Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Harbin, George

482622Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 24 — Harbin, George1890James McMullen Rigg

HARBIN, GEORGE (fl. 1713), nonjuring divine, graduated B.A. at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1686, took holy orders, and became chaplain to Francis Turner [q. v.], bishop of Ely, whose example he followed at the revolution by refusing to take the oaths. After Turner's death he became chaplain and librarian to Viscount Weymouth. He was an intimate friend of Bishop Ken, and the author of the following works: 1. 'The English Constitution fully stated, with some Animadversions on Mr. Higden's Mistakes about it. In a Letter to a Friend,' London, 1710, 8vo. 2. 'The Hereditary Right of the Crown of England Asserted: The History of the Succession since the Conquest Clear'd: And the True English Constitution Vindicated from the Misrepresentations of Dr. Higden's "View and Defence,"' &c., London, 1713, fol., wrongly attributed to Hilkiah Bedford [q. v.] Harbin also wrote an epitaph on Sir Isaac Newton, and assisted Michael Maittaire [q. v.] in his 'Commentary on the Oxford Marbles' (1732). Two letters written by Harbin to Arthur Charlett [q. v.] on various literary subjects are preserved in the Bodleian Library (Tanner MSS. 24, f. 33, and 25, f. 287).

[Grad. Cant.; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. i. 167-8, 202; Lathbury's Hist. of the Nonjurors, pp. 233-4; Plumptre's Life of Ken; Hickes's Memoirs of John Kettlewell, App. xviii.; Birch's Life of Tillotson, ed. 1753, p. 317; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. i. 489; Hist. MSS. Comm. 5th Rep. App. 319, 320.]

J. M. R.