philosophy and other kinds of learning; they are usually admitted to their first degree of bachelor of arts, with the same ignorance as to all sacred learning, as when first admitted into the universities; and many of them as soon as they have taken that degree, offering themselves for orders, are too often admitted to be teachers in the church, when they are only fit to be catechumens therein. These considerations made the doctor often lament the loss of Dr. Busby's benefaction, who offered to found two catechistical lectures, one in each university, with an endowment of 1001. per annum, each, for instructing the under-graduates in the rudiments of the Christian religion; provided all the said under-graduates should be obliged to attend those lectures, and none of them be admitted to the degree of bachelor of arts, till after having been examined by the catechist, as to their knowledge in the doctrines and precepts of the Christian religion, and by him approved of. But this condition being rejected by both universities, the benefaction was rejected therewith; and the church hath ever since suffered for the want of it. He used likewise to complain of another abuse, which he frequently met with at ordinations; that is, false testimonials; for how defective soever any of the candidates may be in their learning, and how faulty and scandalous soever in their manners, they never want ample testimonials, with the full number of neighbouring ministers' hands thereto, vouching the contrary. By this means bishops are often so deceived, as to admit into orders such, as are notoriously unworthy of them. This the doctor thought was a scandalous abuse in those ministers, who misguided and imposed on bishops by such false testimonials; for the remedying of which it would be proper, that any minister, who should thus endeavour by unjustifiable means to procure orders for an undeserving person, should himself be suspended from his own, till he was made sensible of his error; and ever after stand unqualified for giving any more testimony in the like cases.

After the act of toleration had passed the royal assent, the first of king William and queen Mary, many

people foolishly imagined, that they had thereby full liberty given them, either to go to church or stay away, and idly dispose of themselves elsewhere, as they should think fit; and accordingly, the public assemblies for divine worship on the Lord's day were much deserted, and ale-houses much more resorted to than the churches. Dr. Prideaux, in order to put a stop to this growing evil, drew up a circular letter, directed to the ministers of his archdeaconry, in which, after he had informed them, that the said act gave no toleration to absent from church, but only to such, who, dissenting from the established religion, worshipped God elsewhere, with one of the dissenting sects mentioned in the said act, and that all who absented themselves from church, and did not thus worship God elsewhere, were under the same penalties of law as before, and ought to be punished accordingly; he desired them to send for their churchwardens, and having fully instructed them in this matter, exhort them to do their duty herein, and present, at all visitations for the future, all such profane and irreligious absenters from church, in the same manner as formerly used to be done before this act was made. This circular letter he sent to London, and having there gotten as many copies of it to be printed, as there were parishes in the archdeaconry; on his next visitation, which was Michaelmas, A. D. 1692, dispersed them among the ministers of the said parishes, giving each of them one. It was afterwards published at the end of his Directions to Churchwardens, and underwent several editions. This letter, he found, had, in some measure, its intended effect, though it could not wholly cure this evil.

On Michaelmas, 1694, he thought proper to leave Saham, and return again with his family to Norwich, after he had resided there about four years. His reasons for leaving this place were, that the country thereabouts subjecting people to agues, his family were hardly ever free from that distemper, all the time he lived there. He was himself sick of it a considerable time; and two of his children were so long ill, and contracted so bad a state of health from it, as after

wards cost them both their lives. Besides, being obliged to leave most of his books at Norwich, as not having room for them in his house at Saham, this hindered him from carrying on his studies according to his inclinations; and in these he was further interrupted, whilst he tarried there, by the avocations he frequently met with in country business, which made him weary of the place; and on all these considerations, he determined to leave it. On his quitting Saham, he gave it up altogether, without reserving to himself any of the profits, as he might have done, by putting a curate on the parish; and resolving that as far as in him lay, the benefice and the office should go together, he resigned both into the hands of the bishop, and wrote to the warden and fellows of New-college, in Oxford, who were patrons of the living, to present another, which they did accordingly.

On the doctor's return to Norwich, the whole business of the cathedral fell again into his hands, and he was obliged to undertake the burden of it, to prevent all from running to confusion. The dean resided mostly at London, and hardly ever came to Norwich till towards the latter end of his time; and Dr. Prideaux, after he had left Saham, being constantly there, this gave him a full opportunity to make himself master of the affairs of that church; which he continued to take care of till the time of his death.

On the 12th of February, A. D. 1696, he was instituted into the vicarage of Trowse, on the presentation of the dean and chapter of Norwich. It is a little village, within a mile of Norwich, and a very small benefice, being hardly worth to him more than 40l. per annum. However, having no cure, since he had resigned Saham, he took this small vicarage, rather for the sake of exercising the duties of his function in that parish, than out of any regard to the small profits arising therefrom: for though his prebendship of Norwich, and archdeaconry of Suffolk, which were all the preferments he had at this time, fell very much short of a sufficiency to support him, yet, as he had private fortunes of his own, he needed not so small an accession for his maintenance. Having taken upon himself this

cure, he diligently attended it, serving it himself every Sunday for several years together, till he was disabled by the calamitous distemper of the stone, from going any more into the pulpit, and then resigned it; as will be hereafter mentioned, it being his resolution, not to keep any cure, which he could not serve himself.

In Easter term, 1697, he published his life of Mahomet, which was so well received in the world, that three editions of them were sold off the first year. He had long designed to write a history of the Saracen empire, from the beginning of it, till it fell into pieces, by the governors of provinces setting up each for themselves, A. D. 936, which was three hundred and fourteen years from its first rise under Mahomet. By this partition, all the power and grandeur of it had an end, though its name, with a small territory round Bagdat, continued under the succeeding caliphs some ages after. This history, as it was to have given an account of the rise and progress of this empire, and of the Mahometan religion with it; so was it likewise to have comprehended the decay and fall of the Grecian empire in the east, and the Christian religion, which sunk with it in those parts; for the power of the one empire being built on the decay and ruins of the other, their histories are necessarily connected and interwoven with each other. The doctor begun his history from the death of Mauritius the Greek emperor, which happened, A. D. 602, and had gone some way in it, before he went to Saham; but not being able to go on with it there, for want of his books, which he had left behind him at Norwich, as was mentioned before, the work stood still some time. However, on his return to Norwich, he resumed it again, with an intention of perfecting it; but whilst he was thus engaged in it, some reasons occurred to him, which made him desist from prosecuting it any farther. He came to a resolution therefore to publish only that part of it, which contained the life of Mahomet, and drop all the rest. What the reasons were that induced him to alter his design, being fully shown in his preface to that book, there is no need of repeating them here.

The doctor found in his archidiaconal visitations,

that the churchwardens of his archdeaconry of Suffolk, as in all other archdeaconries, instead of presenting what was amiss, as they are bound by their oaths, at those visitations, usually gave in their presentments, as if all was right; and that, for those parishes, where the contrary was most notorious. This afforded him, as it must every honest and considerate man, matter of melancholy reflection, that three or four hundred men should thus deliberately perjure themselves twice a year. In order therefore to put a stop to this evil, as far as it was in his power, he wrote his directions to churchwardens, instructing them in all the branches of their duty, which they had sworn to observe, and exhorting and directing them faithfully and carefully to discharge their offices. This tract, as it was written for the use of his archdeaconry, he immediately dispersed through all the parishes of it, as soon as it came from the press. The first edition bore date, December the 20th, 1707, and since that, several other editions have been published: the third, which bore date in September, 1712, is the completest; for this the doctor published, after having revised the two former editions, and made many considerable additions and enlargements. This therefore, as it came from the author's last hand, and those editions, which have since been published from it, I should choose to recommend to such, as have occasion for the book.

In December, A. D. 1701, a convocation being met at London for transacting the affairs of the church, Dr. Prideaux went thither, and took his seat among them as archdeacon of Suffolk. On his arrival, he found them divided into the high-church and low-church parties. The first thing, that came under their consideration, was the choice of a prolocutor. The high-church party set up Dr. Woodward, dean of Salisbury; and the others proposed Dr. Beveridge, archdeacon of Colchester. The former carried the election by a great majority, and took the chair accordingly, in which he conducted himself with candour and abilities much beyond what was expected from him. And now, a debate arose, concerning the privileges of the lower house, where a majority of the members claimed to be on the