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JONATHAN BOUCHER (1738-1804)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 312 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JONATHAN See also:BOUCHER (1738-1804)  , See also:English divine and philologist, was See also:born in the See also:hamlet of Blencogo, near Wigton, See also:Cumberland, on the 12th of See also:March 1738 . He was educated at the Wigton See also:grammar school, and about 1754 went to See also:Virginia, where he became a private See also:tutor in the families of Virginia planters . Among his charges was See also:John Parke Custis, the step-son of See also:George See also:Washington, with whom he began a See also:long and intimate friendship . Returning to See also:England, he was ordained by the See also:bishop of See also:London in March 1762, and at once sailed again for See also:America, where he remained until 1775 as See also:rector of various Virginia and See also:Maryland parishes, including See also:Hanover, See also:King George's See also:county, Virginia, and St See also:Anne's at See also:Annapolis, Maryland . He was widely known as an eloquent preacher, and his scholarly attainments won for him the friendship and esteem of some of the ablest scholars in the colonies . During his See also:residence in Maryland he vigorously opposed the " See also:vestry See also:act," by which the See also:powers and emoluments of the Maryland pastors were greatly diminished . When the struggle between the colonies and the See also:mother See also:country began, although he See also:felt much sympathy for the former, his opposition to any See also:form of obstruction to the See also:Stamp Act and other See also:measures, and his denunciation of a resort to force created a See also:breach between him and his See also:parish, and in a fiery farewell discourse preached after the opening of hostilities he declared that no See also:power on See also:earth should prevent him from praying and shouting " See also:God See also:save the King." In the succeeding autumn he returned to England, where his loyalism was rewarded by a See also:government See also:pension . In 1784 he became See also:vicar of See also:Epsom in See also:Surrey, where he continued until his See also:death on the 27th of See also:April 1804, becoming known as one of the most eloquent preachers of his See also:day . He was an accomplished writer and See also:scholar, contributed largely to See also:William See also:Hutchinson's See also:History of the County of Cumber-See also:land (2 vols., 1794 seq.), and published A View of the Causes and Consequences of the See also:American Revolution (1797), dedicated to George Washington, and consisting of thirteen discourses delivered in America between 1763 and 1775 . His philological studies, to which the last fourteen years of his See also:life were devoted, resulted in the compilation of " A Glossary of Provincial and Archaic Words," intended as a supplement to Dr See also:Johnson's See also:Dictionary, but never published except in See also:part, which finally in 1831 passed into the hands of the English compilers of See also:Webster's' Dictionary, by whom it was utilized . His son, See also:BARTON See also:BOUCHER (1794-1865), rector of Fonthill Bishops, See also:Wiltshire, in 1856, was well known as the author of religious tracts, See also:hymns and novels .

End of Article: JONATHAN BOUCHER (1738-1804)
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