“His friends intended him for the church, and his studies were regulated with that view; and as soon as he was of sufficient age to receive holy orders, the bishop of Hereford, who had conceived a great esteem for him, gave him the living of Bridstow, and soon after he was inducted to that of Welfrie in Pembrokeshire. But, notwithstanding these advantages, from which he might promise himself still farther advancement in the church, he at length resigned his livings that he might be wholly at liberty to pursue his favourite study, the mathematics and particularly astronomy.”