William Warburton

For the Irish priest, seeWilliam Warburton (Dean of Elphin).For the American politician, seeWilliam T. Warburton.

The Right Reverend William Warburton
Bishop of Gloucester
Diocese	Diocese of Gloucester
In office	1759–1779
Predecessor	James Johnson
Successor	James Yorke
Other post(s)	Dean of Bristol(1757–1760)
Personal details
Born	(1698-12-24)24 December 1698 Newark-on-Trent,Nottinghamshire,England
Died	7 June 1779(1779-06-07)(aged 80) Gloucester,Gloucestershire,England
Denomination	Anglican

William Warburton(24 December 1698 – 7 June 1779) was an English writer,literary criticand churchman,Bishop of Gloucesterfrom 1759 until his death. He edited editions of the works of his friendAlexander Pope,and ofWilliam Shakespeare.

Life

St Helen’s church at Brant Broughton, where Warburton was rector from 1727

Prior Park, Warburton's home from 1745

Warburton was born on 24 December 1698 atNewark,Nottinghamshire, where his father, George Warburton wastown clerk.He was educated at Oakham and Newarkgrammar schools,and in 1714, he was articled to Mr Kirke, an attorney, atEast Markham.In 1719, after serving his articles he returned to Newark, where he began to practise as a solicitor,but, having studiedLatinandGreek,changed his mind and was ordained deacon by theArchbishop of Yorkin 1723.He was ordained as a priest in 1726, and in the same year began to associate with literary circles in London.

SirRobert Suttongave Warburton the small living ofGreasley,inNottinghamshire,exchanged next year for that ofBrant Broughtonin Lincolnshire. He was, in addition, rector ofFirsbyfrom 1730 until 1756, although he never lived in the village.In 1728, he was made an honorary M.A. of theUniversity of Cambridge.

At Brant Broughton for 18 years he spent his time in study, the first result of which was his treatise on theAlliance between Church and State(1736). The book brought Warburton into favour at court, and he probably only missed immediate preferment by the death ofQueen Caroline.

A series of articles defending the writings ofAlexander Popeagainst charges of religious unorthodoxy,led to a friendship with the poet which contributed greatly to Warburton's social advancement. Pope introduced him to bothWilliam Murray,later Lord Mansfield, who obtained for him the preachership ofLincoln's Innin 1746, and toRalph Allen,who, inDr Johnson's words, "gave him his niece and his estate, and, by consequence, a bishopric." Warburton married Gertrude Tucker, in September 1745,and from that time lived at Allen's estate atPrior Park,inGloucestershire,which he eventually inherited in 1764.

He becameprebendaryofGloucesterin 1753, chaplain to the king in 1754, prebendary of Durham in 1755,Dean of Bristolin 1757, andBishop of Gloucesterin 1759.

Literary works

By 1727 Warburton had written the notes he contributed toLewis Theobald's edition ofShakespeare,published aCritical and Philosophical Enquiry into the Causes of Miracles,and contributed anonymously to apamphleton the jurisdiction of theCourt of Chancery,The Legal Judicature in Chancery stated(1727). This was an answer to another anonymous pamphlet, written byPhilip Yorke,later Lord Chancellor.

TheDivine Legation

AfterAlliance between Church and State,his next and best-known work,Divine Legation of Moses demonstrated on the Principles of a Religious Deist(1738–41, in two volumes), preserves his name as the author of the most daring and ingenious of theological paradoxes. Thedeistshad made the absence of any inculcation of the doctrine of a future life an objection to the divine authority of theMosaic writings.Warburton boldly admitted the fact and turned it against the adversary by maintaining that no merely human legislator would have omitted such a sanction of morality. Warburton's extraordinary power, learning and originality were acknowledged on all sides, though he excited censure and suspicion by his tenderness to the alleged heresies ofConyers Middleton.The book aroused much controversy. In a pamphlet of "Remarks" (1742), he replied toJohn Tillard,andRemarks on Several Occasional Reflections(1744–45) was an answer toAkenside,Conyers Middleton (who had been his friend),Richard Pococke,Nicholas Mann,Richard Grey,Henry Stebbingand other critics. As he characterised his opponents in general as the "pestilent herd of libertine scribblers with which the island is overrun," it is no surprise that the publication of the book created many bitter enemies.

Defence of Pope

Either in quest ofparadox,or unable to recognise the real tendencies of Alexander Pope'sEssay on Man,Warburton defended it against theExamenofJean Pierre de Crousazthrough a series of articles he contributed toThe Works of the Learnedin 1738–9. Whether Pope had really understood the tendency of his own work has always been doubtful, but there is no question that he was glad of an apologist, and that in the long run Warburton'sjeu d'esprithelped Pope more than all his erudition. This led to a sincere friendship between the two men, with Pope fostering Warburton as a literary collaborator and editor. As part of this effort, in a 1743 edition of theDunciadpublished under Warburton's editorship, Pope persuaded Warburton to add a fourth book, and encouraged the substitution ofColley Cibberfor Theobald as the "hero" of the poem. On his death in 1744, Pope's will bequeathed half of his library to Warburton, as well as the copyright to all his printed works. Warburton would subsequently publish a full edition of Pope's writings in 1751.

Edition of Shakespeare

In 1747 his edition of Shakespeare was published, incorporating material from Pope's earlier edition. He had previously entrusted notes and emendations on Shakespeare to SirThomas Hanmer,whose unauthorised use of them led to a heated controversy. He also accused Lewis Theobald, with whom he had corresponded on Shakespearean subjects as early as 1727, of stealing his ideas, and denied his critical ability.

Later works

Warburton was further kept busy by replying to the attacks on hisDivine Legationfrom all quarters, by a dispute withBolingbrokerespecting Pope's behaviour in the affair of Bolingbroke'sPatriot King,and by a vindication in 1750 of the alleged miraculous interruption of the rebuilding of the temple ofJerusalemundertaken byJulian,in answer toConyers Middleton.According to theEncyclopædia BritannicaEleventh Edition,"Warburton's manner of dealing with opponents was both insolent and rancorous, but it did him no disservice."

He continued to write for as long as the infirmities of age allowed, collecting and publishing his sermons, and attempting to complete theDivine Legation,further fragments of which were published with his posthumousWorks.He wrote a defence of revealed religion in hisView of Lord Bolingbroke's Philosophy(1754), andHume'sNatural History of Religioncalled forth someRemarks... by a gentleman of Cambridge(1757) from Warburton, in which his friend and biographer,Richard Hurd,had a share.

In 1762 he launched a vigorous attack onMethodismunder the title ofThe Doctrine of Grace.He also engaged in a keen controversy withRobert Lowth,later bishop of London, on thebook of Job,in which Lowth brought home charges of lack of scholarship and of insolence that admitted of no denial. His last important act was to found in 1768 theWarburtonian lectureat Lincoln's Inn, "to prove the truth of revealed religion... from the completion of the prophecies of the Old and New Testament which relate to the Christian Church, especially to the apostasy of Papal Rome."

Death

Warburton died at Gloucester on 7 June 1779. He left no children, his only son having predeceased him.In 1781 his widow, Gertrude, marriedthe Rev.Martin Stafford Smith.

Posthumous publications and biographies

His works were edited in seven volumes (1788) byRichard Hurdwith a biographical preface, and the correspondence between the two friends—an important contribution to the literary history of the period—was edited bySamuel Parrin 1808. Warburton's life was also written byJohn Selby Watsonin 1863, andMark Pattisonmade him the subject of an essay in 1889.

Arms

Coat of arms of William Warburton

Notes Impaled with the arms of the Diocese of Gloucester. Escutcheon Argent a chevron between three cormorants Sable a canton Gules.

See also

• List of abolitionist forerunners
• Shakespeare's editors

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Warburton, William".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 318–319.
• Stephen, Leslie (1899)."Warburton, William".InLee, Sidney(ed.).Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 59. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Young, B. W. "Warburton, William (1698–1779)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28680.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)

External links

• Works by William WarburtonatProject Gutenberg
• Works by or about William Warburtonat theInternet Archive
• Bibliographic directoryfromProject Canterbury
• Works by William WarburtonatPost-Reformation Digital Library
• Faith working by charity to Christian edification. A sermon preach'd at the last episcopal visitation for confirmation, in the diocese of Lincoln (MDCCXXXVIII)
• The nature of national offences truly stated: and the peculiar case of the Jewish people rightly explained: shewing that Great Britain... may reasonably aspire to the distinguished protection of heaven(1746)
• A Critical and Philosophical Enquiry Into the Causes of Prodigies and Miracles, as Related by Historians: With an Essay Towards Restoring a Method and Purity in History(1727)