OR, MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. PEGGE, COMPILED BY HIS SON. ———— The Rev. Samuel Pegge, LL. D. and F.S.A. was the Representative of one of four Branches of the Family of that name in Derbyshire, derived from a common Ancestor, all which existed together till within a few years. The eldest became extinct by the death of Mr. William Pegge, of Yeldersley, near Ashborne, 1768; and another by that of the Rev. Nathaniel Pegge, M.A. Vicar of Packington, in Leicestershire, 1782. The Doctor's immediate Predecessors, as may appear from the Heralds-office, were of Osmaston, near Ashborne, where they resided, in lineal succession, for four generations, antecedently to his Of the other existing branch, Mr. Edward Pegge having [1662] married Gertrude, sole daughter and heir of William Strelley, Esq. of Beauchief, in the Northern part of Derbyshire, seated himself there, and was appointed High Sheriff of the County in 1667; as was his Grandson, Strelley Pegge, Esq. 1739; and his Great-grandson, the present Peter Pegge, Esq. 1788. It was by Katharine Pegge, a daughter of Thomas Pegge, Esq. of Yeldersley, that King Charles II. (who saw her abroad during his exile) had a son born (1647), whom he called Charles Fitz-Charles, to whom he granted the Royal arms, with a baton sinister, VairÉ, and whom (1675) his Majesty created Earl of Plymouth, Viscount Totness, and Baron Dartmouth Katharine Pegge, the Earl's mother, married Sir Edward Greene, Bart. of Samford in Essex, and died without issue by him But to return to the Rev. Dr. Pegge, the outline only of whose life we propose to give. His Father (Christopher) was, as we have observed, of Osmaston, though he never resided there, even after he became possessed of it; for, being a younger Brother, it was thought proper to put him to business; and he served his time with a considerable woollen-draper at Derby, which line he followed till the death of his elder Brother (Humphry, who died without issue 1711) at Chesterfield He had married Gertrude Stephenson (a daughter of Francis Stephenson, of Unston, near Chesterfield, Gent.) whose Mother was Gertrude Pegge, a Daughter of the before-mentioned Edward Pegge, Esq. of Beauchief; by which marriage these two Branches of the Family, which had long been diverging from each ether, became reunited, both by blood and name, in the person of Dr. Pegge, their only surviving child. He was born Nov. 5, 1704, N.S. at Chesterfield, where he had his school education; and was admitted a Pensioner of St. John's College, Cambridge, May 30, 1722, under the tuition of the Rev. Dr. William Edmundson; was matriculated July 7; and, in the following November, was elected a Scholar of the House, upon Lupton's Foundation. In the same year with his Father (1723) died the Heir of his Maternal Grandfather (Stephenson), a minor; by whose death a moiety of the real estate at Unston (before-mentioned) became the property of our young Collegian, who was Having, however, no immediate prospect of preferment, he looked up to a Fellowship of the College, after he had taken the degree of A.B. in January 1725, N.S.; and became a candidate upon a vacancy which happened favourably in that very year; for it was a Lay-fellowship upon the Beresford Foundation, and appropriated to the Founder's kin, or at least confined to a Native of Derbyshire. The competitors were, Mr. Michael Burton (afterwards Dr. Burton), and another, whose name we do not find; but the contest lay between Mr. Burton and Mr. Pegge. Mr. Burton had the stronger claim, being indubitably related to the Founder; but, upon examination, was declared to be so very deficient in Literature, that his superior right, as Founder's kin, was set aside, on account of the insufficiency of his learning; and Mr. Pegge was admitted, and sworn Fellow March 21, 1726, O. S. In consequence of this disappointment, Mr. Burton was obliged to take new ground, to enable him to procure an establishment in the world; and therefore artfully applied to the College for a testimonial, that he might receive orders, and undertake some cure in the vicinity of Cambridge. These were irresistible pleas on the part of Mr. Burton; and the Visitor found himself reluctantly obliged to eject Mr. Pegge; when Mr. Burton took possession of the Fellowship, which he held many years Thus this business closed; but the Visitor did Mr. Pegge the favour to recommend him, in so particular a manner, to the Master and Seniors of the College, that he was thenceforward considered as an honorary member of the body of Fellows (tanquam Socius), kept his seat at their table and in the chapel, being placed in the situation of a Fellow-commoner. In consequence, then, of this testimony of the Bishop of Ely's approbation, Mr. Pegge was There is good reason to believe that, in the interval between his removal from his first Fellowship, and his acceding to the second, he meditated the publication of Xenophon's "CyropÆdia" and "Anabasis," from a collation of them with a Duport MS. in the Library at Eton—to convince the world that the Master and Seniors of St. John's College did not judge unworthily in giving him so decided a preference to Mr. Burton in their election. It appears that he had made very large collections for such a work; but we suspect that it was thrown aside on being anticipated by Mr. Hutchinson's Edition, which was formed from more valuable manuscripts. He possessed a MS "Lexicon Xenophonticum" by himself, as well as a Greek Lexicon in MS.; and had also "An English Historical Dictionary," in 6 volumes folio; a French and Italian, a Latin, a British and Saxon one, in one volume each; all corrected by his notes; a "Glossarium Generale;" and two volumes of "Collections in English History." During his residence in Kent, Mr. Pegge formed a "Monasticon Cantianum," in two folio MS volumes; a MS Dictionary for Kent; an Alphabetical List of Kentish Authors and Worthies; Kentish Collections; Places in Kent; and many large MS additions to the account of that county in the "Magna Britannia." He also collected a good deal relative to the College at Wye, and its neighbourhood, which he thought of publishing, and engraved the seal, before engraved in Lewis's Seals. He had "Extracts from the Rental of the Royal Manor of Wye, made about 1430, in the hands of Daniel Earl of Winchelsea;" and "Copy of a Survey and Rental of the College, in the possession of Sir Windham Knatchbull, 1739." While resident in College (and in the year 1730) Mr. Pegge was elected a Member of the Zodiac Club, a literary Society, which consisted of twelve members, denominated from the Twelve In the same year, 1730, Mr. Pegge appears in a more public literary body;—among the Members of the Gentlemen's Society at Spalding, in Lincolnshire, to which he contributed some papers which will be noticed below Having taken the degree of A. M. in July 1729, Mr. Pegge was ordained Deacon in December in the same year; and, in the February following, received Priest's orders; both of which were conferred by Dr. William Baker, Bishop of Norwich. It was natural that he should now look to employment in his profession; and, agreeably to his wishes, he was soon retained as Curate to the Rev. Dr. John Lynch (afterwards [1733] Dean of Canterbury), at Sundrich in Kent, on which charge he entered at Lady-day 1730; and in his Principal, as will appear, soon afterwards, very unexpectedly, found a Patron. The Doctor gave Mr. Pegge the choice of three Cures under him—of Sundrich, of a London Living, or the Chaplainship of St. Cross, of which the Doctor was then Master. Mr. Pegge preferred Sundrich, which he held till Dr. Lynch exchanged, that Rectory for Bishopsbourne, and then removed thither at Midsummer 1731. Within a few months after this period, Dr. Lynch, who had married a daughter of Archbishop Wake, obtained for Mr. Pegge, unsolicited, the Vicarage of Godmersham (cum Challock), into which he was inducted Dec. 6, 1731. We have said unsolicited, because, at the moment when the Living was conferred, Mr. Pegge Being now in possession of a Living, and independent property, Mr. Pegge married (April 13, 1732) Miss Anne Clarke, the only daughter of Benjamin, and sister of John Clarke, Esqrs. of Stanley, near Wakefield, in the county of York, by whom he had one Son [Samuel, of whom hereafter], who, after his Mother's death, became eventually heir to his Uncle; and one Daughter, Anna-Katharina, wife of the Rev. John Bourne, M.A. of Spital, near Chesterfield, Rector of Sutton cum Duckmanton, and Vicar of South Winfield, both in Derbyshire; by whom she had two daughters, Elizabeth, who married Robert Jennings, While Mr. Pegge was resident in Kent, where he continued twenty years, he made himself acceptable to every body, by his general knowledge, his agreeable conversation, and his vivacity; for he was received into the familiar acquaintance of the best Gentlemen's Families in East Kent, several of whom he preserved in his correspondence after he quitted the county, till the whole of those of his own standing gave way to fate before him. Having an early propensity to the study of Antiquity among his general researches, and being allowedly an excellent Classical Scholar, he here laid the foundation of what in time became a considerable collection of books, and his little cabinet of Coins grew in proportion; by which two assemblages (so scarce among Country Gentlemen in general) he was qualified to pursue those collateral studies, without neglecting his parochial duties, to which he was always assiduously attentive. The few pieces which Mr. Pegge printed while he lived in Kent will be mentioned hereafter, when we shall enumerate such of his Writings as are most material. These (exclusively of Mr. Urban's obligations to him in the Gentleman's In returning to the order of time, we find that, in July 1746, Mr. Pegge had the great misfortune to lose his Wife; whose monumental inscription, at Godmersham, bears ample testimony of her worth: "MDCCXLVI. This event entirely changed Mr. Pegge's destinations; for he now zealously meditated on some mode of removing himself, without disadvantage, into his Native County. To effect this, one of two points was to be carried; either to obtain some piece of preferment, tenable in its nature with his Kentish Vicarage; or to exchange the We are now come to a new epoch in the Doctor's life; but there is an interval of a few years to be accounted for, before he found an opportunity of effectually removing himself into Derbyshire. His Wife being dead, his Children young and at school, and himself reduced to a life of solitude, so ungenial to his temper (though no man was better qualified to improve his leisure); he found relief by the kind offer of his valuable Friend, Sir Edward Dering, Bart. At this moment Sir Edward chose to place his Son Sir Edward had no opportunity, by any patronage of his own, permanently to gratify Mr. Pegge, and to preserve him in the circle of their common Friends. On the other hand, finding Mr. Pegge's propensity to a removal so very strong, Sir Edward reluctantly pursued every possible measure to effect it. The first vacant living in Derbyshire which offered itself was the Perpetual Curacy of Brampton, near Chesterfield; a situation peculiarly eligible in many respects. It became vacant in 1747; and, if it could have been obtained, would have placed Mr. Pegge in the centre of his early acquaintance in that County; and, being tenable with his Kentish living, would not have totally estranged him from his Friends in the South of England. The patronage of Brampton is in the Dean of Lincoln, which Dignity was then filled by the Rev. Dr. Thomas Cheyney; to whom, Mr. Pegge being a stranger, the application was necessarily to be made in a circuitous manner, and he was obliged to employ more than a double mediation before his name could be mentioned to the Dean. The mode he proposed was through the influence of William the third Duke of Devonshire; to whom Mr. Pegge was personally known as a Derbyshire man (though he had so long resided in Kent), having always paid his respects to his One point now seemed to be gained towards his re-transplantation into his native soil, after he had resisted considerable offers had he continued in Kent; and thus did he think himself virtually in possession of a living in Derbyshire, which in its nature was tenable with Godmersham in Kent. Henceforward, then, he no doubt felt a satisfaction that he should soon be enabled to live in Derbyshire, and occasionally visit his friends in Kent, instead of residing in that county, and visiting his friends in Derbyshire. But, after all this assiduity and anxiety (as if admission and ejection had pursued him a second The ground of this claim, on the part of the Parish, was owing to an ill-judged indulgence of some former Deans of Lincoln, who had occasionally permitted the Parishioners to send an Incumbent directly to the Bishop for his licence, without the intermediate nomination of the Dean in due form. These measures were principally fomented by the son of the last Incumbent, the Rev. Seth Ellis, a man of a reprobate character, and a disgrace to his profession, who wanted the living, and was patronised by the Parish. He had a desperate game to play; for he had not the least chance of obtaining any preferment, as no individual Patron, who was even superficially acquainted with his moral character alone, could with decency advance him in the church. To complete the detail of the fate of this man, whose interest the deluded part of the mal-contents of the parish so warmly espoused, he was soon after Whatever inducements the Parish might have to support Mr. Ellis so strenuously we do not say, though they manifestly did not arise from any pique to one Dean more than to another; and we are decidedly clear that they were not founded in any aversion to Mr. Pegge as an individual; for his character was in all points too well established, and too well known (even to the leading opponents to the Dean), to admit of the least personal dislike in any respect. So great, nevertheless, was the acrimony with which the Parishioners pursued their visionary pretensions to the Patronage, that, not content with the decision of the Jury (which was highly respectable) in favour of the Dean, when the right of Patronage was tried in 1748; they had the audacity to carry the cause to an Assize at Derby, where, on the fullest and most incontestable evidence, a verdict was given in favour of the Dean, to the confusion and indelible disgrace of those Parishioners who espoused The evidence produced by the Parish went to prove, from an entry made nearly half a century before in the accompts kept by the Churchwardens, that the Parishioners, and not the Deans of Lincoln, had hitherto, on a vacancy, nominated a successor to the Bishop of the Diocese for his licence, without the intervention of any other person or party. The Parish accompts were accordingly brought into court at Derby, wherein there appeared not only a palpable erasement, but such an one as was detected by a living and credible witness; for, a Mr. Mower swore that, on a vacancy in the year 1704, an application was made by the Parish to the Dean of Lincoln in favour of the Rev. Mr. Littlewood In corroboration of Mr. Mower's testimony, an article in the Parish accompts and expenditures of that year was adverted to, and which, when Mr. Mower saw it, ran thus: "Paid William Wilcoxon, for going to Lincoln to the Dean concerning Mr. Littlewood, five shillings." The Parishioners had before alleged, in proof Thus their own evidence was turned against the Parishioners; and not a moment's doubt remained but that the patronage rested with the Dean of Lincoln. We have related this affair without a strict adherence to chronological order as to facts, or to collateral circumstances, for the sake of preserving the narrative entire, as far as it regards the contest between the Dean of Lincoln and the Parish of Brampton; for we believe that this transaction (uninteresting as it may be to the publick in general) is one of very few instances on record which has an exact parallel. The intermediate points of the contest, in which Mr. Pegge was more peculiarly concerned, and which did not prominently appear to the world, were interruptions and unpleasant impediments which arose in the course of this tedious process. He had been nominated to the Perpetual Curacy of Brampton by Dr. Cheyney, Dean of Lincoln; was at the sole expence of the suit respecting the right of Patronage, whereby the verdict was given in favour of the Dean; and he was actually In this state matters rested regarding the Patronage of Brampton, when Dr. Cheyney was unexpectedly transferred from the Deanry of Lincoln to the Deanry of Winchester, which (we may observe by the way) he solicited on motives similar to those which actuated Mr. Pegge at the very moment; for Dr. Cheyney, being a Native of Winchester, procured an exchange of his Deanry of Lincoln with the Rev. Dr. William George, Provost of Queen's college, Cambridge, for whom the Deanry of Winchester was intended by the Minister on the part of the Crown. Thus Mr. Pegge's interests and applications were to begin de novo with the Patron of Brampton; for, his nomination by Dr. Cheyney, in the then state of things, was of no validity. He fell, however, into liberal hands; for his activity in the proceedings which had hitherto taken place respecting the living in question had rendered fresh advocates unnecessary, as it had secured the unasked favour of Dr. George, who not long afterwards Though Mr. Pegge had relinquished all farther pretensions to the living of Brampton before the cause came to a decision at Derby, yet he gave every possible assistance at the trial, by the communication of various documents, as well as by his personal evidence at the Assize, to support the claim of the new Nominee, the Rev. John Bowman, in whose favour the verdict was given, and who afterwards enjoyed the benefice. Here then we take leave of this troublesome affair, so nefarious and unwarrantable on the part of the Parishioners of Brampton; and from which Patrons of every description may draw their own inferences. Mr. Pegge's ecclesiastical prospect in Derbyshire began soon to brighten; and he ere long obtained the more eligible living of Whittington. Add to this that, in the course of the dispute We must now revert to Mr. Pegge's old Friend Sir Edward Dering, who, at the moment when Mr. Pegge decidedly took the living of Whittington, in Derbyshire, began to negotiate with his Grace of Canterbury (Dr. Herring), the Patron of Godmersham, for an exchange of that living for something tenable with Whittington. The Archbishop's answer to this application was highly honourable to Mr. Pegge: "Why," said his Grace, "will Mr. Pegge leave my Diocese? If he will continue in Kent, I promise you, Sir Edward, that I will give him preferment to his satisfaction No allurements, however, could prevail; and Mr. Pegge, at all events, accepted the Rectory of In addition to this favour from the Family of Cavendish, Sir Edward Dering obtained for Mr. Pegge, almost at the same moment, a scarf from the Marquis of Hartington (afterwards the fourth Duke of Devonshire), then called up to the House of Peers, in June 1751, by the title of Baron Cavendish of Hardwick. Mr. Pegge's appointment is dated Nov. 18, 1751; and thus, after all his solicitude, he found himself possessed of two livings and a dignity, honourably and indulgently conferred, as well as most desirably connected, in the same year and in the same month; though this latter circumstance may be This was the last favour of the kind which Mr. Pegge individually received from the Dukes of Devonshire; but the Compiler of this little Memoir regarding his late Father, flatters himself that it can give no offence to that Noble Family if he takes the opportunity of testifying a sense of his own personal obligations to William the fourth Duke of Devonshire, when his Grace was Lord Chamberlain of his Majesty's Household. As to Mr. Pegge's other preferments, they shall only be briefly mentioned in chronological order; We have already observed, that Mr. Pegge became known, insensibly as it were, to the Honourable and Right Reverend Frederick (Cornwallis), Bishop of Lichfield, during the contest respecting the living of Brampton; from whom he afterwards received more than one favour, and by whom another greater instance of regard was intended, as will be mentioned hereafter. Mr. Pegge was first collated by his Lordship to the Prebend of Bobenhull, in the Church of Lichfield, in 1757; and was afterwards voluntarily advanced by him to that of Whittington in 1763, which he possessed at his death In addition to the Stall at Lichfield, Mr. Pegge enjoyed the Prebend of Louth, in the Cathedral of Lincoln, to which he had been collated (in 1772) by his old acquaintance, and Fellow-collegian, the late Right Reverend John Green, Bishop of that See This seems to be the proper place to subjoin, that, towards the close of his life, Mr. Pegge declined a situation for which, in more early days, he had the greatest predilection, and had taken every active and modest measure to obtain—a Residentiaryship in the Church of Lichfield. Mr. Pegge's wishes tended to this point on laudable, and almost natural motives, as soon as his interest with the Bishop began to gain strength; for it would have been a very pleasant interchange, at that period of life, to have passed a portion of the year at Lichfield. This expectation, however, could not be brought forward till he was too far advanced in age to endure with tolerable convenience a removal from time to The case was literally this: While Mr. Pegge's elevation in the Church of Lichfield rested solely upon Bishop (Frederick) Cornwallis, it was secure, had a vacancy happened: but his Patron was translated to Canterbury in 1768, and Mr. Pegge had henceforward little more than personal knowledge of any of his Grace's Successors at Lichfield, till the Hon. and Right Reverend James Cornwallis (the Archbishop's Nephew) was consecrated Bishop of that See in 1781. On this occasion, to restore the balance in favour of Mr. Pegge, the Archbishop had the kindness to make an Option of the Residentiaryship at Lichfield, then possessed by the Rev. Thomas Seward. It was, nevertheless, several years before even the tender of this preferment could take place; as his Grace of Canterbury died in 1783, while Mr. Seward was living. Options being personal property, Mr. Pegge's interest, on the demise of the Archbishop, fell into the hands of the Hon. Mrs. Cornwallis, his Relict and Executrix, who fulfilled his Grace's original intention in the most friendly manner, on the death of Mr. Seward, in 1790 The little occasional transactions which primarily brought Mr. Pegge within the notice of Bishop (Frederick) Cornwallis at Eccleshall-castle led his Lordship to indulge him with a greater share of personal esteem than has often fallen to the lot of a private Clergyman so remotely placed from his Diocesan. Mr. Pegge had attended his Lordship two or three times on affairs of business, as one of the Parochial Clergy, after which the Bishop did him the honour to invite him to make an annual visit at Eccleshall-castle as an Acquaintance. The compliance with this overture was not only very flattering, but highly gratifying, to Mr. Pegge, who consequently waited upon his Lordship for a fortnight in the Autumn, during several years, till the Bishop was translated to the Metropolitical See of Canterbury in 1768. After this, however, his Grace did not forget his humble friend, the Rector of About the same time that Mr. Pegge paid these visits at Eccleshall-castle, he adopted an expedient to change the scene, likewise, by a journey to London (between Easter and Whitsuntide); where, for a few years, he was entertained by his old Friend and Fellow-collegian the Rev. Dr. John Taylor, F. S. A. Chancellor of Lincoln, &c. (the learned Editor of Demosthenes and Lysias), then one of the Residentiaries of St. Paul's. After Dr. Taylor's death (1766), the Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. John Green, another old College-acquaintance, became Mr. Pegge's London-host for a few years, till Archbishop Cornwallis began to reside at Lambeth. This event superseded the visits to Bishop Green, as Mr. Pegge soon afterwards received a very friendly invitation from his Grace; to whom, from that time, he annually paid his respects at Lambeth-palace, for a month in the Spring, till the Archbishop's decease, which took place about Easter 1783. All these were delectable visits to a man of Mr. Pegge's turn of mind, whose conversation was adapted to every company, and who enjoyed the world with greater relish from not living in it every day. The society with which he intermixed, in such excursions, changed his ideas, On some of these occasions he passed for a week into Kent, among such of his old Associates as were then living, till the death of his much-honoured Friend, and former Parishioner, the elder Thomas Knight, Esq. of Godmersham, in 1781 With the decease of Archbishop Cornwallis (1783), Mr. Pegge's excursions to London terminated. While on one of these visits at Lambeth, the late Gustavus Brander, Esq. F. S. A. who entertained an uncommon partiality for Mr. Pegge, persuaded him, very much against his inclination, to sit for a Drawing, from which an octavo Print of him might be engraved by Basire. The Work went on so slowly, that the Plate was not finished till 1785, when Mr. Pegge's current age was 81. Being a private Print, it was at first only intended for, and distributed among, the particular Friends of Mr. Brander and Mr. Pegge. This Print, however, now carries with it something of a publication; for a considerable number of the impressions were dispersed after Mr. Brander's death, when his Library, &c. were sold by auction; and the Print is often found prefixed to copies of "The Forme of Cury," a work which will hereafter be specified among Mr. Pegge's literary labours The remainder of Mr. Pegge's life after the year 1783 was, in a great measure, reduced to a state of quietude; but not without an extensive correspondence with the world in the line of Antiquarian researches: for he afterwards contributed largely to the ArchÆologia, and the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, &c. &c. as may appear to those who will take the trouble to compare the dates of his Writings, which will hereafter be enumerated, with the time of which we are speaking. The only periodical variation in life, which attended Mr. Pegge after the Archbishop's death, consisted of Summer visits at Eccleshall-castle to the present Bishop (James) Cornwallis, who (if We have already seen an instance of his Lordship's kindness in the case of the intended Residentiaryship; and have, moreover, good reasons to believe that, had the late Archdeacon of Derby (Dr. Henry Egerton) died at an earlier stage of Mr. Pegge's life, he would have succeeded to that dignity. This part of the Memoir ought not to be dismissed without observing, to the honour of Mr. Pegge, that, as it was not in his power to make any individual return (in his life-time) to his Patrons, the two Bishops of Lichfield of the name of Cornwallis, for their extended civilities, he directed, by testamentary instructions, that one hundred volumes out of his Collection of Books should be given to the Library of the Cathedral of Lichfield During Mr. Pegge's involuntary retreat from his former associations with the more remote parts of the Kingdom, he was actively awake to such objects in which he was implicated nearer home. Early in the year 1788 material repairs and considerable alterations became necessary to the This year (1788), memorable as a Centenary in the annals of England, was honourable to the little Parish of Whittington, which accidentally bore a subordinate local part in the History of the Revolution; for it was to an inconsiderable public-house there (still called the Revolution-house) that the Earl of Devonshire, the Earl of Danby, the Lord Delamere, and the Hon. John D'Arcy, were driven for shelter, by a sudden shower of rain, from the adjoining common (Whittington-Moor), where they had met by appointment, disguised as farmers, to concert measures, unobservedly, for promoting the succession of The celebration of this Jubilee, on Nov. 5, 1788, is related at large in the Gentleman's Magazine of that month In the year 1791 (July 8) Mr. Pegge was created D. C. L. by the University of Oxford, at the Commemoration. It may be thought a little extraordinary that he should accept an advanced Academical Degree so late in life, as he wanted no such aggrandizement in the Learned World, or among his usual Associates, and had voluntarily closed all his expectations of ecclesiastical Dr. Pegge's manners were those of a gentleman of a liberal education, who had seen much of the world, and had formed them upon the best models within his observation. Having in his early years lived in free intercourse with many of the principal and best-bred Gentry in various parts of Kent; he ever afterwards preserved the same attentions, by associating with respectable company, and (as we have seen) by forming honourable attachments. In his avocations from reading and retirement, few men could relax with more ease and cheerfulness, or better understood the desipere in loco;—could As he did not mix in business of a public nature, his better qualities appeared most conspicuously in private circles; for he possessed an equanimity which obtained the esteem of his Friends, and an affability which procured the respect of his dependents. His habits of life were such as became his profession and station. In his clerical functions he was exemplarily correct, not entrusting his parochial duties at Whittington (where he constantly resided) to another (except to the neighbouring Clergy during the excursions before-mentioned) till the failure of his eye-sight rendered it indispensably necessary; and even that did not happen till within a few years of his death. As a Preacher, his Discourses from the pulpit were of the didactic and exhortatory kind, appealing to the understandings rather than to the passions of his Auditory, by expounding the Holy Scriptures in a plain, intelligible, and unaffected manner. His voice was naturally weak, and suited only to a small Church; so that when he occasionally appeared before a large Congregation (as on Visitations, &c.), he was heard to a disadvantage. He left in his closet considerably more Though Dr. Pegge's life was sedentary, from his turn to studious retirement, his love of Antiquities, and of literary acquirements in general; yet these applications, which he pursued with, great ardour and perseverance, did not injure his health. Vigour of mind, in proportion to his bodily strength, continued unimpaired through a very extended course of life, and nearly till he had reached "ultima linea rerum:" for he never had any chronical disease; but gradually and gently sunk into the grave under the weight of years, after a fortnight's illness, Feb. 14, 1796, in the 92d year of his age. He was buried, according to his own desire, in the chancel at Whittington, where a mural tablet of black marble (a voluntary tribute of filial respect) has been placed, over the East window with the following short inscription: "At the North End of the Altar Table, within the Rails, Having closed the scene; it must be confessed, on the one hand, that the biographical history of an individual, however learned, or engaging to private friends, who had passed the major part of his days in secluded retreats from what is called the world, can afford but little entertainment to the generality of Readers. On the other hand, nevertheless, let it be allowed that every man of acknowledged literary merit, had he made no other impression, cannot but have left many to regret his death. Though Dr. Pegge had exceeded even his "fourscore years and ten," and had outlived all his more early friends and acquaintance; he had the address to make new ones, who now survive, and who, it is humbly hoped, will not be sorry to see a modest remembrance of him preserved by this little Memoir. Though Dr. Pegge had an early propensity to the pursuit of Antiquarian knowledge, he never indulged himself materially in it, so long as more essential and professional occupations had a claim upon him; for he had a due sense of the nature During the early part of his incumbency at Godmersham in Kent, his reading was principally such as became a Divine, or which tended to the acquisition of general knowledge, of which he possessed a greater share than most men we ever knew. When he obtained allowable leisure to follow unprofessional pursuits, he attached himself more closely to the study of Antiquities; and was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, Feb. 14, 1751, N. S. in which year the Charter of Incorporation was granted (in November), wherein his name stands enrolled among those of many very respectable and eminently learned men Though we will be candid enough to allow that Dr. Pegge's style in general was not sufficiently terse and compact to be called elegant; yet he made ample amends by the matter, and by the accuracy with which he treated every copious subject, wherein all points were matured by close examination and sound judgment and a fund of knowledge, more than would have displayed itself in any greater work, where the subject requires but one bias, and one peculiar attention It is but justice to say, that few men were so liberal in the diffusion of the knowledge which he had acquired, or more ready to communicate it, either viv voce, or by the loan of his MSS. as many of his living Friends can testify. In his publications he was also equally disinterested as in his private communications; for he never, as far as can be recollected, received any pecuniary advantage from any pieces that he printed, committing them all to the press, with the sole reserve of a few copies to distribute among his particular Friends In the following Catalogue we must be allowed to deviate from chronological order, for the sake The greatest honour, which a literary man can obtain, is the eulogies of those who possessed Whittington Church, Derbyshire. Gent. Mag. Supp. 1809. Pl. II, p. 1201. Schnebbelie del. 1789. |