COVE, MORGAN (1753?–1830), divine, was born in or about 1753. He received his academical education at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he was admitted sizar on 7 Nov. 1768, scholar on 15 Jan. 1770, fellow-commoner on 26 Nov. 1775, and proceeded LL.B. in 1776 (College Admission Book). He was incorporated of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, on 19 Jan. 1810, and became a grand compounder for the degree of D.C.L. on 1 Feb. following. In 1795, when residing at Helston, Cornwall, he published anonymously an ‘Essay on the Revenues of the Church of England, with an Inquiry into the … Abolition or Commutation of Tithes’ (second edition, with author's name, 1797; third edition, 1816), wherein he showed himself a vigorous apologist for the existing arrangements in the revenues of the church. The pamphlet attracted much attention, and in the year of its publication the author was collated to the vicarage of Sithney, Cornwall, by Dr. Buller, the then bishop of Exeter. Four years later, in 1799, he was presented to the rectory of Eaton-Bishop, Herefordshire, by Bishop Butler, who also gave him on 12 April 1800 the prebend of Withington Parva, and on 23 March 1801 translated him to the prebend of Gorwall and Overbury in Hereford Cathedral. On 1 Oct. 1828 he was appointed chancellor of the choir, an office he continued to hold until his death, which occurred at Hereford on 9 April 1830 at the age of seventy-seven. Besides the above-mentioned work Cove published ‘An Inquiry into the Necessity, Justice, and Policy of a Commutation of Tithes,’ 8vo, London, Hereford [printed], 1800. Both pamphlets, ‘corrected and greatly enlarged,’ were reissued in one volume in 1817.
[Gent. Mag. c. i. 648; Le Neve's Fasti (Hardy), i. 494, 507, 533.]
COVEL, COVELL, or COLVILL, JOHN (1638–1722), master of Christ's College, Cambridge, son of William Covel, was born at Horningsheath, Suffolk, on 2 April 1638 (Add. MS. 22914, ff. 27, 68). After receiving his early education at the grammar school, Bury St. Edmunds, he was admitted a member of Christ's College, Cambridge, on 31 March 1654, being then in his sixteenth year. He graduated B.A. in 1658, and M.A. in 1661, and was elected a fellow of his college. Cole, on the authority of H. Wanley, says that before he took orders he studied physic, and throughout his life he retained a strong taste for natural science, and especially for botany. On 17 March 1669–70 he was elected chaplain to the Levant Company, and in that capacity served Sir Daniel Harvey and his successor Sir John Finch, ambassadors to the Porte. He went to Deal, intending to start on 3 Sept. 1670, but, being delayed by contrary winds, did not leave until the 21st, and reached Constantinople before the end of the year. He resigned his engagement with the company on 23 May 1676 (Pearson). On 16 Feb. 1676–7 he took a journey to Nicomedia and Nicæa. He finally left Constantinople on 2 April 1677, and, having gone by water to Venice, made a tour through the Italian cities, and appears to have reached London on 20 Jan. 1679. His manuscript journals of his travels are illustrated with representations of buildings and various natural objects, drawn with considerable spirit, with maps, plans, and inscriptions. During his stay at Constantinople much interest was taken both in England and in France in the doctrines and practices of the Eastern church, and before he left he was requested by Gunning, Pearson, and Sancroft, all three afterwards bishops, to investigate the question then in debate between Dr. Arnauld of the Sorbonne, and M. Claude, minister of Charenton, as to whether the Greeks held transubstantiation. Covel accordingly turned his attention to that subject, as well as to scientific pursuits, which seemed to be more natural to him, and had many discussions on it with the French ambassador. He collected several books and some few manuscripts, and intended to write a treatise on the Eastern church shortly after he came back, but it was long before he did so. He also took great interest in botany, and sent home some rare plants. His manuscripts contain a few attempts at poetry; one in praise of Mistress Hester H., written in 1666, has a tune written to it. On his return to England he resided at his college. His travels brought him some fame (Evelyn, Diary, ii. 338), and in 1679 he was the Lady Margaret preacher at the university. The same year also he was made D.D. by royal warrant. On 5 March of the next year he was instituted to the sinecure rectory of Littlebury, Essex, on the presentation of Gunning, bishop of Ely, and on 31 Oct. 1681 to the rectory of Kegworth, Leicestershire, a living in the gift of his college (Nichols, Leicestershire, iii. 856). In this year also he was appointed to succeed Ken as chaplain to the Princess of Orange, and accordingly left England to reside at the Hague. In October 1685 the Prince of Orange intercepted a letter Covel wrote to Skelton, the English ambassador, giving an account of William's tyrannical behaviour towards his wife, and he was dismissed and sent back to England at three hours' notice (Strickland; Sidney, Diary). Covel would never speak of the cause of his dismissal,
