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 he particularly enjoined him through Colonel Blood to moderate his zeal. But though thus harsh in his general conduct, he tempered his sternness with many individual acts of kindness, and sometimes showed that he could appreciate piety and learning even when disjoined from orthodoxy (cf. Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, 1696, iii. 84, 86;, Account, 1713, pp. 227, 237, 245, 761; , Continuation of the Account, 1727, pp. 218, 303, 315, 336, 339; , Lives of Eminent Divines, 1683, ii. 61).

In his later years Ward's intellect became much weakened. A violent controversy with his dean, Thomas Pierce [q. v.], gave him much distress. Pierce, having been disappointed in his request for a prebend for his nephew, disputed the bishop's right of nomination, which he claimed for the crown. Both sides submitted a manuscript summary of their position to the ecclesiastical commissioners, and in 1683 Pierce published a treatise in support of his contention, entitled ‘A Vindication of the King's Sovereign Right.’ It was suppressed, but has been reprinted as an appendix to Curll's ‘History and Antiquities of the Cathedral Church at Salisbury,’ 1719. Ward remained victorious, but when the excitement of the controversy had passed, he sank into complete senility. In May 1688 he subscribed the bishops' peti- tion against reading James's declaration in favour of liberty of conscience, but with no intelligent knowledge of his action. He died, unmarried, at Knightsbridge on 6 Jan. 1688–9, and was buried in Salisbury Cathedral, in the south aisle of the choir, where a monument was erected to his memory by his nephew, Seth Ward (see Hist. and Antiq. of the Cathedral Church at Salisbury, 1723, pp. 118–22).

‘Ward,’ says Burnet, ‘was a man of great reach, went deep in mathematical studies, and was a very dexterous man, if not too dexterous, for his sincerity was much questioned. But the Lord Clarendon saw that most of the bishops were men of merit by their sufferings, but of no great capacity for business. So he brought in Ward, as a man fit to govern the church; and Ward, to get his former errors forgot, went into the high notions of a severe conformity, and became the most considerable man on the bishops' bench. He was a profound statesman, but a very indifferent clergyman.’ He was courtly in manner, much given to hospitality, and generous in private life. Among other benefactions he founded the college of matrons at Salisbury in 1682 for the support of widows of ministers in the dioceses of Salisbury and Exeter, and in 1684 established almshouses at his birthplace, Buntingford, and at Layston, in the neighbourhood, a hospital for the maintenance of well-to-do inhabitants who had fallen into poverty. He made surveys of his dioceses, containing particulars regarding the livings and clergy, to assist him in his schemes for improving their condition. Ward's portrait by John Greenhill is in the town-hall, Salisbury; another, drawn and engraved from the life in 1678 by David Loggan, was purchased by the trustees of the National Portrait Gallery, London, in July 1881. A third portrait, by an unknown painter, is at Oriel College, Oxford (Cat. First Loan Exhib. No. 971). Some verses on him by Samuel Woodford are included in John Nichols's ‘Select Collection of Miscellaneous Poetry’ (1800, iv. 346).

Besides the works already mentioned and many sermons, Ward was the author of: 1. ‘A Philosophical Essay towards an Eviction of the Being and Attributes of God, the Immortality of the Souls of Men, and the Truth and Authority of Scripture,’ Oxford, 1652, 8vo; 5th ed., Oxford, 1677, 8vo. 2. ‘De Cometis, ubi de Cometarum Natura disseritur, nova Cometarum Theoria, et novissima Cometæ Historia proponitur,’ Oxford, 1653, 4to. 3. ‘Idea Trigonometriæ demonstratæ in Usum Juventutis Oxon.,’ Oxford, 1654, 4to. 4. ‘Seven Sermons,’ London, 1673, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1674. His ‘Sermon on the Final Judgment’ is included in Wesley's ‘Christian Library,’ 1827, xiv. 321. He edited Samuel Ward's ‘Dissertatio de Baptismatis Infantilis Vi et Efficacia,’ London, 1653, 8vo; and ‘Opera Nonnulla,’ London, 1658, fol., which included his ‘Determinationes Theologicæ,’ his ‘Tractatus de Justificatione,’ and his ‘Prælectiones de Peccato Originali.’ He was the author of the preface to Hobbes's ‘Humane Nature,’ 1650, which was signed ‘F. B.,’ the initials of Francis Bowman, the bookseller. He also composed an epigram for his friend Lawrence Rooke, and presented a pendulum clock to the Royal Society to commemorate him.

[There is an excellent article on the materials for Ward's life by the Rev. J. E. B. Mayor in Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. vii. 269; Life of Ward, 1697, by Walter Pope [q. v.], who resided in Ward's house towards the close of his life (the life is in great part reprinted in Cassan's Lives of the Bishops of Sherborne and Salisbury, 1824); both Ward and Pope were attacked by Thomas Wood in An Appendix to Pope's Life of Ward, 1697; Some Particulars of the Life, Habits, and Pursuits of Seth Ward, Salisbury, 1879; Wood's Athenæ Oxon., ed. Bliss, vol. i. p. clxx, iii.