Richard Hurd (13 January 1720 – 28 May 1808) was an English divine and writer, and

bishop of Worcester A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Life

He was born at Congreve, in the parish of Penkridge,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, where his father was a farmer. He was educated at Brewood Grammar School and at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

. He took his B.A. degree in 1739, and in 1742 he proceeded M.A. and became a fellow of his college. In the same year he was ordained deacon, and given charge of the parish of Reymerston, Norfolk, but he returned to Cambridge early in 1743. He was ordained priest in 1744. In 1748 he published some ''Remarks on an Enquiry into the Rejection of Christian Miracles by the Heathens'' (1746), by William Weston, a fellow of

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

. He prepared editions, which won the praise of Edward Gibbon, of the ''Ars poetica'' and ''Epistola ad Pisones'' (1749), and the ''Epistola ad Augustum'' (1751) of

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

. A compliment in the preface to the edition of 1749 was the starting-point of a lasting friendship with William Warburton, through whose influence he was appointed one of the preachers at Whitehall in 1750. In 1765 he was appointed preacher at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

, and in 1767 he became

archdeacon of Gloucester The Archdeacon of Gloucester is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Diocese of Gloucester, England whose responsibilities include the care of clergy and church buildings within the area of the ''Archdeaconry of Gloucester.'' History The first ...

. In 1768, he proceeded D.D. at Cambridge, and delivered at Lincoln's Inn the first

Warburton lectures The Warburton Lectures (until the end of the nineteenth century often called the Warburtonian Lectures) are a series of theology lectures held in Lincoln's Inn, London. They were established in 1768 with money given by William Warburton, and were i ...

, which were published later (1772) as ''An Introduction to the Study of the Prophecies concerning the Christian Church''. He became bishop of Lichfield and Coventry in 1774, and two years later was selected to be tutor to the prince of Wales and the duke of York. In 1781 he was translated to the see of Worcester and made Clerk of the Closet, holding both positions until his death. He lived chiefly at

Hartlebury Castle Hartlebury Castle, a Grade I listed building, near Hartlebury in Worcestershire, central England, was built in the mid-13th century as a fortified manor house, on manorial land earlier given to the Bishop of Worcester by King Burgred of M ...

, where he built a fine library, to which he transferred Alexander Pope's and Warburton's books, purchased on the latter's death. He was extremely popular at court, and in 1783, on the death of Archbishop Cornwallis, the king pressed him to accept the primacy, but Hurd, who was known, says Madame d'Arblay, as "The Beauty of Holiness," declined it as a charge not suited to his temper and talents, and much too heavy for him to sustain. He died, unmarried, on 28 May 1808. His memorial in Worcester Cathedral was sculpted by

William Humphries Stephens William Humphries Stephens (1739–c.1820) was an 18th/19th century British sculptor. Life He was born in 1739 the son of Joseph Stephens, a stonecutter in Worcester. He was apprenticed to his father in 1751 and became a Freeman mason in 1760 ...

. He bequeathed his library to his successors as bishop, and it remains at Hartlebury Castle, but its fate remains uncertain, now that the castle has ceased to be used as the bishop's residence.The Hartlebury Castle Preservation Trust

Works

Hurd's ''Letters on Chivalry and Romance'' (1762) retain a certain interest for their importance in the history of the romantic movement, which they did something to stimulate. They were written in continuation of a dialogue on the age of

Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to: Queens regnant * Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland * Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022 ...

included in his ''Moral and Political Dialogues'' (1759) Two later dialogues ''On the Uses of Foreign Travel'' were printed in 1763. Hurd wrote two acrimonious defences of Warburton ''On the Delicacy of Friendship'' (1755), in answer to John Jortin and a ''Letter'' (1764) to Dr Thomas Leland, who had criticized Warburton's Doctrine of Grace. He edited the ''Works of William Warburton'', the ''Select Works'' (1772) of Abraham Cowley, and left materials for an edition (6 vols., 1811) of Addison. His own works appeared in a collected edition in 8 vols. 1811.

References

External links