Wake, WILLIAM

Wake, WILLIAM, Archbishop of Canterbury (1716-37), was born at Blandford in Dorsetshire, in 1657, studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and was successively preacher to Gray's Inn, rector of St James's, Westminster, Dean of Exeter (1701), Bishop of Lincoln (1705), and Primate (1716), dying at Lambeth, 24th January 1737. Of great learning and industry, he has bequeathed his name to posterity in the Genuine Epistles of the Apostolic Fathers (1693). He maintains the authenticity of them all; but though his preliminary dissertation may be antiquated, the translations are still excellent. In these he was aided by Dr Johann Ernst Grabe (1666-1711), a native of Königsberg, who became a chaplain of Christ Church, Oxford, and edited the Septuagint, a Spicilegium of Fathers, Justin, and Irenæus.