LINOAIID, REV. JOHN, D.D. and LL.D., was born February 5, 1771, in the city of Winchester. He belonged to a Roman Catholic family iu humble circumstances, and studied at the Roman Catholic College at Denny, in France, whither he was sent by the Roman Catholic Bishop Talbot, and there he remained till the revolutionary troubles obliged the small community to seek shelter in England. After several intermediate removals the college settled at Crook-hall, in the county of Durham, and subsequently at Ushaw, near the city of Durham. Mr. Lingard accompanied the college, and performed the duties of some of its offices. He revisited France for a short time during the dangerous period of the revolution, and on one occasion escaped with difficulty from being suspended 'h la lanterne.' In 1805 he wrote for the 'Newcastle Courant' a series of letter., which were collected and published under the title of ' Catholic Loyalty vindi cated,' 12mo. He afterwards wrote several controversial pamphlets, which in 1813 were published in a volume having the title of ' Tracts on several Subjects connected with the Civil and Religious Principles of the Catholics;' and he was also the author of 'Catechetical Instructions on the Doctrines and Worship of the Catholic Church,' of which there have been several editions. In 1836 he published anonymously an English translation of the New Testament, which is said to be accurate and faithful in several passages where the Douay translation is faulty. In 1845 he published the 'History and Anti quities of the Anglo-Saxon Church,' 2 vols. 8vo.
Dr. Lingard'a great work, the 'History of England from the First Invasion by the Romans to the Accession of IN illiam and Mary iu 1688,' was first published in 6 vols. 4to, London, 1819.25; second
edition in 14 vols. 8vo, 1823.31 ; fourth edition, in 13 vols. ]2mo, 1837 ; fifth edition, 10 vols. 8vo, 1849-50; and sixth edition, 10 vols. 8vo, 1854-55. Dr. Lingard's ' History of England' is a work of great research, founded on ancient writers and original documents, displaying much erudition and acuteness, and opening fields of inquiry previously unexplored. The narrative is clear, the dates accurately given, and the authorities referred to distinctly. The style is perspicuous, terse, and unostentatious. The work perhaps exhibits too exclusively the great facts and circumstances, military, civil, and ecclesiastical, and enters less than might be desirable into the manners, customs, arta, and condition of the people. In all matters connected with the church the work is, as might have been expected, coloured by the very decided religious opinions of the author; but theee are not offensively set forth.
Dr. Lingard, after the completion of his 'History of England,' paid a visit to Rome, where Pope Leo XII. offered to make him a cardinal, but he refused the dignity. He spent the last forty years..of his life at Hornby, near Lancaster, where he died July 13, 1851. Ho was buried in the cemetery of St. Cuthbert's College, at Ushaw, to which institution he bequeathed his library. His latter years were rendered comfortable by the profits of his 'History,' and a pension of 3001. a year from the Queen for his services to literature.