Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 40.djvu/177

 hamshire, about 1828 he attempted to cut his throat, and his life was only saved by the prompt attention of his tenant's wife, Mrs. Neale. Unlike other eminent misers—Daniel Dancer or John Elwes—he occasionally indulged in acts of benevolence, possessed considerable knowledge of legal and general literature, and to the last retained a love for the classics. He died at 5 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, 30 Aug. 1852, aged 72, and was buried in the chancel of North Marston Church on 9 Sept. By his will, after bequeathing a few trifling legacies, he left the whole of his property, estimated at 500,000l., to ‘Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, begging Her Majesty's most gracious acceptance of the same for her sole use and benefit.’ Two caveats were entered against the will, but were subsequently withdrawn. Queen Victoria increased Neild's bequests to the three executors from 100l. to 1,000l. each, she provided for his servants, for whom he made no provision, and she secured an annuity of 100l. to Mrs. Neale, who had frustrated Neild's attempt at suicide. In 1855 Queen Victoria restored the chancel of North Marston Church and inserted a window to Neild's memory.

[Chambers's Book of Days, 1864, ii. 285–8; Gent. Mag. 1817 vol. lxxxvii. pt. i. pp. 305–9, 1852 xxxviii. 429–31, 492, 1853 xxxix. 570; Illustr. London News, 1852 xxi. 222, 350, 1855 xxvii. 379–80; Timbs's English Eccentrics, 1875, pp. 99–103; Times, 8 Sept. 1852, p. 7, 26 Oct. p. 6.]  NEILE. [See also, , and .]

NEILE, RICHARD (1562–1640), archbishop of York, born in Westminster in 1562, was son of a tallow-chandler, but his grandfather had held a considerable estate and an office at court under Henry VIII, till he was deprived for non-compliance with the Six Articles. Richard was educated at Westminster School, under Edward Grant [q. v.] and William Camden [q. v.] (, Athenæ Oxonienses, ii. 341), but never became a good scholar. When he was bishop of Durham he reproved a schoolmaster for severely flogging his boys, and said that he had himself been so much chastised at Westminster that he never acquired a mastery of Latin (, Epitome, p. 75). Dr. Grant would have persuaded his mother to apprentice him to a bookseller, but he was sent by Mildred, lady Burghley, wife of the lord treasurer, on the recommendation of Gabriel Goodman [q. v.], dean of Westminster, to St. John's College, Cambridge, as ‘a poor and fatherless child, of good hope to be learned, and to continue therein’ (letter of Dr. Goodman, given in, Lives of Bishops since the Reformation, p. 137). He was admitted scholar of the college on 22 April 1580, and matriculated on 18 May. He continued to enjoy the patronage of the Burghley family, residing in their household, and became chaplain to Lord Burghley, and afterwards to his son, Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury. He took the degree of doctor in divinity in 1600, when he ‘kept the Commencement Act,’ and therein maintained the following questions: 1. ‘Auricularis Confessio Papistica non nititur Verbo Dei.’ 2. ‘Animæ piorum erant in cælo ante Christi Ascensum.’ He preached before Queen Elizabeth, who was ‘much taken with him.’ Among his early preferments was the vicarage of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire (resigned in 1609), and on the memorable 5 Nov. 1605 he was installed dean of Westminster. He resigned the deanery in 1610. While at Westminster he took great interest in the progress of the school, and yearly sent two or three scholars to the universities at his own cost, ‘in thankful remembrance of God's goodness,’ through the beneficence of his patrons the Cecils.

In 1608 he was nominated bishop of Rochester. He was elected on 2 July, confirmed on 8 Oct., and consecrated at Lambeth on 9 Oct. In August he appointed Laud his chaplain, and it was by his introduction that the future archbishop first preached before the king on 17 Sept. 1619. He interested himself keenly in the advancement of his chaplain, and gave him several valuable preferments. It was his interest with the king which procured the royal license for Laud's election to the presidency of St. John's College, in spite of the representations of the chancellor of the university of Oxford.

On the translation of Abbot from Lichfield to London in 1610, Neale was elected bishop of Lichfield and Coventry on 12 Oct., and confirmed on 6 Dec. In 1612 he was concerned in the trial for heresy of Edward Wightman. The unhappy man was condemned for blasphemy on the doctrine of the Trinity, and finally burnt at the stake by the secular power (State Trials, ii. 727; Cal. of State Papers, Dom. 1639–40).

In 1613 Neile sat on the commission appointed to try the Essex divorce suit, and with Bishop Andrewes and the majority he voted in favour of the dissolution of the unhappy marriage [see, third ]. He continued in high favour with the king. In 1614 he was translated to Lincoln. In the debate in the House of Lords on the commons' demand for a conference on the impositions (24 May