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Anno 17939

THE LIFE OF KIN G.

1

LLIAM KING was born in London in the year 1663. His father, Ezekiel King, was of the of gentleman, and allied to the family of Clarendon.

: was educated at Westminster school, upon the foundation, under the care of Dr. Bufby; from ice, at the age of eighteen, he was elected to Christ Church College, Oxford, in 1681. appears, from his Adverfaria, that he profecuted his ftudies with fo much intenseness and acti that, before he was eight years in the university, he had read over, and made reflections on, ty-two thousand books and manuscripts; but this account may be reasonably doubted. 1688, he took the degree of Mafter of Arts, in the most expensive manner, as a grand comder; whence it has been fuppofed, that he inherited a confiderable fortune.

he fame year, he published a Confutation of Varillas's Account of Wickliffe; and, engaging in tudy of the civil law, became Doctor in 1692, and, by the favour of Archbishop Tillotson, was tted of Doctors Commons, where he practifed with very great reputation.

had already made some translations from the French, and written a great number of huus and fatirical pieces, which it would be tedious to enumerate.

1694, he undertook to confute Lord Molefworth's "Account of Denmark;" because he 1ot like his Lordship's principles of government; and his "Animadverfions" were fo much aped by Prince George, confort to the Princess Anne, that he was foon after appointed Secretary r Royal Highness.

1697, he engaged in the controversy between Boyle and Bentley, concerning the Epiftles of aris; the iffue of which has fhewn the impotence of wit in oppofition to learning, on a quef that learning only could decide.

1699, he published A Journey to London, in the manner of Dr. Lifter's "Journey to Paris:" in 1700, two dialogues, entitled The Tranfactioneer; the defign of which was to ridicule Sir Sloane's writings in the "Transactions of the Royal Society," of which he was then secretary. he expence of his pleasures had now leffened his revenues, without stimulating his industry; e hated business, especially that of an advocate, because he could not bear the fatigue of gling, and because it interrupted his dreams of voluptuousness, and forced him to roufe from indulgence in which he delighted.

otwithstanding his habitual indolence, his reputation as a civilian was yet maintained, by the trnment and ability which he discovered in his judgments in the courts of delegates, and raised high by the addrefs and knowledge which he difplayed in the House of Lords in 1701, n he defended the Earl of Anglesea against his lady, afterwards Duchess of Buckinghamshire, fued for a divorce, on a charge of cruelty, and obtained it.

The reputation of his abilities procured him the patronage of the Earl of Pembroke, Lord h Admiral of England, by whose interest, and that of his relation, the Earl of Rochester, Lord | utenant of Ireland, he was, in 1702, made judge of the admiralty in Ireland, commiffioner of ¡ prizes, keeper of the records in Bermingham's Tower, and vicar-general to Dr. Marsh, the

nate.

Ie had now an opportunity of accumulating wealth beyond the usual fortune of a poet; but he lected his intereft, and deferted his duty, for the company of Judge Upton, a man as idle and

thoughtless as himself, who had a pleasant house, called Mountown, near Dublin, at which hel most of his time, in convivial indulgence and poetical amusement.

Here he made a red cow, called Mully, which gave him milk, the fubject of a pafcra. = which, at that time, was fuppofed to be a political allegory, though it originally meant so than it expressed.

In 1708, when the Earl of Wharton was appointed to the government of Ireland, and All his secretary, made keeper of the records, he returned to England, with no other treasure the u wit, and a few merry poems and humorous cffays.

He was now again to subsist on his fellowship in Christ Church College, which had be chief refource against poverty when he was a regular advocate in the courts of the civil a non law; and his indolence left him nothing to defire beyond the cafe and tranquillity it kan him.

Soon after his return from Ireland, he wrote the Art of Love, a poem, in imitation of a De Arte Amandi, which was well received; and, in 1709, published the Art of Cookery, in os tion of Horace's De Arte Poetica, with fome letters to Dr. Lifter, on his publishing the wind Apicius Caelius, concerning the foups and fauces of the ancients, which completely eftabl reputation for wit and learning.

In 1710, he appeared as a zealous Tory and High-churchman, on the fide, of Dr. Sacher concurred in the projection and conduct of the Examiner," animadverted on Dr. Kennet) mon on the death of the Duke of Devonshire, and shared in the oppofition that was given to operations of the Whigs.

In 1711, he published the Hifiory of the Heathen Gods, a book composed for schools, partia that of Westminster, the general use of which was afterwards supplied by "The Panthe,” ▾ ten by Tooke of the Charterhouse, a man of inferior abilities.

The fame year, he published an historical effay, intituled Rufinus, a harsh fatire on the Dur Marlborough and the Whigs, and a poem imitated from Claudian, with the fame title, die party rage rather than truth, and intended to reconcile the nation to the measures of the new nistry.

These fervices were not long unrewarded; for, the fame year, without the trouble of att or the mortification of a request, Swift, Prior, Friend, and other men of the fame party, bri him the key of the Gazetteer's office, from Mr. Secretary St. John, together with another kr. 4 the ufe of the paper office. Competence, if not plenty, was now again in his power, and x) thrown away; for an act of infolvency having made his employment at that time pat troublesome, he impatiently refigned it, and returned to his former indigence.

About midsummer 1712, he retired to a friend's house at Lambeth, where he amufed his mortifying Dr. Tennison, the Archbishop, by regaling the populace with ale, on the fune Dunkirk to Hill.

In the autumn, his health declined, and growing weaker by degrees, he was removed kindness of Lord Clarendon, to a lodging he had provided for him in the Strand, oppá: merset-house, where he died on Christmas-day, in the 49th year of his age.

Though his life had not been without irregularity, his death was exemplary. He yielded breath with the patience of a philofopher, and the piety of a Christian.

His noble relation took care of his funeral, and had him decently interred in the North C of Westminster Abbey, but erected no monument or grave-ftone, to mark the place a duft.

His character united some striking contrarieties. He was a man of eminent learning and in piety; but more zealous for the cause than the appearance of religion. His chief pleature cinebuy ed in trifles, and he was never happier than when he thought he was hid from the w rid people pleafed him in conversation; and it was a proof of his liking them, if his behan tolerably agreeable. His difcourfe was cheerful, and his wit pleasant and entertaining. Ha** fophy and good fenfe prevailed over his natural temper, which was fullen, morofe, and pers but he was of a timorous difpofition, and the leaft flight or neglect would throw him into ở