Westminster assembly of divines in 1643, though he put off taking the covenant till March 1644. He did not speak much, but was one of the committee of twenty-two appointed to examine and approve of ministers presented by parishes. On 31 Dec. 1645 the House of Commons voted Reynolds 100l. From 1645 to 1662 he was vicar of St. Lawrence, Jewry. In 1647 he was one of the visitors at Oxford, but he was not on the visitation of 1654. He held the deanery of Christchurch from 1648 to 1650, and again in 1659; in 1648 he was chosen vice-chancellor. He was ejected from Christchurch in 1659 because he would not take the engagement, and occupied himself with supervising a reissue of the confession of faith.
At the Restoration Reynolds conformed. He thought, in all probability, that more would follow him than actually did so. In June 1660 he drew up a paper for reconciling differences, and in July he was made warden of Merton College; the same year he received a canonry at Worcester. In 1661 he took part in the Savoy conference, and after much anxious consideration, and after conversations with Calamy, Chalmers, and Baxter, he accepted the bishopric of Norwich. In his diocese he was remembered in that, contrary to the custom of those who change sides, he was very moderate in his treatment of dissenters. He died at the Palace, Norwich, 28 July 1676, and was buried in the chapel, where there is a monument to his memory. He married Mary, probably daughter of John Harding, president of Magdalen College, Oxford; she died 29 Sept. 1683 at Kingsthorpe, Northamptonshire, where she had gone to live with her son. They had a son Edward, noticed below, and their youngest daughter, Elizabeth, married, in 1651, John Conant [q. v.] Reynolds published many sermons and short religious works. They were very popular, and collections of them were published in 1658 and 1679, fol. (complete edition, with a memoir by Alexander Chalmers, London, 1826). Wesley included some of Reynolds's sermons in vol. xxv. of his ‘Christian Library.’ An engraved portrait by D. Loggan is prefixed to the 1658 edition of Reynolds's works, and another, by R. White, to his ‘Meditations on St. Peter.’
Edward Reynolds, (1629–1698), the only son, was educated at St. Paul's school, and proceeded to Merton College, Oxford, but soon removed to Magdalen, where he graduated B.A. 14 March 1649, and D.D., as a grand compounder, in 1676. He was made a fellow of Magdalen by the parliamentary visitors, and in 1658 became rector of St. Peter's, Northampton. On 20 Sept. 1660 he was appointed prebendary of Worcester, and, in the April following, archdeacon of Norfolk. He died 28 June 1698, and was buried at Kingsthorpe chapel, near Northampton, where there is an epitaph to his memory. He edited in 1677 his father's ‘Meditations on the Fall and Rising of St. Peter.’
[Memoir by Chalmers; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. iii. 1083; Fasti Oxon. ii. 115, 129, 355; Oldham's Boileau, p. viii; Hibbert's Body of Divinity, Pref.; Alumni Westm. p. 21; Baker's Northamptonshire, i. 273; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. ii. 15; Gardiner's Reg. of St. Paul's, p. 43; Bloxam's Reg. of Magdalen, v. 202; Foster's Alumni Oxon.; Brodrick's Merton College.]
REYNOLDS, FRANCES (1729-1807), painter. [See under Reynolds, Sir Joshua.]
REYNOLDS, FREDERIC (1764–1841), dramatist, born in Lime Street, London, 1 Nov. 1764, was the grandson of an opulent merchant at Trowbridge, and the son of a whig attorney who acted for Chatham, Wilkes, and many other prominent politicians. His mother was the daughter of a rich city merchant named West. For many years his father's business was very prosperous, but about 1787 he was involved in financial difficulties. When about six years old the boy was sent to a boarding-school at Walthamstow, and on 22 Jan. 1776 he was admitted at Westminster school (Barker and Stenning, West. School Reg. p. 193). On 12 Jan. 1782 he was entered at the Middle Temple, but he soon abandoned the law for playwriting. His first piece, ‘Werter,’ was founded on Goethe's novel, and was produced at the Bath Theatre on 25 Nov. 1785, and at Covent Garden Theatre, London, for Miss Brunton's benefit, on 14 March 1786. In later years it was often reproduced on the stage, and it was printed both in London and Dublin, the play being cut down about 1795 from five to three acts (Genest, English Stage, vi. 397, 418–19). ‘Eloisa,’ his second drama, was produced at Covent Garden in December 1786 (ib. vi. 441–2). Reynolds now abandoned tragedy for comedy, and his first comedy, ‘The Dramatist,’ submitted to the public at the benefit of Mrs. Wells, 15 May 1789 (Baker, Biogr. Dramatica), was received with great applause. It was performed before George III at Covent Garden on his first visit to the theatre after his illness, 18 Oct. 1789. During his literary career Reynolds composed nearly one hundred tragedies and comedies, many of which were printed, and about twenty of them
