Richard Hurd

Richard Hurd combined the work of an English clergyman, critic, and bishop associated with the literary circle of William Warburton. A Sermon Preached Before the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts records the address he delivered at the society’s anniversary meeting at St Mary-le-Bow on 16 February 1781. The printed edition identifies him as Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry and was issued in London by T. Harrison and S. Brooke. Hurd’s career also included service as Bishop of Worcester and as tutor to the future George IV and his brother Frederick. Beyond sermons, he published literary and theological criticism, edited Warburton’s works, and wrote on chivalry, romance, and prophetic interpretation. The long formal title of the 1781 sermon reflects the bibliographical conventions of eighteenth-century religious print. It also places the work at the intersection of Hurd’s episcopal office, public preaching, and the overseas missionary concerns of an established Anglican institution.