MARSH

marsh, herbert (1757-1839), english divine, was born at faversham, kent, on the 10th of december 1757, and was educated at st john's college, cambridge, where he was elected fellow in 1782, having been second wrangler and second smith's prizeman. for some years he studied at leipzig, and between 1793 and 1801 published in four volumes a translation of j. d. michaelis's _introduction to the new testament_, with notes of his own, in which he may be said to have introduced german methods of research into english biblical scholarship. his _history of the politics of great britain and france_ (1799) brought him much notice and a pension from william pitt. in 1807 he was appointed lady margaret professor of divinity at cambridge, and lectured to large audiences on biblical criticism, substituting english for the traditional latin. both here, and afterwards as bishop of llandaff (1816) and of peterborough (1819), he stoutly opposed hymn-singing, calvinism, roman catholicism, and the evangelical movement as represented by charles simeon and the bible society. among his writings are _lectures on the criticism and interpretation of the bible_ (1828), _a comparative view of the churches of england and rome_ (1814), and _horae pelasgicae_ (1815). he died at peterborough on the 1st of may 1839.