Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/105

Rh ordered home on the breaking out of the rebellion of 1745; and having gone back to college, he was elected one of the exhibitioners on Mr Snell's foundation. In the year 1747, he was ordained priest, and became curate of Tilehurst, near Reading, and afterwards of Dunstew, in Oxfordshire. On the recommendation of Sir Charles Stuart and lady Allen, he was selected by the earl of Bath to accompany his only son lord Pulteney, as tutor, in his travels on the continent. Dr Douglas has left a MS. account of this tour, which relates chiefly to the governments and political relations of the countries through which they passed. In the year 1749, he returned home; and although lord Pulteney was prematurely cut off, yet the fidelity with which Dr Douglas had discharged his duty to his pupil, procured him the lasting friendship and valuable patronage of the earl of Bath; by whom he was presented to the free chapel of Eaton-Constantine, and the donative of Uppington, in Shropshire. In the following year (1750), he published his first literary work, "The Vindication of Miltun," from the charge of plagiarism, brought against him by the impostor Lauder. In the same year he was presented by the earl of Bath to the vicarage of High Ercal, in Shropshire, when he vacated Eaton-Constantine. Dr Douglas resided only occasionally on his livings. At the desire of the earl of Bath, he took a house in town, near Bath-House, where he passed the winter months, and in summer he generally accompanied lord Bath to the fashionable watering places, or in his visits among the nobility and gentry. In the year 1752, he married Miss Dorothy Pershouse, who died within three months after her nuptials. In 1754, he published "The Criterion of Miracles." In 1755, he wrote a pamphlet against the Hutchinsonians, Methodists, and other religious sects, which he published under the title of "An Apology for the Clergy," and soon after, he published an ironical defence of these sectarians, entitled "The Destruction of the French foretold by Ezekiel." For many years Dr Douglas seems to have engaged in writing political pamphlets, an occupation most unbecoming a clergyman. In the year 1761, he was appointed one of his majesty's chaplains, and in 1762, through the interest of the earl of Bath, he was made canon of Windsor. In 1762, he superintended the publication of "Henry the Earl of Clarendon's Diary and Letters;" and wrote the preface which is prefixed to that work. In June, of that year, he accompanied the earl of Bath to Spa, where he became acquainted with the hereditary prince of Brunswick, who received him with marked attention, and afterwards honoured him with his correspondence. Of this correspondence, (although it is known that Dr Douglas kept a copy of all his own letters, and although it was valuable from its presenting a detailed account of the state of parties at the time,) no trace can now be discovered. In the year 1764, the earl of Bath died, and left his library to Dr Douglas, but as general Pulteney wished to preserve it in the family, it was redeemed for a thousand pounds. On the death of general Pulteney, however, it was again left to Dr Douglas, when it was a second time redeemed for the same sum. In 1764, he exchanged his livings in Shropshire for that of St Austin and St Faith in Watling Street, London. In April 1765, Er Douglas married Miss Elizabeth Brooke, the daughter of Henry Brudenell Brooke. In the year 1773, he assisted Sir John Dalrymple in the arrangement of his MSS. In 1776, he was removed from the chapter of Windsor to that of St Pauls. At the request of lord Sandwich, first lord of the admiralty, he prepared for publication the journal of Captain Cooke's voyages. In the year 1777, he assisted lord Hardwick in arranging and publishing his Miscellaneous Papers. In the following year he was elected member of the royal and the antiquarian societies. In 1781, at the request of lord Sandwich, he prepared for publication Captain Cooke's third and last voyage to which he supplied the introduc-