and his papers to Archdeacon Plumptre, though he had poor relations; one of whom, Rebecca Hopley, of Pipemakers Alley, Houndsditch, was put into an Hospital at Canterbury by Archbishop Secker, at that Archdeacon's desire (his Chaplain) in 1762." He was presented to the rectory of Therfield in 1734; and is thus recorded there, on a white marble tablet over the South door of the chancel * : "In memory of HENRY ETOUGH, M, A. being 23 years Rector and faithful Pastor of this Parish. A firm integrity placed him above fear, and the strict love of truth above all dissimulation. His eager beneficence was tempered only by his own abilities and the indigent merit of others. He was the warmest friend in private life; but his ruling passion was a disinterested love of the publick, his parishioners, and humane in his conduct to them. That he gave away considerable sums to hopeful young men of moderate circumstances, in the University of Cambridge, to enable them the better to prosecute their studies; and, in assistance to other meritorious objects of benevolence.—That, whatever the fortune left by him to Archdeacon Plumptre amounted to, he reaped no other personal benefit from it, than the satisfaction of causing Mr. Etough's bounty to flow in its usual channels during his life, and of planning measures since carried into execution by his elder brother, the executor of his will, for its continuance and perpetuity. D. M."-He left an annuity of 51. to St. Luke's Hospital; which, being sold to Dr. Plumptre, his executor, at 25 years purchase, produced 125. to that excellent charity. These are facts, which, for the honour of human nature, ought not to be concealed. * In the Register is this entry:-"1757. The Rev. Henry Etough, M. A. Rector of this parish almost 23 years, died Aug. 10, aged 70 years; and was buried Aug. 15, in the chancel of the church, near the door."-Much of the Register during his time was kept in his own hand; the rest by his different curates. No No X. WILLIAM AND JOHN DUNCOMBE. WILLIAM DUNCOMBE, an ingenious poetical and miscellaneous writer, youngest son of John Duncombe, esq. of Stocks, in the parish of Aldbury, Hertfordshire, and Hannah his wife, was born, at his father's house in Hatton-garden, London, Jan. 9, 1689-90; and owed his Christian name to the Revolution principles of his father and family. On the same principles, his father in 1693 put his life into the Tontine, or annuities increasing by survivorship, subscribing 100l. on it, for which 10l. a year was paid immediately, and from which, in the course of his long life, Mr. Duncombe received some thousands. Mr. Duncombe was educated in two private seminaries at Cheney, Bucks, and afterwards at Pinner, near Harrow-on-the-Hill, Middlesex, under the tuition of Mr. Thomas Goodwin. In December 1706, he was entered as a clerk in the Navyoffice, and was advanced to a higher salary in January 1707-8. So early as 1715, we find a translation by him of the Twenty-ninth ode of the First Book of Horace, in the collection commonly known by the name of "The Wits' Horace." About this time Mr. Duncombe was introduced by Mr. Jabez Hughes to his brother John, author of "The Siege of Damascus," and also to his sister (afterwards Mrs. Duncombe), who was a woman of excellent sense and temper. His translation of the "Carmen Seculare of Horace" was printed in folio in 1721, and was collected in 1731 in Concanen's Miscellany, entitled "The Flower-piece." This was followed in 1722, by a translation of the Tragedy of "Athaliah" by Racine, which was published by subscription, and has gone through three editions. Having contracted an intimacy at the Navy-office with Mr Henry Haymarket. The consequence was natural and obvious. "The quavering Italian eunuch (to use the Author's own words) proved too powerful for the rigid Roman Consul." Yet it was acted six nights with applause, and repeated in February following, and at the same time was printed in 8vo, with a dedication to Lord Chief Justice Hardwicke. A second edition, with a translation of M. de Voltaire's "Essay on Tragedy" prefixed, was published in 1747. In April 1735, Mr. Duncombe published, by subscription, in two volumes 12mo, the "Poems, &c. of his deceased brother-in-law, John Hughes, esq. which were received by his friends and the publick with the esteem due to Hughes's merit*. In the January following Mr. Duncombe's domestic happiness received a severe shock by the death of his wife, which happened at Spring Grove, Middlesex, the seat of his first cousin Mrs. Ofley. In 1737 he collected and published, in one volume 8vo, the "Miscellanies in Verse and Prose" of Mr. Jabez Hughes, for the benefit of his widow, but the dedication (in her name) to the Duchess of Bedford, was drawn up by the Rev. Mr. Copping, Dean of Clogher. In 1743, on the death of his learned friend Mr. Samuel Say, a Dissenting minister in Westminster, Mr. Duncombe undertook, for the benefit of his widow and daughter, to revise and prepare for the press some of his poems, and two prose essays. In 1744, "The Siege of Damascus," and some other moral plays, having been acted by several persons of distinction for their amusement, Mr. Duncombe was induced to publish "An Oration on the Usefulness of Dramatic Interludes in the Edu. cation of Youth," translated from the Latin of M. Werenfels, by whom it was spoken before the Masters and Scholars of the University of Basil. * "An account of Mr. Hughes is prefixed to his Works by the late Mr. Duncombe; a man whose blameless elegance deserved the same respect." Dr. Johnson, † Published in one volume, 4to, 1745. On On the breaking-out of the Rebellion in 1745, Mr. Duncombe endeavoured to second his honoured friend, Dr. Herring, then Abp. of York, by reprinting a "Sermon *" supposed to be "preached to the People at the Mercat-cross of Edinburgh, on the Subject of the Union, in 1706," and to the Sermon prefixed a Preface, without his name, setting forth the advantages that have accrued to the Kingdom of Scotland by its Union with England. About the same time he also printed, with a Preface, "The complicated Guilt of the Rebellion," which had been written by Mr. Hughes in 1716, but was then suppressed, as the insurrection it related to was soon after quelled: this tract was judged by Mr. Duncombe to be equally applicable to the transactions of 1745. In the summer of 1749, being with his relation Mr. Brooke at York, Mr. Duncombe was accidentally instrumental to the detection of Archibald Bower, by transmitting to Abp. Herring an account of that Adventurer's escape from the Inquisition, taken by memory from his own mouth; which being published the year following by Mr. Barron, a Dissenting minister, was disavowed by Bower; though, when called upon, the mistakes which he was able to specify were found to be few and trifling. This was the first impeachment of his integrity, and exposed him to the attacks of Dr. Douglas, who had before detected 'Lauder. To the periodical publication called "The World," Mr. Duncombe contributed one paper, No. 84, "Prosperity and Adversity, an Allegory." In 1753, he commenced an acquaintance, which soon ripened into a friendship, with John Earl of Orrery (soon after Earl of Corke). This connexion was productive of much pleasure and emolument to them both, and in some degree also to the publick, his Lordship's "Letters to Mr. Duncombe from Italy" having since appeared in print. * Now known to have been written by Dr. Arbuthnot. In 1754, Mr. Duncombe drew up "Remarks on Lord Bolingbroke's Notion of a God," with some oecasional notes; to which he annexed a translation, from Cicero, "De Naturâ Deorum," of the arguments of Q. Lucilius Balbus, the Stoic, in proof of the being, and of the wisdom, power, and good ness, of God. These were read and approved by the Archbishop, and others of the Author's friends; but were not published till 1763, when he allowed the late Dr. Dodd to insert them in "The Christian's Magazine." They have since been collected in the Appendix to Abp. Herring's Letters. Horace having always been Mr. Duncombe's favourite Author, he had amused himself for more than thirty years, at different times, with translating several of his Odes, but without any intention of publishing them, or of giving a version of the whole to the world, till his Son offered his assistance for completing the work; and undertook some of the Odes and Satires, all the Epodes, and the first Book of Epistles; and added several imitations, from Sanadon, Dacier, &c. Mr. Duncombe compiled notes to the whole, and published one volume Svo, in 1757, and the second in 1759. Another edition, in four volumes, 12mo, with several additional imitations, appeared in 1764. On the death of his excellent friend Abp. Herring, Mr. Duncombe, as a token of his gratitude and affection, collected, in one volume 8vo. the "Seven Sermons on Public Occasions," which his Grace had separately printed in his life-time, and prefixed to them some Memoirs of his Life. This was his last publication. With a constitution naturally weak and tender, by constant regularity, and an habitual sweetness and evenness of temper, his life was prolonged to the advanced age of 79; when, without any previous painful illness, he died Feb. 13, 1769, esteemed, beloved, and regretted by all who knew him. He was interred, near the remains of his wife, in the burying-place of his family, at Aldbury, Herts. JOHN |