tion in

ford.

for a time.

VICESIMUS KNOX, LL.B.

1771-1778

HE Rev. Vicesimus Knox followed Mr. Towers as Head

THE

Master in 1771. His father was a London merchant, His educa- and he himself was educated in London, at the Merchant London, Taylors' School. He then went to St. John's College, and at Ox- Oxford, and took a fellowship there connected with his School. From Oxford he returned to the Merchant Taylors' He resided School as Second Master, and whilst in London for some in London time aided Dr. John Jortin as morning preacher at St. Dunstan's in the East. He was only seven years at Tonbridge, as he was compelled to retire in 1778 from ill-health, and in 1780 he died at Penshurst, where, on his resigning his post at the School, he had taken up his residence. During these years there was an average of about eight boarders in the school-house, but the numbers of the whole School then are not known.

1 Foss's Lives of the Judges, from which this is taken literatim.

Anthony

career.

1754, and was at Tonbridge under the first Dr. Vicesimus Knox. His education in England was with a view to Sir being called to the bar, and in 1781 he became an Equity Hart's barrister. For forty-six years he incessantly worked, gaining a great acquaintance with law and a large practice. His characteristic was a remarkable clearness in his statements, together with an unostentatious fluency that won for him general admiration and respect. In 1827 he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of England and in the next year he succeeded Lord Manners as Lord Chancellor of Ireland. A joke of Lord Norbury's on the occasion is told by Foss in his Lives of the Judges of England, "that the Government had treated the Irish with their wonted injustice;deprived them of what they needed, and given them what they already possessed,-taken away Manners, and gave them Heart." The esteem shown for him on his removal in 1830 was manifested in an affecting scene at his departure. His death happened in December, 1831.

His birth

tion.

VIC

VICESIMUS KNOX, D.D.

1778-1812

ICESIMUS KNOX, D.D.', was born on the 8th of December, 1752, and was the only son of the Rev. Vicesimus Knox, LL.B., a Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford; afterwards a Master of Merchant Taylors' School; and lastly, Head Master of Tonbridge School. His father And educa- educated him privately at home until the age of fourteen, when, in consequence of his urgent entreaties to be placed at a public school, he entered Merchant Taylors' in a high class, under the Rev. James Townley. This gentleman. possessed great urbanity, which recommended him to the friendship of Garrick. Although not a profound scholar, yet he was distinguished by a refined literary taste, which he was remarkably successful in imparting among his pupils.

This life is taken, nearly word for word, from a biographical preface, written by his son Dr. Thomas Knox, to the Works of Vicesimus Knox, D.D., 7 vols. 8vo, 1824. Vide also Biographical Dic

tionary of Living Authors, 1816. Public Characters of 1803-4, London, 1804. Rose's Biographical Dictionary, 1857. Cate's Dictionary of General Biography, 1867.