BARRINGTON, John Shute, Lord Viscount Bar- ∏∏gton, a nobleman distinguished for theological learn- 1 ∏g, was the youngest son of Benjamin Shute, merchant, and was born in 1678. He received part of his education at the university of Utrecht; and, after returning to Eng-and, studied law in the Inner Temple. In 1701 he commenced author by writing in favour of the civil rights of rotestant dissenters, to which body he belonged. On o recommendation of Lord Somers, he was employed to engage the Presbyterians in Scotland to favour the union of the two kingdoms; and, in 1708, he was rewarded for this service, by being appointed to the office of commissioner of the customs. From this, however, he was removed by the Tory ministry of Queen Anne; but his fortune had, in the meantime, been improved by the bequest of two considerable estates, one of them left him by Francis Barrington of Tofts, Esq. whose name he assumed by act of parliament. Mr Barrington now stood at the head of the dissenters. On the accession of George I. he was returned member of parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed; and in 1720 the king raised him to the Irish peerage, by the style and title of Viscount Barrington of Ardglass. But having unfortunately engaged in one of the bubbles of the time, the Harburg lottery, he incurred the disgrace of expulsion from the House of Commons in 1723; a punishment which was thought greatly too severe, indeed altogether unmerited on his part. In 1725 he published his principal work, entitled Miscellanea Sacra, or α New Method of considering so much of the History of the Apostles as is contained in Scripture, in an Abstract of their History, an Abstract of that Abstract, and four Critical Essays, 2 vols. 8vo. This work, which traces the methods employed by the first preachers of the gospel in propagating Christianity, and explains the several gifts of the Spirit by which they were enabled to discharge their office, has always been reckoned a valuable and judicious defence of the Christian cause; and it was reprinted with additions and corrections, in 3 vols. 8vo, 1770, by his son, afterwards bishop of Durham. In the same year (1725) he published An Essay on the several Dispensations of God to Manhind, in the order in which these are unfolded in the Scriptures; and he was the author of various other tracts, chiefly on subjects relating to toleration in matters of religion. He died in 1734, in the 56th year of his age, leaving a number of children, of whom five sons had the singular good fortune to rise to high stations in the church, the law, the army, and the navy. Lord Barrington was a friend and disciple of Locke, whose sentiments he adopted as to the right and advantage of free inquiry, and the value of civil and religious liberty; and he contributed greatly to the rising spirit of liberal scriptural criticism amongst those who wished to render religion a subject of rational belief. He was a man of great moderation, and, though chiefly connected with the dissenters, he occasionally frequented and communicated with the established church.

Barrington, Daines, fourth son of Lord Viscount Barrington, distinguished as an antiquary and naturalist, was educated for the profession of the law, and, after filling various posts, was appointed a Welsh judge in 1757, and afterwards second justice of Chester. He never rose to much eminence at the bar, but he showed his knowledge of the law as a subject of liberal study, by a valuable publication entitled Observations on the Statutes, chiefiy the more ancient, from Magna Charta to 21 James I. c. 27, with an Appendix, being a proposal for new-modelling the Statutes, 1766, 4to; a work which has been quoted with merited commendation by many of our historians and constitutional antiquaries. In 1773 he published an edition of Orosius, with Alfred’s Saxon version, and an English translation with notes of his own, which was severely animadverted on by the critics. His Tracts on the Probability of reaching the North Pole, 1775, 4to, were written in consequence of the northern voyage of discovery undertaken by Captain Phipps, afterwards Lord Mulgrave. In these he has accumulated a variety of evidence favourable to his own opinion of the practicability of attaining the object in which that voyage had failed; and it is not improbable that his views and arguments had some effect in [7:4:408]determining the government of our time to renew the attempt, though with no better success. Mr Barrington’s other writings are chiefly to be found in the publications of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, of both of which he was long an assiduous member, and of the latter vicepresident. These relate to a variety of topics in natural history and antiquities, and show great industry and research, though with an occasional leaning to singularity ‘and paradox. Many of his tracts were collected by him in a quarto volume entitled Miscellanies on various Subjects, 1781. His Experiments and Observations on the Singing of Birds, and his Essay on the Language of Birds, are among the most curious and ingenious of his papers, and, with other productions of his pen, prove that he was not only deeply conversant with books, but an attentive and sagacious observer of nature. In private life he was a man of worth and integrity, unambitious, and devoted to study and literary conversation. He resigned his office of justice of Chester in 1785, and afterwards lived in retirement in his chambers in King’s-Bench Walks, Inner Temple; associating chiefly with his brother benchers, and amusing himself with superintending the improvements of the gardens. He died on the 14th March 1800, and was buried in the Temple church.