Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/358

 When, in 1693, it was determined, after consultation with King James, to continue the episcopal succession among the nonjurors by the appointment of suffragans, as provided for in the act 26 Henry VIII, cap 4, Hickes was sent over in May to St. Germains, by way of Holland, with a list of names. He was received at once by the king on his arrival, although late at night; and on the following day James informed Hickes that he had consulted the pope (Innocent XII), the archbishop of Paris (De Harlai), and the bishop of Meaux (Bossuet), who all agreed that he was justified in doing what in him lay to maintain the episcopate of the church of England. From the list submitted to him, two names were consequently selected, Archbishop Sancroft nominating Hickes as his suffragan, and Bishop Lloyd of Norwich nominating Wagstaffe. Hickes's return to England was delayed by his falling ill at Rotterdam with ague; but at length he reached London on 4 Feb. 1694, escaping detection at Harwich by appearing to be in company of a foreign minister. On the 24th of that month he and Wagstaffe were consecrated in the oratory of Bishop White of Peterborough at Southgate, near Enfield, by Bishops Turner, Lloyd, and White, Hickes being titled as bishop of Thetford and Wagstaffe as bishop of Ipswich. Henry Hyde [q. v.], earl of Clarendon, who presented to the consecrators King James's letters of commission, was the only witness present, together with Robert Duglas, a notary who drew up the record, which is dated in the tenth year of James II. In February 1696 Hickes was living in a small cottage on Bagshot Heath, and was preparing a reply to Burnet's vindication of his funeral sermon on Tillotson. But in consequence of the discovery of the plot for assassinating William III, and the issue of a proclamation offering 1,000l. for the discovery of certain persons, Hickes's house was beset by a mob, and searched, upon warrants from a justice of the peace, especially in the hope of finding the Duke of Berwick. He in consequence left the neighbourhood without finishing his reply to Burnet, and, falling into a long sickness, remained unsettled for some months, but in the same year (1696) was living in Gloucester Green in Oxford, where he drew up a declaration of his principles and wrote much in defence of the nonjuror's position.

In 1703–5 his best-known work appeared, in one large folio volume, from the university press at Oxford, the ‘Linguarum veterum septentrionalium thesaurus grammatico-criticus et archæologicus.’ It is a stupendous monument of learning and industry, and that it should be the product of anxious years of suffering and perpetual turmoil affords wonderful testimony to the author's mental power and energy. The work is said to have been originally suggested to him by White Kennett. It comprises a second edition of the ‘Grammatica Anglo-Saxon. et Mœso-Gothica,’ ‘Grammatica Franco-Theotisca,’ and R. Jonas's ‘Grammatica Islandica’ with additions by Hickes. H. Wanley's catalogue of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts concludes the book. A long dedication to Prince George of Denmark is prefixed, for which Hickes received one hundred guineas from the prince (, Collections, 1889, iii. 148). The book was published at the price of three guineas for small-paper copies and five guineas for large paper, and a printed certificate was issued by Edward Thwaites that the actual cost of each copy was 2l. 8s.

In 1713 Hickes procured the two Scottish bishops James Gadderar [q. v.] and A. Campbell [q. v.] to take part with him in the consecration, at his own private chapel (in oratorio) in St. Andrew's, Holborn, on Ascension day, 14 May, of Samuel Hawes, Nathaniel Spinckes, and Jeremy Collier. The official Latin record, dated 3 June, states that the king's consent had been obtained, and that the object was to maintain the due succession, all the catholic bishops of the English church having died except the bishop of Thetford. The witnesses were Heneage, [earl of] Winchilsea, T. L., and H. G. [Henry Gandy]. He had been for some years subject to attacks from the stone, and these at last proved fatal on 15 Dec. 1715. He was buried on 18 Dec. in the churchyard of St. Margaret, Westminster, by his friend Spinckes. On 13 Sept. 1679 he married Frances, widow of a London citizen named John Marshall, and daughter of Charles Mallory of Raynham, Essex, who had been a great sufferer for his loyalty. His wife died on 3 Dec. 1714. He left no children. His will was printed by E. Curll in 1716. He bequeathed all his manuscripts and letters to Hilkiah Bedford [q. v.], together with his copies of his own published books. By his direction his library, which contained many French and Italian books, was sold by auction in March 1716. Some of his manuscripts (including a volume of transcripts of sermons) are now among the Rawlinson MSS. in the Bodleian Library. Portions of his wide correspondence may be found in many collections; in the British Museum, among the Lansdowne, Harleian, and Additional MSS.; and in the Bodleian, among the Ballard, Tanner, and Rawlinson MSS. Letters of his are printed in Sir Henry Ellis's