Neal, DANIEL

Neal, DANIEL, author of the History of the Puritans, was born in London, December 14, 1678. He was educated first at Merchant Taylors' School, and afterwards at Utrecht and Leyden, and in 1706 became minister of an Independent congregation in Aldersgate Street, London. His first work was a History of New England (1720), which met with a very favourable reception in America. But his reputation rests on his laborious and accurate History of the Puritans (4 vols. 1732–38; new ed., with Life by Joseph Toulmin, Bath, 1793). Neal died at Bath, April 4, 1743.