Melville, Henry, Bd

Melville, Henry, B.D.

an eminent English divine and pulpit orator, was born at Pendennis Castle, Cornwall, Sept. 14, 1800; was educated at St. Peter's College, Cambridge, graduated BA. in 1821, and soon after became a fellow and tutor; later he determined to take holy orders, and was appointed minister of Camden Chapel, Camberwell, London; in 1843 he was made principal of East India College, Haileybury; in 1846 he accepted the appointment as chaplain to the Tower of London, and incumbent of the church within its precincts; about 1848 he was elected to the Golden Lectureship of St. Margaret's. Lothbury; in 1853 he became chaplain to the queen, and in 1856 canon of St. Paul's; in 1863 rector of Barnes and rural dean. He died in London Feb. 9,1871. A 'number of Mr. Melville's Lectures and Sermons were published. many of them without his consent (1845,1846,1850,1851.1853); they have also been several times republished in this country. Also Voices of the Year: Readings for the Sundays and Holidays through the Year (1856, 2 vols.) :-Golden Counsels: Persuasions to a Christian Life (1857); and other works. " No other clergyman of the English Church during the present century has 'had the reputation for eloquence and rhetorical finish in his discourses which Mr. Melville retained to the last. His sermons were very carefully and elaborately written, and delivered with great earnestness and fervor. If there was fault anywhere, it was in the superabundance of his imagery, and his more than Oriental wealth of style."-New Amer. An. Cyclop. 1871, p. 495; Allibone's Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, 2:1262; English Encyclop. vol. ii, s.v.