Anglican priest, fellow of Wadham College and the first Professor of Poetry at Oxford. He held several London livings and lectureships and was President of Sion College. A poet and pamphleteer, he wrote against both Roman Catholicism and Dissent and was one of the earliest to attack Methodism in print. In 1739 he preached and published four sermons on The Nature, Folly, Sin and Danger of being Righteous Overmuch, in which he dismissed Methodists as a 'new set of enthusiasts, or hypocrites or both', charging them with being a disruptive and corrupting influence in society. Their publication sparked off a considerable pamphlet war in which George Whitefield was prominent and into which William Law was also drawn. He died at Harlington, Middx., on 22 November 1747.

Entry written by: JAV
Category: Person
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