William Vincent
Encyclopedia
William Vincent was Dean
of Westminster
from 1803 to 1815.
as a ‘town boy’ in 1747; he became a king's scholar in 1753, and in 1757 was elected to Trinity College, Cambridge
. After graduating as B.A.
in 1761, he returned to Westminster as usher. He became second master in June 1771, and in the same year was made chaplain in ordinary to the king
. He graduated M.A. in 1764 and D.D.
in 1776, and two years later received the vicarage of Longdon, Wiltshire
, which, however, he exchanged within six months for the rectory of All Hallows, Thames Street
. In 1784 he became sub-almoner
to the king. He shared the tory views of his family, and in 1780 published anonymously a Letter in reply to a sermon preached at Cambridge by Richard Watson
. A sermon preached by him in 1792 at St. Margaret's, Westminster
, for the benefit of the greycoat charity
, attracted attention, and when reprinted in the following year by the Patriotic Association against republicans and levellers
, twenty thousand copies were sold.
. In his love for the rod he resembled Busby
, and he expelled Robert Southey
in 1792 for his authorship of the Flagellant. The particular attention which he devoted to the religious education of his pupils rendered him well qualified to answer the attacks of Thomas Rennell
, master of the Temple, and Thomas Lewis O'Beirne, bishop of Meath, who had charged headmasters with neglecting this branch of their duties. Vincent's Defence of Public Education, issued as a reply to the latter in 1801, reached a third edition two years later, and occasioned some controversy. In April 1801 he was nominated by Pitt
to a canonry of Westminster. When in the following year Vincent was offered by Addington the deanery of Westminster, as a public reward for public services, this was understood to refer to his recent publication. The see of Rochester was now for the first time for many years severed from the deanery.
In 1805 Vincent obtained the rectory of St. John's, Westminster, and resigned that of All Hallows to his son. In 1807 he exchanged St. John's for the rectory of Islip, Oxfordshire
, where he made his country residence. He had been appointed president of Sion College
in 1798, and acted as prolocutor
of the lower house of convocation
in 1802, 1806, and 1807. The fire which broke out in the roof of the lantern of Westminster Abbey on 9 July 1803 necessitated repairs to the fabric. They were all paid for by the dean and chapter; but in 1805 Vincent addressed a letter to Pitt praying for a national grant for the restoration of Henry VII's
Chapel. Fourteen annual grants, beginning from 1807, were received, and the work was proceeded with under the direction of Thomas Gayfere and Benjamin Wyatt
. The restoration was not completed till 1822. The manner in which it was carried out, especially the interference with the tomb of Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester
, in order to make way for the new Addison monument, was severely criticised in the Gentleman's Magazine by John Carter
, the architect. Vincent replied by the jeux d'esprit Woodstock's Ghost and Addison's Ghost, satirical verses directed against Carter and William Capon
, the scene-painter (in Gent. Mag. 1808 ii. 1105–6, 1809 i. 157). Dean Vincent also directed the restoration of the great rose or marigold window; and caused the enormous monuments of Captains Harvey, Hutt, and Montagu (who fell in Howe's victory of 1 June 1794) to be removed from between the pillars of the nave to their present positions. Pitt and Charles James Fox
were buried in the abbey in 1806, and the Duc de Montpensier (brother of Louis-Philippe) in Henry VII's Chapel in the following year. Minute accounts of the repairs executed at the abbey and of the chapter business while he was dean are given in a manuscript notebook of Vincent's, which is still preserved at the deanery. The book also contains an account by him of the sixteenth and seventeenth century chapter-books, and an analysis and criticism of Flete's
manuscript Chronicle of the Abbey.
treatise entitled De Legione Manlianâ Quæstio ex Livio desumta, et rei militaris Romanæ studiosis proposita. In this, by means of an ingenious emendation, he reconciled the apparently conflicting statements of Livy
and Polybius
respecting the legion. Porson
and Heyne
gave a general assent to his views. Only four copies of the work are said to have been sold. In the next year Vincent published The Origination of the Greek Verb: an Hypothesis, followed in 1795 by The Greek Verb Analysed: an Hypothesis in which the Source and Structure of the Greek Language in general is considered. He found the reasons for the inflections of the verbs in their derivations from ‘a simple and very short original verb signifying to do or exist,’ which being afterwards subjoined to radicals, denoting various actions and modes of being, formed their tenses, modes, and other variations. Vincent had to defend his work against the charges of insufficient research and plagiarism (from a writer in the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica
’), advanced in the Hermes Unmasked of Thomas Gunter Browne. His views did not succeed in holding their ground.
's Voyage of Nearchus
(contained in the Indica), which he terms ‘the first event of general importance to mankind in the history of navigation’. Schneider
, a later editor of Arrian, translated Vincent's arguments into Latin and subjoined them as a complete answer to the objections of Dodwell
. Vincent had the assistance of Alexander Dalrymple
, hydrographer to the admiralty, who prepared charts, and of Samuel Horsley
, then dean of Westminster, who furnished two astronomical dissertations. The subject was pursued in The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea, which appeared in two parts in 1800 and 1805. These three commentaries, which occupied Vincent's leisure during eight years, were dedicated to George III. The Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients in the Indian Ocean, 2 vols., issued in 1807, forms a second edition of the whole work. It was dedicated to Lord Sidmouth
. It contains contributions by Professor Heyne, Dr. Schneider, and Niebuhr
, as well as by Sir Gore Ouseley
, Dr. Burney
, and William Wales. McCulloch termed it a most valuable contribution to the geography of antiquity and the history of commerce. An English translation of the Voyage of Nearchus and of the Periplus was published separately by Vincent in 1809.
Gleanings from the Asiatick Researches of the learned Dr. Vincent, was privately printed in 1813 by Joseph Thomas Brown. Vincent also contributed notes to Gibbon's
Inquiry into the Circumnavigation of Africa, and to the Classical Journal articles on Ancient Commerce, China as known to Classic Authors, The Geography of Susiana, and Theophilus an African Bishop. For the first series of the British Critic
, conducted by his friend Nares
, he wrote several important reviews, and, in connection with the Troad controversy, attacked the views of Jacob Bryant
, whom he charged with falsifying passages in Diodorus Siculus
. Vincent was also a frequent contributor to the The Gentleman's Magazine
.
Beloe
thought Vincent one of the soundest scholars in Europe, an opinion corroborated by Mathias
in Pursuits of Literature (third dialogue). The dramatist Cumberland
also speaks of him in high terms in his Memoirs. The poet Cowper
made an English translation of some Latin verses written by Vincent, when second master at Westminster, on his predecessor Pierson Lloyd. A French version of Vincent's great work on ancient navigation was made under Bonaparte's sanction by M. Billecoq; and in Germany, where his works were well known, his scholarship was recognised by a degree from Göttingen in 1814. ‘Next to Rennell
, and beyond him in some respects,’ says Sir Clements Markham
, ‘Vincent was the greatest comparative geographer of his time.’
Dean (religion)
A dean, in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church.-Anglican Communion:...
of Westminster
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
from 1803 to 1815.
Biography
Vincent born on 2 November 1739 in Limehouse Street Ward, London, was the fifth surviving son of Giles Vincent, packer and Portugal merchant, by Sarah (Holloway).Theological career
William was admitted at Westminster SchoolWestminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
as a ‘town boy’ in 1747; he became a king's scholar in 1753, and in 1757 was elected to Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
. After graduating as B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1761, he returned to Westminster as usher. He became second master in June 1771, and in the same year was made chaplain in ordinary to the king
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
. He graduated M.A. in 1764 and D.D.
Doctor of Divinity
Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....
in 1776, and two years later received the vicarage of Longdon, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, which, however, he exchanged within six months for the rectory of All Hallows, Thames Street
All-Hallows-the-Great
All-Hallows-the-Great was a church in the City of London, located on what is now Upper Thames Street, first mentioned in 1235. Destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666, the church was rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren...
. In 1784 he became sub-almoner
Royal Almonry
The Royal Almonry is a small office within the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, headed by the Lord High Almoner, an office dating from 1103. The almoner is responsible for distributing alms to the poor....
to the king. He shared the tory views of his family, and in 1780 published anonymously a Letter in reply to a sermon preached at Cambridge by Richard Watson
Richard Watson (bishop)
Rt Rev Richard Watson was an Anglican clergyman and academic, who served as the Bishop of Llandaff from 1782 to 1816. He wrote some notable political pamphlets....
. A sermon preached by him in 1792 at St. Margaret's, Westminster
St. Margaret's, Westminster
The Anglican church of St. Margaret, Westminster Abbey is situated in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, and is the parish church of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in London...
, for the benefit of the greycoat charity
Grey Coat Hospital
The Grey Coat Hospital is a Church of England comprehensive secondary school for girls in Westminster, London, England.-History:The school was founded on St. Andrew's Day in 1698. Eight members of the congregation of St. Margaret's, Westminster donated towards the founding of the school, initially...
, attracted attention, and when reprinted in the following year by the Patriotic Association against republicans and levellers
Levellers
The Levellers were a political movement during the English Civil Wars which emphasised popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law, and religious tolerance, all of which were expressed in the manifesto "Agreement of the People". They came to prominence at the end of the First...
, twenty thousand copies were sold.
Headmaster of Westminster School
Meanwhile, in 1788, Vincent had been appointed headmaster of Westminster. He held the position for fourteen years, respected alike for both scholarship and character. His swinging pace, sonorous quotations, and especially his loud call of ‘Eloquere, puer, eloquere’ (‘Speak out, boy!’) dwelt long in the memory of his scholars; and his name is perpetuated by that part of Tothill Fields which his influence preserved for his old school as a playground, being called after him Vincent SquareVincent Square
Vincent Square is a large grass-covered square in Westminster, London, England, covering 13 acres. It provides playing fields for Westminster School, which privately owns it....
. In his love for the rod he resembled Busby
Richard Busby
The Rev. Dr. Richard Busby was an English Anglican priest who served as head master of Westminster School for more than fifty-five years.-Life:...
, and he expelled Robert Southey
Robert Southey
Robert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843...
in 1792 for his authorship of the Flagellant. The particular attention which he devoted to the religious education of his pupils rendered him well qualified to answer the attacks of Thomas Rennell
Thomas Rennell
Thomas Kennell FRS was an English churchman, dean of Winchester Cathedral and Master of the Temple.-Life:He was born on 8 February 1754 at Barnack in Northamptonshire, where his father, Thomas Rennell , a prebendary of Winchester, was rector. In 1766 Thomas was sent to Eton, and thence proceeded...
, master of the Temple, and Thomas Lewis O'Beirne, bishop of Meath, who had charged headmasters with neglecting this branch of their duties. Vincent's Defence of Public Education, issued as a reply to the latter in 1801, reached a third edition two years later, and occasioned some controversy. In April 1801 he was nominated by Pitt
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...
to a canonry of Westminster. When in the following year Vincent was offered by Addington the deanery of Westminster, as a public reward for public services, this was understood to refer to his recent publication. The see of Rochester was now for the first time for many years severed from the deanery.
In 1805 Vincent obtained the rectory of St. John's, Westminster, and resigned that of All Hallows to his son. In 1807 he exchanged St. John's for the rectory of Islip, Oxfordshire
Islip, Oxfordshire
Islip is a village and civil parish on the River Ray, just above its confluence with the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England. It is about east of Kidlington and about north of Oxford. This village in Oxfordshire is not related to Islip, New York...
, where he made his country residence. He had been appointed president of Sion College
Sion College
Sion College, in London, is an institution founded by Royal Charter in 1630 as a college, guild of parochial clergy and almshouse, under the 1623 will of Thomas White, vicar of St Dunstan's in the West....
in 1798, and acted as prolocutor
Prolocutor
A prolocutor is one who speaks for others ; specifically the chairman of the lower house of convocation in the two provinces of the Church of England, who presides in that house and acts as representative and spokesman in the upper house...
of the lower house of convocation
Convocation of the English Clergy
The Convocation of the English Clergy is a synodical assembly of the Church of England consisting of bishops and clergy.- Background and introduction :...
in 1802, 1806, and 1807. The fire which broke out in the roof of the lantern of Westminster Abbey on 9 July 1803 necessitated repairs to the fabric. They were all paid for by the dean and chapter; but in 1805 Vincent addressed a letter to Pitt praying for a national grant for the restoration of Henry VII's
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
Chapel. Fourteen annual grants, beginning from 1807, were received, and the work was proceeded with under the direction of Thomas Gayfere and Benjamin Wyatt
Benjamin Dean Wyatt
Benjamin Dean Wyatt was an English architect. He was the son and pupil of the architect James Wyatt, and the brother of Matthew Cotes Wyatt....
. The restoration was not completed till 1822. The manner in which it was carried out, especially the interference with the tomb of Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester
Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester
Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Buckingham, 1st Earl of Essex, Duke of Aumale, KG was the thirteenth and youngest child of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault...
, in order to make way for the new Addison monument, was severely criticised in the Gentleman's Magazine by John Carter
John Carter (architect)
-Life:Carter was the son of Benjamin Carter, a marble-carver established in Piccadilly, and was born on 22 June 1748. At an early age he was sent to a boarding-school at Battersea, and then to one in Kennington Lane. Leaving school aged about twelve, he went home to his father, making working...
, the architect. Vincent replied by the jeux d'esprit Woodstock's Ghost and Addison's Ghost, satirical verses directed against Carter and William Capon
William Capon (artist)
William Capon, the son of an artist, was born at Norwich in 1757, and in early life practised as a portrait painter. He went to London and was employed on the decorations of Ranelagh Gardens and the Italian Opera-house. He was afterwards employed by John Kemble as scene painter for Drury Lane...
, the scene-painter (in Gent. Mag. 1808 ii. 1105–6, 1809 i. 157). Dean Vincent also directed the restoration of the great rose or marigold window; and caused the enormous monuments of Captains Harvey, Hutt, and Montagu (who fell in Howe's victory of 1 June 1794) to be removed from between the pillars of the nave to their present positions. Pitt and Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox PC , styled The Honourable from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned thirty-eight years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and who was particularly noted for being the arch-rival of William Pitt the Younger...
were buried in the abbey in 1806, and the Duc de Montpensier (brother of Louis-Philippe) in Henry VII's Chapel in the following year. Minute accounts of the repairs executed at the abbey and of the chapter business while he was dean are given in a manuscript notebook of Vincent's, which is still preserved at the deanery. The book also contains an account by him of the sixteenth and seventeenth century chapter-books, and an analysis and criticism of Flete's
John Flete
John Flete was an English monk and ecclesiastical historian who documented the history and abbots of Westminster Abbey.He entered the monastery at Westminster some time around 1420. For some years, he was an ordinary cloistered monk, but he became the almoner around 1435...
manuscript Chronicle of the Abbey.
Classical scholar
Vincent made his reputation as a classical scholar by the publication of a LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
treatise entitled De Legione Manlianâ Quæstio ex Livio desumta, et rei militaris Romanæ studiosis proposita. In this, by means of an ingenious emendation, he reconciled the apparently conflicting statements of Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
and Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
respecting the legion. Porson
Richard Porson
Richard Porson was an English classical scholar. He was the discoverer of Porson's Law; and the Greek typeface Porson was based on his handwriting.-Early life:...
and Heyne
Christian Gottlob Heyne
Christian Gottlob Heyne was a German classical scholar and archaeologist as well as long-time director of the Göttingen State and University Library.-Biography:He was born in Chemnitz, Electorate of Saxony...
gave a general assent to his views. Only four copies of the work are said to have been sold. In the next year Vincent published The Origination of the Greek Verb: an Hypothesis, followed in 1795 by The Greek Verb Analysed: an Hypothesis in which the Source and Structure of the Greek Language in general is considered. He found the reasons for the inflections of the verbs in their derivations from ‘a simple and very short original verb signifying to do or exist,’ which being afterwards subjoined to radicals, denoting various actions and modes of being, formed their tenses, modes, and other variations. Vincent had to defend his work against the charges of insufficient research and plagiarism (from a writer in the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
’), advanced in the Hermes Unmasked of Thomas Gunter Browne. His views did not succeed in holding their ground.
Geographer
But ancient geography was the subject which Vincent made his chief study. In 1797 he issued his commentary on ArrianArrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
's Voyage of Nearchus
Nearchus
Nearchus was one of the officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. His celebrated voyage from India to Susa after Alexander's expedition in India is preserved in Arrian's account, the Indica....
(contained in the Indica), which he terms ‘the first event of general importance to mankind in the history of navigation’. Schneider
Johann Gottlob Schneider
Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider was a German classicist and naturalist.-Biography:Schneider was born at Collm in Saxony...
, a later editor of Arrian, translated Vincent's arguments into Latin and subjoined them as a complete answer to the objections of Dodwell
Edward Dodwell
Edward Dodwell was an Irish painter, traveller and a writer on archaeology.Dodwell was born in Ireland and belonged to the same family as Henry Dodwell, the theologian, and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge....
. Vincent had the assistance of Alexander Dalrymple
Alexander Dalrymple
Alexander Dalrymple was a Scottish geographer and the first Hydrographer of the British Admiralty. He was the main proponent of the theory that there existed a vast undiscovered continent in the South Pacific, Terra Australis Incognita...
, hydrographer to the admiralty, who prepared charts, and of Samuel Horsley
Samuel Horsley
Samuel Horsley was a British churchman, bishop of Rochester from 1792.Entering Trinity Hall, Cambridge in 1751, he became LL.B. in 1758 without graduating in arts. In the following year he succeeded his father in the living of Newington Butts in Surrey...
, then dean of Westminster, who furnished two astronomical dissertations. The subject was pursued in The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea, which appeared in two parts in 1800 and 1805. These three commentaries, which occupied Vincent's leisure during eight years, were dedicated to George III. The Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients in the Indian Ocean, 2 vols., issued in 1807, forms a second edition of the whole work. It was dedicated to Lord Sidmouth
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, PC was a British statesman, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804....
. It contains contributions by Professor Heyne, Dr. Schneider, and Niebuhr
Barthold Georg Niebuhr
Barthold Georg Niebuhr was a Danish-German statesman and historian who became Germany's leading historian of Ancient Rome and a founding father of modern scholarly historiography. Classical Rome caught the admiration of German thinkers...
, as well as by Sir Gore Ouseley
Gore Ouseley
Sir Gore Ouseley, 1st Baronet GCH , was a British entrepreneur, linguist and diplomat. He was born in 1770 and died at Hall Barn Park, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire in 1844...
, Dr. Burney
Charles Burney
Charles Burney FRS was an English music historian and father of authors Frances Burney and Sarah Burney.-Life and career:...
, and William Wales. McCulloch termed it a most valuable contribution to the geography of antiquity and the history of commerce. An English translation of the Voyage of Nearchus and of the Periplus was published separately by Vincent in 1809.
Gleanings from the Asiatick Researches of the learned Dr. Vincent, was privately printed in 1813 by Joseph Thomas Brown. Vincent also contributed notes to Gibbon's
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...
Inquiry into the Circumnavigation of Africa, and to the Classical Journal articles on Ancient Commerce, China as known to Classic Authors, The Geography of Susiana, and Theophilus an African Bishop. For the first series of the British Critic
British Critic
The British Critic: A New Review was a quarterly publication, established in 1793 as a conservative and high church review journal riding the tide of British reaction against the French Revolution.-High church review:...
, conducted by his friend Nares
Edward Nares
Edward Nares was an English historian and theologian, and general writer.-Life:He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. He was Fellow of Merton College, Oxford and became in 1813 Regius Professor of Modern History...
, he wrote several important reviews, and, in connection with the Troad controversy, attacked the views of Jacob Bryant
Jacob Bryant
Jacob Bryant was a British scholar and mythographer, who has been described as "the outstanding figure among the mythagogues who flourished in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries".-Life:...
, whom he charged with falsifying passages in Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian who flourished between 60 and 30 BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily . With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doings beyond what is to be found in his own work, Bibliotheca...
. Vincent was also a frequent contributor to the The Gentleman's Magazine
The Gentleman's Magazine
The Gentleman's Magazine was founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term "magazine" for a periodical...
.
Death and appreciation
Vincent died at Islip on 21 December 1815, and was buried in St. Benedict's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, on 29 December 1815. His monument, between those of South and Busby, bears a Latin inscription from his own hand. He married, in 1771, Hannah, fourth daughter of George Wyatt, chief clerk of the vote office, House of Commons. She died on 17 February 1807, leaving issue. There is a mural tablet to her with inscription by her husband in the north transept of the abbey.Beloe
William Beloe
William Beloe was an English divine and miscellaneous writer.-Biography:He was born at Norwich in 1756, and was the son of a respectable tradesman. His ‘pruriency of parts,’ as he expresses it, led to his receiving a liberal education. After an unsuccessful experiment at a day school in his native...
thought Vincent one of the soundest scholars in Europe, an opinion corroborated by Mathias
Thomas James Mathias
Thomas James Mathias, FRS was a British satirist and scholar.Mathias was educated in Kingston upon Thames and Trinity College, Cambridge...
in Pursuits of Literature (third dialogue). The dramatist Cumberland
Richard Cumberland (dramatist)
Richard Cumberland was a British dramatist and civil servant. In 1771 his hit play The West Indian was first staged. During the American War of Independence he acted as a secret negotiator with Spain in an effort to secure a peace agreement between the two nations. He also edited a short-lived...
also speaks of him in high terms in his Memoirs. The poet Cowper
William Cowper
William Cowper was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry...
made an English translation of some Latin verses written by Vincent, when second master at Westminster, on his predecessor Pierson Lloyd. A French version of Vincent's great work on ancient navigation was made under Bonaparte's sanction by M. Billecoq; and in Germany, where his works were well known, his scholarship was recognised by a degree from Göttingen in 1814. ‘Next to Rennell
James Rennell
Major James Rennell, FRS was an English geographer, historian and a pioneer of oceanography.-Early life:Rennell was born near Chudleigh in Devon...
, and beyond him in some respects,’ says Sir Clements Markham
Clements Markham
Sir Clements Robert Markham KCB FRS was an English geographer, explorer, and writer. He was secretary of the Royal Geographical Society between 1863 and 1888, and later served as the Society's president for a further 12 years...
, ‘Vincent was the greatest comparative geographer of his time.’