Zachary Pearce

Infobox Bishop
honorific-prefix =
name = Zachary Pearce
honorific-suffix =
bishop_of = Bishop of Rochester


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enthroned = 1756
ended = 1774
predecessor = Joseph Wilcocks
successor = John Thomas
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other_post = Bishop of Bangor, Dean of Westminster
birth_name =
birth_date = 1690
birthplace =
death_date = 1774
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nationality = English
religion = Church of England
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alma_mater = Trinity College, Cambridge

Zachary Pearce [Sometimes known as Zachariah.] (1690-1774) was an English bishop of Bangor and bishop of Rochester. He was a controversialist, and a notable early critical writer defending John Milton [Christopher Ricks, "Milton's Grand Style", p. 9.] , attacking the Richard Bentley 1732 edition of "Paradise Lost" the following year.

Life

Born 1690-09-08 in the parish of St Giles, High Holborn. He first attended Great Ealing School. [cite journal
last =Hole
first = Robert
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Pearce, Zachary (1690–1774)
journal = Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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date = 2004
url = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/21693
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accessdate =2008-06-04 ] He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1713/4 David McKitterick (1998), A History of Cambridge University Press, p. 162.] . He dedicated an edition of the "de oratore" of Cicero to Thomas Parker. Parker became his patron. He was Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge 1716-1720"Concise Dictionary of National Biography"] . Towards the end of Isaac Newton's life, Pearce assisted him on chronology [ [http://www.shugborough.org.uk/AcademyThomasAnsonNew-187 Academy Thomas Anson New ] ] .

He became vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, in 1726 [ [http://westminster.lovesguide.com/martin_fields.htm St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square ] ] . He was Dean of Winchester in 1739, bishop of Bangor in 1748, and bishop of Rochester in 1756. In 1761 he turned down the position of bishop of London. He was Dean of Westminster 1756-1768.

There is a monument to him in the parish church at Bromley [ [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45479#n22 Bromley | British History Online ] ] .

Works

"The Miracles of Jesus Vindicated" (1729) was written against Thomas Woolston. "A Reply to the Letter to Dr. Waterland" was against Conyers Middleton, defending Daniel Waterland; Pearce engaged in this controversy as a former student of William Wake [David B. Ruderman, "Connecting the Covenants: Judaism and the Search for Christian Identity in Eighteenth-Century England" (2007),p. 47.] .

Other works were:

*Cicero, "Dialogi tres de oratore" (1716)
*Longinus, "De sublimitate commentarius" (1724)
*Cicero, "De officiis libri tres" (1745)

He also published sermons; he preached at the funeral of Sir Hans Sloane [ [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45407#n45 Chelsea - (part 2 of 3) | British History Online ] ] .

Reference

*"Lives of Dr. Edward Pocock, the Celebrated Orientalist, by Dr. Twells; of Dr. Zachary Pearce, Bishop of Rochester, and of Dr. Thomas Newton, Bishop of Bristol, by Themselves; and of the Rev. Philip Skelton, by Mr. Bundy" (1818)

Notes