RICHARD BRETT
This reverend clergyman was of a respectable family, and was born at
London, in 1567. He entered at Hart Hall, Oxford, where he took his first degree.
He was then elected Fellow of Lincoln College, where, by unwearied industry,
he became very eminent in the languages, divinity, and other branches of
science. Having taken his degrees in arts, he became, in 1595, Rector of Quainton
in Buckinghamshire, in which benefice he spent his days. He was made Doctor in
Divinity in 1605. He was renowned in his time for vast attainments, as
well as revered for his piety. “He was skilled and versed to a criticism” in
the Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, Arabic, and Ethiopic tongues. He published a
number of erudite works, all in Latin. It is recorded of him, that “he was a
most vigilant pastor, a diligent preacher of God’s word, a liberal benefactor
to the poor, a faithful friend, and a good neighbor.” This studious and
exemplary minister, having attained this exalted reputation, died in 1638, at the
age of seventy, and lies buried in the chancel of Quainton Church, where
he dispensed the word and ordinances for three and forty years.
Mr. Fairclough