Edward Harwood
Encyclopedia
Edward Harwood was a prolific English classical scholar and biblical critic.
, Lancashire
, in 1729. After attending a school at Darwen, he went in 1745 to the Blackburn grammar school under Thomas Hunter, afterwards vicar of Weaverham
, Cheshire
. Hunter wished him to enter Queen's College, Oxford, with a view to the church. But his parents were Dissenters, and he was trained for the ministry in the academy of David Jennings
, at Wellclose Square, London. Leaving the academy in 1750, Harwood engaged in teaching, and was tutor in a boarding-school at Peckham
. He preached occasionally for George Benson
, and became intimate with Nathaniel Lardner.
In 1754 he moved to Congleton
, Cheshire, where he superintended a grammar school, and preached alternately at Wheelock
in Cheshire and Leek, Staffordshire
. At Congleton he saw much of Joseph Priestley
, then at Nantwich
, who thought of him as a good classical scholar and entertaining companion. From 1757 he associated also with John Taylor, who in that year became divinity tutor at Warrington Academy
; and in 1761 he preached Taylor's funeral sermon at Chowbent, Lancashire. An appendix to the printed sermon takes Taylor's side in disputes about the Academy, against John Seddon
, and shows, according to Alexander Gordon
writing in the Dictionary of National Biography
, that Harwood was by this time at one with Taylor's semi-Arian theology; although he says that he never adopted the tenets of Arius
. His letter of 30 December 1784 to William Christie
shows, for Gordon, that in later life he inclined to Socinianism
.
On 16 October 1765 Harwood was ordained to the Tucker Street presbyterian congregation, Bristol
. He had married, and had a numerous family, and he describes his congregation as small. His proposals (1765) for a free translation of the New Testament, a tract against predestination
, 1768, and the republication of a treatise by William Williams
on ‘the supremacy of the Father’, made him locally unpopular. He was shunned and a charge was brought against his character, and he left Bristol in 1772. Coming to London, he settled in Great Russell Street
, and employed himself in literary work. He failed to obtain a vacant place at the British Museum
, but says he got a better post. Later he complained of the coldness of his dissenting friends, contrasting them unfavourably with Anglicans.
In 1776, soon after publishing a bibliography of editions of the classics, Harwood sold his classical books and took lodgings in Hyde Street, Bloomsbury
. He was poor, and on 15 May 1782 he was attacked by paralysis. He had therapy by application of electricity by John Birch but could neither walk nor sit, but was still able to write and to teach. He died at 6 Hyde Street on 14 January 1794.
He claimed to have ‘written more books than any one person now living except Dr. Priestley’. Without being a follower of Priestley, he defended him (1785) against Samuel Badcock
. His wife, a younger daughter of Samuel Chandler
, died on 21 May 1791, aged 58. Their eldest son, Edward, wrote a Latin epitaph to their memory.
of the University of Edinburgh
, on whose recommendation he was made D.D. by Edinburgh on 29 June 1768. He published his translation of the New Testament in 1768, and another volume by way of introduction in 1771. Harwood's biblical studies received little encouragement from dissenters. Lardner just lived long enough to commend his first volume, and give some hints for a second, and other early friends were dead. Thomas Newton
, bishop of Bristol, and Edmund Law
, while master of Peterhouse, gave him encouragement; Robert Lowth
lent him books; and the value of his work was recognised by continental scholars, his first volume being translated into German (Halle, 1770) by J. F. Schulz of Göttingen.
His biblical works are:
His contributions to classical studies are:
Harwood also translated from the French Abauzit's ‘Miscellanies,’ 1774, and from the German (a language which he learned after 1773) Christoph Martin Wieland
's ‘Memoirs of Miss Sophy Sternheim,’ 1776, 2 vols. He edited the eleventh edition of John Holmes
's Latin Grammar, 1777; the twenty-fourth edition of Nathaniel Bailey's English Dictionary, 1782; and an edition of the Common Prayer Book in Latin, ‘Liturgia … Precum Communium,’ &c., 1791, reprinted 1840. An edition of Horace
bearing his name was printed in 1805.
Among his publications on general religious subjects are:
His ‘liberal’ 1768 rendering of the New Testament was suggested by the Latin version of Castalio. But Harwood's style was turgid prose. Here is the Lord's Prayer
:
His reconstructed text of the Greek Testament, 1776, was likewise neglected by his contemporaries. He based his text on the Cantabrigian and Claromontane codices, supplying their deficiencies from the Alexandrine. In a number of instances his readings anticipated the judgment of later editors.
Life
He was born at DarwenDarwen
Darwen is a market town and civil parish located within Lancashire, England. Along with its northerly neighbour, Blackburn, it forms the Borough of Blackburn with Darwen — a unitary authority area...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, in 1729. After attending a school at Darwen, he went in 1745 to the Blackburn grammar school under Thomas Hunter, afterwards vicar of Weaverham
Weaverham
right|thumb|200px|Map of civil parish of Weaverham within former borough of Vale RoyalWeaverham is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire in England. Just off the A49, it is just to the west of Northwich and south of the River...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
. Hunter wished him to enter Queen's College, Oxford, with a view to the church. But his parents were Dissenters, and he was trained for the ministry in the academy of David Jennings
David Jennings (tutor)
David Jennings was an English Dissenting minister and tutor, known also as the author of Jewish Antiquities.-Life:He was the younger son of the ejected minister John Jennings , whose ministry to the independent congregation at Kibworth was continued by his elder brother John...
, at Wellclose Square, London. Leaving the academy in 1750, Harwood engaged in teaching, and was tutor in a boarding-school at Peckham
Peckham
Peckham is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
. He preached occasionally for George Benson
George Benson (theologian)
George Benson was an English Presbyterian minister and theologian. According to Alexander Balloch Grosart, writing in the Dictionary of National Biography, his views were "Socinian" though at this period the term is often confused with Arian....
, and became intimate with Nathaniel Lardner.
In 1754 he moved to Congleton
Congleton
Congleton is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Dane, to the west of the Macclesfield Canal and 21 miles south of Manchester. It has a population of 25,750.-History:The first settlements in...
, Cheshire, where he superintended a grammar school, and preached alternately at Wheelock
Wheelock
-Places:*River Wheelock in Cheshire in England.*Wheelock, Cheshire, a long village south of Sandbach in Cheshire in England.*Wheelock, Vermont*Wheelock, North Dakota, a ghost town in the United States*Wheelock, Texas, a small town near College Station, Texas...
in Cheshire and Leek, Staffordshire
Leek, Staffordshire
Leek is a market town in the county of Staffordshire, England, on the River Churnet. It is an ancient borough and was granted its royal charter in 1214.It is the administrative centre for the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council...
. At Congleton he saw much of Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...
, then at Nantwich
Nantwich
Nantwich is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The town gives its name to the parliamentary constituency of Crewe and Nantwich...
, who thought of him as a good classical scholar and entertaining companion. From 1757 he associated also with John Taylor, who in that year became divinity tutor at Warrington Academy
Warrington Academy
Warrington Academy, active as a teaching establishment from 1756 to 1782, was a prominent dissenting academy, that is, a school or college set up by those who dissented from the state church in England...
; and in 1761 he preached Taylor's funeral sermon at Chowbent, Lancashire. An appendix to the printed sermon takes Taylor's side in disputes about the Academy, against John Seddon
John Seddon of Warrington
-Life:The son of Peter Seddon, dissenting minister successively at Ormskirk and Hereford, he was born at Hereford on 8 December 1725. The Unitarian John Seddon , with whom he has often been confused, is said to have been a second cousin...
, and shows, according to Alexander Gordon
Alexander Gordon
Alexander Gordon , fought as a Royalist and was captured by Oliver Cromwell's army at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651 at the end of the English Civil War. He was imprisoned at Tothill Field outside London over the winter of 1651–1652. He was transported to the New World in 1652 and...
writing in the Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
, that Harwood was by this time at one with Taylor's semi-Arian theology; although he says that he never adopted the tenets of Arius
Arius
Arius was a Christian presbyter in Alexandria, Egypt of Libyan origins. His teachings about the nature of the Godhead, which emphasized the Father's divinity over the Son , and his opposition to the Athanasian or Trinitarian Christology, made him a controversial figure in the First Council of...
. His letter of 30 December 1784 to William Christie
William Christie (Unitarian)
William Christie was a Scottish Unitarian writer, one of the earliest apostles of Unitarianism in Scotland and America.-Life:He was a son of Thomas Christie, merchant and provost of Montrose, and uncle of Thomas Christie the political writer. He was born at Montrose, and educated at the grammar...
shows, for Gordon, that in later life he inclined to Socinianism
Socinianism
Socinianism is a system of Christian doctrine named for Fausto Sozzini , which was developed among the Polish Brethren in the Minor Reformed Church of Poland during the 15th and 16th centuries and embraced also by the Unitarian Church of Transylvania during the same period...
.
On 16 October 1765 Harwood was ordained to the Tucker Street presbyterian congregation, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. He had married, and had a numerous family, and he describes his congregation as small. His proposals (1765) for a free translation of the New Testament, a tract against predestination
Predestination
Predestination, in theology is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. John Calvin interpreted biblical predestination to mean that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others...
, 1768, and the republication of a treatise by William Williams
William Williams
-Authors and artists:*William Williams , artist, author of first American novel, Penrose*William Joseph Williams , his son, artist; painted George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson...
on ‘the supremacy of the Father’, made him locally unpopular. He was shunned and a charge was brought against his character, and he left Bristol in 1772. Coming to London, he settled in Great Russell Street
Great Russell Street
Great Russell Street is a street in Bloomsbury, central London, England. It is the location of the main entrance of the British Museum to the north. The Congress Centre of the Trades Union Congress is located at number 28...
, and employed himself in literary work. He failed to obtain a vacant place at the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, but says he got a better post. Later he complained of the coldness of his dissenting friends, contrasting them unfavourably with Anglicans.
In 1776, soon after publishing a bibliography of editions of the classics, Harwood sold his classical books and took lodgings in Hyde Street, Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
. He was poor, and on 15 May 1782 he was attacked by paralysis. He had therapy by application of electricity by John Birch but could neither walk nor sit, but was still able to write and to teach. He died at 6 Hyde Street on 14 January 1794.
He claimed to have ‘written more books than any one person now living except Dr. Priestley’. Without being a follower of Priestley, he defended him (1785) against Samuel Badcock
Samuel Badcock
Samuel Badcock was an English nonconformist minister, theological writer and literary critic.-Life:He was born at South Molton, Devon on 23 February 1747. His parents were dissenters, and he was educated in a school at Ottery St. Mary, for the sons of those opposed to the Church of England...
. His wife, a younger daughter of Samuel Chandler
Samuel Chandler
Samuel Chandler was an English Nonconformist minister.-Life:He was born at Hungerford in Berkshire, where his father was a minister. He was sent to school at Gloucester, where he began a lifelong friendship with Bishop Butler and Archbishop Secker; and he afterwards studied at Leiden...
, died on 21 May 1791, aged 58. Their eldest son, Edward, wrote a Latin epitaph to their memory.
Works
He indulged his bent for classical reading, employing it in New Testament exegesis. A first volume (1767) of Introduction to New Testament Studies attracted the notice of Principal William RobertsonWilliam Robertson (historian)
William Robertson FRSE FSA was a Scottish historian, minister of religion, and Principal of the University of Edinburgh...
of the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, on whose recommendation he was made D.D. by Edinburgh on 29 June 1768. He published his translation of the New Testament in 1768, and another volume by way of introduction in 1771. Harwood's biblical studies received little encouragement from dissenters. Lardner just lived long enough to commend his first volume, and give some hints for a second, and other early friends were dead. Thomas Newton
Thomas Newton
Thomas Newton was an English cleric, biblical scholar and author. He served as the Bishop of Bristol from 1761 to 1782....
, bishop of Bristol, and Edmund Law
Edmund Law
Edmund Law was a priest in the Church of England. He served as Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, as Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy in the University of Cambridge from 1764 to 1769, and as bishop of Carlisle from 1768 to 1787....
, while master of Peterhouse, gave him encouragement; Robert Lowth
Robert Lowth
Robert Lowth FRS was a Bishop of the Church of England, Oxford Professor of Poetry and the author of one of the most influential textbooks of English grammar.-Life:...
lent him books; and the value of his work was recognised by continental scholars, his first volume being translated into German (Halle, 1770) by J. F. Schulz of Göttingen.
His biblical works are:
- ‘A New Introduction to the Study … of the New Testament,’ &c., vol. i. 1767, vol. ii. 1771; 2nd edit. 1773, 2 vols. (a third volume was projected, but not published. Harwood waited for the promised issue of a posthumous volume of biblical notes by Samuel Chandler, which never appeared).
- ‘A Liberal Translation of the New Testament … with Select Notes,’ &c., 1768. 2 vols. (appended is Clement's [first] Epistle to the Corinthians).
- ‘H KAINH DIAΘHKH … collated with the most approved MSS., with Select Notes in English,’ &c., 1776, 2 vols. (has appended bibliography of editions); his interleaved copy in the British Museum is corrected to 1 Nov. 1778.
His contributions to classical studies are:
- ‘Catulli, Tibulli, Propertii Opera,’ &c., 1774, (with revised texts).
- ‘A View of … editions of the Greek and Roman Classics,’ &c., 1775; 2nd edit., 1778; 3rd edit., 1782; 4th edit., 1790, reprinted in Adam ClarkeAdam ClarkeAdam Clarke was a British Methodist theologian and Biblical scholar, born in the townland of Moybeg Kirley near Tobermore in Ireland...
's ‘Bibliographical Dictionary,’ Liverpool, 1801, 6 vols.; translated into German by Alter, Vienna, 1778; Italian, by Pincelli, Venice, 1780; and by Boni and Gamba, with large additions and improvements, Venice, 1793, 2 vols.; the ‘Introduction to … Editions,’ &c., 1802, by Thomas Frognall DibdinThomas Frognall DibdinThomas Frognall Dibdin , English bibliographer, born at Calcutta, was the son of Thomas Dibdin, the sailor brother of Charles Dibdin....
, is a tabulated arrangement from Harwood's ‘View.’ - ‘Biographia Classica,’ &c., 2nd edit., 1778, 2 vols.
Harwood also translated from the French Abauzit's ‘Miscellanies,’ 1774, and from the German (a language which he learned after 1773) Christoph Martin Wieland
Christoph Martin Wieland
Christoph Martin Wieland was a German poet and writer.- Biography :He was born at Oberholzheim , which then belonged to the Free Imperial City of Biberach an der Riss in the south-east of the modern-day state of Baden-Württemberg...
's ‘Memoirs of Miss Sophy Sternheim,’ 1776, 2 vols. He edited the eleventh edition of John Holmes
John Holmes (schoolmaster)
John Holmes , was an 18th century schoolmaster and writer on education, Master of Gresham's School in Norfolk.-Life:Holmes is described in a 1729 broadsheet of his Latin verses as ex schola Holtensis....
's Latin Grammar, 1777; the twenty-fourth edition of Nathaniel Bailey's English Dictionary, 1782; and an edition of the Common Prayer Book in Latin, ‘Liturgia … Precum Communium,’ &c., 1791, reprinted 1840. An edition of Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
bearing his name was printed in 1805.
Among his publications on general religious subjects are:
- ‘A Sermon at the Funeral of John Taylor, D.D.,’ &c., 1761.
- ‘An Account of the Conversion of a Deist,’ &c., 1762.
- ‘Reflections on … Deathbed Repentance,’ &c., 1762 (reached a third edition).
- ‘Chearful Thoughts on … a Religious Life,’ &c., 1764, (reached a second edition, and was translated into Dutch).
- ‘Confession of Faith,’ printed with Thomas AmoryThomas Amory (tutor)Thomas Amory D.D. was an English dissenting tutor and minister and poet from Taunton.-Biography:His father was a grocer and his mother a sister of Henry Grove. He was at school under Chadwick, a local dissenting minister, and learned French at Exeter under André de Majendie, a refugee minister...
's sermon and Samuel Chandler's charge at his ordination, 1765. - ‘A Letter to the Rev. Mr. Caleb EvansCaleb EvansCaleb Evans , was an English geologist.Evans, born on 25 July 1831, was educated under Professor Key at University College School. The death of his father compelled him to leave school at an early age, and in 1846 he began work in a solicitor's office...
, occasioned by his … Confession of Faith,’ &c., 1768. - ‘The Melancholy Doctrine of Predestination,’ &c., 1768.
- ‘The Life and Character of Jesus Christ,’ &c., 1772.
- ‘Five Dissertations,’ &c., 1772, (defines his theological position; the second dissertation ‘on the Socinian scheme’ was republished with additions, 1783, and 1786.
- ‘Of Temperance and Intemperance,’ &c., 1774.
- ‘Seven Sermons,’ &c., 1777.
- ‘The … Duty … of Contentment,’ &c., 1782.
- ‘A Letter to the Rev. S. Badcock,’ &c., 1785
- ‘Discourses,’ &c., 1790.
His ‘liberal’ 1768 rendering of the New Testament was suggested by the Latin version of Castalio. But Harwood's style was turgid prose. Here is the Lord's Prayer
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...
:
- O thou great governor and parent of universal nature (God) who manifestest thy glory to the blessed inhabitants of heaven--may all thy rational creatures in all the parts of thy boundless dominion be happy in the knowledge of thy existence and providence, and celebrate thy perfections in a manner most worthy of thy nature and perfective of their own! May the glory of thy moral development be advanced and the great laws of it be more generally obeyed. May the inhabitants of this world pay as cheerful a submission and as constant an obedience to Thy will, as the happy spirits do in the regions of immortality.
His reconstructed text of the Greek Testament, 1776, was likewise neglected by his contemporaries. He based his text on the Cantabrigian and Claromontane codices, supplying their deficiencies from the Alexandrine. In a number of instances his readings anticipated the judgment of later editors.