duty, and this sinecure he afterwards exchanged for a stall in the cathedral of Ely. In 1781 he became archdeacon of the diocese of Ely and rector of Northwold, while the rectory of Knaptoft, Leicester, was given him the following year. Through the influence of the duke of Rutland he was elevated to the see of Llandaff in 1782, and the pluralist kept at the same time his other preferments. On his elevation he addressed a public "Letter to Archbishop Cornwallis on the Church Revenues," in which he advocates equal endowments to the various bishoprics. In 1785 he published his well-known "Theological Tracts," in six volumes, octavo—a collection of excellent pieces on various theological questions by such men as Locke, Lardner, Allix, Benson, Samuel Clarke, Addison, West, and others. Bishop Watson remained in the see of Llandaff. He had spoken in the house of lords against Pitt on the regency question, but the king's sudden recovery buried all hope of preferment. He had early taken a prominent part in politics, and his sermon entitled the "Principles of the Revolution Vindicated," created a great sensation. In 1798 he published "An Address to the People of Great Britain, warning them of the danger which the French Revolution taught them;" and in 1803 he published "The Substance of a Speech intended to have been spoken in the House of Lords, November 22." This pamphlet was severely handled by Lord Brougham in the Edinburgh Review, January, 1804. Bishop Watson spent the last part of his life at Calgarth Park, a beautiful seat which he took pleasure in ornamenting with trees. He died July 4, 1816. His works best known now are his "Apology for Christianity," in reply to Gibbon; and "Apology for the Bible," in reply to Paine. His chemical Essays have been published in five volumes, octavo, and an autobiography revised by himself in 1814, was published after his death by his son. His self-history shows the bishop's weak side in his pride and chagrin under several disappointments, and reveals at the same time his honesty of purpose and general adherence to his convictions. His orthodoxy was more than suspected. It may be added that in 1786 one of his pupils at Cambridge, Mr. Luther, left him an estate worth £24,000.—J. E.
WATSON, Richard, an eminent Wesleyan divine, was born at Barton-upon-Humber in Lincolnshire, on the 22nd February, 1781. He was the seventh of a family of eighteen children by the same mother, all of whom, however, with the exception of himself and three sisters, who survived him, died in infancy. His father, the son of a respectable farmer, had been bred to the business of a saddler, and appears to have been in comparatively humble circumstances. At fourteen years of age Richard was taken from school and apprenticed to a joiner. His conversion, however, which he attributed to a sermon preached by a Wesleyan minister of the name of Sargent, and which happened soon after his entering on his apprenticeship, changed the whole manner and purpose of his life. He became deeply serious, and immediately began to supplement in his leisure hours the meagre instruction he had received at school. He was only fifteen when he preached his first sermon; and his master having generously freed him from his apprenticeship, he now resolved to devote himself to the christian ministry. He was accordingly taken into full connection with the Wesleyan conference, and appointed to one of the "circuits;" but some unkind treatment which he received in consequence of his being suspected of heterodoxy, induced him ere long to resign his ministry and return to a secular employment. He did not, however, meet with much success in the business he adventured upon, and the upbraidings of his conscience for having forsaken his sacred calling became so powerful as no longer to be overborne. His whole desire was to be once more a minister of the gospel; and following what he conceived to be the leading of Providence, he sought admission (1803) to the religious denomination known by the name of the Methodist New Connexion. From this body of Methodists, however, he retired in 1811, partly on account of delicate health and partly also on account of his dissatisfaction with the discipline of the sect. After his retirement he took up his residence in Liverpool, and was in a short while received back into the Wesleyan communion. Our space will not allow us to follow him from circuit to circuit; suffice it to say, that he was one of the most devoted and accomplished clergymen of his time, and that he died, worn out with his incessant and extraordinary labours, on the 8th of January, 1833. Richard Watson, though his connection with the Methodists has kept his name in comparative obscurity, was in reality a very remarkable man. Born in humble circumstances, and possessed in his youth of no advantages whatever on the side of learning, he yet rose by his own unaided industry and genius to be worthy of a place beside Chalmers, Hall, and the other great preachers and divines of that age. He is commonly reckoned the greatest theologian the Methodists have yet produced; and as a preacher he had no equal in his own day in the "connexion," and very few out of it. His principal works are "Theological Institutes; or a View of the Evidences, Doctrines, Morals, and Institutions of Christianity," 3 vols.; "Biblical and Theological Dictionary;" "Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark;" "Conversations for the Young;" "Defence of the Wesleyan Missions in the West Indies;" "Life of the Rev. John Wesley;" "The Universal Redemption of Mankind, the Doctrine of the New Testament;" and "Observations on Southey's Life of Wesley." A copy of this book fell into the hands of the prince-regent shortly after its publication, and is said to have elicited the remark that "Mr. Watson has the advantage over my poet-laureate." Besides the abovementioned works, some eleven or twelve volumes of his sermons and sketches of sermons have been given to the world.—R. M., A.
WATSON, Robert, LL.D., a Scottish historian, was born at St. Andrews about the year 1730. He was educated partly at the university of his native place, and partly at Glasgow and Edinburgh; and having prosecuted the study of English literature and rhetoric, he delivered a course of lectures in Edinburgh on these subjects, to an audience comprising a large number of the eminent philosophers and men of letters who at that period adorned the Scottish capital. Shortly after, he was appointed to the chair of logic in St. Salvator's college, St. Andrews, and was at the same time, by a patent from the crown, constituted professor of rhetoric and belles lettres. He conducted the business of his class on a new and greatly improved system, and seems to have been an able and efficient teacher. The great success achieved at this period by Robertson and Hume, appears to have given a powerful stimulus to historical composition; and Dr. Watson was induced, partly by the example of his distinguished countrymen, and partly by his own tastes, to undertake a "History of the Reign of Philip II. of Spain," as a continuation of Robertson's History of Charles V. The work was published in 1777, in two vols., 4to; and though greatly inferior both in style and thought to the narrative of his eminent predecessor, it seems to have been well received by the public. In the same year Dr. Watson was appointed by the crown to succeed Principal Tullidelph, both in his office of head of the United college, and in the church and parish of St. Leonards. Two years later he entertained Dr. Samuel Johnson and Boswell on their visit to St. Andrews, and evidently produced a favourable impression on his distinguished visitors. Boswell says—"We found Dr. Watson a well-informed man, of very amiable manners." Dr. Johnson, after they were acquainted, said—"I take great delight in him." Dr. Watson died March 31, 1781. He left in MS. the first four books of a "History of the Reign of Philip III."—a continuation of his previous work, which was completed by Dr. William Thomson, who added two books to the history, and published it in 1783, in one vol., 4to. Editions of both works were subsequently published in 8vo.—J. T.
WATSON, Thomas, a Roman catholic prelate of the English church in the reign of Queen Mary, was educated at St. John's college, Cambridge, of which he became master in 1553. In April, 1554, he was made bishop of Lincoln, and retained possession of his see until the accession of Elizabeth, when, as he refused to acknowledge her supremacy, he was imprisoned at Wisbeach castle along with several others, and died there in 1582. He was the author of "Two Sermons before Queen Mary on the real presence and sacrifice of the Mass;" "Thirty Sermons on the Seven Sacraments," &c. Watson was one of those appointed to try Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer at Oxford.—F.
WATSON, Thomas, an eminent nonconformist divine of the period of the Commonwealth, was educated at Emanuel college, Cambridge, and became rector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, whence he was ejected for nonconformity at the Restoration. He opposed the execution of Charles I. by remonstrating with Cromwell, and was imprisoned in the Tower for engaging in Love's plot to restore Charles II. After his ejectment from Walbrook he preached wherever he could until 1672, when he became minister of a congregation assembling at Crosby hall, Bishopsgate Street. He was the author of several works, among the chief of which were his "Body of Divinity," consisting of a
