STILES, Ezra, clergyman and educator, born in North Haven, Connecticut, 29 November, 1727; died in New Haven, Connecticut, 12 May, 1795. His ancestor, John, came from Bedfordshire, England, and settled in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1635, and John's grandson, Isaac, the father of Ezra, was graduated at Yale in 1722 and ordained pastor of the church in North Haven, then a part of New Haven, which charge he held until his death, 14 May, 1760. He published the "Prospect of the City of Jerusalem" (New London, 1742); " Looking-Glass for Changelings" (1743); "The Declaration of the Association of the County of New Haven concerning the Reverend George Whitefield" (Boston, 1745); and "The Character and Duty of Soldiers" (New London, 1755). Ezra was graduated at Yale in 1746, and in 1749 was chosen tutor there. About this time Benjamin Franklin sent an electric apparatus to Yale, and, becoming interested in the new science, Mr. Stiles made some of the first experiments in electricity in New England.Having studied theology, he was licensed in 1749, and in April, 1750, preached to the Housatonic Indians in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, but, owing to religious doubt, resolved to abandon the ministry for the law, and, being admitted to the bar in 1753, practised for two years in New Haven. In February, 1755, he delivered a Latin oration in honor of Dr. Franklin on the occasion of his visit to Yale, and formed a friendship with Franklin that lasted until death. In 1756 he became pastor of the 2d church in Newport, Rhode Island, and during his residence there, in addition to his professional duties, devoted himself to literary and scientific research, corresponding with learned men in almost every part of the world. In 1767 he began the study of Hebrew and other Oriental languages. His congregation having been scattered by the occupation of Newport by the British, he removed in 1777 to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to become pastor of the North church, and thence to New Haven, to accept the presidency of Yale college, which post he held from 23 June, 1778, until his death, serving also as professor of ecclesiastical history, and after the death of Professor Naphtali Daggett as professor of divinity, also lecturing on philosophy and astronomy. He was accounted, both at home and abroad, as the most learned and accomplished divine of his day in this country. He received the degrees of A. M. from Harvard in 1754, and that of S. T. D. from Edinburgh in 1765, Dartmouth in 1780, and Princeton in 1784. Princeton also gave him the degree of LL. D. in the last-named year. His publications are "Oratio Funebris pro Exequis Jonathan Law" (New London, 1751); " Discourse on the Christian Union" (Boston, 1761; 2d ed., 1791); "Discourse on Saving Knowledge" (Newport, 1770); "The United States Elevated to Glory and Honor," a sermon before the legislature (Hartford, 1783);" Account of the Settlement of Bristol, Rhode Island" (Providence, 1785); and "History of Three of the Judges of Charles I., Major-General Whalley, Major-General Goffe, and Colonel Dixwell, etc., with an Account of Mr. Theophilus Whale, of Narragansett," who was supposed to have been also one of the judges (Hartford, 1794). Dr. Stiles left unfinished an "Ecclesiastical History of New England." His diary and forty-five volumes of manuscripts are preserved in the library of Yale. His daughter, Mary, married Dr. Abiel Hohnes, who wrote his "Life" (Boston, 1798). See also the " Life of Ezra Stiles," by James Luce Kingsley, in Sparks's "American Biography."