wards voluntarily gave him the Rectory of Whittington, near Chesterfield, in Derbyshire; into which he was inducted Nov. 11, 1751, and where he resided for upwards of 44 years without interruption *.

Though Mr. Pegge had relinquished all farther pretensions to the living of Brampton before the cause came to a decision at Derby, yet he gave every possible assistance at the trial, by the communication of various documents, as well as by his personal evidence at the Assize, to support the claim of the new Nominee, the Rev. John Bowman, in whose favour the verdict was given, and who afterwards enjoyed the benefice.

Here then we take leave of this troublesome affair, so nefarious and unwarrantable on the part of the Parishioners of Brampton; and from which PATRONS of every description may draw their own inferences.

Mr. Pegge's ecclesiastical prospect in Derbyshire began soon to brighten; and he ere long obtained the more eligible living of Whittington. Add to this that, in the course of the dispute

* Dr. George's letter to Mr. Pegge on the occasion has been preserved, and is conceived in the most manly and generous terms. On account of the distance, Mr. Pegge then residing in Kent, the Dean was so obliging as to concert matters with Bishop (Frederick) Cornwallis, who then sat at Lichfield, that the living might lapse without injury to Mr. Pegge, who therefore took it, in fact, from his Lordship by collation.

concerning the Patronage of Brampton, he became known to the Hon. and Right Rev. Frederick (Cornwallis) Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry; who ever afterwards favoured him not only with his personal regard, but with his patronage, which extended even beyond the grave, as will be

mentioned hereafter in the order of time.

We must now revert to Mr. Pegge's old Friend Sir Edward Dering, who, at the moment when Mr. Pegge decidedly took the living of Whittington, in Derbyshire, began to negotiate with his Grace of Canterbury (Dr. Herring), the Patron of Godmersham, for an exchange of that living for something tenable with Whittington.

The Archbishop's answer to this application was highly honourable to Mr. Pegge: "Why," said his Grace, "will Mr. Pegge leave my Diocese? If he will continue in Kent, I promise you, Sir Edward, that I will give him preferment to his satisfaction *."

No allurements, however, could prevail; and Mr. Pegge, at all events, accepted the Rectory of

* Mr. Pegge became known, at least by name, to Dr. Herring, when Archbishop of York, by an occasional Sermon (which will be adverted to among Mr. Pegge's writings), on the publication whereof his Grace sent him a letter in handsome terms. When the Archbishop was translated to Canterbury, Mr. Pegge was, most probably, personally known ta him as the Diocesan,

Whittington, leaving every other pursuit of the kind to contingent circumstances. An exchange was, nevertheless, very soon afterwards effected, by the interest of Sir Edward with the Duke of Devonshire, who consented that Mr. Pegge should take his Grace's Rectory of Brinhill * in Lancashire, then luckily void, the Archbishop at the same time engaging to present the Duke's Clerk to Godmersham. Mr. Pegge was accordingly inducted into the Rectory of Brindle, Nov. 23, 1751, in less than a fortnight after his induction at Whittington †.

In addition to this favour from the Family of Cavendish, Sir Edward Dering obtained for Mr. Pegge, almost at the same moment, a scarf from the Marquis of Hartington (afterwards the fourth Duke of Devonshire), then called up to the House of Peers, in June 1751, by the title of Baron Cavendish of Hardwick. Mr. Pegge's appointment is dated Nov. 18, 1751; and thus, after all his solicitude, he found himself possessed of two livings and a dignity, honourably and indulgently conferred, as well as most desirably connected, in the same year and in the same month; though this latter circumstance may be

* More usually called Brindle.

†The person who actually succeeded to the Vicarage of Godmersham was the Rev. Aden Ley, who died there in 1766.

attributed to the voluntary lapse of Whittington *. After Mr. Pegge had held the Rectory of Brinhill for a few years, an opportunity offered, by another obliging acquiescence of the Duke of Devonshire, to exchange it for the living of Heath (alias Lown), in his Grace's Patronage, which lies within seven miles of Whittington: a very commodious measure, as it brought Mr. Pegge's parochial 'preferments within a smaller distance of each other. He was accordingly inducted into the Vicarage of Heath, Oct. 22, 1758, which he held till his death.

This was the last favour of the kind which Mr. Pegge individually received from the DUKES OF DEVONSHIRE; but the Compiler of this little Memoir, regarding his late Father, flatters himself that it can give no offence to that Noble Family if he takes the opportunity of testifying a sense of his own personal obligations to William the fourth DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, when his Grace was Lord Chamberlain of his MAJESTY'S Household.

As to Mr. Pegge's other preferments, they shall only be briefly mentioned in chronological order;

* Soon after the fourth Duke of Devonshire came of age, 1769, finding that he had many friends of his own to oblige, it was suggested to the Senior Chaplains that a resignation would be deemed a compliment by his Grace. Mr. Pegge, therefore (among some others), relinquished his Chaplainship, though he continued to wear the scarf.

but with due regard to his obligations. In the year 1765 he was presented to the Perpetual Curacy of Wingerworth, about six miles from Whittington, by the Honourable and Reverend James Yorke, then Dean of Lincoln, afterwards Bishop of Ely, to whom he was but little known but by name and character. This appendage was rendered the more acceptable to Mr. Pegge, because the seat of his very respectable Friend Sir Henry Hunloke, Bart. is in the parish, from whom, and all the Family, Mr. Pegge ever received great civilities.

We have already observed, that Mr. Pegge became known, insensibly as it were, to the Honourable and Right Reverend Frederick (Cornwallis), Bishop of Lichfield, during the contest respecting the living of Brampton; from whom he afterwards received more than one favour, and by whom another greater instance of regard was intended, as will be mentioned hereafter.

Mr. Pegge was first collated by his Lordship to the Prebend of Bobenhull, in the Church of Lichfield, in 1757; and was afterwards voluntarily advanced by him to that of Whittington in 1763, which he possessed at his death *.

* It is rather a singular coincidence, that Mr. Pegge should have been at the same time Rector of Whittington in Derbyshire and Prebendary of Whittington in Staffordshire, both