologia
are numerous, as may be seen in the indexes of these
works. He was a -member of both societies, and a vicepresident of that of the antiquaries, which office he resigned
in his latter days on account of his bad state of health. He
died after a lingering illness, at his chambers in the King’s
Bench walk, Temple, March 11, 1SOO, aged 73, and
was interred in the vault of the Temple church. Mr. Barrington was a man of amiable character, polite, communicative, and liberal.
, an admirable English artist, was born in 1727, at Sudbury, in Suffolk, where his father was a
, an admirable English artist, was born in 1727, at Sudbury, in Suffolk, where his father was a clothier. He very early discovered a propensity to painting. Nature was his teacher, and the woods of Suffolk his academy, where he would pass in solitude his mornings, in making a sketch of an antiquated tree, a marshy brook, a few cattle, a shepherd and his flock, or any other accidental objects that were presented. From delineation he got to colouring; and after painting several landscapes from the age of ten to twelve, he quitted Sudbury, and came to London. Here he received his first instructions from Gravelot, and was then placed under the tuition of Mr. Hayman, with whom he staid but a short time. After quitting this master, he for a short time resided in Hatton-garden, and practised painting of portraits of a small size, and also pursued his favourite subject, landscape. During this residence in London, he married a young lady, who possessed an annuity of 200l.; and then retired to Ipswich, and from thence to Bath, where he settled about 1758. He now began painting portraits at the low price of five guineas, for a threequarter canvas, and was soon so successful as to be encouraged to raise his price to eight guineas. In 1761, for the first time, he sent some of his works to the exhibition in London. In 1774, he quitted Bath, and settled in London in a part of the duke of Schomberg’s house in Pail-Mall. In this situation, possessed of ample fame, and in the acquisition of a plentiful fortune, he was disturbed by a complaint in his neck, which was not much noticed upon the first attack, nor was it apprehended to be more than a swelling in the glands of the throat, which it was expected would subside in a short time, but it was soon discovered to be a cancer, which baffled the skill of the first medical professors. Finding the danger of his situation, he settled his affairs, and composed himself to meet the fatal moment, and expired Aug. 2, 1788. He was buried, according to his own request, in Kew Churchyard.
n catholic family in Norfolk, was the youngest brother of the late sir William Jerningham, bart. and was born in 1727. He was educated in the English college at Douay,
, an elegant English poet,
descended from an ancient Roman catholic family in Norfolk, was the youngest brother of the late sir William Jerningham, bart. and was born in 1727. He was educated
in the English college at Douay, and from thence removed
to Paris, where he improved himself in classical attainments,
becoming a good Latin scholar, and tolerably well acquainted with the Greek, while the French and Italian languages, particularly the former, were nearly as familiar to
him as that of his native country. In his mind, benevolence and poetry had always a mingled operation. His
taste was founded upon the best models of literature, which,
however, he did not always follow, with respect to style, in
his latter performances. The first production which raised
him into public notice, was a poem in recommendation of
the Magdalen hospital; and Mr. Jonas Hanway, one of its
most active patrons, often declared, that its success was
very much promoted by this poem. He continued 'occasionally to afford proofs of his poetical genius; and his
works, which passed through many editions, are uniformly
marked by taste, elegance, and a pensive character, that
always excites tender and pleasing emotions; and in some
of his works, as in “The Shakspeare Gallery,
” “
Enthusiasm,
” and “The Rise and Fall of Scandinavian Poetry,
”
he displays great vigour, and even sublimity. The fiist of
these poems had an elegant and spirited compliment from
Mr. Burke, in the following passage: “I have not for a,
long time seen any thing so well-finished. He has caught
new fire by approaching in his perihelium so near to the
Sun of our poetical system.
” His last work, published a
few months before his death, was entitled “The Old Bard’s
Farewell.
” It is not unworthy of his best days, and
breathes an air of benevolence and grateful piety for the
lot in life which Providence had assigned him. In his later
writings it has been objected that he evinces a species of
liberal spirit in matters of religion, which seems to consider
all religions alike, provided the believer is a man of meekness and forbearance. With this view in his “Essay on
the mild Tenour of Christianity
” he traces historically the
efforts to give an anchorite-cast to the Christian profession,
and gives many interesting anecdotes derived from the page
of Ecclesiastical history, but not always very happily applied. His “Essay on the Eloquence of the Pulpit in
England,
” (prefixed to bishop Bossuet’s Select Sermons and Orations) was very favourably received by the public,
but his notions of pulpit eloquence are rather French than
English. Mr. Jerningham had, during the course of a
long life, enjoyed an intimacy with the most eminent literary characters in the higher ranks, particularly the celebrated earl of Chesterfield, and the present earl of Carlisle.
The illness which occasioned his death, had continued for
some months, and was at times very severe; but his sufferings were much alleviated by a course of theological
study he had imposed on himself, and which he considered
most congenial to a closing life. He died Nov. 17, 1812.
He bequeathed all his manuscripts to Mr. Clarke, New
Bond-street. Mr. Jerningham’s productions are as follow:
J. “Poems and Plays,
” 4 vols. 9th edition, 1806. 2. “Select Sermons and Funeral Orations, translated from the
French of Bossuet, bishop of Meaux,
” third edition, The mild Tenour of Christianity, an Essay, (elucidated from Scripture and History; containing a new illustration of the characters of several eminent personages,)
”
second edition, The Dignity of Human Nature, an Kssay,
” The Alexandrian School;
or, a narrative of the first Christian Professors in Alexandria,
” third edition, The Old Bard’s
Farewell,
” a Poem, second edition, with additional passages,
1812. His dramatic pieces, “The Siege of Berwick,
” the
“Welsh Heiress,
” and “The Peckham Frolic,
” have not
been remarkably successful.