Williams, David, Esq., Founder of the Literary Fund

Wolseley, Sir William, Bart.

Vincent, the Very Rev. William, late Dean of Westminster 411 Zenobio, Count Alvise P.

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THE

ANNUAL

BIOGRAPHY AND OBITUARY,

OF

1817.

PART I.

MEMOIRS OF CELEBRATED MEN, WHO HAVE DIED WITHIN THE YEARS 1816-1817.

No. I.

THE REV. SIR HERBERT CROFT, BART. B. C.L.

OF DUNSTER PARK, IN THE COUNTY OF BERKS.

[With an Account of his Works.]

To record the events that occur in the life of a man of letters, is, in general, but to detail his embarrassments, his mortifications, and his misfortunes. This is truly lamentable, more especially, when, as on the present occasion, the biography of one highly gifted with powers of a superior order, excites our attention; when a poet, a philologist, and an antiquary demands at once our respect, and our commiseration. Nor is it calculated to diminish general regard, when we recollect, that the gentleman now under consideration, to reputable birth and unimpeachable character, superadded the claims of an accomplished scholar, and an orthodox divine.

Sir Herbert Croft was the head and representative of a very ancient and respectable family, which, in all probability, derived its name from Croft-Castle, in the county of Hereford; where it appears to have been seated anterior to the Norman Conquest. That his progenitors were great Saxon Chiefs long before, and powerful Barons for some ages after that memorable period, there can be but little doubt, without recurring to more remote periods. We have it on record, indeed, that Sir Richard Croft, of Croft-Castle, was a man of eminence in the reign of Edward IV. He took Prince Edward, eldest son of Edward VI. prisoner, at the battle of Tewkesbury; and being justly apprehensive of his fate, such was his scrupulous honour and delicacy, that he would not deliver him up, until after proclamation, and promise of safety for his person had been publicly made and granted.

We find a Sir Herbert Croft sitting in that parliament of James I. which was assembled in 1604. An act of brutal violence committed against his person, produced a new and spirited decision on a question of privilege, as will appear from the following quotation from Macaulay's History of England, vol. i. p. 18.

"The Commons had nobly asserted their privileges in several instances. The delivery of Sir Thomas Shirley, one of their members, who had been committed to the Fleet, was demanded and obtained, and the Warden punished for contempt of the House, in refusing to release his prisoner.

6

"Sir Herbert Crofts, (Croft,) another of their members, coming up with others to hear the King's speech, was insulted by a Yeoman of the Guards, who shut the door against him, saying, good man, burgess, you come not here! The Commons resented the insult as an affront upon the whole House; and their anger was with much difficulty appeased by the Yeoman asking pardon for his fault, and receiving on his knees a reprimand from the Speaker."

In still more modern times, we learn that a Herbert Croft, born at Oxford in 1603, was nominated soon after the Restoration, to the see of Hereford. His father, a zealous Ca

tholic, had sent him for education to the English College of Jesuits at St. Omer's, in Flanders; but on his return he became acquainted with Dr. Morton, Bishop of Durham, who converted him to the Protestant faith. Soon after this he was admitted a student of Christ Church, Oxford, and entering into holy orders in 1639, was preferred to a prebendal stall in the cathedral of Salisbury. In 1644 he was advanced to the deanery of Hereford; and taking part with the King (Charles I.) against the Parliament, experienced many hardships on account of his loyalty. On the return of the son (Charles II) he was fortunate enough to be rewarded for his attachment to the father with the see of Hereford; but notwithstanding his zeal and sufferings in the royal cause, his Lordship, instead of becoming a persecutor in his turn, appears to have imbibed noble and liberal sentiments in the school of affliction; he being the author of a tract printed in 1675, entitled "Naked Truth;" the object of which was to obtain toleration for the Dissenters. He died at Hereford, in 1691, and was buried in the cathedral.

His only son Herbert appears to have been created a Baronet during his father's life-time, having obtained a patent in 1671. He represented his native county in several parliaments, as Knight of the Shire, and married the daughter of Thomas Archer, Esq., by whom he had several children.

He was succeeded on his death by Sir Archer, his only surviving son, who sat during several parliaments for the boroughs of Leominster and Beeralston; and who was nominated a commissioner of trade and plantations. He married Frances, daughter of Brigadier-General Waring.

On his demise, in 1758, he was succeeded by his grandson Sir Archer, who, in 1759, married a daughter of William Cowper, Esq. one of the Clerks of the House of Lords, and most likely a descendant of Lord Chancellor Cowper, by whom he had an only daughter.

Without entering into further details, it is only necessary to observe, that Mr. Herbert Croft, the father of the subject of this memoir, does not appear to have been much indebted to the gifts

of fortune. The third Baronet, indeed, had cut off the entail of the family estate, and sold Croft Castle to the father of the late Thomas Johnes, Esq. of Llanvinr in Cardiganshire; and being but a younger branch, he was, of course, very slenderly provided for. He, however, obtained the office of Treasurer of the Charter House, which enabled him to maintain and educate his family with a considerable degree of respectability.

His son, Herbert, of whom we are now prepared to treat, and grandson of Sir Archer Croft, of Dunster Park, in the county of Berks (the second Baronet of this family), was born Nov. 1, 1751. Being intended for a liberal profession, he received a regular education, first at school, and next at University College, Oxford; and as his studies pointed to the Bar, he obtained the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law, on April 6, 1785, by which he considerably abridged the term of his attendance on the Courts.

Mr. Croft, previously to this last event, had entered himself a student of Lincoln's-Inn, and for some time resided in chambers there. That his mind was at this time seriously bent on the legal profession, will appear from a pamphlet published in 1782, containing an account of a plan laid down by him for a new edition of the Statutes at large.

At length, however, from what motive it is difficult to pronounce, Mr. Herbert Croft bent his views towards the Church. On this occasion, he was fortunate enough to obtain the office of chaplain to the Garrison of Quebec. In this new profession, however, he does not appear to have succeeded. Some of his progenitors had enjoyed deaneries, prebendal stalls, and a rich bishoprick; but the estates in Herefordshire and Berkshire were gone; and no political or parliamentary interest was attached to his family. He seems also so unfortunate as to have been destitute even of a patron, although he publicly professed a lasting and unbounded attachment to an accomplished Dignitary of the Anglican Church, who might have easily rendered him comfortable for life.

See vol. i. of Ann. Biog. p. 534.