HORSLEY, SAMUEL, an English prelate, was the son of a clergyman of the Episcopal church, and was b. at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London, in 1733. He was educated at Westminster school and Trinity ball, Cambridge, where, though he studied hard, and laid in immense stores of knowledge, he took no degree in arts. In 1758 he became curate to his father, then rector of Newington, and shortly after succeeded to the rectory, a living which he held for 34 years, though he also enjoyed in the interval many other preferments. In 1767 Horsley was elected a fellow of the rival society, of which he long continued an active member. In fact, the writings that first brought him into notice were scientific, and not theological. We may mention his Remarks on the Olaervatiofis made in the late Voyage towards the North Pole, for determining time Accelera tion of the Pendulum, in lat. 79° 51' (1774). Two years' afterwards, he issued proposals for a complete edition of the works of sir Isaac Newton, which, however, did not make its appearance till 1785. But the grand event iu his career was his controversy withDr. Priestley, which, considering the momentous nature of the subjects discussed, and the splendid talents of. the combatants, may be safely pronounced to be the greatest theological contest of the 18th century. The impression at the time was, that so far as hard, merciless hitting goes, Horsley had decidedly the best of it. Rude in language, but panoplied in learning, contemptuous, defiant, dictatorial, his attitude reminds one of Goliath rather than of Paul, and we cannot but feel that he is, at least, as much inspired by the ambition of the pugilist as by the ardor of the Christian. The work
that excited the controversy was Dr. Priestley.s History of the Corruptions of Christianity, among which corruptions was included the orthodox doctrine of Christ's untreated divinity. Horsley reviewed the work with great severity in his charge delivered to the clergy of the archdeaconry of St. Albans, great 22, 1783. Priestley replied the same year in a publication entitled Letters to Dr. Horsley in Answer to his Animadversions, etc. In 1784 Horsley retorted in 17 Letters from the Archdeacon of St. Albans in reply to Dr. Priestley, etc. These were, in return, met by a new series from Priestley, who, waxing warm with the fight, describes his antagonist as "the incorrigible dignitary." After a silence of 18 months, Horsley again replied in his Remarks on Dr. Priatley's Second Letters, etc. and in 1789 collected and published the whole that he had written on the subject. His services were rewarded with tlic bishopric of St. Davids in 1788. whence he was translated to the bishopric of,St. Asaph's in 1802. He died Oct. 4, 1806. Horsley's character as a writer has been already indicated; it remains to be added that as a bishop Ile was liberal and humane both to the clergy and time poor of his diocese, although vigilant and even strict in the discharge of his episcopal duties. Horsley's works, besides those already mentioned, consist of sermons and treatises on biblical criticism, on mathematics, and on classical subjects. A collected edition of his theological works was published by Longman (6 vols., 1845).