the old dame who taught him to read; the other has done the same for
their common preceptor, but with less ability and less kindness, in his
Edgehill, where he terms him "Pedagogue morose."

At the usual time he was admitted a servitor of University College,
Oxford. His humble station in the University, though it did not break
off his intimacy with Shenstone, must have hindered them from
associating openly together.

In 1738, he took the degree of Master of Arts, having been first
ordained to the curacy of Snitterfield, a village near the benefice of
his father, who died two years after. Soon after that event, he married
Dorothea Susannah, daughter of John Fancourt, Rector of Kimcote, in
Leicestershire. In 1746, he was instituted to Harbury, where he resided;
and about the same time was presented, by Lord Willoughby de Broke, to
Chesterton, which lay at a short distance; both livings together
amounting to about 100_l._ a year. In 1754, Lord Clare, afterwards Earl
Nugent, obtained for him, from Dr. Madox, Bishop of Worcester, the
vicarage of Snitterfield, worth about 140_l._ After having inserted some
small poems in Dodsley's Collection, he published (in 1767) Edgehill,
for which he obtained a large subscription; and in the following year,
the fable of Labour and Genius. In 1771, his kind patron, Lord
Willoughby de Broke, added to his other preferment the rectory of
Kimcote, worth nearly 300_l._ in consequence of which he resigned
Harbury.

His first wife died in 1751, leaving him seven children. He had known
her from childhood. The attention paid her by Shenstone shews her to
have been an amiable woman. In eight years after, he married Margaret,
daughter of James Underwood, Esq. of Rugeley, in Staffordshire, who