Edward Harwood

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Edward Harwood (1729–1794) was a prolific English classical scholar and biblical critic.

Life

Harwood was born at

On 16 October 1765 Harwood was ordained to the Tucker Street Presbyterian congregation, Bristol. He had married, and had a numerous family, and he describes his congregation as small. His proposals (1765) for a free translation of the New Testament, a tract against predestination, 1768, and the republication of a treatise by one William Williams on "the supremacy of the Father", made him locally unpopular. He was shunned and a charge was brought against his character, and he left Bristol in 1772. Coming to London, he settled in Great Russell Street, and employed himself in literary work. He failed to obtain a vacant place at the British Museum, but says he got a better post. Later he complained of the coldness of his dissenting friends, contrasting them unfavourably with Anglicans.

In 1776, soon after publishing a bibliography of editions of the classics, Harwood sold his classical books and took lodgings in Hyde Street, Bloomsbury. He was poor, and on 15 May 1782 he was attacked by paralysis. He had therapy by application of electricity by John Birch but could neither walk nor sit, but was still able to write and to teach. He died at 6 Hyde Street on 14 January 1794.

He claimed to have ‘written more books than any one person now living except Dr. Priestley’. Without being a follower of Priestley, he defended him (1785) against Samuel Badcock. His wife, a younger daughter of Samuel Chandler, died on 21 May 1791, aged 58. Their eldest son, Edward Harwood (numismatist), wrote a Latin epitaph to their memory.

Works

He indulged his bent for classical reading, employing it in New Testament exegesis. A first volume (1767) of Introduction to New Testament Studies attracted the notice of Principal

• ‘Catulli, Tibulli, Propertii Opera,’ &c., 1774, (with revised texts).
• ‘A View of … editions of the Greek and Roman Classics,’ &c., 1775; 2nd edit., 1778; 3rd edit., 1782; 4th edit., 1790, reprinted in Adam Clarke's ‘Bibliographical Dictionary,’ Liverpool, 1801, 6 vols.; translated into German by Alter, Vienna, 1778; Italian, by Pincelli, Venice, 1780; and by Boni and Gamba, with large additions and improvements, Venice, 1793, 2 vols.; the ‘Introduction to … Editions,’ &c., 1802, by Thomas Frognall Dibdin, is a tabulated arrangement from Harwood's ‘View.’
• ‘Biographia Classica,’ &c., 2nd edit., 1778, 2 vols.

Harwood also translated from the French

• ‘A Sermon at the Funeral of John Taylor, D.D.,’ &c., 1761.
• ‘An Account of the Conversion of a Deist,’ &c., 1762.
• ‘Reflections on … Deathbed Repentance,’ &c., 1762 (reached a third edition).
• ‘Chearful Thoughts on … a Religious Life,’ &c., 1764, (reached a second edition, and was translated into Dutch).
• ‘Confession of Faith,’ printed with Thomas Amory's sermon and Samuel Chandler's charge at his ordination, 1765.
• ‘A Letter to the Rev. Mr. Caleb Evans, occasioned by his … Confession of Faith,’ &c., 1768.
• ‘The Melancholy Doctrine of Predestination,’ &c., 1768.
• ‘The Life and Character of Jesus Christ,’ &c., 1772.
• ‘Five Dissertations,’ &c., 1772, (defines his theological position; the second dissertation ‘on the Socinian scheme’ was republished with additions, 1783, and 1786.
• ‘Of Temperance and Intemperance,’ &c., 1774.
• ‘Seven Sermons,’ &c., 1777.
• ‘The … Duty … of Contentment,’ &c., 1782.
• ‘A Letter to the Rev. S. Badcock,’ &c., 1785
• ‘Discourses,’ &c., 1790.

His ‘liberal’ 1768 rendering of the New Testament was suggested by the Latin version of

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Harwood, Edward (1729-1794)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

External links

• www.bible-researcher.com on Harwood