COPLESTON, REV. EDWARD, D.D., was born February 2, 1776, at the rectory-house, Offwell, Devonshire. His father, the Rev. John Bradford Copleston, was the rector of that parish, and he educated at his owu residence a limited number of pupils, amoug whom was his son Edward. In 1791 Edward Copleston was elected to a scholarship at Corpus Christi, Oxford; in 1793 he obtained the Chancellor's prize for a Latin poem ' • and iu 1795 he was elected a Fellow of Oriel College. He obtained the Chancellor's prize for an English essay on Agricul ture' in 1796, and in 1797 was appointed college-tutor, though he bad not then taken his degree of M.A. In 1802 he was elected Professor of Poetry to the university, in which office he succeeded Dr. Hurdle.
He published in 1813 the substance of the lectures which he had delivered, under the title of 'Prmlectiones Acaderaiere; a work which gained him a high reputation for pure and elegant Latin composition combined with extensive poetical information.. SCinse severe attacks on the University of Oxford having been made in the Edinburgh Review,' Mr. Coplesfon published in 1810 A Reply to the Calumnies of the Edinburgh Review against Oxford,' which was followed by another 'Reply' in the same year, and by a third In 1811. Thee.
replies were greatly esteemed by the university, and regarded as a trinmphant defence. In 1814 Copleaton was elected Provost of Oriel College, and won afterward. the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by diploma, the instrument setting forth that ON distinction resulted from a grateful sense of the many public benefits which he had conferred open the university. Dr. C,opieston is chiefly remem
bered as a divine by his work on Predestination,' which consists, for the most part, of three sermons preached at St.. Mary's church, Oxford, • An Enquiry Into the Doctrines of Necessity and Predestination, with Notes and an Appendix on tho 17th Article of the Church of England, 5vo, Londoo, 1821. Between the years 1811 and 1S22 he contributed many articles to the ' Quarterly Review.' In 1826 Dr. Copleaton was appointed to the deanery of Chester, and in 1927 he succeeded Dr. Sumner in the bishopric of Llandaff and deanery of St. Paul's, London. Ile also held the honorary appointment of profoseor of ancient history to the Royal Academy of Arta, and was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. After he became a bishop his time was chiefly occupied in the performance of the duties of his diocese. Some of his sermons, charges, and speeches in the /louse of Lords, were published at the time when made. lie resided mostly during the latter pert of his life at Hardwick Renee, near Chepstow, where he died October 14, -1849.
(Memoirs of E. Coplatos, Bishop of Llandot will& Seteethms from Aid Diary and Correspondence, 4c, by William James Coplesten, London, 1851, 8vo.)