[66] Kennett was characterised throughout life by a strong party
feeling, which he took care to display on every occasion. He
was born at Dover in 1660, and his first publication, at the
age of twenty, gave great offence to the Whig party; it was in
the form of a letter from a Student at Oxford to a friend in
the country, concerning the approaching parliament. He
scarcely ever published a sermon without so far mixing party
matters in it as to obtain replies and rejoinders; the rector
of Whitechapel employed an artist to place his head on Judas's
shoulders in the picture of the Last Supper done for that
church, and to make the figure unmistakeable, placed the
_patch_ on the forehead which Kennett wore, to conceal a scar
he got by the bursting of a gun. His diligence and application
through life was extraordinary. He assisted Anthony Wood in
collecting materials for his "Athenae Oxonienses;" and, like
Oldys, was continually employed in noting books, or in forming
manuscript collections on various subjects, all of which were
purchased by the Earl of Shelburne, afterwards Marquis of
Lansdowne, and were sold with the rest of his manuscripts to
the British Museum. He died in 1714, of a fever he had
contracted in a journey to Italy.--ED.
[67] See Bishop Kennett's Letter in Nichols's "Life of Bowyer," vol.
i, 383.
[68] The best account of the Rev. Wm. Cole is to be found in
Nichols's "Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century," vol.
i. His life was eventless, and passed in studious drudgery. He
had all that power of continuous application which will
readily form immense manuscript collections. In this way his
life was passed, occasionally aiding from his enormous stores
the labours of others. He was an early and intimate
acquaintance of Horace Walpole's, and they visited France
together in 1765. Browne Willis, the antiquary, gave him the
rectory of Blecheley, in Buckinghamshire, and he was
afterwards presented to the vicarage of Burnham, near Eton. He
died in 1782, in the 68th year of his age, having chiefly
employed a long life in noting on all subjects, until his
manuscripts became a small library of themselves, which he
bequeathed to the British Museum, with an order that they
should not be opened for twenty years. They are correctly
characterised by Nichols: he says, "many of the volumes
exhibit striking traits of Mr. Cole's own character; and a man
of sufficient leisure might pick out of them abundance of
curious matter." He left a diary behind him which for
puerility could not be exceeded, and of which Nichols gives
several ridiculous specimens. If his parrot died, or his
man-servant was bled; if he sent a loin of pork to a friend,
and got a quarter of lamb in return; "drank coffee with Mrs.
Willis," or "sent two French wigs to a London barber," all is
faithfully recorded. It is a true picture of a lover of
labour, whose constant energy must be employed, and will write
even if the labour be worthless.--ED.
[69] Cole's collection, ultimately bequeathed by him to the British
Museum, is comprised in 92 volumes, and is arranged among the
additional manuscripts there, of which it forms Nos. 5798 to
5887.--ED.
[70] In his "Critical and Philosophical Enquiry into the Causes of
Prodigies."
[71] This, his most valuable work, has been most carefully edited,
with numerous additions by Dr. Bliss, and is the great
authority for Lives of Oxford men. Its author, born at Oxford
in 1632, died there in 1695, having devoted his life strictly
to study.--ED.
[72] Harleian MSS. 7523.