a distinguished English writer on ecclesiastical law, was born in 1720 at Winton, Westmoreland, and educated at Queen's College, Oxford. He was for forty-nine years rector at Orton, where he died, Nov. 20,1785. He was also chancellor of the diocese of Carlisle. His Ecclesiastical Law (Lond. 1760, 2 vols. 4to; 9th ed. enlarged by R. Phillimore, Lond. 1842, 4 vols. 8vo) is recommended by Blackstone as one of the "very few publications on the subject of ecclesiastical law on which the reader can rely with certainty." Equally celebrated is his work, Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer (Lond. 1755, 2 vols. 8vo; 29th ed. by Bere and Chitty, Lond. 1845, 6 vols.; suppl. by Wise, 1852). — Hook, Eccl. Biog. 3, 279.