John Leng (1665–1727) was an English churchman and academic,

bishop of Norwich The Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary (Catholic Church), ordinary of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Norwich, Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. Th ...

from 1723.

Life

He was born at Thornton le Dale, near Pickering, in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. He received his early education at St. Paul's School, and obtained an exhibition at Catharine Hall, Cambridge, where he was admitted as a

sizar At Trinity College Dublin and the University of Cambridge, a sizar is an Undergraduate education, undergraduate who receives some form of assistance such as meals, lower fees or lodging during his or her period of study, in some cases in retur ...

26 March 1683. He graduated B.A. in 1686. His subsequent degrees were M.A. 1690, B.D. 1698, D.D. 1716. He was elected fellow of his college 13 September 1688, and subsequently became known as a tutor and Latinist. scholar. At the consecration of the new chapel of his college by

Simon Patrick Simon Patrick (8 September 1626 – 31 May 1707) was an English theologian and bishop. Life He was born at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, eldest son of Henry Patrick, a wealthy merchant, on 8 September 1626, and attended Boston Grammar Schoo ...

bishop of Ely The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with ...

, in 1701, he preached the sermon. In 1708 he was presented by his old pupil, Sir Nicholas Carew, to the rectory of

Beddington Beddington is a suburban settlement in the London Borough of Sutton on the boundary with the London Borough of Croydon. Beddington is formed from a village of the same name which until early the 20th century still included land which became ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, which he held ''

in commendam In canon law, commenda (or ''in commendam'') was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice ''in trust'' to the ''custody'' of a patron. The phrase ''in commendam'' was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastica ...

'' to his death. In 1717 and 1718 he delivered the

Boyle Lectures The Boyle Lectures are named after Robert Boyle, a prominent natural philosopher of the 17th century and son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork. Under the terms of his Will, Robert Boyle endowed a series of lectures or sermons (originally eight ...

, which were published the following year, his subject being ''The Natural Obligations to believe the Principles of Religion and Divine Revelation.'' He became chaplain in ordinary to George I, and in 1723 was appointed bishop of Norwich. He was consecrated at

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

by Archbishop

William Wake William Wake (26 January 165724 January 1737) was a minister in the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1716 to his death. Life Wake was born in Blandford Forum Blandford Forum ( ) is a market town in Dorset, England, o ...

on 3 November of the same year. He held the see barely three years, having died in London of small-pox, caught at the coronation of George II, 26 October 1727. He was buried in St. Margaret's, Westminster, where a mural tablet was erected to his memory in the south aisle of the chancel.

Works

In 1695 he published the ''

Plutus In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Plutus (; ) is the god and the personification of wealth, and the son of the goddess of agriculture Demeter and the mortal Iasion. Family Plutus is most commonly the son of Demeter and Iasion, with who ...

'' and the '' Nubes'' of

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

, with a Latin translation, and in 1701 he edited the Cambridge edition of

Terence Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a playwright during the Roman Republic. He was the author of six Roman comedy, comedies based on Greek comedy, Greek originals by Menander or Apollodorus of Carystus. A ...

, adding a dissertation on the metres of the author. He also published a revised edition of

Sir Roger L'Estrange Sir Roger L'Estrange (17 December 1616 – 11 December 1704) was an English pamphleteer, author, courtier and press censor. Throughout his life L'Estrange was frequently mired in controversy and acted as a staunch ideological defender of King ...

's translation of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

's ''

De Officiis ''De Officiis'' (''On Duties'', ''On Obligations'', or ''On Moral Responsibilities'') is a 44 BC treatise by Marcus Tullius Cicero divided into three books, in which Cicero expounds his conception of the best way to live, behave, and observe mor ...

''. Leng published fourteen single sermons, preached on public occasions, among them one preached before the

Society for the Reformation of Manners The Society for the Reformation of Manners was founded in the Tower Hamlets area of London in 1691.Bow Church Bow Church is the parish church of St Mary and Holy Trinity, Stratford, Bow. It is located on a central reservation site in Bow Road (part of the A11), in Bow, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. There has been a church on the same site fo ...

, 29 December 1718. His Boyle Lectures went to a second edition.

Family

Leng was twice married. By his first wife he had no children. By his second, Elizabeth, daughter of a Mr. Hawes of Sussex, he had two daughters, Elizabeth and Susanna.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leng, John 1665 births 1727 deaths Bishops of Norwich Fellows of St Catharine's College, Cambridge English classical scholars English male writers 18th-century Church of England bishops 17th-century Anglican theologians 18th-century Anglican theologians