HORSLEY, SAMUEL, one of the most eminent theolo gians in modern times, was born in October 1732, and was the eldest son of the Rev. Mr Horsley, minister of St. Mar tins in the Fields. He received the classical part of his education at Westminster School, from which he was re moved to the University of Cambridge, where he applied himself principally to mathematical studies. After having taken his degree as master of arts, he went to Oxford, in the. capacity or private tutor to the Earl of Aylesford, where he received the degree of doctor of laws. On leaving this university, he came to London, where he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, of which he was chosen secre tary in 1773. He published several valuable papers in the Transactions of that learned body, and continued to dis charge time duties of his office in a very distinguished man ner, till the resignation of the president Sir John Pringle in 1778. Soon after his having settled in London, he ac cepted the office of chaplain to Bishop Lowth, one of his greatest patrons, who presented him to the rectories of St Mary Newington and Albury in the county of Surrey ; ap pointed him Archdeacon of St Albans in 1778 ; and, in 1782, conferred upon him the valuable living of South \Veald in Essex. In 1788, he was raised to the bishopric of St David's by the interest of Lord Thurlow ; and, in 1794, was translated to the see of Rochester, holding at the same time the deanery of Westminster. In 1802, he was promoted to the see of St Asaph ; and is generally under stood to have had his Majesty's promise of the Archbishop ric of York. He died at Brighton on the 4th of October 1806.
These numerous promotions, and high prospects as a dignitary in the English Church, were fairly earned by the eminent services which he rendered to the cause of sound principles and sacred literature. In 1769, while residing at Oxford, he published a valuable edition of Apolloni us, and discovered his thorough qualifications for illus trating the works of the ancient geometers. In 1799, he produced an edition of Newton's Works, in five volumes 41o, with commentaries and separate disserta tions ; an undertaking, in which he is generally al lowed to have clone more than could reasonably have been expected from one, whose acquirements on other sub jects were so diversified and distinguished ; but, at the same time, to have failed in that full illustration of his au thor, which the improved methods of calculation and ana lysis might have accomplished. in 1778, he published a
sermon on the consistency of the doctrine of Divine Provi dence with the free agency of man, in which he combats the necessitarian tenets with great ability. In 1789, he col lected and printed in one volume the tracts which he had written during the preceding six years, in his celebrated controversy with Dr Priestley on the Unitarian system ; a discussion in which he is now generally acknowledged to have had a decided superiority, both in learning and argu ment, and in which his productions must always be read as standard works, and admired as models of clear and power ful reasoning. In 1790, he published a pamphlet without his name, entitled A Review of the Case of the Protes tant Dissenters," in which he vindicates in a highly ner vous style the high church principles on the subject of the test laws. In 1796, appeared from his pen a very learned dissertation on the Latin and Greek Prosodies; in 1800, a critical disqusition on the 18th chapter of Isaiah, in a let ter to Lord King ; in 1802, a new Translation of the Pro phet Hosea, with critical and explanatory notes. Besides many smaller pieces, he was the author of an Elementary Treatise on the fundamental principles of Practical Mathe matics, which appeared in three volumes in 1801 and 1803, and of a Critical Essay on Virgil's Two Seasons of Honey, and his Season of Sowing Wheat, with a new and compen dious method of investigating the Rising and Setting of the fixed Stars. There have been published, since his death, three volumes of his Sermons, a volume of his Charges, a volume of his Speeches in Parliament, and a Translation of the Book of Psalms with notes. He has also left in manu script, a Ti eatise on the Pentateuch, and on the Historical Books of the Old Testament ; and a Treatise on the Pro phets, containing Notes on Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, and Obadiah ; which are announced to be in a state ready for the press, and which, it is to be hoped, will not be suffered to be lost to the Christian world by any want of encouragement on the part of the public. His son, the Rev. Ileneage Horsley, proposes to publish an uniform edition of all his father's works, with a biographical account the author.