JENYNS, Soame, a distinguished English writer, was born in Great Ormond Street, London, in the year 1704. Sir Roger Jenyns, his father, was descended from the family of the Jenyns of Churchill in Somersetshire. The country residence of Sir Roger was at Ely, in the isle of the same name, where he turned his attention to such kinds of business as rendered him most beneficial to his neighbours, and for his amiable deportment had the honour of knighthood conferred upon him by William III. His mother, a lady of rank, learning, and piety, superintended his education till it became necessary to place him under a tutor, by whom he was instructed in the rudiments of language, and such other branches of knowledge as were suited to his years.

In the year 1722, he was admitted into St John’s College, Cambridge, under Dr Edmondson, who was at that time one of the leading tutors of the college. Here his diligence and regular deportment did him great honour, and the strict discipline observed in the college was perfectly agreeable to his natural inclinations. After quitting the college, he fixed his winter residence in London, but lived in the country during the summer season, being chiefly employed in the prosecution of studies of a literary kind. H is first publication, a poetical essay on the art of dancing, appeared without his name in 1727; but he was soon discovered, and it was considered as a presage of his future eminence. Soon after the death of his father, he was, in 1742, chosen one of the members of parliament for the county of Cambridge; and from this period he retained his seat in the House of Commons until the year 1780. The high opinion entertained by his constituents, of his parliamentary conduct, may be learned from the unanimity of their choice; for he never experienced opposition but on one occasion. He was chosen one of the commissioners of the Board of Trade and Plantations in 1755, an office which he retained until an alteration was made in the constitution of it by authority of parliament. He was married, first, to the only daughter of Coionel Soame, of Dereham in Norfolk, who died without issue; and afterwards to the daughter of Mr Henry Gray, of Hackney, who survived him. He died of a fever, after a few days’ illness, on the 18th of December 1787, leaving no issue. His temper was mild and gentle, and it was his earnest wish to avoid giving offence to any; yet he made such liberal allowances for diversities of temper, that he was very rarely offended with others. He was punctual in the discharge of the duties of religion, both in public and private; professing to be better pleased with the government and discipline of the church of England than of any other in Christendom, but at the same time considering these as capable of important alterations and amendments. He possessed a vein of lively and genuine wit, which he never made use of to wound the feelings of others, but was rather offended with those who did. He felt most sensibly for the miseries of others, and used every means in his power to relieve them. His indigent neighbours in the country he viewed as part of his family, and in this light he considered them as entitled to his care and protection. As an author, Soame Jenyns deserves a place amongst those who have excelled; and, as a writer of prose, he ranks with the purest and most correct of the English language. His first publication was his Free Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Evil, on account of which he was severely censured; but, in a preface to the second edition, he vindicated it against all the strictures which had been made upon it, with that temper and moderation which so eminently distinguished him. His view of the Internal Evidences of the Christian Religion was published without his name in the year 1776; it gave delight and satisfaction to many eminent judges, and made converts of many who had previously been infidels. His works were published at London in 1790, in four vols. 8vo, with an account of his life by Mr Cole.
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