HILL, ROWLAND, 1744-1833; an English preacher of great eccentricity. While still at Cambridge he made the acquaintance of the Methodist preacher Whitefield, and stimulated by his example he scandalized the university authorities and his own friends by preaching in the surrounding villages before taking holy orders, and conducting religious services in the houses of the sick and poor. He graduated with honor, and taking orders, was appointed, 1773, to the parish of Kingston, Somersetshire, where he indulged his taste for open-air preaching, and attracted great crowds to the services which he held nearly every day of the week. Having on the death of his father in 1780 inherited considerable property, he built for his own use Surrey chapel, in the Black friars toad, London. The chapel was opened June 8, 1783. Although he now occupied a position as a dissenting minister, Hill conducted his services in accordance with the forms of the church of England, in whose communion he always remained. From the first his success was perfect, and his chapel soon became filled with a larger congrega tion than any other in London. In the summer months he made what he called "gospel
tours" into all parts,ofthe country, sometimes extending them to Scotland and Ireland, and attracting wherever he went crowded and interested audiences. After these tours he invariably returned with increased enthusiasm to his duties at the Surrey chapel, where he continued to officiate to the end of his life. Ills oratorical powers, like those of White&Id, were specially adapted for rude and uncultivated audiences, and were equally effective. He possessed a voice of great power, and, according to Southey, "his manner" was " that of a performer as great in his own line as Kean or Kemple " He occasionally violated laws of good taste by the eccentricities of his wit and humor, but the intensity and purity of the purpose by which he was actuated maintained his moral influence. Among other publications he wrote Village Dialogues, which first appeared in 1810, and reached a 34th edition in 1839.