Editing Daniel Neal (section)

==Biography==
Born in [[London]], he was educated at the [[Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood|Merchant Taylors' School]], and at the universities of [[University of Utrecht|Utrecht]] and [[University of Leiden|Leiden]]. In 1704 he became assistant minister, and in 1706 sole minister, of an independent congregation worshipping in [[Aldersgate|Aldersgate Street]], and afterwards in Jewin Street, London, where he remained almost until his death. He married Elizabeth Lardner (d. 1748), by whom he had one son, Nathanael, and two daughters.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Neal, Daniel|volume=19|page=320}}</ref>

In 1720 Neal published his ''History of [[New England]]'', which obtained for its author the honorary degree of [[Master's degree|MA]] from [[Harvard University|Harvard College]]. He also undertook to assist Dr John Evans in writing a history of [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformity]]. Evans, however, died in 1730, and, making use of his papers for the period before 1640, Neal wrote the whole of the work himself.<ref name="EB1911"/>

This ''[[History of the Puritans (book)|History of the Puritans]]'' deals with the time between the [[Protestant Reformation]] and 1689; the first volume appearing in 1732, and the fourth and last in 1738. The first volume was attacked in 1733 for unfairness and inaccuracy by [[Isaac Maddox]], afterwards [[bishop of St Asaph]] and [[bishop of Worcester]], to whom Neal replied in a pamphlet, ''A Review of the principal facts objected to in the first volume of the History of the Puritans''; and the remaining volumes by [[Zachary Grey]] (1688–1766), to whom the author made no reply.<ref name="EB1911"/>

''The History of the Puritans'' was edited, in five volumes, by Dr [[Joshua Toulmin]] (1740–1815), who added a life of Neal in 1797. This was reprinted in 1817, and an edition in two volumes was published in New York in 1844.<ref name="EB1911"/>