KNOX, REV. VICESIMUS, D.D., was born at Newington Green, Middlesex, December 8, 1752. His father was the Rev. Vicesimus Knox, LL.B., Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, and head master of Merchant Taylors School, London. Vicesimns Knox, the son, was also educated at St. John's College, Oxford, where he pursued his classical studies with great diligence, and became very skilful in Latin composition. Having taken his degree of B.A., and been elected to a Fellowship, he left the university, and in 1778 was elected master of Tunbridge School, Kent. He married about the time of his settling at Tunbridge, and his wife died in 1809, leaving two sons and a daughter. A short time after his marriage he received the degree of D.D. by diploma from the University of Philadelphia. After having been master of Tunbridge School thirty-three years he retired, and was succeeded by his eldest sou. He was rector of Rumwell and Ilamaden Crays in Essex, and minister of the chapelry of Shipbourne in Kent. He performed the duties of a parish priest nearly forty years with great regularity. In the latter part of his life he resided in London. He was much admired as a preacher, and frequently gave his aid in behalf of public charities by delivering a sermon. He died while on a visit to his son at Tunbridge, September 6, 1821.
Dr. Knox's chief works were-1, ' Essays, Moral and Literary,' 12mo, 1777, which came out anonymously, and met with so much success that he republished them in 1778, with additional essays, in 2 vole.
12mo-many additions have been since published; 2, 'Liberal Educa tion, or a Practical Treatise on the Methods of acquiring Useful and Polite Learning,' 8vo, 1781, enlarged in 1785 to 2 vols. 8vo : this work was chiefly intended to point out the defects of the system of educa tion in the English universities, and is said to have had some effect in producing a reformation; 3, 'Elegant Extracts in Prose,' 8vo; 4, • Winter Evenings, or Lucubrations on Life and Letters,' 3 vole. 12mo, 1788 ; 5, 'Elegant Extracts in Verse,' 1790, 8vo ; 0, 'Sermons intended to promoto Faith, Hope, and Charity,'1792, 8vo; 7, ' Elegant Epistles,' 8vo, 1792 ; 8, 'Family Lectures,' 8vo, 1794; 9, Christian Philosophy, or an Attempt to display the Evidence and Excellence of Revealed Religion,' 2 vole. 12mo, 1795; 10, Coneiderations on the Nature and Efficacy of the Lord's Supper,' 12mo, 1799. Dr. Knox published a few other minor works, occasional sermons and pamphlets.
Dr. Knox's writings were once mach admired. His style has con siderable neatness and elegance, but he has little originality or power of thought, and his popularity has for some years been gradually decreasing. The selections in the 'Elegant Extracts' were made with much taste and judgment. They wero very useful works in their day, and had for many years a large circulation.