John's college, Cambridge, April 11, 1670. In 1683, he was made dean of Windsor, and the same year, was promoted to the see of Rochester, being consecrated on Nov. 11, and next year Aug. 23, was translated to the bishopric of Ely. Though he owed most of these preferments to the influence of the duke of York, afterwards James II. yet on the accession of that prince to the throne; as soon as he perceived the violent measures that were pursued, and the open attempts to introduce popery and arbitrary power, he opposed them to the utmost. He was one of the six bishops who joined archbishop Sancroft on May 18, 1688, in subscribing and presenting a petition to the king, setting forth their reasons, why they could not comply with his commands, in causing his majesty's "Declaration for liberty of conscience" to be read in their churches. This petition being styled by the court, a seditious libel against his majesty and his government, the bishops were all called before the privy council; and refusing to enter into recognizances, to appear in the court of the king's bench, to answer the misdemeanour in framing and presenting the said petition, were, on June 8, committed to the Tower; on the 15th of the same month they were brought by habeas corpus to the bar of the king's bench, where, pleading not guilty to the information against them, they were admitted to bail, and on the 29th came upon their trials in Westminster-hall, where next morning they were acquitted to the great joy of the nation. However, when king William and queen Mary were settled on the throne, our bishop, among many others of his brethren and the clergy, refused to own the established government, out of a conscientious regard to the allegiance he had sworn to James II.; and refusing to take the oaths required by an act of parliament of April 24, 1689, was by virtue of that act suspended from his office, and about the beginning of the following year, deprived of his bishopric. After this he lived the rest of his days in retirement, and dying Nov. 2, 1700, was buried in the chancel of the parochial church of Therfield in Hertfordshire, where he had been rector, but without any memorial except the word EXPERGISCAR engraven on a stone over the vault.

Previously, however, to his retirement, Burnet informs us that he was concerned in a very ill-concerted plot to restore the abdicated king, for which some of his party were imprisoned, and he thought it prudent to abscond. His

abilities were not considered as of the first order, but he was of great sincerity and integrity in private life, and it is impossible not to respect the character, whatever we may think of the opinions of a man whom neither gratitude nor interest could seduce from what he considered as his duty. He published a "Vindication of the late archbishop Saucroft and his brethren, the rest of the deprived bishops, from the reflections of Mr. Marshall, in his defence of our Constitution.” "Animadversions on a pamphlet entitled The Naked Truth," which were answered by Andrew Marvell, under the name of Rivet; and "Letters to the Clergy of his diocese."

TURNER (THOMAS), brother to the above, was born at Bristol in 1645, and educated at Corpus Christi college, Oxford, of which he was elected fellow; he afterwards became chaplain to Dr. Henry Compton, bishop of London, who collated him, Nov. 4, 1680, to the rectory of Thorley in Hertfordshire, and Dec. 20 following, to the archdeaconry of Essex; and in 1682, to the prebend of Mapesbury in St. Paul's. He commenced D. D. at Oxford, July 2, 1683, was collated by his brother to a prebend of Ely, March 26, 1686, and elected president of Corpus, March 13, 1687-8. The same year, May 7, he was instituted to the sinecure rectory of Fulham, on the presentation of his brother, to whom the advowson, for that turn, had been granted (the bishop of London being then under suspension), and at length was made precentor and prebendary of Brownswood in St. Paul's, Jan. 11, 1689. What his political principles were at the revolution, we are not told, although, by keeping possession of his preferments, it is to be presumed, he did not follow the example of his brother, but took the oaths of allegiance. However, we are informed, that after the act passed in the last year of king William III. requiring the abjuration oath to be taken before Aug. 1, 1702, under penalty of forfeiting all ecclésiastical preferments, Dr. Turner went down from London to Oxford, July 28, seemingly with full resolution not to take the oath, and to quit all his preferments; but, on better advice, he made no resignation, knowing that if he was legally called upon to prove his compliance with the act, his preferments would be void in course; and so continued to act, as if he had taken the oath, by which means he re

1 Ath, Ox.-Bentham's Ely.-Burnet's Own Times.

tained his preferments to his death, without ever taking it at all. He died April 30, 1714, and was buried in the chapel of Corpus Christi college, where there is a monument, and an inscription written by Edmund Chishull, B. D.

Dr. Turner has left only one sermon in print, preached before the king, May 29, 1685, but he is memorable on another account. He was a single man, and remarkable for his munificence and charity in his life-time. By his will, he left the bulk of his fortune, which was very considerable, in public and charitable uses; for, besides 4000l. in legacies to his' relations and friends, he gave or left to his college 6000l. for improving the buildings, and other purposes; to the dean and chapter of Ely 1000l. for augmenting the singing-men's stipends; and 100l. the interest of which was to be expended in putting out children of the town of Ely apprentices, at the nomination of his successors in the stall he beld; and the remainder of his effects, which amounted to 20,000l. his executors were directed to lay out in estates and lands, and settle them on the governors of the charity for the relief of poor widows and children of clergymen. His executors accordingly purchased the manor of Stow in Northamptonshire, and other estates there, and at West-Wratting in Cambridgeshire, amounting to above 1000l. a year, and settled them in 1716, agreeably to his will. They also erected a sumptuous monument to his memory in Stow church, with an inscription.-WILLIAM TURNER, the third son of the dean of Canterbury, was archdeacon of Durham, and rector of Stanhope in that county. He died at Oxford in 1685, and was buried in St. Giles's church, and near his remains were deposited those of his mother, who died in 1692.1

TURNER (WILLIAM), a very eminent naturalist and divine, was born at Morpeth, in Northumberland, and was educated under the patronage of sir Thomas Wentworth, at the university of Cambridge, where he was chosen a fellow of Pembroke Hall, about 1531. He acquired great reputation for his learning, and about 1536 was admitted to deacon's orders, at which time he was master of arts. He applied himself also to philosophy and physic, and early discovered an inclination to the study of plants, and a wish to be well acquainted with the materia medica of the ancients. He complains of the little assistance he could

1 Bentham's Hist. of Ely.-Ath. Ox. vol. II.

receive in these pursuits. Being yet a student of Pem. broke Hall, where I could learn never one Greke, neither Latin, nor English name, even amongst the physicians, of any herbe or tree; such was the ignorance of that time; and as yet there was no English herbal, but one all full of unlearned cacographies and falsely naming of herbes."

At Cambridge, Turner imbibed the principles of the reformers, and afterwards, agreeably to the practice of many others, united the character of the divine to that of the physician. He became a preacher, travelling into many parts of England, and propagated, with so much zeal, the cause of the reformation, that he excited persecution from bishop Gardiner. He was thrown into prison, and detained for a considerable time; and on his enlargement submitted to voluntary exile during the remainder of the reign of Henry VIII. This banishment proved favourable to his advancement in medical and botanical studies; he resided at Basil, Strasburgh, and at Bonn, but principally at Cologn, with many other English refugees. He dwelt for some time at Weissenburgh; and travelled also into Italy, and took the degree of doctor of physic at Ferrara. As at this period the learned were applying with great assiduity to the illustration of the ancients, it was a fortunate circumstance for Dr. Turner, that he had an opportunity of attending the lectures of Lucas Ghinus, at Bologna, of whom he speaks in his "Herbal" with great satisfaction; and frequently cites his authority against other commentators. Turner resided a considerable time at Basil, whence he dates the dedication of his book "On the Baths of England and Germany." During his residence in Switzerland he contracted a friendship with Gesner, and afterwards kept up a correspondence with him. Gesner had a high opinion of Turner, as a physician and man of general learn→ ing, whose equal, he says, he scarcely remembered. This encomium occurs in Gesner's book "De Herbis Lunariis.".

On the accession of Edward VI. he returned to England, was incorporated M. D. at Oxford, appointed physician to Edward, duke of Somerset, and, as a divine, was rewarded with a prebend of York, a canonry of Windsor, and the deanery of Wells. In 1552 he was ordained priest by bishop Ridley. He speaks of himself in the third part of his "Herbal," as having been physician to the "erle of Embden, lord of East Friesland." In 1551 he published the first part of his History of Plants, which he dedicated to

the duke of Somerset his patron. But on the accession of queen Mary, his zeal in the cause of the reformation, which he had amply testified, not only in preaching, but in various publications, rendered it necessary for him to retire again to the continent, where he remained at Basil, or Strasburgh, with others of the English exiles, until queen Elizabeth came to the throne. He then returned, and was reinstated in his preferments. He had, however, while abroad, caught some of the prejudices which divided the early protestants into two irreconcilable parties, and spoke and acted with such contempt for the English discipline and ceremonies, as to incur censure, but certainly was not deprived, as some of those writers who are hostile to the church have asserted, for he died possessed of the deanery of Wells. It would appear, indeed, that he had given sufficient provocation, but found a friend in the queen on such occasions. In the dedication of the complete edition of his "Herbal" to her in 1568, he acknowledges with gratitude, her favours in restoring him to his benefices, and in other ways protecting him from troubles, having, at four several times, granted him the great seal for that purpose.

Dr. Turner seems to have divided his time between his deanery, where he had a botanical garden, of which frequent mention is made in his "Herbal," and his house in Crutched Friars, London. He speaks also of his garden at Kew, and from the repeated notices he takes of the plants in Purbeck, and about Portland, Dr. Pulteney infers that he must have had some intimate connections in Dorsetshire. He died July 7, 1568, a few months after the publication of the last part of his "Herbal," and was buried in the chancel of St. Olave's church, Hart-street, London, where a monument was erected to his memory by his widow.

2.

Dr. Turner was the author of many controversial treatises, chiefly written against popery. Among these were, 1. "The hunting of the Romish Fox," &c. Basil, 1543. "Rescuing of the Romish Fox," 1545. 3. "The hunting of the Romish Wolf," 8vo: all these were published under the name of William Wraughton. 4. "Dialogue, wherein is contained the examination of the Mass," Lond. 8vo. 5. "A preservative, or triacle against the Poison of Pelagius, lately renewed and stirred up again, by the furious sect of the anabaptists," ibid. 1551, 12mo. 6. "A new book of spiritual physic for divers diseases," 1555. 7. "The VOL. XXX.

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