Portrait of The Right Reverend Father in God, William Beveridge D.D, late Lord Bishop of St Asaph

A line engraving of the Right Reverend Father in God William Beveridge D.D (1637-1708), Late Lord Bishop of St Asaph (1704-8). Engraved by Michael van der Gucht after a portrait by Benjamin Ferrers. 

A large rectangular black and white engraving of a white male in his seventies. He sits in a large, padded chair facing to the right with a small table at his knee, looking directly at the artist. In his left hand he holds a book that leans on the table and a thin quill in his right hand. He wears a white large-sleeved shirt with dark ecclesiastical robes and a black bishop’s cap with jaw-length curled hair. In the top right hand side a rectangular window depicts a pastoral scene outside with trees and church buildings to the rear. The rest of the wall is plain and dark. Below the image is the Beveridge coat of arms, on top of which rests a bishop’s mitre. Surrounding the crest is a series of text in italic scroll that reads ‘The Rt Reverend Father in God William Beveridge D. D. late Lord Bishop of St ASAPH Aeta. Suae.71.’ [Meaning died aged 71.] On the left side of the crest: ‘No more of frail Mortality complain, Impartial Death, or his Tyrannick Reign, That BEVERIDGE with common Dust shou’d lye, But learn like him to Live, like him to Die. With pure Religion was his Spirit fraught, And practic’d what himself to others Taught.’, and on the right side: ‘Humble and Meek, Learn’d, Pious, Prudent, Just, Of good Report, and faithfull to his Trust. Vigilant, Sober, watchfull of his Charge, Who fed his Sheep and did their Folds enlarge. Follow your Pastor, who to Heav’n is gone, Read ere his works, and they will lead you on.’ In the bottom left corner small text reads ‘Ben. Ferrers pinx.’ and in the bottom right ‘M.V. dr Gucht Scul’. Central text below the crest reads ‘Sold by W. Taylor at the Ship and Black Swan in Pater Noster Row LONDON’.

Reverend William Beveridge (1637-1708) was born into a clerical family, with grandfather, father, and brother all vicars. He studied at St John’s College in Cambridge, devoting himself to the study of languages, including Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Samaritan. He was ordained deacon in 1660 and was assigned to several parishes throughout his career. Many of his sermons and works were published, including the Excellency and Usefullness of the Common Prayer, which went through four editions, and his collected works were featured in the Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology, published in 1841 (a copy of which is held at the DEI.) He was installed Bishop of St Asaph, Wales, in 1704 where he remained in post until his death.

According to John Norris’s A Catalogue of the Pictures, Models, Busts, &c in the Bodleian gallery, Oxford, Beveridge refused to sit for his portrait during his lifetime, but following his death, his relative and English portraitist Benjamin Ferrers painted one from his corpse. This painting, now in the Bodleian, Oxford, provided the basis for this engraving, and was, as seen by the credits printed in the bottom left and right-hand corners, completed by Michael van der Gucht (or Vandergucht)  In the Dictionary of National Biography, it is stated that van der Gucht engraved a portrait as a frontispiece to Beveridge’s published works, though this appears to be a different version than the one shown here. The publisher, William Taylor, was based in Paternoster Row in London, thus called due to its proximity to St Paul’s Cathedral. As the eighteenth century progressed, it became the home of many book-sellers and publishers, where it was colloquially termed ‘The Row’. Street numbers for buildings had not yet come into effect, so merchants sold from offices located at the sign of The Ship and Black Swan. Taylor published at least three books of Beveridge’s works including Private Thoughts Upon Religion, Digested Into Twelve Articles, 1709, Sermons on several Subjects, 1710, and The Great Necessity and Advantage of Publick Prayer and Frequent Communion, 1721. In 1724, he sold his publishing house, but The Row would continue to be the centre of the British book trade throughout the Regency period.

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