Editing John Potter (bishop) (section)

==Life==
He was the son of a [[linen draper]] at [[Wakefield]], [[Yorkshire]]. At the age of fourteen he entered [[University College, Oxford]], and in 1693 he published notes on [[Plutarch]]'s ''De audiendis poetis'' and [[Basil of Caesarea|Basil]]'s ''Oratio ad juvenes''. In 1694 he was elected fellow of [[Lincoln College, Oxford]] and in 1697 his edition of ''[[Lycophron]]'' appeared. It was followed by his ''Archaeologia graeca'' (2 vols. 8vo, 1697–1698), the popularity of which endured till the advent of Dr [[William Smith (lexicographer)|William Smith]]'s dictionaries. A reprint of his ''Lycophron'' in 1702 was dedicated to [[Graevius]], and the ''Antiquities'' was afterwards published in Latin in the ''Thesaurus of Gronovius''.

Besides holding several livings he became, in 1704, chaplain to [[Thomas Tenison|Archbishop Tenison]], and shortly afterwards was made [[Chaplain-in-Ordinary]] to [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]]. From 1708 he was [[Regius Professor of Divinity]] and canon of [[Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford]]. He married Elizabeth Venner in [[St. Paul's Cathedral]] in 1709.<ref>Clay, John W., ed. ''Publications of the Harleian Society, Registers, Vol. 26'', London, 1899. p. 26</ref> She being a granddaughter of [[Thomas Venner]], a [[Fifth Monarchy men|Fifth Monarchy man]] hanged as a traitor. In 1715 he became [[Bishop of Oxford]]. In the same year appeared his edition of [[Clement of Alexandria]]. In 1707 he published a ''Discourse on Church Government,'' and he took a prominent part in the controversy with [[Benjamin Hoadly]], [[Bishop of Bangor]]. Even though Potter was a notable [[British Whig Party|Whig]], he was a [[High Church]]man and had opposed Hoadly. Bishop Potter also [[ordained]] [[John Wesley]] a [[deacon]] in the Church of England in September 1725, and ordained him a [[priest]] in 1728.

In January 1737 Potter was unexpectedly appointed to succeed [[William Wake]] in the see of Canterbury. While in that seat, he continued to represent a High Church position, but he was also ineffective at restoring the [[Convocation of the English Clergy|Convocation]]. [[Alexander Pope]] attacked him in the 1743 version of his ''[[The Dunciad]]'' (book II, 323).

Potter died on 10 October 1747. His ''Theological Works'', consisting of sermons, charges, divinity lectures and the ''Discourse on Church Government'', were published in three volumes.

He was buried in [[Croydon Minster]] in Surrey.