Middleton, Conyers, a celcbrateil divine and scholar of the Church of England, was born Dec. 27, 1 683, at Richmond, in Yorkshire. His father, the Rev. Wil- liam Middleton, rector of HindenvcU, gave him a liberal education. At the age of seventeen he was sent to Trinity College, Cambridge, of which college be was two years afterwards chosen a scholar. He took his degree of B.A. in 1702, and was shortly after ordained deacon. In 1706 he was elected a fellow of Trinity College, and in 1708 joined with other fellows of his college in a pe- tition to the bishop of Ely, as the visitor of the college, against Bentley (q. v.), the master. Middleton, who was then a young man, did not take a ]irominent part in this proceeding; but the feelings of hostility to the master originated by these disputes sank deep into his mind, and made him subsequently the most determined and dangerous of Bentley 's enemies. Soon after this petition, he withdrew himself from Bentley's jurisdic- tion by marrying a lady of ample fortune. He subse- quently resided for a short time in the Isle of Ely, on a small living in the gift of his wife, but the unhealthiness of the situation induced him to return to Cambridge at the end of a year. In October, 1717, when George I visited the University of Cambridge, IMiddleton, with several others, was created doctor of divinity by man- date ; but Bentley, who was regius professor of divinity, refused to confer the degree unless a fee of four guineas was given to him in addition to the so-called "broad- piece," which had by ancient custom been allowed as a present on this occasion. This demand was resisted by IMiddleton, who, however, at last consented to pay it un- der ]irotest. An ajipeal to court jiroved unfavorable to Bentley, but still he kept the money. IMitidleton there- upon sued Bentley for it in the vice-chancellor's court; and Bent ley. refusing to pay the money or to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the court, was deprived of bis degrees. Bentley petitioned the king for relief from that sen- tence, and. as lie was a firm supporter of the \\'hig min- istry then in power, it was fejired that a commission might be issued by the crown to intpiire into the state of the university. Jliddleton, to justify himself and his friends, published A full and impartial .4 eeonnt of all the late J'roceedinys in the University of Cambridye against Dr. Bentley ; which, says Dr. Monk, " was the first ])ub- lished specimen of a style which, for elegance, purity, and case, yields to none in the whole compass of the English language. The acrimonious and resentful feel- ing which prompted every line, is in some measure dis- guised by the ])leasing language, the harmony of the periods, and the vein of scholarship which enliven the
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whole tract" (Monk, Life of Bentley, p. 388). A few months afterwards Middleton published A Second Part of the full and impartial Account of all the late Pro- ceedings, and also A true Account of the present State of Trinity College, in Cambridge, under the oppressive Gov- ernment of their Master, R. Bentley, late D.D. These books seem to have been written in order to destroy the suspicion which many then had, viz. that the proceed- ings of the university against Dr. Bentley did not flow so much from any real demerit in the man, as from a certain spirit of opposition to the court, the great pro- moter of whose interest he was thought to be. Middle- ton, in one of his pamphlets, had verj' imprudently de- clared " that the fellows of Trinity College had not been able to find any proper court in England which would receive their complaints ;" and Bentley, perceiving that his adversary had been guiltj' of an expression which might be considered as a libel upon the administration of justice in the whole kingdom, brought an action against him, in which the jury returned a verdict of guilty. The court, however, was unwiUing to pronounce sentence, and the matter was eventually settled by Mid- dleton's begging pardon of Bentley, and consenting to pay all the expenses of the action.
But ]Middkton had not done with Bentley yet. The latter, in 172I1, published proposals for a new edition of the ( Ireek Testament, with a specimen of the intended work. The former, in 1721, published Pi imirl:-: Pura- graph by Paragraph, uin^n the Proposals l(it< li/ imhlishiAl by R. Bentley for a new Edition of the Gr, i k 1\ sUiuunt. Although Middleton professed, in the commencement of the pamphlet, that •' his remarks were not drawn from him by personal spleen or envy to the author of the Proposals, but by a serious conviction that he had nei- ther talents nor materials proper for the work he had undertaken, and that religion was much more likely to receive detriment than service from it," the whole tenor and style of the pamphlet showed that it was the result of tlie most virulent personal animosity. He followed lip his attack on Bentley by Some further Remarks; and it must be conceded that these two books against Bentley are written with great acuteness and learning, and, though Bentley affected to despise them, they de- stroyed the credit of his Proposals so eifectually that his intended publication of the New Testament came to nothing.