AT'TERBURY, FRANCIS, Bishop of Rochester, was b. on the Gth of Mar., 1062, at Milton, near Newport Pagnel, in Buckinghamshire, and educated at Westminster school, from which, in 1680, he passed to Christ Church, Oxford. In 1687, he gave proof of that ready controversial talent which distinguished him through life, in a reply to a pseudonymous attack on Protestantism by Obadiah Walker, master of University college. Disappointed in his expectation of succeeding to his father's rectory, in 1693, lie sought a wider field of distinction, for ambition seems to have stimulated his efforts rather more than the love of souls, and in London his rhetorical powers soon won him reputation. He became a royal chaplain, minister of Bridewell, and lecturer of St. Bride's. In 1698, a temporary sensation was created in the learned world by the appear ance of the hon. Charles Boyle's Examination of Dr. Bentley's Dissertations on the Epistles Phalaris and the Fables of ./Esop. This clever, but shallow and malicious performance was in reality composed chiefly by A., who had been the young nobleman's tutor at Christ Church. In 1700, he distinguished himself in a controversy with Dr. Wake and others regarding the powers and privileges of convocations. A.'s zealous and caustic defense of the ecclesiastical against the civil authority, procured him the thanks of the lower house of convocation, and the degree of D.D. In 1704, he was promoted to the deanery of Carlisle, on which occasion he subjected himself to just obloquy by attempt ing 10 procure an alteration in the date of his predecessor's resignation, which happened to interpose a temporary obstacle to his appointment. In 1707, he was made a canon of Exeter; in 1709, preached at the Rolls chapel; in 1710, he was chosen prolocutor to the lower house of convocation, and in the same year he had the chief hand, according to thc common belief, in draWing up the famous defense of Dr. Sacheverell; in 1712, he
dean of Christ Church, where, however, his turbulent and combative spirit had meanwhile involved him in so many controversies, that there was no peace until he was removed; in 1713, he was made bishop of Rochester and dean of Westminster. It is supposed, not unreasonably, that A. aspired to the primacy; but the death of queen Anne extinguished his hopes in that direction. His known character and Jacobite leanings made him no favorite with George I. In 1715, lie refused to sign the bishops' declaration of fidelity, and some of the most violent protests of the peers against the government measures proceeded from his reckless pen. llisdeep complicity in a succes sion of plots for the restoration of the Stuarts, brought down upon him at length the charge of treason, and, in Aug., 1722, lie was committed to the Tower. A bill of pains and penalties was brought into the house of commons, and passed in the lords by a majority of 83 to 43. A., who had defended himself with great ability, was deprived of all his ecclesiastical offices, incapacitated from holding any civil or spiritual office in the king's dominions. and condemned to perpetual banishment. There is no doubt of the fact that A. was implicated in treasonable plots, but the legal proof on which his sentence was founded cannot be regarded as sufficient to justify its severity. In June, 1723, he quitted England for France, and after a short stay at Brussels, finally settled at Paris, where lied., Feb. 15, 1732. In his exile, he maintained a constant correspondence with his friends, and took an active part in the abortive conspiracies of the Jacobites. Ills fame as a writer is founded on his sermons, and his letters to Pope, Swift, etc. ; as a letter writer, indeed, he has seldom been surpassed.