Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 14.djvu/383

 larity of his printed sermons is attested by the numerous editions they passed through.

His works are: 1. ‘A Sermon of Repentance, preached at Lee in Essex, 7 March 1581,’ London, 1582, 1583, 1585, 1590, 1611, 1615, 1626, 1629, 1630, 1637, 1638, 1643, 12mo. Translated into Welsh by R. Lloyd, London, 1629, 8vo. 2. ‘Exposition of the Articles of our Faith by short questions and answers,’ London, 1591, 8vo. 3. ‘The Rvine of Rome, or an Exposition upon the whole Reuelation: wherein is plainely shewed and proued that the Popish Religion, together with all the power and authority of Rome, shall ebbe and decay still more and more throughout all the Churches of Europe, and come to an utter overthrow even in this life before the end of the world. Written especially for the comfort of Protestants, and the daunting of Papists, Seminary Priests, and all that cursed rabble,’ London, 1603, 1607, 4to; 1611, 1633, 1662, 8vo; 1656, 12mo. 4. ‘A Pastime for Parents; or a Recreation to passe away the time: contayning the most principal grounds of Christian Religion,’ London, 1603, 1609, 12mo. 5. ‘The Plaine Mans Path-way to Heaven. Wherein every man may clearely see whether hee shall be saved or damned,’ London, 1610, 1617, 1622 (18th edition), 1631, 1637 (24th edition), 1664, 1682. The 41st edition, with life of the author, appeared at London, 1831, 12mo. A Welsh translation by R. Lloyd was published at London, 1630, 8vo. 6. ‘A Sermon of Christ's Miracles,’ 4th edition, London, 1610, 8vo; 7th edition, London, 1617, 12mo. 7. ‘A Sermon of Gods Providence,’ 4th edition, London, 1611, 8vo; 6th edition, 1616. 8. ‘A learned and frvitfull Exposition upon the Lord's Prayer,’ London, 1612, 1613, 12mo. 9. ‘The Hand-maid of Repentance; or, a short Treatise of Restitution, written by Arthur Dent as a necessary appendix to his Sermon of Repentance,’ London, 1614, 12mo. 10. ‘The Opening of Heaven gates, or the ready way to everlasting life. Delivered in a dialogue between Reason and Religion touching Predestination,’ 4th edition, London, 1617, 12mo.

[Addit. MS. 5867, f. 23 b; Newcourt's Repertorium, ii. 531; Cooper's Athenæ Cantab. ii. 469; Cat. of Dr. Bliss's Library (1858), i. 90; Ames's Typogr. Antiq. (Herbert), pp. 1156, 1336, 1357, 1358.] 

DENT, EDWARD DENT (1790–1853), chronometer maker, was born in London on 19 Aug. 1790, and entered the workshops of the Brothers Callam, Castle Street, Long Acre, then celebrated as makers of repeating motions, where he had the advantage of the instruction of Mr. Rippon. He soon became a very expert workman, and from 1815 to 1829 was constantly employed by Vulliamy & Son, and Barraud & Son, acquiring from the latter a considerable practical knowledge of chronometers. His name becoming known he was entrusted with work on his own account by the Admiralty, the East India Company, and for the observatory at Greenwich, where he was employed to remove from the transit clock the escapement originally supplied by Hardy, and to substitute a Graham's escapement. In 1829 he sent for public trial the chronometer ‘Dent 114,’ whose superior action confirmed his reputation, and in 1830 he entered into partnership with John Roger Arnold, and in a few years the firm of Arnold & Dent at 84 Strand, London, attained a very high character. Dent chiefly employed himself in the workshops, and in prosecuting experiments on springs made of steel, gold, and palladium, and in the small compensation required by glass springs. He joined the Institution of Civil Engineers as an associate in 1833, and read lectures on horological subjects before the Royal Institution and the United Service Institution. On his visit to Russia in 1843 he was presented with a gold medal by order of the emperor for the services rendered to that country by his chronometers. On 29 Sept. 1840 his connection with Arnold was dissolved, when he took premises at 82 Strand, and continued to carry on a very lucrative business, which he extended to two other depôts, 33 Cockspur Street, Charing Cross, and 34 Royal Exchange, city of London. In 1829 he introduced a secondary compensation for correcting the tendency of chronometers to gain at mean temperature when the compensation had been adjusted for extremes. Having in 1843 been selected to construct a clock for the Royal Exchange, he established a clockmaking manufactory, where he soon made such improvements that for the first time English clocks came into competition with those of French make. In 1852 the order for the great clock for the new palace at Westminster was entrusted to him, but he only lived to see the successful trial of a new gravity escapement invented by Edmund Denison (afterwards known as Sir Edmund Beckett, and later on as Baron Grimthorpe), in which the pendulum, weighing 6 cwt., is kept going by a scape wheel weighing little more than a quarter of an ounce (Journ. of Soc. of Arts, 13 Jan. 1854, p. 133). The last year of his life was embittered by an unfortunate discussion with the master of the Company of Clockmakers (Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy), who declared that Dent could not make the