1782, and educated at Oswestry School, Shrewsbury School, and Christ Church, Oxford (B.A. 1804, M.A. 1807). He was called to the bar on 12 June 1807 at the Middle Temple. During his residence in London he acted for some time as dramatic critic to a morning paper. On the death of his father in 1808 he became possessed of the family estate, and spent the remainder of his life in literary retirement and rural pursuits. He died on 8 Aug. 1854. Dovaston was a man of wide culture, and an ardent naturalist. Among his friends were Thomas Bewick, the engraver, of whose life and character he communicated sketches to the magazines, and John Hamilton Reynolds. Bewick published an engraved portrait of him. Dovaston's publications were chiefly poetic, and of a very unambitious character. ‘Fitz-Gwarine, a ballad of the Welsh border, in three cantos, with other Rhymes, legendary, incidental, and humorous,’ was issued at Shrewsbury in 1812, and is an evident imitation of ‘Marmion.’ A second edition appeared in 1816 with numerous additions, and a third in 1825. The third edition contained, among other additions, a collection of songs entitled ‘British Melodies.’ Twenty-six of these were originally published in 1817, under the patronage of the Princess Charlotte of Wales, with the music by Clementi, in two volumes, under the title of ‘A Selection of British Melodies, with Symphonies, Harmonies, and Accompaniments by Mr. Clifton.’ ‘Floribella,’ a poem, followed, and ‘Lectures on Natural History and National Melody’ appeared in 1839. ‘The Dove’ (1822) was a selection of old poems made by Dovaston, which were originally published in the ‘Oswestry Herald.’
[Gent. Mag. 1854, xlii. 395.]
DOVE, HENRY (1640–1695), archdeacon of Richmond, son of a clergyman, was born in 1640, and elected from Westminster to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1658. He graduated B.A. in 1661, M.A. in 1665, was incorporated M.A. at Oxford 6 May 1669, and proceeded D.D. in 1677. A specimen of his Latin elegiacs will be found in the ‘Threni Cantabrigienses in Funere duorum Principum, Henrici Glocestrensis & Mariæ Arausionensis,’ 4to, Cambridge, 1661. On 12 Jan. 1672–3 he became vicar of St. Bride's, Fleet Street, and was collated to the archdeaconry of Richmond, 3 Dec. 1678. He was also chaplain successively to Charles II, James II, and William and Mary. In 1683 Pearson, bishop of Chester, whose nephew and chaplain he was, recommended him to the king for the mastership of Trinity College, Cambridge. An able preacher, he published several single sermons, among which may be mentioned: 1. ‘A Sermon [on Psalm lxiv. 9–10] preached before the House of Commons … Nov. 5, 1680,’ 4to, London, 1680. 2. ‘A Sermon [on Titus iii. l] preached at Bow Church on the Feast of S. Michael, the day for the election of a Lord Mayor,’ 4to, London, 1682. This immediately evoked ‘A Modest Answer’ from some sturdy high churchman, who roundly takes Dove to task for asserting (p. 14) that ‘there is no such phrase throughout the Bible as liberty of conscience,’ and that ‘the government has a right to tye the consciences of men by the firmest bonds it can’ (p. 23). 3. ‘A Sermon [on Jude iii.] preached at the anniversary meeting of the Sons of Clergy-men … Dec. 2, 1686,’ 4to, London, 1687. 4. ‘A Sermon [on Psalm xviii. 23] preached before the Queen at Whitehall,’ 4to, London, 1691. Evelyn twice alludes to his preaching (Diary, ed. 1850–2, ii. 135, 203). Dove died on 11 March 1694–5. His will, signed only the day before, was proved on the following 1 April (registered in P. C. C. 46, Irby). He was twice married. By his first wife, who brought him copyhold lands, situate in Sutton Bourne, Lincolnshire, he left a daughter Susan. His second wife, Rebecca Holworthy, is described in the marriage license, bearing date 2 July 1680, as ‘of St. Margaret, Westminster, spinster, aged 23’ (Chester, London Marriage Licenses, ed. Foster, p. 414). She survived him.
[Welch's Alumni Westmon. 1852, pp. 149, 150; Wood's Fasti Oxon. (Bliss), ii. 310; Newcourt's Repertorium, i. 317; Le Neve's Fasti (Hardy), iii. 267; Ormerod's Cheshire, i. 90; Luttrell's Relation of State Affairs, 1857, i. 205–207, 225, iii. 450.]
DOVE, JOHN, D.D. (1561–1618), ‘a Surrey man, born of plebeian parents,’ was a scholar of St. Peter's College, Westminster, whence he was elected to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1580. He proceeded B.A. in 1583, M.A. 1586, B.D. 1593, and D.D. 1596. In 1596 he was presented to the rectory of Tidworth, Wiltshire, by Lord-chancellor Egerton, to whom he dedicates a sermon preached at St. Paul's Cross, 6 Feb. 1596. ‘Myself,’ he says, ‘among many other of both the universities, had set my heart at rest, as one resolved to die within the precinctes of the colledge, like a monke shut up in his cell, or an heremite mured up within the compasse of a wall, without hope of ever being called to any ecclesiastical preferment in this corrupt and simoniacall age, had I not been by your honour preferred.’ At the same time he obtained the rectory of St. Mary, Aldermary,
