Samuel Fuller (priest)

Samuel Fuller became vicar of Elmdon, Essex, 8 August 1663, and resigned the charge in 1668–1669 on receiving the rectory of Tinwell, Rutland, from his patron the Earl of Exeter.

His portrait was hung up in 'the drinking-room' at Burghley House, and his rosy, jovial face was painted by Antonio Verrio on the great staircase of that mansion 'for Bacchus astride of a barrel.'

According to Kennett Fuller's end was hastened by overindulgence in the pleasures of the table: 'He was a plentiful feeder and at times a liberal drinker, though in small glasses, and his ill habit of body was imputed to Lincoln ale.'

He died at the age of sixty-five, 4 March 1699 – 1700, and was buried in his cathedral, where a mural monument was erected to his memory, with a portrait bust in alto-relievo, and a very laudatory epitaph in latinity of remarkable excellence, the composition of the Rev.

Anthony Reid, minor canon of the cathedral and master of the grammar school, to whom, writes Kennett, the dean had been 'a special familiar friend.'

He is described as 'vir pius, beneficus, doctus, suavis, hospitalis,’ possessing 'mores aureos, lepores, delicias,’ and universally popular with men of the highest as well as of the lowest rank, the epitaph ending with 'exoriantur usque qui sic ornent hanc ecclesiam.'

He also published a defence of Anglican orders under the title Canonica Successio Ministerii Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ contra Pontificos et Schismaticos Vindicata, Cambridge, 1690, 4to.