South

SOUTH, Robert, English Anglican divine: b. Hackney, 4 Sept. 1634; d. Westminster, 8 July 1716. He was educated at Oxford and after traveling on the Continent took orders in the Church of England in 1658. He was uni versity orator 1660-77, became prebendary of Westminster in 1663, in 1667 was made chap lain to the Duke of York, and in 1670 was appointed canon of Christ Church. In 1676 he accompanied Lawrence Hyde, afterward Earl of Rochester, who went as Ambassador to Poland, and on his return was appointed rector of Islip, Oxfordshire. South's hatred of Roman Catholics was as strong as his contempt for Puritans. He hesitated for some time at the event of the Revolution over the matter of his allegiance but finally adopted the parliamentary fiction that the flight of James was in effect an abdication. In 1693 he entered upon his great controversy with Sherlock, dean of Saint Paul's, occasioned by the latter's (Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity' which South answered by his anonymous (Animadversions,' full of learning and incisive logic as well as fierce sar casm and petty personalities. To Sherlock's

South published a rejoinder, (Tri theism charged upon Dr. Sherlock's new notion of the Trinity' ; and the controversy became the talk and ridicule of the town until the king himself intervened. In 1713 he refused the see of Rochester and the deanery of Westminster. His sermons are masterpieces of clear thought, direct and vigorous in English, sometimes rising to eloquence, often spiced with a wit and sar casm unusual in pulpit utterances, and straining at times the bounds of propriety. His sermons were published by himself in 1679-1715; an additional volume in 1717 contained his (Memoirs' and the account of the Polish travels. Modern editions were published in 1823, 1842, 1843, 1845, with the (Memoir,' and 1850.