JEN YNS, SOAME, born 1704, died 1787, enjoyed a considerable reputation in his lifetime from the happy accident of uniting good birth and fortune with a creditable share of literary accomplishment and 'success. His family property was at Bottisham, near Cambridge; ho was educated at St. John's College ; elected member of parliament for the couoty in 1741 ; for the borough of Dunwich in 1754 ; for the town of Cambridge in 1761, which last he rettesented until his with drae al from public life. lu 1755 lie was made a lord of trade, and he held that office in spite of political changes until its abolition in 1780, being a steady supporter of nil existing administrations. Asa versifier he is elegant and sprightly ; sometimes rather free. Hie poems, which consist of 'The Art of Dancing,' ]72S, and 'Miscellanies,' 1770, have found admission into the second and third editions of Johnson's Poets. His prose works are--1. 'A free Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Evil,' 1756. This unsatisfactory attempt to solve one of the most difficult of moral probleme was very ably and severely criticised by Dr. Johnson in the 'Literary Dingazine; end this rebuke Jenyns seems never to have forgiven. (See Boswell's ' Life,' under the above year.)
2. ' View of the Internal Evidence of the Christian Iteligicin,' 1776, for the divine origin of which he argues front its utter variance with the principles of human reason. This was a curious ground for a friend to take; and though the book obtained much praise, there were many also who regarded it as the work of a disguised enemy. This does not seem to have been the case; Jenyns, though once a sceptic, was in the latter part of his life a professed, and, as Boswell, who was no friend to him, believed, a sincere Christian. 3. Dissertations on various subjects, 1782. These are political and religious. His prose writings have obtained praise for elegance of style, art, shrewdness of remark, and aptness of illustration ; but his talent was better suited for the lighter and more showy parts of literature than for metaphysics and controversial theology. He published some pieces not here mentioned. His works are collected in four vols. 8vo, 1790-93, with a Life by 31r. Cole.