Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/246

Atterbury Westminster Francis proceeded to Christ Church, Oxford, being at the head of the four Westminster students elected in 1680. After he had graduated, he continued to reside at Oxford, taking part in the tutorial work at Christ Church, and acting as a sort of right-hand man to Dean Aldrich. In 1682 he published a translation into Latin verse of Dryden's 'Absalom and Achitophel,' in 1684 an 'Anthologia,' or selection of Latin poems, and about the same; time two or three little treatises on classical subjects. But he was soon engaged in more important literary work. The attempt of James II to force his creed upon an unwilling university called forth many champions of the faith, and among others the able young tutor of Christ Church. One of the chiefs of the romanising party at Oxford, Obadiah Walker, who had been thrust by the king into the mastership of University College, had written, under the pseudonym of Abraham Woodhead, an attack upon the Reformation. In reply to this Atterbury published (1687) 'An Answer to some Considerations on the Spirit of Martin Luther, and the Original of the Reformation,' which Bishop Burnet pronounces to be one of the ablest of the many vindications of the church of England which were about that time issued from Oxford. Atterbury's next essay at controversy, though its contemporary reputation was much higher, was in reality very far from beiug so successful. It was a defence of the genuineness of the 'Epistles of Phalaris' against the great Dr. Bentley, and was nominally written by Atterbury's pupil, the Hon. Charles Boyle, but in reality by Atterbury himself. Though written earlier, it was not published until 1698, and for Atterbury's sake it would have been well if it had never been published at all. It is now universally acknowledged that Bentley was in the right, but that was by no means the opinion even of the ablest contemporaries. Swift in his 'Battle of the Books' describes Boyle as 'advancing immediately against his trembling foe clad in a suit of armour given him by all the gods,' and (aiding the battle very quickly by 'transfixing Bentley and Wotton.' 'The gods' were the Christ Church wits, chief among whom was Atterbury, who accordingly figures as Apollo, the god of wisdom. About 1687 Atterbury received holy orders, and he soon won considerable reputation as a preacher. He was in the habit of preaching occasionally in London, and his sermons were so well appreciated that he was appointed, over the heads of many candidates, lecturer of St. Bride's by the Bishop of London in 1691 ; he was next made chaplain to King William and Queen Mary, and preacher at Bridewell Hospital, While at Oxford he married Miss Katherine Osborn, who, in the words of his biographer, 'was the inspiration of his youth and the solace of his riper years.' After his marriage he left Oxford for London. In 1700 Atterbury again came prominently before the public as a controversialist. For ten years convocation had not been suffered to meet for the despatch of business ; by a series of successive prorogations the church's parliament had practically become a dead letter. But not without remonstrance. Among other protests 'A Letter to a Convocation Man' (1697) attributed the irreligion and immorality, of which there was so general a complaint, to the virtual suppression of convocation. The 'Letter' caused a great sensation, and was answered in a 'Letter to a Member of Parliament' and also in a work by Dr. Wake, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, entitled 'The Authority of Christian Princes over their Ecclesiastical Synods.' In opposition to Dr. Wake, and in defence of the 'Letter to a Convocation Man,' Atterbury published his 'Rights and Privileges of an English Convocation stated and vindicated,' in which he roundly charged Dr. Wake with subjecting the liberties both of church and state to the arbitrary will of one man. The subject is treated historically, so that it is impossible to describe the work in detail ; but its general object is stated in the preface, 'to perpetuate to the church the use of her parliamentary assemblies, and of that free debate which is inseparable from such assemblies.' Dr. Wake was supported by Dr. White Kennett and Dr. Edmund Gibson, both men of learning and ability, and both afterwards bishops. The most contradictory opinions have been expressed as to the side on which the victory lay ; but the general mass of the clergy gratefully recognised Atterbury as an able champion of their order against Erastianism in high places both in church and state : and it really is difficult to controvert the assertion of Warburton, who was no friend to convocation, but whose lawyer-like mind at once grasped the real gist of the dispute. 'Atterbury,' he writes to Hurd, 'goes upon principles, and all that Wake and Kennett could possibly oppose are precedents.' One result of Atterbury's work was that he was made in 1701 archdeacon of Totnes, and in the same year a prebendary of Exeter Cathedral by his faithful and lifelong friend. Sir Jonathan Trelawney, then bishop of Exeter, 'in reward,' writes Atterbury himself, 'for my honest endeavours to retrieve the synodical rights of the clergy.' The lower house of