England, &c. Quarto. London, 1791. By a Country Clergyman." It "I wish not to see the episcopal dignity lowered in any respect: a venerable parent was never weary of reading Bishop Beveridge's works, and he inspired me with an early veneration for the name and office. But there is one of that venerable order, whose memory, above all others, I shall ever love and cherish to my latest breath. Hail, immortal Ken, guide of my youthful steps! Thy bounty never ceased to feed the poor, nor thy tongue to instruct the ignorant. Thy presence, or thy spirit, continually pervaded all parts of thy extensive diocese. illuminated her churches, and darted comfort through the cheerless gloom of her prisons. To the sanctity of thy character the profligate Charles submitted on his death-bed. To thy virtue the genius of England bowed in the Tower. To thy unbounded and persuasive generosity and charity, the second successor in thy bishopric greatly owed his acceptance of it. Receive, said the good old man to his friend, Receive the see with as good a conscience as I have quitted it. Hail, gentle, blessed spirit! For thy sake, may the mitre ever flourish!" Benedicat Deus. Colchester, Jan. 22, 1838. a CONTENTS. A Short Account of the Life of Thomas Ken, sometime Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells, by W. Hawkins, Esq. Letters from Bishop Ken, William Lloyd, the deprived Bishop of PAGE THOMAS, youngest son of Thomas Ken of Furnival'sInn, by Martha his wife, was born at Berkhamstead in Hertfordshire, in July 1637. His father's family was of great antiquity, and had possessed a very plentiful fortune for many generations, having been known by the name of the Kens, of Ken-place, an estate now in possession of the Right Honourable Earl Poulett, who descends from an heiress of the Kens1. When he was about the age of thirteen he was sent to school at Winchester College, where he contracted that friendship, so closely at length cemented, between himself and that afterward most truly pious prelate, Dr. Francis Turner, late Bishop of Ely; and 1 John, Lord Paulett of Hinton St. George, married Christian, daughter and heir of Christopher Ken, of Ken, in Com. Som. Esq.; Dugd. Bar. B |