GOUGH, STEPHEN, D.D. [See Goffe.]
GOUGH, STRICKLAND (fl. 1730-1751), controversial writer, son of Strickland and Elizabeth Gough, was born at Bristol. Strickland Gough (d. 1718?), the father, assistant presbyterian minister at Lewin's Mead, Bristol, from 1699, was dismissed in 1708. He was immediately elected colleague to John Catcott in the Tucker Street presbyterian congregation, Bristol. He died about 1718. He published:
- ‘Sermons on Effectual Calling,’ &c., 1709, 8vo.
- ‘A Discourse Occasion'd by the Small-Pox,’ &c. (not seen); also ordination (Joseph Denham, 1713), accession (1714), and thanksgiving (1715) sermons, and a sermon (1717) on the rebellion, dedicated to Sir Robert and Lady Thornhill in return for their ‘many favours.’
The younger Strickland Gough was educated (apparently in London) for the presbyterian ministry. He became a preacher in London, but was probably not ordained, and held no charge. In 1730 he published anonymously an ‘enquiry’ into the causes of the decline of dissent, which attracted much attention, and was answered by Philip Doddridge [q. v.] As a layman Gough criticises the dissenting ministry on two grounds: they humour the prejudices of their people, and ‘they worship God for twenty minutes and dictate to men for sixty.’ The dissenters, he complains, are ignorant of their own principles, and hence discourage free inquiry. At the same time he inveighs against the terms of admission to the established church. Shortly after this publication he conformed. Gough obtained the degree of M.A., and became rector of Swayfield and vicar of Swinstead, Lincolnshire. He seems to have been non-resident, as his name does not appear in the registers. He died 13 Dec. 1752.
He published:
- ‘An Enquiry into the Causes of the Decay of the Dissenting Interest,’ &c., 1730, 8vo (anon.)
- ‘A Critical Disputation,’ &c., 1742, 8vo (on 1 Cor. xi. 10).
- ‘A Protestant Catechism,’ &c., 1746, 8vo.
- ‘A Discussion of … Questions between Papists and Protestants,’ &c., 1747, 8vo, 1751, 8vo.
- ‘Sixteen Sermons,’ &c., 1751, 8vo (appended is a reissue of No. 2). Also separate sermons in 1733 and 1745.
[Calamy's Own Life, 1830, ii. 504; Murch's Hist. Presb. and Gen. Bapt. Churches in West of Engl. 1835, pp. 102, 106 sq.; Evans's List (see James's Lists and Classifications of Presb. and Indep. Ministers, 1866, p. 32); Wilson's Manuscripts in Dr. Williams's Library; information from the Revs. R. Cooper, Swayfield, and B. G. Jarrett, Swinstead.]
GOUGH, THOMAS (1591–1629), divine and poet. [See Goffe.]
GOUGH, WILLIAM (d. 1679?), regicide. [See Goffe.]
GOUGH, WILLIAM (1654?–1682), antiquary, son of William Gough, incumbent of Earl Stoke, Wiltshire, was born at Earl Stoke about 1654, and became a sojourner of Exeter College, Oxford, in Michaelmas term, 1671; but on Marsh, his tutor, becoming principal of St. Alban Hall in 1673, he removed to that house, and took his B.A. degree, 10 June 1675 (Wood, Fasti Oxon., ed. Bliss, ii. 347). On leaving the university he repaired to London, ‘where,’ says Wood, ‘he sided with the whiggish party upon the breaking out of the Popish plot, an. 1678, [and] industriously carried on the cause then driven on’ (Athenæ Oxon., ed. Bliss, iv. 61). He died of smallpox in November 1682, and was buried in the church of St. Dunstan in the West, Fleet Street. He wrote ‘Londinum Triumphans; or, an Historical Account of the grand Influence the Actions of the City of London have had upon the Affairs of the Nation for many Ages past,’ 8vo, London, 1682.
[Authorities as above.]
GOUGHE or GOFFE, ROBERT (d. 1624), one of the actors in Shakespeare's plays, appears twenty-third in the list of actors' names prefixed to the 1623 folio. In 1581 he took the female character of Aspatia in ‘Sardanapalus,’ a portion of a piece by Tarlton called ‘The Seconde Parte of the Seven Deadlie Sinns,’ of which ‘The Platt,’ all that survives, is among the manuscripts (No. xix.) at Dulwich College, and is printed in Steevens's additions to Malone's ‘Historical Account,’ and in Collier's ‘English Dramatic Poetry.’ In 1603 he had from Thomas Pope, whom Malone assumes to have probably been his master, a legacy of half of the testator's wearing apparel and arms. In 1611 he played the Usurping Tyrant in the ‘Second Maiden's Tragedy.’ He married on 13 Feb. 1602 Elizabeth Phillips, the sister of Augustine Phillips, the actor, who received from her brother a testamentary bequest of 10l. ‘of lawfull money of England.’ Under the name Robert Goffe, Goughe is a witness to Phillips's will, which is dated 4 May 1605. He resided in Southwark; was living in Hill's Rents in 1604, in Samson's Rents in 1605–6, and in
