xv. 598). In common with the other bishops consecrated at this time he is described as 'an excellent and constant preacher of God's word' (Strype, Parker, i. 128). He attended the convocation of 12 Jan. 1562, and signed the articles then drawn up and the orders framed in 1559 for the conduct of deacons and readers (ib. 240). In a letter written in the November of that year he informed the lord treasurer that the patrons of chapels in his diocese were stripping off the lead from the roofs of their chapels (Annals I. i. 540). He received the degree of D.D. per gratiam in 1563. The conduct of Dr. Turner, the dean of Wells, caused him some trouble. Turner disliked the attempts made to enforce uniformity. He made an adulterer do penance in a priest's square cap, and used to call the bishops 'white coats' and 'tippet gentlemen.' Berkeley admonished him, and, finding that he paid no attention to his admonition, in 1565 complained of his conduct to the archbishop, and suggested that a letter from Cecil might bring him to obedience (Strype,Parker, i. 301). In 1574 the burgesses of Wells applied for a renewal of their ancient corporation. Berkeley resisted their claim as injurious to the rights of the see, and wrote to the lord treasurer representing that the town had no trade to support a mayor, recorder, and two justices. His conduct excited considerable indignation among the townsmen (Annals, ii. 504). Berkeley had a severe illness in 1572, and was long forced to keep his room, as he suffered during the rest of his life from sciatica. He was, however, present at the funeral of Archbishop Parker, 6 June 1575. In 1578 he successfully resisted an iniquitous attempt made by Lord Paulet to impropriate the tithes of the living of West Monkton, of which he was patron (ib. II. ii. 185). He died 2 Nov. 1581. Strype describes him as a prelate 'of great gravity and singular integrity of life,' but records that in 1564 he licensed Thomas, son of Sir John Harington, to the living of Kelston when only eighteen years of age and a scholar at Oxford, with provision that if he took orders the license should become perpetual (ib. III. i. 40), and observes in another place (Aylmer, 58) that from age and the affliction of a lethargy he was not so diligent as the size of his diocese required, and that in consequence it (Cassan, ii. 2, reads the sentence as applying to the bishop) ' inclined to superstition and papal religion.' Harington (Nugae Antiq. ii. 150) says that 'he was a good justicer, saving that sometimes being ruled by his wife he swerved from the rule of justice and sincerity, especially in persecuting the kindred of Bourne, his predecessor. The fame went that he died very rich, but the same importunate woman carried it all away, that neither the church nor the poor were the better for it.' In relation to this remark it should be noted that Berkeley took the extraordinary step of procuring for himself the chancellorship of the church of Wells (23 Aug. 1560), which he held until 1562 along with his bishopric. During his last illness he wrote to the lord treasurer urging that good appointments might be made both to the see he was so soon to vacate by death and to other bishoprics. Nevertheless after his death the diocese of Bath and Wells was left without a bishop for nearly three years.
[Wood's Athenae Oxon. (ed. Bliss); Fuller's Worthies (ed. Nichols); Strype's Annals, Memorials, Life of Parker, Life of Aylmer, 8vo; Harington's Nugae Antiquae, 8vo; Godwin, De Praesulibus; Cassan's Lives of the Bishops of Bath and Wells; Le Neve's Fasti (Hardy).]
BERKELEY, JAMES, third Earl of Berkeley (1680–1736), admiral, was the second son of Charles, the second earl. He was appointed captain of the Soilings frigate, 2 April 1701. He was shortly afterwards promoted to the 50-gun ship Lichfield, in which he cruised successfully in the Channel. On 7 March 1703-4, his father being then alive, he was summoned to the House of Lords as Lord Berkeley of Berkeley, and about the same time was appointed to the Boyne, 80, in which he joined Sir George Rooke in the Mediterranean, and was present at the battle of Malaga, 13 Aug. 1704 (Lediard, 795 n.) In 1706, in command of the St. George, he was again in the Mediterranean with Sir Clowdisley Shovell, was prominently engaged in the siege of Toulon, August 1707, and, coming to England in company with the commander-in-chief, had a very narrow escape of sharing his unhappy fate, 22 Oct. [see Shovell, Sir Clowdisley]. The St. George did indeed strike on the same rocks as the Association,, almost at the same moment ; but the swell which beat the one to pieces washed the other clear off. On 26 Jan. 1707-8, he was raised to flag rank ; possibly, as is said, as vice-admiral of the blue ; and presently hoisted his flag on board the Berwick as second in command under Sir George Byng during the operations in the Forth and on the coast of Scotland in 1708. He continued actively employed in the Channel during the rest of that year, and till May 1710, when he struck his flag. By the death of his father on 24 Sept. he became Earl of Berkeley, and was appointed lord-lieutenant of the county
