The Right Reverend John Douglas .D.D. Lord Bishop of Carlisle & Dean of Windsor.

A three quarter length, seated portrait of the soldier, cleric and essayist John Douglas (1721-1807). He wears his episcopal robes with voluminous lawn sleeves, a flat cap in his hand and Order of the Garter around his neck. In the background is a view of Windsor Castle. Douglas was present as army chaplain at the battle of Fontenoy in 1745 and became vicar of High Ercoll, Shropshire 1751-60. Douglas is chiefly famous for exposing the literary forgeries of William Lauder (d.1771) who had attempted to prove that John Milton had extensively plagiarised the seventeenth century Latin poets Masenius and Staphorstius. Unfortunately, Lauder had inserted the suspect passages from Paradise Lost that Milton was supposed to have copied himself and all that he managed to prove was that Milton had used these poets as one of his sources. In 1751 Lauder confessed and subsequently wrote an apology entitled A Letter to the Reverend Mr. Douglas. Douglas went on to attack Hume’s articles against miracles, edit Clarendon’s Diary and Letters and rose through the Church hierarchy, becoming Canon of Windsor, Bishop of Carlisle, Dean of Windsor and finally Bishop of Salisbury.